OT as Telescope

The OT sacrificial law is a telescope which we must look through, not at. As we look through it, we can behold bright gleams of redeeming grace and how we should render worship to the Lord. This is displayed even in smaller details, like the requirement that the worshipper had to bring an animal which they’d either raised themselves, or which they’d purchased for a sum. The plain requirement was that the offering wasn’t something that could cost nothing. 

This explains, in part, why such animals as rabbits or deer weren’t appropriate for sacrifice. These creatures were plentiful & relatively easy to capture. However, there was no personal cost to the worshipper. At almost turn, the Israelite worshipper was led by the sacrificial code to see themselves covenantally joined to the sacrificial creature. They’d raised it, or toiled for the money to buy it, and now they laid it before the Lord.

The shed blood ought to have been their blood. The ascending smoke was their ascent to God. If they looked at the sacrifice in true faith, they saw themselves in the creature as it was slain then burned.

The Lord Jesus was called “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” He walked among us. He took on our flesh. He humbled Himself by taking to Himself a human nature. So, when we look at this bread & this wine, we too should be led to see our death, our burial, our resurrection, & our ascension. For by our union with Christ, His righteous life is counted as ours, His sacrificial death is ours, His resurrection is ours. He is the Lamb that was raised alongside of us, who laid down His life for us, & now has brought us along into the Father’s bright presence.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ…