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Perhaps God intended that animal sacrifice teach us about how costly our sin is, and that we are never the only one affected by our sin. Not only did an innocent animal have to die, but it was a female lamb -- meaning that many more animal lives would be lost because that lamb would never be able to reproduce since it was being slaughtered; but also, a priest had to become involved too by actually touching the blood of the lamb and putting it on the horns of the altar. As for God's holiness -- animal sacrifice teaches us that sin MUST be dealt with, He can't just "wink" at it and forget about it. As for God's nature -- animal sacrifice teaches us much about His mercy and grace and love -- He provided a way where justice could be rendered for sinful man, where sinful man could never do that on his own.

God's provision of animal sacrifice for forgiveness of sin was an expression of His mercy because He never needed to forgive us at all. He could of just allowed us to pay the price ourselves for our sins -- death and eternal separation from Him. The animal sacrifices were never actually adequate to atone for our sins though because the "lesser" animal can't substitute for the "greater" human being. We needed Someone greater than ourselves. Imagine God, being the One who calls for justice, and stepping in as the One who justifies us! I can hardly fathom so great a love and such mercy.

The basic elements involved in a sacrifice for sin are: Confession of Sin A female lamb without defect One who sinned must lay his hand on head of animal to be slain(identification with and transference of sin) One who sinned must slaughter the animal Priest take some of the blood with his fingers and put on horns of altar, pouring out rest of blood at base of altar Burn fat of lamb Meat eaten by priest The parts that are still necessary today are confession of the sin, and identification with Jesus, our perfect Lamb, realizing that in Him comes the atonement for our sins. Animal sacrifice is no longer necessary, since Christ is the only One who could truly take away our sins.

Animal sacrifice is probably repulsive to modern day people because we love animals so much. I just watched a TV show on "Animal Planet" where incredible rescues were made of all sorts of animals. Much time, money, energy, etc. was put into saving these animals -- both pets and wild animals. But, because they are living creatures, we do what we can to protect them. I think in some respects it stems from our "city" rather than farming upbringing -- but even on farms -- animals are slaughtered for food, etc. -- something which God has allowed. Really -- the whole problem with animal sacrifice is that a perfect, innocent animal would have to die because of OUR sin -- nothing that the animimal had done. Sadly, very often for us (as it was for them -- see Jer. 7:21-26) our hearts become hard, and we forget that innocent blood was shed on our behalf. The punishment we deserve fell on Someone else -- an innocent Lamb. Perhaps we would sin a little less -- or take it much less lightly if we could truly picture ourselves placing our hands upon the head of Jesus, then slaying Him, each time we sin.

Anger is an appropriate repsonse to sin because it is deeply offensive to holy God. Sin is a perverting of God's law -- all that is holy, righteous and good. And it is rebellion. When my children don't do what I ask them to do, I get angry because they have chosen to ignore me - the parent, who they should respect and obey. How much more should we obey God, who created us, and the world in which we live. This is all for Him -- not ourselves. The difference between uncontrolled anger and anger that brings about justice is that one typically acts out of emotion (usually the way I respond because my pride has most likely been wounded to some degree), and one is completely just and right anger -- i.e., the sin is wrong and must be atoned for in the just way God has ordained. Righteous anger is much more "matter of fact" -- it is always about the wrongness of the offense.

John's statement about the Lamb of God refers to sacrifice because lambs were commonly used by Jews for sacrifices to obtain forgiveness of sin. And since John coupled his statement with "who takes away the sins of the world", it confirms that he was referring to Jesus as the sacrifice. The comprehensiveness of "sins of the world" was so radical a concept - on one level because in the system of sacrifices, it was one lamb for one person's sin. So, that this Lamb could remove the sins "of the world" was something very different. Also, the Jews were always God's chosen ones. That He would extend this removal of sins to the "world", all mankind, was incredible.

Hi everyone! My name is Gayle - I live in Illinois and am married with 4 children. I was reading the other day in Revelation chapter 5 -- and this verse caught my attention. "Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain..." (vs.6) I began to wonder what would happen in my life if I truly could see this Lamb before me. How would my actions change? My thoughts? My love for others? My willingness to share the gospel? Just as a brief example -- I eat too much. I am a glutton. But what if, the next time I reached for food that my body didn't need -- what if, I saw with my heart, this "Lamb" who was slain, for me -- to set me free from this sin? And so began my search to find out all about this Lamb that I could. That is when I came across this study. I am looking forward to getting "re-acquatined" with the Lamb who was slain for me.