Contemporary historians argue that since late Antiquity the cessation of public animal sacrifices within the Judeo-Christian world is irreversible. A leading scholar who supports this idea is Gedalyahu Guy Stroumsa, emeritus professor of Comparative Religion at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, and the founder of the Abrahamic Religions’ chair at Oxford University. Stroumsa claims that the sacrificing priest and Levite have either disappeared or retreated into oblivion. “Let the madness of sacrifices end!” he quoted one ancient source.
No end of sacrifices
However, biblical prophecy forecasts the opposite, mainly with regard to Ezekiel’s future Temple. The eschatological Temple of Messiah Yeshua during the Millennium (Revelation 20: 1-6) clearly points to the soon re-establishment of the institution of animal sacrifices. This revolutionary liturgical restoration aims, to a great extent, to replace humanistic reasoning with supernatural logic. Besides, the re-introduction of the sacrificial vocabulary will also promote global awareness to Messiah’s own sacrificial “ransom for many” (Matt 20:28; Mark 10:45). Such a...
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3 responses to “Ezekiel’s Temple – Metaphorical or Concrete? (Part 3)”
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This is an interesting take, Gershon.
I have often thought about the possibility or the necessity of a temple when Yeshua returns.
And I am surprised that all the end times “experts” haven’t come out full on debating yet again the myriad interpretations of what that end time will play out 🙂
It seems there is always a physical and spiritual dimension to Scripture. In my mind, the Temple will be rebuilt, but I understand those who only believe in the spiritual dimension.
The physical temple and sacrifices were always a mirror of higher spiritual realities. When the Messiah returns, will he stay at the level of animal offerings or will he bring down the true heavenly realities of the sacrificial system so that we (not animals) are transformed by these spiritual encounters?