The OT Sacrificial System, A Pattern of What Was To Come

Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples on the very night that he was betrayed by Judas, one of Jesus' own chosen disciples. The Gospel of John records one stirring event that night that has been imitated again and again by Christian communities as they remember and celebrate the Lord's Supper  in Holy Week. Jesus laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel wrapped around Him. This was, of course, the lowly task of a servant in the household of a great lord and certainly not the work of the Messianic King—or at least so the disciples thought.

Peter objected to what Jesus was doing, saying, "You shall never wash my feet."

Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.". . . And then he went on to explain, "You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. - John 13:8,13-16 ESV

The writer of Hebrews 8 uses this same word, example (hypodeigmä in Greek), to describe the entire Old Testament sacrificial system. He also calls it but a shadow (skia in Greek) of the heavenly things. God had given Moses specific instruction to make everything according to the pattern (typos in Greek) given to him. The tent had to be just so in size with a specific number of rooms. In each room certain specific objects were to be fashioned and placed. The high priest, in turn, was to be dressed in specific clothing and he had detailed instructions about how and when to carry out his duties.

The ministry or service that the high priest performed, says Hebrews, was not what goes on in heaven before God. All these rituals and sacrifices were but copies or shadows of what was to come when Christ, the true promised Messiah, came. They pointed forward to the substance or the living body and ministry of Christ (Col. 2:17). The entire law, Hebrews will go on to say, was but a shadow of the good things to come. It was not the true form (icon in Greek). 

In the next chapter he will use yet one more word to describe the various gifts and bloody sacrifices offered by the high priest for himself and the worshippers. He calls them all a parable ( parabolē in Greek) for that particular time, a period that came to an end when Christ, the true High Priest, fulfilled his duties upon the cross (John 19:30). 

So Hebrews practically exhausts the Greek language in order to point out that the whole sacrificial system, with the Tabernacle and later the Temple, the high priest and his helpers, the thousands of sacrifices of bulls, sheep and goats and all the various rituals—the entire system— was not and never was intended to be anything other than a . . . 

• shadow
• example
• copy
• pattern and
• parable

. . . of what was to come and what Christ completed once and for all in the presence of God, in the heavenly places. Watch how again and again the writer makes that point. In the words of Christ, "It is finished!" No more sacrifices, no more blood and no more death. It is over. The debts are paid. And what a comfort it is for all of us who put our faith and trust in Jesus, our true High Priest. 

Real, Eternal Resurrected Bodies Await Believers

We're looking at the Apostle Paul's defense and proclamation of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. What amazes him is that he was chosen to participate in this wondrous activity.

Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. - 1 Cor 15:8-11 ESV

As we've noted numerous times before, becoming a Christian is not an accomplishment. It is not a choice made after careful deliberation. To underline this Paul speaks of himself as "one untimely born" (Gk. ektrōma). In the Greek OT that word is used to speak about stillborn children.

Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light? - Job 3:16 ESV

Paul thus says that he shouldn't be alive, but he is! By the grace of God he is what he is! And beyond that, he has been called to be an apostle, sent to the Gentiles to publicly proclaim the Gospel of the Risen Christ. Of course, if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And it follows that if Christ has not been raised—literally returned physically from the dead—then your faith, and mine as well, is worthless, devoid of truth, of no value. There is no hope. All who have "fallen asleep in Christ," all who have committed themselves to him in death have perished. They have lost their lives. They are destroyed, gone forever.

Not so! proclaims Paul. Christ is risen and so shall be all who have "fallen asleep in Christ" (1 Cor 15:20-28).

But what kind of body will the dead in Christ have? There is no need to speculate on exactly what our resurrection bodies will look like. Paul does emphasize that they will differ from our present bodies in some radical way. To illustrate he compares

• the grain that sprouts to a bare kernel of wheat
• the flesh of a human to that of an animal, bird or fish
• the glory of the sun to the brightness of the moon or stars

Moreover our new bodies will be imperishable, immortal. No longer will we ever, ever have to consider corruption, sickness, decay, "getting old", wearing out and dying. Our bodies will not die. They will be filled forever with life, the life of Christ, the second and last Adam who is a life-giving spirit. His image, the image of the Man of heaven, will be completed in us. We will be transformed. In every way we will reflect him, in body, mind and spirit (Rom 8:29; 2 Cor. 3:18). The Apostle John puts it this way: 

Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. - 1 John 3:2 ESV

And note that our new bodies will be a real bodies in every way, part of the renewed creation Paul speaks about in his letter to the Romans. 

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. ... For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. - Rom 8:11, 19-21 ESV

And so just as Jesus' body was real, touched by and seen by hundreds of his disciples, so Paul says Jesus "will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body" —Phil. 3:21. 

This joyous news sustains and fills us with hope and anticipation. In Paul’s words: "When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality," at the appearing of Christ, "then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory’" (1 Cor 15:54). Then Isaiah's long-awaited prophecy will be fulfilled. 

He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation." - Isa 25:8-9 ESV

You Can Kill My Body, But You Can't Kill Me!

Today we are taking a further look at how the Bible describes a human being. So far we have looked at the Hebrew O.T. and the Greek translation of the O.T., the Septuagint (LXX). Now we move directly into the New Testament, using both the original Greek and the English translations.

Soul (psyche) and Spirit (pneuma) in the New Testament


Everything noted about the Hebrew word nephesh may generally be applied to the Greek psyche in the N.T. This is a man's life, living, thinking and acting. For instance, Jesus says,

"Whoever would save his life (psyche) will lose it, but whoever loses his life (psyche) for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul (psyche, so could be translated life)? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul (psyche)? - Matthew 16:25

"Whoever finds his life (psyche) will lose it, and whoever loses his life (psyche) for my sake will find it." - Matthew 10:39

In both instances Jesus is emphasizing that a man must decide to put his life in Jesus' hands. He is the Savior and Lord of all. To commit your life to anyone or anything else is to lose it. Earlier in Matthew 10:28 Jesus says,

"And do not fear those who will kill the body (soma) but cannot kill the soul (psyche). Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (gehenna)."

This is a very revealing passage. Obviously a man is able to kill the body of another man. The Greek word for kill is apokteino. So the tenants in Jesus' parable killed the son, hoping to gain his inheritance (Matthew 21:33-41). By this story Jesus predicted the Jewish leaders would kill Him. And so they did, by turning Him over to Pilate to be crucified. Jesus died, he ceased to breathe. Joseph of Arimathea placed Jesus' body in his own new tomb (Matthew 27:57-60). Just before He died Jesus cried out with a loud voice and yielded or gave up His spirit (pneuma) into the hands of His heavenly Father  (Matthew 27:50, John 19:30, Luke 23:46). The man Jesus did not cease to exist, however. They could kill His  body, but they could not kill His soul or life (psyche).

What does this mean for us believers? It means exactly what Jesus said. Men cannot kill us. They can only kill the bodily side of who we are. So when Stephen was stoned he taught us how to pray in the face of the death of our bodies. He prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit (pneuma)." - Acts 7:59. Death for the believer has lost its sting, its power, as also the Apostle Paul taught us when he wrote, "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" (I Corinthians 15:55, cf. Hosea 13:14).

When Jesus raised the child of the ruler from death, Luke writes that her spirit (pneuma) returned (to her body). Those attending her knew she was dead. Jesus, however, said, "She is not dead, but sleeping" (Luke 8:52-55). Thus Jesus comforts us by reminding us that death is but a sleep and that on the last day He will restore us to full and complete life as He returns our spirits to a renewed and eternal bodily existence in the new creation (1 Corinthians 15:51).

Returning to the Matthew 10:28 passage about not being able to kill the soul, note that Jesus says that God can destroy (appolimi) both body and soul in hell. On the final Day Jesus will raise all to bodily life (Matthew 25:31-46). However, the unbeliever will face a bodily existence in hell, alone, separated from the joy of life in the presence of God, lost in pain, suffering, sorrow and grief (cf. the parable of Lazarus and the rich man in Hades, Luke 16:19-31; 2 Thessalonians. 1:7-9; Revelation 20:11-15).

To find life (psyche) is to lose one's life for the sake of Jesus. This life begins when the Holy Spirit (Hagios Pneuma) grants us new birth and gives us new life (John 3:5-6; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 12:3). Full and complete life is always the life of body, mind and spirit in full communion with one's Creator. Jesus came to give us this life (Greek zoe) and give it abundantly (John 5:21-24; 6:27-63; 10:10, etc.). Believers will share in this life in the new heavens and earth (Romans 8:11-23). More on this next time.

Do We Humans Really Have A Soul As Well As A Body?

Some years back I attended a lecture given to a gathering of mental therapists by a prominent neurologist from California. In his lecture he emphasized that all mental illnesses are a result of chemical disruptions in our neural systems. From his viewpoint there is no such thing as a soul. About the same time as that lecture Nancey Murphy served as one of the editors of the book  Whatever Happened to the Soul? In the book Murphy defends what she calls "nonreductive physicalism." She rejects any kind of nonmaterial entity such as mind or soul. The seat of consciousness and all mental activities is the human neural system. We are aware of what's going on and of what is happening only and always because of our chemistry and our nerves. That position agrees with what I heard from the Californian neurologist. As a believer in Christ Murphy believes humans are also creatures made by God and that God will resurrect them in the coming age. However, she believes that human identity is totally bodily identity. We are bodies—nothing more and nothing less. Human life has no existence independent of the body.

In previous blogs I wrote about Kevin Kelly and Ray Kurzweil. For them the day is coming in about 35 years when human identity will be completely identified with computer software. They call this day the Singularity, a day comparable to the beginning of the universe itself. Kurzweil coined this use of the term in his 1995 book, The Singularity is Near. In other words, though our bodies (hardware) may be destroyed, our consciousness, our minds will continue to reside and exist in the realm of mathematical abstraction (software). Thus humans will transcend, go beyond what is called human existence today. They will be immune to destruction. By means of that same computer software humans will be able to reconstruct bodies in any manner they choose. In what Kelly calls the technium, humans will exist, but in a radically new and unimaginable manner. Kurzweil wrote about this in The Age of Spiritual Machines, published a year after Murphey's book.

Let's take a look at this issue. Does the soul exist? Are we both spirit and body? Are we humans composed of two parts, a material body and a nonmaterial soul? To answer those questions I turn to the Scriptures, the Bible and the revelation given to us by our Creator himself. By the way, if you'd like to read a rejection of the positions of Murphy, Kurzweil, Kelly and others by a Christian scientist and philosopher read William Demski's article Are We Spiritual Machines?

Turn with me to the Scriptures. To begin with we will study the Hebrew Old Testament. On another day we'll go to the New Testament to see how all the promises about man are to be fulfilled in Christ.

The Hebrew which has three words relating to this issue: Nephesh, Ruach  Neshamah.


The KJV translates Nephesh with a wide variety of English words. Other translations will vary in the translations into English. For now I stay with the KJV to illustrate:

• Genesis 1:20, 21, 24, 2:19 - creature
• Genesis 1:30 - life
• Genesis 2:7; Joshua 10:35 - soul
• Genesis 14:21 - persons
• Genesis 23:8 - mind - dead
• Exodus 4:19 - life
• Exodus 15:9 - lust
• Exodus 23:9 - heart
• Leviticus 11:10, 46 - living thing or creature
• Leviticus 21:11 - body
• Leviticus 22:4,11 - dead body
• Ecclesiastes 6:7 - appetite
• Isaiah 19:10 - fish (even fish are alive)

Ruach also has a variety of translations.

• Genesis 1:2 - Spirit (of God)
• Genesis 3:8 - cool (of the day)
• Genesis 6:17 - breath (of life)
• Genesis 8:1 - wind
• Genesis 26:35 - mind
• Genesis 41:8 - spirit (of Pharaoh)
• Isaiah 25:4 - blast
• Ezekiel 37:8 - breath
• Ezekiel 42:16-19 - side

Neshamah is translated with several words as well:

• Genesis 2:7 - breath (of life)
• Job 33:4 - breath (of the Almighty)
• Joshua 11:11 - (any left to) breathe
• 2 Samuel 22:16 - blast (of God's breath - Ruach)
• Job 26:4 - spirit

What shall we make of all this? Notice that we find no carefully outlined definition of man as body and soul. In the Hebrew view man is flesh like all other kinds of creatures given life by God's breath (Ruach). Nephesh is not a part of man. No, Nephesh is man, man with life, alive as are all creatures of God. Man as a living creature of God is a person, an individual. What distinguishes him from the other creatures that have breath and life is the image of God (Genesis 1:27; 5:1; 9:6). He is the highest of God's creatures, made to be in fellowship with God, made to rule over all the rest of the living creatures. He is, however, a creature, made from the matter, the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7). 

This person has appetites and desires, emotions and thoughts. Since Nephesh is man's life, it departs at death (Genesis 35:18) or returns if a person revives (1 Kings 17:22). After death the Old Testament does not see souls in the underworld as did the Greeks. Rather the O.T. sees shades (rephaim), a weak, pale replica of man from whom breath has gone (Proverbs 9:18; Isaiah 14:9-10) confined to the pit called Sheol. To be fully human again that shade must be given bodily life. His body must be restored and he must again begin to breathe, eat, drink, laugh and rejoice in God's presence (Ezekiel 37:1-14).

Will this happen? Will complete and full life be restored? Yes indeed. The Psalmists rejoice that the fellowship with God enjoyed while yet breathing will continue even beyond death. God will not abandon His child, but show him the path of life and eternal pleasures (Psalm 16:10-11). He will ransom the believer from the power of Sheol and receive him into glory (Psalm 49:15; 73:24).

Thus the Hebrew man is not a combination of a material body and a non-material soul. He is rather a whole, unified creature of God, made in God's image. He is not divided. He is a unity. In that sense the Hebrew man is close to what Murphy wrote about in the book quoted above. What must be emphasized, however, is that this man continues to exist after death, albeit in a weakened form. And he is always before God and answerable to Him even in the pit of Sheol. 

Whether alive or dead then we who trust in the Lord and all His promises are His and with the dead we await His promise of  a resurrected body in the renewal of all things created. But more of this the next time as we look at the New Testament and the fulfillment of all God's promises in Christ. 

Melvyn IS a Soul

Last evening I returned home from attending my cousin Melvyn's funeral. During the time of visiting  I heard one after the other comment about the body we looked upon in the casket. They said, "This is not Melvyn," or "This is not how I want to remember him," or "He certainly was not that thin," etc. 


At another time, perhaps, I'll comment upon our custom of trying to preserve the body with chemicals. For now I'd like to meditate a bit upon a saying by C.S. Lewis—"You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body." 


At the funeral service we all celebrated the fact that Melvyn continues to be alive. Even after his body ceased to function—what we call death—Melvyn continues to live. This is an inference people make even if they know nothing about such Scriptures as the following. 


At the funeral of Jesus' close friend, Lazarus, we hear Martha say, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."


Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." 


Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." 


And then Jesus said something so profound and wondrous I cannot even begin to probe its meaning. He said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die" (John 11:21-26). 


Jesus speaks to Martha as if Lazarus were present, but unable to rise. Martha was certain that Lazarus' body had already begun to decay since it was not preserved by any chemicals, but merely wrapped with cloths and placed in a cave cut into the side of the rock. Once I visited that cave at Bethany, some miles from Jerusalem. Nevertheless, Martha spoke of Lazarus as still existing and was confident he would somehow be raised "in the resurrection at the last day." He would have a restored or renewed body. 


All that makes perfect sense to most of us. We know that at a funeral we are dealing with mysteries beyond us. We also know that when we fall asleep we are not aware of the passing of time. We are aware of our abilities to imagine and create images "in our mind". Photos of Melvyn prepared by his son Richey and projected on the screen brought us back to those times when Melvyn lived among us and spoke to us. We remembered how he enjoyed a good laugh. We have memories, but we do not really know what memories are. 


These and many other things remind us that we "are a soul" and we "have a body." For the moment Melvyn's body is no longer occupied by him. It served its purpose, but now will decay in spite of the chemicals and return to dust. Yet Melvyn is with Jesus in glory and bliss. On the last day Melvyn will receive and will occupy a new body, a glorified body, without the burden of sin, a body filled with the Spirit of Jesus. In that day we, his family in Christ, will see and know him for what and who he is. 


In our terms, controlled as it seems by the passing of time, it may be many years before that happens. I don't know when that will be. I await that Day with eager anticipation. For now I am content that Melvyn, who is a soul, believes in Jesus, is with Him in paradise and is not dead.