The Bulls & Goats Calculator

The Mosaic Law was given to Israel as a tutor (Gal 3:24-25) and perhaps the most predominant lesson in that law was the animal sacrifices. These sacrifices served as both a fulfillment of a divine law and as an object lesson in the necessity of a substitutionary atonement. This is the idea that the deserved punishment of a guilty part is absorbed by another party.

Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. (Heb 9:22)

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. (Lev 17:11)

God's character demands that he hates sin and that he punishes sin, else he could not properly be called "just" or "holy." Since the first sin, God has been teaching and showing man the divine law that springs from his character: blood for blood, that the wages of sin is death. Restitution is necessary. Human beings were the ones that violated holy law, and they were the ones responsible for their own sins. However, in the animal sacrifices God accepted a substitute: an "innocent" animal dying for the sins of human being.

There were countless sacrifices, as you can see from the chart on the Results tab. There were daily, weekly, and monthly sacrifices -- in addition to several annual holy days and festivals -- made on behalf of the nation of Israel. An individual could also bring his own guilt and sin offerings for atonement. Over the life of the Mosaic Covenant, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of sacrifices were made.

But there is one obvious problem with this, which was actually the lesson that the sacrifices were meant to teach:

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. (Hebrews 10:1-4)

And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. (Hebrews 10:11)

These sacrifices never did what was necessary to be truly reconciled with God. They never took the sins away. They never made the sinner perfect. They had to be repeated continually to cover sins. The gap between God and man remained. There had to be a greater sacrifice, a worthy sacrifice, one that truly justified man before God, cleansed him, and made him righteous. But these sacrifices did not do that.

You, my friend, have thousands of reminders that your sins are not -- and cannot be -- atoned for. They are still on your head. You cannot atone for them yourself, and the sacrifice of all those animals isn't enough. There is no hope.

Unless...

All those sacrifices were to teach us about the sacrifice that can make us perfect, cleanse us, justify us, and free us from the captivity of sin. What is this better sacrifice?

And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all... But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (Hebrews 10:10,12-14)

Jesus Christ does for us what all those animals could not. He does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. In his sinless death, in his perfect obedience, he has atoned for our sins.

This atonement is only for those who have cast their lot with Jesus Christ:

...if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Rom 10:9-10)

Jesus' atonement is for you if you confess that he is Lord and that he has been raised from the dead. The atonement is for you if you repent of your sins and turn towards him in faith. Have you learned the lesson that these thousands of sacrifices were meant to teach? Do you see that your sin separates you from God in such a way that not even thousands of sacrifices can restore you to him? Do you see your need for a savior?

The choice is yours: thousands of sacrifices, which do nothing... or 1 sacrifice that does it all.