If We Could, Would We?

I was asked recently about the sacrificial system and whether believers in the New Testament had any responsibility to those commandments today. In other words, if the Temple was standing today and the priesthood was functioning, would those who believe in Yeshua participate in that system?

My answer was yes and based upon the example that we have in the New Testament itself, where we find all of the Jewish believers continuing to go to the Temple. We find explicitly that Jacob instructed Paul to go to the Temple and pay for and make sacrifices for himself and for four others.

The offerings required by Torah for a Nazirite vow included: A female lamb (ewe) as a sin offering, a male lamb as a burnt offering (olah), and a ram as a peace offering (shelamim), as well as a basket of unleavened bread, grain offerings, and drink offerings (Numbers 6:14–16).

Paul and the other disciples all continued to go to the Temple. Paul, at the risk of death, continued to make arduous journeys to Jerusalem to go to the Temple for the three pilgrimage feasts of Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot, all of which were centered around the sacrificial offerings prescribed for each feast.

The Temple participation of the early followers of Yeshua continued until the destruction of the Temple. We read nothing in their writings that would lead us to believe that they felt it was inconsistent with faith in Yeshua’s sacrifice to participate in the sacrificial system of the Temple.

You may be wondering, how do you reconcile your beliefs with the writings of Hebrews, which clearly state that Yeshua’s sacrifice was once and for all, as we read in Hebrews 7:27:

“He has no need to offer up sacrifices day by day like those other kohanim g’dolim—first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people. For when He offered up Himself, He did this once for all.”

Or Hebrews 10:10:

“By His will we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Messiah Yeshua once for all.”

My answer to this question is found in Hebrews 9:11–14:

“But when Messiah appeared as Kohen Gadol of the good things that have now come, passing through the greater and more perfect Tent not made with hands (that is to say, not of this creation), 12 He entered into the Holies once for all—not by the blood of goats and calves but by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Messiah—who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God—cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

Too often, when believers read these verses from Hebrews 9, they miss a key statement made in the text, often because most believers are relatively unfamiliar with the Biblical Feasts. This lack of familiarity results in them missing something foundational to understanding not only this text, but also why Paul and the other disciples continued to participate in Temple worship and the sacrificial system.

Notice in verses 11 and 12 that Yeshua entered the greater and more perfect Tent and entered into the Holies once and for all. To understand what is being stated in these verses, we first have to recognize that the Kohen Gadol, or High Priest, only entered the Holies one time a year on Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement. When he did enter, he sprinkled the blood of the atonement sacrifice upon the Ark of the Covenant once and for all. He did this one time a year, “once,” and this atonement sacrifice was made for “all.”

The fact that the writer of Hebrews is using this event from Yom Kippur as the explanation for what was provided by Yeshua’s offering of Himself for us is extremely significant. But in order for this to be understood, we must remember that Yeshua didn’t die on Yom Kippur. He died on Passover. So, if He died on Passover, then why is the author of Hebrews using the language and explanation from Yom Kippur?

The writer of Hebrews understood what we need to understand today: that while Yeshua’s death, burial, and resurrection all took place during the eight days associated with Passover, and through His death He became our Passover, once Yeshua left this world, He also left the confines and constraints of time. Having done so, outside of time, He entered into the heavenly Tabernacle and fulfilled, once and for all time, the application of the blood in the Heavenlies. Because Yeshua did this outside of time, the blood He applied was not only for one year; it made atonement, or covered all sins, from all time and for all time.

However, what Yeshua did once and for all took place outside of time. His doing so did not erase our responsibilities inside of time. Paul and the disciples understood this truth, and because they understood this, they continued to make sin offerings in the Temple up until the Temple was destroyed. They didn’t do this because they didn’t believe the atonement Yeshua provided was good enough or effective enough. They did it because they continued to follow the commandments and example given to them because they believed in the power of the once and for all sacrifice of Yeshua.

They were freed from the bondage of sin, and that freedom gave them the freedom to be obedient without condemnation. So, to answer the question in the title of this article: if we could, would we? My answer is yes, if there was a Temple standing and a Priesthood serving. As long as we understand what was provided by the once and for all sacrifice of Yeshua outside of time for all time, then we, like Paul and the other disciples, would find no contradiction in making sacrifices within time until time is no more.