News

Offering Living Sacrifices

Wednesday evening at sunset was the beginning of Yom Kippur for the Jewish community. I want to remind us that the sacrificial system in ancient Israel as described in Leviticus is certainly alien to us. It appears bloody, messy, and completely irrelevant to our contemporary lives. However, for the ancient Near East, including ancient Israel, sacrifices were familiar and a normative practice for relating to the gods. The Lord God, who created the world, made use of what was familiar to ancient Israel, but re-purposed the sacrificial system and invested it with God's own message and meaning. It is that meaning and intent represented in the sacrificial system which is important to our Christian faith.

The concern of the Old Testament Day of Atonement was to cleanse the community from sin, and secure at-one-ment in relationship to God. A unique feature of the Day of Atonement was annual access to the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle. The mercy seat was completely inaccessible, hidden behind a great veil or curtain. No human was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies except for the High Priest, and only on this one day each year.

On Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the priest entered through the veil with a firepan of hot coals and two handfuls of finely ground sweet incense. The priest would put the incense on the hot coals and create a cloud of thick sweet smoke. The smoke served to shield the priest's eyes from seeing the presence of God, for it was understood that no one could look upon the glory of God and live. Once the room was prepared, God, the creator of the universe, would appear over the lid of the arc of the covenant, which was called the "mercy seat."

The high priest would bring the blood of the sin offering into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle it before the mercy seat. This offering represented two important features of atonement. First, the blood was considered a cleansing agent to purge the defiling effects of sin from people and from the place of God's presence. Forgiveness was secured, not as a result of any magic power in the ritual or the blood itself, but solely due to the gracious and merciful provision and will of God.

Second, the presentation of animal blood, representing the life of the offerer, served as an offering of life to God. Leviticus 17:11 clarifies the role of the blood in the sacrificial system: "the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you for making atonement for your lives on the altar; for, as life, it is the blood that makes atonement" (NRSV). It is emphasized twice in this verse that the blood represents "life," not death! The offerer sends the representative blood of an animal, by means of the high priest, into the presence of God, as a means of expressing commitment to give his or her own life to God.

The 8th century prophets make it clear that the true intent of the sacrificial system is practical, daily living in the pursuit of righteousness. One example is seen in Micah's rhetorical questions regarding the real purpose of the sacrificial rituals. God does not desire that people merely go through the motions of the rituals, but rather that people live up to the meaning of what they represent:

With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?     He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6: 6-8, NRSV)

On the Day of Atonement, the mercy seat, hidden within the Holy of Holies, represented the place of God's presence and the place where atonement was secured through cleansing from sin and by means of offering one's life to God. The apostle Paul makes a striking statement in the New Testament which I believe draws on the powerful imagery and intent of the Day of Atonement. After decrying the failure of all attempts by Jews and Gentiles to attain the righteousness of God in Romans 1-3, Paul finally revealed the true means of attaining the righteousness of God.

But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. (Rom 3:21-25, NASB)

I want to highlight the line, "Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith." The Greek term translated "propitiation" here is hilasterion. Throughout the Greek translation of the Old Testament, this particular term, which is a substantive adjective, appears twenty times. In every case it refers to the "mercy seat" or the "place of atonement." In the New Testament, this form of the term only appears twice. Besides here at Romans 3:25, it appears in Hebrews 9:5 where it clearly refers to the mercy seat. The meaning of this form of the term everywhere else in the Bible, suggests that hilasterion in Rom 3:25 might also be translated "mercy seat." The second edition of the New English Translation (NET) is so bold as to actually do so, translating Rom 3:25 with the statement that God publicly displayed Christ "as the mercy seat."

Paul's statement is striking because the mercy seat was never "publicly displayed" as both the NASB and NET translate the phrase in Rom 3:25. As the place of God's Holy presence, the mercy seat was isolated behind the curtain in the Holy of Holies, and forbidden to everyone except the high priest, and he only once a year. However, that may be Paul's very point. He is making the striking statement that in Jesus Christ, the mercy seat, the very presence of God and the place where atonement is secured, is now made accessible to all people at all times! This idea is dramatically reflected in all three synoptic Gospels which describe that at Jesus' crucifixion, the veil of the temple, which hid the mercy seat, was torn in two, exposing the presence of God to all the world.

In Christ Jesus, the mercy seat of God, the place of God's presence, the place where forgiveness is secured, is now displayed publicly, accessible to all, at any time! No longer is God, or God's forgiveness, hidden behind smoke, curtains, and in the temple. No longer is an audience with God restricted to one person in the community, one time a year. In Jesus Christ, God's presence and the grace of God's forgiveness are made public and available to all, anytime, and anyplace!

The testimony of the Gospels is that Jesus fulfilled the intent of the Day of Atonement perfectly. Jesus offered his life to God, fulfilling the meaning of bringing the blood of a sacrifice into the Holy of Holies, and in line with the preaching of the prophets. Jesus lived all of his life as an obedient servant to God. Christ literally lived out what the Day of Atonement represented. He offered his life to God, both in daily obedience, and in literal surrender through death. As followers of Christ, we are called to do the same; to pick up our own cross and follow Jesus. We need not sprinkle goat's blood on an altar, but we do need to seek God's forgiveness, and offer ourselves as God's servants in life. We need not wait for the one time in the year when a high priest may enter God's presence on our behalf. We can enter into the presence and mercy of God at anytime, anywhere, through Jesus Christ, the place of God's presence and the place where atonement is secured. Thus, the intent of the Day of Atonement can become the reality of a Christian's commitment, through Jesus Christ.

Once again, the apostle Paul provides an exhortation along these very lines. He calls believers to "present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice," in Romans 12:1. We are called to offer living sacrifices: dead to selfish concerns, dead to evil temptations; but alive and dedicated to serving God daily!

In the spirit of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and in light of its great fulfillment in Jesus Christ, let us take on the commitment of ridding our community of sin, thanks to God's gracious forgiveness in Christ, and let us take on the discipline of offering ourselves to God daily as "living sacrifices."

- Dr. Thomas King serves as professor of Old Testament and Director of Academic Assessment