Introduction
God promised Israel a savior, a Messiah from the line of David. Having rejected God and suffered for centuries they expectantly looked forward to their ultimate vindication and redemption that he would bring.
He did come. But both Christians and, more particularly Jews, are confused about why their Messiah had to be sacrificed (crucified). After all, God, according to His own Biblical testimony, detested sacrifices (Did God Want a Temple, Sacrifices or a Monarchy?). An answer is found in the Bible. But you have to read what it says to see and understand it.
Jews’ Rejection of Jesus as Their Messiah
From the onset of the Christian Age (roughly 30 AD), Jews have rejected the notion that Jesus of Nazareth was their long-foretold Messiah and redeemer.
The reasons for this are quite clear. They expected a political savior, one who would vanquish their enemies (at Jesus’ time, Rome), establish Jewish (Pentateuchal, and Oral) Law as the law of the world, and reign in Jerusalem over the powers of the world, causing Gentiles of the world to stream to Jerusalem to worship Israel’s God (e.g. Zec 8:22-23).
Additionally, they absolutely reject the sacrifice of one (Jesus) for the sins of another (us) as abjectly unbiblical, citing verses such as Ezk18:20 (see also Dt 24:16, Ex 32:30-35, Jer 31:30). For whatever reason, however, Peter (a good Jew) didn’t seem to have a particular problem with the idea, 1 Peter 1:2:
2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
We should forgive them for this misunderstanding (or at least “cut them some slack”) as there were indeed prophetic passages that could be interpreted as saying these very things. There are many verses in the Hebrew Bible that can be so interpreted. We’ll quote a few, and cite some others.
Perhaps one of the most compelling for a political Messiah is Is 9:7:
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
This is clearly apocalyptic: it seems to be describing the ultimate vindication of Israel when interpreted literally.
Next, we have Zec 12:9:
9 And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
What is interesting about this one is its following verse:
10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.
Hmmm. That doesn’t sound quite so hegemonic. But it was and is essentially ignored (or ascribed to another prophet — possibly Jeremiah; possibly King Josiah).
Next, we could cite Ps 110:1-2:
110:1 The LORD says to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
2 The LORD sends forth from Zion
your mighty scepter.
Rule in the midst of your enemies!
This can be clearly seen to be a triumphal accomplishment of “my Lord”. Then we have Is 2:3/Mi 4:2:
3 and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Here the idea of “many peoples” (“nations” in Micah) “going up to the mountain of the LORD” to the Temple can be seen as reinforcing the idea of the ultimate physical and spiritual superiority of Israel over its neighbors and adversaries.
And finally, we have Ps 72:8-11:
8 May he have dominion from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth!
9 May desert tribes bow down before him,
and his enemies lick the dust!
10 May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands
render him tribute;
may the kings of Sheba and Seba
bring gifts!
11 May all kings fall down before him,
all nations serve him!
Of course, there are many, many other verses that can and have been interpreted as promises of the work of the Messiah. A few are: Zec 9:10, Ps 2:8-9, Mi 5:2-6, Is 63:1-6, and Zec 8:22-23. The pattern they establish is clear. There is a victorious Savior of Israel (the nation) who intervenes on behalf of Israel, vanquishes its (many) enemies, and causes those nations to pilgrimage to Jerusalem to worship Israel’s (all-powerful) God.
These, however, are not the only Jewish ideas of their Messiah. In the Talmud (Sanhedrin 98b) we read of “the leper scholar”, linked to the suffering image of the servant of Isaiah 53. Similarly, the Midrash’s Pesikta Rabbati 36 relates:
“The Holy One said to the Messiah: ‘You are suffering for the sins of my children…your wounds are for their transgressions.’”
Additionally, the Zohar describes the messiah as entering the Garden of Eden and taking upon himself the ‘sorrows and sufferings’ of Israel. Obviously, these verses were only penned centuries after Jesus’ death.
These varied verses are why the Jewish people never understood the nature of their Messiah. Of course it is true that He was actually described to them (see Zec 12:10, and especially Isaiah’s 4th Servant Song in Is 52:13-53:12). But perhaps you can see why one image – that of the triumphal conqueror – was more popular than the image of the suffering, disfigured, murdered-in-silence-and-disgrace servant, especially when you are under the oppressive control and heavy taxation of your hated occupier.
Christian Understandings
Of course, Christians are taught from early childhood that “Christ died for our sins.” OK, but why? They’re taught that they share in the sin nature of their ancestor Adam as a result of his “fall”, and that if they don’t get rid of that sin they won’t go to heaven when they die. In fact (most are taught), they will suffer in hell, some believe for eternity.
Admittedly, this is the fundamentalist understanding. But it is representative (at least in the United States) of likely a majority of practicing protestant Christians. “If Jesus isn’t crucified I don’t go to heaven. So that’s why He was crucified – an act of God’s mercy toward me“.
In fact, there are many explanations within Christian tradition for why Jesus was sacrificed: “Ransom Theory“, “Recapitulation Theory“, “Satisfaction Theory“, “Penal Substitution Theory“, “Moral Influence Theory“, “Scapegoat Theory“, and “Covenant” theory (see Heb 9:15-17).
An Alternate Understanding
Taken as a whole, the Hebrew Bible and the advent of Christ as described in the Gospels describe God’s plan to redeem humanity to Himself. What does that mean? It means that His goal in Creation was to create a humanity many of whom would choose to live with Him on His terms – for eternity. That portion of humanity would constitute His adopted family with whom He would eternally commune and, apparently, through whom He would be glorified (Is 43:7).
As the Hebrew Bible clearly documents, and as our own personal experience (before committing ourselves to Christ) testifies, we, as a species, don’t want to live with God on His terms. Rather, we want to be in control of ourselves – of our destiny, making decisions to benefit ourselves and our family. ‘Life is hard. It’s on us to fight through it and support ourselves and our families.’
In so many ways, a life that is lived out while focused on the world, its challenges, and diversions, is a life removed from God. As long as we demand control of ourselves, we reject His offer to become His adopted child.
This arrangement and attitude is exactly the opposite of the attitude God seeks from us. His desire is that we submit ourselves to His will and mercy, live according to His revealed will, and trust Him for our provision and well-being. Micah puts it this way
6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
And, of course, we are to love and revere Him. This is what “You will be my people, and I will be your God” means.
The Hebrew Bible uses the example of the Israelites (and later, Judahites) to document that a) people don’t want to live by God’s instructions, and b) even when they construct elaborate religious systems (i.e. the Temple/sacrificial system) to attempt to maintain their relationship and standing with their God, they remain separated, spiritually, from Him. This is the principal narrative of the Tanakh.
What, then, was the point of the sacrificial system? Certainly, it failed to preserve Israel’s covenant relationship with, or promote Israel’s devotion to, YHWH. The priests thought it would keep YHWH living with them. But it seems to have had the opposite effect.
It’s instructive to see what Jesus Himself thought of it that we see in Mt 9:13 (quoting Hos 6:6)
13Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
How was it that Christ’s death and resurrection fulfilled the Temple system’s model of cleansing and redeeming the people so that God could live with (and in) them?
The Pattern Established by the Temple Sacrificial System
If you grew up in Christianity, you were probably taught that the Temple’s sacrificial system “pointed to” Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Well, in a way it did. But not in the way we typically think of it.
What many people don’t realize about the Temple sacrificial system is that its purpose was to preserve the ritual cleanness and sanctity of the Tabernacle/Temple so that it was suitable for God’s habitation[i]. In other words, the purpose of sacrifices was not (as many presume) to atone for the sins of the people or priests for their own sakes (somehow elevating their “righteousness” in God’s eyes) but rather to atone for those sins on behalf of the Tabernacle/Temple itself (Lev 16:16) to maintain its ritual “cleanness” and that of the environment surrounding it by anointing the altar and Temple objects and priests with blood. It was the harvested blood that was the cleansing/sanctifying agent.
Ritual cleanness of the Temple and its precinct was essential to enable God and his holiness to remain encamped with Israel, but insulated from that sin, according to the priests. Of course, the result of this was that Israel needed to operate their sacrificial factory virtually non-stop[ii] taking care of conscious sins and ritual offerings daily, and unknown sins once a year on the Day of Atonement.
What Does Temple “Cleanness” Have to Do With Jesus?
The priests of the Temple sacrificial system reasoned that their sacrificial system would keep God living with them, “in their camp”, thereby protecting them from both foreign and natural threats.
Given the ultimate failure of the Temple cult system, one might ask (as I initially did), “Why set up, operate, and preserve the memory of such an elaborate system that failed to direct Israel’s hearts toward their God, and that God is recorded in several places saying He didn’t want, and never wanted.”? On its face, it seems quite ludicrous. So why set up a system that failed its primary mission and document it so elaborately in the Torah?
We should rest assured that despite God’s mindset being inscrutable to us, He had His own reasons for instituting (or allowing the institution of, if you prefer) this failed system of men, beyond simply demonstrating its utter futility in redeeming Israel’s hearts to Himself. In some way, it fit His plan. But how?
Preparing for God’s Final Solution — the New Covenant
Jesus said in Jn 15:26:
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
which seems to echo Isaiah 54:13:
13 All your children shall be taught by the LORD,
and great shall be the peace of your children.
and perhaps Hab 2:14:
14 For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.
Jesus called the Spirit of God the “Helper” (3875. παράκλητος paráklētos) and said He was going to teach us “all things”. That’s pretty comprehensive. But He had a few other functions as well (emphasis mine):
Jn 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
Rom 8:26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
What Has God Always Wanted From Us?
God’s will for us is laid out throughout the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. But it is nicely summarized in the following few passages (Emphasis mine):
Dt. 6:5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Dt 10:19 Love the sojourner (foreigner, stranger), therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.
Mt 22:37-40 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Micah 6:8 (see above)
Dt 10:12 “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good?
These verses are a kind of “Cliffs Notes” version of God’s will for His people.
The problem God saw and expressed through His prophets was that virtually none of His people actually lived out His instructions – His Torah.
God’s New Covenant as His Solution to Our Disobedience
Eventually, He was led to inaugurate His long-ago prophesied New Covenant to, rather than continue to admonish Israel to change and live as He instructed, to no effect, to transform His people Himself to be obedient to and love Him. How? Through the Holy Spirit acting through them to change their hearts and lives. This Covenant/plan is prophesied throughout the Prophets ( Joel 2:28, Isaiah 44:3-5, Isaiah 32:15-17, Ezekiel 36:26-27, Ezekiel 39:29, Zechariah 12:10).
Perhaps the most comprehensive statement of the Spirit’s function is Paul’s:
Gal 5:22-23 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Through this characterization, you see that the Spirit is the source of love (of God and neighbor), as well as kindness, and gentleness/humility. But, you may ask, “How does the Spirit create these things in me?” Paul answers this for us in 1 Cor 3:16:
16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
In response to our repenting of our former life and petitioning God, the Spirit of God takes up residence in us and guides our thoughts and actions toward God and toward compliance with His will for us. Once He has taken up residence, we are changed. We are no longer the same people, in terms of attitude, interests, or behavior, as we were before His indwelling us. This is simply an empirical fact whose testimony is found in the lives of millions of Christ-followers who have followed Him into it, quite apart from its Biblical testimony (above).
Christians memorialize and ceremonially reenact this cleansing (Gk 2512. καθαρισμός katharismós; gen. katharismoú) of the new believer of his impurities effected by Jesus’ death and resurrection in the Baptism ceremony. (This ceremony is parallel to the Jewish ritual of ceremonial immersion in a pool of “living water” prior to entering the precinct of the Temple for worship, and other ritual cleansing purposes.)
This phenomenon is the literal fulfillment of the prophets’ New Covenant promises, starting with Moses in Dt 30:6:
6 And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
The indwelt Spirit is the mechanism by which God changes His (spiritually cleansed) people to follow Him, enabling them to live as He wills. Without the Spirit, we are simply incapable of, nor committed to, living by God’s will and instructions for us.
This is the Bible’s primary message and the overarching narrative of Israel’s history. We can’t truly live with God (“so that you may live”) without His indwelt Spirit.
How Does the Spirit Come To Us?
Most people have at least heard Jesus’ metaphorical phrase “born again” that He used to describe to Nicodemus what he needed to do to “see the Kingdom of God”, a euphemism for being transformed into one of God’s children. The Spirit is dispatched into a believer when he repents of his former pattern of life, separated from God, and submits his will and all that he has to God’s leading.
What Is Jesus’ Role?
Finally, we circle back to our original question (“Why Jesus?”). Several verses draw our attention to the cleansing nature of Christ’s sacrifice on those who believe and follow him, thus allowing the Spirit of God to indwell them:
Mt 26:28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
1 Cor 6:11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
Rom 8:11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
These verses support the hypothesis that the effectivity of Jesus’s role within God’s plan fits perfectly within the grander meta-narrative from the Garden to Abram’s Covenant to Israel’s tragic history culminating with the advent of their (largely unrecognized) Messiah.
Christians, in reciting their Gospel message, focus on Jesus’ death as “forgiving” or “atoning for” our sins. Jesus Himself used this terminology (Lk 24:46-7):
46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
The word rendered “forgiveness” is:
- ἀˊφεσις áphesis; gen. aphéseōs, fem. noun. from aphíēmi (863), to cause to stand away, to release one’s sins from the sinner. Distinguished from páresis (3929), the temporary bypassing of sin (only in Ro 3:25).
It has the senses of separating from, or removing — to “cause to stand away”. It is used throughout the NT to refer to the ministry of John the Baptist and Jesus. A form of it is used in Lk 4:18 quoting Jesus announcing His purpose as to “preach deliverance to the captives” (aphesis). So, it also carries the idea that being separated from (one’s sin) constitutes deliverance (from that sin) – the thing that, up to this point in time, has made people its “captives”. And notice, it carries a sense of permanence.
But notice here also that Jesus doesn’t say that forgiveness of sin was the outcome of His death (and resurrection). He says He had to suffer (a thoroughly authentic 1st-century Israelite eschatological image — of suffering preceding redemption) for proclaiming God’s message, that those who repented would have “forgiveness of sins” — in His name. However, He does create a more direct linkage between the two in the Mt. 26:28 we looked at previously: my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I think the question remains open as to whether Jesus’ suffering or His death was the operative eschatological event, in addition to the believer’s repentance.
By now the fog should, hopefully, be lifting. Why Jesus? It seems highly probable that Christ’s sacrificial death (or simply suffering) (foretold in Is 52:13-53:12 and Da 9:26) serve in some unknowable way to cleanse/purify His people – those that chose to reject their worldly lives and follow Him into God’s Kingdom — so that they were a fitting habitation for God’s Spirit – His new Temple.
This is a nearly exact parallel in function to the Temple sacrifices “atoning for” — i.e. removing from the proximity of, the sins of the people and their priests, thus preserving the sanctity of the Temple, thought to be God’s home on earth.
However, the Temple sacrifice metaphor notwithstanding, if He had not done so, seemingly God’s Spirit could not then live in us so transforming us; having His law written on our hearts; giving us a heart of flesh instead of a heart of stone, and all of this leading to creating a love of God in us that seeks to live in His will.
Conclusions
The purpose of this piece is to explain a plausible rationale for seeing the function of Jesus’ sacrificial death (or perhaps suffering) as that of purifying God’s new Temple — us — to make us habitable by God’s Spirit, analogous to the Temple cult’s purpose to ceremonially cleanse its Tabernacle and Temples to allow YHWH to inhabit them. If true, we can think of the Temple sacrifices as a type of Christ’s anti-type “sacrifice”.
Of course, the Temple sacrifices accomplished nothing from God’s point of view. But what they did accomplish was to implant the two key concepts within the people’s understanding: 1) that the place of God’s presence was holy — set apart from the common, and 2) that the people’s known and unknown sins required atonement in order to provide for God’s continued presence with His people. It is this conformance with Christ’s destiny that would have resonated with those who witnessed or otherwise knew his story.
Christ’s sacrificial act allowed God’s spirit to inhabit His New Covenant home, those who had trusted His son (Mt 26:28), to guide and enable them to follow His instructions and live in His will in God’s Kingdom “on earth, as it is in heaven”.
This story provides a perfect segue within the Bible’s meta-narrative of God’s relationship with His human creation — desiring them to be His agents on earth (“in our image”; a “holy nation”, etc.) — from one age and its Covenant to the New. (I’ve also written a companion piece[iii] which treats the somewhat broader question of why such a sacrifice, inaugurating God’s announced New Covenant, was necessary in the first place.)
One would hope that Jews would spend time thinking through Christ’s purpose, in terms of their own history, before dismissing Him out of hand.
Addendum
But, you may protest, if God never wanted a temple or sacrifices, how does it make sense that He has Jesus crucified? Why would he allow Christ’s sacrifice?
Well, first it fulfilled the prophecy He had given to (Second) Isaiah in his fourth Servant Song; Is 52:13-53:12. Any thoughtful Israelite who had been paying attention was familiar with this story.
Second, I think we can all agree that sacrificing thousands of innocent animals achieved absolutely nothing, other than meaningless slaughter. But, as discussed above, all of the people understood that the professed purpose of this violence was to yield blood which they believed would sanctify both their altar and other sancta of the Temple so as to preserve a ritually holy space for God to indwell. At least that’s the story they were given and led to believe. So, this shared image of the sacrifice purifying God’s house was deeply embedded in Israel’s culture.
Next, Israel was reported to have been murdering its prophets for centuries (1 Kings 19:10). If a man was called to condemn the apostacy of the people or their leaders, he was often chastised and persecuted, and sometimes (according to legend), murdered.
According to the Gospel message, Jesus knew He was here to be murdered (Jn 10:17-18) after years of calling His people into God’s family of faith (the “Kingdom of God”) through repenting from their lives apart from Him, and submitting to serving Him as their Lord, through service to (“love of”) their fellow man.
Whatever else Jesus was, He was an advocate for the things of YHWH (His love and grace and generosity and care for His people) without reservation.
Jesus’ call for shutting down the animal sacrifice industry of Jerusalem sealed His fate. He had to go, but He had to go according to the threatened Temple leaders, not God. Had Jesus been received and accepted by the people and a share of the Temple’s leaders, there would have been no crucifixion (although if He had gotten too popular, the Romans might have been persuaded He needed to go). But as we know, there was a tipping point that was passed on His final trip to Jerusalem, sealing His fate.
God’s message through Christ was His invitation to turn from their isolation from Him to instead entrust their lives to Him. But the people weren’t having it (except for a tiny number of followers of Jesus). And so, they precipitated the events that had been prophesied not only by Second Isaiah (and Daniel 9:26), but by the New Covenant prophecies of Moses (Dt 30:6), Jeremiah (Jer 31:33-34), Ezekiel (Ezk 11:19-20, 36:26-28, 37:14), Zechariah 12:10, and Micah 4:1-5 as we read as fulfilled in Acts 2:16-24.
Now, many will object that God doesn’t orchestrate the death or suffering of anyone as a payment for other people’s sins. (This is a common argument of Jews [and their camp-followers] for rejecting Jesus.) Well, He hadn’t up to this point. No one in the Biblical record had been identified as a martyr for the reconciliation to God (or salvation) of others (except Isaiah’s Suffering Servant and perhaps the Maccabean martyrs in 2 Maccabees 6-7, i.e. Eleazar, the seven brothers).
But clearly, time was up. YHWH hadn’t spoken with anyone in Israel for over at least 200 years. During this period Rome slipped its noose around Israel’s neck, and the Temple became, if anything, more entrenched in its hegemony over Judahites.
The Old (Temple-focused) Covenant plan had run its course but had resulted in only a tiny number of people whose hearts were devoted to YHWH.
So, two things had to happen: 1) Those who had rejected calls to return to their God had to be disciplined (to a degree unknown even in the Assyrian and Babylonian destructions), and 2) the prophesied New Covenant had to be implemented so that God Himself could implement the transformation of His family members into a state of devotion to Him and to their neighbors (as themselves). This is the fulfillment of the New Covenant.
The mechanism to implement #2 was to be God’s Spirit being distributed into all those who repented of themselves and sought Him, so transforming them. And in order for God’s Spirit to inhabit those seekers, they had to, apparently, be first sanctified through an offering of truly immense, unprecedented proportions – the suffering (and subsequent death) of the One who had announced that He and the “Father” were “one” (unified); the One who witnesses reported interacting with following His resurrection, including the Apostle Paul; the One who the Apostle John claimed “was God”, meaning (apparently) that God was the Spirit Who inhabited and animated the human Jesus – God wrapped in flesh – an Incarnation (see also Gen 18:1-14).
Now here’s the kicker. Whatever else you may believe about Jesus, you have to explain how it is, exactly, that millions of people who have responded to Christ’s invitation to “follow me” (e.g. Mt 9:9), and have repented of themselves, have been transformed by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. How do you explain heart-change: going from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh? How do you explain the spirit of a person one day being fixated on worldly diversions and the next being focused almost exclusively on the things of God?
This phenomenon is not a fiction or some evangelical marketing ploy (they barely acknowledge it anymore). Millions of people have been regenerated from being merely human to being children of God through exactly this experience. And it is exactly this phenomenon that was prophesied by Moses, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Micah.
So, it’s fine if you choose to continue to disclaim Jesus’ purpose and role. You can even (from a Jewish perspective) recite all of the expectations of your Messiah that He, in your judgment, didn’t fulfill. BUT, I don’t believe you can explain-away the transformation of the Spirit that has been experienced by millions of His followers (i.e. not churchgoers, per se, but followers of Christ).
Whether He meets your definition of God’s Son and agent of His New Covenant or not, it appears, by empirical evidence that you can review for yourself, that that is exactly who He was.
[i] If the notion of maintaining the Tabernacle/Temple cleanness is new to you, I’ve written about it in Uncleanness, Sin, and Holiness in the Hebrew Bible
[ii] Not that Israel always operated their sacrificial system. They did not make sacrifices during the 40 year wilderness wanderings and the Bible is quite ambivalent as to whether they performed sacrifices during the entirety of their 1st Temple history, though it strongly hints that Israel offered their own personal sacrifices to foreign Gods (e.g. Jer 5:9).
[iii] ‘Searching For (and Finding) the “Needle in the Biblical Haystack”: Following the Bible’s “Blue Thread””
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