We will begin by looking at the first mention of a sacrificial offering in Genesis 4:3-5, “And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the FRUIT OF THE GROUND to the Lord. Abel also brought of the FIRSTBORN OF HIS FLOCK and their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell” (NKJV). Now we will read Hebrews 11:4, “By faith Abel offered A MORE EXCELLENT SACRIFICE than Cain, through which he obtained witness that HE WAS RIGHTEOUS, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.”

Here we see Adam and Eve’s two sons bringing sacrifices to God in order to be accepted by Him. They both had heard of how sin had come into the world through their parents’ disobedience (Genesis 3:1-6) and they were hoping that God would accept their sacrifices, resulting in them being counted as righteous in God’s sight. They had no doubt been told that a holy God could only be approached on the ground of the blood of an innocent victim who would be killed as a SUBSTITUTE for them. Cain did NOT believe this message and thus he brought the “fruit of his labors (crops that he had grown).” He attempted to come to God “in his own way” (see Proverbs 14:12 with Jude verse 11) instead of God’s way. Abel did BELIEVE the message and thus he killed an innocent lamb and offered it to God. As we saw in Hebrews 11:4, Abel’s sacrifice was accepted, and Cain’s was rejected. Abel’s lamb foreshadowed the true “Lamb of God” (the Lord Jesus Christ) who would offer Himself as a sacrificial Lamb to take away the sins of all who would believe on Him (see John 1:29; 1 Peter 1:18-19; Isaiah 53:5-7 with 1 Peter 2:24). Thus God, from the dawn of creation, established the truth that men could only be redeemed from their sin by the sacrifice of another whose life would be taken and their blood shed.

Later God gave the Law of Moses to the nation of Israel, and he did indeed ordain a sacrificial system that involved animals being slain and their blood shed as a substitute for sinners (see Leviticus chapters 1-7). Every sacrifice offered on Jewish altars ALL looked forward to the coming of Christ who would offer the SUPREME SACRIFICE that would indeed take away the sins of all who believe. We see this clearly in Hebrews 10:1, 11-12: “For the law, having a SHADOW of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect…And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But THIS MAN, after He had OFFERED ONE SACRIFICE FOR SINS, forever sat down at the right hand of God.” This means that Abel and every other sinner who offered a sacrifice to God for sins was counted as righteous because of their faith in the Lamb who would eventually come to “put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Hebrews 9:26).

Every true believer in Old Testament times was FORGIVEN and JUSTIFIED in the same way as Abel; by “FAITH in God’s word (revelation) of the coming One who would take their place in death and judgment for their sins.” Their sins were NOT taken away by animal sacrifices, but in offering them by faith they were admitting they could not take away their own sins, but another would have to die in their place as God’s judgment for sin. God has only one way to save sinners, “By grace through faith, and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). This is illustrated by the faith of Abraham and David in Romans 4:1-8 who were both JUSTIFIED and FORGIVEN by faith and not works. “What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham BELIEVED GOD, and it was accounted to him for RIGHEOUSNESS.’ Not to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him to DOES NOT WORK BUT BELIEVES ON HIM WHO JUSTIFIES THE UNGODLY, HIS FAITH IS ACCOUNTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God IMPUTES RIGHTEOUSNESS APART FROM WORKS: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are FORGIVEN, and whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shah NOT IMPUTE SIN’” (Romans 4:1-8). Abraham and David had both offered animal sacrifices to God during their life (see Genesis 22:7-8, 13 and 2 Samuel 24:18-24), but like Abel they were offered “by faith” which acknowledged the necessity of the death and blood-shedding of an innocent victim who would die in the place of the sinner (and they all pointed to Christ).

I want to close by addressing another “kind of forgiveness” using King David as an example (this is what you may have been thinking of). David had already experienced the forgiveness we just went over above (eternal forgiveness of sins based on upcoming sacrifice of Jesus Christ). In time he sinned greatly by committing adultery with Bathsheba and having her husband killed so he could marry her, and God used Nathan the prophet to bring him to repent of that sin (see 2 Samuel 11:1-12:13). In Psalm 51 we have his “confession of sin” (verses 1-6) and his desire for the Lord to “wash him from his sin and restore to him the joy of salvation” (verses 7-12) so he could once again show sinners the way of salvation and praise the Lord (verses 13-15). His CONFESSION that came from a “broken and a contrite heart” (verses 16-17) were the SACRIFICES that God desires from His children who have already been redeemed. This “forgiveness” is simply to restore the child of God to “fellowship with God.” God uses His Word to “cleanse us” from the sins that caused our fellowship to be broken, and this takes place the moment we “confess our sins” (see 1 John 1:9).  (DO)  (670.5)