And not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse [your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Hebrews 9:12-14
As Christians, we may often overlook that Jesus gave us a perfect sacrifice with His finished work on the cross. His precious blood washed our sins away and we became the righteousness of Christ. Now are able to have access to our Holy Father in heaven without any mediators. Since Jesus, the spotless sinless lamb, gave His life for us, we no longer have to make any more sacrifices. Unfortunately, many other religions do not have this privilege.
In 2016, some Jews tried to sneak in a baby goat so they could use it as a sacrifice on the Temple Mount for Passover. For centuries Jews travelled to Jerusalem, where they would buy a sheep or goat, or maybe even a bull as written in the book of Hebrews to sacrifice in the Temple on the eve of Passover. In 70 AD, there was the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans at which time the Temple was destroyed. After this took place, some Jews believed they could sacrifice the animals in their homes, while others believed that since there was no Temple, they had to wait for the return of the Messiah for Him to rebuild the Temple. There are however some Jews who have a movement to rebuild the Temple on the Temple Mount, which is now the site of Islamic shrines.
The Muslims also have their time for sacrifice, which will happen next week. It is known as Eid al-Adha or the Feast of Sacrifice, which is celebrated by Muslims throughout the world for a few days. This tradition is symbolic of Abraham about to kill Ishmael as a sacrifice, and then God had the Angel Gabriel bring in a big ram to be used instead. No, I didn’t make a mistake, I wrote Ishmael correctly, as the Muslims are from the line of Ishmael not Isaac.
Eid al-Adha occurs during the Hajj, which is considered an important pillar of the Muslim faith that every Muslim is expected to do at some point in their life if they can afford it and are able to. While performing the Hajj, Muslims will follow what is described as Mohammed’s farewell trip through the Arabian desert which ended in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Approximately 2.5 million Muslims would make this annual pilgrimage, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Saudi government has limited entry to only 60,000 vaccinated pilgrims this year.
In Pakistan however, Muslims make animal sacrifices seemingly anywhere. Those who can afford it will get the biggest animals. I actually saw a video of a butcher about to behead a camel. It didn’t go so well for the butcher as the camel fought for his life. However, I believe this animal of the desert finally became a meal before dessert as he could not withstand the mob who had to make a big sacrifice to repent for a year full of sins. I have heard that members of a family will pray on the knife they will use for the butchering and also pray together as they touch the animal before it becomes a sacrificial lamb, goat, cow, or camel. They believe this will take away their sins for the year and then will repeat this ritual the next year. It makes for a bloody time of year, and it is a difficult period for sanitation workers, comprising mostly of Christians who must clean up the sacrificed animal remains left on the streets and in the garbage.
Right now, I am thanking God for Jesus, who gave His life for us so we could have eternal life. He was God’s sacrificial lamb for us, so we no longer have to make any other sacrifices in order to repent. We are free to go to the Father in repentance at any time when we are convicted of our sins because Jesus did it all. He took our sins to the cross, even though we didn’t deserve it, but He though we were worth it.
Please pray for the Muslims as their time of sacrifice approaches next week. Pray that their eyes and hearts will be opened to see that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice and that they will accept Him, so that they will no longer have to make anymore sacrifices to repent as Jesus did a finished work on the cross at Calvary.
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