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"This [is] the ordinance of the law which the LORD has commanded, saying: 'Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without blemish, in which there [is] no defect [and] on which a yoke has never come. 'You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take it outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him; Numbers 19:2-3 NKJV
In Old Testament times, God required His people to sacrifice animals to “pay” for their sins. That is because “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22). In the passage above, God told His people that Eleazar the priest was to sacrifice a flawless red heifer (a very rare specimen indeed) simply because God deserved perfection.
The Israelites had to repeat different animal sacrifices every year because the people kept sinning. But that all changed when Jesus—the sinless (flawless), perfect Lamb of God, who was tempted just like we are but never sinned (1 John 3:5)—gave up His life on a cross. The apostle Paul put it like this: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Jesus was God’s perfect sacrificial Lamb—perfect in His sinlessness, perfect in His focus on His mission, perfect in His obedience, perfect in His humility…perfect in every way.
Prayer: Jesus, my heart is overwhelmed with joy that You, the perfect Lamb of God, gave Your all so that I could be saved.
In Old Testament times, God required His people to sacrifice animals to “pay” for their sins. That is because “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22). In the passage above, God told His people that Eleazar the priest was to sacrifice a flawless red heifer (a very rare specimen indeed) simply because God deserved perfection.
The Israelites had to repeat different animal sacrifices every year because the people kept sinning. But that all changed when Jesus—the sinless (flawless), perfect Lamb of God, who was tempted just like we are but never sinned (1 John 3:5)—gave up His life on a cross. The apostle Paul put it like this: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Jesus was God’s perfect sacrificial Lamb—perfect in His sinlessness, perfect in His focus on His mission, perfect in His obedience, perfect in His humility…perfect in every way.
Prayer: Jesus, my heart is overwhelmed with joy that You, the perfect Lamb of God, gave Your all so that I could be saved.