The Sacrifices Return

In my last post I asked, at the end of the post, “If Jesus was the messiah and his job was to take away the sins of the world and to end the sacrificial system, why is that same system going to be put back in place?” By now most of you reading this certainly know that I don't believe that Jesus was a god or a messiah of any kind but I still asked the question because right there in the bible, the Christian version at that, it makes it very clear that the sacrificial system is going to return in the future, all this can be found in the book of Ezekiel.

The book of Ezekiel is a very interesting book. Ezekiel was a prophet that was with the people in the exile at the time of his visions from G-d. Many people have not read much of it except for a few choice passages such as the “valley of dry bones” found in chapter 37 or the UFO vision in chapter one.

The history of the Christian church even suggests that there were a number of people who didn't want the book of Ezekiel included in the Christian bible because of the visions, like the UFO incident, and because it is worded differently then the other prophets, but I would suggest to you that the real reason can be found in the last part of Ezekiel.

Starting with chapter 40, Ezekiel is taken in vision to Israel, where he is shown the dimensions of the temple that is to be built, as well as it's implements. He is also shown where and when “the prince” as well as the common people would enter and exit the temple and even who would serve as the priests.

Now some might argue and try to suggest that this is nothing more then a description of the 2^nd temple that was built after the exile but that would be wrong.

These descriptions all come after the return of the people of Israel to their ancestral homeland and after the battle of Gog-Magog (see chapter 39) neither of which has happened as of yet. Israel has not returned to the days of King David or Solomon when their nation spread over an area almost the size of the United States.

Now look at Ezekiel 47:1-12

These verses speaks of water that will run from the temple that will into the great sea and all along this river there will be abundant fishing and abundant food growing on those trees and the leaves of the trees will be for the healing of the nations. None of this has happened as of yet so it is clearly speaking of a future time.

The point I am trying to say to you is actually quite simple. The nation of Israel will be restored to it's former and better glory. The temple will be rebuilt and the sacrifices will return. It's all right there in Ezekiel, I didn't make it up.

For the record I asked several pastors what they thought of the passages in Ezekiel. I was told that they had wonderful explanations for it and that they would get back to me. I haven't heard a word.

If Christians would slow down and actually read what is written in the prophets, instead of relying on pastors or, 90 day reading plans, they might actually come to realize that much of what they have been taught isn't even remotely biblical.

I was going to quote large chunks of these chapters to make the point but I am guessing that if you are still reading this that you either have looked for yourself or your about to (and I would encourage you to do so) I am not telling you this for my own benefit, I want you to go and read it and then decide if what is written there is true. If you believe that the bible is the written word of G-d and that the prophets, including Ezekiel, were repeating what G-d told them, then you are going to have to make a decision as to what you believe.

Blessings, Shalom.