God offered Christ as the sacrifice for the sins of the world according to His "determinate counsel and foreknowledge" (Acts 2.23). This plan was formulated by God before the world began (Titus 1.2) as a contingency for the reconciliation of mankind. In addition, God kept this a secret since the world began (Colossians 1.26-27), revealing His purpose in it's totality only through Christ (Matthew 5.17-18). The purpose of the Law was to prepare the way for Christ (Galatians 3.24) and a record of that preparation was left as a foundation to support Jesus' claim to be the Son of God (Romans 15.4). God used blood to a represent the sanctity of life and pronounced consequences for shedding blood (Genesis 9.4-6). In this the dual aspects of life and death are paired. God's word and the importance He placed on life stands as a barrier against the meaningless taking of another's life. God stated that the blood is the life (Genesis 9.4) and thus consecrated life, and the blood representing that life, as precious since mankind was created in the image of God (Genesis 1.26, 9.6). As blood represented life, it also came to represent the spiritual salvation of God's people. Blood was the agent by which the Hebrews were spared the death of the firstborn and detailed instructions for the Passover were specific in this respect (Exodus 12.1-28). The Hebrews were sanctified, or set apart, by the blood which formed a spiritual boundary between those faithful to God and those outside His saving presence. Later the priests and Levites were consecrated for their special role. God specified the manner in which the priests were to be sanctified for their office. God directed the sprinkling of blood upon the priests (Exodus 29.19-46) as part of their sanctification thus making them "hallowed" or holy (Exodus 29.21). The blood used in this manner would have had no significance had it not been for the command of God. In short it was in the mind of God to utilize blood to represent the purifying of the priests as preparation for their duties. The writer of Hebrews states that the book of the Law, as well as all the people, were sprinkled with blood (Hebrews 9.19) for their purification (Hebrews 9.13). The animals used for the sacrifices were earthly objects which were to have certain characteristics but God required a more perfect sacrifice to redeem, or buy back, the spirit of man. It was necessary that the offering of the final sacrifice for sin have the power to destroy or undo the works of Satan. Animal sacrifices, while commanded by God, were unable to do this. The sacrifices represented a remembrance of sin (Hebrews 10.1-4, Romans 3.20). It was in God's heart to reconcile mankind to Him by the forgiveness of sins. The complete removal of the remembering of past transgressions pointed to Christ as the savior. Certain characteristics of the sacrifices then represent Christ who became the sacrifice for sin (Romans 3.24-25). The sacrificial animals were to be without blemish and were to be reserved or set apart to be offered to God. Christ was brought into the world by God's power. His body was created for the purpose of being put to death for sin (Hebrews 10.5). He was ordained of God to be the acceptable sacrifice offered by the creator out of love for mankind (John 3.16, Galatians 3.14, Colossians 1.21-22, Ephesians 2.13). While the blood of the sacrifices under the law could not take away sin, the blood of Christ could. The power of sin, which is death, brought about through the work of Satan was thus destroyed by Christ (Hebrews 2.14-15). The animal sacrifices represented the putting away of sin by their death. Once disposed of these animals were replaced by other offerings thus bringing to mind the sins of the people once more. In contrast, Christ died for the sins of the world but through sinless obedience to God He was raised again. Paul states, "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept." (1 Corinthians 15.20). To the Colossians Paul writes, "And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence." (Colossians 1.18). It was through the sacrifice of the body of Christ that reconciliation to God was accomplished (Colossians 1.20, Hebrews 10.10) and by means of the resurrection he became they surety of a better covenant (Hebrews 7.21-24, 8.6). Christ was the fulfillment of the work of God to reconcile man to Himself spiritually (John 4.34).
The Law was instituted to prepare the way for Christ's entry into the world (Galatians 3.24) and within that Law was the remembrance of sins of the people that were committed (Romans 3.20, Hebrews 10.1). Christ's death was needed therefore to complete the redemption of those who had lived under that Law (Hebrews 9.15) and since the death of Christ brought about the redemption or reconciliation of mankind to God, it thus included all of the faithful of all time prior to the institution of the Law as well as those in our own time who believe and obey.
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