The Bloody Substitute

Why is there so much blood in the Bible? It's all over the place, like a Jackson Pollock painting. From Genesis to Revelation there's mention of blood: shed it, don't shed it, don't drink it, don't spill it, Jesus shed it. Blood, blood, blood.

But really. Why all the talk? And why did animals have to die? Why did people the world over sacrifice beasts, and even men?

Because "the life is in the blood". If you bleed too much, you die. Not enough blood equals death. Poisoned blood means death too. Blood is precious, both literally and figuratively. Life is precious to God. He made that clear when Noah got off the Ark. "If any man shed's another man's blood, by man must his blood be shed." (Death penalty)
Blood is important.

 Then, why sacrifice animals if blood is so precious? Why is it that people all over the globe from many different cultures felt the need to sacrifice to their gods?
Because they knew they offended them. They knew in their hearts that the gods were offended and wanted to offer up a substitute in their place. See, something has to die for our sin, for our offenses. So animals were used. And when the sin was grievous enough, humans were sacrificed, because a human is more valuable than a goat. This better sacrifice would placate the local god, for the good of the society.

Sacrificing did not originate in Babylon or Sumer, but in the Garden of Eden. Something died to cover up the first two real people. From then on, men sacrificed to Yawheh as a reminder that their sin offended Him. Sin is like an opposite of God: it's imperfect, unholy, perverse. Haven't you ever been utterly offended by some crime, or harmful words? Imagine that multiplied billions of times over and the understand how God feels...

Sin is awful, and something must die for it. The blood of an animal served as a reminder that we are sinners, and in ancient Israel, that shed blood covered over the sin of both the priest and the people. It didn't really remove sin, because the blood of an animal can't remove the sin from a human. Only the blood of a human can remove the sin from another human.
Who wants that job?

But a sinful man's blood can't take away the sin of another sinner. That's like paying bail with counterfeit money!

The only blood that can remove sin is the blood of a perfect man. And the only blood that can remove all sin for all time is the blood from a perfect, eternal man. The blood of a goat or bull could cover the sin temporarily, but the next time you sinned that blood became useless. Another sacrifice had to be made.
And another.

So an Eternal Man had to give up his life to set free an entire race. He would be the substitute for everyone who would believe. This was the Son of God Most High, the real God, the Creator of all, the one all those indigenous pagans had lost contact with after Babel. They tried to worship Him, but failed.

Sacrificing wasn't a step in evolution, it was people trying to reach God. But He reached down to us, and sent His Sacrifice so that we could be reunited again.

And so Jesus Christ, the one foretold of for millennia, came here and tore down that curtain that separates man from God. He paved the way, He bridged the gap. He fulfilled all Old Testament laws. His blood is the most important of all. He fulfilled all legal requirements. He beat the devil at the cross. He has no equal. He spoke the universe into existence. He died in our place to satisfy God's justice. He is our advocate, our guardian, our Lord, our King, and our Savior.

There is none like Him!