Do Jewish people still slay animals as sacrifice for forgiveness of sins from God?
That was the requirement of God for the atonement of sins until Jesus came from heaven as a man to be the final and ultimate sacrifice. He was the lamb that was slain for the sins of the world. What an amazing and loving God we have. Many Jews have received Jesus as their sacrificial lamb and believed on Him as their Savior, as He came first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
If you read the Old Testament, you’ll find that in the oldest of stories, people sacrificed whenever and wherever they wanted. However after the return from exile, sacrifice was centralized at the Temple in Jerusalem and restrictions were put in place that only Aaronite priests could perform sacrifices. With the destruction of the Second Temple (which was really the first temple because the Temple built by Solomon existed only in mythology) Jews were no longer able to sacrifice. However, many orthodox Jews believe that God will one day restore the Temple in Jerusalem, and sacrifice will resume.
No, but it isn’t because they have progressed beyond the need, or the wish to do so. It is because their religion states that the sacrifices must be made in the place God has chosen to place His Name there…but there is a slight problem. That place is the Temple in Jerusalem. Jesus told the Jews that the Temple would be torn down…”not one stone left standing upon another”…and by golly, He was right! Within a generation (70AD), Titus came along and destroyed Jerusalem, and the Temple was destroyed. So, that was the end of the animal sacrifice. Now, here’s an interesting thing: I read somewhere (I wish I could remember just where), that archaeologists had discovered evidence that the famous “Wailing Wall”, which has traditionally been considered all that is left of the Temple, is actually a wall from the Antonian Fortress, which was next door. Wouldn’t that be the final irony…that for all these years, people have been mourning for their lost Temple, and praying for God to restore
