Was the Old Testament Sacrificial system was set up to change the sinner?

Answer 1

No, it was set up not to change the sinner but: -to show what sin was, -to show that man always sinned regardless of his best human efforts,

-to show (vividly) that the penalty for sin was death

-to show this was through the shedding of innocent blood, -to show sin could only be atoned for by a blood sacrifice

-to point to the future Messiah, (who was the Creator of all, who died for all, who was completely innocent, etc) -to prove that man cannot change by himself: it requires supernatural intervention.

(Some superstitious people believed a god could be appeased by human sacrifice, but God expressly forbade this practice.) The Old Testament sacrificial law could change nothing : what it did was to give an example and point to a better way that was then yet-future:-

Gal 3:23-27 KJV But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. [v. 24] Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. [v. 25] But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. [v. 26] For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. [v. 27] For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

The Old Testament system did not aim to change the sinner at all, but just to make them aware of their guilt before God; sacrifices were always required:-

Heb 7:25-27 NET So he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. [v. 26] For it is indeed fitting for us to have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separate from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. [v. 27] He has no need to do every day what those priests do, to offer sacrifices first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people, since he did this in offering himself once for all.

Heb 9:11-28 NET Christ's Service in the Heavenly Sanctuary

But now Christ has come as the high priest of the good things to come. He passed through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, [v. 12] and he entered once for all into the most holy place not by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood, and so he himself secured eternal redemption. [v. 13] For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow sprinkled on those who are defiled consecrated them and provided ritual purity, [v. 14] how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our consciences from dead works to worship the living God. [v. 15] And so he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the eternal inheritance he has promised, since he died to set them free from the violations committed under the first covenant. [v. 16] For where there is a will, the death of the one who made it must be proven. [v. 17] For a will takes effect only at death, since it carries no force while the one who made it is alive. [v. 18] So even the first covenant was inaugurated with blood. [v. 19] For when Moses had spoken every command to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, [v. 20] and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded you to keep." [v. 21] And both the tabernacle and all the utensils of worship he likewise sprinkled with blood. [v. 22] Indeed according to the law almost everything was purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. [v. 23] So it was necessary for the sketches of the things in heaven to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves required better sacrifices than these. [v. 24] For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands - the representation of the true sanctuary - but into heaven itself, and he appears now in God's presence for us. [v. 25] And he did not enter to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the sanctuary year after year with blood that is not his own, [v. 26] for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the consummation of the ages to put away sin by his sacrifice. [v. 27] And just as people are appointed to die once, and then to face judgment, [v. 28] so also, after Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, to those who eagerly await him he will appear a second time, not to bear sin but to bring salvation.