He was crucified,  . . . 

     The way the old covenant was designed, there had to be a shedding of blood to “atone” for the sin of a man or nation. The first sacrifice took place on the day of the fall. Adam and Eve saw their nakedness and tried to cover themselves with leaves. God decided that they needed something better, so He provided them with animal skins. In other words, the animal had to die in order to “cover their nakedness”.

     Many others may be able to explain why some sacrifices had to be doves, others a lamb and still others a heifer. I don’t know. But there can be no quesiton that a sacrifice had to be made to cover sin.

     There are thousands of scriptural references pertaining to sacrificing, but the best place to examine the practice of atonement is the annual event that the Jews called “The Day of Atonement”. You can find the details of this yearly event in Leviticus 16. A whole book could be written about this subject, but for the purposes of this one, I will only touch on the most basic parts.

     The Day of Atonement was designed to cleanse the children of Israelof all their uncleanliness for the previous year. It’s pretty intense, this day. First of all, Aaron (the high priest) had to make a sacrifice for himself and his household. Then he had to make a sacrifice for all the children of Israel. This was the only day in the whole year that he was allowed to go into the Holy of Holies – the place where the ark of the covenant was located in the holy tabernacle. If Aaron went inside this part of the tabernacle at any other time he would have died.

     For that matter, the robes that Aaron wore had little bells sewn into the hem so that he would make noise when he moved around. When Aaron went into the Holy of Holies, he went alone and on behalf of all of Israel. This is why he had to first make a personal sacrifice to “cover” himself. He had to be “clean” in order to enter into the presence of God, who appeared in a cloud abover the mercy seat of the ark. Aaron had to tie a rope around his ankle, so that if he had not done all that he was supposed to do and died in the Holy of Holies, the people could pull him out – lest they get too close to God and die, too.

     After Aaron made the necessary sacrifices before God for the people, he came back outside and finished the ceremony with the people. Again, this process was carried out once a year. This day of atonement was like a contract that pardoned the children of Israel for one year.

     The old testament was a covenant – a contract between God and His people, with rules, laws and regulations that the people had to live by in order to have relationship with their God. As we have already covered, this old way of living was like a tutor to show mankind that they simply couldn’t do it. So God began, even before the foundations of the earth, to set a plan in motion to “do away with” the old and bring in the new. He realized that the sacrifice of bulls, goats, rams and sheep wouldn’t be sufficient for a one-time sacrifice to cover all mankind for all time.

     Hebrews 10 shows us clearly why Jesus’ becoming the sacrificial lamb (Jn. 1:29) was necessary. We’ve already clarified that He was worthy to be a spotless lamb – clean before God due to His qualifications. The writer to the Hebrews  had this to say:

     The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming – not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshippers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

     Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings You were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am – it is written about Me in the scroll – I have come to do Your will, O God.’ “

     First He said, “sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not desire, nor were You pleased with them” (although the law required them to be made). Then He said “Here I am, I have come to do Your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

     Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest (Jesus) had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time He waits for His enemies to be made His footstool, because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. (1-14)

     Then He adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more (Jer. 31:34) And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. (17-18)

     Jesus Christ filled all the qualifications to be “worthy” of being a spotless sacrifice – once of all. It was necessary that He die in order to make a way for us to be seen as “clean” or “covered” before a holy God. He truly was the lamb of God.