Jesus in the Old Testament is a series of posts that will offer my readers a chance to consider pictures or shadows of Jesus in the Old Testament. As mentioned in the introduction to this series, some may be obvious, some may be not so obvious, and some may simply be a facet of the Lord those reading may not have considered previously.

I hope as we venture through this series, we will see the Lord in many wonderful pictures throughout the Old Testament.

Early on in the Word, any place could be an altar, and Abraham in his travels built many altars. I often think of altars as places of quietness, calmness and peace. For those in the Old Testament, this might not be such an accurate picture, for the word altar, in the Old Testament can literally be translated as “a place of slaughter”.

I may have mentioned this in a previous blog, but my son took it upon himself to read through the Bible in a month, and in the reading, as he got through Leviticus, he made the following statement. Dang – those priest’s in the temple were more like butchers than religious priests today!

Sharp boy, that son of mine! He saw that the altar was a place of slaughter, blood and death. The slaughter of any animal has got to be a violent, possibly noisy endeavor, not to mention the gushing of blood, the experience of a life ending and the impact on the conscious of the one sacrificing.

The New Testament is no different, for it also refers to a place of slaughter. I am not convinced that the Altar was any less bloody during times of sacrifice, or that the practice was “sanitized” much from early times. To sacrifice an animal would be the forcing of one’s will upon a helpless victim, an animal with no choice.

Consider Jesus, who was not only the sacrifice, but the High Priest of the New Covenant. He officiated over His own sacrifice, and was the One who orchestrated the time, place and extent of His sacrifice.

He is the ultimate altar builder, and as such has eliminated the blood letting for His worshippers. There is no altar for the believer, no place to sacrifice an animal to appease God. This is an ultimate insult to consider this as being an acceptable approach to God. Our altar is Him, and our approach to the altar is to be in a state of humility, teachableness and with a thankful spirit.

Abraham was a shadow, but Jesus is the reality. Look to the Only Sacrifice offered up for your life!

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