Ezekiel 40-48 Amillennialists hold that the millennium cannot be literal, because it demands animal sacrifice. Doesn’t this contradict the argument from Hebrews that Christ died once-for-all (Heb. 7:27; 9:12, 26)?

Problem: Amillennial interpreters argue that the dispensational reading of Ezekiel 40-48 is heretical, because it contradicts the author of Hebrews, who claims that reverting to animal sacrifices is apostasy. For instance, Curtis Crenshaw writes, “The passage most commonly mentioned that represents great difficulty to dispensational literalism is Ezekiel’s temple vision.”[1] Likewise, Floyd Hamilton writes, “The restoration of the whole sacrificial system seems to dishonor the sacrifice of Christ… According to a literal interpretation of Ezekiel 40-48 the whole ceremonial law is to be again set up in Israel.”[2]

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Posted by petra1000 in Bible Difficulty

Ezekiel 38:4 Will God cause evil to happen in Israel?

Problem: Ezekiel predicts that God will bring Gog and Magog into the land of Israel. He writes, “I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out” (Ezek. 38:4). The language used is definitely God’s active will, whereby he brings the people to the land of Israel. Then it states, “You will go up, you will come like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your troops, and many peoples with you” (v.9). Later, we read, “I will turn you around, drive you on, take you up from the remotest parts of the north and bring you against the mountains of Israel” (Ezek. 39:2).

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Posted by petra1000 in Bible Difficulty

Ezekiel 20:25-26 – Did God command evil laws?

Problem: Ezekiel states, “I also gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live; 26 and I pronounced them unclean because of their gifts, in that they caused all their firstborn to pass through the fire so that I might make them desolate, in order that they might know that I am the Lord” (Ezek. 20:25-26). Why would God command laws that “were not good”? Continue reading →
Posted by petra1000 in Bible Difficulty