Forgiveness is a character that is unique to the God of the Bible and is an important part of Judaism and is even more important part of Christianity and the New Testament. Forgiveness is not present or not in a significant way in other religions which is why they are mostly about people earning their own merit with whatever concept of God there is in those religions. For instance in Islam although there is a personal god Allah we is pictured of as capricious or as unpredictable and not governed by faithfulness to promises and covenants like the God of the Bible. Also Allah doesn't have mercy to pass over people's sins for any reason like the God of the Bible especially in the New Testament through the shedding of blood of God's Son or Annointed One Jesus Christ who was God come in the form of a sinless man to pay the penalty for our sins and make forgiveness possible. In some of the eastern msytical religions like Buddhism and Hinduism there is only an impersonal god who can't be forgiving because forgivness is a quality of a person. In some of the old religions of Bible times and some existing tribal religions in different parts of the world there is a fear of the spirits or spirit realm and animal sacrifices are offerred to appease or placate the spirits but this is just done to ward off some harm or supposed evil action from these spirits or gods but there isn't the idea as in the Bible of God or a god blotting out or no longer holding a rememberance or count of sins against people because of an offering by people. In the Old Testament as in Leviticus 4 and 5 God granted forgiveness to people when they offerred animal sacrifices at the Jewish Temple or Tabernacle. However this forgiveness was only based on a temporary and limited value of sacrifice that only covered the sins until the Messiah would come, and did come in Jesus, and would take away all the sins once for all. The value of these animal sacrifices was also when those of the Jewish people who understood or had faith in these animal sacrifices understood they pictured the eventual offering of the Messiah who would more permanently take away their sins fully. The Jewish people still today especially emphasize God's forgiveness on Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement but the basis for that forgivenss is not, and has not since about 70 AD almost 2000 years ago been practiced where there were animals sacrificed and offerred to pay for the sins of the people of Israel for the year including sprinkling on the Mercy Seat where God dwelt in the Holy of holies at least in the 1st Temple and Tabernacle. Although some Jewish Temple groups and other Orthodox Jews are making advanced preparations to rebuild the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem as the 3rd Temple and restart the animal sacrifices which according to God's Word the Holy Bible they will succeed with in the first half of the tribulation despite Muslim or other opposition, these resumed animal sacrifices if they are regarded by God will not take away sins but only cover them looking back at Jesus the Messiah's once for all perfect sacrifice on the cross of Calvary. This looming 3rd temple will also point to prepare the Jews and others for the Millennial or Messianic Kingdom Temple where there will also be animal sacrifices and where Jesus the Messiah will sit in the holy of holies. These sacrifices will defiinitely be a memorial and object lesson of Jesus' one sacrifice for sins and could be viewed as covering the sins looking back to Jesus' sacrifice that took away all our sins. There are many Christians that think Jesus' sacrifice on the cross was perfect or complete and final means and that He established the New Testament and the Church means there will be no more animal sacrifices or in some more radical Christians that there is no more future for Israel as God's chosen earthly people. I believe such ideas or what can be called Covenant Theology Christians neglects the fact that the promises in Ezekiel and other scriptures or a future temple from which the Messiah would rule the earth with Israel as the head of the nations has never before been literally fulfilled and that God has made some covenants with Israel such as through Abraham and David that were unconditional and only rest on God's faithfulness and have never been completely realized but will be in the Millennium. In the Millennium the full meaning of forgiveness in Judaism through the blood of the animal sacrifices will be realized and be shown to point back to the one perfect sacrifice of their Messiah Jesus of Nazareth the Son of God who was not just an innocent, spiritually ignorant animal but a sinless incarnation of the sinless God of Creation who died in our place to enable full forgiveness for all who believe in Him. The animal sacrifices in the Messianic Kingdom Temple will most likely be used to remind people of Messiah Jesus' sacrifce for them and the complete forgiveness he enabled.
This scripture passage says that Moses, and later the high priests, sprinkled the tabernacle and its vessels which would include the mercy seat on top of the ark of the covenant as well as the altar of sacrifice. According to Leviticus 4 and 5 this at least on a temporary bases brought God's forgiveness to His chosen people the Israelites. However these sacrifices were also a way for the Jews to look beyond the immediate sacrifices to the perfect sacrifice of infinite value of God's Messiah Jesus the Son of God on the cross of Calvary about 2000 years ago. There, according to God's Word the Holy Bible, there will again be Jewish Temple services with animal sacrifices in the tribulation to get the Jews back into the custom of the animal sacrifices and in the Messianic Kingdom as a reminder of Messiah Jesus' one perfect sacrifice to take away sin. Even though some might say Jewish people are more sophisticated now to return to sacrifices or that other nations don't have animal sacrifices now it is still God's way to have the shedding of blood for the forgiveness of sins and the resumed sacrifices will be God's way of combining the law and the New Covenant in which these new sacrifices will be a memorial to Jesus' ultimate sacrifice under the New Covenant. In verse 22 of this chapter the scripture says that it was also under the law most things were purged with (shedding of) blood and that there was no remission or forgiveness also under the Law of Moses. However this verse is leading to the scripture writer going beyond the use of the Law in Old Testament times to Jesus the Messiah fulfilling the penalty of the Law which was death and shedding of blood in an ultimate way of the blood of God become perfect and sinless man. Jesus by His shedding of His blood also established the bases of the New Testament or New Covenant including the future pouring out of God's Holy Spirit especially on the Jews in addition to the Gentiles the Messianic Kingdom. This is addition to making it possible for Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus in this age and form His Church to receive God's Holy Spirit. Later in this chapter another indication that Jesus' sacrifice in which He was the high priest as well as the sacrifice is of infinite and final value. This is that unlike the sacrifices made by the high priest under the Law of Moses, which were made on a regular value namely yearly in the Holy of Holies and on a daily basis on the Altar of Sacrifice, Jesus the Messiah's sacrifice was once that caused His death and was followed by His resurrection. This once for all sacrifice of Jesus the Messiah (Christ) accomplished full forgiveness for all our sins to take them all away permanently which is superior to the system under the Law of Moses in which the high priest had to keep offering sacrifices and the shedding of animal blood to cover people's sins on an ongoing basis until the Messiah would come and be sacrifices to take away people's sins. The scripture reference from Hebrews 9 of the ultimate shedding of blood with forgiveness to take away all our sins of the sacrifice of God's Messiah Jesus the Son of God compared to the temporary but real remedy for forgiveness of the animal sacrifices under the Law of Moses to cover sins until the Messiah is as follows:
Moreover he (Moses) sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission (forgiveness). ... Nor yet that he (should) offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Hebrews 9:21-22, 25-26
In Romans 3, God through the Apostle Paul mentions in verse 25 a number of benefits from the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God on the cross for those who trust in Him. These are based on that the Lord Jesus was the propitiation or sin penalty payment for all those who trust in Him as our personal Lord and Saviour from our heart. These benefits are not just from Jesus' death on the cross but also in some ways particularly through His shed blood, the blood of the Son of God or God in the flesh that is of infinite value in God's sight, and these benefits include in particular God's righteous basis for the remission or forgiveness of all the sins of those who trust in the Lord Jesus. This is even though we are sinful human beings in the sight of a holy (and loving) God but by His grace is willing to count the righteous payment for our sins of death including shedding of blood by His sinless Son the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross to pay for what we could never pay for ourselves and God's willingness to put that to our account if we trust in His Son the Lord Jesus Christ and His payment for our sins on the cross including forgiveness of all our sins. We may have committed many sins in our lives and these are or would be a large debt and offence to God but His love and grace and payment for our sins by His Son the Lord Jesus Christ are infinitely greater than the debt or offence to God of our sins and can and will be completely forgiven or blotted out if we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ that He died on the cross to pay for all our sins and enable us to achieve a restored relationship with our Creator God. The scripture reference from Romans 3 of forgiveness of all our sins through the Lord Jesus Christ and His payment for all our sins (propitiation) and our placing our faith in Him and His payment for all our sins through His death and shed blood for us on the cross is as follows:
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; Romans 3:25
As Jesus was Jewish according to the flesh he kept many Jewish customs in his first earthly ministy. One of these areas of customs were the Jewish feasts that occurred at different times of the years and were expected to be followed by all Jews. One of these festivals was the Passover that was also associated with the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As Jesus was about to be put to death around the time of the Passover which symbolized God passing over for judgment the Jews in Egypt that put the blood of the passover lamb around their doors it was Jesus used this analogy as did Christians since the beginning of the Church to point to Jesus' death on the cross as a means for Christians to avoid God's judgment for our sins. Jesus also refers to his body broken for you which could also refer to the sacrifice of the bodies of the sacrifical animals in the Old Testament for the sins of the Israelites or as a dedication to God. However Jesus is very clear that the wine or fruit of the vine in the cup was meant to represent his blood shed for the remission or forgiveness of our sins. This was definitely a pattern in the Hebrew scriptures or Old Testament. Although money and other things in the Old Testament are sometimes attributed with the value of atonement, only the blood especially in Leviticus 4 and 5 were attributed with the ability to forgive sins. However in the Old Testament the forgivness from the shedding of blood of the animal sacrifices was only a temporary remedy until the eventual sacrifice of God's only begotton Son and Messiah Jesus of Nazareth on the cross almost 2000 years ago. With this forgivenss through Jesus' blood for those who trust in God through Him we can have the obstacle that hinders or blocks a relationship or fellowship with God removed and come into spiritual union with God and receive his eternal or abundant life. Once we have God's forgiveness through faith in Jesus we have an everlasting relationship with God but fellowship with God can be temporily broken until we confess and forsake our sins through Jesus. Taking part in the Lord's supper, communion or the different version in the Roman Catholic church called the Mass doesn't have any part in removing or bringing forgiveness of our sins but is just an important reminder that our sins were forgiven through Jesus' blood shed on the cross and our placing our faith in Him as our personal Lord and Saviour and that we can remember this when we take part of the bread and wine at the Lord's supper. The scripture from Matthew 26 of the example of the Lord's supper in which Jesus used the wine as a symbol of his blood shed for the forgiveness of our sins is as follows:
And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. Gospel of Matthew 26:26-29
In verse 14 of chapter 1 the word of God says the believer in Jesus Christ has or can have redemption which means to buy back to God from the slave market of sin and the devil through the blood of God's Son Jesus Christ that he shed on the cross for us as a sinless substitute and the blood of God in the flesh - Immanuel. But, related to this redemption through the blood of God's Son Jesus Christ and redemption is forgiveness by which not only are we bought back from the bondage of sin but we are forgiven or all those sins or offences against God also by the blood of God's Son Jesus Christ on the cross. This is a major factor that we can't save ourselves and salvation is only through the substitutionary work of God's Son Jesus Christ that differentiates true Christianity from all other faiths that are invariably at least partly based on good works or the idea that people are inherently good rather than sinful. If we don't have God's forgiveness based on a perfect substitute such as His Son Jesus Christ and have received His as our personal Lord and Saviour God still sees us as sinners and under his judgment instead of under his grace for those who have received His Son Jesus Christ and His payment for our sins on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. The scripture reference from Colossians 1 of forgiveness (and redemption) through the blood of God's Son Jesus Christ is as follows:
In whom (the Lord Jesus Christ God's Son) we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Colossians 1:14
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