Anti-missionaries will go far and wide to deny Yeshua!

Anti-missionaries will go far and wide to deny Yeshua! Their first barb is to refuse to use His given, Hebrew Name which means "YHWH is Salvation" or "Yah Saves". (What better way to distance one's self!)  And the second barb is to point out that God never required human sacrifice - which is absolutely correct!

But here is our question:  If YHWH created the universe and everything in it, including mankind who was created from dust, why can't He present an aspect of Himself in human form, especially since He's done it before (Genesis 3:8, 18:1-3)?

Those who attempt to negate Y'shua, are correct in suggesting God never demanded a human sacrifice. But there is no Torah prohibition against martyrs - which is what Y'shua was! He was a human martyr who had a divine qnoma/nature. However, while we weren't supposed to offer human sacrifices, YHWH - as our Elohim and Almighty and Creator of the entire universe - certainly can do anything He wants! And what the Bible clearly shows He planned on doing (as evidenced throughout the Tanach, and specifically in Isaiah 53 and in the mo'edim) was to send us a Messiah who would carry out His Word to the letter. And that Messiah chose to martyr Himself....as a sin OFFERING!

According to a footnote in the Aramaic English New Testament:

Offerings "qurbana" and sacrifices "dabekha" are two different entities. Although there are certain aspects to Mashiyach's death that are utterly unique to him (Zechariah 12:10, etc.), his death nevertheless echoes aspects of offerings and sacrifices that came before. The qurbana is the human life (nefesh) that Y'shua voluntarily offers up on the stake. The result of that offering is his blood put out on the "altar"; hence dabekha.

However, this is certainly not, as some critics suggest, human sacrifice. Rather, this indicates Y'shua's status as Mashiyach ben Yoseph. Per strict accordance with Isaiah 53 and Genesis 22:8, Mashiyach ben Yoseph was required to suffer and die. After his death, the offering of himself became a sacrifice that was taken up, and he was resurrected three days later. Many of YHWH's prophets also suffered and were martyred at the hands of those who fought against the Malchut Elohim. In the case of Mashiyach, his shed blood is counted as the acceptable offering, the Lamb of YHWH, which is most Set Apart unto YHWH.

Deuteronomy 18:18-19: I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen, like you (Moses), and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak all that I command him. And it shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him.

YHWH sent us a DIVINE Offering in the form of Yeshua, the Torah observant Messiah in a human "shell", who was an aspect of YHWH sent to Earth in a form with which we could identify - as opposed to talking through a burning bush (Exodus 3:1-5), appearing to Abraham in human form/"three men" at the Oaks of Mamre (Genesis 18:1-2;17; Isaiah 48:12,16) or speaking through a donkey (Numbers 22 and 23). Yeshua was to teach us about YHWH, to show us how we were to worship YHWH, and how to live together according to His desires; and then to offer Himself - the Divine Entity who raised the dead, walked on water and turned water into wine - as the Final Sin Offering.

Yeshua did exactly what the Torah Scriptures predicted. What more could be asked of Him? Isaiah 53 and Daniel 9 both predict the death of Messiah and His resurrection. And Zechariah tells us something very interesting about the Messiah's return:

Zechariah 12:10 "And I (YHWH) will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a firstborn."

Furthermore, the Talmud (which Jews have no problem adhering to, even though it's simply the thoughts and discussions and writings of the various rabbis throughout the millenia), as well as the New Testament clearly teach that the death of the righteous has atoning power! When the Messiah, laid down His life, it was the ultimate act of atonement in human history.

The Talmud (m. Makkot 2:6;b. Makkot 11b; see also Leviticus Rabbah 10:6) asks the question: Isn't it the exile of the innocent manslayer [in the city of refuge] that expiates? The answer is no. "It is not the exile that expiates, but the death of the high priest." And Milgrom comments, "As the High Priest atones for Israel's sins through his cultic [i.e., ritual] service in his lifetime (Exod. 28:36; Lev. 16:16, 21), so he atones for homicide through his death."


Isn't this the exact portrait of the righteous, Suffering Servant of Yah in Isaiah 53?

Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; an the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Notices what God promises:

Verse 12: "Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." 

Y'shua bore our sins! This is exactly what Peter (known as Shimon Kepha) wrote more than 150 years before the Mishnah was finalized:

1 Peter 2:23-25: When the hurled their insults at him he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.