Blood Signifies Removal of Guilt
7 And the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense before the LORD that is in the tent of meeting, and all the rest of the blood of the bull he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
Throughout this section of Leviticus we are told that in case of sin, the sinner must bring some sacrifice to the priest. The priest is to take the sacrifice and kill it and then take the blood on his fingers and put the blood on each of the four horns that came off that alter. When today’s Christian reads about the blood of bulls and goats, it would not resonate. Our churches today want lights and drums not blood and guts. Yet, the reason for this is that God is showing the Israelites (and us) that the way to holiness before God is through the sacrifice of blood. Note that the writer of Hebrews tells us this in his letter:
22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
So, when the priest put blood on the horns of the alter he was purifying the alter prior to the sacrifice. This is a picture of Christ blood being pour out in the heavenly alter before God. Again, Hebrews states:
Redemption Through the Blood of Christ
11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
Our forgiveness, like the Israelites of old, was secured by blood. We were redeemed by the blood of Christ. When we sin we must have Christ’s blood poured out for us. He is our blood sacrifice poured out on the horns of God’s heavenly alter and thus securing our redemption.
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