The Blood of the Lamb
Understanding the Levitical Sacrificial System
At nearly every Divine Service we hear the words “shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,” and we sing, “Lamb of God, You take away the sin of the world.” That vocabulary was not invented by the Church. God gave it to Israel at Sinai, in the book of Leviticus, and the apostles wrote assuming their readers knew it.
Three Sundays to recover that language, so the words we say every week strike us again with their full weight.
You bring nothing to this altar. Christ has brought everything. Come and receive.
The three sessions
Session one · Sunday, September 13
Shadow and Substance
The Sacrificial System and Its Fulfillment in Christ
Leviticus 1:1–9; 4:27–35; 5:14–16 · Leviticus 17:11 · Hebrews 10:1–14
Three offerings address three dimensions of sin. The Burnt Offering answers separation. The Sin Offering answers defilement. The Guilt Offering answers debt. One verse unlocks the whole system, and Hebrews 10 draws the conclusion by setting a priest who never sits against a King who does.
The Levitical priest never sat down. There was no chair in the Tabernacle. The work was never finished. Christ sat down.
Session two · Sunday, September 20
Behind the Veil
The Day of Atonement and the Torn Curtain
Leviticus 16 · Hebrews 9:6–14 · Hebrews 10:19–22
The holiest day on the Israelite calendar, when the high priest passed through the curtain alone and the people waited outside to learn whether he came out alive. Two goats were required: one slain, one driven into the wilderness. Christ fulfills both, and Hebrews then declares the veil torn.
What once demanded the most elaborate precautions is now open to every baptized believer. How did we get from a restricted inner room to an open invitation?
Session three · Sunday, September 27
Holy as I Am Holy
Clean, Unclean, and the Holiness of the Baptized
Leviticus 11 and 19 · Mark 7 · Acts 10 · 1 Peter 1
Clean and unclean were never a health code. They were a daily curriculum in holiness, taught through what a man ate and what he touched. Jesus declares all foods clean, Peter learns on a rooftop that the vision was about people rather than menus, and the holiness command comes to rest on the baptized.
Gentiles who never kept a single food law are summoned to holiness in the very words God spoke to Israel at Sinai.
Why This Matters
The cross cannot be understood apart from the altar. Atonement, propitiation, ransom, the blood of the Lamb: these are Levitical words. When Scripture uses them, it expects readers who have been to Sinai.
Leviticus 17:11 settles the direction of sacrifice. God says, “I have given it for you.” The blood is not a bribe carried by frightened men to an angry deity. The blood is God’s own provision, given so that guilty people may live in His presence. The nations had it backwards. Israel was taught the truth.
Hebrews 10 draws the conclusion. Every Levitical priest stood, day after day, offering sacrifices that could never take away sins. Christ offered one sacrifice for sins forever, then sat down. The posture is the doctrine. Nothing remains to be added.
What to Bring
A Bible. Nothing else. No prior study is required, and no book must be purchased. Every session comes with a printable student guide, free to download here or handed to you at the door.
Questions about attending? Write to Scott Jones at [email protected].
Three Sessions, One Argument
These three Sundays build on one another. The first establishes the grammar of sacrifice, the second carries that grammar behind the veil on the Day of Atonement, and the third follows the holiness command out of the sanctuary and into ordinary life.
Come to all three if you can. Come to one if that is what you have. Bring a guest; questions are welcome at every point.
Teaching this series?
Request the teacher edition for answer keys, Lutheran commentary notes, and session preparation guidance. Free to any pastor, teacher, or Bible study leader.