1 Peter 2:24 “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed.”
An important truth that we need to understand, as revealed to us by the apostle Peter in the above passage of scripture, is that Jesus bore our sins in His body. In other words, Jesus was the spotless sacrificial Lamb of God, which is why John the Baptist taught us that Jesus was the Lamb of God that took away the sin of the world, (John 1:29). Under the old covenant, the type and shadow of the sacrifice of Jesus, was the sacrifice of a lamb or goat without blemish. God decreed that for the children of Israel to be cleansed from their sins, that a lamb or goat without blemish had to be sacrificed for their sins. Before the lamb was killed, the individual would be required to place their hands on the head of the lamb or goat and confess their sins, which was symbolic of the transference of their sins onto the lamb. There were two instances when hands would be laid on a lamb for the atonement of sins. The first was when an individual knew that they had committed a transgression, and they wanted forgiveness for their sins. They were then required to personally place their hands on the head of a lamb before offering it to God for their atoning sacrifice. And when they had done that, they would then receive forgiveness for their sins (Leviticus 4:27-35). The second was when the high priest would offer the cleansing sacrifice for the whole nation, once a year on the Day of Atonement, for all their sins committed in ignorance during the year. The high priest would then place his hands on the head of the goat on behalf of the whole nation, before offering it to God for their atoning sacrifice. And when the high priest had done that, the nation would then receive forgiveness for their sins committed in ignorance (Leviticus 16:21 & Hebrews 9:7).
Michael E.B. Maher
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