The Old Testament sacrificial system demonstrated both God’s holiness and His mercy. God is holy. So when there was sin, there had to be punishment. Blood had to be shed. But God is merciful. So it wasn’t the sinner’s blood but the blood of a substitutionary sacrifice. Only someone who is perfectly sinless can save a sinner. A mother cannot pay for her daughter’s sin, for that mother is not “without defect or blemish.” That mother has sin of her own. Salvation requires a perfect Savior.

Christ Jesus is the only person who didn’t deserve to die. Yet, today Jesus dies on the cross. “He was pierced for our transgressions,” Scripture says. Note the singular “he” and the plural “our.” If Jesus were just a perfect man, his sacrifice would only have been enough to pay for the sins of one sinful man. But Jesus is more than a perfect man. He is the perfect Son of God. That is divine blood pooling at the foot of the cross. That makes his death valuable enough to pay for the entire world's sins. Jesus looked at a world full of sinners. He saw that we needed mercy. He fulfilled our greatest need by becoming the perfect sacrifice.