Be honest… you many not completely understand the significance of the Old Testament. Certainly, you do not understand the text which, by the way, is the very Word of God who John identified as Jesus (John 1).
How could Jesus be the Word since he was not born until 6 BC? Because many do not understand the nature and supra-nature of God. John said that Jesus was always, and John the Baptist said that the one who came after him was before him. How can that be? Because Christians do not think of Jesus as God but only as Man. As such, His Identity — His very Existence — is diminished.
Whenever anyone reads the Old Testament, they are reading about not only the Will of the Father but the Will of the Son of the Father. The Old Testament is the Last Will and Testament of the Father, and the New the transfer of the Estate to the Son to give away as it pleases Him.
In fact, it is the same Will, the same God, but a different time and a different “economy.” The Old Testament economy was never about work, but only about ritual. The priests did things in honor of God and in remembrance of Him just as Christians do today with Holy Communion, partaking of the symbolic “body” and “blood” of Jesus. As such, Old Testament ritual is how the people communed with God.
God killed animals to protect Adam and Eve from the Wicked One. He provided for them coats to preserve their flesh from the fiery barbs of the “Serpent,” Lucifer.
So, after God gave instructions to Aaron and his sons about the garments they would wear, signifying the Garment of Adam, He revealed to them how they would commune on special days. They put on God’s Coats and then gave lives back to Him by sacrificing the first of their flock. Abel understood the importance of that, but Cain had an evil spirit from his father the Devil (1 John 3:12).
Aaron, the chief priest, and his sons, the priests were told how to minister to God for the people. They ministered remotely because of primary importance was cleanliness. Before the bullock could be offered, washing was a requirement (Exod 29:4). Note that the washing very well symbolizes water baptism. It was not the sacrifice but preparation for it. God provided the sacrifice of the bullock; it was His. He “bought” the sacrifice by His own labor.
The priests did nothing regarding the sacrifice but only to do God’s Will for it. God sacrificed the animal that He created just as the Father sacrificed the person that He created for the ultimate sacrifice on the Cross. All the priests did was to obey God and do His Will, again, ultimately, to display reverence for God.
God did not need the sacrifices; the people did because they all were children of the Devil just like sinners in apostolic times. They were “Jews” outwardly but Kenites (of Cain) inwardly. The priests were correcting the error of Cain by sacrificing animals; that Cain failed to do.
The next thing that Aaron and his sons were to do, was to dress for the occasion. Maybe to ward off the Wicked One from the holy Tabernacle, the priests were to put on the apparel that God designed for them. As such, they were symbolically putting on the whole armor of God as Christians are to wear in their daily lives (Ephes 6:11). Note that God had also put a coat of skin — His temporary armor — on Adam and Eve to keep them safe from the Wicked One.
The “occasion” was worship of God, to exalt Him, and the Wicked One was unwelcome. God sat on the throne of the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies and the unrighteous were unwelcome in that holy place. Certainly, Satan had to be excluded from the communion with God, and in like manner, when Christians take the body and blood of Jesus, they must never do it unworthily (Cor 11:27).
What would make the Christian unworthy to Commune with God when taking the elements? Because their Spirit is not with them. God may be silent in His new “Tabernacle” — the “temple” of the body (1 Cor 5:19).
Just as God was always with the Hebrews in the wilderness, He is always with the Christian in the world. God was always there on the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies, but He would remain silent if the priests entered unworthily.
If one did, the priest was required to wear a cord so that if he was not dressed inside and out for the occasion, God would strike Him dead to be dragged out by others. If God would do that for His ministers, He would certainly do that to them to this day if they are not right in their disposition and attitude.
As Christians, we are of the royal priesthood (1 Pet 2:9) and it is necessary that we enter the sanctuary of God “dressed” appropriately. The apparel that Christians are to wear are not curious clothing like the priests (Exod 29:5) and nothing spectacular but dressed appropriately for the occasion.
The worship of God should be in modern-day “apparel,” dressed thoroughly with the whole armor of God: garbed in truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and lastly, God’s Coat (Ephs 6) — His Spirit or the Holy Ghost.
Many, even preachers, are dressed fit to kill outwardly, but on the inside are like the priests who were dressed properly on the outside but wrongly on the inside!
But that applies to others as well. As “royal priests” the Christians in the congregation are to be dressed for God on the inside. The Holy Ghost that they claim to “wear” must be evident. In other words, what is your attitude, Christian, during worship? Should God strike you dead if your heart is not right?
Christians are more fortunate. Not that God has more grace now than then, but because the Tabernacle was where God appeared. Now, you are His “Tabernacle” and rather than strike you dead now, He may do so later. If you are an unrighteous Christian, the Holy Spirit of God remains in you (Heb 13:5) but He remains silent. For those who have had the silent treatment from their spouse, you should remember that no words hurt as much as curse words!
Now back to the past: the bullock would be brought so that
the congregation could see the sacrifice. Well, the same sacrifice happened with
Jesus. He could have been killed in the Temple but what good would it have done
of only the priests seen the sacrifice. Jesus, like the bullock had to be seen,
displayed, and flayed before the crowd. Now look what they did with the dead
bullock:
13 And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul that is above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and burn them upon the altar. 14 But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin offering. (Exod 29:13-14)
The priests sacrificed the innermost parts of the bullock to God but took its “coat,” flesh, and dung outside the camp and gave it to the Prince of the World, Lucifer (Ephes 2:2). Christians are to be Jews inwardly: “But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God” (Rom 2:29).
As such, Christians are bullocks inwardly. The word bullock comes from Anglo-Norman catel (cattle in English). It is not just a bull (male) but is its kind much like adam was Eve’s kind as well.
The bullocks represented all the people. It was not just a sacrifice for the males. Cattle were considered “property” in ancient times and even now they represent property and money. The congregation were part of the sacrifice because the cattle were their “money” and livelihood. God gave them to the Hebrews and for that, the Hebrews in gratitude to God, would give the first and best for the sacrifice.
That is what makes a sacrifice! It must have value to the giver to be a sacrifice. It had to be the first and the best, and bullocks are the most domestic of God’s creatures unless they perceive danger. The females of the cattle will run from danger, but in the face of danger the docile bull will turn feral. You see, the perfect sacrifice would have been the male since the inward parts would represent its true nature that was given to God. It is not on the outside — a cow — what it is on the inside — a bull.
With that said, Jesus was the perfect sacrifice because He was on the inside what He was on the outside. He was the Flesh of God. When He was crucified and splayed like the bullock (the piercing), His innermost parts were for the Father’s acceptance. His flesh was taken away and put in the ground just like the flesh of the bullock, indubitably to outdo the sacrifice of himself that Judas did away from the “Temple” of the Lord.
The blood and water from the bullock that was burned on the
altar was acceptable to God as the sacrifice of all the sins of the congregation
for that year. When Jesus was pierced, blood and water was spilled from His innermost
Being as the perfect sacrifice for all the “congregation” — Jew and Gentile —
once and for all!
8 Above when he said, “Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;” 9 Then said He, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.” He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second. 10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: 12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God… (Heb 10:8-12)
Jesus is thought of as the Lamb of God, but He died for all the “bullocks.”
A ram (lamb) was the better sacrifice because they are the same inside and out. A male bullock would have been appropriate under the Law to rid the bull of its feral nature. It is not known for certain, but the ram surely represented Jesus, but likely the bullocks represented the congregation! Rather than them die, the cattle belonging to them would.
Sinners are the ones with the evil innermost nature. Rather than killing and sacrificing the congregation, the priests were sacrificing the bullocks on behalf of the people who all had sinned!
The same goes today: Paul wrote to the Romans, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Rom 12:1).
No longer will bullocks suffice as stand-ins for the congregation. Each person must sacrifice their bodies, outside and inside. They are to take their flesh from the wiles of the Devil and give it to God to do as He pleases. They are to give their “hearts” — their innermost parts — to God to exalt Him and to smell the sweet aroma of their soul burning for Him!
Just how many Christians have truly sacrificed the desires of their flesh and the will of their souls to God? To whom does your flesh belong? To whom does your soul belong?
Nowhere in the Bible does it indicate that you should love yourself. God knows that you already do! “No man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it…” (Ephes 5:29). The command is to love God with all your innermost being, and to love others as much as you do yourselves! While focusing on loving yourselves, what are you not doing? You are not loving God and others.
Some display that paradox — while they occupied by loving themselves, they are despising or belittling others. And how so? Because some may think differently and are focused on God and their loved ones rather than on themselves. Rather than sacrificing themselves they are sacrificing others as they adore themselves!
(picture credit: BabaMail.com; "Trulu inspiring stories of self-sacrifice)
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