Hi
Josef
It really doesn't matter whether or not the Jews stopped sacrificing. I mean they didn't get 'who' Jesus was either. So some may have still participated and practiced animal sacrifice after Jesus' death, but that's because they didn't understand that he was the final sacrifice. The Jews likely still practiced sacrifice for some time, although I don't think they still do. But if they didn't understand who Jesus was then yes, they would have still kept the sacrifice for sin going. But it wouldn't have done them any good. Jesus' death was the final and perfect sacrifice for all sin.
So, I'm not saying that the Jews understood that Jesus' death meant that they no longer needed to sacrifice. I'm saying that the Scriptures tell us that Jesus was the final sacrifice for sin. Do you sacrifice animals for sin at your worship services? I'm not saying that the Jews understood that that's what Jesus' death represented, but it is what Jesus' death represented. If sacrifices for sin are still necessary, then you better get to sacrificing. I think lambs are going for about $300-400 today. Depending on how much you sin, you'll likely need several.
The angel Gabriel told Daniel that the Jews had 70 sevens in which to bring in righteousness. Even though they didn't understand that's what they were doing, it was Jesus' death that accomplished that.
“Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place."
All these things the Jewish people did when they crucified Jesus. They didn't know they were doing all that by killing him. But that's what they did. Or do you believe that Jesus is not our everlasting righteousness. They also sealed up vision and prophecy during the 400 years of the intertestamental period before Jesus came.
But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.
And:
God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—
Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Anyway, as I started out with this discussion, the only still unclear part for me, is Gabriel's explanation that: He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. But that's the reason that I struggle with it because Jesus did put an end, certainly for the necessity to sacrifice, as practiced by the Jews.
From Ligonier.org:
NATHAN W. BINGHAM: This week, I’m joined by the Old Testament professor at Reformation Bible College, Dr. Ben Shaw. Dr. Shaw, what happened to the Old Testament practice of animal sacrifices?
DR. BEN SHAW: Well, it stopped. And there’s really two reasons: the practical reason, and then the theological reason. The practical reason is they stopped in 586 BC when the Babylonians destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, although they were restarted after the exile and continued then until the temple was destroyed again by the Romans in AD 70. So that’s the practical reason. The theological reason is they stopped because Christ fulfilled them. And we have that lined up for us in the book of Hebrews.
God bless,
Ted
