FORGIVENESS FOR SINS
AND THE RABBIS
One of the most common questions Christians
ask our ministry is, “What do Jewish people
do today to find forgiveness for sin without
the existence of the Temple and the ability to offer
a blood sacrifice?” Coming from our perspective
as believers in the Lamb of God whose sacrificial
death atoned for our sins, the question is natural.
However, most Jewish people do not give a second
thought as to whether or not a blood sacrifice is
necessary today for atonement.
As followers of Jesus who believe in the
authority of both Testaments, we are well familiar
with the words of Moses who wrote, “For the life
of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you
on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is
the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement”
(Leviticus 17:11; 16:34).
At one time, the faith of the Jewish people,
as revealed in Scripture, was centered upon the
Temple and priesthood in Jerusalem. After the
destruction of the Temple by the Romans in
AD 70, the Jewish people were forced to rethink
nearly everything about their way of life and
approach to God. What were the Jewish people
to do now that over half of the five books of
Moses were impossible to be observed without the
Temple and an active priesthood?
For Jewish believers in Jesus, this question
people
offering Covenant Jeremiah
better and accomplished
SEPTEMBER 2018 / THE CHOSEN PEOPLE - 5
to so He faithful priest
to propitiation for the of the
the
of offer
sacrifices In
the years following the destruction of the Temple,
the Jewish leaders, who never ceased to mourn the
destruction of the Temple and remember what
was lost and destroyed by the Romans, developed
a series of substitutes for the Temple sacrifices.
These “substitutes” for sacrifice continue to our
present day.
Their solutions to finding redemption
without a Temple can be summarized in three
broad categories: relaxing the biblical commands
because of the inability to obey them in light of
the destruction of the Temple, transcending the
biblical commands, and substituting for the biblical
commands.
One common rabbinic response was to relax
the commandments that were now impossible to
perform, including the commandments to sacrifice.
The rationale was that God had temporarily
suspended those commandments until the Messianic
era by allowing the Temple to be destroyed.
Many sages pointed to repentance as
having the power to provide atonement, thus
transcending the need for a blood sacrifice. They
emphasized repentance, as found in the Prophets,
but downplayed the message of Leviticus, which
emphasized sacrifice. However, the Bible still
teaches that both are necessary for atonement. The
sages had not considered that God had fulfilled His
promises to send a perfect sacrifice that became the
ultimate sacrifice for sin for all of Israel and for the
Gentiles as well.
The Jewish leaders tried to help the Jewish
community survive and find a relationship with
God apart from the Temple and priesthood.
They innovated new ways to help their fellow
Jewish people fulfill what had become impossible
commands to obey. Some said that praying three
times a day would be as if they performed the
three daily sacrifices. Others said that merely
studying the impossible commandments would
be considered as if they had actually performed
them. Suffering for righteousness was considered
as if such suffering were the suffering of a sacrificial
animal. Acts of charity would be considered
fulfillment of the impossible commandments. In
rabbinic literature and traditional prayers, there is
little that is not considered a substitution for the
impossible commands.
Consequently, most religious Jewish people
believe that their sins are atoned for without a
literal sacrifice. How do we pray for the salvation
of our Jewish friends and loved ones, especially
during the High Holiday season when Jewish
people are seeking atonement (Hebrews 10:1-10)?
Specifically, we pray that the once-for-all sacrifice
of Yeshua the Messiah will be found to be the soulsatisfying
path to forgiveness for our Jewish friends
and family at this time of the year.
As Isaiah promised, “All of us like sheep have
gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but
the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on
Him” (Isaiah 53:6).
FOR THE
JEWISH SAGES,
REDEMPTION
WITHOUT A
TEMPLE IS
SUMMARIZED
BY: RELAXING
THE BIBLICAL
COMMANDS,
TRANSCENDING
THE BIBLICAL
COMMANDS,
AND
SUBSTITUTING
FOR THE
BIBLICAL
COMMANDS.
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was not difficult. Yeshua came to His people
offffffering a New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34),
a better priesthood, and an atoning sacrifice that
accomplished all that the Temple was meant
to accomplish. As the writer of Hebrews notes,
“Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in
all things, so that He might become a merciful and
faithful high priest in things pertaining to God,
to make propitiation for the sins of the people”
(Hebrews 2:17).
How did the Jewish leaders respond to the
destruction of the Temple and the inability to offer
atoning sacrifififices on the Day of Atonement? In
the years following the destruction of the Temple