bulls and goats

The New Has Come

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7 Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? 9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. 10 Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. – 2 Corinthians 3:7-11 ESV

This entire paragraph sounds like a riddle. To understand it, one must look at the two verses that preceded it.

Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. – 2 Corinthians 3:5-6 ESV

Paul is addressing the new covenant, and now he is going to expand on it, explaining the difference between it and the old covenant. He will provide seven different contrasts between the two. But before looking at those distinctions, it is important to understand just what he means by a “covenant.” The Greek word for covenant is diathēkē, and it refers to a testament or agreement. It is where we get the Old and New Testaments of our Bible. It is a form of agreement between two parties, but it is unilateral: only one party sets the conditions, and the other must either accept or reject it, much like a last will and testament.

Paul contrasts the agreement God made with the Israelites in the Old Testament with the agreement He has made with the church in the New Testament. The first agreement was the Mosaic Law handed down to the Israelites from Mount Sinai and administered by Moses. The second agreement was the new covenant in Christ’s blood, handed down at Mount Calvary and administered by the Holy Spirit.

When Jesus celebrated His last Passover meal with the disciples, just hours before His death, He took a cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people – an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you” (Luke 22:20 NLT). Jesus was indicating that something new was about to take place. The entire Passover meal they shared with Jesus had taken on a new meaning. He had revealed Himself as the true Passover Lamb, whose body would be broken to make atonement for the sins of men.

In the closing of his letter to the Hebrews, the author provides the following benediction:

Now may the God of peace—who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood—may he equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to him. All glory to him forever and ever! Amen. – Hebrews 13:20-21 NLT

Paul refers to the old covenant as “the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone” (2 Corinthians 3:7 ESV). The Mosaic Covenant revealed the will of God in the form of the law. It contained His commands for how the Israelites were to live on this earth as His chosen people. It was intended to set them apart from all the other nations. The law contained plenty of “you shall’s” and “you shall not’s.” It required perfect obedience, and it was accompanied by blessings and cursings. If the Israelites kept God’s laws, they would be blessed, but if they failed, they would experience His punishment in the form of God-administered curses.

If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands…I will look favorably upon you, making you fertile and multiplying your people. And I will fulfill my covenant with you. – Leviticus 26:3, 9 NLT

However, if you do not listen to me or obey all these commands, and if you break my covenant by rejecting my decrees, treating my regulations with contempt, and refusing to obey my commands, I will punish you. – Leviticus 26:14-16 NLT

The old covenant was a “ministry of death” because the people could not keep it; it could do nothing but condemn them. It could expose their sin, but it was not designed to help them have victory over sin. The law could tell them what to do or not to do, but was not capable of helping them obey. Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, “Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:19-20 ESV). In his letter to the Galatians, he responds to the logical question, “If the law can’t help men live righteously, why did God give it?”

Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised. God gave his law through angels to Moses, who was the mediator between God and the people. – Galatians 3:19 NLT

Paul refers to an incident in which Moses came down from the mountain after receiving the law from God. His face literally glowed, and he exuded the glory of God, and the people were awed by it. It was the only evidence that the tablets of the law he passed on to them had come from God. When the glory on his face began to fade, so did their respect for and obedience to the law. But when Christ died, ushering in the new covenant, it was accompanied by the glory of the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God. Rather than an external and temporary form of glory, it was to be an internal and eternal one.

The new covenant has replaced the old covenant.

What once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. – 2 Corinthians 3:10 ESV

Men no longer need to try to live up to God’s righteous standards, equipped with nothing more than their own determination and sin-weakened will. They now have the Spirit of God living within them, whose power enables them to live in obedience to God’s will. The author of Hebrews, quoting an Old Testament prophecy in Jeremiah, explains the significance of this new covenant relationship with God made possible by the death of Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit.

If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it. But when God found fault with the people, he said: “The day is coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt. They did not remain faithful to my covenant, so I turned my back on them, says the Lord. But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already. And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.” When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear. – Hebrews 8:7-13 NLT

The Corinthians were already recipients of this new covenant; they had received the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. But the day is coming when even the rebellious people of Israel will know what it is like to experience the grace of God and the glory of His Spirit’s presence and power.

Paul claimed his sufficiency came from God (2 Corinthians 3:5). That means that anything he accomplished was the result of the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. It was the Spirit who made it possible for Paul to be a minister of the new covenant. It was the Spirit who equipped him for service. It was the Spirit who validated his ministry. The new covenant had provided Paul with new life, a new nature, a new ministry, a new perspective on life, new hope, new purpose, and a new relationship with God that was based on grace, not effort, and mercy, not merit.

Father, You showed Your people Your divine standard of living but they couldn’t live up to it. Yet, You weren’t surprised because You knew all along that, left to themselves, they would never manage to obey Your holy and righteous requirements. They tried, but they failed, and You had graciously provided them with he sacrificial system because You knew they would. Through the sacrifice of bulls, lambs, and goats, they could receive temporary atonement from sin and a restored relationship with You. But those blood sacrifices “were never able to provide perfect cleansing” (Hebrews 10:1 NLT). “Instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year” (Hebrews 10:3 NLT). So, You sent Your Son as the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). He did what the law could never do. He sacrificed His life so that sinful men could receive permanent atonement and a permanently restored relationship with You. That was always Your plan and You accomplished it through the gracious gift of Your Son. Thank You! Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Atonement for Sin

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22 “When a leader sins, doing unintentionally any one of all the things that by the commandments of the Lord his God ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt, 23 or the sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring as his offering a goat, a male without blemish, 24 and shall lay his hand on the head of the goat and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the Lord; it is a sin offering. 25 Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering. 26 And all its fat he shall burn on the altar, like the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings. So the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin, and he shall be forgiven.

27 “If anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any one of the things that by the Lord‘s commandments ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt, 28 or the sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring for his offering a goat, a female without blemish, for his sin which he has committed. 29 And he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill the sin offering in the place of burnt offering. 30 And the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. 31 And all its fat he shall remove, as the fat is removed from the peace offerings, and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a pleasing aroma to the Lord. And the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven.

32 “If he brings a lamb as his offering for a sin offering, he shall bring a female without blemish 33 and lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering. 34 Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. 35 And all its fat he shall remove as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of peace offerings, and the priest shall burn it on the altar, on top of the Lord‘s food offerings. And the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed, and he shall be forgiven. – Leviticus 4:22-35 ESV

Everyone sins. It’s an inevitable and unavoidable fact of life. The apostle Paul put it this way: “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23 NLT). King Solomon gave this rather sobering assessment of the problem.

Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. – Ecclesiastes 7:20 ESV

And Solomon would double down on the same stark evaluation of sin’s relentless stranglehold on humanity.

…there is no one who does not sin. – 1 Kings 8:46 ESV

And it was the pervasive and inescapable reality of sin that caused the apostle John to encourage confession rather than denial.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. – 1 John 1:8-10 ESV

No one understands the damaging effects of sin better than God. While He is completely free from any form of unrighteousness, He understands that sin’s entrance into the world had a devastating impact on humanity. When Adam and Eve made the fateful decision to eat fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they did far more than disobey God’s command; they expressed their desire to become their own gods. They listened to the lie of the enemy and asserted their right to run their own lives according to their own wills. What God had declared off-limits, they determined was rightfully theirs to have. Rather than trust God’s perfect will for their lives, they allowed their desire for autonomy to cloud their thinking and blind their eyes to the devastating outcome of self-rule.

God’s decision to set apart the people of Israel as His special possession was intended to show how sinful humanity might enjoy a restored relationship with its creator. By choosing the descendants of Abraham as participants in His divine case study, God was going to reveal how the pernicious presence of sin could be dealt with in a way that could result in their restoration to a right relationship with Him. He would use this one nation to showcase His grace, love, and forgiveness. He would make a covenant with them that would guarantee them status as His chosen people and assure them of His future blessings. But they would be required to live in obedience to all the laws and regulations associated with that covenant. Failure to do so would bring divine discipline. But knowing that His people would find it impossible to live in perfect obedience to His law, God provided the sacrificial system as a means to atone for the sins they would inevitably commit.

That brings us back to Leviticus chapter 4. God has already made it clear that sin was a problem for His people. Even the priests would have difficulty living in obedience to His commands. And it was only a matter of time before the entire nation came under the weight of God’s wrath for some inadvertent and unintentional sin committed by one of their own. The whole focus of the opening chapters of Leviticus seems to be God’s emphasis on the inescapable nature of sin. Even when the people of Israel thought they were doing well, there was the very real possibility that they had sinned without even knowing it. Sin was hardwired into their systems. It was part of their nature. And they were fully capable of committing sins both willingly and unwittingly.

That’s why God instituted these sin or purification offerings. Even if someone committed a sin by accident, they were still required to make atonement for that sin. As soon as they became aware of their offense, they needed to bring their offering before God in order to receive forgiveness and restoration. And this requirement applied to every Israelite, regardless of their social status or economic standing. God even made provisions to accommodate the poor by allowing them to offer less costly sacrifices. Everyone from priests, elders, the rich, and the poor was required to follow God’s purification process. It was mandatory and not up for debate. To refuse to make the proper sacrifice for sin would leave the individual separated from God and under a death sentence. Sin required confession, sacrifice, and purification. Forgiveness was available, but only if the sinner faithfully followed God’s gracious commands.

Verses 22-35 deal provide the same protocol for the leader and the common man. Their social status did not change anything. It didn’t matter if Moses had committed the sin or if the guilty party was an obscure member of the working class. Both were required to “bring as his offering a goat” (Leviticus 4:23, 28 ESV). The only difference was that God allowed the less affluent Israelite to substitute a less-expensive female goat as a sacrifice. But both animals had to be without blemish, and the same ritual had to be painstakingly followed in order for the sacrifice to be effective. When God’s program of purification was adhered to, both individuals received the same results.

“…the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin, and he shall be forgiven.” – Leviticus 4:26, 31 ESV

The goal was forgiveness. God knew that sin was inevitable, even among His chosen people. The presence of the law didn’t eliminate the Israelite’s propensity for sin. The law simply provided a clear and irrefutable outline of God’s expectations for His chosen people. The apostle Paul would later explain the purpose behind the law.

…the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. – Romans 3:19-20 NLT

…the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!) – Romans 4:15 NLT

The law of God established His standard of holiness. But He knew that the Israelites were incapable of living up to that standard. Their sinful natures made it impossible to live in perfect obedience to His righteous requirements. As a Jew, the apostle Paul could relate to the difficulty they faced.

In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. – Romans 7:25 NLT

So, God provided the sacrificial system as a way of mitigating the inevitable damage that sin would do to the Israelite’s relationship with Him. Sin would result in division between God and His people. In His holiness, He would be obligated to deal with their sin justly and righteously. He could not turn a blind eye or act as if it never happened. So, the sacrificial system was designed to offer atonement, make available forgiveness, and provide a restored relationship with God.

The author of Hebrews provides a powerful reminder of how the law was a foreshadowing of something far more significant to come. It was meant to serve as a sign of a greater program of sacrifice and atonement that God had in mind.

The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.

But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. – Hebrews 10:1-4 NLT

And the author goes on to reveal what the Old Testament sacrificial system was meant to point towards:

That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God,

“You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings.
    But you have given me a body to offer.
You were not pleased with burnt offerings
    or other offerings for sin.
Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God—
    as is written about me in the Scriptures.’” – Hebrews 10:5-7 NLT

God had always planned to send His Son as the final and all-sufficient sacrifice that would pay for the sins of mankind, once and for all.

For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time. – Hebrews 10:10 NLT

But during the Old Testament dispensation, God provided the sacrificial system as a temporary and incomplete model of the greater plan to come. Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), had always been God’s ultimate plan of atonement, forgiveness, and restoration. And as the author of Hebrews states, “when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices” (Hebrews 10:18 NLT). Jesus alone can offer full forgiveness from sin and freedom from future condemnation. And Paul sums up the incredible reality of God’s perfect plan of redemption, made possible through the sacrifice of His Son.

The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. – Romans 8:3-4 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Once, For All.

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The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. – Hebrews 7:23-28 ESV

The sacrificial systems of the Jews (and the priests who administered it) was designed to be temporary or impermanent, not only in its duration, but in its efficaciousness. As the author clarifies in chapter ten, “The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship” (Hebrews 10:1 NLT). Why? “For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4 NLT). He goes on to say that God never really wanted and was never pleased or satisfied by the sacrifices that consisted of the blood of bulls and goats – even though they were required by the law of Moses (Hebrews 10:12). They were intended to be a foreshadowing of something far greater to come. The blood offerings were meant to demonstrate the costliness of sin. Which is why the author says, “under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22 ESV).

Even the priests who ministered under the old covenant, the covenant of law, were impermanent, hampered by the reality of their own mortality. And as long as they lived, they had to continually offer sacrifices for their own sins before they could come into God’s presence on behalf of the people. Their own susceptibility to sin and vulnerability to death made them less-than-perfect representatives for the people. They couldn’t stop sinning and they couldn’t keep from dying. And eventually, with the destruction of the Jerusalem and the captivity of the people in Babylon, the temple would become non-existent and the priesthood, non-essential.

So back to chapter seven. Jesus is a better high priest. And while there were many priests under the old covenant, there was only one necessary under the new. Jesus was enough. He was sufficient. And the sacrifice He made was a one-time sacrifice, never needing to be repeated. His offering, the spilling of His own blood, completely appeased or propitiated the requirements of a holy God. “He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself” (Hebrews 7:27 ESV). His sacrifice was efficacious or effective. It accomplished exactly what was intended, paying the penalty for man’s sin and securing a verdict of “not guilty” from the lips of the Judge of the universe.

Jesus did not need to offer a sacrifice on His own behalf, because He was without sin. And the sacrifice He made was His own life. He was both the priest and the offering. He gave His life so that we might live and never die. Peter tells us, “Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18 NLT). The bulls, goats and lambs that were sacrificed on behalf of the people of Israel died permanent deaths. But Jesus died only to be raised again to life by the power of the Spirit of God. Paul would remind us, “Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault” (Colossians 1:22 NLT). Now that’s a better high priest. He has done what no other priest before Him had ever done. He has reconciled sinful men to a righteous, holy God. He made fellowship with a sinless God possible for sinful people. No more trying to earn our way into God’s good graces. No more striving to keep the law in an attempt to keep God satisfied. “Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him.” (Hebrews 7:25 NLT). But there’s the rub. We have to come to God through Him. It has to be based on His efforts, not our own. Salvation is the result of the work of Christ, not our human effort. As Jesus told Thomas, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 NLT). Jesus is our high priest. He has offered Himself as the perfect, sinless sacrifice. He has paid the debt we owed. And as John so clearly reminds us, “We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true God. We are in union with the one who is true, his Son Jesus the Messiah, who is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20 ISV). We need no other priest. God requires no other sacrifice. There is no debt still owed. Jesus has taken care of our sin problem, once for all.