This page is part of a series exploring the laws of God that could be obeyed only when the Temple was present in Jerusalem.

• Appendix 8a: The Laws of God That Require the Temple
• Appendix 8b: The Sacrifices — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8c: The Biblical Festivals — Why None of Them Can Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8d: The Purification Laws — Why They Cannot Be Kept Without the Temple
• Appendix 8e: Tithes and Firstfruits — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8f: The Communion Service — The Last Supper of Jesus Was Passover
• Appendix 8g: Nazarite and Vow Laws — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8h: Partial and Symbolic Obedience Related to the Temple
• Appendix 8i: The Cross and the Temple (This page).

The Cross and the Temple are not enemies, and they are not two “phases” where one cancels the other. The Law of God is eternal (Psalm 119:89; 119:160; Malachi 3:6). The Temple system, with its sacrifices, priests, and purity laws, was given by that same eternal Law. The death of Jesus did not abolish a single commandment. It revealed the true depth of what those commandments were already saying. The Temple was not destroyed to end sacrifices, but as judgment for disobedience (2 Chronicles 36:14-19; Jeremiah 7:12-14; Luke 19:41-44). Our task is to hold these truths together without inventing a new religion that replaces the Law with human ideas about the Cross.

The apparent conflict: the Lamb and the altar

At first glance, there seems to be a conflict:

• On one side, the Law of God commanding sacrifices, offerings, and priestly service. (Leviticus 1:1-2; Exodus 28:1)
• On the other, Jesus presented as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29; 1 John 2:2).

Many people jump to a conclusion the Scriptures never make: “If Jesus is the Lamb, then the sacrifices are over, the Temple is finished, and the Law that commanded them no longer matters.”

But Jesus Himself refused that logic. He said plainly that He did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, and that not even the smallest stroke would fall from the Law until heaven and earth pass away (Matthew 5:17-19; Luke 16:17). Heaven and earth are still here. The Law still stands. The commandments about sacrifices, offerings, and the Temple were never revoked by His lips.

The Cross does not erase the Temple laws. The Cross reveals what they were truly pointing to.

Jesus as the Lamb of God — fulfillment without cancellation

When John called Jesus “the Lamb of God” (John 1:29), he was not announcing the end of the sacrificial system. He was declaring the true meaning of every sacrifice that had ever been offered by faith. The blood of animals never had power by itself (1 Peter 1:19-20). Its power came from obedience to God and from what it represented: the future sacrifice of the true Lamb. God does not speak one thing and later contradict Himself (Numbers 23:19).

From the beginning, forgiveness has always depended on two things working together:

• Obedience to what God commanded (Deuteronomy 11:26-28;  Ezekiel 20:21)
• The provision God Himself appointed for cleansing (Leviticus 17:11; Hebrews 9:22)

In ancient Israel, the obedient went to the Temple, presented sacrifices as the Law required, and received real, but temporary, covenantal cleansing. Today, the obedient are led by the Father to the true Lamb, Jesus, for eternal cleansing (John 6:37; 6:39; 6:44; 6:65; 17:6). The pattern is the same: God never cleanses the rebellious (Isaiah 1:11-15).

The fact that Jesus is the true Lamb does not tear up the commandments about sacrifice. It proves that God was never playing with symbols. Everything in the Temple was serious, and everything pointed to something real.

Why sacrifices continued after the Cross

If God intended to abolish the sacrifices the moment Jesus died, the Temple would have fallen that same day. Instead, what happened?

• The veil in the Temple was torn (Matthew 27:51), but the building remained standing while worship continued there (Acts 2:46; 3:1; 21:26).
• Sacrifices and Temple rites continued daily (Acts 3:1; 21:26), and the entire narrative of Acts assumes a functioning sanctuary.
• The priesthood continued serving (Acts 4:1; 6:7).
• The festivals continued to be observed in Jerusalem (Acts 2:1; 20:16).
• Even after the resurrection, believers in Jesus were still seen in the Temple (Acts 2:46; 3:1; 5:20-21; 21:26), and thousands of Jews who believed in Him were “all zealous for the Law” (Acts 21:20).

Nothing in the Law, nothing in the words of Jesus, and nothing in the prophets announced that sacrifices would instantly become sinful or invalid once the Messiah died. There is no prophecy that says, “After My Son dies, you shall stop bringing animals, for My Law about sacrifice is abolished.”

Instead, the Temple services continued because God is not double-tongued (Numbers 23:19). He does not command something as holy and then quietly treat it as unclean because His Son has died. If the sacrifices had become rebellion the moment Jesus died, God would have said so clearly. He did not.

The continuation of the Temple service after the Cross shows that God had never canceled any commandment tied to the sanctuary. Every offering, every purification rite, every priestly duty, and every national act of worship remained in force because the Law that established them remained unchanged.

The symbolic nature of the sacrificial system

The entire sacrificial system was symbolic in its design, not because it was optional or lacked authority, but because it pointed to realities that only God Himself would one day bring to completion. The healings it affirmed were temporary — the healed could become sick again. The ceremonial cleansings restored purity only for a time — impurity could return. Even the sacrifices for sin brought forgiveness that had to be sought again and again. None of these things were the final removal of sin or death; they were divinely commanded symbols pointing toward the day when God would destroy death itself (Isaiah 25:8; Daniel 12:2).

The Cross made that finality possible, but the true end of sin will only be seen after the final judgment and the resurrection, when those who have done good rise to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment (John 5:28-29). Only then will death be swallowed up forever. Because the Temple services were symbols pointing to eternal realities, and not the realities themselves, Jesus’ death did not make them unnecessary. They remained in force until God removed the Temple in judgment — not because the Cross canceled them, but because God chose to cut off the symbols while the realities they pointed to still await His final completion at the end of the age.

How forgiveness works today

If the commandments about sacrifices were never abolished, and if the Temple system continued even after the cross — until God Himself brought it to an end in 70 A.D., a natural question arises: How can anyone be forgiven today? The answer is found in the same pattern God established from the beginning. Forgiveness has always come by obedience to God’s commandments (2 Chronicles 7:14; Isaiah 55:7) and by the sacrifice that God Himself appointed (Leviticus 17:11; ). In ancient Israel, the obedient received ceremonial cleansing at the altar in Jerusalem, which the Law carried out primarily through the shedding of blood (Leviticus 4:20; 4:26; 4:31; Hebrews 9:22). Today, the obedient are cleansed through the sacrifice of the Messiah, the true Lamb of God who takes away sin (John 1:29).

This does not represent a change in the Law. Jesus did not cancel the sacrificial commandments (Matthew 5:17-19). Instead, when God removed the Temple, He changed the outward place where obedience meets cleansing. The criteria remained the same: God forgives those who fear Him and keep His commandments (Psalm 103:17-18; Ecclesiastes 12:13). No one comes to the Messiah unless the Father draws him (John 6:37; 6:39; 6:44;  6:65 17:6), and the Father draws only those who honor His Law (Matthew 7:21; 19:17; John 17:6; Luke 8:21; 11:28).

In ancient Israel, obedience led a person to the altar. Today, obedience leads a person to the Messiah. The outward scene has changed, but not the principle. The unfaithful in Israel were not cleansed by sacrifices (Isaiah 1:11-16), and the unfaithful today are not cleansed by the blood of Christ (Hebrews 10:26-27). God has always required the same two things: obedience to His Law and submission to the sacrifice He has appointed.

From the beginning, there has never been a moment when the blood of any animal, or the offering of any grain or flour, truly brought peace between a sinner and God. Those sacrifices were commanded by God, but they were not the true source of reconciliation. Scripture teaches that it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins (Hebrews 10:4), and that the Messiah was foreknown before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:19-20). Since Eden, peace with God has always come through the perfect, sinless, only begotten Son (John 1:18; 3:16) — the One to whom every sacrifice pointed (John 3:14-15; 3:16). The physical offerings were material signs that allowed humans to see, touch, and feel the seriousness of sin, and to understand in earthly terms the cost of forgiveness. When God removed the Temple, the spiritual reality did not change. What changed was the material form. The reality remained exactly the same: it is the sacrifice of the Son that brings peace between the offender and the Father (Isaiah 53:5). The outward symbols ceased because God chose to remove them, but the inward reality — the cleansing provided through His Son to those who obey Him — continues unchanged (Hebrews 5:9).

Why God destroyed the Temple

If the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. had been meant to “abolish sacrifices,” the Scriptures would say so. They do not. Instead, Jesus Himself explained the reason for the coming destruction: judgment.

He wept over Jerusalem and said that the city did not recognize the time of its visitation (Luke 19:41-44). He warned that the Temple would be brought down stone by stone (Luke 21:5-6). He declared that the house was left desolate because of the refusal to listen to God’s messengers (Matthew 23:37-38). This was not the announcement of a new theology where sacrifices become evil. It was the old, familiar pattern of judgment: the same reason the first Temple was destroyed in 586 B.C. (2 Chronicles 36:14-19; Jeremiah 7:12-14).

In other words:

• The Temple fell because of sin, not because the Law changed.
• The altar was removed because of judgment, not because sacrifices had become ungodly.

The commandments remained written, eternal as always (Psalm 119:160; Malachi 3:6). What God removed were the means by which those commandments could be carried out.

The Cross did not authorize a new religion without the Law

Most of what is called “Christianity” today is built on a simple lie: “Because Jesus died, the Law of sacrifices, the festivals, the purity laws, the Temple, and the priesthood have all been abolished. The Cross replaced them.”

But Jesus never said that. The prophets that prophecied about Him never said that. Instead, Christ was clear that His true followers must obey His Father commandment as given in the Old Testament, just like His apostles and disciples did (Matthew 7:21; 19:17; John 17:6; Luke 8:21; 11:28).

The Cross did not give anyone authority to:

• Cancel the Temple laws
• Invent new rituals like the communion service to replace Passover
• Turn tithes into pastor salaries
• Replace God’s purity system with modern teachings
• Treat obedience as optional

Nothing about the death of Jesus authorizes men to rewrite the Law. It only confirms that God is serious about sin and serious about obedience.

Our posture today: obey what can be obeyed, honor what cannot

The Cross and the Temple meet in one unavoidable truth:

• The Law remains untouched (Matthew 5:17-19; Luke 16:17).
• The Temple has been removed by God (Luke 21:5-6).

That means:

• The commandments that can still be obeyed must be obeyed, without excuses.
• The commandments that depend on the Temple must be honored as written but not practiced, because God Himself removed the altar and the priesthood.

We do not rebuild a human version of the sacrificial system today, because God has not restored the Temple. We do not declare the sacrificial laws abolished, because God never canceled them.

We stand between the Cross and the empty Temple mount with fear and trembling, knowing that:

• Jesus is the true Lamb who cleanses those who obey the Father (John 1:29; 6:44).
• The Temple laws remain written as eternal statutes (Psalm 119:160).
• Their present impossibility is the result of God’s judgment, not our permission to invent replacements (Luke 19:41-44; 21:5-6).

The Cross and the Temple together

The right path refuses both extremes:

• Not “Jesus abolished the sacrifices, so the Law no longer matters.”
• Not “We should rebuild sacrifices now, in our own way, without God’s Temple.”

Instead:

• We believe that Jesus is the Lamb of God, sent by the Father for those who obey His Law (John 1:29; 14:15).
• We accept that God removed the Temple as judgment, not abolition (Luke 19:41-44; Matthew 23:37-38).
• We obey every commandment that remains physically possible today.
• We honor the Temple-dependent commandments by refusing to replace them with human rituals.

The Cross does not compete with the Temple. The Cross reveals the meaning behind the Temple. And until God restores what He removed, our duty is clear:

• Obey what can be obeyed.
• Honor what cannot.
• Never use the Cross as an excuse to change the Law that Jesus came to fulfill, not to destroy (Matthew 5:17-19).

---

1 John 2:2	He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
Leviticus 1:1-2	The Lord called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock.”
Exodus 28:1	Then bring near to you Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the people of Israel, to serve me as priests—Aaron and Aaron’s sons: Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.
1 Peter 1:18-19	You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
Deuteronomy 11:26-28	See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God…
Ezekiel 20:21	They rebelled against me. They did not walk in my statutes and were not careful to obey my laws, by which, if a person does them, he shall live.
Leviticus 17:11	For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.
Hebrews 9:22	Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Isaiah 1:11-15	“What are your sacrifices to me?” says the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings… I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly… when you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen.”
Isaiah 55:7	Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
2 Chronicles 7:14	If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
Matthew 7:21	Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
John 6:37	All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
John 6:39	And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
John 6:65	And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
John 17:6	I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word [Old Testament].
Luke 8:21	But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God [Old Testament] and do it.”
Luke 11:28	But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
Matthew 19:17	And he said to him, “If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”
John 3:14-15	And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
Hebrews 9:22	Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
John 3:16	For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Hebrews 10:4	For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
1 Peter 1:19-20	But with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for your sake.
John 1:18	No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
Isaiah 53:5	But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
Leviticus 4:20	Thus he shall do with the bull. As he did with the bull of the sin offering, so shall he do with this. And the priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven.
Leviticus 4:26	And all its fat he shall burn on the altar, like the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings. So the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin, and he shall be forgiven.
Leviticus 4:31	And all its fat he shall remove, as the fat is removed from the peace offerings. And the priest shall burn it on the altar for a pleasing aroma to the Lord. And the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven.
Psalm 103:17-18	But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.
Ecclesiastes 12:13	The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
Isaiah 1:11-16	“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?” says the Lord; “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts… Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes.” (…)
Hebrews 10:26-27	For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
Hebrews 5:9	And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.
Psalm 119:89	Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.
Psalm 119:160	The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.
Malachi 3:6	For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.
2 Chronicles 36:14-19	All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations… Therefore he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans… They burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem… (…)
Jeremiah 7:12-14	Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel… Therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name… as I did to Shiloh.
Luke 19:41-44	And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it… “They will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
John 1:29	The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
Matthew 5:17-19	Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them… until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law…
Luke 16:17	But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.
Numbers 23:19	God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it?
John 6:44	No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
Matthew 27:51	And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.
Acts 2:46	And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts.
Acts 3:1	Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.
Acts 21:26	Then Paul took the men, and the next day he purified himself along with them and went into the temple, giving notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for each one of them.
Acts 4:1	And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them,
Acts 6:7	And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
Acts 2:1	When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.
Acts 20:16	For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.
Acts 5:20-21	“Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.
Acts 21:20	And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law.”
Luke 21:5-6	And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
Matthew 23:37-38	O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!… See, your house is left to you desolate.
John 14:15	If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
John 14:21	Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.
John 14:23	Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”
Isaiah 25:8	He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces…
Daniel 12:2	And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
John 5:28-29	Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

This page is part of a series exploring the laws of God that could be obeyed only when the Temple was present in Jerusalem.

• Appendix 8a: The Laws of God That Require the Temple
• Appendix 8b: The Sacrifices — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8c: The Biblical Festivals — Why None of Them Can Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8d: The Purification Laws — Why They Cannot Be Kept Without the Temple
• Appendix 8e: Tithes and Firstfruits — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8f: The Communion Service — The Last Supper of Jesus Was Passover
• Appendix 8g: Nazarite and Vow Laws — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8h: Partial and Symbolic Obedience Related to the Temple (This page).
• Appendix 8i: The Cross and the Temple

One of the greatest misunderstandings in modern religion is the belief that God accepts partial obedience or symbolic obedience in place of the commandments He gave. But the Law of God is precise. Every word, every detail, every boundary revealed through His prophets and through the Messiah carries the full weight of His authority. Nothing may be added. Nothing may be removed (Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32). The moment a person decides that a part of God’s Law may be altered, softened, substituted, or re-imagined, he no longer obeys God—he obeys himself.

God’s precision and the nature of true obedience

God never gave vague commandments. He gave exact commandments. When He commanded sacrifices, He gave details about the animals, the priests, the altar, the fire, the location, and the timing. When He commanded festivals, He defined the days, the offerings, the purity requirements, and the place of worship. When He commanded vows, He defined how they begin, how they continue, and how they must end. When He commanded tithes and firstfruits, He defined what is brought, where it is brought, and who receives it. Nothing depended on human creativity or personal interpretation.

This precision is not accidental. It reflects the character of the One who gave the Law. God is never careless, never approximate, never open to improvisation. He expects obedience to what He commanded, not to what people wish He had commanded.

Therefore, when someone obeys a law partially—or replaces the required actions with symbolic actions—he is no longer obeying God. He is obeying a version of the command that he himself invented.

Partial obedience is disobedience

Partial obedience is the attempt to keep the “easy” or “convenient” elements of a command while discarding the elements that feel difficult, costly, or restrictive. But the Law does not come in fragments. To obey selectively is to refuse God’s authority over the parts being ignored.

God warned Israel repeatedly that refusing even a single detail of His commandments was rebellion (Deuteronomy 27:26; Jeremiah 11:3-4). Jesus confirmed the same truth when He said that whoever relaxes even the least commandment is called least in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:17-19). The Messiah never granted permission to ignore the difficult parts while keeping the rest.

It is important for all to understand  that the Temple-dependent laws were never abolished. God removed the Temple, not the Law. When the Law cannot be obeyed in full, partial obedience is not an option. The worshipper must honor the Law by refusing to modify it.

Symbolic obedience is man-made worship

Symbolic obedience is even more dangerous. It occurs when a person tries to replace an impossible command with a symbolic act designed to “honor” the original law. But God did not authorize symbolic substitutes. He did not allow Israel to replace sacrifices with prayers or festivals with meditations when the Temple still stood. He did not permit symbolic Nazarite vows. He did not permit symbolic tithes. He never told anyone that outward rituals could be replaced by simplified versions that humans could perform anywhere.

To create symbolic obedience is to pretend that the physical impossibility of obedience caught God by surprise—as though God needs our help to “simulate” what He Himself removed. But this is an offense to God. It treats His commandments as flexible, His precision as negotiable, and His will as something that must be “assisted” by human creativity.

Symbolic obedience is disobedience because it replaces the command that God spoke with something He did not speak.

When obedience becomes impossible, God requires restraint, not replacement

When God removed the Temple, the altar, and the Levitical service, He made a decisive statement: certain commandments could no longer be carried out. But He did not authorize anything to take their place.

The correct response to a commandment that cannot be obeyed physically is simple:

Refrain from obeying until God restores the means of obedience.

This is not disobedience. It is obedience to the boundaries God Himself has established. It is fear of the Lord expressed through humility and restraint.

Inventing a symbolic version of the law is not humility—it is rebellion dressed as devotion.

The danger of “doable variations”

Modern religion often tries to create “doable variations” of commandments that God made impossible to perform:

• A communion service invented to replace the Passover sacrifice
• A 10 percent financial donation replacing the tithe God defined
• Festival “rehearsals” replacing the commanded offerings in Jerusalem
• Symbolic Nazarite practices replacing the actual vow
• Ritual “purity teachings” replacing the biblical purity system

Each of these practices follows the same pattern:

1. God gave a precise command.
2. God removed the Temple, making obedience impossible.
3. Humans invented a modified version they can perform.
4. They call it obedience.

But God does not accept replacements for His commandments. He only accepts the obedience He Himself defined.

To create a replacement is to imply that God made a mistake—that He expected continued obedience but failed to preserve the means of obedience. It treats human ingenuity as a solution to a “problem” God supposedly overlooked. This is an insult to God’s wisdom.

Obedience today: honoring the Law without altering it

The correct posture today is the same posture required throughout Scripture: obey everything God has made possible, and refuse to alter what He has not made possible.

• We obey the commandments that do not depend on the Temple.
• We honor the commandments that do depend on the Temple by refusing to modify them.
• We reject partial obedience.
• We reject symbolic obedience.
• We fear God enough to obey only what He commanded, in the way He commanded it.

This is true faith. This is true obedience. Anything else is man-made religion.

The heart that trembles at His Word

God is pleased with the worshipper who trembles at His Word (Isaiah 66:2) — not the worshipper who remodels His Word to make it convenient or possible. A humble person refuses to invent new laws to replace those God has temporarily placed beyond reach. He recognizes that obedience must always match the command that God actually spoke.

The Law of God remains perfect. Nothing has been abolished. But not every command can be obeyed today. The faithful response is to refuse partial obedience, reject symbolic obedience, and honor the Law exactly as God gave it.

---

Deuteronomy 4:2	You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.
Deuteronomy 12:32	Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.
Deuteronomy 27:26	Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them. And all the people shall say, “Amen.”
Jeremiah 11:3-4	Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant that I commanded your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt… saying, Obey my voice, and do all that I command you… (…)
Matthew 5:17-19	Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments… will be called least in the kingdom of heaven…
Isaiah 66:2	All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

This page is part of a series exploring the laws of God that could be obeyed only when the Temple was present in Jerusalem.

• Appendix 8a: The Laws of God That Require the Temple
• Appendix 8b: The Sacrifices — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8c: The Biblical Festivals — Why None of Them Can Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8d: The Purification Laws — Why They Cannot Be Kept Without the Temple
• Appendix 8e: Tithes and Firstfruits — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8f: The Communion Service — The Last Supper of Jesus Was Passover
• Appendix 8g: Nazarite and Vow Laws — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today (This page).
• Appendix 8h: Partial and Symbolic Obedience Related to the Temple
• Appendix 8i: The Cross and the Temple

The laws of vows, including the Nazarite vow, show how deeply certain commandments of the Torah depend on the Temple system established by God. Since the Temple, the altar, and the Levitical priesthood have been removed, these vows cannot be completed today. The modern attempts to imitate or “spiritualize” these vows—especially the Nazarite vow—are not obedience but inventions. The Law defines what these vows are, how they begin, how they end, and how they must be completed before God. Without the Temple, no vow of the Torah can be fulfilled as God commanded.

What the Law commanded about vows

The Law takes vows with absolute seriousness. When a person made a vow to God, the vow became a binding obligation that had to be fulfilled exactly as promised (Numbers 30:1-2; Deuteronomy 23:21-23). God warned that delaying or failing to fulfill a vow was sin. But the fulfillment of a vow was not merely inward or symbolic—it required action, offerings, and the involvement of God’s sanctuary.

Many vows included sacrifices of thanksgiving or freewill offerings, meaning that the vow had to be fulfilled at the altar of God in the place He chose (Deuteronomy 12:5-7; 12:11). Without the altar, no vow could be brought to completion.

The Nazarite vow: a Temple-dependent law

The Nazarite vow is the clearest example of a commandment that cannot be fulfilled today, even though several outward behaviors associated with it can still be imitated. Numbers 6 describes the Nazarite vow in detail, and the chapter makes a clear distinction between the outward signs of separation and the requirements that make the vow valid before God.

The outward signs include:

• Separating from wine and all grape products (Numbers 6:3-4)
• Allowing the hair to grow with no razor upon the head (Numbers 6:5)
• Avoiding corpse impurity (Numbers 6:6-7)

But none of these behaviors create or complete a Nazarite vow. According to the Law, the vow only becomes complete—and only becomes acceptable before God—when the person goes to the sanctuary and presents the required offerings:

• The burnt offering
• The sin offering
• The fellowship offering
• The grain and drink offerings

These sacrifices were commanded as the essential conclusion of the vow (Numbers 6:13-20). Without them, the vow remains unfinished and invalid. God also required additional offerings if accidental impurity occurred, meaning the vow cannot continue or restart without the Temple system (Numbers 6:9-12).

This is why the Nazarite vow cannot exist today. A person may imitate certain outward actions, but he cannot enter, continue, or complete the vow that God defined. Without the altar, the priesthood, and the sanctuary, there is no Nazarite vow—only human imitation.

How Israel obeyed

Faithful Israelites who took a Nazarite vow obeyed the Law from beginning to end. They separated themselves during the days of the vow, avoided impurity, and then went up to the sanctuary to complete the vow with the offerings God required. Even accidental impurity required specific offerings to “reset” the vow (Numbers 6:9-12).

No Israelite ever completed a Nazarite vow in a village synagogue, a private home, or symbolic ceremony. It had to be done at the sanctuary God chose.

The same is true of other vows. Fulfillment required sacrifices, and sacrifices required the Temple.

Why these vows cannot be obeyed today

The Nazarite vow—and every vow in the Torah that requires offerings—cannot be completed today because the altar of God no longer exists. The Temple is gone. The priesthood is not serving. The sanctuary is absent. And without these, the final and essential act of the vow cannot occur.

The Torah does not permit a Nazarite vow to be “ended spiritually” with no offerings. It does not allow modern teachers to create symbolic endings, alternative ceremonies, or private interpretations. God defined how the vow must end, and He removed the means of obedience.

For this reason:

• No one today can take a Nazarite vow according to the Torah.
• No vow involving offerings can be fulfilled today.
• Any symbolic attempt to imitate these vows is not obedience.

These laws remain eternal, but obedience is impossible until God restores the Temple.

Jesus did not cancel these laws

Jesus never abolished the laws of vows. He warned people to avoid careless vows because of their binding nature (Matthew 5:33-37), but He never removed a single requirement written in Numbers or Deuteronomy. He never told His disciples that the Nazarite vow was outdated or that vows no longer required the sanctuary.

Paul shaving his head (Acts 18:18) and participating in purification expenses in Jerusalem (Acts 21:23-24) confirm that Jesus never abolished the laws of vows and that, before the destruction of the Temple, Israelites continued to fulfill their vows exactly as the Torah required. Paul did not complete anything in private or in a synagogue; he went to Jerusalem, to the Temple, and to the altar, because the Law defined where a vow must be brought to its conclusion. The Torah defines what a Nazirite vow is, and according to the Torah, no vow can be fulfilled without the offerings at God’s sanctuary.

Symbolic obedience is disobedience

As with sacrifices, festivals, tithes, and purification laws, the removal of the Temple forces us to honor these laws—not by inventing replacements, but by refusing to claim obedience where obedience is impossible.

To imitate a Nazarite vow today by growing one’s hair, abstaining from wine, or avoiding funerals is not obedience. It is a symbolic action disconnected from the commandments that God actually gave. Without the offerings at the sanctuary, the vow is invalid from the start.

God does not accept symbolic obedience. The worshipper who fears God does not invent replacements for the Temple or for the altar. He honors the Law by recognizing the limits God Himself has placed.

We obey what can be obeyed, and we honor what cannot

The Nazarite vow is holy. Vows in general are holy. None of these laws were abolished, and nothing in the Torah suggests that they would one day be replaced by symbolic practices or internal intentions.

But God removed the Temple. Therefore:

• We cannot complete the Nazarite vow.
• We cannot complete vows that require offerings.
• We honor these laws by not pretending to fulfill them symbolically.

Obedience today means keeping the commandments that can still be kept and honoring the others until God restores the sanctuary. The Nazarite vow remains written in the Law, but it cannot be obeyed until the altar stands again.

---

Numbers 30:1-2	Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the people of Israel, saying, “This is what the Lord has commanded. If a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.”
Deuteronomy 23:21-23	If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty. You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips… (…)
Deuteronomy 12:5-7	But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go, and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present… and there you shall eat before the Lord your God and rejoice…
Deuteronomy 12:11	Then to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the Lord.
Numbers 6:3-4	He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried. All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.
Numbers 6:5	All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long.
Numbers 6:6-7	All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not go near a dead body. Not even for his father or for his mother, for brother or sister, if they die, shall he make himself unclean, because his separation to God is on his head.
Numbers 6:9-12	And if any man dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing… and on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two pigeons to the priest… and he shall consecrate his head and begin again the days of his separation… (…)
Numbers 6:13-20	And this is the law for the Nazirite, when the time of his separation has been completed: he shall be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and he shall bring his offering to the Lord, one male lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish as a sin offering, and one ram without blemish as a peace offering… (…)
Numbers 6:18	And the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the entrance of the tent of meeting and shall take the hair of his consecrated head and put it on the fire that is under the sacrifice of the peace offering.
Matthew 5:33-37	Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.” But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all… Let what you say be simply “Yes” or “No”; anything more than this comes from evil.
Acts 18:18	After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow.
Acts 21:23-24	Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you…

This page is part of a series exploring the laws of God that could be obeyed only when the Temple was present in Jerusalem.

• Appendix 8a: The Laws of God That Require the Temple
• Appendix 8b: The Sacrifices — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8c: The Biblical Festivals — Why None of Them Can Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8d: The Purification Laws — Why They Cannot Be Kept Without the Temple
• Appendix 8e: Tithes and Firstfruits — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8f: The Communion Service — The Last Supper of Jesus Was Passover (This page).
• Appendix 8g: Nazarite and Vow Laws — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8h: Partial and Symbolic Obedience Related to the Temple
• Appendix 8i: The Cross and the Temple

The communion service is one of the strongest examples of what this series is exposing: symbolic “obedience” invented to replace commandments that God Himself made impossible to keep when He removed the Temple, the altar, and the Levitical priesthood. The Law of God never commanded a recurring bread-and-wine ceremony in place of sacrifices or Passover. Jesus never canceled the Temple laws, and He never instituted a new ritual to replace them. What people today call “the Lord’s Supper” is not a commandment from the Torah and is not a Temple-independent law of God. It is a human ceremony built on a misunderstanding of what Jesus did on His last Passover.

The Law’s pattern: real sacrifices, real blood, real altar

Under the Law, forgiveness and remembrance were never tied to symbols without sacrifice. The central pattern is clear: sin is dealt with when real blood is presented at a real altar in the place God chose for His Name (Leviticus 17:11; Deuteronomy 12:5-7). This is true for daily sacrifices, sin offerings, burnt offerings, and for the Passover lamb itself (Exodus 12:3-14; Deuteronomy 16:1-7).

The Passover meal was not a free-form remembrance service. It was a commanded rite with:

• A real lamb, without blemish
  • Exodus 12:3 — Each household must take a lamb according to God’s command.
  • Exodus 12:5 — The lamb must be without blemish, a perfect male of the first year.
• Real blood, handled exactly as God ordered
  • Exodus 12:7 — They must take the lamb’s blood and put it on the doorposts and lintel.
  • Exodus 12:13 — The blood shall be a sign for them; God would pass over only where the real blood was applied.
• Unleavened bread and bitter herbs
  • Exodus 12:8 — They must eat the lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
  • Deuteronomy 16:3 — They must eat no leavened bread, only the bread of affliction for seven days.
• A specific timing and order
  • Exodus 12:6 — The lamb must be killed at twilight on the fourteenth day.
  • Leviticus 23:5 — Passover is on the fourteenth day of the first month, at the appointed time.

Later, God centralized the Passover: the lamb could no longer be sacrificed in any town, but only at the place He chose, before His altar (Deuteronomy 16:5-7). The whole system depended on the Temple. There was no such thing as a Passover “symbol” without sacrifice.

How Israel remembered redemption

God Himself defined how Israel should remember the exodus from Egypt. It was not through a simple meditation or a symbolic gesture; it was through the yearly Passover service He commanded (Exodus 12:14, 12:24-27). Children were to ask, “What do you mean by this service?” and the answer was tied to the blood of the lamb and to the acts of God on that night (Exodus 12:26-27).

When the Temple stood, faithful Israel obeyed by going up to Jerusalem, having the lamb slaughtered in the sanctuary, and eating the Passover as God commanded (Deuteronomy 16:1-7). No prophet ever announced that, one day, this would be replaced by a simple piece of bread and a sip of wine in buildings scattered across the nations. The Law does not know this replacement. It knows only the Passover as God defined it.

Jesus and His last Passover

The Gospels are clear: when Jesus ate with His disciples on the night He was betrayed, it was the Passover, not a new Gentile ceremony (Matthew 26:17-19; Mark 14:12-16; Luke 22:7-15). He was walking in full obedience to His Father’s commandments, keeping the same Passover appointed by God.

At that table, Jesus took bread and said, “This is my body,” and He took the cup and spoke of His blood of the covenant (Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20). He was not abolishing the Passover, nor canceling the sacrifices, nor writing new laws for Gentile religious services. He was explaining that His own death, as the true Lamb of God, would give the full meaning to everything the Law had already commanded.

When He said, “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19), the “this” was the Passover meal they were eating, not a brand-new ceremony cut off from the Law, the Temple, and the altar. There is no command from His lips instituting a new, Temple-independent rite with its own schedule, its own rules, and its own clergy. Jesus had already said that He did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, and that not even the smallest stroke would fall from the Law (Matthew 5:17-19). He never said, “After my death, forget the Passover and instead create a bread-and-wine service wherever you are.”

The Temple removed, not the Law abolished

Jesus foretold the destruction of the Temple (Luke 21:5-6). When this happened in the year 70 A.D., the sacrifices stopped, the altar was removed, and the Levitical service ended. But none of this was the abolition of the Law. It was judgment. The commandments about sacrifices and Passover remain written, untouched. They are simply impossible to obey because God removed the system in which they operate.

What did men do? Instead of accepting that some laws must be honored but cannot be kept until God restores the sanctuary, religious leaders created a new ritual—the communion service—and declared that this invention is now the way to “remember” Jesus and “participate” in His sacrifice. They took the bread and the cup from the Passover table and built an entirely new structure around them, outside the Temple, outside the Law, outside anything commanded by God Himself.

Why the communion service is symbolic obedience

The communion service is presented almost everywhere as a replacement for Temple sacrifices and for the Passover. People are told that by eating bread and drinking wine (or juice) in a church building or in any building, they are obeying a command of Christ and fulfilling what the Law pointed to. But this is exactly the kind of symbolic obedience that God has not authorized.

The Law never told anyone that a symbol, without altar and without blood, could replace the commanded sacrifices. Jesus never said that. The prophets never said that. There is no law that defines:

• How often this new communion must be done
• Who must preside
• Where it must take place
• What happens if someone never participates

Just like the Pharisees, Sadducees, and the scribes, all of these details have been invented by men (Mark 7:7-9). Entire theologies have been built on this ceremony — some call it a sacrament, others a covenant renewal — but none of this comes from the Law of God or from the words of Jesus in the Gospels, understood in their context.

The result is tragic: multitudes believe they are “obeying” God by taking part in a ritual that He never commanded. The true Temple laws still stand, impossible to be kept because God removed the Temple; and instead of honoring this fact in fear and humility, people insist on pretending that a symbolic service can stand in their place.

Remembering Jesus without inventing new laws

The Scriptures do not leave us without guidance on how to honor the Messiah after His ascension. Jesus Himself said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). He also asked, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46).

The way to remember Him is not through invented ceremonies, but through obedience to everything His Father had already spoken by the prophets who came before the Messiah and by the Messiah Himself.

We obey what can be obeyed, and we honor what cannot

The Law remains untouched. Passover and the sacrificial system remain written as eternal statutes, but their obedience is now impossible because God Himself removed the Temple, the altar, and the priesthood. The communion service does not change this reality. It does not turn symbolic bread and symbolic wine into obedience. It does not fulfill the Temple laws. It does not come from the Torah, and Jesus never commanded it as a new, independent ordinance for the nations.

We obey what can be obeyed today: the commandments that do not depend on the Temple. We honor what cannot be obeyed by refusing to invent substitutes. The communion service is a human attempt to fill a gap that God Himself created. True fear of the Lord leads us to reject this illusion of obedience and to return to what He actually commanded.

---

Mark 7:7-9	“In vain do they worship me… teaching human commands. You set aside the commandment of God to hold your tradition… You reject God’s command to keep your tradition.”
Exodus 12:3	Each household must take a lamb according to God’s command.
Exodus 12:5	The lamb must be without blemish, a perfect male of the first year.
Exodus 12:7	They must take the lamb’s blood and put it on the doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.
Exodus 12:13	The blood shall be a sign; when the Lord sees the blood, He will pass over, and no plague will strike them.
Exodus 12:8	They must eat the lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
Deuteronomy 16:3	They must eat no leavened bread, only the bread of affliction, for seven days.
Exodus 12:6	The lamb must be killed at twilight on the fourteenth day of the month.
Leviticus 23:5	Passover is on the fourteenth day of the first month, at the appointed time.
Leviticus 17:11	For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.
Deuteronomy 12:5-7	But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices… and there you shall eat before the Lord your God and rejoice…
Exodus 12:3-14	Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons… This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord… (…)
Deuteronomy 16:1-7	Observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the Lord your God, from the flock or the herd, at the place that the Lord will choose, to make his name dwell there… (…)
Deuteronomy 16:5-7	You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, but at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice in the evening at sunset… and in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents.
Exodus 12:14	This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.
Exodus 12:24-27	You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. And when your children say to you, “What do you mean by this service?” then you shall say… (…)
Exodus 12:26-27	And when your children say to you, “What do you mean by this service?” you shall say, “It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.”
Matthew 26:17-19	Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’” And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them…
Mark 14:12-16	And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” And he sent two of his disciples… and he showed them a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us… (…)
Luke 22:7-15	Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.”… And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”
Matthew 26:26-28	Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup… saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Mark 14:22-24	And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup… And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.”
Luke 22:19-20	And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
Luke 22:19	And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
Matthew 5:17-19	Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments… will be called least in the kingdom of heaven…
Luke 21:5-6	And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
John 14:15	If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
Luke 6:46	Why do you call me “Lord, Lord,” and not do what I tell you?
Luke 4:16	And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read.
Ecclesiastes 12:13	The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
Deuteronomy 4:2	You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.
Deuteronomy 12:32	Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.

This page is part of a series exploring the laws of God that could be obeyed only when the Temple was present in Jerusalem.

• Appendix 8a: The Laws of God That Require the Temple
• Appendix 8b: The Sacrifices — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8c: The Biblical Festivals — Why None of Them Can Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8d: The Purification Laws — Why They Cannot Be Kept Without the Temple
• Appendix 8e: Tithes and Firstfruits — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today (This page).
• Appendix 8f: The Communion Service — The Last Supper of Jesus Was Passover
• Appendix 8g: Nazarite and Vow Laws — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8h: Partial and Symbolic Obedience Related to the Temple
• Appendix 8i: The Cross and the Temple

Tithes and firstfruits were holy portions of Israel’s increase — from the land (Deuteronomy 14:22) and from the herd (Leviticus 27:32) — commanded by God to be presented in His sanctuary, before His altar, and into the hands of His Levitical priests. These commandments were never abolished. Jesus never canceled them. But God removed the Temple, the altar, and the priesthood, making obedience impossible today. As with all Temple-dependent laws, symbolic replacements are not obedience but human inventions.

What the Law commanded

The Law defined the tithe with absolute precision. Israel was required to separate a tenth of all increase—grain, wine, oil, and livestock—and bring it to the place that God chose (Deuteronomy 14:22-23). The tithe was not distributed locally. It was not given to teachers of one’s choosing. It was not converted into a monetary donation except in the narrow case where distance required temporary conversion, and even then the money had to be spent inside the sanctuary before God (Deuteronomy 14:24-26).

The tithe belonged to the Levites because they had no land inheritance (Numbers 18:21). But even the Levites were required to bring the tithe of the tithe to the priests at the altar (Numbers 18:26-28). The entire system depended on the functioning Temple.

The firstfruits were even more structured. The worshipper carried the first of the harvest directly to the priest, placed it before the altar, and made a spoken declaration commanded by God (Deuteronomy 26:1-10). This act required the sanctuary, the priesthood, and the altar.

How Israel obeyed

Israel obeyed these laws in the only way obedience was possible: by physically bringing the tithe and the firstfruits to the Temple (Malachi 3:10). No Israelite invented a symbolic or “spiritual” version. No percentage was ever redirected to local religious leaders. No new interpretation was added. Worship was obedience, and obedience was exactly what God commanded.

The tithe of the third year likewise depended on the Levites, because they—not private individuals—were the ones responsible before God to receive and distribute it (Deuteronomy 14:27-29). At every stage, the tithe and the firstfruits existed inside the system God established: Temple, altar, Levites, priests, ritual purity.

Why obedience is impossible today

Today the Temple is gone. The altar is gone. The Levitical priesthood is not serving. The purity system cannot operate without the sanctuary. Without these God-given structures, no one can keep the tithe or the firstfruits.

God Himself foretold that Israel would remain “many days without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or teraphim” (Hosea 3:4). When He removed the Temple, He removed the ability to obey every law that depends on it.

Therefore:

• No Christian pastor, missionary, messianic rabbi or any other ministry worker can receive a biblical tithe.
• No congregation can collect firstfruits.
• No symbolic giving fulfills these laws.

The Law defines obedience, and nothing else is obedience.

Generosity is encouraged — but it is not tithing

The removal of the Temple did not remove God’s call to compassion. Both the Father and Jesus encourage generosity, especially toward the poor, the oppressed, and the needy (Deuteronomy 15:7-11; Matthew 6:1-4; Luke 12:33). Giving freely is good.  Helping a church or any ministry financially is not forbidden. Supporting righteous work is noble.

But generosity is not tithing.

Tithing required:

• A fixed percentage
• Specific items (agricultural increase and livestock)
• A specific location (the sanctuary or temple)
• A specific receiver (Levites and priests)
• A state of ritual purity

None of these exist today.

Generosity, on the other hand:

• Has no percentage commanded by God
• Has no connection to Temple law
• Is voluntary, not commanded by statute
• Is an expression of compassion, not a replacement for tithes or firstfruits

To teach that a believer “must give ten percent” today is to add to Scripture. The Law of God does not authorize any leader—ancient or modern—to invent a new system of mandatory giving in place of the tithe. Jesus never taught it. The prophets never taught it. The apostles never taught it.

Invented tithing is disobedience, not obedience

Some today try to turn financial giving into a “modern tithe,” claiming that the purpose remains even if the Temple system is gone. But this is exactly the kind of symbolic obedience that God rejects. The Law does not allow the tithe to be reinterpreted, relocated, or reassigned. A pastor is not a Levite. A church or a messianic congregation is not the Temple. A donation is not firstfruits. Money placed in a collection plate does not become obedience.

As with sacrifices, festival offerings, and purification rites, we honor what the Law commanded by refusing to replace it with human inventions.

We obey what can be obeyed, and we honor what cannot

Tithes and firstfruits remain eternal commandments, but their obedience is impossible until God Himself restores the Temple, the altar, the priesthood, and the purity system. Until that day, we walk in the fear of the Lord by giving generously when we are able—not as tithing, not as firstfruits, not as obedience to any percentage, but as expressions of mercy and righteousness.

To invent a substitute is to rewrite the Law. To refuse inventing substitutes is to honor the God who spoke it.

---

Malachi 3:10	Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.
Deuteronomy 14:22	Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.
Leviticus 27:32	Every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod will be holy to the Lord.
Deuteronomy 14:22-23	You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. And before the LORD your God, in the place that he will choose to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, your wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.
Deuteronomy 14:24-26	And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe… then you shall turn it into money, bind the money in your hand, and go to the place that the LORD your God chooses. You may spend the money for whatever you desire…
Numbers 18:21	To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, the service in the tent of meeting.
Numbers 18:26-28	When you take from the people of Israel the tithe that I have given you… then you shall present a contribution from it to the LORD, a tithe of the tithe.
Deuteronomy 26:1-10	When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance… you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground… And you shall go to the priest and say to him… (…)
Deuteronomy 14:27-29	And you shall not neglect the Levite who is within your towns, for he has no portion or inheritance with you. At the end of every three years you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in the same year… (…)
Hosea 3:4	For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods.
Deuteronomy 15:7-11	If among you, one of your brothers becomes poor… you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother… For there will never cease to be poor in the land… (…)
Matthew 6:1-4	Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them… But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing…
Luke 12:33	Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail.

This page is part of a series exploring the laws of God that could be obeyed only when the Temple was present in Jerusalem.

• Appendix 8a: The Laws of God That Require the Temple
• Appendix 8b: The Sacrifices — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8c: The Biblical Festivals — Why None of Them Can Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8d: The Purification Laws — Why They Cannot Be Kept Without the Temple (This page).
• Appendix 8e: Tithes and Firstfruits — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8f: The Communion Service — The Last Supper of Jesus Was Passover
• Appendix 8g: Nazarite and Vow Laws — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8h: Partial and Symbolic Obedience Related to the Temple
• Appendix 8i: The Cross and the Temple

The Torah contains detailed laws of ritual purity and impurity. These commandments were never abolished. Jesus never canceled them. Yet God removed the Temple, the altar, the priesthood, and His manifested dwelling from among the nation in response to Israel’s unfaithfulness. Because of that removal, the purification commandments cannot be obeyed today.

Though we are frail creatures, God, in His love for His chosen people, established His presence among Israel for centuries (Exodus 15:17; 2 Chronicles 6:2; 1 Kings 8:12-13). Since 70 A.D., however, the Temple where His holiness was manifested and encountered no longer exists.

What the Law commanded

The Law defined real legal states of clean (טָהוֹר — tahor) and unclean (טָמֵא — tamei). A person could become unclean through ordinary, unavoidable realities of human life: childbirth (Leviticus 12:2-5), menstruation and other bodily discharges (Leviticus 15:19-30), and contact with the dead (Numbers 19:11-13). These conditions were not sinful behaviors. They carried no guilt. They were just legal conditions that restricted approach to holy things.

For all of these conditions, the Law also commanded a purification process. Sometimes it was as simple as waiting until evening. Other times it required washing. And in several cases it required priestly involvement and sacrifices. The point is not that Israel “felt” unclean. The point is that God legislated real boundaries around His holiness.

Why these laws existed at all

The purity system existed because God dwelt among Israel in a defined holy space. The Torah itself gives the reason: Israel was to be kept from uncleanness so that God’s dwelling would not be defiled, and so the people would not die by approaching His holy presence in a defiled state (Leviticus 15:31; Numbers 19:13).

This means impurity laws were not lifestyle customs and not health advice. They were sanctuary laws. Their target was always the same: protecting God’s dwelling and regulating access to it.

The Temple was the jurisdiction, not merely the location

The sanctuary was not simply a convenient building where religious activities happened. It was the legal arena in which many purity laws had force. Impurity mattered because there was a holy space to protect, holy objects to guard, and holy service to preserve. The Temple created the legal boundary between the common and the holy, and the Law required that boundary to be maintained.

When God removed His dwelling in response to Israel’s unfaithfulness, He did not abolish His Law. He removed the jurisdiction in which many purification laws could be executed. Without the dwelling, there is no lawful “approach” to regulate, and there is no holy space to keep from being defiled.

Primary laws and containment procedures

Leviticus 15 contains many household-level details: unclean bedding, unclean seating, washing, and “unclean until evening.” These details were not independent commandments aimed at building a permanent lifestyle. They were containment procedures whose sole function was to prevent impurity from reaching God’s dwelling and contaminating what was holy.

That is why these procedures have no meaning as stand-alone “devotions” today. Reenacting them without the sanctuary they were designed to protect is not obedience; it is symbolic imitation. God never authorized substitutes for His system. There is no honor to God in pretending that His holy dwelling still stands, when it was God Himself who removed it.

Regular menstruation

Regular menstruation is unique among the impurities in the Torah because it is predictable, unavoidable, and resolved by time alone. The woman was unclean for seven days, and anything she lay on or sat on became unclean; those who touched those items became unclean until evening (Leviticus 15:19-23). If a man lay in the same bed with her during that time, he also became unclean for seven days (Leviticus 15:24).

This regular, time-resolved uncleanness did not require a priest, a sacrifice, or an altar. Its legal purpose was to restrict access to holy space. For that reason, these laws did not hinder daily life or require continual proximity to Jerusalem. The states of clean and unclean mattered because God’s dwelling existed and access to it was governed by His Law. With the dwelling removed, these household purity rules no longer have a lawful application and therefore cannot be obeyed today.

Important clarification: the prohibition of sexual relations with a menstruating woman is a different law altogether. That command is not a purification procedure and does not depend on the Temple for its meaning or enforcement (Leviticus 18:19; 20:18). This sexual prohibition is very serious and is a distinct command that must still be obeyed today.

Abnormal bleeding

Bleeding outside the normal menstrual cycle was classified differently and required Temple-dependent completion. The woman was unclean for the duration of the bleeding, and when it ended she had to count days and then bring offerings to the priest at the entrance of the sanctuary (Leviticus 15:25-30). This is not a “time alone” category. It is a priest-and-offering category. Therefore it cannot be obeyed today, because God removed the system required to complete it.

Corpse impurity

Contact with the dead produced a severe form of impurity that directly threatened the sanctuary. The Torah speaks with extreme seriousness here: the unclean person who defiled the dwelling was to be cut off, and the defilement was treated as a direct offense against God’s holy space (Numbers 19:13; 19:20). The prescribed means of purification depended on God-appointed instruments and a functioning sanctuary framework. Without the Temple jurisdiction, this category cannot be lawfully resolved according to the commandment.

What changed when God removed His dwelling

God removed the Temple, the altar, and the Levitical priesthood in judgment. With that removal, the purity system lost its legal arena. There is no holy space to protect, no lawful point of approach to regulate, and no appointed priesthood to officiate the required acts when the Law demands priestly involvement.

Therefore, none of the purification commandments can be practiced today—not because the Law ended, but because God removed the jurisdiction that gave them legal force. The Law still stands. The Temple does not.

Why symbolic “purification” is disobedience

Some try to replace God’s system with private rituals, “spiritual” washings, or invented household reenactments. But God did not authorize substitutions. Israel was not free to improvise new versions of purification. Obedience meant doing exactly what God commanded, in the place God chose, through the servants God appointed.

When God removes the instruments of obedience, the faithful response is not imitation. The faithful response is to acknowledge what God has done, refuse inventions, and honor the commandments that cannot currently be performed.

Conclusion

The purification laws were never abolished. They existed because God dwelt among Israel and regulated access to His holy presence. In response to Israel’s unfaithfulness, God removed His dwelling, the Temple, and the priesthood. Because of that removal, the sanctuary-based purity system cannot be obeyed today. We obey everything that can still be obeyed, and we honor what God has made impossible by respecting His actions and refusing to replace His commandments with symbolic substitutes.

---

Exodus 15:17	You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.
2 Chronicles 6:2	But I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.
1 Kings 8:12-13	Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that He would dwell in thick darkness. I have surely built You an exalted house, a place for You to dwell in forever.”
Leviticus 12:2-5	Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If a woman conceives and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days. … And she shall continue for thirty-three days in the blood of her purifying. She shall not touch anything holy, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed. …
Leviticus 15:19-30	When a woman has a discharge, and the discharge from her body is blood, she shall be in her impurity seven days. … If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her menstrual impurity, … when she is cleansed of her discharge, she shall bring two turtledoves or two pigeons to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting. …
Numbers 19:11-13	Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. … Whoever touches a dead person, the body of anyone who has died, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from Israel. …
Leviticus 15:19-23	When a woman has a discharge and the discharge from her body is blood, she shall remain in her impurity seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening. Everything on which she lies during her impurity shall be unclean, and everything on which she sits shall be unclean. …
Leviticus 15:24	If a man lies with her and her menstrual impurity comes on him, he shall be unclean seven days, and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean.
Leviticus 15:25-30	If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her impurity, all the days of the discharge she shall continue in uncleanness. … When she is cleansed of her discharge, she shall count for herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean. …
Leviticus 15:31	Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle that is among them.
Numbers 19:13	Whoever touches a dead person, the body of anyone who has died, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from Israel. Because the water for impurity was not thrown on him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is still on him.
Numbers 19:20	But the man who is unclean and does not cleanse himself, that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water for impurity has not been thrown on him; he is unclean.
Leviticus 12:2-4	Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If a woman conceives and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days. … And she shall continue for thirty-three days in the blood of her purifying. She shall not touch anything holy, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed.
Leviticus 18:19	You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness.
Leviticus 20:18	If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and uncovers her nakedness, he has exposed her blood, and she has uncovered the flow of her blood, and both of them shall be cut off from among their people.

This page is part of a series exploring the laws of God that could be obeyed only when the Temple was present in Jerusalem.

• Appendix 8a: The Laws of God That Require the Temple
• Appendix 8b: The Sacrifices — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8c: The Biblical Festivals — Why None of Them Can Be Kept Today (This page).
• Appendix 8d: The Purification Laws — Why They Cannot Be Kept Without the Temple
• Appendix 8e: Tithes and Firstfruits — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8f: The Communion Service — The Last Supper of Jesus Was Passover
• Appendix 8g: Nazarite and Vow Laws — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8h: Partial and Symbolic Obedience Related to the Temple
• Appendix 8i: The Cross and the Temple

The Holy Festivals — What the Law Actually Commanded

The annual festivals were not merely celebrations or cultural gatherings. They were holy convocations built around offerings, sacrifices, firstfruits, tithes, and purification requirements that God tied directly to the Temple He chose (Deuteronomy 12:5-6, 12:11; 16:2, 16:5-6). Every major feast — Passover, Unleavened Bread, Weeks, Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles — required the worshipper to appear before the Lord in the place He chose, not in any location the people preferred (Deuteronomy 16:16-17).

• Passover required a lamb offered at the sanctuary (Deuteronomy 16:5-6).
• The Festival of Unleavened Bread required daily offerings made by fire (Numbers 28:17-19).
• The Festival of Weeks required offerings of firstfruits (Deuteronomy 26:1-2, 26:9-10).
• The Festival of Trumpets required sacrifices “made by fire” (Numbers 29:1-6).
• The Day of Atonement required priestly rituals in the Holy of Holies (Leviticus 16:2-34).
• The Festival of Tabernacles required daily sacrifices (Numbers 29:12-38).
• The Eighth Day Assembly required additional offerings as part of the same festival cycle (Numbers 29:35-38).

God described these festivals with great precision and repeatedly stressed that they were His appointed times, to be observed exactly as He commanded (Leviticus 23:1-2, 23:37-38). No part of these observances was left to personal interpretation, local custom, or symbolic adaptation. The place, the sacrifices, the priests, and the offerings were all part of the command.

How Israel Obeyed These Commandments in the Past

When the Temple stood, Israel obeyed the festivals exactly as God instructed. The people traveled to Jerusalem for the appointed times (Deuteronomy 16:16-17; Luke 2:41-42). They brought their sacrifices to the priests, who offered them upon the altar. They rejoiced before the Lord in the place He sanctified (Deuteronomy 16:11; Nehemiah 8:14-18). Even Passover itself — the oldest of all national festivals — could not be observed in homes after God established a central sanctuary. It could be kept only in the place where the Lord set His Name (Deuteronomy 16:5-6).

Scripture also shows what happened when Israel attempted to keep the festivals improperly. When Jeroboam created alternative festival days and places, God condemned his entire system as sin (1 Kings 12:31-33). When the people neglected the Temple or allowed impurity, the festivals themselves became unacceptable (2 Chronicles 30:18-20; Isaiah 1:11-15). The pattern is consistent: obedience required the Temple, and without the Temple, there was no obedience.

Why These Festival Commandments Cannot Be Obeyed Today

After the destruction of the Temple, the commanded structure for the festivals ceased to exist. Not the festivals themselves — the Law does not change — but the required elements:

• No Temple
• No altar
• No Levitical priesthood
• No sacrificial system
• No commanded place for offering firstfruits
• No ability to present the Passover lamb
• No Holy of Holies for the Day of Atonement
• No daily sacrifices during Tabernacles

Because God required these elements for festival obedience, and because they cannot be replaced, adapted, or symbolized, true obedience is now impossible. As Moses warned, Israel was not permitted to offer Passover “in any town the Lord your God gives you,” but only “in the place the Lord will choose” (Deuteronomy 16:5-6). That place no longer stands.

The Law still exists. The festivals still exist. But the means of obedience are gone — removed by God Himself (Lamentations 2:6-7).

The Error of Symbolic or Invented Festival Observance

Many today attempt to “honor the festivals” through symbolic reenactments, congregation-based gatherings, or simplified versions of biblical commands:

• Holding Passover seders without a lamb
• Hosting “Feasts of Tabernacles” with no sacrifices
• Celebrating “Shavuot” without firstfruits taken to a priest
• Creating “New Moon services” never commanded in the Torah
• Inventing “practice festivals” or “prophetic festivals” as substitutes

None of these practices appear anywhere in Scripture.
None were practiced by Moses, David, Ezra, Jesus, or the apostles.
None match the commandments God gave.

God does not accept symbolic offerings (Leviticus 10:1-3).
God does not accept worship performed “anywhere” (Deuteronomy 12:13-14).
God does not accept rituals created by human imagination (Deuteronomy 4:2).

A festival without sacrifices is not the biblical festival.
A Passover without a lamb offered in the Temple is not Passover.
A “Day of Atonement” without priestly service is not obedience.

To imitate these laws without the Temple is not faithfulness — it is presumption.

The Festivals Await the Temple Only God Can Restore

The Torah calls these festivals “lasting ordinances throughout your generations” (Leviticus 23:14, 23:21, 23:31, 23:41). Nothing in Scripture — Law, Prophets, or Gospels — ever cancels that description. Jesus Himself affirmed that not even the smallest letter of the Law would fall until heaven and earth pass away (Matthew 5:17-18). Heaven and earth remain; therefore the festivals remain.

But they cannot be obeyed today because God has removed:

• the place
• the altar
• the priesthood
• the sacrificial system that defined the festivals

Therefore, until God restores what He removed, we honor these commandments by acknowledging their perfection — not by inventing symbolic replacements. Faithfulness means respecting God’s design, not modifying it.

---

Numbers 28:17-19	On the fifteenth day of this month there is to be a festival; for seven days eat bread made without yeast. On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. Present to the Lord a food offering made by fire: a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect…
Numbers 29:35-38	On the eighth day hold a closing special assembly and do no regular work. Present a burnt offering, a food offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the Lord—one bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect… These are the offerings you are to present to the Lord at your appointed festivals…
Deuteronomy 12:5-6	But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. There you are to go; there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give, and your freewill offerings.
Deuteronomy 12:11	Then to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name—there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice possessions you have vowed to the Lord.
Deuteronomy 16:2	Sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God—an animal from your flock or herd—in the place the Lord will choose as a dwelling for his Name.
Deuteronomy 16:5-6	You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town the Lord your God gives you except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down.
Deuteronomy 16:11	Rejoice before the Lord your God—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows living among you—at the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name.
Deuteronomy 16:16-17	Three times a year all your men must appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed; each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.
Deuteronomy 26:1-2	When you have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name.
Deuteronomy 26:9-10	He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, Lord, have given me.
Leviticus 23:1-2	The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: These are my appointed festivals, the appointed festivals of the Lord, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.”
Leviticus 23:37-38	These are the Lord’s appointed festivals, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies for bringing food offerings to the Lord… These offerings are in addition to the Lord’s Sabbaths and in addition to your gifts and whatever you have vowed.
Luke 2:41-42	Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom.
Numbers 29:1-6	On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly… It is a day for you to sound the trumpets. As an aroma pleasing to the Lord, offer a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect.
Numbers 29:12-38	On the fifteenth day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. Celebrate a festival to the Lord for seven days… Present as an aroma pleasing to the Lord a food offering consisting of burnt offerings, grain offerings and drink offerings as specified for each day.
Leviticus 16:2-34	The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain… This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites.”
Nehemiah 8:14-18	They found written in the Law that the Israelites were to live in temporary shelters during the festival of the seventh month… And from the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this.
1 Kings 12:31-33	Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people… He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar.
2 Chronicles 30:18-20	Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves, they ate the Passover contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them… and the Lord healed the people.
Isaiah 1:11-15	“The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they to me?” says the Lord… “I cannot bear your worthless assemblies… Your hands are full of blood.”
Lamentations 2:6-7	He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden; he has destroyed his place of meeting. The Lord has made Zion forget her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths; in his fierce anger he has spurned both king and priest.
Leviticus 10:1-3	Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command. So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them.
Deuteronomy 12:13-14	Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please. Offer them only in the place the Lord will choose in one of your tribes.
Deuteronomy 4:2	Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.
Matthew 5:17-18	Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law.
Leviticus 23:14	You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.
Leviticus 23:21	On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and do no regular work. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.
Leviticus 23:31	You shall do no kind of work. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.
Leviticus 23:41	Celebrate this as a festival to the Lord for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month.

This page is part of a series exploring the laws of God that could be obeyed only when the Temple was present in Jerusalem.

• Appendix 8a: The Laws of God That Require the Temple
• Appendix 8b: The Sacrifices — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today (This page).
• Appendix 8c: The Biblical Festivals — Why None of Them Can Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8d: The Purification Laws — Why They Cannot Be Kept Without the Temple
• Appendix 8e: Tithes and Firstfruits — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8f: The Communion Service — The Last Supper of Jesus Was Passover
• Appendix 8g: Nazarite and Vow Laws — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8h: Partial and Symbolic Obedience Related to the Temple
• Appendix 8i: The Cross and the Temple

What the Law Actually Required

Among all the commandments given to Israel, none were described with more precision than the sacrifices. God detailed everything: the kind of animal, the age, the condition, the handling of the blood, the location of the altar, the role of the priests, and even the garments they wore during service. Every sacrifice — burnt offerings, sin offerings, guilt offerings, fellowship offerings, and daily offerings — followed a divine pattern that left no room for personal creativity or alternative interpretations. “The priest shall do this… the altar shall be here… the blood shall be placed there…” The Law of God is a system of exact obedience, not suggestions open to adaptation.

A sacrifice was never merely “killing an animal for God.” It was a holy act performed only in the Temple courtyard (Leviticus 17:3-5; Deuteronomy 12:5-6, 12:11-14), only by consecrated priests from the line of Aaron (Exodus 28:1; 29:9; Leviticus 1:5; Numbers 18:7), and only under conditions of ritual purity (Leviticus 7:19-21; 22:2-6). The worshipper did not choose the place. The worshipper did not choose who officiated. The worshipper did not decide how the blood was handled or where it was applied. The entire system was God’s design, and obedience required respecting every detail of that design (Exodus 25:40; 26:30; Leviticus 10:1-3; Deuteronomy 12:32).

How Israel Obeyed These Commandments in the Past

When the Temple stood, Israel obeyed these laws exactly as commanded. The generations of Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Solomon, Hezekiah, Josiah, Ezra, and Nehemiah all approached God through the sacrifices that He Himself established. No one replaced the altar. No one improvised new rituals. No one offered sacrifices in their homes or in local gatherings. Even kings — with all their authority — were forbidden from performing the duties reserved for the priests.

Scripture shows repeatedly that whenever Israel tried to alter this system — by offering sacrifices in unauthorized places or by allowing non-priests to handle sacred duties — God rejected their worship and often brought judgment (1 Samuel 13:8-14; 2 Chronicles 26:16-21). Faithfulness meant doing precisely what God said, in the place He chose, through the servants He appointed.

Why These Commandments Cannot Be Obeyed Today

After the destruction of the Temple in the year 70 A.D., by the Romans, the entire sacrificial system became impossible to perform. Not because God abolished it, but because the God-given structure required to obey these commandments no longer exists. There is no Temple, no altar, no Holy of Holies, no consecrated priesthood, no established system of purity, and no authorized place on earth where the blood of a sacrifice may be presented before God.

Without these elements, there is no such thing as “doing our best” or “keeping the spirit of the law.” Obedience demands the conditions God established. When those conditions are gone, obedience becomes impossible — not because we refuse to obey, but because God Himself has removed the tools necessary to fulfill these specific commandments.

What Daniel Prophesied About the Sacrifices Ceasing

The Scriptures themselves foretold that the sacrifices would cease — not because God abolished them, but because the Temple would be destroyed. Daniel wrote that “the sacrifice and the offering will cease” (Daniel 9:27), but he explained the cause: the city and the sanctuary would be destroyed by hostile forces (Daniel 9:26). In Daniel 12:11, the prophet again states that the regular sacrifice would be “taken away,” a phrase describing removal by violence and desolation, not the cancellation of a law. Nothing in Daniel suggests that God changed His commandments. The sacrifices ceased because the Temple was made desolate, exactly as the prophet said. This confirms that the Law itself remains untouched; only the place God chose for obedience was removed.

The Error of Symbolic or Invented Sacrifices

Many Messianic groups attempt to reproduce parts of the sacrificial system symbolically. They hold Passover meals and call them “the sacrifice.” They burn incense in gatherings. They reenact rituals, wave offerings, and pretend to “honor the Torah” through dramatizations. Others create teachings such as “prophetic sacrifices,” “spiritual sacrifices,” or “rehearsals for the future Temple.” These practices feel religious, but they are not obedience — they are inventions.

God never asked for symbolic sacrifices. God never accepted substitutes created by human imagination. And God is not honored when people attempt to perform outside the Temple what He commanded to be done only inside it. To imitate these commands without the Temple is not faithfulness; it is disregard for the very precision God used when He established them.

The Sacrifices Await the Temple Only God Can Restore

The sacrificial system has not disappeared, nor has it been abolished, nor has it been replaced by symbolic acts or spiritual metaphors invented by men. Nothing in the Law, the Prophets, or the words of Jesus ever declares that the commandments about sacrifices came to an end. Jesus affirmed the eternal validity of every part of the Law, saying that not even the smallest stroke of a letter would fall until heaven and earth pass away (Matthew 5:17-18). Heaven and earth remain. Therefore, the commandments remain.

Throughout the Old Testament, God repeatedly promised that His covenant with the priesthood of Aaron was “everlasting” (Exodus 29:9; Numbers 25:13). The Law calls the sacrificial ordinances “a statute forever throughout your generations” (e.g., Leviticus 16:34; 23:14, 23:21, 23:31, 23:41). Not a single prophet ever announced an end to these commandments. Instead, the prophets speak of a future in which the nations honor the God of Israel and His house becomes “a house of prayer for all nations” (Isaiah 56:7), the same verse Jesus quoted to defend the sanctity of the Temple (Mark 11:17). Jesus did not quote this verse to signal the Temple’s end, but to condemn those who were corrupting it.

Because the Law never abolished these sacrifices, and because Jesus never abolished them, and because the Prophets never taught their cancellation, we conclude only what Scripture permits: these commandments remain part of the eternal Law of God, and they cannot be obeyed today simply because the elements God Himself required — the Temple, the priesthood, the altar, and the purity system — are not available.

Until God restores what He Himself removed, the correct posture is humility — not imitation. We do not attempt to recreate what God suspended. We do not move the altar, change the place, alter the ritual, or invent symbolic versions. We acknowledge the Law, respect its perfection, and refuse to add or subtract from what God commanded (Deuteronomy 4:2). Anything less is partial obedience, and partial obedience is disobedience.

---

Leviticus 17:3-5	Any Israelite who sacrifices an ox, a lamb or a goat in the camp or outside the camp instead of bringing it to the entrance to the tent of meeting is guilty of bloodshed. They must bring their sacrifices to the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting…
Deuteronomy 12:5-6	But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. There you are to bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices…
Deuteronomy 12:11-14	Then to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name—there you are to bring everything I command you… Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in any place you please…
Exodus 28:1	Have Aaron your brother brought to you from among the Israelites, along with his sons, to serve me as priests…
Exodus 29:9	Fasten caps on them. The priesthood is theirs by a lasting ordinance…
Leviticus 1:5	You are to slaughter the young bull before the Lord, and then Aaron’s sons the priests shall bring the blood and splash it against the sides of the altar…
Numbers 18:7	You and your sons alone may perform the duties of the priesthood. I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift…
Leviticus 7:19-21	Any meat that touches something unclean must not be eaten. Anyone who eats the meat from the fellowship offering while unclean must be cut off from their people…
Leviticus 22:2-6	Tell Aaron and his sons to treat with respect the sacred offerings the Israelites consecrate to me… If a priest becomes unclean, he must not eat any of the sacred offerings until he is clean…
Exodus 25:40	See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.
Exodus 26:30	Set up the tabernacle according to the plan shown you on the mountain.
Leviticus 10:1-3	Nadab and Abihu offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command. So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them…
Deuteronomy 12:32	See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.
1 Samuel 13:8-14	Saul offered the burnt offering himself. Samuel said, “You have done a foolish thing. You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you…”
2 Chronicles 26:16-21	Uzziah entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar. The priests opposed him. The Lord struck him with leprosy…
Daniel 9:26	The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary…
Daniel 9:27	In the middle of the week he will put an end to sacrifice and offering…
Daniel 12:11	From the time the daily sacrifice is taken away and the abomination that causes desolation is set up…
Isaiah 56:7	My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations…
Mark 11:17	“My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations,” but you have made it a den of robbers.
Matthew 5:17-18	Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets… not the smallest letter will disappear until everything is accomplished.
Numbers 25:13	He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood…
Leviticus 16:34	This is to be a lasting ordinance for you…
Leviticus 23:14	This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come…
Leviticus 23:21	This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come…
Leviticus 23:31	This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come…
Leviticus 23:41	This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come…
Deuteronomy 4:2	Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.

This page is part of a series exploring the laws of God that could be obeyed only when the Temple was present in Jerusalem.

• Appendix 8a: The Laws of God That Require the Temple (This page).
• Appendix 8b: The Sacrifices — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8c: The Biblical Festivals — Why None of Them Can Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8d: The Purification Laws — Why They Cannot Be Kept Without the Temple
• Appendix 8e: Tithes and Firstfruits — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8f: The Communion Service — The Last Supper of Jesus Was Passover
• Appendix 8g: Nazarite and Vow Laws — Why They Cannot Be Kept Today
• Appendix 8h: Partial and Symbolic Obedience Related to the Temple
• Appendix 8i: The Cross and the Temple

Introduction

From the beginning, God established that certain parts of His Law would be carried out only in one specific place: the Temple where He chose to set His Name (Deuteronomy 12:5-6, 12:11). Many ordinances given to Israel — sacrifices, offerings, purification rituals, vows, and the duties of the Levitical priesthood — depended on a physical altar, on priests descended from Aaron, and on a system of purity that existed only while the Temple stood. No prophet and not even Jesus ever taught that these commandments could be transferred to another location, adapted to new circumstances, replaced with symbolic practices, or obeyed partially. True obedience has always been simple: either we do exactly what God commanded, or we are not obeying: “You must not add to or subtract from what I command you, but you should just keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I am giving you” (Deuteronomy 4:2. See also Deuteronomy 12:32; Joshua 1:7).

The Change in Circumstances

After the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in the year 70 A.D., the situation changed. Not because the Law changed — the Law of God remains perfect and eternal — but because the elements required by God to fulfill these specific commandments no longer exist. With no Temple, no altar, no consecrated priests, and no ashes of the red heifer, it becomes literally impossible to repeat what the generations of Moses, Joshua, David, Hezekiah, Ezra and the apostles obeyed faithfully. The issue is not unwillingness; the issue is impossibility. God Himself closed that door (Lamentations 2:6-7), and no human being has authority to invent another.

The Error of Invented or Symbolic Obedience

Even so, many Messianic movements and groups attempting to recover elements of Israelite life have created reduced, symbolic, or reinvented forms of these laws. They hold celebrations never commanded in the Torah. They invent “festival rehearsals” and “prophetic feasts” to replace what once required sacrifices, priesthood, and a holy altar. They call their creations “obedience,” when in reality they are only human inventions dressed in biblical language. The intention may appear sincere, but the truth remains unchanged: there is no such thing as partial obedience when God has specified every detail of what He required.

Does God Accept Our Attempts to Do What He Forbade?

One of the most harmful ideas circulating today is the belief that God is pleased when we “try our best” to obey the commandments that depended on the Temple, as if the Temple’s destruction happened against His will and we, through symbolic acts, can somehow offer Him comfort. This is a grave misunderstanding. God does not need our improvisations. He does not need our symbolic substitutes. And He is not honored when we disregard His exact instructions in order to create our own versions of obedience. If God commanded that certain laws be performed only in the place He chose, with the priests He appointed, on the altar He sanctified (Deuteronomy 12:13-14), then attempting to perform them elsewhere — or in another form — is not devotion. It is disobedience. The Temple was not removed by accident; it was removed by God’s decree. Acting as if we can recreate what He Himself suspended is not faithfulness, but presumption: “Does the Lord have as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than a sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22).

Purpose of This Series

The purpose of this series is to make this truth clear. We are not rejecting any commandment. We are not diminishing the importance of the Temple. We are not choosing which laws to obey or ignore. Our goal is to show exactly what the Law commanded, how these ordinances were obeyed in the past, and why they cannot be obeyed today. We will remain faithful to the Scriptures without additions, adaptations, or human creativity (Deuteronomy 4:2;  12:32; Joshua 1:7). Every reader will understand that today’s impossibility is not rebellion, but simply the absence of the structure God Himself required.

We begin, then, with the foundation: what the Law actually commanded — and why this obedience was possible only while the Temple existed.

---

Deuteronomy 12:32	See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.
Joshua 1:7	Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.
Deuteronomy 12:5-6	But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. There you are to bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices…
Deuteronomy 12:11	Then to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name—there you are to bring everything I command you…
Deuteronomy 4:2	Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God…
Lamentations 2:6-7	He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden; he has destroyed his place of meeting. The Lord has rejected his altar and abandoned his sanctuary…
Deuteronomy 12:13-14	Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please. Offer them only at the place the Lord will choose…
1 Samuel 15:22	Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice…