Answering 439 Bible Contradictions
Answer: The animal sacrifices of the Old Testament only symbolized the need for Jesus Christ, the perfect sacrifice, to take away sin.
Problem: Dozens of passages in Leviticus say that animal sacrifices made “atonement” and forgave sin (e.g. Lv. 4:31, 35), while Hebrews 10 says it is “impossible” for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (v. 4).
Explanation: In the Old Testament, a holy God established the sacrificial system to show that He would forgive sinners that had repented in their hearts (Num. 15:27-28). The various blood sacrifices never contained the power to remove or forgive sins but rather pictured the purging of sin as the animals were burnt upon the altar. The death of an animal showed the seriousness of sin.
However, if the hearts of the people were not contrite and devoted to the Lord, the sacrifice was meaningless. To these rebels the Lord said: “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them” (Amos 5:21-22).
These bloody sacrifices never ended because the sins of Israel never ended. Year after year, thousands of priests sacrificed animals because of the people’s sins. This shadowy activity looked ahead to the Messiah, the Great High Priest who would become the perfect substitute for His people. He became the Lamb of God that would take away the sin of the world (Jn. 1:29). Hebrews was written to show that Jesus’s sacrifice in the New Covenant was “better” than every aspect of the Old Testament sacrificial system.
Jesus sat down, to show that after his cross-work, the word of atonement was done, never to be repeated. Protestants don’t wear crucifixes, in part, because they believe in the once-for-all work of Christ on the cross, not a continual sacrifice found in the Mass. Thus, Hebrews 10:11-12 can say: “Every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.”