N28-3: If Yeshua Did Away With Animal Sacrifices, Why Will They Be Reinstated When The Temple Is Built?

We are in the midst of studying the Calendar of Public Sacrifices which starts from the beginning of Numbers 28 and extends to the end of Numbers 29.

Before we move on, let’s be honest and confront head on what most people REALLY THINK about chapters like Numbers 28 and 29.

Let’s face it, most people in the Western world treat the content contained in Numbers 28 and 29 more as sleeping pill substitutes than as inspiring devotional material or as the basis upon which to compose an inspiring sermon.  

Why?

Well, here’s the thing.

The reason gentile Western believers are disinterested and bored at reading about all of these inordinate details of the sacrificial system is because they’ve been taught that Yeshua did away with the sacrificial system and thus see the subject matter as irrelevant to them.

They view the sacrificial system as something that existed only in ancient times, a relic of bygone eras.

Notice I keep using the word “western“.

This is quite deliberate.

The problem is many western believers operate under the assumption that they are at the center of the whole universe and for the most part are completely oblivious to the fact that in the vast majority of the non-Judeo-Christian world, sacrifices and rituals in the service of gods is still a very common practice.

And there are two other things your typical gentile Christian believer (especially those of the evangelical ilk) tends to overlook.

FIRST, the prophet Ezekiel makes it clear that with the new Temple and the return of the Messiah, the sacrificial system is going to be reinstated.

Let me state that again for good measure.

The very sacrificial system which we studied in painstaking detail in the Book of Leviticus is GOING TO BE REINSTATED.

So how does that jive with your “Jesus-did-away-with-or-replaced-the sacrificial-system-by-his-death-on-the-cross” theology? 

SECOND, it is the very God-ordained and Torah-based sacrificial system that establishes the idea that sacrifice is the heart of proper worship practices.

As I said the other day, this is a point Christians love to mouth but I doubt they really understand.

Why?

Because as I’ve said about 20 billion times already, you will NEVER even begin to grasp the boundless depth of meaning contained in the Biblical definition of “sacrifice” unless you study Torah and that is a section of the Bible the Christian world has relegated to the outer limits of infinity.

Okay, so let’s now deal with the $64,000 question “if Yeshua’s sacrifice on the cross was really a replacement for the Levitical sacrificial system, then why does the prophet Ezekiel say it will be reinstated?“

I’m going to attempt to answer this question by sharing two different opinions or trains of thought on the matter.

Although different, both may be equally valid.

I’m still in the process of organizing my thoughts on the matter.

The first idea is that when the Temple in Jerusalem is rebuilt and the animal sacrifices are reinstated (which you had best believe they will be), these sacrifices will be a commemoration of Yeshua’s sacrifice.

So quite contrary to the practically universal belief among gentile believers that the reinstatement of the sacrificial system will be viewed as a slap in God’s face and the grace He provided through Yeshua’s death,…

…it will instead be viewed as an inspiring remembrance, kind of like how we celebrate Passover in remembrance of what HASHEM did for Israel in Egypt.

Honestly speaking, to me, this first idea seems more gentile-friendly because it still holds to the idea that Yeshua’s death did indeed do away with the Levitical sacrificial system and that God literally offered up His son (or if you’re a trinitarian, He offered up “Himself”) as a human atoning sacrifice.

However, there is a major problem with this interpretation.

The Torah forbids human sacrifice.

Fortunately, there is another alternate interpretation that doesn’t treat Yeshua as some kind of freaky Levitical human sacrifice.

The second interpretation is that the Levitical sacrificial system will be reinstated because it is part of God’s eternal Word and it has to be reinstated.

In other words, Yeshua’s death did NOT replace the Levitical Sacrificial System.

Remember Yeshua said, “Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah — not until everything that must happen has happened”-Matthew 5:18.

So Yeshua says not even the tiniest detail of the Torah will be overlooked!

Now let me ask you this.

Is not the Levitical Sacrificial system a part of the Torah?

Of course it is.

It ain’t even just an iota or a stroke, it’s a HUGE MAJOR PART OF THE TORAH.

Let me take this train of thought a step further.

Is there any place in Torah that even hints that the Levitical Sacrificial system is going to be replaced or done away with?

I may be wrong, but I don’t think such a verse exists.

Instead, check out these verses from the prophet Jeremiah.

For this is what the Lord says: ‘David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of Israel, nor will the Levitical priests ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices.’”-Jeremiah 33:17-18 (NIV Translation)

Other English translations will say “…and David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever“.

Note the word “forever” where it says the Levitical priests shall “…make sacrifices forever“.

Scripture seems to be clear that animal sacrifices and the Levitical Priesthood haven’t been “done away with“.

So, if that’s the case, this leads to the question of what was Yeshua’s death really all about? 

Well, right here we run headfirst into a major and fundamental difference between the Jewish mind and gentile misunderstanding on the matter.

Remember, the Torah forbids human sacrifice to appease God.

Yet, was not Yeshua’s atoning death the ultimate human sacrifice?

What gives?

How to resolve this seemingly irreconcilable conflict?

The answer to that question is that Yeshua’s death was NOT a sacrifice like the animals that were sacrificed under the Levitical system were.

Rather he was a sacrifice like how a fellow soldier might take a bullet for his comrade during war or how a mother might sacrifice her life to save a child trapped in a burning car for example. 

This is something that someone with zero Torah training is gonna have difficulty understanding but there is a fundamental Torah principle that teaches that if a tzaddik (righteous person) gives his life for the betterment of Israel, all Israel will fall to her knees in repentance.

Why?

Because they realized a righteous man had died when they were the ones that deserved death, instead of the tzaddik.

It was never about human sacrifice and it had nothing to do with the Levitical sacrificial system.

In other words, we’re talking about apples and oranges here…

…because Yeshua’s sacrificial death on the cross and the Levitical sacrificial system are two entirely different things.

One doesn’t replace the other.

BOTH ARE NECESSARY!

And don’t forget that the Levitical sacrificial system did NOT provide forgiveness for intentional sins.

Rabbi Shaul (the Apostle Paul) said that Yeshua’s death accomplished much more than what the Levitical sacrificial system accomplished, namely freeing one from the “curse of the law” which is another concept that gentile believers have absolutely no idea the meaning of.

On this point, another thing gentile believers often overlook is that the Levitical system wasn’t supposed to provide forgiveness for intentional sins (if they even understand the difference between “intentional” and “unintentional” sins).

To complain that the Levitical Sacrificial system was inferior because it didn’t provide forgiveness for intentional sins is the same as me complaining because my car doesn’t fly.  

Sure an airplane might be superior to a car because it can fly but let’s not forget that a car isn’t supposed to fly in the first place.

It does what it was created to do and does it quite well I think.

Here’s yet another point I think a lot of the Christian folks overlook.

Note that the Book of Hebrews calls Yeshua our High Priest.

Now let me ask you this.

What was the High Priest’s job?

Was it not to officiate over the Levitical Sacrificial system including doing the dangerous work of going inside the HOLY OF HOLIES to atone for Israel?

Now how in the heck can Yeshua officiate as a Torah observant High Priest if the Temple isn’t rebuilt and animal sacrifices aren’t reinstated?

Also, how in the world can Yeshua be both the High Priest and at the same time be the animal sacrifices he is offering up to HASHEM?

Isn’t that what you’re saying if Yeshua’s death on the cross was equivalent to the animals sacrificed under the Levitical sacrificial system?

It doesn’t make any sense.

To me, that’s just gentile theological madness gone hog wild nuts to the billionth degree.