Other references to the sacrificial system
include: Le 7:12; 1Ch 16:8, 34; 2Ch 5:12-13; 7:3-6; Ezra 3:11; Ps 107:22;
116:17; 136:1; Isa 12:4; Jer 7:34; 16:9; 25:10; and 33:7 From these and other Scriptures we get our
understanding of the sacrificial system and its connection to the presentation
of our musical offerings unto God. There
were many reasons why sacrifices were presented unto God—among them was the
sacrifice of praise. Jesus became our permanent sacrifice for sin and therefore
superseded the need for the shedding of the blood of animals. I see no place in the New Testament where
Christ’s sacrificial death did away with the need for Christians to present God
with musical sacrifices of praise and I have no philosophical objection to
calling our sacred musicing sacrificial
musical offerings.
This
sacrificial system mentioned in the Old Testament was very prescriptive in
nature. For instance, Leviticus 4:2
states, “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through
ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which
ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them: If the priest that is anointed do sin
according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he
hath sinned, a young bullock without
blemish unto the LORD for a sin offering.”
Notice that this offering was prescribed by YHVH to be a lamb “without
blemish”. The sacrificial system
instituted in in Ancient Israel was quite involved and included various
acceptable sacrifices for different occasions and under different circumstances. A careful study of the requirements for
these sacrifices reveals that every sacrifice had the prescriptive requirement
of being the best sacrifice the worshiper had to offer.
No comments:
Post a Comment