The Problem Demanded It

Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the LORD. Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the LORD: twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the temple of the LORD. – 1 Kings 8:62-63.

It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. – Hebrews 9:23.

Europeans had to develop a ship different from anything known when they seriously undertook ocean travel and discovery. Prince Henry the Navigator’s shipwrights built it—the caravel. It was big enough to hold the supplies for a crew of twenty, yet had a shallow enough draft to explore inshore waters. It turned quickly in the wind and thus saved weeks at sea. It could be beached for repair. Columbus’ ships were of caravel design.

While content with merely remitting sins annually, God authorized the repeated sacrifice of animals for their blood. When God wanted to offer a completed, permanent forgiveness that emancipated sinners, he brought an entirely new idea into the world that would replace animal sacrifice—the death of Jesus Christ. Uncontaminated by sin, his pure and authoritative sacrifice forgave a humanity thoroughly saturated by sin. His sacrifice effected a perfect reconciliation between humanity and God.

Courtesy of Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations by Virgil Hurley © 1995 by Word, Incorporated.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV © 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by permission. All rights reserved.