|
What most Christians forget is that the man they call Jesus (a
Greek name) was a practising Jew well versed in the Hebrew scriptures.
The gospels we have are translated from Greek; which may not have
been the original language of the writer. Also the documents used
for translation are centuries after.
Other important facts have to be born in mind too when considering
what was said and meant at this event are that Jesus never
said himself that he was a sacrifice for sin when he spoke on many
occasions of his impending death, he always called himself the
son of man (not the son of the father) and that the Hebrew scriptures
never speak of a human sacrifice, let alone God incarnate, to replace
the animal sacrifices. Human sacrifice was an abomination to God.
The first born could not be a sacrifice - he was sanctified to
God and bought with a price - see Ex.13v2, 22v29, 34v20 and Num.
3v12,v40,v41v42,v50. Israel was forbidden to drink or eat blood.
Repentance, reparation and sacrifice were the plan of salvation
for Israel.
Even sacrifice was not an essential part of this - what about
when they were in exile away from the temple? If their sin could
not be dealt with how could they return as they were in exile because
of sin! There were sacrifices for sin consisting of flour and no
blood!(Lev. 4&5) Where does this leave the statement in
Heb. 9v22 that there is no forgiveness without the shedding of
blood?
So the question has to be asked why would God move the goal posts
with no warning and explanation and then punish the Jews for not
changing everything they believed?
God had said many times in the Hebrew scriptures that He forgave
sin and that the gentile can become a partaker of the blessings
of Israel too.
So what do these Greek scriptures say?
In Matthew and Mark it does say "This is my blood," but
in Luke - it reads " this cup the new covenant in my blood
is which for you is poured out."
(The new covenant was promised to Israel in Jer.31 and Ezekiel
36 at the time of the exile and the ark went missing. It was that
the law would be written on their hearts to perform it, not on
stone.)
1Cor.11 v25 says in the Greek "This cup the new covenant
is in my blood."
Heb. 8 v14 does not have the word " covenant" in the
original. And ch.12v24 has " fresh covenant" .
Galatians 3v15 & 17 has "confirmed covenant" .
The gospel of John has no last supper scene with the words about
the cup, but, instead has the discourse in ch. 6, but if this seen
in the context of Jesus being the living word- i.e. a person who
lived the walk of the true Torah (law) so as to be one to be
observed and drunk in and absorbed it makes sense to a Jew to
whom eating the body and blood of another human was abhorrent,
but the idea of the Torah being a tree of life was understood Matt
23 records Jesus as saying observe and do what they teach you but
do not do all the additions they have added to the basic Torah
of Yahweh.
Jesus knew he would die for rocking the boat - the priesthood
of the day had sold out to the occupying gentiles and the Pharisees
had made a burden for the people never intended by God. He knew
that the time for the temple to go the way the ark had at the time
of Jeremiah and Ezekiel was coming - the new covenant was needed
now.
The question you have to answer is was it a political death of
the innocent suffering with and because of the sins of God's people
of the day, or was it a death to end the deaths of the sacrificial
victims and deal with the sins of the world?
The gospels make it plain that the crucifixion took place on the
day of preparation before Passover and so the meal was not the
Passover meal. In any case the Passover lamb had nothing to do
with the sin of the people - its blood marked the families who
were of Israel and so separated them from those of Egypt. It was
the blood of one goat on the day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) that
was for the sins of Israel. The other goat being sent into the
wilderness carrying the sin away. Why did Jesus not die on the
day of Atonement?
The Christianity practised in church today is that of Paul, not
Jesus, and those who participate should be called Paulians!!
next section : The Name of God
|
