WHY ALL THE LAMBS AND ALL THAT BLOOD?
What was God teaching through sacrifice?
Imagine living in Israel when the Temple was operating.
Every morning, a lamb was offered.
Every evening, another lamb.
Tomorrow morning—another.
Tomorrow evening—another.
On the Sabbath, two additional lambs were offered along with the regular daily offerings.
And those were only the regular offerings.
There were other sacrifices.
Other animals.
Special offerings.
Feasts.
And the Day of Atonement.
Blood. Fire. Smoke. Washing. Cleaning.
Then tomorrow—
do it again.
Why?
Why would God require all of this?
Couldn't God simply say:
“I forgive you”?
Apparently, God was teaching His people something about sin, life, death, and forgiveness that we need to understand.
SIN BROUGHT DEATH
In our first study, we saw that God created a world He called “very good.”
Then humanity rebelled.
God had warned Adam:
“In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” — Genesis 2:17
Paul later put it simply:
“The wages of sin is death.” — Romans 6:23
Death wasn't part of God's announcement that sin didn't really matter.
Quite the opposite.
Sin brought death into the human story.
And eventually God began teaching Israel about sin and death in a way they could see.
He gave them a system of sacrifices.
GOD DIDN'T ACCEPT JUST ANY ANIMAL
An Israelite couldn't simply find an animal he didn't want anymore and give it to God.
For a burnt offering from the herd, God said:
“He shall offer a male without blemish.” — Leviticus 1:3
Again and again we find that requirement:
Without blemish.
The animal was selected and set apart for God.
It wasn't being punished because the animal had rebelled against God.
Scripture gives sheep and goats no moral law that they had broken.
The animal wasn't coming to the altar asking forgiveness for its own sins.
It died in connection with the sin and worship of human beings.
That should make us stop and think.
WHAT DID THE WORSHIPER DO?
Leviticus gives us a detail we can easily read past.
The worshiper brought the animal.
Then:
“He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering.” — Leviticus 1:4
And then:
“He shall kill the bull before the LORD.” — Leviticus 1:5
Don't miss that.
The worshiper could not pretend death had nothing to do with sin.
He brought the animal.
He placed his hand upon it.
The animal died.
Then the priests handled the blood at the altar.
Whatever else God was teaching, sin and death were being connected right before the worshiper's eyes.
WHY THE BLOOD?
God explained something important in Leviticus:
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls.” — Leviticus 17:11
Notice who provided this arrangement.
God said:
“I have given it for you.”
The sacrificial system wasn't humanity inventing a way to persuade an unwilling God to forgive.
God provided the means of atonement.
And He connected blood with life.
The blood represented a life given.
WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THAT BLOOD?
Our pictures of the Temple are usually beautiful.
White stone.
Gold.
Priests in clean garments.
People worshiping.
But sacrifice was not a clean little religious ceremony.
Animals actually died.
For a burnt offering, the priests threw blood against the sides of the altar (Leviticus 1:5).
With some sin offerings, blood was placed on the horns of the altar, and the remainder was poured out at the base of the altar (Leviticus 4:7).
There was blood.
There was fire.
There was smoke.
There was washing.
There was work.
And then there was another sacrifice.
We don't need to make this gruesome.
But neither should we make it pretty.
Sin isn't pretty.
MORNING AND EVENING
God commanded a regular offering:
“The one lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight.” — Numbers 28:4
Every day.
Morning and evening.
On the Sabbath, two additional lambs were offered (Numbers 28:9–10).
Think about the repetition.
Morning—a lamb.
Evening—a lamb.
Sleep.
Wake up.
Another lamb.
And another that evening.
Week after week.
Month after month.
Year after year.
And remember—those were only the regular burnt offerings.
Why didn't God say after the first week:
“That's enough. The problem is solved”?
Because it wasn't.
THE REPETITION WAS TELLING THEM SOMETHING
Hebrews looks back at that sacrificial system and makes an important observation.
The sacrifices kept being offered.
“Every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices.” — Hebrews 10:11
Repeatedly.
That word matters.
If the sacrifices had finally removed the problem, why did another sacrifice have to be offered?
Hebrews says:
“It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” — Hebrews 10:4
Now we have a question.
If animal blood could not finally take away human sin—
WHY DID GOD REQUIRE IT?
THE ANIMALS WERE TEACHING
An animal could die.
Its blood could be presented at the altar.
It could be set apart to God and offered according to His command.
But an animal could never finally solve a human problem.
Human beings had rebelled.
Human beings bore moral guilt.
Human beings had been made in God's image.
A sheep had not rebelled against God's moral law.
A goat could not repent.
A bull could not trust God.
An animal could not become the obedient human being we had failed to be.
So the animal sacrifices could teach.
They could point forward.
But they could not finish the job.
THE SACRIFICES SAID SOMETHING
Every animal without blemish said:
GOD DOES NOT ACCEPT JUST ANY SACRIFICE.
Every death said:
SIN IS SERIOUS.
Every presentation of blood said:
LIFE IS BEING GIVEN.
Every altar said:
SIN CANNOT SIMPLY BE PRETENDED AWAY.
And every sacrifice that had to be repeated said:
THIS IS NOT YET THE FINAL ANSWER.
Something better was needed.
Or perhaps we should say—
Someone better was needed.
THEN JOHN SAW JESUS
Hundreds of years of sacrifice stand behind one remarkable sentence in the Gospel of John.
John the Baptist sees Jesus approaching.
He points to Him and says:
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” — John 1:29
Imagine hearing those words after generations of lambs.
Morning lambs.
Evening lambs.
Passover lambs.
Sacrifices year after year.
And now John doesn't point toward the Temple.
He doesn't point toward another animal.
He points toward a man.
And says:
“THE LAMB OF GOD.”
Why?
SOMETHING GREATER THAN AN ANIMAL WAS NEEDED
Hebrews tells us plainly:
“It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” — Hebrews 10:4
So if animal blood could not finally remove human sin, what could?
Could another ordinary human being do it?
There's an obvious problem.
That person would have sins of his own.
We need someone who can truly represent humanity—
but who doesn't need someone else to die for his sin.
Now the story is narrowing.
The sacrifices have taught us the language.
The lambs have pointed ahead.
And John has pointed toward Jesus.
But we still have one enormous question:
WHY DID GOD BECOME MAN?
That is where we go next.
NEXT STUDY
WHY DID GOD BECOME MAN?
Why couldn't an animal finally save us?
Why couldn't another sinful human being save us?
Why did the One who saves us have to become one of us—and yet be without sin?
And why did He have to die?
Now we are ready to understand the Cross.