December 16th
Daily Reading
Exodus 12:46
Each Passover lamb must be eaten in one house. Do not carry any of its meat outside, and do not break any of its bones.
Psalm 34:20
For the Lord protects the bones of the righteous;
not one of them is broken!
John 19:33-36
But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs. One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out. (This report is from an eyewitness giving an accurate account. He speaks the truth so that you also may continue to believe.) These things happened in fulfillment of the Scriptures that say, “Not one of his bones will be broken…”
(Readings taken from Bible Gateway, https://www.biblegateway.com/ New Living Translation)
It is Finished
Having spent weeks considering the Old Testament prophecies that point to the coming Messiah, it seems right to today ponder ‘why was blood the necessary atonement for sin?’
It is a big theological and philosophical question that we couldn’t possibly unpack and resolve in a swift daily devotional. It is, never-the-less, a thread worth contemplating.
On November 25th in the reading, “Unto us a child is Born” I wrote:
“But the audacious and extravagant love of our Father, the same Father who dressed Adam and Eve’s naked bodies in animal hides to minimize their shame, enacted a plan.”
Here lies a clue. The act of God to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness, to mercifully choose to minimize their shame, comes at a cost. The cost is the sacrifice of the first animals. Their death momentarily allows Adam and Eve to feel sinless.
And so begins a long history of sacrificial atonement which endeavours to repair, through the innocent life of another, what has been ruptured. In the Levitical Law the Israelite people are instructed:
“…for the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the Lord. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible.”
It is, ultimately, an incomplete and insufficient system. Because whilst this atonement may act as restitution, it doesn’t permanently recalibrate our flawed DNA. Painting ourselves with the blood of another doesn’t transform us into that thing. The death of one innocent life doesn’t remove my selfish desires, it simply masks what lives under the surface. Eventually, the blood fades and my sinful heart is again exposed.
In the Exodus 12 reference, we see a prophecy immediately embedded into the practice of atonement. God knew that animal sacrifice was an inadequate solution. A temporary response. The ritual of Passover was a prophetic act, adopting a tradition that would one day make sense in the redemptive plan of God.
Through Jesus’ act of sacrifice, we are no longer clothed in an animal hide, our shame partially covered. Instead, Isaiah declares:
“I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God!
For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation
and draped me in a robe of righteousness.
I am like a bridegroom dressed for his wedding
or a bride with her jewels.” (Isaiah 61:10)
By the work of the Spirit, we are continually renewed. Our struggle is no longer against flesh and blood because we have been recalibrated in Christ. We are clothed in righteousness, salvation, peace, and truth. No more blood. No more sacrifice.
“It is finished.” (John 19:30)
