Isaiah 66:19-23 “I will set a sign among them; and those among them who escape I will send to the nations: to Tarshish and Pul and Lud, who draw the bow, and Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off who have not heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles. (20) Then they shall bring all your brethren for an offering to the Lord out of all nations, on horses and in chariots and in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem," says the Lord, "as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. (21) And I will also take some of them for priests and Levites," says the Lord. (22) "For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me," says the Lord, "So shall your descendants and your name remain. (23) And it shall come to pass That from one New Moon to another, And from one Sabbath to another, All flesh shall come to worship before Me," says the Lord.”
The question is asked, what kind of relationship the Lord will have with the unbelieving nations during the millennium? We can answer that question by looking at the example of the relationship that the Lord had with the Jewish nation under the Old Covenant. Most of the Jews under the Old Covenant were unbelievers, and only a very small minority were counted among the saints (Romans 11:4). Nevertheless, even though most of the Jews were excluded from the kingdom of God, as a nation they still partook of God’s blessing for the sake of the fathers (Romans 11:28). And so in a similar manner, in the millennium even though the unbelieving nations will be excluded from the kingdom of God, they will still partake of God’s blessing for the sake of the saints who will reign over them. Nevertheless, even though the unbelieving Jews enjoyed a place of privilege for the sake of the fathers, God still placed restrictions on their access to Him by giving them certain ordinances that they had to observe in order to be accepted by Him. In the same manner the Lord will place restrictions on the millennial nations by giving them the same Jewish ordinances to observe in order to be accepted by Him. And so that brings us to the point which we want to discuss in this section, i.e. the sacrifices that will be offered on the altar in the temple. When God says in the above quoted passage of scripture that He will take some of them for priests and Levites, in context this passage is referring to the Lord’s saints. Although this passage is referring to the new heavens and the new earth, it also pertains to the Lord’s millennium. And so we see that during the Lord’s millennial reign, some of the saints will fulfil the role of priests. So the question is asked who they will fulfil the role of priest for. It will not be for the saints themselves, because each one of them will be priests already. But rather it will be for all the unbelievers that come before the Lord to offer their prayers.
Zechariah 14:20-21 “In that day "Holiness to the Lord" shall be engraved on the bells of the horses. The pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. (21) Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the Lord of hosts. Everyone who sacrifices shall come and take them and cook in them. In that day there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts.”
The above quoted passage of scripture mentions the sacrifices that the unbelieving nations will offer before the Lord during the millennium. And so we see that when they go to the temple during our Lord’s millennial reign, the unbelieving nations will have to be cleansed just as the Jews under the Old Covenant had to be cleansed. And just as the Jews under the Old Covenant did not have access to the cleansing blood of Christ, neither will the millennial nations have access to the cleansing blood of the Lamb of God. And so just like the Jewish nation, the millennial nations will need to be cleansed by the blood of bulls and lambs before their prayers can be offered before the Lord. The comment in this passage that “there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts”, is referring to the removal of the anti-Christ who would have been in the temple during his forty-two-month reign on the earth.
Isaiah 56:6-7 “Also the sons of the foreigner Who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, And to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants-- Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And holds fast My covenant-- (7) Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
We have already mentioned that during the millennium not every unbeliever will journey to the city of Jerusalem to hear the word of the Lord and to offer their prayers before Him. Nevertheless for those who choose to do so, they will need to offer burnt offerings and sacrifices on the Lord’s altar before their prayers can be accepted by Him. The above quoted passage of scripture clearly demonstrates this truth to us, for we see that the prayers of the millennial nations will be linked to the acceptance of their sacrifices on the altar of God.
Jeremiah 33:15-18 “In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David a Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. (16) In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called: The Lord our righteousness.' (17) "For thus says the Lord: 'David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; (18) nor shall the priests, the Levites, lack a man to offer burnt offerings before Me, to kindle grain offerings, and to sacrifice continually.'”
We saw earlier that sin will still be present in the earth during our Lord’s millennial reign, and more specifically we saw that some nations would deliberately disobey the commandments of the Lord. As a result of their disobedience we saw that they would incur the Lord’s judgement. From those passages it is clearly implied that those nations would then need to repent of their sin in order to have God’s judgement removed from them. And so we see that just as the Jews under the Old Covenant had to offer burnt offerings to the Lord to receive forgiveness, so it will be during our Lord’s millennial reign. All transgressing nations will be required to go up to the city of Jerusalem to make the appropriate atoning sacrifices, before God will forgive them their transgressions. That is the reason why the above quoted passage of scripture mentions the various offerings and sacrifices that will be presented before the Lord during the millennium.
Michael E.B. Maher
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