Animal sacrifices during the Millenium

The OT worship system was also refered to as a child trainer (Gal 4). We will be transformed into glorious conditions. Why would we then need a child trainer?

This thread belongs in 'why set up what has been taken down?' from the list.

--Inter

theophilus40 said:

...
After his return animal sacrifices will apparently be resumed ....

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No! We will be a part of the Kingdom of God and there will be no blood to shed. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. We will understand what is needed during the Millennium when we are in the Millennium.

there won't be any millennium.

hiscosmicgoldfish said:

What about people like me who don’t believe in a millennium?

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God will not change his plans simply because some people believe what he said.

Paul offered a sacrifices and paid for the sacrifice of others after fulfilling a vow. I believe it is also in the book of acts that a few of the disciples went to the temple for morning prayer, which also would have included animal sacrifice, so it seems likely that the other early believers also continued to sacrifice at the temple until it was destroyed.

The sacrifices were symbolic, they could not have really been a true atonement otherwise the sacrifice of Christ would have been redundant and unnecessary. I don't think there were ever meant to be anything more than symbolic. So why should they not continue for symbolism sake? I also recall several of the feast days being referenced in that they should be upheld "forever," yet modern Christianity ignores these and I am not sure why when I believe it would only serve to enrich our faith, not earn favor before God, but enrich our faith and help us understand that as gentiles beleivers have been "grafted into" to the promises of Israel. Christianity has run the otherway from Jewish tradition and the Jewish context out of fear that they will be swept away from the concept of grace and into legalism, or trust in observance of the law to save. I think Christianity threw the baby out with the bathwater. The antisemitism in the first few centuries by bishops appointed by Constantine and his successors certainly did not help.

theophilus40 said:

Then how do you explain these statements?

Then he said to me, “The north chambers and the south chambers opposite the yard are the holy chambers, where the priests who approach the LORD shall eat the most holy offerings. There they shall put the most holy offerings—the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering—for the place is holy.
(Ezekiel 42:13 ESV)


And he said to me, “Son of man, thus says the Lord GOD: These are the ordinances for the altar: On the day when it is erected for offering burnt offerings upon it and for throwing blood against it, you shall give to the Levitical priests of the family of Zadok, who draw near to me to minister to me, declares the Lord GOD, a bull from the herd for a sin offering. And you shall take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar and on the four corners of the ledge and upon the rim all around. Thus you shall purify the altar and make atonement for it.

You shall also take the bull of the sin offering, and it shall be burned in the appointed place belonging to the temple, outside the sacred area. And on the second day you shall offer a male goat without blemish for a sin offering; and the altar shall be purified, as it was purified with the bull.

When you have finished purifying it, you shall offer a bull from the herd without blemish and a ram from the flock without blemish. You shall present them before the LORD, and the priests shall sprinkle salt on them and offer them up as a burnt offering to the LORD. For seven days you shall provide daily a male goat for a sin offering; also, a bull from the herd and a ram from the flock, without blemish, shall be provided.

Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and cleanse it, and so consecrate it. And when they have completed these days, then from the eighth day onward the priests shall offer on the altar your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, and I will accept you, declares the Lord GOD.”
(Ezekiel 43:18-27 ESV)
​

We will understand these things but we will need to teach them to those who are born during the Millennium.

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No flesh humans will be born during the day portion of the Millennium.

theophilus40 said:

The laws God gave to Israel through Moses included a requirement that they sacrifice animals as an atonement for their sins. These sacrifices didn’t actually take away sins but only served as a picture of what Christ would do when he died for sin. Hebrews 10:11-14 says,

And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
​

Now that Christ has come these sacrifices are no longer needed.

The last part of Ezekiel, from chapter 40 through the end, describes what life will be like in the Millenium. The land will be divided among the twelve tribes. A new temple will be built. And animals will once again be sacrificed in accordance with the Mosaic law. But if Christ has paid for sins what will be the purpose of these sacrifices?

Before his crucifixion Jesus established a new practice which was to take the place of the sacrifices.

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
1 Corinthians 11:23-25 ESV
​

But there was to be a limit on how long this practice would be in effect. The next verse says,

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
​

After his return animal sacrifices will apparently be resumed to serve as a reminder of what he did. The purpose of the Old Testament sacrifices was to show what Christ was going to do; the purpose of the Millennial sacrifices will be to remind them of what he has done. The present age, in which the sacrifices aren’t offered at all, separates the two.

There is another possible reason for the resumption of animal sacrifices. The Bible’s descriptions of life in the millenium show that death will be extremely rare. It may be possible for those born during this time to go through their whole lives without any personal contact with death. But the salvation message will be the same, that Christ died for our sins. In this age we don’t have any problem understanding this because we see death all around us and know what happens when someone dies. But those who lack our personal knowledge of death will probably find it harder to understand the message. Perhaps one of the purposes of animal sacrifices will be to show them what death is like so they can understand better what Christ did.

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There will be death of sinners who are accursed -so, straight to the Lake of Fire at death, in body and soul for them- in the Millennium, as Isaiah 65 states, only sinners die in the millennium, and they are accursed:

NLT 65:20 "No longer will babies die when only a few days old. No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life. No longer will people be considered old at one hundred! Only the cursed will die that young!

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But the Atonement on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant will never be done again in the Millennium, and the Day of Atonement will be a day of feasting, and not of fasting.

Jeremiah 3: 16 “Then it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land in those days,” says the Lord, “that they will say no more, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they visit it, nor shall it be made anymore.
17 “At that time Jerusalem shall be called The Throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. No more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts.

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Precisely because the Atonement was fulfilled once, for all, will there be no more Day of Atonement in the Millennium -no Mercy Seat, no Ark of the Covenant, and no sprinkled blood on them anymore, for it is finished]: but they shall celebrate that day -as the other former fasts- with feasting as outlined in Zechariah 8: 18 Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, 19 “Thus says the Lord of hosts:
‘The fast of the fourth month,
The fast of the fifth,
The fast of the seventh,
And the fast of the tenth,
Shall be joy and gladness and cheerful feasts
For the house of Judah.
Therefore love truth and peace.’

20 “Thus says the Lord of hosts:
‘Peoples shall yet come,
Inhabitants of many cities;
21 The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying,
“Let us continue to go and pray before the Lord,
And seek the Lord of hosts.
I myself will go also.”
22 Yes, many peoples and strong nations
Shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem,
And to pray before the Lord.’

Also, Passover in the Millennium will be celebrated as a great feast for seven days;
Eze 45:21 In the first [month], in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.And upon that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock [for] a sin offering. And seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to the LORD, seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish daily the seven days; and a kid of the goats daily [for] a sin offering. And he shall prepare a meat offering of an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and an hin of oil for an ephah.


Eze 45:25 In the seventh [month], in the fifteenth day of the month, shall he do the like in the feast of the seven days, according to the sin offering, according to the burnt offering, and according to the meat offering, and according to the oil.

The question is a complete waste of effort. Get immersed in Rom 3:21+ until it's your passion and excitement when you are out and about so that you help people believe. The exciting thing about justification by faith as explained by Rom 3 is that it as though the day of God's wrath has already passed in Christ.

--Inter

theophilus40 said:

The laws God gave to Israel through Moses included a requirement that they sacrifice animals as an atonement for their sins. These sacrifices didn’t actually take away sins but only served as a picture of what Christ would do when he died for sin. Hebrews 10:11-14 says,

And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
​

Now that Christ has come these sacrifices are no longer needed.

The last part of Ezekiel, from chapter 40 through the end, describes what life will be like in the Millenium. The land will be divided among the twelve tribes. A new temple will be built. And animals will once again be sacrificed in accordance with the Mosaic law. But if Christ has paid for sins what will be the purpose of these sacrifices?

Before his crucifixion Jesus established a new practice which was to take the place of the sacrifices.

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
1 Corinthians 11:23-25 ESV
​

But there was to be a limit on how long this practice would be in effect. The next verse says,

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
​

After his return animal sacrifices will apparently be resumed to serve as a reminder of what he did. The purpose of the Old Testament sacrifices was to show what Christ was going to do; the purpose of the Millennial sacrifices will be to remind them of what he has done. The present age, in which the sacrifices aren’t offered at all, separates the two.

There is another possible reason for the resumption of animal sacrifices. The Bible’s descriptions of life in the millenium show that death will be extremely rare. It may be possible for those born during this time to go through their whole lives without any personal contact with death. But the salvation message will be the same, that Christ died for our sins. In this age we don’t have any problem understanding this because we see death all around us and know what happens when someone dies. But those who lack our personal knowledge of death will probably find it harder to understand the message. Perhaps one of the purposes of animal sacrifices will be to show them what death is like so they can understand better what Christ did.

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1 Cor 8

8 Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.

2 And if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.

3 But if any man love God, the same is known of him.

4 As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.

5 For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)

6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

7 Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.

8 But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.

9 But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak.

10 For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols;

11 And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?

12 But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.

13 Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.
KJV

It seems to me that the meaning is spiritual. Look from this perspective, if we, the sinful nature were an idol, one unto another, and we eat animals of any kind, we are then sacrificing those animals unto ourselves. We are the idols because of our exaltation to gods when we fell in nature. Apart from God, we become gods. The serpent explained this to Eve.

The above scriptures explain it beautifully.

Bless you

...

hiscosmicgoldfish said:

What about people like me who don’t believe in a millennium?

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That's tragic and quite frankly ridiculous , considering the fact that it's written in plain language in the Bible that Christ will reign on Earth for 1000 years . I don't know what you've been reading .

To Dpiius,
Slow down there. The material is extremely symbolic. One of the rules of interpreting that got us out of the mistakes of the Roman church was that "symbolic passages must be governed by plain didactic passages." Since 2 Peter 3, very plain by comparison, says nothing about a millenium nor anything Judaistic being restored, the question is wide open.

The material of Rev was also written to copy with the destruction of Jerusalem and written before it (Gentry et al). Because of that, it is very possible that many things in it including the millenium are figures of speech. It belongs in the type of literature called 'apocalyptic' which by the standards of those days was sort of like cartoons are today. Notice the city is a cube with a height of 140,000 feet. Hmmm. Walls over 200 feet thick. A strong suggestion of stability, but not of literalism.

All this is a sub-question to whether there is any need for animal sacrifice to resume. There is not. The choirs of heaven do just fine recalling the lamb that was slain without an actual worship system operating.

--Inter

Interplanner said:

To Dpiius,
Slow down there. The material is extremely symbolic. One of the rules of interpreting that got us out of the mistakes of the Roman church was that "symbolic passages must be governed by plain didactic passages." Since 2 Peter 3, very plain by comparison, says nothing about a millenium nor anything Judaistic being restored, the question is wide open.

The material of Rev was also written to copy with the destruction of Jerusalem and written before it (Gentry et al). Because of that, it is very possible that many things in it including the millenium are figures of speech. It belongs in the type of literature called 'apocalyptic' which by the standards of those days was sort of like cartoons are today. Notice the city is a cube with a height of 140,000 feet. Hmmm. Walls over 200 feet thick. A strong suggestion of stability, but not of literalism.

All this is a sub-question to whether there is any need for animal sacrifice to resume. There is not. The choirs of heaven do just fine recalling the lamb that was slain without an actual worship system operating.

--Inter

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I see what you're saying . I guess I always saw it as literal

wordsoflife said:

Christ is our sacrifice, there will be no animal sacrifices during the Millennium.

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Quoted For Truth

Dpiiiius said:

That's tragic and quite frankly ridiculous , considering the fact that it's written in plain language in the Bible that Christ will reign on Earth for 1000 years . I don't know what you've been reading .

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if that were the case, then nearly everybody from the last 2000 years (Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant) up until the 19th century have been wrong, including Martin Luther.

hiscosmicgoldfish said:

if that were the case, then nearly everybody from the last 2000 years (Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant) up until the 19th century have been wrong, including Martin Luther.

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Not really .

hiscosmicgoldfish said:

if that were the case, then nearly everybody from the last 2000 years (Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant) up until the 19th century have been wrong, including Martin Luther.

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Actually every Christian who wrote about prophecy before about the year 200 (and whose writings have survived to the present day) believed in a literal millennium.

There are only four such writers we know about. They are Papias, none of whose writings have survived complete, but we do have a few fragments quoted by later writers, Barnabas, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus. In addition to this, Hyppolytus, who wrote just after the year 200, explicitly said that Daniel's seventieth week remained to be fulfilled in the future, something that was referred, but not explicitly stated, to by Irenaeus.

Further, Irenaeus explicitly stated that "when in the end the church shall be suddenly caught up" "there shall be tribulation such as has not been since the beginning."

These truths did not begin to be lost until about the time even salvation by grace through faith (that is, the basic salvation message of true Christianity) began to be lost.