[18] And
I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will
build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. [19]And
I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou
shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou
shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven. (Matt.16:18-19)
Before we see how Christ established the sacrifice of the
New covenant, let us glance at the sacrifice of the old covenant which was a figurative of the sacrifice of the
New Covenant performed by Christ Himself
which serves as the foundation of the church of Christ and to be perpetually
performed as daily sacrifice as was handed over to the apostles.
It was natural for man to offer sacrifice to God. sacrifice
is an offering made to the most high God, consecrated or hallowed in a solemn manner,
to recognize and testify to the supreme dominion of almighty God over all
things. This is an act of divine worship that is due to God and God alone known
as latria worship.
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| Sacrifice of Cain and Abel |
The first person to offer an acceptable sacrifice to God was
Abel, then Noah, Job, Abraham etc. These people followed natural instinct.
In later times the law given by God to the children of
Israel made it obligatory upon them to offer sacrifice to Him daily. They were
to offer lamb, sheep calves and oxen by an anointed dully ordained priest with
certain prayers and ceremonies.
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| Sacrifice of the Old Covenant |
They were
to be slaughtered, flayed; their blood was to be poured round about the altar
and their flesh burnt around the altar amid the blowing of trumpets and chanting of psalms. These were the sacred
oblations whereby the Jews were accustomed to pay to God the homage due to Him and acknowledge Him to be the supreme
Ruler over all creatures.
“And Moses wrote all the
words of the Lord: and rising in the morning he built an altar at the foot of
the mount, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of
Israel. And he sent young men of
the children of Israel, and they offered holocausts,
and sacrificed pacific victims of calves to the Lord.
Then
Moses took half of the blood, and put it into bowls: and the rest he poured
upon the altar. And taking the
book of the covenant, he read it in the hearing of the people: and they said:
All things that the Lord hath spoken we will do, we will be obedient. And he took the blood and sprinkled it
upon the people, and he said: This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord
hath made with you concerning all these words” (Exodus 24: 4-8)
The above verses show how Moses offer sacrifice to God. The blood of the
old covenant.
“Take unto thee also
Aaron thy brother with his sons, from among the children of Israel, that they
may minister to me in the priest' s office: Aaron, Nadab, and Abiu, Eleazar,
and Ithamar. [2]And thou shalt make a holy vesture for Aaron thy
brother for glory and for beauty. [3] And
thou shalt speak to all the wise of heart, whom I have filled with the spirit
of wisdom, that they may make Aaron' s vestments, in which he being consecrated
may minister to me. [4] And
these shall be the vestments that they shall make: A rational and an ephod, a
tunick and a strait linen garment, a mitre and a girdle. They shall make the
holy vestments for thy brother Aaron and his sons, that they may do the office
of priesthood unto me. [5] And
they shall take gold, and violet, and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine
linen.
[6] And
they shall make the ephod of gold, and violet, and purple, and scarlet twice
dyed, and fine twisted linen, embroidered with divers colours. [7] It
shall have the two edges joined in the top on both sides, that they may be
closed together. [8] The
very workmanship also and all the variety of the work shall be of gold, and
violet, and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine twisted linen. “ (Exodus 28 2-8)
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| Levitical priest vestment |
The above verses show the type of priest vestment
before sacrifices are made to God.
This was the sacrament of the Old Testament. The priesthood
of the Old Testament was Levetical priesthood which was figurate of the new.
