Jesus Unmasked: The Truth Will Shock You Read Online Free PDF Page B

Israelites to escape the death of their firstborn children.
    Announce to the whole community that on the tenth day of this month each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for a sacrifice. . . . This animal must be a one-year-old male , either a sheep or a goat, with no physical defects .
    Take special care of these lambs until the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month. Then each family in the community must slaughter its lamb . They are to take some of the lamb’s blood and smear it on the top and sides of the doorframe of the house where the lamb will be eaten.
    On that night, I will pass through the land of Egypt and kill all the firstborn sons and firstborn male animals in the land of Egypt. . . . The blood you have smeared on your doorposts will serve as a sign. When I see the blood , I will pass over you (Exod. 12:3–13; NLT).
    A spotless lamb would dwell with a family for a short time and then the family would kill the lamb without breaking any of the lamb’s bones. The blood of a lamb would cause the angel of death to pass over those who put their trust in God. Shadowy, but clearer.
    Jesus Christ came and dwelt with His people for a short time. He was spotless and His own killed Him. Despite the fact that He was brutally beaten and had nails pounded through His hands and feet, not a bone in His body was broken. It is the blood of Jesus that provides forgiveness of sins and allows us to escape spiritual death.
    1,444 Years Before Christ
    The Jews had been delivered from Egypt and they were at the foot of Mount Sinai. God provided a long list of rules for the people to obey. God instructed the priests to make an annual sacrifice for the covering of people’s sins: this was called the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).
    On this day, the priests would lay their hands on the head of an unblemished lamb, signifying the transfer of sins from the human to the lamb. Then they would slit the throat of the lamb and it would bleed to death for the covering of their sins.
    More Blood
    By now you might be wondering what’s up with all the blood?
    For the life of any creature is in its blood . I have given you the blood so you can make atonement for your sins. It is the blood , representing life, that brings you atonement (Lev. 17:11; NLT).
    Just imagine the amount of blood that was shed over the centuries. This was a constant reminder to the Jewish people that blood was required for the covering of sins. Unfortunately for them, a lamb could not forgive sins.
    Because a lamb doesn’t know if he is on his way to get a haircut or to become a lamb chop, a lamb sacrifice only served as a covering for sin. That is what Yom Kippur means — a Day of Covering. Even though millions of lambs were sacrificed, this was merely a picture of a need for a greater sacrifice for the complete forgiveness of sins.
    The shadowy picture of sacrificial lambs is becoming progressively clearer.
    600 Years before Christ
    For the next eight hundred years, the children of Israel lived under this sacrificial covenant system. Because this system covered but didn’t remove their sins, people still lived with guilt. Despite rivers of blood from lamb sacrifices, forgiveness was still longed for.
    Suddenly, a prophet named Jeremiah announced a new covenant that would FORGIVE their sins and remove their guilt once and for all. Needless to say, this was a big announcement.
    I will forgive their wickedness and will never again remember their sins” (Jer. 31:34; NLT).
    God announced a brand-new way to have sins not just covered, but forgiven. The question was, how would God do this? The prophet Isaiah gives us more than a hint by describing a coming Messiah. Keep in mind, this was written over six hundred years before Jesus Christ was born.
    There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected — a man of sorrows, acquainted with