What purpose did the crucifixion and resurrection serve?

Among other things, the Crucifixion satisfied the requirement of the Law for the death of the sinner, and the Resurrection established Yeshua’s permanent mastery of death. The Law still requires death for certain offenses, but there is forgiveness apart from mere physical death. Yeshua’s crucifixion opened the door for grace at the final judgment and eternal salvation.

Did they change anything? If so, what, when, and for whom? Was the world a different place after the resurrection than before Christ’s death on the cross? In what way?

There was a change, but it was subtle. Yeshua did not change the way in which anyone is saved from eternal damnation or granted eternal life. Salvation has always been available to anyone who asked and subjected themselves to God’s mercy. No one was ever saved by his own circumcision or obedience to Law, but by the grace of God in providing a substitutionary payment for the sins of all people who have ever lived. Yeshua’s resurrection proved his innocence. He could not be condemned because he never violated a single point of the Law and so could not be held in the grave. Untainted blood acts as a sort of spiritual shield or mask that allows us to approach God and vice versa closer than we could as our natural, fallen selves. His blood erases our sins in the eyes of God and therefore his righteousness appears to the Father as our own if we willingly place ourselves beneath it. But since God exists outside of time and could look through that blood at Abraham and David as well as at you and I, this doesn’t really answer the question.

The world was a different place after Yeshua’s death and resurrection in three important ways.

First, our perspective changed. Abraham knew a redeemer must come and looked forward in faith to that day. We now know that the redeemer has already come, and we look back at that day in faith that his blood is sufficient to cover our sins. The ultimate fulfillment of redemption is yet to come, but the payment has been made in full. An earnest of delivery was given in the form of the Holy Spirit, and we now look forward to the reality.

Second, although God exists outside of time, our spirits do not. Before Yeshua, the Scriptures seem to indicate that the dead went to some place like the underworld common to most ancient mythologies: “Abraham’s bosom” for the faithful and hades for the unfaithful. They could speak and thirst and could sometimes even return to the land of the living. Yeshua changed something in that arrangement, although I won’t pretend to understand exactly what.

Third, Yeshua, who has become a man and the firstborn of the resurrection, can now operate as our high priest in the supreme tabernacle in Heaven. When we accept his kingship and covering of our souls, our obligation is transferred from the Law, which holds us in bondage as lawbreakers, to him, who sets us free by mercy. His priesthood is superior to that of Aaron and his forgiveness supersedes any condemnation we might have under the Law.

Did He die only so that we wouldn’t have to go to Jerusalem every year and offer up dead animals to God?

No. The sacrificing of animals never had anything to do with eternal salvation. They atoned for inadvertent or accidental sins. There has never been an animal sacrifice for deliberate sin. Having said that, I don’t know what affect his death and resurrection has on animal sacrifices. Since they were never intended to save anyone’s soul and there is no altar on which to offer them, it’s not something I’m going to worry about overmuch. However, there are prophecies that appear to indicate there will be animal sacrifices offered up again on an altar in Jerusalem under Yeshua’s personal supervision. If that is a correct understanding, then his death could not possibly have negated all need for sacrifices. Perhaps no sin offerings will be made. I’m not sure.

The patriarchs of old, were they really saved through their faith that Yahweh would send a walking talking Messiah one day thousands of years in the future to walk and talk with their descendants, or were they saved through simple childlike faith that Yahweh would somehow make good on His word that He would redeem all of His people?

Both. They were saved by their faith in God’s mercy that he would give them life despite their sins. The mechanism of that mercy was the Messiah’s death, which some of them knew was necessary. I don’t believe they had to know the precise details of what form that mechanism would take, so long as they trusted in God to provide it. I believe the same is true today.

Did they really know who the Messiah would be or what purpose He would serve?

Some of them, yes. I believe Abraham knew after God provided a sacrifice in place of Isaac. He prophesied of the Messiah when he told Isaac, “God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.” (Hebrew for “burnt offering” is olah, which means “an ascending”. It implies something that burns and rises up in smoke, but it could be interpreted as anything that ascends to Heaven.) God actually provided a ram that day, not a lamb. The Lamb of God appeared centuries later, was killed, rose from the dead, and ascended to Heaven.

Christ said “believe on me and you shall be saved.”
How about those who lived and died before Christ?
Did Job appeal to his Maker or to his cousin Abraham’s seed?

Isn’t Abraham’s seed and Job’s Maker one and the same? In order to believe on Christ, no one needs to know the vocalizations that make up his name (or any facsimile thereof) or even to know that he has already come. They only need to know that they are sinners and hopeless in themselves and to trust in (“believe on”) God to provide the means of their salvation.

Another very odd thing about the Scriptures is that they almost always, when properly translated (such as in the KJV, remarkably enough), say that the faith OF Christ shall save us, not our faith IN Christ. Now isn’t that strange?

The limitations of human language. We cannot possibly be really saved by any actions or thoughts of our own. Salvation is provided solely by God based on his own criteria. Fortunately, he has promised that salvation to us based on certain conditions which do not include physical obedience to any law.

And what of Mark 9:24, where the man says “I believe. Help my unbelief.” How does a man need help believing if he is already fully convinced?

I trust and believe, but sometimes I still have doubts.

Romans 7:15-17 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Genesis 18:1-3  And YHWH appeared to him in the plains of Mamre, and he sat at the tent door in the heat of the day.  (2)  And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and lo, three men stood by him. And when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed toward the ground.  (3)  And he said, My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, do not pass away, I pray, from Your servant.

Abraham recognized YHWH immediately and ran to meet him. If God appeared to you or I in human form, would we recognize him? Many people did not. Abraham was chosen by God from among all the other people of Babylonia to receive a special revelation of his Name, such that Abraham would know him and all his ways instinctively. He wrote his Torah on Abraham’s heart so “that he will command his sons and his house after him, and they shall keep the way of YHWH, to do justice and judgment, that YHWH may bring upon Abraham that which He has spoken of him.”

Every one of us has been hand picked by God to perform some vital task for his kingdom. Few of us are meant for such a prestigious role as Abraham’s, but we have all been called none-the-less. Not only have we been called, but, like Abraham, we have been given the means to answer the call and to accomplish our work. Our gifts, our talents, are not ours by right or to do with whatever we choose, but they are tools to serve God. The revelations which we have been given are for God’s glory, not ours. We must recognize the opportunities that God places before us to use those gifts and be willing to throw ourselves at his feet or else be passed by and forgotten.

Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age. As the Creator of all life, there is no barrier to fertility which God cannot overcome with the slightest of thoughts. If a man is impotent or a woman infertile, there is a reason for it. Infertility comes because of sin, age, or injury; or because God has a greater plan. This was the case with Abraham and Sarah. His plan required Isaac to be born under a certain set of circumstances, and it was to God’s greater glory that those circumstances came about in Abraham’s and Sarah’s old age.

The primary cause in each case of divine genocide was unjust violence. There were definitely secondary issues, such as homosexuality, temple prostitution, hard heartedness, etc., but I don’t think those were named as causes. The means of destruction was always at least partly divine. In the case of the Canaanites, God used the Israelites, but they were still assisted by direct divine intervention. The means of escape was never solely divine. God always provided guidance and sometimes protection, but people were always ultimately responsible for their own safety. If Noah hadn’t built the ark, he would have died with the rest. If Lot hadn’t walked away from Sodom, if the Israelites hadn’t painted their lintels and crossed the Red Sea, if Rahab hadn’t hung the red cord, or the Jebusites deceived Joshua, they all would have died.

Remember one of the lessons of Lech Lecha: What happens to the fathers, happens also to the children.

(The destruction of the Canaanites doesn’t fit into this scheme as neatly as the other three do. For one thing, the Canaanites weren’t a single civilization, but multiple independent city-states with varying degrees of spiritual sickness. Some were allowed to leave if they were able, while some were to be completely wiped out, with no escape possible.)

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Genesis 18:22-32
…wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?  In a city of some thirty or forty thousands God found only one man who had not given himself to licentiousness. If God had found only ten men—less than one-tenth of one percent—he would have called the city redeemable. This shows the forbearance of God. Sodom was not destroyed capriciously, but was given every chance to redeem herself. Some call her destruction unjust and call God cruel and unloving; they ask how can God be love when he shows such hatred? They say such things because they do not understand love. They have in mind the indefinable slush of popular romance stories, which have as much to do with love as sugar has to do with nutrition. God’s actions against Sodom, Gomorrah, and later, all of Canaan, demonstrate the love of a physician who removes a tumor or a gangrenous limb to save his patient’s life. What love can a man have for a diseased limb? If he loves the rest of his body, he cuts it off as God removed Sodom, showing love for her neighbors. Even then, God is much more capable than any human surgeon. If even a relatively small percentage of your leg is infected, your doctor will order the whole thing removed. But all God needs to redeem the whole limb is one tiny piece of healthy tissue. All that was healthy in Sodom was one man. His daughters and wife were too far gone, but God still saved some of them for Lot’s sake. He would have saved them all if they had been willing. God gave them a choice to escape and they refused, so a few of the redeemable were destroyed by their own choice along with the reprobate. If Lot, a man whom Peter called righteous and just, had refused to leave, thinking he might convert a few of the Sodomites before the end, then he too would have been destroyed. When it finally rains, it rains on everyone.

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