A Kingdom Divided ?

 This is the passage that brought this post to fruition, as disagreement arose in the Bible study I attend each week with someone I respect. 

Matthew 12
25 And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? 27 If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. 28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

I brought up the point that there are many that think that Christ somehow rescinded God's commands and made many of them obsolete- effectual abolishment.  I pointed out that if we think this of Christ, then this innately puts Christ as in division with the Father. It also causes problems if we hold to this notion as Christ states that He only does what the Father instructs. 

John 8:28 
28 So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.

 John 12:49
49 For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.

Furthermore there comes an even greater issue that arises if we were to believe that Christ is rendering the Law obsolete, because ...well... He's the one that gave it. 

 Colossians  2:9 
9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form

But how do we know for certain that Christ DIDN'T in fact change Divine law? Well for starters He tells us directly to NOT think that He did that. 

Matthew 5:17-19
17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

 Have heaven and earth passed away according to 2 Peter 3 or Revelation 21?

2 Peter 3:11-13
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

Revelation 21:1-4
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

 They have not. They have not perished and melted away with intense heat, there is still a sea, people still die, not every tear has been yet wiped away. Since they have not, should we obey Christ and continue teaching people to obey God's Law in response to faith in Him as we ourselves obey it? Yeah, we probably should. When we see Christs words here in Matthew 5 that say "Not the smallest stroke of a pen/ jot or tittle shall disappear until all is accomplished" that means that when we classify certain parts of His Divine Law as being done away with/ abolished/ effectually abolished by redefining the word fulfilled as contradiction the command to do and teach them- then what we are saying is that those laws are the smallest strokes. When we say that they're done away with as the smallest strokes, it is in direct opposition to what Christ has said. We might not like it, it may not sit well with other doctrines we may hold, but we ARE to conform our beliefs the the fullness of God's word.  

Some object here. They might have an objection and state "sacrifices ended at the cross, Christ stopped all sacrifices- read Hebrews" and while I understand their objection and even see that there is much that people do not understand about sacrifices and the sacrificial system I must assure that I have read Hebrews. I have also reconciled various passages to the fullness of scripture with Christ at the center. One of the objections that I tried to make from the word of God to the idea that sacrifices in their entirety have ceased, is when I brought up the point that Paul performed them in Acts 21 for the EXPRESS PURPOSE of showing that the Law of God wasn't made as not to be observed. 

Acts 21
18 And the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. 19 After he had greeted them, he began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20 And when they heard it they began glorifying God; and they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law; 21 and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs. 22 What, then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. 23 Therefore do this that we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; 24 take them and purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads; and all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Law.

1. Paul is testifying of believers who are coming to faith and they are keeping the Law of God. That is important since before we were saved we were Law breakers and by God's grace through faith He's allowed repentance from sin which is Lawlessness - that once we are saved we might walk in obedience.  
2. The new believers that were obeying God's Law were being told that Paul for some reasons was teaching people to NOT be obedient to the commands of God 
3. a Vow as outlined in numbers 6 includes Sacrifices. 
4. Paul is instructed to combat the very idea that Paul is teaching people to NOT obey God's law. 
5. Paul is told to perform sacrifices to show everyone that the LIES ABOUT HIM TELLING PEOPLE NOT TO OBEY GODS COMMANDMENTS ARE FALSE

So, what does Paul do? 

Acts 21:26
26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself along with them, went into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them.

Paul obeyed the Law of God and offered sacrifices to prove that He is teaching people who are saved that they are still to be obedient to God.  This was James, the brother of Christs solution, and Paul followed it. Another matter we have to contend with in the full reasoning of scripture is the prophetic matters regarding the return of Christ 

Isaiah 56:4-8
For thus says the Lord, “To the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths, And choose what pleases Me, And hold fast My covenant, 5 To them I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial, And a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name which will not be cut off. 6 “Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, To minister to Him, and to love the name of the Lord, To be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the sabbath And holds fast My covenant; 7 Even those I will bring to My holy mountain And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.” 8 The Lord God, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares, “Yet others I will gather to them, to those already gathered.”

If we were to surmise that this has occurred already then we would need to pinpoint when these gentiles were gathered to Israel and brought to His holy mountain to offer their sacrifices.  If we agree that it hasn't yet happened, then we must reason that the sacrificial attributes will likely resume in the Millennial reign. In fact, that's what This passages states 

Zechariah 14:3-21
3 Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. 4 In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. 5 You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him! 6 In that day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. 7 For it will be a unique day which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at evening time there will be light. 8 And in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter. 9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one. 10 All the land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; but Jerusalem will rise and remain on its site from Benjamin’s Gate as far as the place of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses. 11 People will live in it, and there will no longer be a curse, for Jerusalem will dwell in security. 12 Now this will be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth. 13 It will come about in that day that a great panic from the Lord will fall on them; and they will seize one another’s hand, and the hand of one will be lifted against the hand of another. 14 Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, gold and silver and garments in great abundance. 15 So also like this plague will be the plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey and all the cattle that will be in those camps. 16 Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 17 And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them. 18 If the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them; it will be the plague with which the Lord smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 19 This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 20 In that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “HOLY TO THE LORD.” And the cooking pots in the Lord’s house will be like the bowls before the altar. 21 Every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the Lord of hosts; and all who sacrifice will come and take of them and boil in them. And there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts in that day.

1. Christ will return and split the Mount of Olives - which hasn't happened yet. 
2. It is a unique day in which there will be no light - which hasn't happened yet.
3. we will be worshipping Christ during the Feast of Booths- not everyone is doing this yet
4. Jerusalem will live in security- we know that hasn't happened yet with rockets raining down every 20 minutes or so 
5. God sends plagues on those that don't worship at the Feast of Booths- I don't think this is happened yet 
6.  all the horses will have bells inscribed HOLY TO THE LORD- hasn't happened yet
7. There will be sacrifices boiled in that day - which hasn't happened yet. 

So, did the Sacrifices go away at the cross just to come back again in the millennial reign?
I don't think so.  Why don't we perform sacrifices? Because it would be a sin for us to do so outside the way that God commands them to be done, where they are to be done, who they are to be done by and how they to be done, what they were done for. Consider this passage about the End Times

Isaiah 66:20-24
20 Then they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as a grain offering to the Lord, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the Lord, “just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. 21 I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites,” says the Lord. 22 “For just as the new heavens and the new earth Which I make will endure before Me,” declares the Lord, “So your offspring and your name will endure. 23 “And it shall be from new moon to new moon And from sabbath to sabbath, All mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says the Lord. 24 “Then they will go forth and look On the corpses of the men Who have transgressed against Me. For their worm will not die And their fire will not be quenched; And they will be an abhorrence to all mankind.”

1. Isaiah 66 in speaking of the end times mentions the same elements of Zechariah 14, with the horses, the same gathering as isaiah 56 as gathering to His holy mountain
2. Christ takes people to be levites and priests. This should prove that the sacrifices will resume again as Priests and Levites will resume.  

So, what do we do with Hebrews and the verses that people interpret as being as Christ disregarding?
One element of the commands of God can be explained simply. 

If a priest has sin- then offer X

Hebrews 8 in speaking on priests ( and faulty priests) writes the example regardings offerings that priests need to offer if they have sin. But if a High Priest (in heaven) say didn't have sin then it would read this way

If priest has sin- then offer X
If a priest has no sin- then offering of X is not offered.  

Does this mean that the command for the offering of sin for the priests has been done away with or discarded? No.  It does mean that the clause provision of the offering has enacted. 

If I were to say, "If the tire pops, replace it with this new tire every year"  This condition is only for if that tire pops. If the tire never pops, did the instruction cease? Did it get discarded? No. Did the tire get replaced? No. I want you to read Hebrews 8 and note that the word "covenant" is not in verse 7 or 13 in the greek, but was added by translators. 

Hebrews 8
Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; so it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. 4 Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law; 5 who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, “See,” He says, “that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.” 6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.

7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. 8 For finding fault with them, He says, “Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, When I will effect a new covenant With the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; 9 Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers On the day when I took them by the hand To lead them out of the land of Egypt; For they did not continue in My covenant, And I did not care for them, says the Lord. 10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds, And I will write them on their hearts. And I will be their God, And they shall be My people. 11 “And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, And everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ For all will know Me, From the least to the greatest of them. 12 “For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And I will remember their sins no more.” 13 When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.

1. The subject is a Priesthood and a better High Priest
2. He is a minister in a better sanctuary 
3. If He was on earth He would not be a priest because on earth there are faulty Levites who struggle with sin.  This is not a statement that Christ has done away with the Law, its a statement that the Law still exists. 
4. Covenant is not in verse 7 so finding fault with them would be the priests who are sinful. 
5. the new covenant is different because  we don't break the new one like they did in egypt. 
6. God finds fault with these Priests because they didn't continue in His covenant. 
7. He didn't care for them because they didn't observe His laws and instead went astray. 
8. God writes His law on the hearts and minds of those in the New Covenant when we don't have sin anymore, and He takes us in a resurrection for priests and levites. He didn't discard or abolish the commands, He's making it so that we can keep them. He's not dismissing the jot or tittles or smalles strokes, He's finding fault with those that rebel against them. 
9. We wont have to say "know the Lord" in that time when we no longer struggle against sin because everyone will already. 
10. God won't hold our previous iniquities or our past sins against us. 
11. in verse 13, the word covenant isn't there and what is passing away is the priesthood that was faulty with priests that have sin. We're going to become the tire that doesn't pop. 

This context is what is said in

 Revelation 21:5-7
5 And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He *said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” 6 Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. 7 He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.

God is making it so we're not going to struggle with sin, so that we can be priests and levites, overcoming and be children of God. 

Revelation 1:5-6 
 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood— 6 and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 

He's made us to be priests. 


1 Peter 3:3-9

3 if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. As Living Stones 4 And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For this is contained in Scripture: “Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.” 7 This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, “The stone which the builders rejected, This became the very corner stone,” 8 and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

He has made us to be priests. 

Exodus 19:5-6
  5 Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; 6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”

He made them to be a kingdom of priests but they rebelled and were faulty and chose sin

Isaiah 61:4-11
Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins, They will raise up the former devastations; And they will repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations. 5 Strangers will stand and pasture your flocks, And foreigners will be your farmers and your vinedressers. 6 But you will be called the priests of the Lord; You will be spoken of as ministers of our God. You will eat the wealth of nations, And in their riches you will boast. 7 Instead of your shame you will have a double portion, And instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion. Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land, Everlasting joy will be theirs. 8 For I, the Lord, love justice, I hate robbery in the burnt offering; And I will faithfully give them their recompense And make an everlasting covenant with them. 9 Then their offspring will be known among the nations, And their descendants in the midst of the peoples. All who see them will recognize them Because they are the offspring whom the Lord has blessed. 10 I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, And as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up, So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise To spring up before all the nations.

These priests, Us, we're going to be the ones in the everlasting covenant. That renewed covenant.  The ones who are ministering to God as His possessions and children. We will be these priests.  
SO, while there is much misunderstanding about sacrifices, the everlasting covenant/renewed covenant we see that WE are the priests who don't despise God and love sin more than Him 

Isaiah 24:1-6
Behold, the Lord lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants. 2 And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor. 3 The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the Lord has spoken this word. 4 The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away. 5 The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.

 The earth is polluted. The priests don't love God nor His laws. They broke the EVERLASTING COVENANT. God's new covenant is better priests, and we don't break it. Its in the New heaven and New earth which haven't come yet.  Matthew 5:17-19 is Christ telling us that we're going to be wheels that don't pop, so don't think that He's getting rid of the whole car. 


The whole priesthood dynamic is even greater than this and if you want a video on Hebrews instead (which I have read many times friends) there are some Here , Here too, and also Here