Well, if you've read and studied the Gospels, you've noticed that in the life of Christ,

there's not a lot of detail about temple practices, in particular, animal sacrifices.

We know that Jesus, as a small child, was presented at the temple with an offering of

turtle doves or pigeons that's told to us in Luke 2.24.

This was the offering of a poor mother in lieu of a lamb sacrifice, as permitted in Leviticus

128.

But this is a pretty rare connection between Christ's life and the temple sacrifices.

In fact, later in his ministry, Jesus will forgive sin all by himself, bypassing the

whole Jewish sacrificial system altogether.

And that leads to a question from Karen, a listener to the podcast who wants to know why.

Here's your email.

Hello, Pastor John.

My name is Karen.

And I live in Germany.

Thank you for this podcast.

By question concerns, the act of forgiveness mentioned in the Bible, I have learned that

without blood, there is no forgiveness.

Hence the sacrifices in the Old Testament and the dying of Jesus in the New Testament.

I understand that.

But what I don't understand is the period between the two.

When Jesus walked on earth, he often addressed people simply by telling them that their sins

were forgiven.

...