When Ezekiel entered the inner area, he was standing in front of the *temple building. But before Ezekiel went into the *temple, he had to see the place of *sacrifice. A person can only *worship God in the proper manner after God has forgiven that person’s *sins. In the *temple in Ezekiel’s *vision, people had to make *sacrifices. *Sacrifices were necessary so that God would forgive the people’s *sins (Leviticus 4:35; Hebrews 9:22). This principle is still true. People cannot achieve a right relationship with God by their own efforts. They can only humbly confess their *sins to God. However, we do not still offer animals as *sacrifices. That is because the death of Jesus the *Messiah is the perfect *sacrifice for *sin.

At the time of Ezekiel, the priests offered animals as *sacrifices. And that is what Ezekiel saw in this *temple. The Bible teaches that those *sacrifices could not take away *sins (Hebrews 10:4). But those *sacrifices were not without purpose. They showed how serious *sin is. They showed how God acts in judgement against *sin. They showed how God accepted the life of an innocent *sacrifice instead of the life of the humble *sinner. And they provided a means by which people could have a real relationship with God.

These *sacrifices did not happen in the *temple building. They happened in the yard in front of the *temple. We call this yard ‘the inner area’. Only priests were present there. They killed the animals. They washed the *sacrifices. They burned some parts of the animals on the *altar. They took other parts which they ate themselves. There were rules about all these activities. The rules were different for each type of *sacrifice. You can read those rules in Leviticus Chapter s 1 to 7.

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