Femi Aribisala: Jesus can never be a sacrifice for our sins (Part 3)

by Femi Aribisala

Salvation

 

There is a sacrifice here alright but it is the anti-type of the Jewish system.  The pastors sacrificed Jesus to Caesar and not to God.  They did this to safeguard their privileged positions under Roman rule which was threatened by Jesus’ radical teachings.

READ: Jesus can never be a sacrifice for our sins (Part 1)

READ: Jesus can never be a sacrifice for our sins (Part 2)

Who exactly killed Jesus?  Or more precisely, who sacrificed him and to whom?  Most Christians seem to agree with the Old Testament notion that God is responsible for everything, including good and evil.  Isaiah quotes God as saying: “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.” (Isaiah 45:7).  Amos speaks in the same vein: “If there is calamity in a city, will not the LORD have done it?” (Amos 3:6).

However, Jesus brings an entirely different perspective.  He tells us it is “the thief” that steals, kills and destroys.  God, on the other hand, is the giver and restorer of life. (John 10:10).  Since God does not kill, he would not kill Jesus, his only begotten son.

But most Christians do not bother to listen to Jesus.  They not only continue to insist that God killed Jesus; they even believe God sacrificed him.   They say when Adam and Eve sinned; God sacrificed an animal to atone for their sins.  This is really stretching it.  The scripture says: “The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” (Genesis 3:21).  However, it is nakedness, not sin, which is covered with clothing.  If their sin were thereby atoned for, how come Christians still claim the rest of mankind inherited their “original sin?”

 

Soul Sacrifice

In any case, sacrifices are offered to God: God himself does not sacrifice.  We worship God: God does not worship himself.  Therefore, it is nonsensical to presume that God would make a sacrifice to himself.  Then there is the incongruity of the resurrection.  If God sacrificed Jesus, he would not then raise him from the dead.  God does not undo the work of his own hands.  Solomon says: “Whatever God does, it shall be forever.  Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it.” (Ecclesiastes 3:14).

How then are we to understand Isaiah who says: “It pleased the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand?” (Isaiah 53:10). 

The meaning of this scripture is highly disputed.  The Jews, to whom the Hebrew Scriptures belong, insist Isaiah 53 is addressed to the Lord’s servant, who in the Old Testament is Israel. (Isaiah 41:8).  However, Christians insist it refers to the Messiah, who we recognize as Jesus.  In any case, Isaiah does not talk of blood sacrifice: he talks of “soul offering.”  This shows he is only talking metaphorically.  The soul is an inanimate, non-physical part of a man; so Isaiah’s soul sacrifice cannot mean the physical sacrifice of a human-being.

 

Human sacrifice

Moreover, Isaiah is a Jew, so he would never write about human sacrifice.  Human sacrifice is the heathen way of worship; which is strictly forbidden in the Law of Moses.  Moses says: “When the LORD your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’

You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.” (Deuteronomy 12:29-31).

Therefore, the human sacrifice of Jesus would be abomination to God.  But in order to avoid this verdict, some Christians insist Jesus is not a man.  However, Peter, a man who walked with Jesus says: “Jesus of Nazareth was a man.” (Acts 2:22).  Paul says the same thing: “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:5).  Most conclusive of all, Jesus himself says he is a man. (John 8:40).

 

Vain worship

Jesus would never propose the worship of God according to the pagan ways of the heathen.  As a matter of fact, Jesus maintains God is not even interested in the Jewish practice of temple worship and sacrifice.  He tells a Samaritan woman: “A time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:21/24).

In short, Jesus teaches that Temple worship, which includes the sacrificial cult, is not true worship.  The true worship God desires is inspired by the Holy Spirit and comes from the heart.  It is clear then that, in order to get a true understanding of the crucifixion and death of Jesus, we would need to listen to Jesus himself, and not to the different theories propounded about this in Christendom; each one backed with conflicting bible references.

 

Evil sacrifice

What does Jesus himself say about his death?  Does he talk about it in any way that could be presumed to be a sacrifice?  Here is Jesus’ simple and definitive version of his crucifixion in his own words, and it has nothing to do with him offering himself as a sacrifice for sins.

Jesus says: “There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.  Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit.  And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.

Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.  Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’  But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’  So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.” (Matthew 21:33-39). 

In Jesus’ true-to-life story, the landowner is God; the prophets are his servants; Jesus is his son and the pastors are the vinedressers.  Simply translated, the pastors killed Jesus in order to hijack the Church of God as their inheritance.  But their devious descendants now claim God sacrificed Jesus.

There is a sacrifice here alright but it is the anti-type of the Jewish system.  The pastors sacrificed Jesus to Caesar and not to God.  They did this to safeguard their privileged positions under Roman rule which was threatened by Jesus’ radical teachings.

Thus, when the Pharisees accused his disciples of breaking the law by plucking grains to eat on the Sabbath, Jesus replied: “If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.” (Matthew 12:7).  Since they would soon also condemn him wrongfully to death, he thereby judged beforehand their decision to sacrifice him.  Under no circumstances can this devilish act be confused with divine atonement for sins.

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

One comment

  1. Believe what you believe femi but don't confuse people with ur folly. Everyone has d right to believe whatever he or she likes. The end will tell

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