The animal sacrifices are among the commandments of God; During the millennial period, Gods peoples will be keeping the commandments of God. Therefore, there will be animal sacrifices in the millennial kingdom.
In my view, during the Millennial kingdom they will make atonement sacrifices as commanded by Moses. You argue that atonement sacrifices are not necessary anymore, which is a problem for my view, in many peoples opinion.
To that, I made two arguments. First, as Paul said, it was never possible for atonement sacrifices to take away sins. It wasn't possible then, and so it won't be possible in the future. Therefore, any future atonement sacrifices will not be insulting to the cross or Jesus Christ. Second, while the original purpose of the atonement sacrifices was reconciliation with God, the atonement sacrifices will serve a different purpose in the millennial kingdom.
I do believe that the atonement sacrifices will be offered for atonement. In order to understand this, we need to abandon our erroneous view of the sacrifices. Christians tend to think of the sacrifices in economic terms, which is foreign to Moses. According to the penal-substitution theory of the atonement, if one commits a sin, which is understood as a debt to divine justice, one owes God a lamb, a goat, or a bull until the debt is paid. This model, this interpretation of the sacrifices is not Biblical.
What is the
actual purpose of the atonement sacrifice? If one were to offer God a lamb as payment for sins, then it would no longer be called "a sacrifice." When we pay our electric bill, for instance, we are not making an offering to the power company; we are providing money to the power company in exchange for the delivery of electricity. The sacrifice of a lamb is an offering to God to signify contrition and to appeal for reconciliation, not a financial compensation. The Lord, through Moses, gave those living under the original covenant the means whereby the penitent might give expression to righteous sentiments.
The atonement sacrifice was offered to give outward expression to a (supposed) inward attitude toward the situation. The atonement sacrifice speaks to the issue of sin, in a visible way, agreeing with God's opinion of the situation. If a man wants to seek reconciliation with God, he must act as if he agrees with God's opinion on the matter. God doesn't need sacrifices, sometimes he doesn't want then, and he says he hates them. But he is willing to offer reconciliation to a man (or woman) who make an offering in genuine and sincere contrition.
The Lord didn't institute the sacrifices for his own sake, he instituted them for the sake of his people. His people need and want a means to give expression to righteous sentiment. A man doesn't need to offer a lamb to find reconciliation with God; but the man offers the lamb in order to give heart-felt expression to his opinion concerning his sin. He tells God, "I agree with you Lord. What I did was wrong, evil, and deserves your wrath. Please accept my apology and restore me to your favor."
Even Christians, who already know that reconciliation with God came through the blood of Christ, get on their knees and pray for forgiveness when they sin. Some Christians seek a tangible way to give expression to their heart-felt contrition, perhaps confessing sins to a priest, or perhaps giving to charity, or what-have-you. The point is, those who are weak in faith both need and want ritualistic forms of heart-felt attitudes toward God. Mankind invented religion for that purpose. The Lord, through Moses, gave his people certain religious forms, done properly, so that his people might have a tangible way to express righteous sentiments.
The essential and highest purpose of the Millennial kingdom is to bring about the sanctification of God's name on earth. In order to understand the form of that period, we must first understand the problem.
To begin, let's review Paul's argument in Romans chapter 2, where he brings the Jews under condemnation of sin. In chapter one, he brings the entire world under sin, but Paul knows the opinion of his fellow Jews, especially those who teach the people. Such men wrongly believe that teaching the Bible is impressive to God and worthy of his favor. Paul will argue against that perspective, that teaching the Bible does not give anyone special favor with God.
But, without explaining the entire chapter I want to focus on this section, particularly the last verse.
Romans 2:17-24
But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely upon the Law and boast in God, and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written.
How was God's name blasphemed among the Gentiles? Paul asserts that one can find this doctrine in the prophets somewhere. Here are two -examples. -
Ezekiel 36:20-38
Ezekiel briefly recounts Israel's history and why her exile is the basis for Gentile blaspheme. And to this end, I want to focus on the first half of that argument here.
Ezekiel 36:16-21
Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Son of man, when the house of Israel was living in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds; their way before Me was like the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity. Therefore I poured out My wrath on them for the blood which they had shed on the land, because they had defiled it with their idols. Also I scattered them among the nations and they were dispersed throughout the lands. According to their ways and their deeds I judged them. When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned My holy name, because it was said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord; yet they have come out of His land.’ But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.
From the Lord's point of view, he exiled his people for the cause of disobedience and especially for idolatry. He scattered his people among the nations on purpose. But from the Gentile's point of view, God was weak and ineffective as a leader and unable to keep a people for himself. Other Gods conquered Yahweh, defeated him and took his people away from him. As they say, "These are the people of the Lord; yet they have come out of His land."
The ancient peoples did not believe in a monotheistic, single God. They were polytheists, believing that many gods exist and that the gods fight with each other for supremacy. The victor was known as "god almighty." According to the ancients, the god who ruled supreme was "god almighty," the god who ruled over all the others.
But no one god ruled the entire world. Each god had his own area of influence; each god had his own land. The first god may fight with a second god and take the people of the second god has spoil. From this perspective, the ancient peoples concluded that Yahweh, who had control over "his land", defeated the gods of Egypt and took a people for himself and brought them to his land. But later, another god defeated Yahweh and took them away from his land to other lands. In the mind of the Gentiles, this was proof that Yahweh was not god almighty. He can be defeated.
The Lord tells Ezekiel that he allowed his people to be taken. It wasn't that another, stronger god defeated Yahweh and took his people away. He allowed the other nations to take his people away because they defiled his land. He sent them into exile because of disobedience and idolatry.
But the nations where they went understood history quite differently. They believed that another, stronger god defeated Yahweh, who was not able to keep a people, not able to protect a people, not able to teach a people, not able to provide a place where people can live peacefully in service to Yahweh.
While this was NOT true, this blaspheme was always left unchallenged. This lie persists because God has not yet proven otherwise. And this lie will remain unchallenged until God proves himself. It isn't enough to destroy the earth with a big whoosh and bring about the NHNE, because the lie must be proved in history while this world still exists.
Jesus taught his disciples to pray "Our father, make your name holy . . ." As Christians, We await the day when Yahweh proves himself among the nations. And he will offer proof while history is running its course.
The Lord tells Ezekiel that he intends to prove himself among the nations, demonstrating the truth and giving evidence, by experience, that Yahweh is truly God Almighty. In order to prove himself among the nations, he will bring his people back from exile, circumcise their hearts, have them keep and obey his commandments, and protect them from their enemies. And that last part is very important. In order to sanctify his name, vindicate himself from the charge that he is weak and ineffective against the other gods, he will bring the chief of all the so-called gods, Satan, against his people one last time, and this time Yahweh will defeat him.
Since disobedience of his commandments was one of two reasons why God allowed his people to be taken, then obedience of his commandments will mark the time when God is proving himself among the nations. Not only will his people keep all of his commandments, they will do so willingly because he has circumcised their hearts.
