A Revelation of Christ Dying to Save Us

Just as the earthly sanctuary served as a miniature reproduction of the heavenly temple where Jesus now ministers for us, the services carried on in the earthly sanctuary were also an “example and shadow of what is in heaven” (Hebrews 8:5, KJV). But there is a striking difference: “The ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises” (Hebrews 8:6). The priests who served in the earthly temple could not themselves forgive sin, but at the cross Jesus “appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26).

The Old Testament book of Leviticus describes in detail the services carried on in the sanctuary. The ceremonial rituals were divided into two parts: the daily services, and the yearly services. Guide 13 deals with the yearly services.

In the daily services, the priests offered sacrifices both for the individual and for the entire congregation. When an individual sinned, he would bring an unblemished animal as a sin offering, “lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place of the burnt offering” (Leviticus 4:29).

When the entire congregation was involved in some transgression, the priest performed almost the same ceremony for them. After killing the sacrificial animal, the priest took the blood of the offering into the sanctuary and placed some of it on the horns of the altar of incense. These blood sacrifices conveyed the truth that sin results in death, and the sinner can escape ultimate death only by having another person die in his or her place.

Christ’s sacrifice stands at the very heart of the sanctuary system.
First, the animal to be sacrificed must be “without blemish,” because it represented the One who is “holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners” (Hebrews 7:26).

Second, the guilt of the sinner must be transferred to the guiltless animal by confession of sin and the laying on of hands. This symbolized Christ taking on our guilt at Calvary; the sinless One became “sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Third, the sacrificial animal had to be killed and its blood shed because it pointed forward to the supreme penalty that Christ suffered on the cross. What happened over and over in the Old Testament sanctuary pointed forward to Christ’s one great saving act. Having died for our sins, He entered the holy places “once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption” for us (Hebrews 9:12).