Saturday, September 26, 2009

Sin Offerings

Ezekiel 45:17
(17) It shall be the prince's duty to furnish the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the feasts, the new moons, and the Sabbaths, all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel: he shall provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings, to make atonement on behalf of the house of Israel.

This verse is a bit confusing to me as is the whole temple narrative. Here we see that the prince has to provide for sin offerings. If this points forward to a temple at the end of time then this seems impossible. Christ has paid for sin in a once-for-all sacrifice. Therefore, there has to be a different understanding of this text.

I suppose that it is possible that this text had its fulfillment in the second temple that was around when Jesus was born. However, I don't think that is the case.

Maybe it has its fulfillment in a temple that will be built before the second coming. My question is why God's glory will fill the temple if the Jews were not atoned for by Christ's sacrifice on the cross. We know that He doesn't want the blood of animals anymore.

Frankly, I'm kind of stuck on this one. I can use my Deuteronomy 29:29 safe exit for anything I don't understand, but this one does puzzle me. Then again, I'm not sure how critical it is for me to come to a decision on this text either.

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