33. What did the blood of the sacrifices signify, and how did it atone for sin?
The blood of flawless sacrificed animals (living souls) prophetically represented the sinless soul of the Lamb of God, slain and risen from the dead by the covenant-fulfilling righteousness of God, through the power of the regenerating Spirit that gives everlasting life and hence can heal, make wholesome, and cleanse from sin as well. That’s why the Levitical priesthood had so many ritual uses for sacrificial blood—to dedicate places, consecrate objects, sanctify people, heal lepers, cleanse from sin, etc. But these uses were all based on the truly innocent blood (that is, sinless life, soul, or existence) of Jesus, which, when it was brutally shed, called forth God’s overcompensating justice to award him damages of cosmic magnitude, of which the Wholesome Spirit of life is pre-eminent. When Christ’s blood is said to be sprinkled on our heart because we trust his Proclamation, it provokes God’s just restitution to send us the same Spirit of power that raised him from the dead, along with special signs following as visible phenomena attesting outwardly the new creation God has inwardly initiated in the core of our personality. God graciously gives these extraordinary manifestations as official testimonies to endorse His message of inner release from the addictive grip of sin. Jesus bore with aggravated sins, and by those lashes others get healed by virtue of the generous compensation that God’s justice dictates. In brief: sacrificial blood always depicts resurrection life, along with its extraordinary saving powers; it is the Old Testament symbol of resurrection from the dead! Get it?
The Premial Atonement 