Challenging the counter-missionary argument that Torah insists mere men cannot atone for the sins of others!

In their efforts to prove that “Jesus” is a fake, counter-missionary Jews and their converts are constantly challenging Believers in Yeshua with the supposed "gotcha" that YHWH never expected a MAN (human sacrifice) to make atonement for the sins of others.

Well, it’s a good thing, then, that Yeshua wasn’t sacrificed!  He martyred himself, against which there is no prohibition…

A RABBI WROTE: One man could NOT make atonement for the sins of others! The prophets never instruct the Jews to worship any crucified messiah or demigod; nor does scripture ever tell us that an innocent man can die as an atonement for the sins of the wicked. Such a message is utterly antithetical to the teachings of the Jewish scriptures.

OUR RESPONSE: Well, then, how do you explain YHWH’s telling Abraham to sacrifice Isaac?  While Isaac wasn’t meant to be a “sin sacrifice,” the command was still to “sacrifice” him.

And how do you account for the following passages in Torah?

Exodus 28: 36 "You are to make an ornament of pure gold and engrave on it as on a seal, 'Set apart for ADONAI.' 37 Fasten it to the turban with a blue cord, on the front of the turban, 38 over Aharon's forehead. Because Aharon bears the guilt for any errors committed by the people of Isra'el in consecrating their holy gifts, this ornament is always to be on his forehead, so that the gifts for ADONAI will be accepted by him.

Leviticus 6: 25 "Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, 'This is the law of the sin offering: in the place where the burnt offering is slain the sin offering shall be slain before the LORD; it is most holy. 26'The priest who offers it for sin shall eat it. It shall be eaten in a holy place, in the court of the tent of meeting. 27'Anyone who touches its flesh will become consecrated; and when any of its blood splashes on a garment, in a holy place you shall wash what was splashed on.…

Leviticus 10: 16 Then Moshe carefully investigated what had happened to the goat of the sin offering and discovered that it had been burned up. He became angry with El'azar and Itamar, the remaining sons of Aharon, and asked, 17 "Why didn't you eat the sin offering in the area of the sanctuary, since it is especially holy? He gave it to you to take away the guilt of the community, to make atonement for them before ADONAI. (CJB)

Also, read Numbers 18 to get a tiny glimpse of the weight that was placed upon the shoulders of Aaron and the other cohanim.

Excerpt from the website MessianicTorah.org:  

Priests were established to help the people live in an intimate relationship with the Eternal. Many times people would, by mistake, enter the sanctuary being impure which generated guilt among the people. That guilt had to be removed in order for the people to keep enjoying the Eternal's presence without being exposed to the danger of His anger against sin.

In order to eliminate that guilt, they had to burn on the altar part of the animals destined for this purpose and then eat the rest. So, on the one hand, part of the sin that was transmitted to the animal that bore the guilt of the people was burnt on the altar; and on the other hand the priests ate the rest of the animal and the sin within it. Through these two ways of consuming the animal, sin was removed from the people who, thus, were atoned before the Eternal.

In the Torah this offering is not called "sin offering" but just "sin" chatat – חטאת. In other words, it is written in this verse that the priests had to eat the sin. Since the people's sin was transmitted to the animal through hand imposition, sin was in the sacrifice itself, so it is then called "sin". So when the priests ate from the sacrifice, sin entered in them, and in that way it decomposed in their intestines in the natural way and then got disposed of.

This teaches us that a priest may introduce the sin of the people in his own body, in the form of meat. This makes us think of the Messiah who took the sin of the people of Israel and the world in his body so the Eternal could forgive our sins and cleanse us to be sacred dwellings for Him and also to be able to enter the heavenly tabernacle without danger.

"...who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed." (1 Peter. 2:24 NKJV)

"In a loud voice they sang: Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise!" (Rev. 5:12 NIVUK)

Blessed be the Eternal for having given us Yeshua as heavenly priest who took our sins in his body and eliminated them! And blessed be Yeshua for his faithfulness as priest becoming responsible for our sins and taking them away to give us everlasting hope! And blessed are those who believe in the Messiah's sacrifice!