The whole scene in Leviticus – with its concern for blood, priests, ritual – is strange to modern people. Just how can killing a goat make things right between God and people? Is the sacrifice of an animal really enough to ‘pay for’ our mistakes and sins? [...]
For us these sacrifices seem outmoded primarily because one great sacrifice – that of God’s own Son –outdid them all. The animal sacrifices were not enough, ultimately, to pay for human sin. They prepared the way for a sacrifice that was.
The cost of an animal was substantial, but the true cost, even for us, is infinitely greater. Yet we don’t have to pay the cost. Jesus paid it all.
