Jesus Died

Before Jesus came, in order to ask forgiveness from God for their sins, the people of Israel would offer God a sacrifice. Sometimes the sacrifice would be produce - fruits or vegetables - or the best of their harvest of grains. Other times the sacrifice would be an animal - and the most prized animal to sacrifice was a spotless lamb.

We don't need to offer any sort of sacrifice to God anymore to be able to ask for his forgiveness. Why is that, and what role did Jesus play in this change?