The Messiah and Salvation Part 4: Our Sin Offering

The Messiah and Salvation
Part 4
Our Sin Offering
By
James Scott Trimm

There are passages in the Tanak which on the surface seem to imply that the blood of the animal sacrifices brought atonement (Lev. 1:4; 4:20, 26, 31, 35; 5:6, 10, 13, 16 18; 6:7; 7:7 etc.).

Paul says that this could never be:

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats
to atone for sins and iniquities.
(Heb. 10:4 HRV)

The reason is that the offerings were symbolic of offerings being made by the heavenly high priest in the heavenly (original) tabernacle:

but the Messiah having become Cohen Gadol
of the good things which come through the Tabernacle
which is greater and better in maturity than the first
which is not made by hands and is not of this creation
Also not by the blood of goats and bulls but once he
entered into the set-apart place with the blood of
himself and having secured for us eternal redemption
and if the blood of heifers and goats and also the ashes
of the red heifer which the cohen sprinkles on the
sinners purifies the bodies, how much more by that
which our Messiah who offered himself to Elohim
through the Ruach HaKodesh without any blame,
purify our persons from dead works to life.
(Heb. 9:11-14 HRV)

The reason for this symbolism is the symbolic connection between the “nefesh” and blood:

The Torah says:

For the life of the flesh is in the blood;
and I have given it to you upon the altar to make
atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that
makes atonement by reason of the life.
(Lev. 17:11 HRV)

The Talmud echos this concept:

Does the laying on of the hand make atonement for one?
Does not atonement come through the blood, as it is said:
For it is the blood that maketh atonement by reason of the life!
(b.Yoma 5a)

And similarely Paul says in Hebrews:

and almost all things are purified by blood
according to the commandments of the
Torah and without shedding of blood there
is no place for atonement.
(Heb. 9:22 HRV)

The animal sacrifices were a shadow and type pointing forward to the death of Messiah, and they continued afterward as a remembrance lookoing back at the death of Messiah:

Because of which the Torah is like a shadow
of the good things of times to come and is not
the substance of good things in themselves.
Behold forever the offerings are not able to
bring to completion each year forever from
another kind. And if it is thus they would
have ceased to be offered. According to which
there would not be established any more a
conscience of sins for the offerers for they were purged.
(Heb. 10:1-2 HRV)

In another passage Paul says that since Messiah is our Passover, is all the more reason to keep the feast:

Purge from you the old leaven,
that you might be a new lump as you are unleavened.
For our Pesach is the Messiah, who was slain instead of us.
(1Cor. 5:7 HRV)

Paul himself continued to make the sacrificial offerings (Acts 21:17-26 with Num. 6:13-21; Acts 24:17-18). The offerings will be made in the Tribulation Temple, and it appears to be the anti-Messiah who will opposes them and puts an end to them (Dan. 9:27). The sacrificial offerings will also continue in the Millennial Temple (Ezek. 43:13-27; 44:11; 45:18-25; 46:1-15; 46:19-24).

The sacrificial offerings are not made at this time, because they can only be made at the Temple in Jerusalem, and no Temple stands there today. Some have argued that this in itself supports a claim that “Jesus” did away with the offerings, since Elohim allowed the Temple to be destroyed. However the Temple was also destroyed by Babylon in 600 B.C.E., and no Temple stood from that time until the Second Temple was built in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah.


The Messiah as the PARAKLITA

Philo also describes the Word (Logos) not only as the “Son” of the “Father” but as a PARACLETE who is “perfect in all virtue” and procures “forgiveness of sins” as well as a “supply of unlimited blessings”:

…the twelve stones arranged on the breast in four rows of three stones each, namely the logeum, being also an emblem of that reason (Logos, Word) which holds together and regulates the universe. For it was indispensable that the man who was consecrated to the Father of the world, should have as a paraclete, his son, the being most perfect in all virtue, to procure forgiveness of sins, and a supply of unlimited blessings;
(Life of Moses II, 133-134)

This Greek word (paraclete) is also a Hebrew and Aramaic word also appears in the Mishna:

He who does even a single religious duty
gets himself a good advocate (or comforter Hebrew: paraklita)
he who does even a single transgression
gets himself a prosecutor.
(m.Avot 4:11a)

And in the Talmud it is used to refer to the sin offering::

R. Simeon said: For what purpose does a sin-offering come? —
[You ask,] ‘for what purpose does a sin-offering come?’
Surely in order to make atonement! —
Rather, [the question is:]
Why does it come before the burnt-offering?
[Because it is] like an intercessor (paraklita) who enters
[to appease the King]: When the intercessor (paraklita)
has appeased [him], the gift follows.
(b.Zev. 7b)

The Jewish Dictionary states:

…The sin offering is like the parclete (paraklita) before God,
it interceded for man and is followed by another…
a thank offering for the pardon obtained…
the two daily burnt offerings are called ‘the two parcletes’…
Jewish Dictionary pp. 514-515

Now Yochanan, who identifies the Messiah as the Word (logos) in Jn. 1:1-3, 14 and Rev. 19:13 also says of Messiah:

1 My sons, I write these [things] to you, that you do not sin: and if someone should sin, we have an advocate (paraklita) with the Father, Yeshua the Messiah, the just [One].
2 For He is the propitiation for our sins, and not on behalf of ours only, but also on behalf of [the sins of] the whole world.
(1st Yochanan (John) 2:1)

It is no surprise that the Targums tell us that the Word (Aramaic: Memra) is the source of our salvation. Jacob called upon the Word for his salvation:

Our father Jacob said: "My soul does not wait for salvation such as that wrought by Gideon, the son of Joash, for that was but temporal; neither for a salvation like that of Samson, which was only transitory; but for that salvation which You have promised to come, through Your Word unto Your people, the children of Israel; for your salvation my soul hopes."
(Targum Jonathan Gen. 49:18)

That the Word of YHWH is the savior is expressed elsewhere in the Targums:

But Israel shall be saved by the Word of YHWH with an everlasting
salvation… By the Word of YHWH shall all the seed of Israel be justified…
(Targum Jonathan Is. 45:17, 25)

But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Word of YHWH, their Elohim.
(Targum Jonathan Hosea 1:7)

It was, according to Targum Onkelos, this Word of YHWH that Abraham trusted in, by which he was justified:

And Abraham trusted in the Word [Memra] of YHWH, and He counted it to him for righteousness.
(Targum Onkelos Gen. 15:6)

Philo believed “Word” (Logos) and the Messiah to be one and the same:

"The head of all things is the eternal Word (Logos) of the eternal God, under which, as if it were his feet or other limbs, is placed the whole world, over which He passes and firmly stands. Now it is not because Messiah is Lord that He passes and sits over the whole world, for His seat with His Father and God but because for its perfect fullness the world is in need of the care and superintendence of the best ordered dispensation, and for its own complete piety, of the Divine Word (Logos), just as living creatures (need) a head, without which it is impossible to live."
(Q&A on Exodus, II, 117)

Likewise we read in the Zohar:

In the Garden of Eden there is a hall that is called the "hall of the afflicted." Now it is into this hall that the Messiah goes and summons all the afflictions and pains and sufferings of Israel to come upon him. And so they all come upon him. And had he not eased the children of Israel of their sorrows, and taken their burden upon himself, there would be none who could endure the suffering of Israel in the penalty of neglecting the Torah. Thus it is written: "Surely our diseases he did bear and our pains he carried." (Is. 53:5) As long as the children of Israel dwelt in the Holy Land, they averted all afflictions and sufferings from the world by the service of the sanctuary and by sacrifice. But now it is the Messiah who is averting them from the habitants of the world,
(Zohar 2:212a.)

The Midrash says:

Their sins will be upon you like a yoke of iron.
They will choke your spirit. Because of their sins,
Your toungue will cleave to the roof of your mouth.
Do you accept this? If not, I will remove the decree from you.
The Messiah replies: "Master of the worlds, how long will this last?

God replies: "Ephraim, my true Messiah, ever since the six days of creation you have taken this ordeal upon yourself. At this moment, your pain is my pain"

Messiah replies: "Master of the worlds, I accept this with gladness in my soul, and joy in my heart, so that not a single one of the House of Israel should perish. Not only for those alive, but also the dead. It is enough that the servant be like the Master.
(Midresh Pesqita Rabbah 36)


The Essene priestly Messiah corresponded to the Rabbinic Messiah ben Ephraim. The Priestly Messiah was also a redeemer:

…Isaiah said: "To proclaim the Jubilee to the
captives" (Isa. 61;1) (...) just as (...) and from
the inheritance of Melchizedek, for (... Melchizedek) ,
who will return them to what is rightfully theirs.
He will proclaim to them the Jubilee, thereby
releasing them from the debt of all their sins…
Then the "Day of Atonement" shall follow …,
when he shall atone for all the Sons of Light,
and the people who are predestined to Melchizedek….
The visitation is the Day of Salvation that He has
decreed through Isaiah the prophet concerning
all the captives, inasmuch as Scripture says, "How
beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the
messenger who announces peace, who brings
good news, who announces salvation, who says to
Zion "Your divine being reigns"." (Isa. 52;7)
This scriptures interpretation : "the mountains"
are the prophets, they who were sent to proclaim
God's truth and to prophesy to all Israel. "The
messengers" is the Messiah of the spirit, of whom
Daniel spoke; "After the sixty-two weeks, Messiah
shall be cut off" (Dan. 9;26) The "messenger who
brings good news, who announces Salvation"
is the one of whom it is written; "to proclaim the
year of the LORD`s favor, the day of the vengeance
of our God; to comfort all who mourn" (Isa. 61;2)
(extracts from 11Q13)

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James Trimm
Worldwide Nazarene Assembly of Elohim