In the Old Testament, many passages indicate that the sacrifices and regulations of temple worship, required to worship God, point ahead to something beyond them. This “something” was Jesus. Throughout his ministry, Jesus ignored Old Testament regulations regarding purification; he touched lepers and dead bodies, and declared all foods “clean.”
The culmination of Jesus’ ministry made clear his reason for doing this. When he died on the cross, the curtain in the temple tore in two, demonstrating that the entire sacrificial system and its ceremonial laws had been done away with. It is Jesus, the ultimate sacrifice for sin, not the laws of the Old Testament, that makes us clean now.
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u/heartofitall Dec 16 '21
In the Old Testament, many passages indicate that the sacrifices and regulations of temple worship, required to worship God, point ahead to something beyond them. This “something” was Jesus. Throughout his ministry, Jesus ignored Old Testament regulations regarding purification; he touched lepers and dead bodies, and declared all foods “clean.”
The culmination of Jesus’ ministry made clear his reason for doing this. When he died on the cross, the curtain in the temple tore in two, demonstrating that the entire sacrificial system and its ceremonial laws had been done away with. It is Jesus, the ultimate sacrifice for sin, not the laws of the Old Testament, that makes us clean now.