A Parallel with Heaven
During the Millennium there wouldn’t be any change in the Temple Service from that of the Levitical priesthood during the Old Testament time. The same burnt offering and other sacrifices would still be offered before the Lord as were during the days of Moses when they were first instituted.
That is, there wouldn’t be any change in Temple Services as Temple services will continue during the Millennium in the same way as before.
So says the Lord about his Temple ordinances in Jerusalem during the Millennium in Jeremiah 33:
15 In those days and at that time will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and He shall execute judgement and righteousness in the land.
17 “For thus saith the Lord: ‘David shall never be in want for a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel;
18 neither shall the priests, the Levites, be in want for a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.’”
Only during the Millennium would a righteous branch of David, the Messiah, allows an atmosphere a Temple to be rebuilt, known as the Ezekiel Temple, and burnt offering and other sacrifices would be brought before the Lord.
And this promise is as steady and uncompromising as God’s covenant of the day: that there should be day and night in their season:
“Thus saith the Lord: ‘If ye can break My covenant of the day and My covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season,” Jeremiah 33:20
But such a challenge is a scene within a larger picture:
“Thus saith the Lord, who giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; the Lord of hosts is His name:
“If those ordinances depart from before Me,” saith the Lord, “then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me for ever,” Jeremiah 33:35-36
That is, if any human could break any of the ordinances of the the stars, the sun, the moon and the earth, then only the conenant of God with Israel be broken. It is thus on such solid foundation that God’s covenants with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were established.
Those who teach otherwise have their foundation built on sand. These are false shepherds, or wolves, masquerading as God’s pastors and ministers:
In short they are saying that God has failed in his project; they deny God’s overwhelming Omnipotence, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure,’ Isaiah 46:10.
“Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain; and her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity and divining lies unto them, saying, ‘Thus saith the Lord God,’ when the Lord hath not spoken,” Ezekiel 22:27-28.
A Parallel with Heaven
After coming out of Egypt, Moses was taken up to Mount Sinai to be with God; and while he was there, a pattern was given him of the tabernacle and in a mode, that is the mere emblem of the reality which exists in heaven; “and who serve unto the copy and shadow of heavenly things,” Heb 8:5a.
The reference is to the tabernacle, which was a mere “example” or “copy” of heaven. The word rendered here “example” means a “copy, likeness, or imitation.” The tabernacle was made after a pattern which was shown to Moses; it was made so as to have some faint resemblance to the reality in heaven.
Similarily, their service resembled to that in heaven; and therefore there wouldn’t be any change in the priesthood regarding the Levitical priests. During the OT administration, the Levites were chosen and gifted to Aaron the Levitical high-priest; so in the Heavenly administrations the saints are chosen and gifted to ‘Melchisdek’ the high-priest.
And Melchizedek King of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the Priest of the Most High God, Genesis 14:18.
Speaking of the Son, the Father, the Lord hath sworn and will not repent: “Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek,” Psalm 110:4. The question remains, is Melchizedek the Son, or is he another Being? There are many attempts, but none seems clear or satisfactory answer to this question.
Assuming he is a different Being from the Son, he would remain in heaven to perform his heavenly duty as a high priest when Christ led his ‘army’ down to earth from heaven to establish the Millennium, Revelation 19.
The 24 Elders in Revelation
Who are the twenty-four Elders in Revelation?
Revelation 4
1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
These 24 Elders are Saints, not angelic beings. First, the word or title “elder” is nowhere applied to angels, but only to humans, or once humans. Second, in Revelation 5:9, these 24 elders were redeemed by the Lamb’s blood.
The exact phase “and hast redeemed us (Strong’s 2248: hémas; our, us, we)” Only humans, not angels, were to be redeemed to God by Christ’s blood out of every kindred, tongue and nation.
The 24 Elders and144,000 as First-Fruits
These 24 elders are present at the throne prior to the opening of the first seal in Revelation 6:1, the Lord must have given them their crowns and have already brought them to His heavenly Throne in heaven.
They sang as if it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth, Revelation 14:3.
As a flashback, these 144,000 could have been resurrected during Christ’s resurrection: Matthew says
“And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom, and the earth quaked and the rocks rent.
“And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who slept arose,
“and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the Holy City and appeared unto many,” Matthew 27:51-53.
When John has his vision he saw the 24 elders among the four living creatures in heaven.
“And I heard the number of them that were sealed: there were sealed a hundred and fortyfour thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel” Revelation 7:4.
“After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes and with palms in their hands” Revelation 7:9.
In Revelation 7, the 144,000 were in heaven, before the throne of God, but there is no record that the Great Multitude were there. Perhaps they were redeemed but remains around the earth.
In Revelation 19
Revelation 19 records the preamble and the return of Christ to Jerusalem on earth starting with “a multitude of people in Heaven.” As a send-off fanfare, these multitude of people would compose the 24 Elders (verse 4) and would confidently include the 144,000 although not stated explicitly.
Those who follow Christ to earth include “the armies which were in Heaven, clothed in fine linen white and clean, followed Him upon white horses.” But nothing is said of the 24 Elders, the 144,000 or the Great Multitudes! Could they all have stayed back in heaven to perform priestly services at the heavenly Sanctuary? Or, perhaps the 144,000 remain with the 24 Elders in heaven but the Great Multitudes return with Christ on earth?
The Ezekiel Temple
Chapter 40 to 48 of Ezekiel are a continuation of the description and function of the Millennial Temple, known as the Ezekiel Temple, descripting where the Outer and Inner Courts, plus other details, and how they are used.
During the Millennium there would be an elaborate system of animal sacrifices and other burnt and sin offerings, along with the observance of New Moons and Sabbaths; to be conducted by one of the sons of Zadok, a seed from the original high priest during the reign of Kings David and Solomon; to enter and perform Temple services again: according to the revised Levitical laws of sacrifices.
“Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house and ministering to the house. They shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them” Ezekiel 44:11
Ezekiel 45:15 Thus shall they prepare the lamb and the meat offering and the oil every morning for a continual burnt offering. — “every morning” or “morning by morning”
No mention is made of the evening sacrifice; while some think is included in the morning burnt offering, others think that the true reason is that Christ has appeared once in the evening of the world, and offered up himself; yea, it was literally in the evening, whereby he offered himself a type of the Passover lamb; hence no evening sacrifice is further needed.
The New Jerusalem
To those who are to be rewarded, there is a reward, an office, in the New Kingdom; a New Jerusalem that will come out of Heaven onto our earthly Jerusalem:
And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Revelation 21:2
An earlier promise by Christ would shed more ideas how this will come about; he was acting on behald of the Father, and he would also has juridiction and power over the 24 Elders and the 144,000. Thus the Son of God could be directing the making of the Ezekiel Temple on Earth and the New Jerusalem in Heaven:
Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God, and I will write upon him My new name. Revelation 3:12
Just like the Saints are building the earthly Ezekiel Temple during the Millennium, those in Heaven could be building the Heavenly New Jerusalem. If so, this might be built by the 24 Elders and the 144,000?
None of these hypothesis written above are sealed in stone, but just some random thoughts outside the box!
Joel
A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob 