I was familiar with the Dead Sea Scrolls before the New Testament, so the idea of a suffering Messiah figure or community members atoning for sins seems like a non-issue to me (and I also appreciate the elements of this in Rabbinic Judaism).In the last days [acharit ha-yamim] the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law [Torah] will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore."
This concept is expressed in 1QS (the Community Rule) col. 8 and 4Q541, for examples.
https://books.google.com/books?id=ew50B ... nt&f=false
So if there are elements (or "signs") of this kind of thing in the OT, or even if they are only imagined to be there, fine.
The DSS sect viewed the Temple as being polluted so they atoned for sins in a different way while waiting for the Temple to be purified or a new one could be built in its stead (or perhaps by performing their rituals in a different location of the Temple, like Josephus says of the Essenes). Acts 21 also presents Christians as performing sacrifices in the Temple after Jesus' death.
So let's say Jesus' crucifixion atoned for sins. I don't understand how or why that would nullify the observance of the Torah. I don't get this impression at all from End Time prophecies in the OT (like Is. 2:2-4 above, which says that the Torah will go out from Zion).
I'm trying to keep an open mind, but it seems "crazy" to me that the Torah or the OT could be valued for having messages (whether "hidden" or in the plain meaning) about the End Time and a suffering Messiah in a way that nullifies the observance of the Torah. As Dt. 4:30 puts it:
"When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days [acharit ha-yamim] you will return to the Lord your God and obey him," and the overwhelming impression I get from the rest of Deuteronomy is that this means to observe everything in the Torah forever and without adding to or taking anything away from it.
Can someone explain how this works for me by using the OT in a way that doesn't sound "crazy"?