Why So Much Blood in the Old Testament? | The Shocking Meaning Behind Old Testament Sacrifice

Why does the Bible talk so much about blood? In this powerful episode of Behind the Mike Podcast, Mike Stone walks through Leviticus 4 and answers the question so many of us ask: Why all the animal sacrifices and blood in the Old Testament?

🩸 What does it mean for us today?
🕊️ How does it point to the cross of Jesus Christ?
📖 Why is Leviticus essential to understanding God’s mercy?

Mike unpacks the ancient practice of the sin offering, its spiritual and emotional weight, and how it sets the stage for the ultimate sacrifice: Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

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📢 Share this with someone who's ever struggled to make sense of the Old Testament!

💡 IN THIS EPISODE:
🩸  Why animal sacrifices were messy, disturbing—and necessary (Leviticus 4)
🩸  What the sin offering says about God’s justice and mercy
🩸  How every drop of blood in Leviticus points directly to Jesus
🩸  What Hebrews 9:12 and John 1:29 reveal about the ultimate sacrifice

SCRIPTURE REFERENCED:
Leviticus 4, Leviticus 17:11, Hebrews 9:12, John 1:29

🙌 Need hope? Feeling weighed down by guilt or shame?
There’s grace at the cross and freedom in Jesus.
Come to the mercy seat. You are seen, known, and deeply loved.

⏱️ CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Welcome to Behind The Mike
00:38 - What Inspired This Episode: Reading Leviticus
01:30 - Why So Much Blood in the Old Testament?
02:12 - The Sin Offering: Leviticus 4 Explained
03:56 - Guilt, Repentance, and Sacrifice
05:44 - Life Is in the Blood (Leviticus 17:11)
06:55 - The Symbolism of the Altar Horns
08:26 - The Smell and Weight of Sacrifice
09:31 - Jesus: The Once-for-All Sacrifice (Hebrews 9:12)
10:36 - John the Baptist’s Declaration (John 1:29)
11:08 - All Sin Requires Atonement
11:35 - Jesus Became the Lamb
11:59 - The Cross: Both Horrifying and Beautiful
12:32 - Final Thoughts & Invitation to Grace
12:58 - You Are Seen, Known, and Loved

#BibleTeaching #BehindTheMikePodcast #GospelTruth #BiblicalGrace

Transcript

0:00

Hey my friends, welcome to Behind the Mike Podcast, I'm Mike Stone. Man, I don't know about you, but it is summertime in Ohio. It is hot here, and I live in a house that was built in like 1847, brick walls. So it's, this room is not air conditioned. So, if you see sweat dripping down my face, Everything's okay. It's just hot in here. Kind of gross, Well, speaking of gross or uncomfortable, today's episode was inspired by, my recent reading out of the book of Leviticus. I don't know about you and how you decide what to read from scripture each day. Typically, I will select a book and I hadn't been in the Old Testament. I'd been reading a lot of of the New Testament, and I decided to go back and read the Pentateuch, which is Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, numbers, and Deuteronomy and I. When I finished Leviticus, I closed it and I just thought to myself, why so much blood? And that is the title of this week's episode from Leviticus. So if blood makes you uncomfortable, hang in there with me. I promise you this is going to be worthwhile. Well, let me ask you something. Have you ever opened your Bible and landed somewhere in Leviticus and immediately thought, why is there so much blood, blood on the altar, blood on the horns, blood poured out at the base of the altar. Animal after animal sacrifice after sacrifice. It's messy. It's graphic. It's even a little bit disturbing. And honestly, that's the point because sin is disturbing and God wanted us to feel that in our bones. But here's the twist. Every drop of blood in Leviticus is pointing somewhere. Actually, it's pointing to someone. So today we're going to walk through Leviticus four and we're going to unpack, number one, why there was so much blood. Number two, what it meant to Israel. And number three, how it all leads us to the cross. So if you've ever skipped over Leviticus or you struggled to make sense of it, stick around because by the end of this episode, my hope is that you will see the book of Leviticus and the sacrifices with fresh eyes. Leviticus four introduces us to something called the sin offering or the purification offering. It wasn't a barbecue. It wasn't a religious ritual that was supposed to impress God. It was an act of justice, of mercy and of grace. And here's what would happen. So if an Israelite would sin unintentionally, meaning they broke the law of God without realizing it at first they were still guilty. Sin wasn't excused just because it was an accident. So God gave them a path to be right again, to be in right standing with him. Imagine this like a courtroom. You accidentally rear-ended someone at a stoplight. You didn't mean to. You weren't texting, but you looked away for a second. And guess what? You are still guilty. You're still liable, and there's still a cost. The sin offering was kind of like God's way of saying, yes, there's guilt, but I'm offering you a way back. And here's how that would play out. I want to read from Leviticus chapter four. And we're going to read, chapter four, verses five and six. And it says,“Then the appointed priest shall take some of the bulls blood and carry it into the tent of meeting. He has to dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle some of it seven times before the Lord in front of the curtain of the sanctuary.” So first the sinner would bring an animal, and usually it was a bull or a goat or lamb, and it was without blemish. Keep that in mind. Then they would lay hands on the animal on the animal's head. This wasn't just a casual touch, it was a symbolic transfer. So they were placing their guilt, their sin, and their shame onto the animal. Then, well, they had to kill it with their own hands. And I want you to pause there, because this is not just an Old Testament drama. It's a spiritual mirror showing us what we're going to see down the road. Can you imagine the emotional weight, knowing that your sin cost the life of something that was innocent? And this wasn't sanitized religion. It was hands on, in your face, gut wrenching, repentance. So why the blood?

Well, Leviticus 17: 5:54

11 says.“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar. It is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.” The key word here is atonement, which means to cover, to make peace, to restore what was broken. So you see the blood. It wasn't just symbolic. It was sacred. The spilled blood represented a life that was given in place of another, a substitute. Imagine a parent watching their child about to be punished, and suddenly someone steps in and says, hey, I'll take it for them. The punishment still happens, but the guilty party walks free, and that's what the sacrifices did. And ultimately, that's what Jesus did. But before we jump to the cross, let's go back to the altar. I want to explain, kind of what that situation look like. So the priest would take some of the blood and apply it to the horns of the altar. Now, why the horns? Well, in ancient Israel, the horns of the altar were symbolic of strength, of mercy and of access to God. So people in desperate need would run to the altar, and they were grabbed, the horns, pleading for safety by putting blood on the horns. The priest was basically saying, mercy has been bought. Access has been restored. Then the rest of the blood because he was just sprinkling it, remember? Well, the rest of the blood from the animal was poured out at the base of the altar, showing total surrender of life. Nothing was held back. Sin had been acknowledged and the price was paid. Now, I grew up in a farm community. I don't know if you've ever been to, where they slaughtered animals. You can imagine it's not pretty. It is kind of disgusting. And it smells. We think of the temple as being a very holy place, and it was. But we think of the sweet incense, and we think of all those types of things. Well, as I'm reading through Leviticus, I'm going. It had to have been horrible, right? And you know what? This sacrifice, it wasn't a one time thing. This happened, as we see in Leviticus. It happened daily. It happened weekly. It happened year after year. Hundreds and thousands of animals, rivers of blood. Because sin kept happening. But all of this was the shadow of something much greater. Hebrews 9 chapter 12. I'm going to look that up as well. Hebrews chapter 9, verse 12 says,“He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy place once, for all, by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.” No more goats, no more bulls, no more blood on the altar you can think of. You can think of the Old Testament sacrifices, like using a credit card. You go to your favorite electronic store, and you buy that big screen TV and you hand them over your credit card. Well, you're covering the cost for now, but the bill is still due. You see, Jesus came and he paid the bill in full once and for all. You remember John the Baptist was baptizing people in the river Jordan, and he saw Jesus and he cried out, behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. You can read that in John chapter 1 verse 29. On the cross Jesus became our sin offering not just for accidental sins, but for all of them. Not for one nation, but for every tribe, every tongue, every nation, all people, everywhere. We have a tendency to look at sin or look at breaking laws as different levels. Some kind of, you know, not so serious, like the little white lies. And, you know, that's not as bad as murdering someone. We we categorize these things and in different ways. But sin is still sin. Now here's the beauty. You and I don't need to bring an animal to the altar because Jesus became the altar. He became the lamb. He became the blood. But that doesn't mean our sin is less serious like we sometimes deem some sends more serious than others. It means that we're more loved than we ever imagined. You see, the cross is both horrifying. And if you've seen The Passion of the Christ, you get a taste of that. It's horrifying, but it's also beautiful. It shows us how bad sin really is and how far God was willing to go to rescue us. So the next time you read Leviticus and you feel a little sick to your stomach, don't skip it. Lean in. Because the blood that covered the altar is the same blood that covers you. It covers me. Look, if you've never trusted in that sacrifice, if you're still trying to carry your guilt alone, friend, you don't have to. The blood of Jesus is enough. The way is open. The altar is satisfied. Come to the cross. Come to the mercy seat and find grace. Hey, thanks for joining me today. If this episode helped you to see Scripture in a new way, would you share it with someone? Be sure to like this and subscribe to the podcast. I would love to hear your comments. And remember, the Old Testament doesn't contradict the gospel. It actually prepares us for the gospel. I want you to remember you are seen. You are known and you are loved. And until next time, keep seeking truth. We'll see you next time on Behind the Mike Podcast. Take care and God bless.