Replies

You misread. This is not about “burnt offerings” It’s all about the soul being exalted and giving thanks and praise to the glory of God by sacred reverence and songs of praise. This is the RITUAL we are talking about.

It is a metaphor.

shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach

I think one of the biggest issues comes in with a lack of understanding of the metaphysical differences between what we see and what actually happens in a spiritual sense.

For example, it appears on the bare surface, that during the Divine Liturgies (either Eastern or Western), that in each celebration of the Eucharist, we are accomplishing an individual paschal sacrifice. That is understandable. But that is not the case.

What is the case is that the individual sacrifices at the temple were figures of the reality of the true paschal sacrifice where Christ (the high priest) offered himself (the paschal lamb) once and for all. And, in the earthly manner of reckoning time, that happened some 2000 years ago.

However, in heaven, time is not reckoned like it is with us. But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (2 Pet 3:8)

If one could look into heaven and see what was going on, though, one would still see the mortally wounded Lamb, despite His wounds, being fully alive (See, for example, Rev 5:6).

In a valid Divine Liturgy, this reality is brought "to life" as we pray that the Holy Spirit accept our offerings of bread and wine (as in what Abraham offered Melchizedek) and change them into the Body and Blood of the Lamb.

You can see this through the words of the Epiclesis:

In humble prayer we ask you, almighty God: command that these gifts be borne by the hands of your holy Angel to your altar on high in the sight of your divine majesty, so that all of us who through this participation at the altar receive the most holy Body and Blood of your Son may be filled with every grace and heavenly blessing.

The point being that what happened before are actually the parables to Calvary (Heb 9). What we see at the Mass is bringing down to earth of the reality of what is in heaven. Not a metaphor, not a parable, but the real thing...but in two separate and distinct temporal planes.