2-1-25 Message to Roeh Israel Abilene - Bo [enter!]
Torah Portion: Exodus 10:1-13
Haftarah: Jeremiah 46:13-28
Suggested Acheron K’tuvim: Matt 5:17-20
Under the Law Part 29 – Sacrifices and
Offerings - 2
Central question: What will be the offerings given in the end of days, during the Renewed Covenant time?
Today we are in the third parasha of Exodus, parasha Bo, which means “go.” It takes its name from the seventh word of the passage in English, and the fifth word in the original Hebrew.
Ex 10:1-4
10 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, for I have
hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may
perform these signs of Mine among them, 2 and that you may
tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson, how I
made a mockery of the Egyptians, and how I performed My
signs among them; that you may know that I am the Lord." 3
And Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him,
"Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, 'How long will
you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go,
that they may serve Me.
In today’s parasha, at Exodus 12:2, we find G-d initiating the holy calendar among His people for the first time. For generations, we had been subject to the Egyptian version of the calendar, which may also have been based upon the lunar month.
Also, in today’s parasha, we see the institution of the Passover celebration.
As in most Hebrew festival celebrations, elements of observance have been added over the generations. But it seems that the final form of what we celebrate today was established by the time Yeshua came to serve as our example of a proper Torah-based life, and then to offer Himself on the altar as the substitutionary sacrifice for each who will accept that atonement, and move from the realm of darkness to the realm of light.
As we saw in last week’s study, Yeshua celebrated Passover, and urged us to do the same.1 We saw that Paul kept Torah, and twice made public testimonies affirming that he kept Torah, as well as the customs of the Jews at that time.2
We saw that there are a number of sacrifices and offerings which G-d directed to be brought to the Temple for various occasions and for various reasons. There are many more that I did not list, but merely tried to make a point regarding the variety of sacrifices and offerings apart from the atonement sacrifice given once a year on Yom Kippur.3
Now our task will be to determine if during the time between the writings of the gospels, and those of Paul, and ending with the end times (along
1 Luke 22:19
2 Acts 18:1821:17-26, 25:1-11
3 Leviticus 16:1-28
with the Renewed Covenant) those sacrifices and offerings are still part of G-d’s kingdom plan. To do that, we need to go back to what Yeshua taught us about Torah’s applicability during that interval of time.
Yeshua taught a series of lessons to a multitude of people gathered near the Sea of Galilee, in what has become known as the “Sermon on the Mount.” Right in the middle of this discourse, He gives a lesson that has escaped the attention of many in the normative church today. And that lesson speaks directly to whether the Torah is abolished.
Matt 5:17-20
17 "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the
Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. 18 "For
truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the
smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until
all is accomplished. 19 "Whoever then annuls one of the least
of these commandments, and so teaches others, shall be
called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and
teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of
heaven. 20 "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness
surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.
I maintain a steadfast belief that “heaven and earth” have not passed away yet. I cannot see heaven, but I can see the earth quite clearly, and it has not passed away. Further, we know that “all” has not yet “been accomplished.”
Opinions regarding just how many prophecies in Scripture are yet unfulfilled vary. I have heard as few as 12, and as many as 500.
Regardless of how many you wish to believe remain unfulfilled, it is clear that “all” in Biblical prophecy is not yet “accomplished.”
Then there is the statement that anyone who annuls (declares a commandment to be of no effect) one of the least of the commandments, and teaches others this errant theology, will be called “least in the kingdom of heaven.” This is followed by the statement that one who keeps the commandments of Torah and teaches others to observe them as well, will be great in the kingdom of heaven.4
The commandments of Torah include the instructions regarding sacrifices and offerings. So, it seems clear that these commands will continue to apply to believers in Yeshua “until all is accomplished.”
4 This aligns with the idea that those who have come through the doorway of justification, but have not yet entered into the Abrahamic level of the covenant relationship, are not obligated to keep the commandments of Torah. But those who have progressed into the Abrahamic covenant level – and beyond – are obligated to keep Torah’s instructions to be a witness to the nations of G-d’s righteous ways, and also to be holy to our G-d.
So, when will “all be accomplished” so as to make one or more of the sacrifices fully “fulfilled” and thus no longer appropriate for us to make?
We get that answer in the book of Hebrews.
Heb 9:11-16
11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good
things to come, He entered through the greater and more
perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; 12 and not through the blood of goats and
calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy
place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13
For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer
sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the
cleansing of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself
without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God? 15 And for this reason He is
the mediator of a new [renewed] covenant, in order that
since a death has taken place for the redemption of the
transgressions that were committed under the first
covenant, those who have been called may receive the
promise of the eternal inheritance.
In v. 15, we can see that this “new covenant” must be the same as the “renewed covenant” that we have already studied, by the context of the remainder of the passage.
Yeshua’s death has certainly taken place already, “for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant.” Let’s think this through, beginning with a common theology in the normative church.
If the “first covenant” was terminated at the cross, then the transgressions which were paid for, also terminated at that same time, and there are no transgressions possible, or at least none atoned for, after the cross.
Since we know that people still sin, and since we know that the blood of Yeshua pays for the sins of His flock, then
Rom 6:8-19
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall
also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised
from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin, once
for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so
consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in
Christ Jesus.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that
you should obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting
the members of your body to sin as instruments of
unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those
alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of
righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over
you, for you are not under law, but under grace. 5
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law
but under grace? May it never be! 16 Do you not know
that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for
obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey,
either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting
in righteousness?6 17 But thanks be to God that though you
were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to
5 The interpretation of this last verse is important. If it means (as the normative church insists) that the Torah is done away with, then there is now no such thing as a sin (for sin is violation of Torah) and there is no such thing as righteousness before G-d, either. Sin is not master over us, because the grace of G-d’s redemption has spared us from the death penalty of Torah. “Under the Law” is a shorthand way of saying, “under the death penalty required by the Law.”
6 This begs the question, “Obedience to what?” The passage is clear. If one obeys the lusts of the flesh (sin) then he is relegated to spiritual death. By contrast, the one who obeys G-d is righteous. And G-d took great pains to give us His instructions for righteousness in Torah. And righteousness is not a conferred condition apart from our actions.
The one who practices righteousness is righteous, and the one who practices sin is of the devil. 1 John 3:7-8.
that form of teaching to which you were committed,7 18 and
having been freed from sin, you became slaves of
righteousness.
We have been talking about sin, but it might be useful for us at this juncture to remind ourselves of the definition of sin. John wrote about this concept, and echoed what we have just seen in the writings of Paul.
1 John 3:3-8
3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies
himself, just as He is pure. 4 Everyone who practices sin
also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.8 5 And
you know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in
Him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in Him sins; no one
who sins has seen Him or knows Him. 7 Little children, let
no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is
righteous, just as He is righteous; 8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning.
7 One cannot argue that Paul taught them anything other than what was understood regarding Torah, and Messiah, for elsewhere in Romans he was clear that faith in Yeshua’s work does not nullify Torah. Romans 3:31 8 Literally “Torah-less-ness”, or the condition of acting contrary to Torah’s instructions.
Having said that, are we as believers today sinning by failing to bring the proper offerings and sacrifices found in the Torah? That question is easily answered – No.
The offerings and sacrifices commanded in Torah were to be brought to the Temple. They were to be offered in the presence of the Levitical priests within one of the inner courts of the Temple, as we have seen in earlier lessons. There was one sacrifice which was not always offered in connection with the Temple, and that was to be offered in each of the Jewish homes – the Passover lamb.
We see in today’s parasha that the first Passover lamb was sacrificed in Egypt. And since it is commanded that we repeat that sacrifice every year at the same day of G-d’s calendar because it is one of G-d’s “appointed times,” we are to do this forever.9 But once we entered the Land, we were commanded that we may not thereafter sacrifice the Passover except “at the place where the L-rd your G-d chooses to establish His Name.”10
And once we entered the Land, and conquered it, all sacrifices and offerings were to be made at the Temple, and nowhere else.
Deut 12:1-14
9 Exodus 12:1-14, Lev 23:4-8
10 Deuteronomy 16:5
12 "These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall
carefully observe in the land which the Lord, the God of your
fathers, has given you to possess as long as you live on the
earth. 2 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the
nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the
high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. 3
And you shall tear down their altars and smash their sacred
pillars and burn their Asherim with fire, and you shall cut
down the engraved images of their gods, and you shall
obliterate their name from that place. 4 You shall not act like this toward the Lord your God. 5 But you shall seek the
Lord at the place which the Lord your God shall choose
from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His
dwelling, and there you shall come. 6 And there you shall
bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes,
the contribution of your hand, your votive offerings, your
freewill offerings, and the first-born of your herd and of
your flock. 7 There also you and your households shall eat
before the Lord your God, and rejoice in all your
undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you. 8
You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, every
man doing whatever is right in his own eyes; 9 for you have
not as yet come to the resting place and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. 10 When you cross the
Jordan and live in the land which the Lord your God is giving
you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies
around you so that you live in security, 11 then it shall come about that the place in which the Lord your God shall
choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring all
that I command you: your burnt offerings and your
sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution of your hand,
and all your choice votive offerings which you will vow to
the Lord. 12 And you shall rejoice before the Lord your
God, you and your sons and daughters, your male and female
servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he
has no portion or inheritance with you. 13 Be careful that
you do not offer your burnt offerings in every cultic place
you see, 14 but in the place which the Lord chooses in one
of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings,
and there you shall do all that I command you.
Once the Temple was destroyed by Titus, the Levitical sacrifices and offerings ceased.
Since that time, with no Temple standing on G-d’s holy mountain, we are not able to offer the proper offerings or sacrifices to Him. And we know that G-d does not wish for us to make sacrifices at any other location.
But will the Levitical sacrifices and offerings resume in the rebuilt Temple? We can find that answer in the words of the prophets. We discover that at the end of the age, there will be a great ingathering of all mankind (after the ingathering of the Jews), and some of them will be chosen to be priests and Levites.
Isa 66:18-24
18 "For I know their works and their thoughts; the time is
coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall
come and see My glory. 19 "And I will set a sign among
them and will send survivors from them to the nations:
Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Rosh, Tubal, and Javan, to the
distant coastlands that have neither heard My fame nor seen
My glory.11 And they will declare My glory among the
nations.20 "Then they shall bring all your brethren from all
the nations as a grain offering to the Lord,12 on horses, in
11 A great missionary movement sent to all the earth to finish the ingathering.
12 The souls that are brought to G-d shall be as innumerable as the grains in the basket on the shoulder of a Jew coming to the Temple bringing that offering.
chariots, in litters, on mules, and on camels,13 to My holy
mountain Jerusalem," says the Lord, "just as the sons of
Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. 21 "I will also take some of them for priests
and for Levites," says the Lord. 14
22 "For just as the new heavens and the new earth
Which I make will endure before Me," declares the Lord,
"So your offspring and your name will endure.
23 "And it shall be from new moon to new moon
And from sabbath to sabbath,
All mankind will come to bow down before Me," says the
Lord.15
24 "Then they shall go forth and look
On the corpses of the men
Who have transgressed against Me.
For their worm shall not die,
And their fire shall not be quenched;
And they shall be an abhorrence to all mankind."
13 They will come in any way they are able to come. A great multitude.
14 Importantly, He is not taking the already-existing priests and Levites from them, for those have already been gathered. Here, G-d is identifying the hearts of those gathered as suitable to serve Him as a Priest and Levite. This is a totally new thing – G-d establishing a priesthood even from among the nations.
15 This gathered group will endure as a grafted-in people forever, with a new name, which will be remembered. This is clearly in the end days, because at this point G-d has destroyed all others in the world who have knowingly defied G-d’s instructions. It will be much as it was in the days of Noah at that time. See Matthew 24:37.
What good would it be for G-d to assemble Priests and Levites if there was nothing for them to do in the Temple? We can see elsewhere in the prophecy of Isaiah just what they will be doing.
Isa 56:1-8
56 Thus says the Lord,
"Preserve justice, and do righteousness, For My salvation is
about to come And My righteousness to be revealed. 2 "How
blessed is the man who does this, And the son of man who
takes hold of it; Who keeps from profaning the sabbath, And
keeps his hand from doing any evil." 3 Let not the foreigner
who has joined himself to the Lord say, "The Lord will surely
separate me from His people. "Neither let the eunuch say,
"Behold, I am a dry tree." 4 For thus says the Lord,
To the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths, And choose what
pleases Me, And hold fast My covenant, 5 To them I will
give in My house and within My walls a memorial, And a
name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them
an everlasting name which will not be cut off.
6 "Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
To minister to Him, and to love the name of the Lord, To
be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the
sabbath, And holds fast My covenant; 7 Even those I will
bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My
house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be acceptable on My altar; For My house will be called
a house of prayer for all the peoples." 8 The Lord God, who
gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares, "Yet others I will
gather to them, to those already gathered."
We know that there is a prophecy of a coming Temple found in Ezekiel.
And this is the Temple in which Yeshua will sit upon His throne.
Ezek 43:1-9
43 Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing toward the
east; 2 and behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming
from the way of the east. And His voice was like the sound of
many waters; and the earth shone with His glory. 3 And it
was like the appearance of the vision which I saw, like the
vision which I saw when He came to destroy the city. And
the visions were like the vision which I saw by the river
Chebar; and I fell on my face. 4 And the glory of the Lord
came into the house by the way of the gate facing toward the
east. 5 And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the
inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the
house.
6 Then I heard one speaking to me from the house, while a
man was standing beside me.16 7 And He said to me, "Son of
man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel
forever. And the house of Israel will not again defile My holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their harlotry and by
the corpses of their kings when they die, 8 by setting their
threshold by My threshold, and their door post beside My
door post, with only the wall between Me and them. And
they have defiled My holy name by their abominations which
they have committed. So I have consumed them in My anger.
9 "Now let them put away their harlotry and the corpses of
their kings far from Me; and I will dwell among them
forever.
The dimensions and description of that Temple are found in Ezekiel 4344. But the Priests are given specific duties in that Temple.
Ezek 44:15-16
16 I believe this “man” was the same one who stood with Abraham (Gen 18), and with Joshua (Joshua 5).
15 "But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept
charge of My sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray
from Me, shall come near to Me to minister to Me; and they
shall stand before Me to offer Me the fat and the blood,"
declares the Lord God. 16 "They shall enter My sanctuary;
they shall come near to My table to minister to Me and keep
My charge.
Here is a diagram that
has been drawn of this
Temple. Note there is
no Court of the Gentiles,
but the items necessary
for
sacrifice
and
offerings are still there.
Don’t feel obligated to
offer anything to G-d in
this age but a broken
heart. But be ready for
something different in
the coming kingdom.
