No, the sacrifices in the Millennium will not be of blood and sacrificial animals any more than it is today, but they must be of the same spirit of love and service that causes those who truly believe in Jesus Christ to hunger and thirst after righteousness... every day.
We have been studying about the duties of the prince of Israel (for Christ is King) and we have learned by the vision of the layout and the plan of ALL the oblation, which is that entire 25,000 reeds by 25,000 reeds square area (vs. 48:20), that there will be separate locations in the Millennium for the Civil administration and the Ecclesiastical.
In this study of chapter 46, we will continue following some more detailed description of the prince's duties, the primary one of which is to be the representative of the nation of Israel, i.e. today's Christians nations of the world, and prepare the gifts and offerings on her behalf. He will be the only one allowed to enter in by way of the porch of the East Gate.
Though there will be a cleansing of the land as we read in chapter 39, and though there will be a restoration of the land of Israel as we have read so many times, the earth itself will not be restored to its former state of glory, as it was before the overthrow of Satan in the first earth age, until after the Millennium when the seas will be dried up (Rev. 21:1) and the water canopy will be returned and the earth will be set aright on its axis. It will be at that time that He "makes all things new" (Rev. 21:5). Meanwhile the sun will still rise in the east and the moon shall still be seen at even.Ezekiel 46:1
Thus saith the Lord GOD; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened.
And so it shall be during the Millennium that on each sabbath day the east gate shall be opened. Do you recall in chapter 43 that the Glory of the Lord, Jesus Christ, entered through the East Gate and afterwards the gate was shut (44:2)? It is written that only the prince will be allowed to enter in by the way of the porch of that gate.
Let's review what we read in chapter 44.
Ezekiel 44:2
Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.
The prince, however, shall not only enter by the way of the porch of that gate, he will also go out the same way he came in. Here in chapter 46 we are now going to see what it is he shall do when he enters that East Gate.[3]It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.
So the prince will enter through the vestibule to the post of the gate and he will give his burnt offering and peace offerings to the priests on behalf of the people and the nation, and the priests shall prepare them for presentation to the Lord. The prince shall go no further than the threshold of the Inner East Gate and there he shall worship the Lord, at that threshold of the East Gate.Ezekiel 46:2
And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate without, and shall stand by the post of the gate, and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate: then he shall go forth; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening.
The prince will be accompanied by the people of the land, but the people shall not enter by way of the porch. They will stand without and worship at the door of the gate.[3] Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the LORD in the sabbaths and in the new moons.
Also, remember we read in the last chapter (45:17) that it is the prince's duty to give the offerings for the reconciliation of the house of Israel. So we are now going to see that on the sabbath day (vs. 46:4-5) and in the day of the new moon (vs. 46:6-7) the prince will enter in at the porch of the East Gate and the people will assemble without, worshipping at the door. Then in verse 9 we shall see that during the solemn feasts the people will not worship at the door of the East Gate, rather they will also enter in, only it will be through the north and south gates.
* Here are the offerings to be given on the sabbath (weekly):
* Here are the offerings to be given in day of the new moon (moon is "chodesh" in Hebrew, meaning month, i.e. monthly):Ezekiel 46:4
And the burnt offering that the prince shall offer unto the LORD in the sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish.[5] And the meat offering shall be an ephah for a ram, and the meat offering for the lambs as he shall be able to give, and an hin of oil to an ephah.
This is the same as we read in chapter 44, verse 3. The prince goes in and comes out the same way. However, at the solemn feasts, i.e. appointed times, the prince will enter in as before but the people shall enter in through the north and south gates.Ezekiel 46:6
And in the day of the new moon it shall be a young bullock without blemish, and six lambs, and a ram: they shall be without blemish.[7] And he shall prepare a meat offering, an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs according as his hand shall attain unto, and an hin of oil to an ephah.
[8] And when the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of that gate, and he shall go forth by the way thereof.
Why must the people not "turn back" but rather exit through the opposite gate from that which they entered? If you look at the diagram of the Temple in appendix 88 in the Companion Bible, you will see that in order to enter in at the north gate and exit through the south gate (or vice versa), you must pass by the East Gate, even the East Gate of the Inner Court.Ezekiel 46:9
But when the people of the land shall come before the LORD in the solemn feasts, he that entereth in by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by the way of the south gate; and he that entereth by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate: he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go forth over against it.
Again, if you refer to the diagram of the Temple, you will see that the prince would be in the midst of the people when standing at the East Gate. He will enter in when the people enter in and leave when they all leave.[10] And the prince in the midst of them, when they go in, shall go in; and when they go forth, shall go forth.
* Here are the offerings to be given in feasts and in the solemnities:
There will also be other times, i.e. special occasions, when the prince will prepare offerings of sacrifice and thanksgiving.Ezekiel 46:11
And in the feasts and in the solemnities the meat offering shall be an ephah to a bullock, and ephah to a ram, and to the lambs as he is able to give, and an hin of oil to an ephah.
Again, it is the prince's duty to offer for the nation. The "one" referred to here who opens and shuts the gate is "the gatekeeper".[12] Now when the prince shall prepare a voluntary burnt offering or peace offerings voluntarily unto the LORD, one shall then open him the gate that looketh toward the east, and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, as he did on the sabbath day: then he shall go forth; and after his going forth one shall shut the gate.
We should be reminded that in the Millennium the primary purpose of the teaching, lead by the priests of the Zadok, is first to teach the "spiritually dead" people the difference between that which is holy and that which is not, i.e. profane, and then the tough part, which is to cause them to discern for themselves between the unclean and the clean. The reason this is so important is because Satan will be released for that short season after the 1000 years has elapsed and they will make their own free will choice whether or not to follow him or remain loyal to Christ.
Here is a review of the duties of the priests of the Zadok:
Righteous judgments and the strict adherence to God laws and statutes by both individuals and nations along with the solemnity and hallowing of His sabbaths are all part of that process designed to turn the children's love to their Father. What a contrast the total peace on earth for that 1000 years will be to the unrest and violence of the previous 6,000 years and even the first earth age spoken of by Peter as "the world that then was", the one that perished (2 Pet. 3:6).Ezekiel 44:23
And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.[24] And in controversy they shall stand in judgment; and they shall judge it according to my judgments: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all mine assemblies; and they shall hallow my sabbaths.
* So does it seem like there are a lot of "offerings" and "sacrificing" going on in the Millennium?Ezekiel 46:13
Thou shalt daily prepare a burnt offering unto the LORD of a lamb of the first year without blemish: thou shalt prepare it every morning.
For many who even call themselves Christians in these last days, worshipping God is something they do just on the weekend (though Sunday is considered the first day of the week), while God's elect give their offerings of thanks and praise everyday by telling Him each and every day that they love Him so much and then they give their offerings of sacrifice by keeping His commands which include daily studying and with prayer rightly dividing His Word (2 Tim. 2:15) and then they plant "seeds" whenever fertile ground is made ready. And they do all that because they WANT TO, because they love their Father and what He has done for us all including the supreme sacrifice He made FOR US! Do they think of their love and service to Him as sacrifice? No they do not, yet that is how our Father sees it and it pleases Him greatly and so He blesses them.No, the sacrifices in the Millennium will not be of blood and sacrificial animals any more than it is today, but they must be of the same spirit of love and service that causes those who truly believe in Jesus Christ to hunger and thirst after righteousness... every day.
We are now going to change subjects. One of the things we learned in chapter 44 about the Millennium is that the priests of Zadok, God's elect who make all those sacrifices now and are the only ones who will be able to come near unto Him during the Millennium, will not be given an inheritance in the land of Israel. Why? Well, part of their eternal reward is that they will be "joint heirs" of "all things" with Yeshua (Rom. 8:17) for as it is written in chapter 44 that He (the I AM) is their inheritance.[14] And thou shalt prepare a meat offering for it every morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of an hin of oil, to temper with the fine flour; a meat offering continually by a perpetual ordinance unto the LORD.[15] Thus shall they prepare the lamb, and the meat offering, and the oil, every morning for a continual burnt offering.
However, all others of all the twelve tribes of the house of Israel shall receive inheritance in the land and they shall have possessions in the land. In fact, we are going to read the details of the land division in the last two chapters (47 & 48).Ezekiel 44:28
And it shall be unto them for an inheritance: I am their inheritance: and ye shall give them no possession in Israel: I am their possession.
The word "sons" is used here in the widest sense to mean any of the prince's subjects and not his literal offspring.Ezekiel 46:16
Thus saith the Lord GOD; If the prince give a gift unto any of his sons, the inheritance thereof shall be his sons'; it shall be their possession by inheritance.
Here is the definition from Strong's Concordance:
So if the prince gives a gift of his inheritance to a "son" then it shall be that son's permanently. However, if he gifts it to a servant it shall remain his only unto the Jubilee year when it shall be returned to the prince.son = ben, bane, Hebrew 1121; from Hebrew 1129 (banah); a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., ...
The land belongs to Israel and shall remain so. The law of the Jubilee, the 50th year, can be found in Leviticus 25:10 "And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.[17] But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, then it shall be his to the year of liberty; after it shall return to the prince: but his inheritance shall be his sons' for them.
The words underlined in the previous paragraph are inscribed on our Liberty Bell. We as a nation did not and still do not obey the laws of the Jubilee year, but in the Millennium we shall!
The executive branch of Israel and of all nations will definitely have limited powers which will be subject to veto by the Zadok.[18] Moreover the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance by oppression, to thrust them out of their possession; but he shall give his sons inheritance out of his own possession: that my people be not scattered every man from his possession.
Would you believe that Ezekiel is still not finished with his tour of the house? Here he goes again.
The phrase "on the two sides" means "on the farthest side" (See note in Companion Bible).Ezekiel 46:19
After he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers of the priests, which looked toward the north: and, behold, there was a place on the two sides westward.
This concerns the priests of the Inner Court, i.e. the priests of the Zadok, who do not go out into the outer court except they change their garments.[20] Then said he unto me, This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, where they shall bake the meat offering; that they bear them not out into the utter court, to sanctify the people.
Remember we read of that in chapter 44:19 concerning the priests of the Zadok?
Next Ezekiel is taken to the outer (utter) court and gets to tour all four corners of the outer court. This tour can be done much faster in a "vision" than on roller blades or a skateboard.Ezekiel 44:19
And when they go forth into the utter court, even into the utter court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered, and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments; and they shall not sanctify the people with their garments.
Ezekiel 46:21
Then he brought me forth into the utter court, and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and, behold, in every corner of the court there was a court.
All four corners were identical in size, 40 cubits by 30 cubits which is 1200 square cubits.[22] In the four corners of the court there were courts joined of forty cubits long and thirty broad: these four corners were of one measure.
The expression "there was a row of building round about them" means that there was an enclosure as pictured in the diagram. In other words they were small compounds.[23] And there was a row of building round about in them, round about them four, and it was made with boiling places under the rows round about.
These are not the ministers of the altar in the Inner Court, i.e. the Zadok referred to in verse 20, but rather those ministers of the house, who minister unto the people. Are you still with us "in the spirit" when it comes to the sacrifices during the Millennium? When we think of "boiling" our minds usually think of water coming to a boil in a pot or cauldron. However, physical water (H2O) won't cook love, will it? Anyway, to "boil" the sacrifices of the people simply means to prepare and bring forth their sacrifices.[24] Then said he unto me, These are the places of them that boil, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people.
Speaking of water, in our the next chapter Ezekiel is going to see "waters" issue forth from under the threshold of the house and become a river so deep he cannot swim across it. (Not literally, silly! This is still a vision, remember?)
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