Sacrifices and Offerings of Eloah during the Millennium (No. CB121)

As we have seen from the previous lessons on the sacrifices of Eloah, He clearly instructs us when and how to worship Him.

Once Messiah was ordained/appointed above his fellows (Heb. 1:9, Ps. 45:7), he became our High Priest. The Church began in earnest from 30 CE when the Holy Spirit was poured out from the day of Pentecost. From that time forward the spiritual Temple was being built.

Though the Jews were offering physical sacrifices, the Psalms tell us that God does not delight in sacrifice, rather a poor and contrite heart (Ps 51:17).

We have learned that faithful priests are responsible (as kings and priests, Rev. 1:6) and have responsibilities in four main areas in relation to the Law of Eloah:

· Keep or preserve the Law of Eloah (Mal 2:7; Neh 18:18)

· Teach and explain the Law of Eloah (Deut. 33:10; Lev.10:11; Ezra 7:10; Neh: 8:7)

· Live by the word of Eloah (Deut. 8:3; Mat. 4:4; Luke 4:4)

· Judge by the Law of Eloah (Deut. 17:2-13; 21:5)

Expectations under Messiah

As we have already stated, the priesthood under Messiah functioned within a spiritual Temple. The priests were to do the main tasks mentioned above and including: praying, fasting, writing a copy of the Law, offering spiritual gifts, and taking the Gospel to the world.

As we continue to move forward in time we see from the Marriage Supper of the Lamb that people who qualified in their physical life are made into spiritual beings at Messiah’s return. They will be functioning as kings and priests under Messiah during the Millennium.

Ezekiel’s description of the Millennial Temple

In Ezekiel, we see a Temple yet to be built, functioning under Messiah the High Priest through the line of Melchisedek. Here is a brief overview of the organization of the last chapters of Ezekiel.

We see the purpose of the Temple described in Ezekiel 43:9-13:

But if the people and their kings stop worshiping other gods and tear down those memorials, I will live among them forever. The people of Israel must suffer shame for sinning against me, so tell them about my holy temple. Let them think about it, then if they are truly sorry, describe for them the design and shape of the temple, the gates, the measurements, and how the buildings are arranged. Explain the regulations about worshiping there, then write down these things, so they can study and obey them. The temple area on my holy mountain must be kept sacred! This is the most important law about the temple. (CEV)

So we see that the pagan temples and ornaments must be truly, completely and totally destroyed. People must repent of not obeying God’s Laws and then they can be taught how to keep His Laws. For the first time in history we will see the Temple functioning in a spiritual and physical sense. The mount will be completely cleared of all idolatrous religious artefacts currently on the mount.

If we obey God, He directs our thoughts (Prov. 16:3), then we can claim faith in Him and His promises (Ezek. 43:7; 45:8) will come to pass.

Ezekiel 43:7 Ezekiel, son of man, this temple is my throne on earth. I will live here among the people of Israel forever. They and their kings will never again disgrace me by worshiping idols at local shrines or by setting up memorials to their dead kings. (CEV)

Imagine no more differences in religion and people all doing their own thing. Finally, in the not too distant future, we all will be obeying the One True God.

Ezekiel 45:8-10 In the land shall be his possession in Israel: and my princes shall no more oppress my people; and the rest of the land shall they give to the house of Israel according to their tribes. Thus saith the Lord GOD; Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice, take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord GOD. Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. (KJV)

Here we see that once Satan is put away and Messiah is administering God’s Law, things will be fair, right and just.

Ezekiel 48:35 and so the total length of the wall will be eighteen thousand measures; and the new name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there (KJV)

We see from the footnote to Ezekiel 48:35 in The Companion Bible the original Hebrew word is Yahovah Shammah (see App. 4.II for more details). We see the Father will not return to the Earth until sin is put away for good and all humans are spirit beings. In this text we see Messiah acting as King and High Priest in the Millennial Temple.

A brief outline of Ezekiel’s vision is provided below:

Outline of Ezekiel 40-48:

Ezekiel 48:30-35: the size of the holy city and the names of its twelve gates (similar to the gates of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:13).
Ezekiel 45; 47:13-23; 48: allocation of the land.
Ezekiel 47:1-12: the water coming from under the threshold of the temple and the river that heals.
Ezekiel 47:7-12: the trees with monthly fruit for meat, and leaves for healing.
Ezekiel 40:45-48:13: the priests and their activities.
Priesthood of the Line of Zadok: Ezekiel 43:9; 44:26-27. For more information see The Priesthood of Eloah from Messiah Onwards (No. CB118).

Clothing and requirements when ministering: wear white linen (Ezek. 44:15-19), not to shave their head (Ezek. 44:20), not to drink wine when ministering (Ezek. 44:2).

· Ezekiel 43:13-46:24: the altar; Prince, Levites, Priests; division of land; offerings and Holy Days.

Ezekiel 40:1-30: the chambers.

· The Temple has palm trees (Ezek. 40:31,34; 41:19); Cherubim (Ezek. 41:18-21,19,25,26); young lion (Ezek. 41:19); and a man’s face (Ezek. 41:19). (Some of these things appeared in Solomon’s Temple; see the series on the Temple Solomon Built.)

Ezekiel 43:1-7; 44:4: that the glory of the Lord would inhabit this Temple.
Ezekiel 44:3; 45:7-22; 46:2-18; 48:21-22: reference to the Prince.
Ezekiel 40-44: detailed description of the Temple and ceremonies including animal sacrifices.
Ezekiel 40:38-43; 42:13; 43:13-27; 44:10-16,28-31; 45:15-25; 46: references to animal sacrifices.

· Ezekiel 43:24: cast salt for the offering (cf. Lev. 2:13).

We will now try to take an in-depth look at the sacrifices that are offered in the Millennium.

Temple Sacrifices in the Millennium

For a quick and easy overview of the changes in the sacrifices see Appendix A in paper No. CB119, which is a table of the sacrifices and offerings as originally given, and the changes we see happen in the Millennium.

The key points to the millennial sacrifices are as follows:

· Daily continual burnt sacrifice occurs only in the morning at 9:00 a.m.; the quantity of grain, and oil increases and there does not appear to be drink or sin offering.

· The Sabbath offerings go up to six lambs compared to two with the grain and oil also increasing. A ram is added with a complete ephah of grain and hin of oil. Again there does not appear to be a drink or sin offering.

· The New Moon offering appears to decrease from two bullocks to one, seven lambs to six lambs, and there does not appear to be a sin or drink offering and the oil and grain offerings increase. The New Moon of the First month begins the cleansing of the Temple with a sacrifice of a young bullock without blemish. The same is done on the Seventh day of the month for the Simple and Erroneous (Ezek. 45:19-20).

· Passover offering has a bullock for a sin offering on the day of the Fourteenth and for the Seven days of the Feast he will prepare seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish every day for seven days and a goat of the sin offering daily (Ezek. 45:21-23). Full measures of grain and oil are also included.

· Wave Sheaf: though historically the offering for the Wave Sheaf is found in Leviticus 23:10-14 there does not appear to be any reference to the Wave Sheaf or other offerings given in the Millennium for the other days of Trumpets and Atonement.

· Pentecost does not seem to have a projected offering represented in Ezekiel.

· The Tabernacle offering in the Millennium is the same as Passover; it is consistent: seven bulls for seven days of the Feast, seven rams, one goat for a sin offering, and full measures of oil and grain. This is different from the 70 bulls that were offered in OT times, starting with the number 13 and decreasing to the number seven.

· The Last Great Day does not appear to have a sacrifice described in the Millennial Temple.

The Calendar would still be kept, as we understand it, as the New Moons are specifically kept each month and the Sabbaths are kept. It appears that Ezekiel is mentioning the fact that Tabernacles has the same sacrifices as Passover over the Seven days for a purpose. The Last Great Day is not mentioned nor is Pentecost, and the Days of Trumpets and Atonement are also not mentioned as the Feasts remain. These changes for the millennial system refer to the Seven days of the Feasts and they specifically alter the system previously established. Trumpets may indeed be removed as the nation of Judah has profaned it with the Babylonian system of Rosh Hashanah. We will await the judgment of Messiah on this section when he arrives.

Reasons for the changes in the sacrificial system

The prophecy in Ezekiel deals with the fact that the sacrifices in the Temple system pointed towards Christ and the Church. The sacrifices were fulfilled in Christ, but they pointed towards the Church as the full first-fruits of the wheat harvest at Pentecost. They were represented by the Feast and New Moon sacrifices as the 144,000, and the evening sacrifices pointed towards the Great Multitude (see the paper The Harvests of God, The New Moon Sacrifices, and the 144,000 (No. 120)). These are part of the First Resurrection and Marriage to the Lamb. Yet, not all people will be spirit beings at the beginning of the Millennium. The evening is followed by the day. Therefore, the morning sacrifices are to be representative of people still coming into God’s family at a future point in time. For more information on Ezekiel’s Temple see also the paper FAQs on Ezekiel Chapters 36-48 and the Sanctification of the Temple (No. 292).

Trumpets points to the coming of the Messiah and Atonement to the Reconciliation that has occurred by then. The explanation is dependent upon the Messiah and his instructions for the Millennium. However, the calendar of God remains as we see from the text in Ezekiel.

Interesting points:

· Measurements of the Temple (Ezek. 40:5-49); Bullinger’s footnote to Ezekiel 40:5 says: “in all the measurements the unit is one seventeenth longer than Solomon’s Temple, pointing to the 8th day of God. Seven speaks to completion; eight to new beginnings.

· Ezekiel 43:18-26: Seven days are allowed to purge the altar and purify the priesthood. The first day was with the bullock and the second day with the kid of the goats to cleanse the altar as they did with the bullock, and after they had cleansed it, then a bullock and a ram of the herd were offered up salted by the priest. For seven days they shall offer the bullock and the goat and a ram from the herd for the sin offering. Seven days they will purge the altar, purify it and consecrate themselves. Then on the eighth day they can offer burnt offerings (v. 27). That is done at the commencement and every year from then on from the New Moon of Abib to the Seventh of Abib and from the Eight day onwards. By this ceremony of sanctification, the priesthood is able to cleanse the sanctuary as we are told and required to do under Ezekiel chapter 45:18-20. Each year, from the New Moon of Abib, this sanctification process is to be undertaken by the elect by spiritual sacrifices and prayers until Shiloh comes.

Comments from other papers:

The consumption of meat is regulated during the Temple period and the pots are holy to the Lord. The Tithe system will ensure that there is always enough for the Sabbaths of the Lord to provide for all in the nation. This is explained in the Prince’s Levy in Ezekiel chapter 45:13-17. The provision of the meat levy at the Feasts is explained in Zechariah 14:16-21.

This is called the Terumah levy and the nations must provide this tithe to the administration and not the priesthood, so that the Sabbaths New Moons and Holy Days and Feasts have enough to feed the nation on each of the days Holy to the Lord.

The translation of Zechariah 14:16-21 in the New Revised Standard Version carries the actual meaning by the use of the term rendered Canaanites in the KJV text, and says that: “There shall no longer be traders in the house of the Lord of Hosts on that day”.

The following section is taken from paper No. 292 and clearly states interesting facts about the Temple.

Section 4: The Temple:

Ezekiel 40–43 describes the Temple.

Q7. Is this the Temple that will be built and operate throughout the Millennium?

Answer: Yes. The Temple described in Ezekiel is millennial and the practices there will be carried out in the millennial system. The Temple is both physical and spiritual.

Q8. Will the sacrifices be re-instituted? If so, why?

Answer: One of the most puzzling aspects of this prophecy relates to the fact that only the morning sacrifices are carried out here. The prophecy deals with the fact that the sacrifices in the Temple system pointed towards Christ and the Church. The sacrifices were fulfilled in Christ, but they pointed towards the Church as the full first-fruits of the wheat harvest at Pentecost. They were represented by the Feast and New Moon sacrifices as the 144,000, and the evening sacrifices pointed towards the Great Multitude (see the paper The Harvests of God, The New Moon Sacrifices, and the 144,000 (No. 120)). These are part of the First Resurrection. Yet there is another aspect that the Great Multitude, represented by the morning sacrifices, are not harvested until after the First Resurrection, and so represent another aspect of the Temple system, which Temple we are.

The consumption of meat is regulated during the Temple period and the pots are holy to the Lord. The Tithe system will ensure that there is always enough for the Sabbaths of the Lord to provide for all in the nation. This is explained in the Prince’s Levy in Ezekiel chapter 45. The provision of the meat levy at the Feasts is explained in Zechariah 14:16-21.

Q9. Are these sacrifices simply a reminder of the sacrifice of Christ, or do they have more significance?

Answer: The whole aspect of these sacrifices deals with the restoration of the system of worship in Israel, and to show that the system given by God was just and correct. The killing of all meat required a blood debt and was atoned for in being part of the Temple system. Once again the priesthood will take charge of all animal slaughter.

The question of atoning for sin as a debt will also be restored with the Law. These aspects are covered in the series The Law of God (No. L1).

The system as applied within God’s Calendar, and the livestock provided ensure that the correct functioning of the system takes place and the Festivals are able to be kept with adequate resources.

Running the Temple

Ezekiel 44 deals with the running of the Temple.

Q10. Who can enter the Temple?

Answer: The entry to the Temple is regulated.

No one except the Prince can enter by the outer gate facing east. He and only he enters by the east gate and goes out the same way.

Others enter by another gate and go out by the opposite gate, i.e. from the south to the north. Only foreigners in Israel who are circumcised of heart and flesh shall be able to enter the Temple.

Because the Levites caused the people to go astray they are not allowed to go near God as priests. However, they will be appointed to slaughter the burnt offerings and attend to the people. This means that the Levites are not part of the First Resurrection as spirit beings and will serve in the physical system of the Temple.

On the other hand, the Zadokite priesthood is able to go before God because they were faithful in Levi. Consequently they will be spirit beings in the First Resurrection.

Q11. What are the duties of the Levites and Priests?

Answer: The unfaithful are restricted to the physical duties of the Temple system. They perform the slaughter and the distribution there. They keep charge and do its chores.

The faithful enter the Sanctuary. In other words, the Spirit-begotten sons of God are able to come before God in ministry as spirit beings. This text is a total condemnation of the Levitical priesthood that failed to accept Messiah, and also of the Melchisedek priesthood that failed to uphold their place and thus failed the First Resurrection.

The faithful priesthood is responsible (as kings and priests, Rev. 1:6; cf. 2Chr. 8:14) to perform certain duties before God. Among these duties is prayer (Joel 2:17) for the people, even this whole nation. They are to set a personal example (Lev. 10:8-10); and to know the Law (Mal. 2:7) well enough to teach it to the nation (Lev. 10:11).

Q12. What are the apparel, behaviour, sacrifices and judgments of the priesthood?

Answer: The faithful priesthood enters the Inner Court wearing linen vestments. This has two meanings.

The faithful priesthood alive in the Millennium performs the functions of the Messiah in the rituals of Atonement.

The holy ones of the elect who succeeded enter in linen before God, as the Messiah entered on his acceptance as the Wave-Sheaf Offering (see the paper The Wave Sheaf Offering (No. 106b)). Thus the elect shall see God as sons of God, and make atonement for Israel and the nations brought into it, as its priests and kings.

The tithe system will be enforced and the priesthood will administer it (Ezek. 44:28-31).

Section 5: Allocation of Land to the Tribes

Ezekiel 45 deals with the restoration of Israel, with the specific tribal areas of land being described in chapter 48. Ezekiel 45:1 states that when the land is divided by lot for Israel’s inheritance, then an oblation is to be offered to the Lord. This oblation consists of portions of land of specific dimension.

Q13. When we now have a priesthood of the Order of Melchisedek, who are the Levites and why have they been reintroduced?

Answer: There is a division in the priesthood and the Order of Melchisedek is not mentioned here. We know the faithful of Levi are placed within the 144,000 and the Great Multitude of Revelation chapter 7. The Book of Hebrews tells us what the Order of Melchisedek is under Christ. The Prince is mentioned, and the allocation of areas for the priesthood is laid out in both symbolic and literal dimensions.

Q14. Who is the Prince in this context? Is the Prince Christ or is it David? As there is land set aside for him, one would think this would be David, as Christ is a spirit being and can manifest himself at will.

Answer: It is both, in that Christ is King of Israel and David rules under him. We are all of the Household of David and shall be as elohim and the Angel of the Lord at our head. Namely, we shall be gods, as Jesus Christ, in the Millennial Restoration. The City of Jerusalem shall be the centre of our administration of the planet, and we will rule as Satan and the demons should have ruled the Earth but failed (cf. Zech. 12:8).

See the paper FAQs on Ezekiel Chapters 36-48 and the Sanctification of the Temple (No. 292).

We see the sacrifices will be re-instituted though modified. We see that only the morning sacrifices will be reinstated or started.

This following section is taken from paper No. 300.

From 2028 the Temple system will be under the new priesthood of Melchisedek. The place of worship in Jerusalem will be commenced. This will be the millennial Temple and focal point of worship for the entire world.

The New Temple System

The nations have to be brought to the stage of repentance and sanctification. That process covers twenty-one years to the Jubilee in 2027.

That includes the entire priesthood of the planet purporting to speak for God and Christ.

The next phase is the sanctification of the Temple system in Jerusalem under the new priesthood. That process will involve the same procedures under the Key of David as experienced under David and Solomon (see the paper Rule of the Kings Part III: Solomon and the Key of David (No. 282C)).

The next forty-year period in the Golden Jubilee, from 2028 to 2068, involves the building of the Temple and the administration in Jerusalem for the Reading of the Law in 2069, and in 2076 and 2077 in the Jubilee. The Temple itself will be built before that period and the refurbishment and the administration will end by those dates. The Law will be read each Sabbath year for the Sabbaths over the twenty-one years from 2028, i.e. in 2034, 2041, and 2048 in the sanctification process (cf. the paper Sanctification of the Nations (No. 77)).

From 2026 onwards the Law will be read every Sabbath year throughout the world in accordance with the command of God.

The Temple will be rebuilt in accordance with the spiritual and physical instructions laid down by God through Ezekiel.

Restoring the Earth

It is difficult to comprehend the devastation, much less envisage how the Earth is to be restored.

The Bible is very specific about the extreme violence and the catastrophes that overtake the Earth. Christ says that Scripture cannot be broken (Jn. 10:34-35).

Yet there are a series of opportunities given to mankind to repent of their errors and they do not repent. Many species pay the penalty for this obstinacy. The problems are outlined in the paper The Seven Trumpets (No. 141). These activities cover the phase called the seven vials of the wrath of God and none of this sequence needs to happen.

Over the Golden Jubilee the world will be restored, the rivers and waters renewed, and the Earth will be at peace.

There will be trees to plant, water to be stored and harvested, and food to be grown and livestock raised.

The same healing that comes through the City of God starts with the restoration in Jerusalem under Messiah, with and through the resurrection of the elect.

Revelation 22:2-4 Then he showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2: through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3: There shall no more be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall worship him; 4: they shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads. (RSV)

The restoration of the planet is mentioned in Ezekiel chapter 47. The spiritual power that emanates from Christ in the Temple of God will heal the nations and the land and the seas.

(See the paper The Golden Jubilee and the Millennium (No. 300)).

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Running the Temple

Section 5: Allocation of Land to the Tribes