A principle purpose of this paper is to help others to better understand why this sacrifice was needed and how it is a loving provision for humankind.
See also Who is the Son of the Almighty?
The primary purposes for a sacrifice (Offering) is to please Yahweh and atone for sins.
Sacrifices have been recorded since the time of Cain and his brother Abel, sons of Adam and Eve. The account shows that some sacrifices are acceptable to Yahweh and some aren’t. Yahweh looked favorably upon Abel’s sacrifice but not on Cain’s. Cain allowed jealousy to drive him to kill Abel, over this.
3 As time passed, Cain brought an offering to Yahweh from the fruit of the ground. 4 Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock and of its fat. Yahweh respected Abel and his offering, 5 but he didn’t respect Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry, and the expression on his face fell.
8 Cain said to Abel, his brother, “Let’s go into the field.” While they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him.
Before the Mosaic Law was established, Yahweh asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham, a great man of faith, wondered why. He also supposed that Yahweh could raise his son from the dead. This was a great test of his faith in obedience and he was about to follow through but at the last second Abraham was stopped and was given a ram to sacrifice in Isaac’s place! A solemn covenant was established between God and Abraham, resulting in the prospect for future blessings for his offspring and all mankind. This act of sacrifice prefigured Yahweh sending forth his son to die as a righteous (fully legal or perfectly legal) sacrifice for sinful mankind. The word “righteous” means legally declared by law. The word “sinful” word means imperfect flesh, inherited from Adam. It can also mean breaking a law from Yahweh, as Adam did. A legal system from Yahweh had to be created to distinguish sin from sinless or “perfect.” That is where the Mosaic Law comes into play. It was given to God’s people. But no one could perfectly follow it. That is, until Christ came.
Principle things happened when Christ died.
He proved himself perfect in following the Law until death. This legally declared him righteous before God.
He nailed his imperfect flesh inherited from Adam, to the stake, and died. He thus provided a non-revocable offering of perfect obedience to Yahweh, the Father.
Once the Mosaic Law was established by God toward his people, this set a legal precedent for sacrifices. This didn’t exist before.
The establishment of the Law brought to light more transgressions but it offered hope for God’s people and the world of mankind.
Adam brought death upon himself and his offspring by disobeying God. When he ignored God’s warning to not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and bad, he forfeited everlasting life along with the ability for himself or his descendants to eat of the tree of life. The tree of life was not forbidden for him to eat, until he sinned against God.
Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden, 3 but not the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it. You shall not touch it, lest you die.’”
4 The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t really die, 5 for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit, and ate. Then she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too. 7 Their eyes were opened, and they both knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made coverings for themselves. 8 They heard Yahweh God’s voice walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God among the trees of the garden.
9 Yahweh God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
11 God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Yahweh God said to the woman, “What have you done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 Yahweh God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
you are cursed above all livestock,
and above every animal of the field.
You shall go on your belly
and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.
15 I will put hostility between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will bruise your head,
and you will bruise his heel.”
16 To the woman he said,
“I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth.
You will bear children in pain.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
17 To Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to your wife’s voice,
and have eaten from the tree,
about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’
the ground is cursed for your sake.
You will eat from it with much labor all the days of your life.
18 It will yield thorns and thistles to you;
and you will eat the herb of the field.
19 You will eat bread by the sweat of your face until you return to the ground,
for you were taken out of it.
For you are dust,
and you shall return to dust.”
20 The man called his wife Eve because she would be the mother of all the living. 21 Yahweh God made garments of animal skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.
22 Yahweh God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand, and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever—” 23 Therefore Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So he drove out the man; and he placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
The Mosaic Law established a legal way to prove one’s obedience to God. However, no one was able to prove himself perfectly righteous by the Law. Because of this, sacrifices were needed, that is, until Christ died. Up until Christ’s death, sacrifices had to be made for transgressions against the Law, from the High Priest to the common folk. But now, Christ proved himself righteous according to the Law. Christ had no need for sacrifice. He fulfilled the law perfectly. He proved his obedience, in stark contrast to Adam. Adam brought forth death to mankind through disobedience. Christ brought forth the opportunity of everlasting life to mankind through obedience. In this way, Christ conquered death, for mankind. This is how Yeshua (Christ) is referred to as the “last Adam.” Christ was able to open the way to undo the damage to mankind brought forth from Adam’s act of disobedience, by his perfect act of obedience.
Some would argue that Christ had to be perfect in flesh to find Yahweh’s favor. That is not true, imperfect Job did. Job set the precedent that someone with imperfect flesh could bring Yahweh’s favor through obedience. Adam was perfect in flesh. His wife urged him to disobey God and he listened, condemning mankind. In contrast, Job was imperfect in flesh, had undergone many sufferings, and had his wife urge him to curse God and die. But Job didn’t. Job set the precedent that even an imperfect person could remain loyal to God and have his favor.
In Christ’s case, the matter was not of someone being physically perfect but rather if someone could be found righteous by God’s Mosaic Law – To be declared righteous by law. Being perfect or imperfect in flesh had nothing to do with it – It was being obedient or disobedient. That was key.
To argue the point: How could Christ be physically perfect if his human parents were imperfect? Or, if you believe that Joseph had no part of Yeshua’s body, how could Yeshua be perfect with an imperfect mother? Of course, someone could say that God could make him perfect in flesh but the Law didn’t require that. It is entirely possible and most probable that the heavenly son of Yahweh became a part of the fleshly imperfect child of Joseph and Mary, inheriting the Davidic lineage to be king and having the ability to nail imperfect flesh to the stake.
This is how it has been written:
That if he sinned, God would correct him. There are different types of sin. But sinning against the Law was not meant here.
(Insert here: Where it is written that he had imperfect flesh) – not completed yet 6/4/2023
Once resurrected, Christ was to become a priest similar to the ancient priest of Yahweh, Melchizedek. Melchizedek was a righteous king and priest in Abraham’s time.
Interestingly, Christ is shown to be a sacrificial lamb in heaven. He’s able to use the value of his obedience to death, his sacrificial death, to atone for the sins of mankind, to redeem mankind. There’s good reason that John the baptizer called Yeshua “the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world!” Also, just as the blood of the lamb on the door posts protected the firstborn of God’s people by causing the angel of death to pass over (Act known as Passover) the homes of the obedient, the blood of God’s lamb, Christ, is present to deliver his people from death.
Also, God’s kingdom is shown to eliminate the death inherited from Adam. The leaves of trees of life are shown to be the curing of nations. Nations are shown to whiten their robes, concerning their worship to Yahweh and his Son who sits on his throne who acts as king and priest, with full authority.