Why Did God Send The Messiah Into The World? The Amazing Fulfillment Of Daniel's Prophecy. Who Was The Suffering Man Described By The Prophet? Why Did God's Servant Have To Die? Abraham's Offering Of His Son. The Natural Son And The Promised Son Of Abraham. The Worldwide Blessing Foretold By All The Prophets. Who is the Messiah 'Isa? The Worldwide Blessing Fortold
By All The Prophets

III. The Sacrifice Of The Messiah In The Bible

In the Law Of Moses (Torah), in the prophets, and in the Psalms (Zabur), God required from his people the sacrifice of animals as a prefiguration of the sacrifice of the Messiah.

ADAM
In the Torah, the prophet Moses wrote:

Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them
(Genesis 3:21)








NOAH
In the Torah, it is written:

And Noah built an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean animal, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
(Genesis 8:20)








2000 yrs.
before
Jesus 		ABRAHAM

In the Torah, it is written that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob each built altars unto the Lord for blood sacrifices.

(Genesis 12:8; 26:25; 46:1)
ISAAC
JACOB




1000 yrs.
before
Jesus
 		DAVID
In the Torah, it is written:

And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings,
(I Chronicles 21:26)








JESUS
In the Injil, it is written:

But now, once at the end of the ages, Jesus has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
(Hebrews 9:26)








The Meaning And Purpose of Blood Sacrifice

Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Disobedience to God is sin. The Injil tells the results of Adam's sin:

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:   (Romans 5:12)

Therefore all men must die because they are sinners in God's eyes.

After their sin, Adam and Eve sewed leaves together to cover their nakedness. But instead of accepting these clothes of leaves, the Torah reads:

Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.   (Genesis 3:21)

It was the skin of a slain animal. Thus the principle of shedding the blood of an innocent life in behalf of a guilty life was introduced in the world by God Himself.


Later, the Lord said to Moses:

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.   (Leviticus 17:11)

The Injil likewise declares:

Without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. (Hebrews 9:22)


But the Injil also says:

For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. But now, once at the end of the ages, Jesus has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood Jesus entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.   (Hebrews 10:1,4; 9:26,12)

Therefore, Jesus is called:

The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)


The Sacrifice Of The Lamb Of God Foretold In The Torah . . .

The Torah reads:

Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said unto him, Abrahom: and he said, behold, here I am. And God said, Take now your son, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.
(Genesis 22:1,2)

II Chronicles 3:1 in the Torah identifies Mount Moriah as the place where Solomon later built the first Temple in Jerusalem about 1000 years after Abraham. Just before arriving at the place chosen by God, the Torah records that Abraham's son spoke to him saying:

My father: Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, (1) God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called to him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here I am. And he said, Lay not your hand upon the lad, neither do anything to him: for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. (2) And Abraham called the name of that place The-Lord-Will-Provide: as it is said to this day, In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided. And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, By myself have I sworn, says the Lord, (3) In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.
(Genesis 22:7-16,18)

Though not a lamb, the ram provided by God prefigured the Lamb that God would one day provide in this same place for the blessing of all nations.


. . . Was Fulfilled By Jesus, According To The Injil:

Here below are the fulfillments of the three underlined prophecies on the preceding page:

  1. 2000 years after Abraham, the prophet John the Baptist saw Jesus and said:

    Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
    (John 1:29)

    After Jesus went to heaven, the Apostle John received a vision in which these words were spoken to Jesus as God's Lamb, as recorded in the Injil:
    You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. (Revelation 5:9)
    Thus Jesus is the Lamb God sent to give his life as a sacrifice to take away the sin of men.

  2. Before the death of Jesus, the Apostle Matthew records:

    From that time forth began Jesus to show to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
    (Matthew 16:21)

    Thus Jesus prophesied his death must be at Jerusalem, the city where Mount Moriah is found.

  3. Concerning the blessing promised to all nations, the Apostle Paul wrote in the Injil:

    And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, In you all the nations shall be blessed.
    (Galatians 3:8)

    Concerning the promised seed, the Apostle Paul wrote:

    Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He does not say, and to seeds, as of one, And to your seed, who is Messiah.
    (Galatians 3:16)

    Thus the great blessing of God promised to all nations is justification (salvation) by faith for all who believe in the sacrifice of God's Lamb, Jesus the Messiah, who is the promised seed of Abraham.


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