I can’t tell you how often I have been asked why in the world there would be the need for blood sacrifices in the Millennial Kingdom. We know that God’s Word tells us that they will occur in Ezekiel 40:38-43. But Why? We know that Jesus was the fulfillment of the shadow of the Old Testament sacrifices. Hebrews 10 is very explicit about that. So why would sacrifices be necessary again when Jesus is back on earth reigning as King of kings? It just doesn’t make sense.

The common thought by Biblical scholars has always been that it must be some sort of remembrance ceremony, much like communion is today. I have even answered the same way for folks who asked me about it as recently as two weeks ago. But my answer will now change.

In order to explain, let me take you to another mystery. John 12:20-23 says, “Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the feast. They came to Phillip with a request, ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘we would like to see Jesus.’ Phillip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Phillip in turn told Jesus. Jesus replied, ‘the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Jesus then expounds about His upcoming death.

Does that make any sense to you? It never did for me, no matter how many times I read it. Jesus never once mentioned the Greeks that wanted to see Him. In fact, it seems that the part about the Greeks coming and wanting to see Him had nothing at all to do with what came before or after it in that chapter. I normally read it, shook my head, and went on with my reading. The Greeks seeking Jesus appeared to me to not be related to anything, and I often wondered what in the world it was included for.

Finally, about a week ago I stopped and asked the Holy Spirit to explain it. Unfortunately, He didn’t. I read it again the next night. Still no answer. So I read it again the third night. Instantly that third night I knew what it was all about. And what I am going to share with you is very deep, very profound, and destined to be controversial. But let’s go back to another story before I share that revelation.

Interestingly, the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15 who only wanted her daughter healed was treated miserably by Jesus. When she asked for help, Jesus said, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” What a way to treat this poor woman who had done nothing wrong but be a gentile. Fortunately she used logic by responding that “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Up until that point Jesus seemed to have no interest in helping her because she was not Jewish. We know that Jesus was fully divine, but mysteriously He was also fully human, and it seems that his human side did not understand the saving of the gentiles at the beginning of His ministry. Of course, we do wonder how that could be, but that is the way Jesus is presented in scripture. The Canaanite woman’s remark may have been the turning point in His human thinking.

Yes, Jesus was both fully human and fully divine. Did the Father shock the human side of Jesus into having to “search out the matter” the same as we have to when he presented the Son with the logic that came from the mouth of that woman? I think so. And I believe that it was between the episode with the Canaanite woman and the instance when the Greeks appeared that Jesus came to a complete understanding from studying Isaiah that no matter how long he stayed on earth, the Jews would not respond. In fact, in the same chapter where we read about the Greeks seeking Jesus, we are reminded that Isaiah 6:9 had said that the Jews would “be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing but never perceiving.”