“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.” – Leviticus 17:11

One of my favorite things about the Bible is how it all connects and tells one cohesive story. Some might think the Old Testament to be boring and even irrelevant but I want to show its beauty in how it all points to Christ in just one of many aspects. In my last post I talked about the significance of the Blood of Christ (so go back and read that one if you haven’t) and in this one I’ll show how it’s foreshadowed in the Old Testament. (Shoutout to Jamie Elkins my mentor for the recommendation to write on this topic).

We get our first glimpse into the importance of blood in the garden with the first humans. We see that Adam and Eve have just been deceived by Satan into eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the fruit God commanded them not to eat. In this moment of rebellion against God, Adam and Eve become guilty and ashamed and proceed to hide from God, sewing fig leaves to try and cover themselves. The stage is set: Man has just sinned by rebelling against God, His Creator and Imparter of his life, the Holy and Righteous Judge and King. The serpent has achieved his mission by ruining the work of God, for surely God will have to kill His creation because of their sin and rebellion. But what happens next is not what is expected. We see God pursuing His creation and while He executes punishment on all guilty parties there is no death sentence given to Man but rather to the serpent. God promises that Eve’s offspring will one day crush the serpent’s head and the serpent will strike his heel. We see God’s mercy when He kills an animal in substitute for Man and His grace when He clothes them with a more permanent covering with the sacrifice, dealing with their guilt and shame.

We skip ahead in history to near the exodus of the sons and daughters of Israel from Egypt. God has declared freedom for His people and has promised to deliver them from their slavery to Egypt. He has brought many plagues on the land of Egypt and is about to bring the last and most devastating one, the plague of Egypt’s firstborn. God tells Moses that at midnight He will kill the firstborn of every family and the cattle of the land. Every single one of them, even Israel’s. But He commands each household of Israel to kill and eat an unblemished lamb and to put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts and the lintel. God says that when He sees the blood He will “pass over” that house and spare the firstborn. All the Israelites must do is do as God commanded, wait and trust in the blood.

The last place I wish to go in the OT is Solomon’s temple. This temple is the place where God chose His glory to dwell on earth, the place where heaven meets earth. Here people offered animal sacrifices for their sins, just as God demonstrated in the Garden. The important thing to note here is that when someone brought their sacrifice to the priest to be killed the priest never examined them, he knew they were a sinner. Rather the priest examined the sacrifice, for it had to be unblemished and without defect. Also located in the temple was the Most Holy Place, where God’s glory dwelt in the temple. No man could enter into this place except the high priest, who once a year offered a sin offering for all the people of Israel on what’s called the Day of Atonement.

Now, how does this all relate to Christ? The animal sacrifices could not truly take away man’s sins, they were a mere shadow of what was to come. There had to be a true Substitute, One who could take on the full penalty of sin and death. Man himself couldn’t do it, so God in His mercy and love for Man had to accomplish this and bring His creation back to submission to Him and restore the relationship. So He sent His Son to be that perfect Sacrifice and Substitute. He was without blemish or defect because He was sinless. He was fully God and fully man. He became Eve’s offspring and while He was struck in the heel by Satan and died on a cross, He overcame sin and death and ultimately crushed Satan’s head. Jesus also became our high priest, for He was able to enter into the Most Holy Place and offer Himself as a permanent sacrifice for our sin, once for all. He not only offered the sacrifice but He split the curtain of the Most Holy Place from top to bottom, showing that what He did allows anyone to come into the very presence of God. His Blood deals with our guilt and shame permanently, as I described in my last post. Finally, those who accept His sacrifice and trust in His blood will be “passed over” by God when He finally executes judgement on Man.