Matthew 1:21 "She will give birth to a son, and you are to name Him Yeshua (which means ‘Adonai saves’) because he will save his people from their sins.” Complete Jewish Bible
What if the correct translation is not "He will save his people from their sins," but it is "He will save His people from sinning"? Instead of the noun sin, He really said the verb sinning." Would that make a difference? I think so.
We have been taught by the church that Yeshua's (Jesus) sole purpose of coming to His people was to die on the cross to save us from our sins. So, if we believe in Him and say a prayer of salvation, we will go to heaven for eternity. But, what if his sole purpose was to come and teach His people to repent and turn back to HaShem (G-d)? Doesn't that sound a little familiar? Or does that sound strange to you?
What I am trying to say is that when Yeshua came to Israel, the chosen people, he immediately began to teach them Torah. How to obey Hashem through the written Scriptures. His message, over and over, was to "repent, the Kingdom of HaShem is at hand." His message was not, "I am going to shed My blood for you so that you don't have to do anything but believe."
I propose there is more reason why He came to earth. He came to teach us Torah, the correct way of living, and how to worship the Father. He came to teach us repentance - true repentance - to ask HaShem to forgive us and to return (Teshuvah) back to Him. He taught the Law, and he taught obedience.
Maybe He really did come to save us from sinning by teaching Torah and explaining the true way to worship and serve Hashem. What if, by doing this, in reality, he does save us from sinning? How can you know what sin is if you don't know the Torah?
If you have been taught that his death on the cross canceled the Torah and that you no longer have to follow the Law, you have been taught incorrectly. Read Matthew 5:17-19: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill (teach) them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven."
So, what does fulfill mean? Read the book of Matthew. Over and over again, Yeshua will write that what he does fulfills the writings of the Prophets. We know His life and death were prophesied in the Tanakh ("Old Testament") several hundred times. And Yeshua is very clear about how he fulfills these prophecies.
Rabbi Yeshua came to fulfill the prophecies of Scripture. And he came to teach us how to stop sinning (by following the Holy Torah). Maybe if we had truly listened at the time of his appearance, and we had obeyed him, he would not have had to die such a horrible death. Maybe he would have lived on and taken His rightful place on the throne in the Holy Temple as King. Instead, He died, arose, and sits at the right Hand of the Father in Heaven. And we have the promise of his return. This time, he will descend from Paradise, walk through the Eastern Gate, and rule and reign from the Temple in Jerusalem.
We have been taught how to be holy as Hashem is holy. Now, through true repentance and obeying Hashem's commands, we can join Him and Yeshua in the Holy City of Jerusalem. We will worship Him forever in His eternal Temple.
Come, Yeshua, come. May Hashem's Temple be built quickly. Amen.