Sacrifice: The offering up of sacrifices is to be regarded as a divine
institution. It did not originate with man. God himself appointed it
as the mode in which acceptable worship was to be offered to him by
guilty man. The language and the idea of sacrifice pervade the whole
Bible. Sacrifices were offered in the ante-diluvian age. The Lord
clothed Adam and Eve with the skins of animals, which in all
probability had been offered in sacrifice
(Genesis 3:21) Abel offered a
sacrifice "of the firstlings of his flock"
(Genesis 4:4; Hebrews 11:4) A
distinction also was made between clean and unclean animals, which
there is every reason to believe had reference to the offering up of
sacrifices
(Genesis 7:2,8) because animals were not given to man as food
till after the Flood. The same practice is continued down through the
patriarchal age
(Genesis 8:20; 12:7; 13:4,18; 15:9-11; 22:1-18) etc.). In the
Mosaic period of Old Testament history definite laws were prescribed
by God regarding the different kinds of sacrifices that were to be
offered and the manner in which the offering was to be made. The
offering of stated sacrifices became indeed a prominent and
distinctive feature of the whole period
(Exodus 12:3-27; Leviticus 23:5-8)
(Numbers 9:2-14)
(See ALTAR)
We learn from the Epistle to the Hebrews that sacrifices had in
themselves no value or efficacy. They were only the "shadow of good
things to come," and pointed the worshippers forward to the coming of
the great High Priest, who, in the fullness of the time, "was offered
once for all to bear the sin of many." Sacrifices belonged to a
temporary economy, to a system of types and emblems which served their
purposes and have now passed away. The "one sacrifice for sins" hath
"perfected for ever them that are sanctified." Sacrifices were of two
kinds:
1. Unbloody, such as:
a. first-fruits and tithes;
b. meat and drink-offerings; and
c. incense.
2. Bloody, such as
a. burnt-offerings;
b. peace-offerings; and
c. sin and trespass offerings.
