|
Home
You are in Online Reading - Burning Questions Burning Questions (index)
Burning Questions
answered by Rev. Colin Le Noury
Will there be a return to the
sacrificial
system during the Millennium?
THIS
question is one that I have been asked frequently
and is probably one of the oldest objections used
by our amillennialist friends to try and discredit
our position. It does, however, deserve consideration
and some explanation. To the first part of the question
we can very quickly answer, 'Yes'. There are plenty
of scriptures which point to the return of sacrifices
in the millennial period. It would be good to examine
some of these now:
Isaiah
56 vv.6-8 says,'... their burnt offerings and
their sacrifices shall be accepted on mine altar...'
Jeremiah
33 vv.15-18, '.... neither shall the priests and
the burnt offerings and to kindle meat offerings
and to sacrifice continually'.
Ezekiel
20 v.40, 'For in mine holy mount, in the mountain
of the height of Israel saith the Lord God, there
shall all the house of Israel, all of them in
the Land, serve me, there will I accept them,
and there will I require your offerings, and the
firstfruits of your oblations with all your holy
things'.
Zechariah
14 vv.16-21, 'And it shall come to pass that everyone
that is left of all the nations which came against
Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to
worship the king, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep
the feast of the tabernacles... Yea every pot
in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto
the Lord of Hosts; and all that sacrifice shall
come and take of them, and seethe therein; and
in that day shall be no more the Canaanite in
the house of the Lord of Hosts'.
These,
and other scriptures, affirm quite clearly the reintroduction
of the sacrificial system at a future date. Perhaps
the clearest and most detailed references to the
same are in the closing chapters of Ezekiel. The
seven chapters Ezekiel 40-46 - give us a description
of the millennial temple with its dimensions and
its practices, including the sacrifices and offerings
which will take place.
One
finds it difficult to think that anyone could do
other than take these passages literally since they
are so detailed in their contents. As no temple
has ever matched the description presented we must
come to the conclusion that this is prophetic of
a future dispensation.
The
argument that this refers to the tribulation period
is unfounded since Ezekiel locates it on a different
site from the original temple, which is to be the
site of the rebuilt temple in the tribulation.
The
other assertion, that Ezekiel's temple is for the
perfect age is also without foundation since his
description of the boundaries includes the sea,
whereas Revelation 21 v.1 tells us that there will
be no more sea in the perfect age. Thus if Ezekiel's
prophecy of a temple with sacrificing priests is
to be fulfilled, then it must find that fulfilment
during the millennium.
The
difficulty raised in the question is to how this
relates to the finished work of Christ. To be fair
to the question we must take account of some more
scriptures:
'Who
needeth not daily, as those priests, to offer
up sacrifice, first for His own sins and then
for the people's, for this He did once, when He
offered up Himself'. (Hebrews 7 v.27)
'We
are sanctified through the offering of the body
of the Lord Jesus Christ once for all. And every
priest stands daily ministering and offering sacrifices
which can never take away sins; but this man after
He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever,
sat down on the right hand of God'. (Hebrews
10 v.10-12)
'...
but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. So
Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many;
and unto them that look for Him shall He appear
the second time without sin unto salvation.'
(Heb. 9 vv.26,28)
This
same truth is affirmed by Jesus' own words in John
19 v.30 when from the cross, in the supreme act
of sacrifice, He cried out, 'It is finished'.
It
also has to be said that many of our great hymns
affirm these same truths, perhaps none more so than
P. P. Bliss:
'Free
from the law Oh happy condition,
Jesus hath bled
and there is remission,
cursed by the law, and
bruised by the fall,
Christ hath redeemed us,
once for all'.
How
then do we reconcile two seemingly contradictory
positions? How can there be a return to the sacrificial
system without taking away from the meritorious
sacrifice of Christ?
This
writer is of the opinion that the answer lies in
the word EFFICACY. It is the essential purpose of
millennial sacrifices which is important to our
understanding. The problem is easily solved if we
view them as being COMMEMORATIVE rather than EFFICACIOUS.
Just
as the O.T. sacrifices pointed forward to, and found
their fulfilment in the supreme efficacious sacrifice
of Christ, so the millennial sacrifices will look
back in commemorative fulfilment of the same. In
other words the sacrifices will be symbols to the
millennial populace of the one supreme sacrifice
of Christ, as the Lord's supper is a symbol for
the church of the same.
A
further objection is raised in that the stated millennial
offerings are of a distinctly Jewish nature, whereas
the death of Christ has broken down the middle wall
of partition between Jew and Gentile (Ephesians
2 vv.14-16).
In
answer to this, it has to be said, firstly that
Paul is teaching specifically about the nature of
the church. But secondly, although the said sacrifices
will come out of Jewish history and will be administered
by Jews, their commemorative purpose will be embraced
by Gentiles too, who will join in celebration of
the millennial King. This is made clear in Zechariah
8 v.23, 'In those days it shall come to pass, that
ten men shall take hold out of all languages of
the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of
him who is a Jew, saying, We will go with you for
we have heard that God is with you'.
So
then, far from being contradictory, the millennial
sacrificial system will be a glorious commemorative
celebration of the completeness of the supreme and
efficacious sacrifice of our only Saviour and Redeemer,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
YT
6/96
Home
You are in Online Reading - Burning Questions Burning Questions (index)
|
