The Torah Will Be Kept in the Tribulation and the Millennium

In Christianity, it is commonly taught that the Torah is only for the nation of Israel during the time the covenant with Moses was in place.  New Testament verses from the Apostle Paul are taken out of context in an attempt to show that the Torah is no longer in place and has been completely fulfilled in the Messiah through his death, burial and resurrection.  In other words, their position states that because of what the Messiah did for man, man no longer needs to keep the law.  Going farther, some even advocate that if a regenerated new covenant believer tries to keep the Torah, he or she is undermining the work of Christ.  Thus, if a believer today observes the Sabbath, keeps the feasts, observes the dietary rules, or desires to follow any other part of the Torah, he or she has denied the victory provided by the LORD and fallen back into so-called “bondage”.

What is interesting, is that if all of the Torah was done away with because of what the Messiah accomplished, then why is obedience to the Torah connected with future prophesy in the time leading up the Tribulation, during the Tribulation and the 1,000 year millennial reign of the Messiah on earth?  If you have never contemplated this truth, seriously consider the following.

First let us consider how increased obedience to the Torah is connected to the prophetic Scriptures of the times leading up to and during the Tribulation.  According to Deuteronomy, Israel will begin to keep the Torah again prior to the LORD’s regathering of his people:

And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee, And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;  That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.  If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee:  And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. (Deuteronomy 30:1-5)

The LORD has not yet regathered his people.  This is still future and will happen as part of preparing his people for the Tribulation.  The LORD says that returning to Torah is part of a revival for his people that will happen prior to the Lord’s second coming.  Why would the LORD want and expect his people to turn back to the Torah if it is something that was done away with by Christ?

However, following the Torah does not stop in the Tribulation.  The reign of our King in his Messianic Kingdom or Millennium will include the outworking of the Torah.  According to Zechariah, inhabitants will keep the feast of tabernacles:

And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.  And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.  And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.  This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.  In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD'S house shall be like the bowls before the altar.  (Zechariah 14:16-20)

Also, according to Zechariah, sacrifices will occur in the Millennium:

Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts. (Zechariah 14:21)

All of this is consistent with the existence of a temple, earthly priesthood of the Levites (see Note 1) and sacrifices occurring in the Millennium according to Ezekiel 40-48.  Even the dietary restrictions will be enforced according to Isaiah:

They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.  (Isaiah 66:17)

If the Torah was a debt to be paid and was paid by Christ, why does it all exist in the future?  The answer is that the Torah was not done away with.  The Torah contains the instructions of life and all those that follow it in the faith and liberty found in Yeshua find that life.  The Torah has always been God’s way for man to live and it does not stop during the time between the Lord’s first and second coming. 

May the LORD bless your studies. Shalom!

Note 1: It is very significant that Scripture states in Jeremiah 33:17-24 that the LORD will use the Levitical priesthood in the future and this prophesy is just as sure as the promise to David.  And according to verse 24, those that state that the LORD has cast off the Levitical priesthood have despised his people.