Ted's Response:

I will say that I probably disagree with most people about this topic. Many look at the temple, the priests, and the sacrifices and sin offerings in Ezekiel 40-46 and say that this must be the third temple built in Jerusalem, where end-time sacrifices and offerings will take place, prior to the return of Jesus. Others say that it is the millennial Temple, after Jesus returns, but that the sacrifices and sin offerings must be figurative or symbolic, since Jesus was the final sacrifice for our sins.

Very simply, I believe that Ezekiel 40-46 describes the millennial Temple and that sacrifices and sin offerings will take place in it, just as they did in the first and second temples in ancient Jerusalem. There are several reasons why I believe this, but I will give you three:

1) The last enemy of God to be destroyed, which will occur at the end of the Millennium, will be death (1 Corinthians 15:26; Revelation 20:14). Since the wage of sin is death (Romans 6:23), then there will be sin, committed by mortal people (not glorified saints), during the Millennium. Otherwise, Jesus and the glorified believers would not need to rule them with an "iron scepter" (Revelation 2:27, 12:5, 19:15). Furthermore, multitudes of sinners will be deceived by Satan, after he is released from the Abyss, and will gather for a final battle against Jesus (Revelation 20:7-9).

Therefore, since sin will be present during that 1,000-year period, there will be animal sacrifices to atone for that sin for the mortal people living during that time. Zechariah 14:20,21 even indicates that there will be cooking pots in Jerusalem and Judah and in the Lord's house (millennial Temple). All who come to sacrifice will cook the slain animals in these pots.

2) Jesus did not come to abolish the Law or Torah; He came to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). Furthermore, nothing from the Law or Torah will disappear until the present heaven and earth pass away (5:18), which will not be until the end of the Millennium (Revelation 20:11, 21:1). The Torah was filled with specifications, requirements, and conditions for sacrifices (for instance, in Leviticus 23:12,19,37, Deuteronomy 12:6,11,27, and in numerous other places).

3) The ancient sacrificial laws, given by God to Moses, never were associated with salvation. That is, the priests of Israel did not perform so that they or the people could attain eternal salvation; they were done to atone for sins, temporarily, until the next sin was committed.

For mortal people, imputed righteousness and justification, along with eternal salvation, involve accepting and confessing that Jesus is Lord and believing that He was raised from the dead (Romans 10:9,10). Many sinful, prideful mortals in the world during the Millennium will refuse to acknowledge that this Jesus—sitting in the millennial Temple in Jerusalem as the earth’s King—is their personal Lord and Savior or that He is the same Jesus who lived way back in the first century. They are the ones who will need to be ruled with an "iron scepter" (Revelation 2:27, 12:5, 19:15), due to their disobedience and sinful acts; and if they fail to bow their knees and give their allegiance to Jesus, before they die, they will be eternally lost.

Multitudes of others will attain eternal salvation because they will embrace Jesus as Lord and will understand that He, obviously, has risen from the dead. However, their day-to-day sins (which they will commit because they will not yet have been changed into glorified, incorruptible forms) will need to be atoned for by sacrifices, enabling them to live happy, productive and fulfilling lives for as long as they exist in their mortal bodies.

I understand very well that many Christians attempt to allegorize and rationalize passages in the last few chapters of Ezekiel's view into the future, signifying that animal sacrifices will take place after Jesus returns. However, look at the following passages:

In the portico of the gateway were two tables on each side, on which the burnt offerings, sin offerings and guilt offerings were slaughtered. ... So there were four tables on one side of the gateway and four on the other—eight tables in all—on which the sacrifices were slaughtered. (Ezekiel 40:39,41)

Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: These will be the regulations for sacrificing burnt offerings and sprinkling blood upon the altar when it is built. ... On the second day you are to offer a male goat without defect for a sin offering, and the altar is to be purified as it was purified with the bull. When you have finished purifying it, you are to offer a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without defect. You are to offer them before the LORD, and the priests are to sprinkle salt on them and sacrifice them as a burnt offering to the LORD. (Ezekiel 43:18,22-24)

But the priests, who are Levites and descendants of Zadok and who faithfully carried out the duties of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, are to come near to minister before me; they are to stand before me to offer sacrifices of fat and blood, declares the Sovereign LORD. (Ezekiel 44:15)

Around the inside of each of the four courts was a ledge of stone, with places for fire built all around under the ledge. He said to me, "These are the kitchens where those who minister at the temple will cook the sacrifices of the people." (Ezekiel 46:23,24)