Why is Jesus considered a sacrifice?

Question

He was not offered to God - he was sentanced to "death by crucifixion".

God describes his idea of human sacrifice in Genesis ch 22, Micah 6:7, Judges 11:31 - 39.

None of these descriptions of human sacrifice even resemble the crucifixion.

Answer 1

Not at all.

He comitted a crime and the romans punished him for it.

Regardless of how a person conducts themself and jesus was basically a man who preached reform in the jewish faith, he did commit a breach of the peace by causing riots in a temple which was in violation of roman law. Romans dealt with "rebels" and those that caused disturbances of the peace harshly.

Jesus was dealt with as such.

Jesus was no different in this respect from ted bundy or any other capital offender that recieved the death penalty from a punishment vs. sacrifice standpoint. (except that he did not recieve a trial, jesus being a commoner and not a roman citizen, would not be entitled to one- nor would anyone entitled to one be crucified as the method of capitol punishment.)

Answer 2

There are much more compelling reasons to reject Jesus Christ as any kind of sacrifice.

1.) A sacrifice is something you give up and never get back. We speak of people sacrificing their careers to raise children, a man sacrificing his life to save someone else's, etc. What did Jesus sacrifice that he never got back? Not his life, because he got that back three days after he died. And if he literally was "God in the flesh" (as many Christians believe), then shedding his body was of no more consequence than removing an old coat. Some might say his blood was sacrificed, but was it? If God owns everything in the universe, then even the blood was still his, so again he gave up nothing. What, exactly, was sacrificed?

2.) In the Old Testament, a sacrifice for forgiveness consisted of a young bull, a male goat, a female goat, or a female lamb, never a male lamb. If one was too poor to afford these, two doves, two pigeons, or a measure of fine flour could be substituted. (See Leviticus 4 and 5) Unless Jesus, the "lamb of God", had sex-change surgery, he does not meet these requirements.

3.) Jesus cannot even be compared to the scape goat of Lev. 16, since again, that was not a lamb; and also this ceremony was done on the Day of Atonement, not at Passover, and only after a bull and a goat had been sacrificed. The live goat was not killed, but sent into the wilderness--certainly not comparable to Jesus' death.

4.) The Israelites' Passover was NOT about forgiveness of sins, but about distinguishing themselves from the Egyptians so that the death angel would not kill them along with the Egyptian firstborn. All subsequent Passovers were kept as a remembrance of this event, not so that God would forgive them of anything. Forgiveness was accomplished in other ways. Thus, Jesus could not be the "Passover lamb," since what he did on the cross has no connection to the Jewish rite. In any case, Christians do not keep Passover, they keep Easter.

Answer 3

God meant for him to be the sacrifice of all human beings, Jesus took the sins of the world upon him, including yours, and because of that , he had to die.
Ro 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Ro 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
He willingly went and willingly stayed because it was his offer before he came, and that was Gods will for him. Then he was the last sacrifice ever. He died for your sins, as well as mine, so everytime you sin, think about that. The old testament tells us was in advance where how Jesus will be conceived, where he would be born, where he would go, what he would do, how his death would take place, and all about his mission on earth.
There were NO other human sacrifices made to God or by Gods appointment, except for the martyrs that get killed today and the future, it will be because they love Jesus, and irregardless of what you believe, Jesus (knew) believed he was dying for all. You dont think that alone is worthy of honor ? When you see him come back, I hope by then you have believed.

Answer 4

A sacrifice is any action that places the needs of another person ahead of your own, especially when it involves giving something up.

Jesus was killed because of the jealousy of the religious leaders. They felt that Jesus was a threat to their power and influence and felt the need to get rid of Him.

Jesus came to earth not to die, but to bring the Jewish people back to God. Jesus knew full well that this would lead to His crucifixion, but He preached anyway. Instead of ending His mission from God, He kept preaching because doing so would help us and lead us to God. As a result, he was executed. That is the sacrifice.

Answer 5

He offered Himself in our place - Jesus, being God, could have left that cross at any time, but chose to take our punishment onto Himself so that we might have eternal life with Him.

There is no greater love than this that a man lay down his life for his friends. The sacrifice Jesus made could only have been made by Him. Fully human, His sacrifice and death fulfill the requirements - for the wages of sin is death. Fully God, He is infinite and was, therefore, able to die an infinite death for an infinite amount of sin. But that's only half way there - Jesus rose from the dead in triumph over death - giving us triumph over death. We were spiritually dead before accepting His free gift of salvation, now we are spiritually alive and are able to have a relationship with God Almighty.

Answer 6

The Passover Lamb was the shadow, the archetype for Jewish Sacrifice. And the Yom Kippur sacrifice, where the priest entered once per year into the holy of holies, for the remission of the sins of the people.

Jesus is both Priest and Victim. He is the spotless "Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world"

Answer 7

Reality check: Jesus was killed for being politically inconvienent. He was a martyr rto his own cause. There was no "sacrifice involved. The notion that an omnipotent deity "needs" a blood sacrifice is one of the many ludicrous claims of the faith.

Answer 8

He traded his temporary physical existence for an eternal existence. I hardly consider that a sacrifice.

"I will sacrifice my 2002 ford taurus for this new 2007 Ferrari....."

I'm so humble...

Answer 9

Jesus Christ, was a perfect human being sent by Jehova from heavens to give his perfect life in exchange for many that have faith in him. Why? Because one perfect life -Adam's life- was lost through sin and sin and imperfection spread to all manking because all became sinners. But Jehova (the name of the father of Jesus and our father) due to his love to mankind sent his only begotten son (whose name in heavens was Michael), to the womb of the virgin Mary in order that Michael adquire a human life like Mary. The difference was that Mary was imperfect and needed to offer sacrifices according to the Jewish Laws. But when Jesus offered his perfect life as a ramson sacrifice for all of us, there was not necessary that the followers (christians) make animal sacrifices anymore. Because Jesus offered his perfect human life once and forever.
He is not anymore a helpless baby or a poor man sacrificed to demostrate that his ideas were worth to die. No, not anymore in this pittiful situation. Since 1914 he is King in the heavens at the right hand of Jehova, Jesus has disfellowship Satan and his demons from heavens to earth, that is why since 1914 there were wars and famines and earthquakes, the love of the people would cool down and the good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth. (read Mathew chapters 24 and 25) Jesus is the king of this kingdom in heavens and soon he is going to disfellowship Satan and his demons from earth because Satan is very angry causing desolation because he knows he has a short period of time before he is destroyed. What Jesus did during his human life (resurrections, multiplification of bread, fish, wine, curing illnesses, preaching the kingdom, teaching and forgiving) is only a sample of what Jehova and Jesus himself are going to do worldwide. If somebody knocks your door identifiying themselves as Jehova's witnesses, talk to them, allow them to tell you this good news. But if you prefer me to answer to you. write to me at my e-mail: [e-mail]. My name is Gilda, glad to meet you, even through this media and with other names.

Waiting for you answer, I have to say bye for now.
Gilda.

Answer 10

It was God that offered Him to us that He died as a sacrifice for our sins.