Friday, May 7, 2021

Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum on the Millennial System of Priesthood and Sacrifice in Ezekiel 44-46

 

 

The Millennial System of Priesthood and Sacrifice –

Ezekiel 44:1-46:24

 

These three chapters of Ezekiel are concerned with the various laws regulating the millennial system of priesthood and sacrifice. To summarize, there will be a sacrificial system instituted in the Millennium that will have some features similar to the Mosaic system, along with some new laws. For that very reason, the sacrifice system of the Millennium must not be viewed as a reinstitution of the Mosaic system, because it is not. It will be a new system that will contain some things old and some things new and will be instituted for an entirely different purpose.

 

A common argument against taking these verses literally is the question as to why such a system would be necessary since the Messiah has already died. If the death of Christ was the final sacrifice for sin, how could these animal sacrifices provide an expiation for sin? Therefore, some way, these chapters would suddenly become meaningless. Furthermore, if all that detail is intended to be symbolic, the symbols are never explained and the non-literalist is forced to be subjective in expounding them and must resort to guess work. The literal approach is the safest method to gain understanding of these passages.

 

What will be the purpose of these sacrifices in light of Christ’s death? To begin with, it should be remembered that the sacrificial system of the Mosaic Law did not remove sins either (Heb. 10:4), but only covered them (the meaning of “atonement” in Hebrew). Its purpose was to serve as a physical and visual picture of what the Messiah would do (Isa. 53:10-12). The Church has been commanded to keep the Lord’s Supper as a physical and visual picture of what Christ did on the cross. God intends to provide for Israel in the kingdom a physical and visual picture of what the Messiah accomplished on the cross. For Israel, however, it will be a sacrificial system instead of communion with bread and wine. The purpose of the sacrificial system in the kingdom will be the same as the purpose of communion of the Church: in remembrance of me.

 

Dr. John C. Whitcomb of Grace Theological Seminary provides an additional and significant dispensational perspective on the millennial sacrifices (John C. Whitcomb, “Christ Atonement and Animal Sacrifices in Israel,” Grace Theological Journal 6;2 [1985]:201-217). The subscript of the article summarizes his position:

 

The future function of the millennial temple (Ezekiel 40-48) has long been problematic for dispensations in view of the finished work of Christ. Light is shed on this problem by noting the original theocratic purpose of OT sacrifices. This purpose was functionally distinct from that of the redemptive work of Christ. Millennial sacrifices will not simply memorialize Christ’s redemption but will primarily function in restoring theocratic harmony. The differences between the Old Covenant stipulations and those of Ezekiel 40-48 can be accounted for in terms of this solution. (Ibid., p. 201)

 

Whitcomb emphasizes that there was a functional difference between the purpose of the animal sacrifices and the purpose of Christ’s sacrifice (Ibid., pp. 208-210). To the question, “What was the true function of animal sacrifices in the Old Covenant?” Whitcomb responds that “animal sacrifices could never remove spiritual guilt from the offerer,” citing Hebrews 10:4 and 11 as evidence. This, of course, is something that has general agreement among all theologians of all schools. But Whitcomb also points out that “it is equally erroneous to say that the sacrifices were mere teaching symbols given by God to Israel to prepare them for Messiah and his infinite atonement.” While this was certainly a purpose of animal sacrifices, “it could not have been their exclusive purpose from the perspective of Old Covenant Israelites.” Citing a number of clear statements form the Law of Moses, Whitcomb shows what the animal sacrifices did with regard to forgiveness and atonement. The real issue is not whether forgiveness and atonement took place, but rather the “precise nature” of this forgiveness and atonement. Whitcomb states that whatever happened was “temporal, finite, external, and legal—not eternal, infinite, internal, and soteriological.” His point is that this forgiveness and atonement was not a spiritual one, for “No one was every spiritually regenerated by works, not even by fulfilling legally prescribed sacrifices, offerings and other Mosaic requirements.” The Old Testament believer received his spiritual salvation because of “a heart response to whatever special revelation of God was available a that time in history,” but this saving faith did not necessarily include a knowledge of a crucified Messiah since such a view “does not do justice to the progress of revelation.” While the death of the Messiah “has always been and always will be the final basis of spiritual salvation,” this is not the same as saying that it was the “knowledge-content” of saving faith. It was faith and not the work of an animal sacrifice that saved. What the animal sacrifices of the Law of Moses did achieve was “national/theocratic forgiveness” for “national/theocratic transgressions.” They provided for external cleansing and outward efficacy. Under the Mosaic Law, the choice was not “either faith or sacrifices; rather, it was to be both faith and sacrifices.” The former resulted in spiritual salvation and the later for the cleanness of the flesh in accordance with Hebrews 9:13.

 

Applying these truths to the millennial sacrifices, Whitcomb affirms that “future sacrifices will have nothing to do with eternal salvation which only comes through faith in God.” However, these future animal sacrifices will also be efficacious, but “only in terms of the strict provision for ceremonial (and thus temporal) forgiveness within the theocracy of Israel.” Whitcomb’s conclusion on this point is:

 

Thus, animal sacrifices during the coming Kingdom age will not be primarily memorial (like the eucharist in church communion services), any more than sacrifices in the age of the Old Covenant were primarily prospective or prophetic in the understanding of the offerer. (Ibid., p. 210)

 

The distinction between ceremonial and spiritual atonement is by no means a minor one, for it is at the heart of the basic difference between the theocracy of Israel and the Church, the Body and bride of Christ. It also provides a more consistent hermeneutical approach for dispensational premillennialism. (Ibid., p. 211)

 

Whitcomb also rejects the notion that the millennial sacrifice is a reinstitution of the Mosaic and notes that the differences between the two systems means that the millennial sacrificial system is a distinct system arising out of the New Covenant, not the Mosaic Covenant. (Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, Israeology: The Missing Link in Systematic Theology [San Antonio, Tex.: Ariel Ministries, 1989, 2020], 745-47)