Leviticus 16: 15-19, “Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel. And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.”)
The Lord told Adam that on the day that he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would die. (Gen 2: 17, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”) On the day that Adam and Eve ate that fruit they did die spiritually because they lost their personal relationship with God. On that day, too, the Lord killed animals as substitutes for they were clothed in animal skins and it is impossible to take an animal skin without killing an animal (Gen 3: 21, “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”) Later, the Lord told Noah that the life of an animal or a person was in their blood (Gen 9: 4, 5, “But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.”) If we take these two fact together we can see that one life can be taken in exchange for another and if blood is shed then a life is taken. This is why it was so important that the blood of the sacrifice should be sprinkled around. There would be no doubt that the animal was dead and the animal’s life was taken as a substitute for the life of a sinner.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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