LESSON 4
FOUNDATIONAL TRUTH
SUBSTITUTION AND OLD TESTAMENT OFFERINGS A substitute is a person or thing acting in the place of another. Substitution in the Bible goes all the way back to Genesis 3 when God killed an animal to cover Adam and Eve’s shame after the fall. The due payment for their sin was death, and that animal died in their place. We see this principle through- out the Mosaic law, in which God gave His people a substitute to pay the price for their sin in the form of the sacrifice of animals. In this way, blood was shed to atone for man’s sin, and God brought them back into proper relationship with Himself. There are five main types of sacrifices in the Mosaic law: the burnt offering, the grain offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offer- ing. Each had specific guidelines and purposes; the first three were voluntary, while the sin and trespass offering were mandatory. The last two provided atonement for sin through substitution. The law revealed God’s holiness and man’s inability to be holy, and these blood sacrifices were a clear lesson in the seriousness of sin. The sacrificial system pointed to the need for a savior who could die in man’s place and release him from the bondage and penalty of sin. Jesus Christ is that Savior and the ultimate sacrifice. His work on the cross has fulfilled the law, achieving substitutionary atonement for all the sins of all those who put their faith in Him. God will declare believers “not guilty” on judgment day, and they will live forever with Him. 15 4. Imagine how fulfilling it was for the people to participate corporately in worship! They could confess their sin and experience an innocent animal shedding its blood and dying in their place. Imagine their joy of experienc- ing forgiveness, following God’s instructions, and restoring their covenant relationship with Him.
Make these passages your prayer:
Paul wrote, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” —Romans 12:1 “Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in
15 “What were the various sacrifices in the Old Testament?” Got Questions: Your Questions, Biblical Answers. March 2025. https://www.gotquestions.org/Old-Testament-sacrifices.html
Ezra 3:1–4:24 | 45
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