Page 159 - Eschatology - Masters revised

people. We also know that there will be perfect peace among the nations and even the curse of the
creation will be lifted.

The lion will lay down with the lamb. Harvests will be so plentiful that it will be time for planting a new
crop before they can finish bringing the old crop in (Amos 9:13). Perfect weather and overflowing
bounty will make work a joy instead of a burdensome toil. Long life spans will return as sickness and
disease again become rare occurrences (Isaiah 65:20). The cities will be filled with boys and girls playing
there (Zech. 8:4-5). Jesus Christ will settle all disputes between the nations. They will not take up arms
against each other, nor will they even train for war anymore (Isaiah 2:4). Every man will sit under his
own vine and under his own fig tree and no one will make them afraid (Micah 4:4).

The only holidays will be the Passover, Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of Tabernacles (Ezekiel 40-46).
We won’t have traditional church services, but rather our system of worship will become more like a
synagogue system of worship as developed by Ezekiel during the Babylonian captivity.

As men live in this perfect kingdom, they still are born with a nature to sin. Eventually, the rebellion of
mankind finds expression in the last major human event at the conclusion of the millennial kingdom.

Temple and Sacrifices

A Millennial temple will be constructed (Ezekiel 40-44) where animal sacrifices will be offered.
The fact that animal sacrifices will be offered at this temple raises a number of questions.

First, let’s ask the question of who will be sinning during the Millennial Kingdom? On the first day of the
Millennial Kingdom only justified people, Jews and Gentiles, who have put their faith in Christ for eternal
life, will be living on earth. But as they reproduce to fill the earth, these children are not born justified
before God. They will be born as sinners who need to believe in Jesus Christ and His sacrificial death on
the cross for eternal life. Some will believe, some will not. But all of the people living in normal bodies
on the earth will commit sin. Though King Jesus will rule with a righteous rod of iron and limit the sinful
acts one is able to carry out, people will still have sinful desires, attitudes and motivation.

Second, what need will there be for animal sacrifices for sin, since Jesus has already died on the cross to
pay the penalty for all sin? Hasn’t the penalty for their sin already been paid? Let’s look at Hebrews
9:11-15. These verses assure us that the blood of sacrificial animals never paid the penalty for sin.

Hebrews 9:11–15 (NIV84)11 When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here,
he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a
part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the
Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 The blood of
goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them
so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the
eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death,
so that we may serve the living God! 15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that
those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom
to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

Only the shed blood of Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross paid the penalty for our sin. The
animal blood that was sprinkled on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant once a year, on the Day of

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