“You shall put your hand on its head, and it will be accepted as a sacrifice to take away your sins.” (Leviticus 1:4)
This was the Law that the Jews had to follow. It’s the transfer of sin to the sacrifice. The elder had to “lean hard,” with his hand on its head. It’s representative of the transfer of our sin to Jesus which was to come. We “lean on” and rely by faith on the transfer of our sin on Jesus when we accepted Him as our substitute. And by faith we accepted that forgiveness of our sin. “Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made Him share our sin in order that in union with Him we might share the righteousness of God.” (2Corinthians 5:21)
So many miraculous things happened in that instant we made Jesus our Lord and Savior. We were given the righteousness of Jesus. We were changed from God’s enemy, to His friend. “We were God's enemies, but He made us His friends through the death of His Son. Now that we are God's friends, how much more will we be saved by Christ's life! But that is not all; we rejoice because of what God has done through our Lord Jesus Christ, who has now made us God's Friends.” (Romans 5:10-11) We were accepted into God’s family as His child with all the rights and inheritance of Jesus. “Since we are His children, we will possess the blessings He keeps for His people, and we will also possess with Christ what God has kept for Him; for if we share Christ's suffering, we will also share His glory.” (Romans 8:17)
Paul divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit writes what appears to be the conversation between Jesus and the Father concerning the sacrifice of innocent animals. The sacrifice was made yearly because it didn’t satisfy the wrath for sin. But Jesus and His shed Blood was sufficient for all past, present and future sins of the whole world. “The Jewish Law is not a full and faithful model of the real things; it is only a faint outline of the good things to come. The same sacrifices are offered forever, year after year. How can the Law, then, by means of these sacrifices make perfect the people who come to God? If the people worshiping God had really been purified from their sins, they would not feel guilty of sin any more, and all sacrifices would stop. As it is, however, the sacrifices serve year after year to remind people of their sins. For the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sins. For this reason, when Christ was about to come into the world, He said to God: "You do not want sacrifices and offerings, but You have prepared a body for me. You are not pleased with animals burned whole on the altar or with sacrifices to take away sins. Then I said, 'Here I am, to do Your will, O God, just as it is written of Me in the book of the Law.' " First, He said, "You neither want nor are you pleased with sacrifices and offerings or with animals burned on the altar and the sacrifices to take away sins." He said this even though all these sacrifices are offered according to the Law. Then He said, "Here I am, O God, to do your will." So God does away with all the old sacrifices and puts the sacrifice of Christ in their place. Because Jesus Christ did what God wanted Him to do, we are all purified from sin by the offering that He made of His own body once and for all. Every Jewish priest performs his services every day and offers the same sacrifices many times; but these sacrifices can never take away sins. Christ, however, offered one sacrifice for sins, an offering that is effective forever, and then He sat down at the right side of God.” (Hebrews 10:1-12)
Why was it necessary that Jesus all God and all man had to be the sacrifice that would satisfy the wrath for sin? It had to be a human with the man nature be the sacrifice because it was that man nature that had sinned that had to be put to death. But God requires a pure and sinless sacrifice. A man who had sinned could not himself pay for others. It had to be God because only God is sinless. Jesus was all man and all God. He was all man in body and soul (mind, will, emotions). But He was all God in spirit. When we come to Jesus, we receive that pure and holy spirit. But unlike Jesus our body and soul has been influenced by the flesh. That is what the Lord works to complete in us. “And so I am sure that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it on until it is finished on the Day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)
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