Imagine you are a part of the Exodus all those years ago. You've just witnessed some amazing things. Plagues of all kinds, parting seas, pillars of fire. All of the other people of the land have idols--worthless, mute idols that have never done anything. And now, for the first time, a true God, YHWH, acts on your behalf and speaks to your leader, Moses. And what does YHWH tell you? A bunch of laws. But this is great news! No longer do you have to wonder and worry about how to please the gods. YHWH God has laid out a system for you--you know what to do, what not to do, and when to do or not do those things. Unlike those idols of wood and stone, you always know where you stand with Him! Then it hits you. You stand condemned. Break any one of these 600+ laws, and you have transgressed the God who destroyed Egypt, your old captor whom you thought was invincible. Fear grips you. And then, right in the middle of His law (as if this were the apex of the law, its whole point), there it is. The word of YHWH:
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. (Lev 17:11)
There is life in blood! Break the law of YHWH, and end up like Pharaoh's soldiers: dead. But a sacrifice of blood gives you new life! How grateful you are to YHWH, that by His grace He has shown you your death and given you new life! Thank YHWH for the blood sacrifice!
1 comment:
Cool. That helps put the law in perspective. It is easy to kind of forget about the critical function of the law in OT days.
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