Jesus, a Legal Sacrifice for Our Sins????

by Mark Napier

You know, I hear it from Christians all the time that Jesus fulfilled the law, and we are no longer bound by it, that by Jesus offering himself as a sacrifice, we are freed from the law, and that the law WAS fulfilled in this "supposed" sacrifice. One of the main passages that Christians will cite from the Bible is the following:

Mat 5:17 `Do not suppose that I came to throw down the law or the prophets did not come to throw down, but to fulfil;
Mat 5:18 for, verily I say to you, till that the heaven and the earth may pass away, one iota or one tittle may not pass away from the law, till that all may come to pass.
Mat 5:19 `Whoever therefore may loose one of these commands--the least--and may teach men so, least he shall be called in the reign of the heavens, but whoever may do and may teach them , he shall be called great in the reign of the heavens.
Mat 5:20 `For I say to you, that if your righteousness may not abound above that of the scribes and Pharisees, ye may not enter to the reign of the heavens.

(Young's Literal Translation)

Now, IF the bible is infallible and IF these words are really the words of Jesus, then we should be able to confirm with a resounding YES that Jesus did in fact fulfill the law. The Old Testament is abound in laws laws laws. We should be able to confirm that Jesus was what he claimed and did what the Christians claim he did. But the question is this: did Jesus fulfill the law in accordance with the law itself? No! And the bible backs this position up soundly as we shall see.

I have heard Christians claim that the book of Hebrews pretty much sums up the reasons that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for our sins. The author goes out of his way to paint Jesus as the real deal, but in essence destroys his own argument when he admits Jesus was from the tribe of Judah, and not Levi.

Heb 7:14 for it is evident that out of Judah hath arisen our Lord, in regard to which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.

But in the book of exodus we see clearly that it was the house Levi and not the house of Judah that had the rights to offer sacrifice.

Num 1:50 and thou, appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its vessels, and over all that it hath; they bear the tabernacle, and all its vessels, and they serve it; and round about the tabernacle they encamp.
Num 1:51 `And in the journeying of the tabernacle, the Levites take it down, and in the encamping of the tabernacle, the Levites raise it up; and the stranger who is coming near is put to death.'

Num 3:6 `Bring near the tribe of Levi, and thou hast caused it to stand before Aaron the priest, and they have served him,
Num 3:7 and kept his charge, and the charge of all the company before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle;
Num 3:8 and they have kept all the vessels of the tent of meeting, and the charge of the sons of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle;

1Ch 23:26 and also of the Levites, `None are to bear the tabernacle and all its vessels for its service;'
1Ch 23:27 for by the last words of David they took the number of the sons of Levi from a son of twenty years and upward,
1Ch 23:28 for their station is at the side of the sons of Aaron, for the service of the house of Jehovah, over the courts, and over the chambers, and over the cleansing of every holy thing, and the work of the service of the house of God,

We can see from the above that the Levites were the ones in charge of these things. IF Jesus were of the tribe of Judah, he would be ineligible to offer sacrifices to god. Strike one I think.

Also the place for these sacrifices was to be the altar in the temple, by the priests. We can read this "law" in the following passages:

Deu 12:11 `And it hath been, the place on which Jehovah your God doth fix to cause His name to tabernacle there, thither ye bring in all that which I am commanding you, your burnt-offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave-offering of your hand, and all the choice of your vows which ye vow to Jehovah;
Deu 12:12 and ye have rejoiced before Jehovah your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your men-servants, and your handmaids, and the Levite who is within your gates, for he hath no part and inheritance with you.
Deu 12:13 `Take heed to thee, lest thou cause thy burnt-offerings to ascend in any place which thou seest,
Deu 12:14 except in the place which Jehovah doth choose in one of thy tribes, there thou dost cause thy burnt-offerings to ascend, and there thou dost do all that which I am commanding thee.

Also:

2Ch 7:12 And Jehovah appeareth unto Solomon by night, and saith to him, `I have heard thy prayer, and have fixed on this place to Me for a house of sacrifice.

Now, was Jesus sacrificed the place chosen by YHWH to be his house of sacrifice? No! This is strike two gentle reader.

For the third strike we ask this: Was Jesus a lawfully consecrated priest? No! In the book Exodus, starting at chapter 29 we read of the ceremonies that were to be performed for the Levites to be admitted to the priesthood. We also find in the 40th Chapter of Exodus the following:

Exo 40:15 and anointed them as thou hast anointed their father, and they have acted as priests to Me, and their anointing hath been to be to them for a priesthood age-during, to their generations.' This means that the priesthood was passed from father to son. Joseph was not anointed to the priesthood, he was a carpenter!
Jesus fulfilled none these things I have mentioned. The Old Testament shows the unlawfulness of the christ sacrifice.

Normally there are three strikes and you are out… but just to be really fair to Jesus and his little flock of mindless followers, let us look at another problem that Jesus would have in order to be a legitimate sacrifice:

Lev 21:17 `Speak unto Aaron, saying, No man of thy seed to their generations in whom there is blemish doth draw near to bring near the bread of his God,
Lev 21:18 for no man in whom is blemish doth draw near--a man blind, or lame or dwarfed, or enlarged,
Lev 21:19 or a man in whom there is a breach in the foot, or a breach in the hand,
Lev 21:20 or hump-backed, or a dwarf, or with a mixture in his eye, or a scurvy person, or scabbed, or broken-testicled.
Lev 21:21 `No man in whom is blemish (of the seed of Aaron the priest) doth come nigh to bring near the fire-offerings of Jehovah; blemish is in him; the bread of his God he doth not come nigh to bring near.

Now correct me if I am wrong, but Jesus was beaten, scourged and more before he was put up on the cross to slowly slowly die.

The fact of the matter is this, the bible shows us without a doubt that Jesus was not a legal sin offering for himself let alone all of us. To coin a popular mantra from the Christians,"The bible says it, I believe it, that settles it!"