Comment on the sacrificial system
Patriarchs & Prophets
068.001
The sacrificial offerings were
ordained by God to be to man a perpetual reminder and a
penitential acknowledgment of his sin and a confession of his
faith in the promised Redeemer. They were intended to impress
upon the fallen race the solemn truth that it was sin that caused
death. To Adam, the offering of the first sacrifice was a most
painful ceremony. His hand must be raised to take life, which
only God could give. It was the first time he had ever witnessed
death, and he knew that had he been obedient to God, there would
have been no death of man or beast. As he slew the innocent
victim, he trembled at the thought that his sin must shed the
blood of the spotless Lamb of God. This scene gave him a deeper
and more vivid sense of the greatness of his transgression, which
nothing but the death of God's dear Son could expiate. And he
marveled at the infinite goodness that would give such a ransom
to save the guilty. A star of hope illumined the dark and
terrible future and relieved it of its utter desolation. [Return to "Origin
of Sanctuary"].