Deuteronomy 21:1 – 9 “If one is found slain, lying in a field in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, your elders and judges must come out and measure the distance from the victim to the neighboring cities.
Then the elders of the city nearest the victim shall take a heifer that has never been yoked or used for work, bring the heifer to a valley with running water that has not been plowed or sown, and break its neck there by the stream.
And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve Him and pronounce blessings in His name and to give a ruling in every dispute and case of assault. Then all the elders of the city nearest the victim shall wash their hands by the stream over the heifer whose neck has been broken, and they shall declare, “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. Accept this atonement, O LORD, for Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, and do not hold the shedding of innocent blood against them.”
And the bloodshed will be atoned for. So you shall purge from among you the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the LORD.”
The shedding of innocent blood brings curses on a land and pollutes it; so does unsolved unavenged murder. This principle has stood since ancient times. Here God is instructing the Israelites in the handling of what we would term a cold case – a murder with no known suspects and no clues.
The fundamental object of these instructions is absolution from the sin of murder and reinforcement of the concept that murder is punishable by death. First, the elders and judges must measure and decide which city is the closest to the murder victim, assuming that city to be the most likely place where a murderer might hide. Next, the elders of the city nearest to the victim are to take a heifer to a valley that has never been cultivated and that has a stream of running water. The Levites for that city will break the neck of the heifer by the stream and then the elders will wash their hands over the heifer declaring the following: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. Accept this atonement, O LORD, for Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, and do not hold the shedding of innocent blood against them.”
Hebrews 9:22 tells us, “According to the law, in fact, nearly everything must be purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Sin demands payment in blood. During the sacrifices in the temple, at some point each part of the temple equipment was sprinkled with sacrificial blood to purify it.
APPLICATION: Blood sacrifices as a means of atonement are common throughout the world. Several years ago, a terrible thing happened in one community where we were working. A young man attempted to rape a seventy – five year old lady. Fortunately, the lady was quite strong and was able to fight him off; however, the chiefs and elders took this matter quite seriously. One of the staff at the hospital where we were then working was a relative to the young man. The chiefs and elders required this lady to bring a white cock for a blood sacrifice so that they could purify the land and wipe out the stain of this sin. This requirement was an integral part of the traditional religion these men were practicing, and they were quite concerned that their land be cleansed.
It is a mistake to ignore the principles set forth in the Old Testament. God hasn’t changed; what has made the difference is that Jesus Christ has been born as a man, lived, suffered, died a completely innocent person, shedding his blood for the sins of the entire world. Those who believe in Jesus Christ have their sins forgiven because of his sacrifice.
The traditional colors of Christmas include red and green. Red stands for the blood that Jesus eventually shed at Calvary. Green stands for eternal life, that gift that Jesus purchased by his blood sacrifice. But there is one condition: we must confess that we are sinners and that we cannot save ourselves. Having made that confession, we can then thank God that He is giving us eternal life through the blood sacrifice Jesus has made.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, we confess that we are sinners and that nothing we can do will make up for our sins. We thank You that You sent Jesus to die for our sins and that Jesus has paid the price that we could never pay. Lord, help us to follow hard after You all the days of our lives. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
Burunche's Blog 
December 17, 2021 at 7:01 pm
As always fine sermon.