Did Jesus Offer Sacrifices in the Temple?

Did Jesus participate in the Jerusalem temple sacrifices? Today, W. Robert Godfrey examines Christ’s obedience to the law, His identification with sinners, and His fulfillment of all righteousness.

NATHAN W. BINGHAM: This week on the Ask Ligonier podcast, we’re recording live from Ligonier’s 2024 National Conference, and we’re joined by the chairman of Ligonier Ministries, Dr. W. Robert Godfrey. Dr. Godfrey, did Jesus offer sacrifices in the temple?

DR. W. ROBERT GODFREY: I think Jesus has to be seen as the perfect Israelite. He’s the second Adam, fulfilling all that Adam failed to do. But He’s also the perfect Israelite, fulfilling in His life all that the Israelites had been called to do and mostly were faithless in doing through much of their history. And so, since the sacrificial system was in place by God’s divine revelation to Moses, Jesus as a faithful Israelite, would certainly have participated in that system.

Now, the question may have been arising from people saying to themselves, “Well, after all the sacrifices were for sin, Jesus was not a sinner, so did He have to offer sacrifice?”

And again, we can come back, in a sense, to the matter of Jesus’ baptism. John the Baptist initially didn’t want to baptize Jesus because Jesus did not have sins to confess. But Jesus came to identify with sinners. Jesus came to be one with sinners, and in that sense, He is the One on whom the sin will be laid. He does become a sinner, not by His own any immoral act on His part, but by bearing the sins of His people. And so, He has so identified with sinners that He will be baptized to fulfill all righteousness.

He so identifies with Israel in its need that He offers sacrifices as Israel does and, in that, shows the intimacy of His identification with us and the fullness of His fulfilling all righteousness on our behalf.