Sacrifices

A tabernacle was constructed, the outer one, in which were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of offering; this is called the Holy Place. Behind the second veil was the tabernacle called the Holy of Holies. 

But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come to be, passing through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands, that is, not belonging to this creation, he entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own Blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a heifer’s ashes can sanctify those who are defiled so that their flesh is cleansed, how much more will the Blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God. (Hebrews 9:2-3, 11-14)

Blood is the source of life.  It flows throughout our bodies and once interrupted, death soon follows.  Consider what almost happened to the Buffalo football player Damar Hamlin after his cardiac arrest.

The Temple was a slaughterhouse.  According to one source: “Jerusalem was a landlocked and resource poor region. Yet despite that, at its peak, it was a bustling city with 30,000 citizens. Religious texts from the second temple period describe a massive sacrifice system, with 1.2 million animals slaughtered a day. That suggested the economy was buttressed by the huge number of animals sacrificed at the temple…the economy of Jerusalem at that time was powered by animal sacrifice. During the second temple period, Jews were spread far from Israel, yet they were still religiously required to sacrifice animals. So they probably paid local representatives to herd animals to Jerusalem on their behalf, creating a massive sacrificial economy in the city.”

The Blood of Christ with its meaning is a far better alternative than bloody sacrifices in a temple or elsewhere. Christ is a “greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands.”  For those of us “in Christ,” and that’s all of us, we are tabernacles holding Christ within.  Therefore, the sacrifices we make on Christ’s behalf, “cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God” that resides within us and all around us.  After all, we are all temples of the Holy Spirit.

Deacon David Pierce