Q. I've been debating with fellow messianic believers and gentile Christians alike over the new Temple and the sacrificial system in the coming Kingdom. Could you settle the debate once and for all and explain two things. Is there going to be a new Temple with sacrifices and why the need for sacrifices if "Jesus was the final sacrifice?"
A. This question is very multifaceted and rather than go back and lay a foundation with your friends, I'm going to let the Scriptures answer the question and let your friends do the homework. First of all the Scriptures are full of verses that talk about the coming Temple in the Messianic Kingdom. In Ezekiel Chapters 40 through 48 this Temple is described. We know it's the Messianic Temple because it has never been built yet. So, by logic, it has to be after Yeshua came. Tell your friends to read those chapters. It gives the exact measurements of the Temple, it talks about the animal sacrifices that will be offered there and the festivals being celebrated, none of which include any of the festivals Christians keep like Christmas and Easter. The festivals talked about are found in Leviticus 23. That alone shatters their false notions. But, for fun let's go to Zechariah 14.16-21. This describes what happens after Yeshua returns and it says that all the nations will come up to Jerusalem to worship at Jerusalem during the Feast of Sukkot. If you want to see what the worship is, I refer you back to Ezekiel and the chapters given above and find out what biblical worship is. Then it says in Zechariah that a plague will be sent on any nation that does not go up to Jerusalem to worship. Isaiah 2.1-4 talks about the Temple being established and the nations coming to worship. Isaiah 66.23-24 says that all mankind, Jew and Gentile will come to bow down before the Lord on the New Moons and the Sabbaths and the context is after Messiah comes. I could go on and on with verses but if they don't see it after 11 chapters they don't want to see it. Now, why the sacrifices? The sacrifices only cleansed the flesh from ritual impurity but never the conscience, only God can do that by being born from above. They were only pictures of what Yeshua accomplished and went through on the cross, the bread offerings spoke of the Word and provision, the wine offered spoke of blood, marriage, covenant, teaching, joy and many other things. To say that we don't need those things now is like saying we don't ever need to go back and look at a picture we took of a vacation, or of a relative. We don't need to look at videos of our children when they were younger, playing soccer or whatever. The sacrifices looked forward to what Messiah was going to do, now they are reminders at what He did. Didn't He say "Do this (Lord's Supper) in remembrance of Me?" The sacrifices never did take away sin and were never meant to. Scripture is very clear about that. They were educational because they taught that One was coming who was innocent and would substitute Himself in our place and offer His innocence to God because we couldn't (Ezekiel 43.10-12) and practical because the priests and the worshipper could eat and drink many of them. The skins were given to the priests and he could use or sell them and so on. If someone believes that Yeshua's death did away with the sacrifices, they must believe they took away sin and both concepts aren't even biblical. Paul and 4 other messianic believers did animal sacrifices 30 years after Yeshua's death (Acts 21.15-27 Acts 24.14-21) coming out of a Nazarite vow ( Acts 18.18, Num 6.1-21). The messianic believers in the first century went to the Temple daily (Acts 2.46). Peter and John were going to the afternoon Tamid service (Num 28) when a lame man was made to walk. Don't you think that the next Passover after Yeshua died had a little more meaning as they sacrificed an innocent lamb and basically reenacted everything they saw and were a part of the year before? So, this should answer their objections and if it doesn't, refer them to our congregation and we can help them further.
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