Thousands of years ago, animal sacrifice was a very prominent custom. I believe that the sacrifices were performed to atone for sins committed and that they were also a deterrent to committing sins in the future. The animal that was sacrificed was one of your own and it was supposed to be without blemish; in other words it was supposed to be the best of the heard. I had a minor version of this with my horse Mountain who is in my previous post. When I sinned or did something stupid, Mountain would suffer the consequences. It took me a little while to figure this out but once I did it was like clockwork. When I had a bad evening, I would tiptoe to Mountain’s stall the next morning, always afraid of what I would find. Sometimes it was a foot, ankle, knee or laceration and other times he would spike a temp. I told the story in my book of going out and playing poker with the guys one night and drinking a few too many beers. Mountain was in Lisa Basselini’s care at the time and she was teaching him Dressage. She and I had been dating for a while and our relationship was growing strong. Anyway, I was at the track and around 9am I gave Lisa a call to find out the damage report for Mountain. I had not shared my thoughts with her about Mountain suffering due to my indiscretions. When you really care about someone, you never want them to question your mental stability until a little bit further down the road. So I asked Lisa how Mountain looked this morning. She informed me that she was tacking him up and that he was fine. I asked if his legs were ok and she said all good and wanted to know why I was concerned? I told her that I knew something was wrong with him and wanted to figure out what it was? I asked if she would please take his temperature. She told me that he was very happy but if it will make me feel better, that she would check. She put the phone down and checked Mountain’s temp a couple of times. She came back to the phone, took a deep breath and informed me that Mountain’s temp was 102 and change! The reason I told this story is that Mountain’s suffering kept me out of a lot of trouble over the years! On many occasions I behaved myself with his well-being in mind. I can’t imagine if having to sacrifice his life was on the table, that I would be anything other than a saint?? Temptation...
So back to the old days, when you sacrificed an animal, I believe the tradition was to cut their throat. I can’t imagine that being a pleasant experience and feel explaining this to your family and having them witness it could be very difficult. Can you imagine explaining to a young child that you are going to have to kill their favorite goat? The other tradition of the sacrifice is to take some of the blood of the animal and sprinkle it around in areas where it can be seen as a reminder of the suffering that the animal, you and your family had to endure. As barbaric as animal sacrifice seems, I can see it’s value in the day and it has probably kept many people on the right side of Heaven and Hell. Eventually, I feel people probably started getting used to animal sacrifice and it lost it’s effectiveness. I feel God felt the need to come up with a new plan that took sacrifice to a whole new level! Enter Jesus Christ..
God’s plan included His Son entering the world during a very difficult time. Christ healed the sick, raised people from death and attempted to teach people how they should lead their lives. He did all this in front of thousands of people and his deeds are very well documented. I have a Bible that has all of Christ’s words in red. I have read what he has said many times and can’t find anything but great teachings centered around wanting the best for all of mankind. His wisdom is vast and remarkably kind. Jesus Christ was sacrificed in one of the most brutal possible ways and I feel strongly that he feared what he was going to have to face. He asked God if there was another way but ended up having to stick to the plan. His last words on earth were asking God to forgive the people that killed him for they know not what they do?
Now we are going to get to a little fire and brimstone. Let’s say it’s YOU that are walking up that hill carrying the cross to be crucified! You are horrified because you know that in ten minutes these guards are going to be driving huge spikes in your hands and feet and you are going to be stripped naked and hung up on that cross until you die! You want to turn around and run but you can’t! You feel absolutely empty and helpless and you are! Now let’s say you get to the top of that hill and Jesus Christ is standing there. He looks at you and tears well up in his eyes. You start to cry and beg him to help you. Jesus Christ looks at you and explains that if you have faith in Him and believe in God’s plan that he will take your cross and die in your place!
The Question You Have To Ask Yourselves is, Are You Going To Accept God’s Plan?
Glenn Thompson
