The one thing, and the most important thing that is missing from the system of Judaism is the blood atonement for the sins of the Jewish people. This is not a little minor theological point that I am talking about here, but it is something that the scriptures speak very plainly about. Sins cannot be atoned for by doing some good deeds or “mitzvahs” as some would call them. That applies to both Jewish and Gentile people by the way. We cannot play “lets make a deal” with Almighty God. The only thing that will atone for man’s sin is the BLOOD of an innocent substitute. If the sins of the Jewish people are not atoned for according to the scriptures, then that simply means that they are still IN their sins. Here is a passage from the Old Testament (which they say they believe). This is from the Torah (five books of Moses), and more specifically the book of Leviticus.
For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. (Leviticus 17:11)
The life is in the flesh, and the Lord God Almighty made it clear that nothing other than the blood, which gives LIFE to that same flesh, would atone for the sins of the people. Nothing, absolutely nothing. So where is the blood atonement for the Jewish people in our modern day? There is no more Jewish temple in existence today in which to bring forth the animal sacrifices, because that was destroyed in 70AD. The Lord Jesus Christ knew full well that without him, the Jewish people would simply die in their sins, and end up in Hell, and that would also apply to anybody else (Jewish or Gentile) in the entire world. The Lord knew that he was going to that cross and that is why he told them that.
I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. (John 8:24)
Can you think of anything more serious than the topic at hand? The Lord Jesus Christ declared that if a person did not believe in him (obviously as Lord and Messiah) than that same person would die in their sins. Not only that, but the Lord knew full well that he would be put to death, but he also knew that he was getting back up again, and that is very center of the whole message of salvation. Jesus the Christ (Messiah) came to die, but death had absolutely no power to hold him in the ground! Hallelujah to the Lamb of God!
And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again. (Matthew 20:17-19)
The one thing that I want to show you though is what happened when the Lord Jesus Christ was put to death on that cross almost two thousand years ago. There was a supernatural miracle that took place at the exact moment when the Lord’s last breath had left his body.
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias (Elijah). And straightway (immediately) one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias (Elijah) will come to save him. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain (two) from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. (Matthew 27:46-54)
That was (and still is) the greatest moment in the history of mankind. That was the moment when Jesus the Christ (Messiah) finished his perfect work upon this earth. (John 19:30) That was the moment when Jesus Christ emptied his veins of his perfect, sin cleansing blood to atone for the sins of all who desired to be saved. God the Father was watching from Heaven above, and the PROOF that the sacrifice of Christ was accepted was the tearing of the veil in the Jewish Temple. The veil in that Jewish Temple was torn in half from TOP to BOTTOM, and that veil was a super-thick, super-heavy thing. The Lord God Almighty was telling the Jewish people (and the rest of us also) that the ONLY sacrifice that they needed was his Son Jesus Christ. All of the Old Covenant sacrifices were merely types and shadows which pointed to the perfect sacrifice of the Lamb of God. (John 1:29) So what happens to all of those people (Jewish and Gentile) who do not believe this stuff? They will simply die in their sins without the necessary blood atonement which was provided by Almighty God. There will be absolutely no excuses for anybody. The Jewish apostle Peter put it this way:
And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. (1 Peter 1:17-21)
There is simply no way around God’s plan of salvation for the human race. The Lord chose to partake of our humanity because it was the only way by which we might be saved. The Lord Jesus Christ became our “innocent substitute” and the sacrificial “lamb” for our sake! It was necessary that perfect blood be shed to atone for our souls, and Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was the only one who could do that! Not only that, BUT Jesus Christ is the very FULFILLMENT of the Passover and Yom Kippur (day of Atonement) and every other Old Covenant BLOOD sacrifice! The whole point of those sacrifices was to point the people of ISRAEL to the ONLY true BLOOD sacrifice, in his Son Jesus Christ!
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. (Hebrews 2:9)
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; (Hebrews 2:14)
Without the blood atonement that is found in Jesus Christ alone, a person simply remains in the clutches, and the headlock of the devil himself, who has the power of death over them. That is why Satan (the devil, the wicked one) hates the preaching of the Gospel so much, because he knows that it is the only way of salvation, and deliverance from his own wicked power.
A preacher once said that most people sell their souls for a bag of popcorn, and I never forgot his words. He was spot on with that statement because it is so very true. You could buy a bag of popcorn for ten cents in the 1960’s and that is the value that most people put upon their own soul. The stark truth is that the majority of people in the world, both Jewish and Gentile have no idea that they are on the way to Hell. I was numbered among that same group of people for the first thirty six years of my life, and that is why I shout the warning once again for people to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ while there is still time. I shout the warning because the risen Lord has commanded ALL true Christians to shout the warning. How could we possibly hold back this precious Gospel from our fellow human beings?
Afterward he (Jesus) appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (Mark 16:14-16)