Offerings

[Mpossoff]

Hebrews 9:13-14For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to G-d.

Hebrews 10:4For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

Scratching my head here.

Got to a point in the study in Exodus where we are to understand the differences between the above two verses.

I just learned that the blood of bulls and goats does sanctify the flesh. To worship Him today so you can go into the Temple and not die.

Now I get to the part of the verse how much more shall the blood of Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to G-d. Now at this present time it was either that these Jews were not allowed in the Temple or there wasn't a Temple....

So I believe that this is saying that Messiah "took the place". Since you are not allowed in the Temple or there is no Temple, Messiah "offering" is better.

But if that's the case then what happens when He comes back and we worship Him in the Temple?

I'm confused. The offerings from what I learned where to "cover" you when you went into worship.

But again if the blood of Messiah "took the place" since there isn't a Temple and/or not allowed in the Temple how does the offerings come into play?

Marc

[Mark]

Hi Marc,

I see the confusion. It is common for us to interpret the word "if" as "since" in sentence structures like Hebrews 9. However the Greek word "ei" is preposition of conditionality. If could be interpretted "if it were so" or "even if it were so" and thereby consistent with Hebrews 10:4.

There is also a difference between "saved" and "sanctified". Such evidence of this is 1st Corinthians 7:14.
For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.
(1Co 7:14 KJV)

[R' Y'hoshua Moshe]

Hebrews 10:4For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins in the same way that Messiah's sacrifice does. And, this is an important reason and scripture to bring up when it comes to pointing out that the priesthood of Messiah is different than that of the priesthood of Levi. They don't compete with each other...they actually compliment each other. The offering of the Levitical Priesthood is simply like a confession of sin or similar other confessions that draws us close to Elohim. It of course would be unlawful for us to offer animal sacrifices today without a Temple in Yerushalayim (according to ). But, this system was and once again will be an elaborate confession system. Similarly, our prayers and repentance and offering "fruits worthy of repentance" (Luke 3:8) does not compete with Messiah's sacrifice or Priesthood. In this way, I view the two priesthoods operating together in harmony.

Messiah's sacrifice and Priesthood actually allows for transformation of the Spirit to a state that changes our carnal nature so that sins are actually no longer committed. Therefore, when this happens it more effectively removes and covers sin...permanently. The scripture does not say in vain, "I can do all things through Messiah, who strengthens me.". If the blood of bulls and goats never truly took away sin like Messiah's sacrifice did and does...than the Levitical Priesthood serves a different purpose as compared to Messiah's Priesthood. And indeed, they will operate in harmony together in the future (read the book of Yechezk'el/Ezekiel). Another difference between the two priesthoods is that Messiah's sacrifice also covers sin in our life in which there was -no- offering or sacrifice available with the Temple System...such as death penalty offenses. In addition, the Levitical priesthood did not and will not save the individual's soul eternally...only Yeshua's ministry and Priesthood can accomplish this...but again, this was never the purpose of the Levitical Priesthood.

We currently have a thread touching on these various subjects:
The Temple And The Priesthood

Shalom,

Reuel