Not a problem by me. I would have it be pleasant conversation with everyone here, but the men have a way of insulting my intelligence sometimes that gets my Irish up. Maybe I should just stick with talking to women. :)
I think our confusion is that you think I'm suggesting they or God would ever endorse returning to the old covenant, which I am not. I'm simply telling you that the reinstatement of observance of the sacrifices, food laws, festivals, etc would serve as reminders of the higher spiritual truths God was all along trying to communicate through them, and not just the truth of Christ's sacrifice in our place. For instance, eating "unclean foods" represented taking within oneself unclean spirits, such as the Gentiles readily did. This our God does not allow, so the laws about eating anything unclean were given to reflect this.
I do understand...sort of, what you are saying. I'm just struggling to see if it makes sense to me. Let me try and use an analogy to explain how I see this:
In the lead up to Christmas, kids are always keen for their presents. In their eagerness, they often stare at their presents, wondering what they might be, looking forward to the day they might open them. But for now, the wrapped present is a close as they get, as good as they get to what might be inside. Imagine, after that wonderful day had come and gone, if, instead of looking (and playing) with the toy, they went back to gazing longingly at the disgarded wrapping paper, remembering what had been in it and wishing to hold it again, ignoring the present toy? How strange and self defeating would that be? Would not the toy be shouting, "here I am! Pick me up, look at me!!"
We have Christ now, in a very real sense, and he did not tell us to sacrifice to remember him. But in the Millennium, he
will be bodily present, but you still seem to think that it would be good to go back...to staring at the wrapping paper, instead of gazing at him?
This is how I see what you are saying. I understand, verbally, what you are saying, but I cannot connect it to anything I read in scripture that tells us about our relationship with Christ now or in the future! Can you?
It's strange. A lot of things I can go, "I don't really see it enough that I believe it, but you know, it could say that, so maybe...."....but I really am struggling (you may have noticed!!) with this issue. To me, even the notion of using death, and something that was incomplete and lacking in it's very nature, to remember what Christ did, when Christ bought us something so much better to be
with us, not just so we could remember, but so we could commune! Pray one on one! What better way of remembering and glorifiying our Lord could there be?
As for welcoming evil spirits within oneself (i.e. jealousy, hatred, prejudice, envy, lust, etc), I certainly still hold this as a possibility during the Millennium, since they will still abide in human flesh, and as I said before that is what opens the door for temptations and jealousies. Only Satan is said to be bound for 1,000 years. Nothing is said about demons being bound with him.
This is just one example of a whole host of truths that are reflected in the Jewish customs. It is not all just about Christ's sacrifice for us. :)
Yes, LoL. But to state they won't defile it when the whole idea of corpses in Heaven is preposterous to begin with sort of makes the saying... superfluous. :)
This one is about the Old Covenant, which I agree has been rendered obsolete.
This is an encouragement to the Gentiles that they need not worry about the OT commandments to the Jews that restricted the Gentiles from being granted full access to God. There existed "hostility" between God and the Gentiles, and because of this they were not allowed into the Inner Court of the temple or they would die. Christ's sacrifice did away with this hostility, making Gentiles and Jews one in Christ through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
This one's fulfillment will not come until after the Millennium.
Yes, they all touch on different aspects, but they all speak to how, in Christ, a new and better way has come. I think I must still stand on Christ and his presence to outweigh any need to go back to sacrifices, even if only for rememberance. I think I claim this because the sacrifices would not just be a token 'bread braking' to remember what Christ had done all those years ago. It would involve death...more...it would involve killing. And while you may think that death will still be a part of the Millennium, I just don't think I can see it. I know God declared it necessary in the OT. And I know animals are not worth the lives of humans. But the bible also tells us that God cares for his animals, his creations. Can it sit well for any of us if the slaughter of animals in his 'perfect kingdom' happens just for rememberance? Especially when his sacrifice was supposed to (and most certainly did!) take care of all that?
Yes. It takes me a while of study before I can fully make sense of another system. Sometimes terms are interpreted entirely differently and it throws you off. But I'm learning that if you are going to be involved in Christian Forums of any kind, you really need to do it. Otherwise you can't converse intelligently with people who have different perspectives.
LoL! No, it's not for the Jews. It is essentially one big training lesson. Throughout history he has defeated Satan and those kingdoms who chose to serve Satan's ends; Egypt and Babylon are good examples. But mankind is very slow to learn. Look where we are going. They are going to challenge Him again, and worse than ever before when the Antichrist finally manifests himself. And the death toll on planet earth when it all goes down will be astronomical. The lesson will be why it is not a good idea to reject the mercy and grace of the True and Living God. Then He will institute a thousand year's peace to show them the wisdom in serving Him and honoring Him as Lord. But in His wisdom, He knows they will still hold some rebellion in their hearts, and forget over that length of time once more the cost of rejecting Him. So He will release Satan one more time to tempt them once more to do what He knows they want to deep in their hearts. The final destruction of Gog and Magog will be the last and final lesson in why it is foolish to rebel against Him, and after this last rebellion no one will ever again be tempted to.
All of human history is being directed towards a single end: The creation of an eternal kingdom that will never fail, never end, and never again be rebelled against.
But...does scripture actually paint this out? Doesn't it tell us that man has but one chance? Man will always revolt, no matter how many chances given. The 'chance' God has given us is Christ Jesus. We say 'yes' to him when he says "my way", or he says 'yes' to us when we say "my way". The result: different locations. But apart from one reference to 1000 years in Revelation, where is this idea of 'second chance', where people live in harmony with animals and live long lives, but still die? It's not there, not that I can see, and I have looked.
And, yes, I know of Isaiah 65, which people seem to bizarely forget starts with "Behold, I create a New Heavens and a New Earth"!
So, while it doesn't outright state anything about the Millennium, it does about the new heavens and earth, but people still demand the reference to 'death' is not symbolic of longevity...ie: people don't die!! "Well"....I've heard people say, "if the writer was meaning that people won't die, why didn't he just state that?" Good question! When Lazarus died, why didn't Jesus say that, rather than using the analogy of 'falling asleep'? The biblical writers liked to use metaphor and symbolism...they just did! But when they outright state...This is the New Heavens and the New Earth....well....mmmm, I think we need to take that. Personally!
I dunno. Honestly. But...I suppose one thing I do know...I look forward to finding out! And I'm pretty sure that if I'm wrong, I'm not going to even spare a 'dang' thought...I'll be too busy thinking about other things!
