Was Jesus a Prophet?
According to Judaism, the Torah was given to the Jewish people as a guide book for life. We believe that within it is the "blueprint" of Creation, laying out the foundation and principals upon which the Heavens and Earth operate. Regardless of time and location, wherever a Jew will find himself, it will give him insight into what to think and what to do. This was certainly the case when the Jewish people approached the Land of Israel after leaving Egypt. They were prepared.
This also applied to the coming of Jesus 2000 years ago. We will admit that his coming was significant enough that the Torah would prepare us for how to understand someone like him and how to deal with him.
If you were to ask a missionary to show you where Jesus is most openly hinted at in the Torah, they would most likely show you the following.
"I will raise them a Prophet from among their brothers, like you (Moses), and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him."
Deuteronomy 18:18
"I will raise a prophet ... like ... Moses". They will ask, "Who was a prophet like Moses?" "Whoever will not listen to him, I will require it of him." Who could the Torah be speaking about? They would insist it is Jesus, and that if we do not follow Jesus, G-d would require it of us.
Knowing what we know about how missionaries typically try to build their case, we need to first ask ourselves, what is the full context of this verse? If we read it in its entirety, we see a more complete picture.
"I will raise them a Prophet from among their brothers, like you, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. But the prophet, who shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who shall speak in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die. And if you say in your heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken? When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing follows not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken, and the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him."
Deuteronomy 18:18-22
This passage really serves several purposes.
•It established the authority of all future prophets after Moses is gone. If, when it says "I will raise up a prophet", it refers to only one person, and that being Jesus, where else would Isaiah and Jeremiah get their authority from that we should believe them?
•Even if it did refer to Jesus, what would be Jesus' standing in Jewish eyes?
"And there has not arisen since in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and the wonders, which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all that mighty hand, and in all the great and awesome deeds which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel."
Deuteronomy 34:10
He, like all other prophets would always be on a lower level than Moses.
•It instructs us on how to distinguish between a true and a false prophet. We are told that when he prophesizes, and the thing he predicts does not come about, we are not to regard him as a true prophet.
Let us now examine the New Testament, to see how Jesus faired as a prophet. In reality he prophesized very little, and we will see how his words measure up to what we were told in Deuteronomy 18:18-22.
"Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah: For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
Matthew 12:38-40
Here Christians will confidently proclaim Jesus as a prophet, because he foretold his own death and resurrection. The problem is that this prophesy was given to the "scribes and Pharisees". If his prophesy in fact came true, and he was resurrected from the dead, then he should have appeared to them to establish his truth. He did not appear to his doubters, but we have to "trust" his followers that the events of his resurrection in fact came true.
"Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, tin they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom."
Matthew 16:28
Here Jesus is telling his disciples that he shall return before some of them die. Obviously he did not, and has not for 2000 years. What kind of prophet would Deuteronomy 18 deem him to be?
According to the Jewish perspective, we do hold that the Torah speaks clearly about people like Jesus. In fact, it goes into mentioning his miracles and his death. We find this in Deuteronomy 13.
"If there arises among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder, comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods, which you have not known, and let us serve them'; you shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your G-d tests you, to know whether you love the Lord your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your G-d, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and you shall serve him, and hold fast to him. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he has spoken to turn you away from the Lord your G-d, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to thrust you out of the way which the Lord your G-d commanded you to walk in. So shall you purge the evil away from the midst of you."
Deuteronomy 13:2-6
Hashem here announces that He would send us a miracle-working prophet to test our faithfulness to Him. We are told to not be fooled by miracles. In fact, the major prophets that Christians cite: Isaiah, Jeremiah & Ezekiel are not known for having done any miracles at all. We, instead, value the truth of their words. Ironically, the New Testament tries to validate Jesus, because of his miracles.
"Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the Sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles?"
John 9:16
In Deuteronomy 13, we are given a standard by which we are to assess all views of G-d that are presented to us, to see if they are real or not. When we are warned not to 'go after other gods, which you have not known', we must honestly ask if a certain view of G-d is how Moses' generation knew it to be. If not, we must not follow it. Therefore, from this chapter, we have learned to reject Jesus as a true prophet, and the myth of the Trinity as well. Because this is a view of G-d "that we have not known."
One last point. We learned before, that since the completion of the Tanach, the Jews have held that the "age of prophesy" ended. This in fact was a motivation behind canonizing the Tanach, since in a sense "that book was closed." Testifying to this, is the fact that the Jews do not recognize any post-Tanach prophets. If Jesus is held to be a prophet, then the only category he could then grouped into would be a "false prophet".
Interestingly, did the prophet Zechariah prophesize about Jesus centuries before he lived? We believe that in the Messianic era, the false prophets will return to confess their error.
"On that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for cleansing and for sprinkling. And it shall come to pass on that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no more be remembered; and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass from the land. And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother who bore him shall say to him, You shall not live; for you speak lies in the name of the Lord; and his father and his mother who bore him shall pierce him through when he prophesies. And it shall come to pass on that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed everyone of his vision, when he has prophesied; nor shall they wear a hairy mantle in order to deceive; But he shall say, I am not a prophet, I am a tiller of the soil; for a man taught me to keep cattle from my youth. And one shall say to him, What are these wounds in your hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
Zechariah 13:1-6
Tampering With The Evidence
In every way, whether in pretense or in truth,
Christ is proclaimed; and in that I rejoice.
Philippians 1:18
He who speaks truth gives just evidence;
but a false witness deceits.
Proverbs 12:17
Missionaries want you to believe in the New Testament, and that their claims about Jesus are supported by the Tanach. To examine the believability of these claims, let’s begin by examining how honestly missionaries and the writers of the New Testament use Jewish scriptures.
A careful study of the Tanach, as well as the New Testament, reveals how often deception is used to build the case for Jesus. Since the writers of the New Testament wanted to paint Jesus into the Tanach as often as possible, we will see just how far they will go to make things work. Two key lessons that you should learn from this Study Guide are that:
1) Judaism must include every verse of the Tanach to get the true picture, whether the verse praises us or criticizes us for our worst failings. Missionaries do not and cannot quote every verse. They ignore major sections of the Tanach, because many verses contradict the picture they are trying to fabricate. Just look at their literature, does it or can it ever include:
• “God is not a man, that he should lie…” Numbers 23:19
• “Do not put your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no salvation.” Psalm 146:3 (Jesus is referred to constantly as the Son of Man.)
2) Furthermore, every verse of “prophecy” they claim to cite from the Tanach, is either:
• Mistranslated or misrepresented;
• Taken out of context;
• Or just made up!
This is a very big claim, so let’s investigate this further.
Setting The Stage
And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
1st Corinthians 9:20-22
In the passage above, the Apostle Paul showed his willingness to say whatever it took to get people to believe in Jesus. Here he set the example of “the end justifies the means” for all future missionaries. What we will do now is look at several examples to show how much they “tamper with the evidence.”
The Order of The Tanach
A key insight into Christian manipulation begins with something as simple as the order of the Tanach. As we know, the word “Tanach” is an acrostic formed by the first letter of the names of the three sections of the Jewish Scriptures: Torah (The Five Books), Neviim (Prophets), and Kesuvim (Writings). The Tanach was canonized in roughly 500 BCE (over 800 years before the New Testament was canonized) by the Men of The Great Assembly, who obviously placed significance on the order of the books.
When the Church sought to graft the New Testament onto the Tanach and create the “Bible”, many changes in translation and the order of the books were made to make it appear to “flow” better from our book to theirs.
• They obviously felt they had license as “editors” of our Tanach to rearrange its order. As we will see, they will demonstrate this freedom to change other things as well.
• The new order meant that the book could no longer be called the Tanach, and required a new name. They substituted the name “Old Testament”, implying a “New Testament,” which to some means it superseded the old.
• Ending Jewish Scriptures with the book of Malachi flows better into the New Testament book of Matthew than does 2nd Chronicles, since 2nd Chronicles ends with an upbeat message for the Jews. There King Cyrus of Persia gives the Jews permission to return from exile to rebuild their land and their Temple . In typical fashion, the Church tried to avoid showing hopeful messages about the future of the Jews, especially since we rejected Jesus.
Thus said Cyrus king of Persia , ‘All the kingdoms of the earth has the Lord G-d of heaven given me; and He has charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem , which is in Judah . Whoever is among you of all His people, the Lord his G-d be with him, and let him go up!’
2 Chronicles 36:23
Malachi in contrast ends with:
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord…
Malachi 3:23
For the Church, this is a great lead-in to the New Testament story of John the Baptist, whom they allege to be Elijah the Prophet, bringing in the Messiah, Jesus. (In the New Testament Book of John, John the Baptist will actually deny being Elijah.)
Misquoting Texts
The New Testament repeatedly claims that Jesus fulfilled Biblical prophecies. The Jewish position is that he did not fulfill any, and that all attempts to make him appear to have done so come from misquoting our texts. This manipulation of our scriptures is done through taking passages out of context, mistranslating words, or even making up quotes! Below are several New Testament (NT) verses, together with their source in Tanach (T). Let us examine how honestly they portrayed things.
TAKING OUT OF CONTEXT
EXAMPLE #1
When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt : And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt have I called my son.”
Matthew 2:14 (NT)
This New Testament story is about Joseph, fleeing with his wife Mary and baby Jesus, shortly after Jesus was born. G-d is quoted as calling His “son” out of Egypt . Looking at this passage as presented in Matthew, it might appear that there was a Biblical notion of a “son of G-d”, and Jesus fulfilled it.
“When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt .”
Hosea 11:1 (T)
If you looked at the entire passage in Hosea that Matthew is quoting from, we see that Hosea is clearly referring to the Jewish People collectively as G-d’s “son”. This use of metaphor is common throughout the Tanach, where the Jewish people are referred to repeatedly as G-d’s “son” or “child”, etc.
And you shall say to Pharaoh, Thus said the Lord, Israel is my son, my firstborn....
Exodus 4:22
You shall also consider in your heart, that, as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastened you.
Deuteronomy 8:5.
Furthermore, the above verse in Hosea is one of many examples where the New Testament takes a historical event and makes it into a messianic prophesy.
EXAMPLE #2
And leaving Nazareth, he (Jesus) came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zebulon and Nephthalim: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, “The land of Zebulon, and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.” The people, which sat in darkness, saw a great light, and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up.
Matthew 4:13 (NT)
This passage deals with the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, and lists the areas he visited. Matthew wanted to show that Jesus fulfilled a prophecy that the Messiah would also begin his prophecy in these places.
Now therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory; and it will rise over all its channels, and go over all its banks.... For there is no weariness to him (the king of Assyria) who is set against her, at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulon, and the land of Naphtali, and afterwards he afflicted her more grievously by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.
Isaiah 8:7,23 (T)
The 8th chapter of Isaiah is really an historical account of the king of Assyria ’s assault on the Northern Kingdom of Israel, which ultimately led to his taking the ten tribes into exile. The chapter ends with a description of how he afflicted the land of Zebulon , Naphtali, and the Galilee , as opposed to Matthew’s claim that this is a messianic prophecy, fulfilled by Jesus. Notice that Matthew twice eliminates wording about how the subject “afflicted” these areas.
MISTRANSLATIONS
To make the Tanach (T) itself appear to be filled with references to Jesus, Christian translators will even mistranslate some of the Hebrew words. Therefore, not only should we be aware of the deception found in the New Testament, but we must also be wary of Christian translations of what they call the Old Testament (OT) as well.
EXAMPLE #3
Psalm 22:17
For dogs have surrounded me; the assembly of the wicked have encircled me; they pierced my hands and my feet.
Christian Translation (OT).
It appears that the Psalm prophesizes about someone whose hands and feet are pierced. This leads one to think it is hinting at Jesus.
VS
For dogs surround me; the assembly of the wicked encircles me, like a lion (at) my hands and feet.
Original Hebrew (T).
This passage is written by King David about the travails of his life, and is not a messianic prophecy. The word (C’Ari) means “like a lion”, and David uses the word “lion” earlier in the same Psalm to describe his pursuers. If you examine all other places where Christian translators translates (C’Ari) in the Old Testament, they are translated “like a lion”. (Numbers 24:9, Isaiah 38:13, Ezekiel 22:25).
EXAMPLE #4
Psalm 2:12
Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.
Christian Translation (OT).
It appears that the Psalm clearly commands us to embrace the Son (of G-d), or else suffer the consequences.
VS
Embrace Purity, lest He be angry, and you perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.
Original Hebrew (T).
In this psalm, David is admonishing the rulers of the earth on their behavior. “Be prudent… accept discipline…Serve the Lord in awe; tremble with fright.The word means “purity” in Hebrew. Christians try to insert the Aramaic word for “son” into a Hebrew psalm.
Made Up Verses
EXAMPLE #5
And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth : that it might be filled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
Matthew 2:23 (NT)
The point of this passage is to show that the Messiah is supposed to be from the city of Nazareth , and to be known for that, as Jesus of Nazareth was. Not only has there never been a requirement for the Messiah to be from Nazareth , but also the quote Matthew cites does not appear anywhere in the Tanach. It was made up! Not even the words “ Nazareth ” or “Nazarene” themselves are to be found as well.
Some Christians attempt to connect this verse with a “nazir”, which is someone who takes an oath of abstinence from wine, etc. However, “Nazir” is spelled with a “zayin “(z), whereas Natzeret ( Nazareth ) is spelled with a by "tzady“ (tz). Others try to make the connection from the description of the Messiah in Isaiah 11, as a “netzar “ (branch) of Jesse (David’s father). Even though the word root is the same, it is clearly not the same quote, and shows no connection to the city of Nazareth .
• EXAMPLE #6
Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; And gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me.”
Matthew 27:9-10 (NT)
Matthew wants us to think that the Prophet Jeremiah foretold about the 30 pieces of silver that Judas received for betraying Jesus. After feeling remorse, Judas threw them into the Temple before committing suicide. Actually, Jeremiah never said any such quote. The closest we can come up with are a combination of the following:
And Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Behold, Hanameel, the son of Shallum, your uncle shall come unto you, saying, Buy my field that is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption is yours to buy it.
Jeremiah 32:6-7 (T)
And I said unto them, If you think it good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prized at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.
Zechariah 11:12-14 (T)
One might say that all the examples we have given so far are petty compared to the big picture. Know that the same type of manipulation of scripture is also used for beliefs that are foundational to Christianity. Let’s now examine two of these beliefs.
The Virgin Birth
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Isaiah 7:14 (Christian Translation)
This is the verse upon which Christianity bases its claim that Jesus was born of a virgin, which is necessary to show that he was the “son of G-d.” As mentioned before, stories of “virgin-births” were common within pagan mythologies, and were readily accepted by pagans. Judaism, on the other hand, never accepted a belief in anything like this.
By now we have seen enough of how some Christian “editors” manipulate Jewish texts to appreciate how this verse has been doctored. Through mistranslating words and taking things out of context, we again see how their “Old Testament” is an invalid representation of our Tanach.
Let us now look at all of Isaiah Chapter 7 to see what is really going on.
And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz ...king of Judah , that Rezin the king of Aram , and Pekah ...king of Israel , went up toward Jerusalem to fight against it, but could not prevail against it.... Moreover the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the Lord your G-d; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. And he said, Hear now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my G-d also? 14. Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, the young woman is with child, and she will bear a son, and shall call his name Immanu-El. Butter and honey shall he eat, when he shall know how to refuse the evil, and choose the good. For before the child shall know how to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread shall be deserted.
Isaiah 7:1-16 (T)
King Ahaz of the Kingdom of Judah was being attacked by the two armies of Aram and Israel , and was panicking. To ease his fears, G-d offered him a sign that he and the rest of Jerusalem would be saved. The young woman (that Ahaz knew) was pregnant, and would give birth. The real sign was that before the child would “know how to refuse the evil, and choose the good”, Ahaz would be spared of the two kings.
Ahaz lived 700 years before Jesus. What comfort would he gain from a child born 700 years later, since he needed help then? Christian translators change the word (Ha’alma), which means “the young woman” to mean “a virgin”, which is actually (Besula). When you cross-reference these words with other times it is mentioned in Tanach, the “the young woman” translation will be proven correct. Besides, if it did mean “a virgin”, then there had to be a virgin-birth in Ahaz’s day, and there is no mention of any such event occurring.
Blood Atonement
For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul.
Leviticus 17:11 (OT)
Christian missionaries will tell you that this passage affirms that it is only through a blood sacrifice that we can make atonement for our souls. Since we Jews no longer have Temple sacrifices, how do we achieve atonement? They answer that such sacrifices are no longer necessary since the blood of Jesus will serve as our eternal atonement if we only believe in him.
Once again, we insist that it is necessary to see every passage in its full context to understand its true meaning.
And whoever there is of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among you, who eats any kind of blood; I will set my face against that soul who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul. Therefore I said to the people of Israel , No soul of you shall eat blood, nor shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood. And whoever there is of the people of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among you, who hunts and catches any beast or bird that may be eaten; he shall pour out its blood, and cover it with dust. For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for its life; therefore I said to the people of Israel, You shall not eat the blood of any kind of flesh; for the life of all flesh is its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off.
Leviticus 17:10-14 (T)
Clearly, these passages are about the prohibition against consuming blood, and are not about atonement. Blood is special, and when sacrifices play their part to atone for us, it is the blood (not the nose or the foot or the ear) that atones when offered on the altar. However, is a blood sacrifice the only way to achieve atonement? Not according to the Tanach. See "Is A Blood Sacrifice Required For Atonement?
By now, I hope you can see how important it is to deal with all of Tanach in its original language and context. The writers of the Christian scriptures had an agenda, and needed the Jewish texts to fit their needs. We certainly have not covered all of the Christian proof-texts, but it is fair to say that we have seen typical examples of the distortion used to make their case.
Is A Blood Sacrifice
Required For Atonement?
Quite often, missionaries will cite Hebrews 9:22 (NT) which states: "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission" (forgiveness of sin). But is this true? Is this a Jewish concept? After all the New Testament claims to be the fulfillment of Judaism as found in the Jewish Bible. Let us look at this question to see if the New Testament is telling the truth about this important subject.
The New Testament bases this idea on Leviticus 17:11 which says:
For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul.
From a simple reading of this, it seems that "blood makes atonement for the soul. Without blood atonement does not seem possible. But, is this the whole story?
First of all, we must always ask ourselves, "What is the full context of this verse." An honest reading of Leviticus 17:10-14 shows clearly that the Torah is speaking about a prohibition against eating blood, not about atonement. Blood is considered important because when an animal is offered, the blood is the part that effects the atonement, not the skin or the bones. These passages are also here to tell us that the only permitted use of blood is on the altar, and no other.
But is a blood sacrifice the only means Hashem has given us to atone for our souls?
Absolutely not. Just as a store will allow you to pay by cash, or check, or credit card or food stamps, etc., so too Hashem allows us many way to atone for our souls.
The first step to appreciating this, is to actually look at the quote in the New Testament that missionaries cite to make their case. We will find that not only do they take Tanach verses out of context, but actually do the same thing to the New Testament as well. The entire verse reads:
Hebrews 9:22. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Almost all things? I propose that Paul was aware that the atoning effect of blood did not cover everything, and that other means were available for atonement. Let us now examine the Tanach to see examples of where atonement was achieved in ways other than through a sin offering.
Examples:
This they shall give, every one who passes among those who are counted, half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary... The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering to the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls. (NO BLOOD).
Exodus 30:13-15
What if someone cannot afford an animal to sacrifice, is atonement closed to him?
But if he is not able to bring two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, then he who sinned shall bring for his offering the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering... Then shall he bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take his handful of it, a memorial part of it, and burn it on the altar, according to the offerings made by fire to the Lord; it is a sin offering. And the priest shall make an atonement for him in regard to his sin that he has sinned in one of these, and it shall be forgiven him; and the remnant shall be the priest's, as a meal offering. (NO BLOOD).
Leviticus 5:11 -13
In most cases in the Bible, stories of the forgiveness of sin involve genuine, heart-wrenching repentance, which is really what Hashem desires most.
Bring no more vain offerings; incense of abomination they are to me.... Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the orphan, plead for the widow. (NO BLOOD).
Isaiah 1:13-17
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, 0 God, you will not despise. (NO BLOOD).
Psalm 51:19
Look at the story of David and the matter of Uriah. David is confronted with his sin, repents and is forgiven
And David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. (NO BLOOD).
11 Samuel 12:13
Furthermore, following the Golden Calf:
And the Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people; now therefore let me alone, that my anger may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation. And Moses pleaded with the Lord his G-d, and said, Lord, why does your anger burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand... Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever. And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do to his people. (NO BLOOD).
Exodus 32:9-14
Concerning Nineveh, the Gentile city in the Book of Jonah:
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness has come up before me...
And the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them, And word came to the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he took off his robe, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes ... And God saw their doings, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, which he had said that he would do to them; and he did not do it. (NO BLOOD)
Jonah 1:2; 3:5-6, 10
Christians may ask, How is it possible to attain atonement without sacrifices? Since no sacrifices have been offered since the Temple was destroyed, Jews offer repentance instead. Christians will then ask, by what authority can we substitute words for sacrifices?
We read in Hosea an admonition from G-d through his prophet for us all.
O Israel, return to the Lord your God; for you have stumbled in your iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord; say to him: Forgive all iniquity, and receive us graciously; so will we offer the words of our lips instead of calves.
Hosea 14:2-3
Listen to the prayers of the prophet Daniel who lived during the exile in Babylon. His words of confession:
We have sinned, and have committed iniquity; and have done wickedly and have rebelled, and have departed from your precepts and from your judgments...
Daniel 9:5
And his plea for forgiveness:
To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him... 0 Lord, according to all your righteousness, I pray you, let your anger and your fury be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a- reproach to all those who are around us.
Daniel 9:9;16
Daniel asked God for forgiveness for himself and his people. Would Daniel be praying for something he couldn't have because he couldn't offer blood? Of course not. For Daniel knew of Hosea, and Daniel knew of Nathan the prophet's words about King David.
Lastly, we are told what we must do when we have been put out of our land, dispersed among all the nations and want forgiveness. Though this was spoken by King Solomon, it is applicable to us today, and it has nothing to do with blood, or Jesus.
"They shall pray unto the L-rd toward the city which You have chosen ... and say ... We have sinned ... and so return to You with all their heart ... forgive Your people that have sinned.
I Kings 8:44-50
Yes, we as Jews have sinned, in many ways. All of us, and we must follow the words of our prophets to return to G-d.
Message to Messianic Jews
By the path you have chosen, you may have sinned in a very dangerous way, one that threatens to cut you off from the Jewish people, and threatens the eternity of your neshama (soul).
We are told in Deuteronomy 28:64
"And the Lord shall scatter you among all people from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known."
It is important to see that the Jewish belief in G-d has standards. When Moses spoke to his generation of gods "that neither you nor your fathers worshipped", he sought to exclude for all time all foreign views of G-d. Moses and his generation did not worship a trinity. They worshipped the one G-d who revealed Himself at Sinai.
Therefore, realize that it is no small thing to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. It is idolatry and for a Jew is punishable by koras, the eternal cutting off of your soul. You can do teshuvah (repentance), and without a sacrifice, as your ancestors did. Return to the true G-d and to his people, who will accept you, as you receive forgiveness of sin.
The Resurrection
There is perhaps no belief that Christians hang onto more tightly than their belief in Jesus' resurrection from the dead. Some of them, in fact, will claim that because of their belief in the resurrection, they do not care about any scriptural problems you may show them. Judaism obviously approaches scripture differently. Once again, careful study reveals several problems that are found with the resurrection story as well.
Even if someone is resurrected, that does not necessarily qualify them for being the Messiah. The Prophet Elisha resurrected a child and Jesus himself allegedly resurrected Lazarus. Does that qualify Lazarus as the Messiah?
The four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke & John, each gave their own account of the resurrection with major discrepancies. Christians will try to use the discrepancies to bolster their case, saying that totally consistent stories would suggest collusion. Yet, by doing so they must conclude that their stories were then eyewitness accounts. However, none of the Gospel writers were eyewitnesses. If they instead relied on the "Holy Spirit" for their information, why would the "Holy Spirit" give four different accounts?
That Jesus has inspired many people to become better people is wonderful, yet every religion can make this claim. That he has atoned for our sins, that he is the only path to a relationship with G-d, and is the key to eternal life cannot be validated objectively, but are based purely on faith. Besides not portraying the Messiah as a human sacrifice who would die and be resurrected, Jewish scriptures never spoke about a "second-coming". The changes that are to occur when the Messiah comes are all very tangible and verifiable. Since Jesus fulfilled nothing that we required of the Messiah we cannot accept him as such.
the above can be found at
http://www.torahatlanta.com/god bless you all.
