Ministerial Conference Outline #1

Here is an outline of a lecture I will be giving at the Christ Church Ministerial Conference later this month. In addition to some new material, it includes material from various earlier outlines and notes posted on this site.

INTRODUCTION
Scripture teaches that Jesus?Edeath was a sacrifice (Ephesians 5:2; Hebrews 9:26; 10:1-12; etc.). When the NT writers describe Jesus?Ework as a sacrifice, they have the OT sacrificial system in mind. In most presentations, the focus of attention is on the expiatory value of the sacrifices and of Jesus?Esacrifice. But Levitical sacrifices involved more than expiation. To understand fully how Jesus?Efulfills the types and shadows of the Levitical law, we need to examine the whole sacrificial sequence.

EXODUS TO SINAI
Israel?s exodus from Egypt passed through several stages, climaxing in the covenant-making event at Sinai. The progression was marked at key points by sacrifices. First, there was the Passover, when the Israelites slaughtered lambs and spread the blood on the doorposts of their Egyptian homes (Exodus 12). After they passed through the water of the Sea of Reeds (Exodus 14), they gathered at Mount Sinai and were cleansed and consecrated (Exodus 19:10, 14). Moses ascended into the cloud and Yahweh spoke to him about the terms of the covenant (Exodus 19-23). Then the people took an oath to keep the covenant (Exodus 24:3), and the young men offered burnt offerings (or, better, ?ascension offerings?E and peace offerings (Exodus 24:5-8). Finally, Moses, Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel ascended Sinai for a sacrificial meal (Exodus 24:9-11).

ASCENT TO GOD
Israel?s initial covenant-making involved sacrifice, and every sacrifice that Israel offered repeated and recapitulated the initial covenant-making event. We can see this by looking at the ritual of the ?ascension?Eoffering in Leviticus 1. (?Ascension?Eis a better translation of the Hebrew name for this offering, ?olah , which comes from a verb that means ?to go up, to
ascend.)

Notice the sequence of this offering:
-The worshiper brings an animal to the door of the tabernacle (v. 3).
-The worship leans his hand on the head of the animal, designating the animal as his representative and substitute (v. 4). This corresponds to the setting aside of the Passover lamb (Exodus 12:3-6).
-The worshiper slays the animal (v. 5). This corresponds to the slaughter of the Passover lamb (Exodus 12:6).
-The priest splashes blood on the altar (v. 5). This corresponds to putting the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts of the house (Exodus 12:7).
-The priest stokes up the fire on the altar (v. 7). By this, the altar becomes a small-scale representation of Sinai, which was crowned with a flaming cloud (Exodus 19:16).
-The worshiper washes portions of the animal (v. 9). This corresponds to Israel?s passage through the water. It is a baptism.
-Then the priest puts the washed portions of the animal onto the altar fire, which turns the animal to smoke (v. 9). This corresponds to Moses?Eascent into the cloud as a representative of Israel.

Thus, whenever an Israelite offered an animal offering, he was recapitulating the history of Israel?s exodus and covenant-making at Sinai. Through this, he renewed covenant with Yahweh. Jesus fulfills this by His ?new exodus?E?EHis death at Passover, His crossing from death to life, and His ascent to the ?promised land?Eof the Father.

FOOD FOR ISRAEL
The sequence of actions for the peace offering recapitulates Israel?s history and foreshadows Jesus?Ework with a different emphasis. Note the sequence of the peace offering (Leviticus 3; 7:11-34):

-The worshiper sets apart the animal by laying a hand of its head, corresponding to the Passover (v. 2).
-The worshiper slays the animal at the doorway (v. 2). The association of slaughter and doorway reminds us again of Passover.
-Blood is presented on the altar (v. 2), as blood was presented before the Lord on the doorposts of the house.
-The priest prepares the internal organs and fat for the altar (vv. 3-4), and then turns them to smoke on the altar (v. 5). Again, this represents the ascension of Moses into the cloud at Sinai.
-The flesh is distributed among the priests, the officiating priest, and the worshiper (7:15-18, 31-34), and they have a meal. This corresponds to the meal of Moses, Aaron, and the elders on Sinai (Exodus 24:9-11).

Again, ?sacrifice?Emeans not only the shedding of blood and expiation, but also ascent and feasting.

PURIFICATION, ASCENT, MEAL
Some passages of the Old Testament describe a sequence of different sacrifices. Looking at some of these passages, a similar point emerges. During the ordination rite for Aaron and his sons, Moses first offering a ?sin?Eor ?purification?Eoffering (Leviticus 8:14-17), then an ascension offering (Leviticus 8:18-21), and finally the ?ram of ordination?E(literally, ?ram of filling?E, which was a form of peace offering (Leviticus 8:22-29). We know this was a kind of peace offering because Aaron and his sons ate portions of the offering (Leviticus 8:31-36), and Israelite laymen were only permitted to eat of the peace offering. We find the same sequence in the rite to end a Nazirite vow (Number 6:14), and a similar sequence in 2 Chronicles 29:20-36.

This sequence makes sense when we consider the meaning of these various sacrifices: Purification offerings are for cleansing, and the blood of a purification ?opens a way?Einto God?s presence. Ascension offerings represent the ascent of the worshiper into the presence of God. In a peace offering, an animal is slaughtered for a meal. This sequence, like the others, repeats the basic sequence of Passover, Exodus, and Ascent to Sinai, meal in God?s presence. Jesus has finally and fully recapitulated Israel?s history, and has ascended to the right hand of the Father. That ?sacrifice?Ebrings in the New Covenant.

CONCLUSION
Old Testament sacrifices were indeed expiations, cleansing sin through the death of a substitute, but that was only one moment of a larger sacrificial sequence. Biblically, to speak of Jesus?Ework as ?sacrificial?Emeans not only that He was put to death for our sins; Christ?s ?sacrifice?Eembraces His resurrection, ascension, Pentecost, and Eucharist. To speak of Christ?s sacrifice is to say that He achieved atonement by passing through death into the presence of His Father.

Further, seeking to understand Jesus?Ework in the light of the Levitical system means that sacrifice is a liturgical act; if the atonement was sacrificial, then it was an act of worship. How does an act of worship by the Incarnate Son atone for sin? Exploring this question may bring us close to Thomas Aquinas, who taught that Christ?s supreme act of reconciling obedience was a supreme and redeeming Eucharist. Jesus?Emain explanation of His death occurred at the Last Supper, and that may be more significant than Protestants, at least, have realized.