In my recent studies of Judaism and in listening to Dr. Michael Brown’s debates with rabbis, I have discovered that modern Jews don’t believe blood sacrifice is needed today. They say that was for ancient times, but now, repentance and prayer and just living a righteous life is good enough to please God. Back in the 19th century, Reformed Judaism was developed, with the idea that Judaism needed to be “updated” and brought into modern times. Well, this notion is very wrong, and in this blog, I want to show why.
First, I need to explain Jews’ reasoning behind the idea that sacrifices are no longer needed. They have two main arguments for this. First, they point to various scriptures where God says He’s not pleased with sacrifices. Second, they say that this came about because of the destruction of their temple. The temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C., so a second temple was constructed. This second temple was then destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. The fact that Jews survived the destruction of both temples and continued to be people of God proves, according to these Jews, that there are other ways to be accepted in God’s sight.
Regarding the verses which seem to discount sacrifices, I point to Is. 1:11 as a classic text. It says God was tired of sacrifices and didn’t want them anymore. This proves, according to modern Jews, that the sacrificial system is no longer necessary. However, if you will read the entire chapter, you will discover that it wasn’t sacrifices per se that God was displeased with. Rather, He was displeased because the Jews offering those sacrifices were hypocrites. They brought their sacrifices, but were disobedient in their hearts. They were completely disobedient to God, but thought their offering of sacrifices made them okay in God’s sight.
This would be like a mafia hit man going to a Catholic church and celebrating mass, while continuing to murder people, break their kneecaps, drink, carouse, and otherwise live a totally wicked lifestyle. Such religious “service” would be a total sham, since God looks at the heart and wants us to live godly lives. If you have no intention of ever living as God requires, but think going to church covers all of that and makes you pleasing in His sight, you’re missing the mark entirely! God looks at the heart!
Regarding the fact that the temples were destroyed, but some Jews still served God, rabbis point to Daniel. He lived in Babylonian captivity, but continued to pray and live a godly life. This proves, say the rabbis, that sacrifice is no longer necessary. You can live a godly life as a Jew without blood sacrifice, without the priesthood or the temple. Those things were for an earlier time; modern people need only strive to be good and upright. If they are moral people who pray and believe in God, that is enough. In fact, a common saying among Jews is, “Christians are people of creeds; Jews are people of deeds,” the point being that it’s how you live, not what you say you believe that really counts. But are the Jews right in saying this?
I find it sad that the Jewish people have drifted so very far from the incredible privileges God gave them as His first covenant people. They are the only nation of people ever chosen by God to be rescued corporately from the clutches of an oppressive, totalitarian regime. They were slaves in Egypt, but God brought them out with the most powerful demonstration of supernatural power the world has ever seen. He sent ten plagues upon that land, broke the power of Pharaoh, even opened a way through the Red Sea and fed the people with manna from heaven. He brought them to Mount Sinai, where He gave them the Ten Commandments and set up the first system by which a people could have God dwell among them. Think of it! They were enabled, by the law, the Tabernacle, the priesthood, and the sacrificial system, to actually have God among them and to be able to have a living relationship with Him. No other people has ever experienced such a blessing!
The “original Judaism” God gave the Jewish people was the greatest “religion” any people ever had. It taught them truth and brought them into a covenant relationship with Yahweh. These people were wonderfully blessed above all other peoples of the earth! Unfortunately, the Hebrew Bible teaches us that Jews continually drifted from that covenant and failed to continue in their special relationship with God. So much so that they had to be driven from their Promised Land and carried into captivity in Babylon. Eventually, a remnant of them returned to Israel, but not to the same freedom and authority they had once enjoyed there.
The ones who did return tried to get the people back to the worship of their God, but with only limited success. They did break free from the worship of other gods. But by the time of Jesus, they’d replaced that idolatry with the self-righteousness of the Pharisees and the hypocrisy and unbelief of the Sadducees. Jesus railed against them and warned them of coming destruction (see Matt. 23 & 24). Destruction came upon them just as He had prophesied, when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the second temple in 70 A.D.
They were scattered to the winds until God allowed Israel to be reconstituted in May of 1948. But to this day, Israel is a secular nation and only a small percentage of Jewish people even practice orthodox Judaism. The religion of the Jews today is either secularism, or a belief system very far removed from what God gave to them on Mount Sinai so long ago. Reformed Jews think prayer and repentance is enough to make them right in the sight of God. Most other Jews don’t even care about having a relationship with Yahweh; it’s not even important to them. How I wish they would look back to their roots and discover the truth!
Israel began as a nation and as the first covenant people of God through blood sacrifice! The offering of the Passover Lamb is what saved them as a people from the destruction of their firstborn and “bought” their way out of slavery in Egypt. God said that day was to be the first day of their new life as a nation and as the people of God (Ex. 12:2). That’s how important that sacrifice was – it was the very start of their existence as God’s people. They would never have been a people of God if they hadn’t offered those sacrificial lambs! The blood of those lambs is what covered them and protected them from God’s wrath and the curse of death upon the firstborn.
When they came to Mount Sinai, God had them set up the Tabernacle and the priesthood. He had Moses sprinkle the priests’ robes and the book of the law and the altar and everything else with the blood of a sacrifice (Ex. 24:8; Lev. 7 & 8). Only by the shedding of blood was any of it made acceptable to God. The altar was the first thing the priests had to approach when they came into the courtyard of that Tabernacle. Sacrifice there was their first duty. Blood had to be shed, then sprinkled on the altar. Blood had to be carried into the holy place and the holy of holies, in order for God to forgive the sins of the Israelite people. Sacrifices had to be offered morning and evening, every single day, so that God could forgive and remain among His sinful people. Without these things, no relationship with God would’ve been possible!
That was why it was so very devastating for the Jews when their temple was destroyed in 586 B.C. and again in 70 A.D. The godly ones knew that without that temple, those priests and those sacrifices, they could not draw near to God nor have Him draw near to them. That’s why the first thing the remnant did when they were allowed to return to their land was rebuild the altar and start offering sacrifices again (Ez. 6:3). That’s why it’s so serious today that there is no temple and no sacrificial system, and why some today so desperately want to construct a third temple. Jews living in the first century understood these things. That’s why the author of Hebrews wrote “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (Heb. 9:22, NIV)
It is so important that modern Jews, and all other people, for that matter, understand this truth! No one is acceptable before God without a blood sacrifice! Our sins require death and bloodshed, because “the wages of sin is death” (Ro. 6:23). Either we will die for our sins, and be separated from God eternally, or a substitute must die, a sacrifice.
The problem is, there is no longer a temple in Jerusalem or an anointed priesthood to offer such sacrifices. Since those things were God’s “authorized” way to obtain forgiveness and access to His presence, now that they have been destroyed, what are we to do? Either all Jews today (and all Gentiles), are without any way of obtaining forgiveness and access to God’s presence, or God has provided some other way. Which is it? Has God provided some other way? If so, what would that “way” be?
The “other way,” the new way, is known as the “New Covenant” or New Testament. Understanding it is of the greatest importance for every human being. I can give you the gist of it very briefly.
When Jesus walked up to Yochanan the Immerser at the River Jordan, Yochanan (we call him John the Baptist), said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). John understood by the Spirit’s revelation that Jesus would die as the supreme Sacrifice or Substitute for the sins of the world. That’s why Paul wrote to Timothy, “there is only one Mediator between God and man, the Man, Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). It’s why Jesus Himself said, “I am the way, the truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father, but by me” (Jn. 14:6). On the night He was betrayed, Jesus celebrated the Passover, when the lambs were sacrificed to win Israel’s freedom from bondage, and He passed the cup of wine around the table saying, “This cup is the New Covenant in my blood” (Lu. 22:30). He thus instituted the New Covenant by connecting it with the blood sacrifice of the Jewish Passover. It’s what Christians today call holy communion. By doing this, Jesus demonstrated that the blood sacrifices of the Old Covenant were being replaced by one special Sacrifice. Jesus was about to become that Sacrifice and die to make relationship with God possible.
The truth is, everything done under the Old or First Covenant was a type or shadow of what Jesus would eventually do. No one in those times could be acceptable to God without blood sacrifice. Even those called righteous during the periods when there was no temple were called so because, in a sense, they looked forward to the offering of the One Sacrifice which would atone for the sins of any who would believe.
Jews today who think blood sacrifices unnecessary are sadly mistaken. The truth is, without them, they have no atonement, no forgiveness, and no access to God. And neither does anyone else! No one can have their sins forgiven without a blood sacrifice. No one is acceptable before God just for being a “good person,” because no one is good enough. Besides, the penalty for sin isn’t just repentance and prayer. The penalty is death. That means either you will die for your sins and be separated from God eternally, or you will believe that He sent His Son to die for you. Those are the only choices available today. The Old Covenant has been abolished. A New Covenant has been established in its place.
Without the shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness of sins. This is something God wants everyone to know. He also wants every human being to know that Jesus’ precious blood has been shed and atonement has been made. This blood sacrifice has been made once and for all, and it is superior to any of those sacrifices made under the Old Covenant. It cleanses us from all sin. Thank God, even our consciences are cleansed by this blood (Heb. 9:14). It is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and the sins of the whole world (1 Jn. 2:2). We can have a new start, a clean slate. As the old hymn says, “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus! Oh precious is that flow, that washes white as snow! No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus!”