The Purpose Of The Kingdom Sacrifices.

 

 I. The Purpose Of The Sacrifices.  Several factors are observed concerning the millennial kingdom sacrifices which make them entirely legitimate.

 A. It is to be observed, in the first place, that the millennial sacrifices will have no relation to the question of expiation. They will not be expiatory (the act or process of making atonement for something for it is nowhere stated that they are offered with a view to salvation from sin.)

B.  There is error in several points of the argument that these sacrifices, logically, must be interpreted by the dispensationalist as expiatory. 

1.  The insistence on the literal fulfillment of the Davidic covenant does not carry as a necessary corollary the reestablishment of the Mosaic order, for they were unrelated to each other. The Davidic covenant was eternal and unconditional, governing God’s future dealing with the nation, while the Mosaic was temporal and conditional, governing man’s relation to God. The fulfillment of the one does not necessitate the fulfillment of the other, inasmuch as the Mosaic was viewed as temporary. 

2.  It is an error in the doctrine of Soteriology to teach that the sacrifices ever could or did take away sin (Soteriology is the theology dealing with salvation especially as effected by Jesus Christ, per Merriam-Webster Dictionary). That is in contradiction of the clear teaching of Hebrews 10:4, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.” The only way it can be held that the sacrifices will be efficacious in the millennium is to hold that they were so in the Old Testament and this is a clear contradiction of the whole New Testament. What folly to argue that a rite could accomplish in the future what it never could, or did, or was ever intended to do, in the past

C.  In the second place, the sacrifices will be memorial in character. There is general agreement among premillennialists as to the purpose of the sacrificial system as inaugurated in the kingdom age. Interpreted in the light of the New Testament, with its teaching on the value of the death of Christ, they must be memorials of that death. 

1. This is the permanent memorial of sacrifice, maintained in the presence of the revealed glory. It is not sacrifice rendered with a view of obtaining salvation, but sacrifices in view of accomplished salvation. 

2.  While the sacrifices Israel brought once had a prospective meaning, the sacrifices brought in the millennial temple have a retrospective meaning. When during this age, God’s people worship in the appointed way at His table, with the bread and wine as the memorial of His love, it is a retrospect. We look back to the Cross. We show forth His death. It is “till He comes.” Then this memorial feast ends forever. Never again will the Lord’s Supper be kept after the Saints of God have left the earth to be with the Lord in glory. The resumed sacrifices will be the memorial of the Cross and the whole wonderful story of the redemption for Israel and the nations of the earth, during the kingdom reign of Christ. And what a memorial it will be! What a meaning those sacrifices will have! They will bring to a living remembrance of everything of the past The retrospect will produce the greatest scene of worship, of praise and adoration this earth has ever seen. All the Cross meant, and the Cross has accomplished, will be recalled and a mighty “Hallelujah Chorus” will fill the earth and the heavens. The sacrifices will constantly remind the people of the earth of Him who died for Israel, who paid the redemption price for all creation and whose glory now covers the earth as the waters cover the deep.

3. Concerning the parallelism existing between the Lord’s Supper, in its relation to the death of Christ, and the memorial sacrifices in relation to that death:

a. May we not suppose that what was typical before the first coming of Christ, pointing to the great salvation which was to come, may in the kingdom be commemorative of the redemption accomplished? 

b. In the Lord’s Supper we commemorate Christ’s death; we altogether repudiate the Popish doctrine of a repetition of the offering of Christ; we do not believe in any such renewal of the sacrifice, but we gratefully obey the command of Christ to commemorate His death in such a way that both an external memorial is presented to the world, and an outward and visible sign and seal given to the believing partaker. May not a similar plan succeed the Lord’s Supper, which we know shall cease at Christ’s coming? It is also possible that both the glorified saints in heaven and the nations on the earth will contemplate during the millennium the full and minute harmony between type and reality. Even the Church has as yet only a superficial knowledge of the treasures of wisdom in the Levitical institutions and its symbols.   

4.  The bread and wine of the Lord’s supper are, to the believer, physical and material symbols and memorials of a redemption already accomplished on his behalf. And this will be the case with the reinstituted sacrifices at Jerusalem, they  will be commemorative, as the sacrifices of old were anticipative. And why should they not be? Was there any virtue in the legal sacrifices which prefigured the sacrifice of Christ? None whatever! Their only value and meaning was derived from the fact that they pointed to Him. And such will be the value and meaning of those future sacrifices which God has declared shall yet be offered in that future temple. Whatever the difficulty the reader may imagine in the way of the accomplishment of the prediction, it is sufficient for us that GOD HAS SAID IT. 

D. Ezekiel’s Comments (MacArthur Study Bible notes).

1. 45:17. Feasts…new moons…sabbaths…appointed feasts. These are discussed in Ezek 45:18-46:15.

2. 45:18-25. The annual feasts include 3 of the 6 Levitical feasts: 1. Passover; 2. Unleavened Bread; 3. Booths (Tabernacles). Three Levitical feasts are not celebrated: 1. Pentecost; 2. Trumpets; 3. Atonement. Most likely these three feasts are excluded because what they had looked forward to prophetically have been fulfilled, and now serve no significant remembrance purpose, e.g., Passover and Booths (or Tabernacles), will continue to provide. 

3. 45:18-20. Atonement. The day of atonement is never mentioned, but God institutes a never-before-celebrated festival to start the “new year,” with an emphasis on holiness in the temple. The first month, Abib, would be in Mar/Apr. The feast appears to last 7 days (vs 20); it indicates that there will be sin in the Kingdom, committed by those who entered alive and their offspring. 

4. 45:21-24. Passover and Unleavened Bread are combined in the NT, and focus on remembering God’s deliverance from sin. They continue on into the Kingdom as a week long feast of remembrance, which will serve much the same purpose then as the bread ands cup now (cf. Ex 12-15 for details). The 3 annual pilgrimage feasts, with required attendance under Mosaic legislation were: 1. Unleavened Bread; 2. Pentecost; and 3. Tabernacles (cf. Ex 23:14-17; Num 28:16-29:40; Deu 16:1-17), They have been modified with the 3 in 45:18-25. Pentecost is replaced by the new feast of vv 18-20. There are also portion differences from the Mosaic law (cf. Num 28:19-21), plus the millennial offerings are richer and more abundant, in general. 

5. 45:22-23. The prince. Here he sacrifices for his owns sins.  (44:3: he is not Messiah, but someone distinct from Him; he has sins for which he offers sacrifice (45:22), and fathers sons (46:16-18). 

6. 45:25. The Feast of Tabernacles, continues into the Millennium, as confirmed by Zech 14:16-21. This would be a remembrance of God’s sustaining provision in the wilderness. The 7th month, Tishri, would be in Sep/Oct, and will last for one week, as do the previous two. The prince (he, vv 13-15) once again offers sacrifice. 

7. 46:15. “They will offer the lamb, the grain offering, and the oil every morning as a regular burnt offering.” 

8. 46:1-15. This section further discusses offerings, and deals with: a. Sabbath and New Moon (vv 1-8); b. appointed feast days (9-11); c. voluntary offerings (v 12); and d. daily sacrifices (vv 13-15). Cf. Num 28: 1-15 for former Mosaic details. 

E. Zechariah’s Comments (MacArthur Study Bible notes).

1. Feasts in the Kingdom Age. (Zech 14:16). a. The Feast of Tabernacles. The historical background can be found in Lev 23:33-36; Num 29: 12-38; Deu 16:13-17. In addition to the Feast of Tabernacles, two other feasts will be celebrates in the millennial Kingdom Age, i.e., b. Feast of the New Year (Ezek 45:18-20), and c. Passover (Ezek 45:21-25).

2. These feasts are no more efficacious than they were in the Mosaic era, or the Lord’s Supper in the church age; they all provided a symbolic anticipation or remembrance of Christ’s unique and once-for-all sacrifice at Calvary (MacArthur Study Bible note, Zech 14:16). 

F. It is concluded, then, that these sacrifices are not expiatory, for no sacrifice ever accomplished the complete removal of sin, but are memorials of the perfect sacrifice of the One typified by all sacrifice, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.

G. Passover and Lord’s Supper.

1. On Passover, Jews celebrate how Yahweh took the Jewish People out of Egypt, where they had been enslaved by Pharaoh.

2. A study of the Lord’s Supper is a soul-stirring experience because of the depth of meaning it contains. It was during the age-old celebration of the Passover, on the eve of His death, that Yeshua instituted a significant new fellowship meal that we observe to this day. It is an integral part of Christian worship. It causes us to remember our Lord’s death and resurrection and to look for His glorious return in the future.

H. Scripture Passages, Passover and Lord’s Supper. 

1. Matthew 26:20-25, the Last Passover observed. Matthew 26: 26-29, the Lord’s Supper instituted. 

2. Mark 14:17-21, the Last Passover observed. Mark 14:22-25, the Lord’s Supper instituted.

3. Luke 22:14-20, 24-30, the Last Passover observed. Luke 22:17-20, the Lord’s Supper instituted. 

4. John 13:2-12, The Last Passover observed. John 13:13-30, the Lord’s Supper instituted. 

5. Acts 2:46, Jews who believed in Yeshua on the day of Pentecost continued daily Temple fellowship, and met as Christians daily in their homes. 

6. 1 Corinthians 11:23-24, The Lord’s Supper observed. 

I. Observance Of Passover and Lord’s Supper.

1. Jews will continue to observe Passover, even in the millennial Kingdom age.

2. Christians will continue to observe the Lord’s Supper throughout the  Church Age, and in their underground churches during the Tribulation. 

3. The Church is not mentioned in the Bible after Revelation 3, having already been “caught up” (rapture, English; harpazo, Greek; rapio, Latin) in 1 Thes 4:16-17. There will be no church in the Kingdom age. Messiah is present during the Kingdom, with no one looking forward to His return to earth (Matt 26:29), but observing Passover with Messiah (Ezek 45:21).

4. The Kingdom Age Passovers will include an animal sacrifices.

“On that day the prince shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering. During the seven days of the feast he shall provide as a burnt offering to the Lord, “seven bulls and seven rams without blemish on every day of the seven days, and a male goat daily for a sin offering (Ezek 45:22-23).” 

II. Conclusion. 

 
A. In the Old Testament God required animal sacrifices to provide a temporary covering of sins and to foreshadow the perfect and complete sacrifice of Messiah (Lev 4:35; 5:10). 

1. Animal sacrifice is an important theme found throughout Scripture because “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb 9:22). 

2. When Adam and Eve sinned, animals were killed by God to provide clothing for them (Gen 3:21). [The garments of skin were Yahweh’s provision for restoring the fellowship of Adam and Eve with Himself, and imply slaying of an animal in order to provide them. Ryrie Study Bible].

3. After the flood receded, Noah sacrificed animals to God (Gen 8:20-21). [The LORD smelled the soothing aroma. Lit., a smell of satisfaction. Yahweh was pleased with Noah’s offerings. Ryrie Study Bible). 

B. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.  (Hebrews 10:4).

C. In the Kingdom Age, these sacrifices are not expiatory, for no sacrifice ever accomplished the complete removal of sin, but are memorials of the perfect sacrifice of the One typified by all sacrifice, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.