Vayikra - Messiah & the Sacrifices

The Torah portion of Vayikra contains instructions for the Olah, the burnt offering. The offerings in general point towards Yeshua’s offering of himself. The Olah specifically points to the Messiah, as both the Olah and Messiah’s sacrifice serve as an atonement for going astray, a repentance for turning away from God’s path.


The book of Leviticus begins with describing the sacrifices that were to take place in the Tabernacle. If any man desired to draw close to God, he would first have to offer up a sacrifice that serves as an atonement, allowing him to enter the presence of God.


In today’s world, there is no Temple, so it seems as though the sacrifices are obsolete and irrelevant. Despite this, Jews continue to study the sacrifices and the laws concerning them. Some teach that, when a person studies the laws and the sacrifices, it is as if he had offered up the sacrifices. Others teach that we should study so that we can offer sacrifices when Messiah comes and rebuilds the temple, as it says in the Midrash:

“Why do we begin the education of children with sacrifices? So that, when the redemption comes, in their days, they will know the order of the sacrifices ... and will be prepared to go up to the Temple and offer the sacrifices and the Levitical services according to its prescribed order.”

Readers of the Brit Hadashah (New Testament) understand that there are no sacrifices today and that Yeshua’s death provided the ultimate atonement for our sins. Some go so far as to assume that because of Yeshua’s sacrifice, there is no need for the sacrificial system. This is simply not true. The Jewish people continued to offer sacrifices in the Temple for forty years after Yeshua’s sacrifice, and they only stopped because the Temple was destroyed.


The Messiah’s sacrifice cannot make the Levitical sacrifices obsolete because the Messiah’s sacrifice was already performed by the time the Levitical sacrifices were put into place. Long before the Temple, or the Tabernacle, or even the first sin of Adam, the Messiah decided to atone for our sins. As it says in Revelations 13:8, “The Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.”


The sacrifices that are offered in the physical temple are a mere shadow of the sacrifices offered up in heaven. Ein Ya’akov says, commenting on a passage in the Talmud:

“And what [sacrifice] does the [Great Angel Michael] offer? Does it enter your mind that there are bulls or sheep there?! Rather, what does he offer? The souls of the righteous.”

Yeshua’s sacrifice was not a physical sacrifice, like the kind that is made in the temple, but a spiritual sacrifice, an offering up of his very soul. This is why Levitical sacrifices are not obsolete, while Yeshua’s sacrifice still has worth.


It says in Leviticus 1:2:

“Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: When any man of you bringeth an offering unto the LORD, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd or of the flock.”

In 1812, Rabbi Shneur Zalman presented a teaching on Leviticus 1:2 in which he presented several grammatical “errors” within the verse. These errors point towards an alternated translation of the verse that can insight to the messiah. While the regular translation of this verse reads, “When any man of you bringeth an offering unto the LORD...” The verse can also be translated in a more literal sense, “When Adam brings from you-all an offering to the LORD...”


Rabbi Shneur Zalman suggests that this alternate interpretation has a mystical meaning, that this Adam could only be the heavenly Adam, the one that the physical was created from, and that this heavenly Adam was drawing closer to God as a spiritual offering. The concept of the heavenly Adam within Jewish mysticism is derived from Ezekiel 1:26, where it says, “And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it above.”


1 Corinthians 15:47 tells us that Yeshua is the second Adam. It says, “The first Adam is from the earth, earthy; the second Adam is from heaven.” Yeshua brought a sacrifice to God, his own soul.


According to the Torah, the Olah offering was not a sin offering. It was not made in order to atone for sins, it was made so that the people of Israel could bring a gift to God. The word “Olah” in Hebrew means “to go up”, or “that which rises.” It shares the same root as the word “Aliyah,” which is the word people use for going up to the Torah, or for moving to the land of Israel.


Why is the Olah called the Olah? Well, it’s the only offering that goes up in its entirety to God. It’s the only one that gets entirely burnt up. With the other sacrifices, a bit of it goes to the priests to eat, or to the people offering the sacrifice, or to both groups. Not with this sacrifice though.


The sacrifice of the Olah represents a total and complete reliance on God. It is like taking a five hundred dollar bill, and burning it up, for God. No one profits from it. The Olah is a selfless giving over to God.


Yeshua was the ultimate example of an Olah. He lived his life in complete selflessness, giving himself entirely to God. As Yeshua said to God in Matthew 26:39, “Not as I will, but as You will.”


The Torah portion of Vayikra contains instructions for various offerings, one of which is the Olah. The sacrifices in general have a significance to Yeshua, but the Olah has a special significance. Yeshua’s sacrifice is completely different from the Levitical sacrifices. Yeshua is the second, heavenly Adam. Yeshua’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension were a testament to a perfect, living, Olah.

Join our email list to stay connected and learn more about Torah, Biblical Hebrew, the Jewish Yeshua, & Conversion to Judaism

Benei Avraham, Dallas Messianic Jewish Congregation | All Rights.Reserved.