[232]For many centuries Jehovah foreshadowed this great event in his plan, and this adds to the importance of it; in fact, without the sacrifice of Jesus it would have been impossible for any of the human race ever to live at all.
[233]Looking back, then, at the picture that Jehovah made by the use of the Jewish people and their ceremonies, we see that the bullock slain on the atonement day pictured Jesus the perfect man at the age of thirty years. The court surrounding the tabernacle was a picture of perfect humanity. Therefore the bullock slain in the court foreshadowed or pictured the fact that the perfect man Jesus died in that condition on earth as a perfect man. By his death he provided the ransom-price. He did this to carry out the Father's plan.
[234]In the picture, the slaying of the bullock was the beginning of the sin-offering. After the bullock was slain its blood was put into a vessel and the high priest carried it in this vessel, ultimately reaching the Most Holy, where it was sprinkled, as above mentioned. The high priest in the Holy pictured Jesus during the three and one-half years of his sacrificial ministry; and the high priest's appearance in the Most Holy pictures Jesus the high priest, resurrected to the divine nature, appearing in heaven itself in the presence of God, there to present the merit of his sacrifice as the sin-offering on behalf of mankind.—Hebrews 9:24.
[235]The Scriptures clearly show that Jesus was the antitypical bullock and was made an offering for sin on behalf of mankind; first on behalf of the church, subsequently on behalf of the whole world. "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3); "who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father" (Galatians 1:4); "for he hath made him to be sin [an offering for sin] for us, who [Jesus] knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him".—2 Corinthians 5:21.
[236]The law that God gave to the Israelites merely foreshadowed what great things Jesus would do. Because of the imperfections of mankind—Moses and others—that law could not accomplish the deliverance of mankind from death. "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh."—Romans 8:3.
[237]In the type, the slaying of the bullock and the carrying of its blood into the Holy as a typical sin-offering foreshadowed the fact that the redemption of man's sins could be accomplished only through the blood of the perfect sacrifice. And for this reason says the apostle Paul: "Without the shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these." (Hebrews 9:22,23) The patterns here referred to are the Holy and Most Holy in the tabernacle picture, which foreshadowed or pictured the heavenly condition; and the entrance of the high priest into the Most Holy of the tabernacle with the blood foreshadowed Christ Jesus entering heaven. "For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us."—Hebrews 9:24.
[238]When Jesus died upon the cross of Calvary he provided the ransom-price, because his was the death of a perfect human being, exactly corresponding with the perfect man Adam. Adam's death, however, was the result of a forfeited right to live. Jesus' death was a sacrifice. Adam was a sinner and died a sinner. Jesus was perfect, holy, and without sin; and while he died in the same manner, yet by his death he did not forfeit the right to live as a human being. By dying he reduced his perfect human life to an asset that might thereafter be used to release Adam and his offspring from death.
[239]We here give an illustration to aid in understanding this point. For convenience we will call a man John. John is languishing in prison because he cannot pay a fine of one hundred dollars. He has a brother named Charles who is willing to pay the fine for his brother John, but who has no money with which to pay. Charles is strong and vigorous, has time to work, is willing to work, and can earn money by working; but his strength and time and willingness will not pay the debt for John. Mr. Smith has some work to be done and is willing to pay money to have it done. Charles engages himself to work for Mr. Smith and earns one hundred dollars and receives that amount of money in cash. By his labor Charles has here reduced his time and strength and vigor to a money value and has received that money value, which money has purchasing power and which can be used to pay John's obligation and thus release him from prison.
[240]Charles then appears before the court which has entered the judgment against his brother John, and offers to pay the one hundred dollars which the law demands of John. The money is accepted from Charles and John is released. By this means John is judicially relieved from the effects of the judgment and is set free, and his brother Charles has become his ransomer or deliverer.
[241]In this illustration John represents Adam. Because Adam violated God's law, Jehovah judicially determined that Adam should forfeit his life by dying. He enforced this judgment during a period of 930 years, during which time Adam begat all of his children. The effect of sentencing Adam to death was to render all of his children subject to death. Adam went into death, and since then great numbers of his children have likewise died. We can say, then, that Adam and all those who have died and are in their graves are in the great prison-house of death, and that is what the Prophet of the Lord calls it.—Isaiah 42:7.