Sometimes ignorance is born of an arrogance that leads someone to think mankind can achieve holiness by self effort. Misplaced Confidence is usually rooted in pride and arrogance.
Fact is no one is made holy by behavior. The reason is we would have to be able to change ourselves into being holy at our core, we would have to be able to change our very nature otherwise any attempt at holiness would be tainted by our unholy state of being.
Being holy is more of a source problem than a behavior problem. Behavior is a byproduct of who we are at our core. Self righteousness denies that source is an issue. This is why God hates self righteousness in any form. It is a denial of the truth concerning the sin nature inherent in mankind which is the real reason for our inability to be holy without Christ.
So God gave Israel the Law and made sure they understood that to offend in just one tiny thing was to offend in everything. So for these Israelites there had to be a means of addressing the sin problem that was about to be made amazingly evident by the entrance of the law. How can already sinful man rid himself of sin?
Under the Old Covenant the means of handling sin involved continual sacrifices being offered and an annual atonement sacrifice made by the High Priest for the sins of the people once a year.
Animal blood was used to purge the holy articles made by human hands because they were tainted as a result of being made by sinful man and thus under the Law they had to be purged with blood.
So the High Priest had to be cleansed and also had to cleanse the articles of worship before going into the Holy of Holies to offer a sacrifice for the sins of the people.
Hebrews 9:21 And in the same way, he sprinkled blood on the Tabernacle and on everything used for worship. 22 In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. 23 That is why the Tabernacle and everything in it, which were copies of things in heaven, had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things in heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals.
About The Author
- Tim Atchley
- Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
- I currently serve as Senior Pastor of Harvest Church in Knoxville, Tn. I was sent out from Trinity Chapel of Knoxville in 1993 accompanied by my wife Sheila our four children Sarah, Hannah, Josiah & Isaac and a handful of bold, brave and committed believers determined to plant our first church. Pioneering is hard work but well worth the journey. That is why we desire to make disciples of Christ who will, like us, also embrace the call to plant churches.
