I can’t believe the death of Jesus paid for my sins

I can’t believe the death of Jesus paid for my sins because the Torah teaches that for blood to be effectual, it had to be poured on the altar in a specific way. This obviously does not refer to Jesus.

The specific laws in the Torah regarding the sprinkling of the blood on the altar had to do with the sacrifices offered on that altar. In those cases, specific regulations applied. At other times in the Hebrew Scriptures, blood and sacrifices were offered in different ways and in different places. More importantly, there is obviously no connection between the laws for offering animal sacrifices on the altar and the Jewish teaching that “the death of the righteous atones.” Therefore, the blood of those righteous martyrs did not have to be poured out on the altar of Jerusalem.

The first time I heard this objection was in a public debate in 1986, and most of the crowd seemed surprised that the objection was even raised. After all, the answer seemed obvious: There were specific laws regarding how the blood of animal sacrifices was to be applied to the altar; the blood of the Messiah pointed to that which the animal’s blood only typified. Of course, if Messianic Jews believed in human sacrifice (which we don’t), and if the Torah called for human sacrifices and required that the blood of those sacrifices be placed on the altar in a specific way to atone for sins (which it doesn’t), then I would agree with your objection. In fact, it would then be fair to ask you, “If Yeshua’s blood had been shed on the Temple altar in Jerusalem according to the Torah’s requirements, would you then believe in him?”

Naturally, I could point out that at certain times and under certain circumstances, God accepted blood sacrifices that were not offered up on the altar in Jerusalem (see, e.g., 2 Sam. 24:17–25 and 1 Kings 18:31–39).²⁸⁴ This, however, is not the real issue, since (1) the sacrifices prescribed by the Torah prefigured the sacrificial death of the Messiah, but the Messiah himself was not to be treated like an actual animal sacrifice (e.g., the priests did not offer him up, nor did they eat his flesh after his death, nor did they remove his entrails); and (2) in keeping with biblical teaching and Jewish tradition, Yeshua willingly offered his life as a righteous martyr making atonement for the sins of the world. Thus, his blood was not poured out on the altar any more than was the blood of religious Jews through the ages whose deaths were considered an atonement for their generation (see above, 3.15).

If you have an argument, it is with the prophet Isaiah, who wrote in 53:10 that the Lord would make his righteous servant an ʾasham (guilt offering).²⁸⁵ Yet according to your objection, the servant would have had to shed his blood on the altar in Jerusalem if he were really to be a guilt offering. This is, quite obviously, farfetched and misses the point that these were images and types to be fulfilled, not regulations to be carried out in detail.

The altar blood had to do with altar sacrifices. The blood of the Messiah had to do with the principles typified by those sacrifices.²⁸⁶ Thus, Hebrews 13:11–12 states, “The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.” Therefore, the Jewish people and the nations of the world have not been left without an atoning sacrifice. The Messiah paid it all, fulfilling the image and purpose of the Torah’s system of atonement and shedding his blood on our behalf.

²⁸⁴ For the Rabbinic rationale behind this, see Eliezer Berkovits, Not in Heaven: The Nature and Function of Halakha (New York: Ktav, 1983), 47–70.

²⁸⁵ According to some, the Messiah, according to others, the people of Israel; see below, 3.23 (suffering Messiah) and vol. 3, 4.5–6.

²⁸⁶ Interestingly, the Talmudic rabbis claimed that some of the specific regulations regarding exactly how the animal’s blood was to be applied to the altar were actually in memory of the binding of Isaac. As stated in Leviticus Rabbah 2:11 (to Lev. 1:5, 11): “Concerning the ram, it is said: And he shall slaughter it on the side of the altar northward before the Lord. It is taught: When Abraham our father bound Isaac his son, the Holy One, blessed be He, instituted (the sacrifice of) two lambs, one in the morning, and the other in the evening. What is the purpose of this? It is in order that when Israel offers the perpetual sacrifice upon the altar, and read this scriptural text, Northward before the Lord, the Holy One, blessed be He, may remember the binding of Isaac.” Cited by Vermes, “Redemption and Genesis 22,” 209.

Brown, M. L. (2000). Answering Jewish objections to Jesus, Volume 2: Theological objections (167). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.