Was Jesus Punished for Our Sins?

Christians,

If you committed some sin earlier in the day or sometime during the week and things do not seem to be going your way, do you think that God is punishing you because of it? If you are desperately praying and seeking for a job or whatever the issue may be, and it does not seem that God is answering you, do you think He is punishing you because of some sin you have committed?

Let me ask you a question, Christian.

Did God punish Jesus for our sins? Yes or no?

How many of our sins did God punish Jesus for? One? Ten? One hundred? If we sin, does Yahweh punish us for those sins? If so, then what was the point in punishing Jesus for them? Was the punishment of Jesus not enough?

Either God's punishment of Jesus for our sins was enough or it was not. If you believe that when you sin God punishes you, then you also believe that Jesus' punishment was not enough; that God has to exact punishment from us, too. You basically believe that every time you sin, Jesus has to be re-crucified.

Jesus died once for all sin for all time! Period. If you are in Christ, if you trust and believe in His person and work, then when you sin it is not held against you. It has already been forgiven and it has already been forgotten. When Jesus was crucified, all your sins were future.

"Whoever believes in [Jesus] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." John 3:18

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1

None of your sins are held against you, Christian! Past, present, or future. They were all put on Jesus, they were all forgiven, and they were all forgotten. Jesus accomplished everything on our behalf and in our stead. It is time you correctly understood the Gospel.

Many a preacher behind the pulpit has been LYING to you. They are ignorant of Scripture. They teach that which they have been programmed, conditioned, and brainwashed to by the schools that have put their marks upon them. It is time you break free from their control and start reading and studying the Bible for yourself apart from their influence. When you are reading and you have that "gut feeling" or "instinct" that something is not right, but you ignore it because what you have been TOLD to believe opposes this "feeling," that is the still small voice of the Holy Spirit trying to get your attention so that He can guide you into the truth, just as Jesus said He would do. When you ignore this "feeling," you are quenching the Holy Spirit. You are choosing to listen to the LIES rather than to become vulnerable and admit that you have believed wrongly for so long. Unless you start listening for the Spirit (and I am not talking about you falsely attributing your thoughts to being the Spirit), and having a willingness to reform yourself and your beliefs and conform them to the truths of Scripture, you will forever be enveloped with lies and false interpretations.

Torah Observance is Anti-Christ!

Hebrews 8:13 stands unequivocally and irrefutably against so-called 'Torah Observant' "Christians"—that is, modern-day Judaizers.

"In speaking of a new covenant, He makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear."

According to Deuteronomy 4:2 and 12:32, no commandments shall be added to or taken away from the Law of Moses. Huh... Well, is that not a precarious predicament. Jesus gave us new commandments not found in the Law (Matt 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; John 13:34). Seems the "Torah Observant" cult have a problem on their hands. Are they going to attempt to say that Jesus sinned and/or is not the Messiah?

Torah observance undermines both the Gospel of Jesus and the sufficiency of His work in making us right with Yahweh. It also undermines the accomplishments of Jesus through His life, death, and resurrection.

If you are going to attempt to observe the Torah, then that would have to include circumcision. However, what does Paul say? "If you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you" (Gal. 5:2). He continues, "Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love" (Gal. 5:6).

If you are going to attempt to observe the Torah, then that would also have to include the eating of kosher foods (Lev. 11:44-45). However, Jesus and the apostles taught us that all foods are clean (Mark 7:1-23; Acts 10:9-16; Rom 11:11-24; 14:1-15:13).

From AD 70 until today, it has been impossible for anyone to live a truly "Torah Observant" lifestyle. According to traditional Judaism, there are 613 commandments. However, after the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, only 369 of the 613 commandments are able to be observed. As I have said before, if you want to attempt to live by the Law, you are required to live by all of it—all 613 commandments!!! There is no cherry picking! If you fail in even one point of the Law, you are guilty of breaking all of it!!!

The Law was given to Moses as a ministry of condemnation and death (2 Cor. 3:7-11). It was given to Israel only (Ex. 19:3). Gentiles were never under the Law and never had a part in the Law (Eph. 2:11-12), including the Sabbath requirements. No other nation or people group was part of the Mosaic covenant.

The New Covenant Scriptures reveal that under Jesus and the New Covenant, everything changed! The New Covenant is radically different from the previous Covenant. Under the former covenant, the people of God were designated through ethnicity and lineage. Under the new covenant, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise" (Gal. 3:28-29). Believers in Jesus are considered Abraham's offspring.

How many times does it have to be said for the so-called 'Torah Observant' cult member to grasp the truth? The Jewish era, the Old Covenant, the Law, has been made obsolete. It is null and void. It has been abolished. Jesus fulfilled the Law perfectly. Moses and the Prophets were shadows of the real thing, which is found in Christ Jesus. These modern-day Judaizers are spitting directly in the face of Jesus while rejecting the work He came to accomplish on our behalf and in our stead. These scripturally illiterate and ignorant clowns should answer Paul's rhetorical question to the Galatians: "Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?"

'Heaven and Earth' HAVE Passed!

What did Jesus mean when He said, "For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished" (Matt. 5:18)? Was He prophesying the end of the Earth?

What did Jesus mean when He said, "Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away" (Matt. 24:34-35)? Was He predicting the destruction of the Earth?

Many preachers, "scholars" (so-called "experts"), and theologians have read these words at face value and attributed them to the utter destruction of our planet. Dispensationalists have run away with all sorts of fictitious imaginations as to what this could mean, imposing those fantasies upon the Scriptures themselves. But what does God's Word actually teach concerning this issue?

"I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand, establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, 'You are my people'" (Is. 51:16). This is how Yahweh describes His choosing of Israel as His people from among the nations of the Earth. He calls it "establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth."

"Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth" (Deut. 32:1). This is what Moses, the lawgiver of Israel, said when he assembled Yahweh's covenant people. He was speaking to the people of Israel—not to the literal heavens and earth.

"The earth is utterly broken, the earth is split apart, the earth is violently shaken. The earth staggers like a drunken man; it sways like a hut; its transgression lies heavy upon it, and it falls, and will not rise again" (Is. 24:1, 3-4, 19-20). Yet again, we see Israel being referred to as  "the earth." Throughout Scripture, Yahweh's covenant with Israel is labeled as Yahweh forming "heaven and earth," so it would make sense that His abolishment of the same would be labeled as the destruction of "heaven and earth."

Even the apostle John wrote of Yahweh dissolving the old "heaven and earth" and establishing a new "heaven and earth"—the New Covenant. In this covenant, Yahweh takes a new Bride (consisting of people from every tribe, nation, and tongue—not just Jews), forms a new priesthood (every believer, male and female—not just a tribe of men), establishes a new nation (all believers are called Yahweh's "holy nation" in 1 Peter 2:9), and institutes an eternal and unshakable kingdom (Heb. 12:26-28).

Jesus came to fulfill the Law, and then He abolished it. By establishing the eternal New Covenant, Jesus caused the Old Covenant to become obsolete. Judaistic cults, like Torah Observant "Christians," would do well to learn how to read and study Scripture, paying attention to what they are reading. By attempting to turn to the Law, they are rejecting Jesus and His grace and spitting directly in His face. As the apostle Paul said, these people have been "severed (separated) from Christ," they have "fallen from grace."

Let us use some common sense and think about this logically. The apostles constantly said that they were living in "the last days." John said it was "the last hour." What are the chances that "the last days" and "the last hour" would last for 2,000 years?!?!? Highly unlikely! But if they were talking about the end of the Jewish era, the end of the Old Covenant, the end of the Law . . . Ah! Now that makes more sense.

"For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the Law as well" (Heb. 7:12). There was a change in priesthood. Under the Old Covenant, a priest had to be from the tribe of Levi. Jesus was from the tribe of Judah. So since there was a change in the priesthood, it necessitates a change in the Law. "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35). This is the Royal Law of the New Covenant of the Kingdom of God.

Torah Observant "Christians" would benefit greatly from reading Galatians. "Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" Apparently they think the answer to this question is, "Yes." However, this is a rhetorical question. The obvious answer is, "No!" If you want to observe the Law, you are required to observe ALL OF IT (Gal. 5:3), every last one of the 600+ laws! You do not get to cherry pick which you are going to follow and which you are not. If you fail in even one point, you are guilty of breaking ALL OF IT (James 2:10). Observance of the Law has one of two results: DEFEAT if you are honest, and HYPOCRISY if you are not. No one can keep the entire Law, and no one ever could—except Jesus. The Law was a ministry of condemnation and death (2 Cor. 3:7-11). It could never do what it was intended to do because of our flesh (Rom. 8:3). JESUS fixed all of that. JESUS fulfilled the Law perfectly so we do not have to. If we trust in Jesus, HIS righteousness and all the blessings owed Him for HIS obedience to the Law are bestowed upon us. We get to benefit. This is the GREAT news of the Gospel!

If you want to place yourself under bondage to the Law, then YOU HAVE SEVERED (SEPARATED) YOURSELF FROM JESUS, YOU HAVE FALLEN FROM GRACE!!! (Gal. 5:4)

The NEW Israel—Christ Jesus!

The “church” has not replaced Israel; Jesus is the NEW Israel!

“When Israel was a child, I loved Him and called Him out of Egypt.” Hosea 11:1

Matthew says this was fulfilled in the life of Jesus (2:15)! The “Israel of God” is Jesus!!! "National Israel" is nothing!

Have you ever noticed how the life of Jesus parallels the life of Old Covenant Israel?

1. The King of kings was born in Bethlehem, the very place where David was crowned king of Israel. The magi following the star were looking for the baby who was born King of kings.
2. After Jesus was born, He went to Egypt, just as Israel fled to Egypt to avoid death during a famine.
3. Both national Israel and the NEW Israel (Christ Jesus) were "called out of Egypt."
4. Jesus was baptized at the very location national Israel crossed the Jordan to enter Canaan.
5. Before Jesus entered into His public ministry, He spent forty days in the wilderness, and before national Israel entered Canaan, they spent forty years in the wilderness.
6. God gave the Old Covenant Law on a mountain (Sinai) through Moses, and He gave the new Law on a mountain through His Son (i.e.: "the Sermon on the Mount").
7. National Israel has a history of disobedience to Yahweh and failure to meet the conditions of the Old Covenant Law, while the NEW Israel (Jesus) fulfilled every "jot and tittle" of the Law.
8. The Law promised "blessings" from Yahweh for full obedience and punishment for disobedience to the Law. National Israel experienced constant punishments from Yahweh throughout the duration of the Old Covenant (ending in AD 70), but Jesus experienced and felt the full pleasure of His Father because of His perfect obedience.
9. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law's festivals: born on the Feast of Tabernacles ("He tabernacled among us"), died on Passover, in the tomb during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, raised on the Feast of First Fruits, and sending the Comforter on Pentecost.
   

I have said it before, and I will say it again: not only is Jesus the second Adam, as Paul refers to Him, but He is also the second Israel. He succeeded on every point where they failed!

Jesus is the NEW Israel in the eternal New Covenant that Yahweh God has made with the world. Yahweh is now only concerned with whether or not people everywhere—Jew and gentile—embrace His Son.

When you promote "national Israel" over the NEW Israel (Christ Jesus), you are no different in your religion than any other anti-Christ religion. Faith that saves is Christo-centric (Christ-centered) and not Israel-centric (Israel-centered).

To support “national Israel” because of an ignorant belief (in a bankrupt theology) that God desires to re-establish the Old Covenant agreement with Israel is to spit in the face of Jesus, the Messiah of Yahweh. This belief is the epitome of ignorance and stupidity. "National Israel" is nothing to God anymore!

On Mount Tabor, the lawgiver of Israel (Moses) and the prophet of Israel (Elijah) appeared beside Jesus. “A cloud came, overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is My beloved Son; LISTEN TO HIM!”” (Luke 9:35). When the cloud disappeared, there was nobody but Jesus! Both the law and the prophets pointed to the person and work of Jesus. Yahweh told Peter, James, and John to ignore Moses and Elijah and to listen to Jesus: "This is My Son, My Chosen One; HEAR HIM! (akoute auton)" This event was symbolic of the coming reality. The Old Covenant was becoming obsolete and was fading away, to be replaced by a New Covenant. Today, there is nobody but Jesus! We are to listen to Jesus alone! "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world" (Heb. 1:1-2).

If you support "national Israel," you don’t get it. You’ve missed it. You have no understanding. Your ignorance of Scripture is astounding and tragic. Why would you support Jews in their delusion of re-instituting the very rituals that Scripture says were merely shadows that pointed to Christ Jesus? The Jewish era, the Old Covenant, the Law was made obsolete and has been abolished. Please go read the book of Hebrews and get educated. Stop propagating Jewish myths!

Dispensationalists are enemies of Jesus. They are propagating a system fulfilled in and by Jesus that was made obsolete and has faded away and been abolished. They are spitting directly in Jesus' face by claiming a future restoration of this failed system of condemnation and death (2 Cor. 3:7-11). We are the temple of Yahweh, and He indwells us; there will be no rebuilt Jewish temple. Jesus was the sacrifice to end all sacrifices; there will be no return to sacrifices ("memorial" or otherwise). Paul makes all of this crystal clear in his letters, yet Dispenstationalists miss it.

God's New Deal!

"For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the Law as well." Hebrews 7:12

How have so many preachers missed this? How are so many Christians ignorant to this fact? Jesus is a priest after the order of Melchizedek, not the order of Aaron. Jesus was from the tribe of Judah, not the tribe of Levi.

"In speaking of a New Covenant, He makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away." Hebrews 8:13

Hebrews was written around AD 65. Jesus and His apostles had been predicting the end of the Jewish era, the end of the Old Covenant, the end of the Law, and in AD 70 it would become a complete reality. The Law has no place in the life of the Christian! The Kingdom of God has one Royal Law that governs every facet of life for the believer in Christ Jesus:

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:34-35

This is further confirmed by Paul and John:

"[The Law is] summed up in this word, ‘You shall love your neighbour [just] as [you love] yourself.’” Romans 13:9

“For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word: ‘Love your neighbour [just] as [you love] yourself.’” Galatians 5:14

[For the ignorant who do not know who their "neighbour" is, like rapper Bryson Gray, I suggest you go and read Luke 10:25-37. Every other human being on the planet is your neighbour!]

"For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. ... We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. ... By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. ... And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Christ Jesus and love one another, just as He has commanded us." 1 John 3:11-24

Yahweh has done everything for us in the New Covenant through Jesus! We need only to accept the person and work of Jesus by faith and to rest in His finished work. There is nothing for us to do! When speaking of the New Covenant (the word does not mean "brand new," but rather "fresh" or "renewed"), Yahweh stated five "I will's":

1. I will establish a New Covenant.
2. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. (This is not the Ten Commandments, or any part of the Old Covenant Law, but the Royal Law of the Kingdom of God: Love!)
3. I will be their God.
4. I will forgive all their sins, including their intentional sins.
5. I will remember their sins no more.

Yahweh God established the New Covenant with Himself! You and I have no part in its establishment. Yahweh bound Himself by it. We get to benefit from it. This is why Paul says that all the promises of God are "Yes!" in Christ Jesus. This is GREAT news!!! Our performance has nothing to do with the covenant or the outcome. Jesus did it all for you! Accept this truth, feel the weight lifted from your shoulders (because His yoke is easy and His burden is light), and rest in His completed work. He did what we could not and we get to reap His rewards. What could be better than that?

Baptist Eisegesis

Baptists are notoriously renown for eisegeting baptismal passages. Not only do they eisegete Romans 6:3-4, which has nothing to do with water baptism, let alone mode of baptism, but they also eisegete Colossians 2:12.

"... having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Him from the dead. ... God made [you] alive together with Him..."

The "having been buried with Him in baptism" has nothing to do with mode of baptism! Do you know what Russian Matryoshkas dolls are? Inside each doll you will find another smaller doll until you reach the last smallest doll. This is an excellent way to help people understand what it means to be "in Christ". Whatever happens to the largest doll also happens to the dolls inside it.

Both Greek words bapto and baptizo appear in an ancient Greek pickle recipe. Both words are used to describe how the cucumbers take on the characteristics (the identity) of the vinegar. Our baptism is seen as the moment we are placed "in Christ", even though this actually occurs the moment you put your faith and trust in Him. We are being identified with Jesus. Like the matryoshkas dolls, when Jesus was crucified, we were crucified with Him; when Jesus was buried, we were buried with Him; when Jesus was resurrected, we were resurrected with Him; when Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Father, we sat down with Him. Not "positionally"—actually!

First Corinthians 10:2 talks about the Israelites being "baptized" into Moses. I am sorry, but the Israelites were never baptized. The water never touched them! Who did the water touch? The Egyptians. What happened to them? They died! So clearly this "baptism" is not referring to water baptism nor to mode of baptism. It is referring to identity! They were identified with Moses.

Not only that, but the Baptist's mode of baptism does not imitate the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus in the least. First of all, His burial had nothing to do with anything because if He remained on the cross for three days and then resurrected, everything would have been accomplished in the exact same manner. Jesus' burial was like opening a closet door and being shoved inside. He was not buried 6-feet deep in the ground!

Baptists trying to fight for an "immersion only" baptism are fighting a losing uphill battle. Not only do they misinterpret and misunderstand the baptismal identity passages, but they fail to pay attention to the circumstantial evidence surrounding each case of baptism presented in the Scriptures. The reason bapto and baptizo were transliterated and never translated into a specific word, like "immersion", is because an examination of the Greek throughout all Greek history reveals that there is no set meaning to the word. In several cases, it is used in connection with ships at sea being sunk, never to break the surface again. In other words, your preacher should be drowning you! Who wants to volunteer first for this baptism?

Baptists, please learn how to read and pay attention to the context of Scripture and examine the details surrounding it instead of imposing your preconceived preconceptions upon the text. I no longer have any allegiance to any "church", denomination, religion, creed or confession of faith because I have found error in all of them. Where they agree with Scripture, I agree with them, but where they deviate from Scripture because of their tendency to be selective, historically-conditioned, and often agenda-driven, I disagree with them vehemently. My allegiance is to Yahweh and Jesus alone.