“For a commandment is a lamp and the Torah is light; and reproving discipline is the way of life.” Proverbs 6:23
There was a news story which was published this week from Jerusalem of how the Sanhedrin is now ready and approved for using the trees they planted five years ago for service in the rebuilt Temple. Further, the chief of the IDF in Jerusalem declared we are now in the era of the Third Temple (https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/144915/sanhedrin-gets-authorization-to-use-their-trees-for-third-temple/) (https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/145117/israels-defense-minister-we-are-now-in-era-of-third-temple/). As you can imagine these subjects have stirred up the ire of Christendom resulting in horrendous comments being made of how the Temple is blasphemy and hatred against HaShem and how Israel is being allowed to pursue the Temple in their zeal to rebel against HaShem. Or other comments discussing how the rebuilt Temple is solely for the domain of evil and the throne of the False Messiah. Like I said, just terrible things being levied and spoken.
This said, I must warn you all up front, this Op is going to be going all over the place and hard hitting as I attempt to counter the hatred for HaShem, His Torah and His Temple that Replacement Theology Christendom teaches via its chaotic, dark and untruthful doctrine, so be ready and prepared.
On a side note, let me state up front, when I speak against Christendom, I am targeting the doctrine, NOT the people! This abominable Replacement Theology doctrine is the issue and has been around for a VERY long time! HaShem knew all along it was going to flourish, BUT, Baruch HaShem, He is slowly dismantling this doctrine and calling His people out of its evil, wicked and destructive clutches.
Shaul warned in 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 “For the secret/mystery of lawlessness (Without the Torah of HaShem) is already at work, only until he who now restrains comes out of the midst. And then the lawless (Without the Torah of HaShem) one shall be revealed (i.e. Replacement Theology Jesus Christ) whom the Master shall consume with the Spirit of His mouth and bring to naught with the manifestation of His coming.” So this doctrine was already starting to take hold during his day!
There can be no doubt HaShem has revealed who the False Messiah is and always has been and the keys that unlocked this revelation are the very keys Christendom has thrown out i.e. His Torah, His Feasts, His Shabbat and His Temple….Gee I wonder why? Again, please, please, please understand I am NOT speaking against the people!
Keep all of this in mind as we proceed but as always, never forget the following:
– HaShem never changes per Num 23:19/Mal 3:6/Hebrews 13:8/James 1:17
– His Word is firmly established per Psalm 119:89
– He reveals the end out of the beginning per Is 46:10
– He does nothing without first revealing it to His prophets per Amos 3:7
– He says there is nothing new under the sun per Ecclesiastes 1:9
– He says His Torah is eternal per Proverbs 3:19 and Psalm 119:160
– He says His Torah is perfect and restores the soul per Psalm 19:7
– He says His Torah makes the simple one wise per Psalm 19:7
– He says His Torah Is freedom and liberty per Psalm Ps 119:45 and James 1:25
– He says His Torah is the only good doctrine there is Proverbs 4:2
– He says His Torah will add length of days and years of life and peace per Proverbs 3:2
– He says all of the ways of His Torah are ways of pleasantness and peace per Proverbs 3:17
– He says His Torah is for our good and well-being per Deuteronomy 6:24
– He says His Torah is health for our lives per Proverbs 3:8
– He says His Torah is life to our soul and a graceful ornament for our neck per Prov 3:22
– He says His Torah is better than pearls and all desires cannot compare to it per Prov 8:11
– He says those who walk with His Torah are praiseworthy per Psalms 119:1
– He says observing His Torah is how we purify our path per Psalms 119:9
– He says His Torah is better than thousands in gold and silver per Psalms 119:72
– He says His Torah brings abundant peace to those who love Him and His Torah per Psalms 119:165
– He says there is one Torah for all per Exodus 12:49/Leviticus 24:22
– He says those who hate His Torah love death per Proverbs 8:36
This weeks Torah portion is ‘Yitro’ which is found in Shemot 18:1-20:23. Yitro is Moshe’s father in law who comes to Moshe in the camp of Israel and advises Moshe to appoint righteous people to assist him in judging and rendering decisions to not only resolve disputes but also to teach people the Ways of HaShem. Point is, again this is reinforcing their is strict order in HaShem’s Kingdom and everyone has their particular role to play in His Kingdom. When we step outside of those boundaries, then what happens? Chaos ensues and everyone does what is good in their own eyes which leads to destruction and death!
This is perfectly exemplified in His Temple in Jerusalem! Remember He commands you and I today, via Yechezkel (Ezekiel) 43:10-11 “You Son of Man! Tell the House of Israel about the Temple, and let them be ashamed of their sins and measure the Temple’s design. And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, then make known to them the form (Tavnit – Blueprint), all its laws, all its designs and all its teachings, and write all this down before their eyes, so that they may remember its form (Tavnit) and its decrees and DO THEM.” It is interesting that He commands us to tell people about His Temple and only IF they are ashamed of their sins, THEN make known to them the Tavnit. How many times do people hear about His Temple and their reactions are either, yawn and shake their head or huff and puff in vitriolic fury? How many hear about His Temple and then examine themselves and see the sin in their lives and strive to do what we learn from His Temple? Baruch HaShem more and more are coming around and desiring to learn more about His Temple, for the right reasons! This tells me HaShem is VERY, VERY close to wrapping things up! May it be very soon in our days! I digress.
We need to quickly lay the foundation here of why the Temple in Jerusalem is so important to HaShem and why it MUST be rebuilt.
Let me start with a question, “What was the very first command received by Moshe when he ascended the Mountain (Sinai) for forty days and nights?” The answer is found in Shemot (Exodus) 25:8-9 which says “They shall make a Mikdash (Sanctuary) for Me, so that I may dwell among them, like everything that I show you, the form (Tavnit – Blueprints) of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and the form (Tavnit) of all its vessels; and SO SHALL YOU DO.” These two verses right here destroy Replacement Theology Christendom once and for all, and I will explain.
Moshe is called by HaShem up to the top of Sinai to meet with HaShem for forty days and nights. HaShem commands Moshe to tell Israel to build Him a Mikdash so He may dwell among Israel. Further it is HaShem Who shows Moshe the entirety of the blueprints of the vessels, to include ALL of the ceremonies, embroidery, composition of the structures, everything! Then HaShem says ‘And so shall you do’ which means ‘And just exactly as I have shown you, do it and you may NOT deviate not even half a fingers breath in anything!’ Then when we look at this phrase in its original Hebrew, the verb tense is the letter ‘Vav’ which means this command is ETERNAL, meaning its a continuous command and applies to EVERY generation, which includes you and I today! This means you and I are commanded to build Him a Mikdash where He has chosen to place His Name and where is that place?
Yirmiyah (Jeremiah) 17:12 says “Like the Throne of Glory, primevally exalted, is the place of our Mikdash (Sanctuary).” This verse means the Temple Mount in Jerusalem! Further, Yechezkel (Ezekiel) 43:4-7 says “And the Glory of HaShem then entered the Temple by way of the gate that faced east. Then a wind lifted me up and brought me into the inner courtyard and behold, the Glory of HaShem filled the Temple. I heard Him addressing Himself to me from the Temple; a man was standing near me. He said to me, ‘Son of Man, this is the place of My Throne, this is the place of My footstool, where I will dwell amid the Children of Israel forever. The House of Israel will no longer defile My holy Name, they and their kings, with their promiscuity, and with their corpses of their kings, and with their high places.” Again, HaShem says His Throne on earth is the Temple in Jerusalem will be so for all eternity!
We have quickly explored the command to build the First Temple above. Where in His Word is the command to build the Second Temple when Israel returned to Israel from Babylonian captivity? It is found in Haggai 1:1-8 which says “In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the Word of HaShem came through Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, and to Yehoshua son of Jehozadak, the Kohen Gadol (High Priest), saying: ‘Thus said HaShem, Master of Legions, saying: This people has said, ‘The time has not yet come!’ But I say, ‘It is the time for the Temple of HaShem to be rebuilt!’ And the Word of HaShem came through Haggai the prophet saying: ‘Is this a time for you yourselves to sit in your paneled houses while this House (Temple) is in ruins? So now, thus said HaShem, Master of Legions: Set your heart to consider your ways! You have sown much but bring in little; eating without being satisfied, drinking without quenching thirst, dressing yet no one is warmed; and whoever earns money earns it for a purse with a hole. Thus said HaShem, Master of Legions: Set your heart to consider your ways! Ascend the mountain and bring wood and build the Temple; I will be pleased with it and I will be honored, said HaShem.”
It is an interesting side note that the sixth month is the month of Elul, the month of repentance! Further, the first day of Elul is the same day Moshe went up to the top of Sinai and received the second set of tablets after the first were shattered at the sin of the Golden Calf!!
With this, now where is the command from HaShem to build the Third Temple? It is found in Zechariah 6:12-15 which says “So said HaShem, Master of Legions, saying: ‘Behold, there is a man, his name is Zemach (Branch – another name for Mashiach Yeshua), and he will flourish in his place; he will build the Mikdash (Sanctuary) of HaShem. He will build the Sanctuary of HaShem; he will bear majesty and he will sit and rule upon his throne. The Kohen will be upon his own throne and there will be a disposition of peace between the two of them. The crowns will be a remembrance for Helem, for Tobijah, for Jedaiah and for Hen son of Zechaniah in the Sanctuary of HaShem.’ People will come from far away and build the Sanctuary of HaShem and then you will know that HaShem, Master of Legions, has sent me to you. This will happen if you will truly listen to the Voice of HaShem your Elohim.'” You read anything in here where the Third Temple is the domain of evil and solely so the False Messiah can inhabit and defile it? Nope, not one mention of the False Messiah here! Further, it should be noted that as exemplified in the building of the Second Temple, all that was INITIALLY needed was the Mizbe’ach (Altar) of stone in order to have a functioning Temple while the rest of the structure was built later. Point is, the Mizbe’ach is ready today, in the year 2020, to be placed on the Temple Mount, while the rest of the structure is built later. Prophetically, Yeshua will show up and He will complete the construction of the Third Temple in accordance with what we read in Yechezkel (Ezekiel) 40-48 and it will still be known as the Third Temple!
Okay, so now we will begin with the first and most common doctrinal objection to the idea of a rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem i.e. “The Temple veil was torn in two and therefore now we all have complete and unrestricted access to the Most Holy Place, once and for all. Christ was the final sacrifice for sin therefore there is no need for a rebuilt Temple!“
How many times have you and I heard these objections? Its basically the doctrinal foundation of Replacement Theology and the height of antisemitism. Is there any truth to these objections? The answer is emphatically NO! There is zero truth in this and we will explore this.
The first question we should ask is “How many veils were in the Temple and a follow up question is what veil specifically was torn?” There were a total of 13 veils in the Temple complex with four in the Sanctuary itself and TWO that separated the Most Holy Place from the Holy Place! So which veil tore?
The veil that was affixed to the outer door of the Sanctuary was called ‘The Heavens’ as it had embroidered on it star constellations. It is THIS veil that tore during the earthquake when Yeshua died! How many would be shocked to find out this same exact veil tore once before in His Word during a great earthquake?
King Uzziah, Israeli king, a very successful king, suddenly decided one day he would go down into the Temple and offer the Ketoret (Incense) from the Golden Altar in the Holy Place, which is offered each day. Uzziah was NOT a Kohen, therefore he was forbidden from entering the Holy Place and he was certainly forbidden from offering the Ketoret which is reserved ONLY for the Kohanim per the Torah of HaShem!
II Chronicles 26:16-21 says “But as he (Uzziah) became strong, his heart became haughty to the point of destructiveness, and he betrayed HaShem his Elohim, he entered the Sanctuary of HaShem to burn incense upon the Incense Altar. Azariah the Kohen went after him, along with 80 strong Kohanim of HaShem. They stood next to King Uzziah and said to him, ‘It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to HaShem, but it is for the Kohanim, the descendants of Aaron, who are consecrated, to burn incense. Leave the Temple, for you have been treacherous, and this will not bring you honor from HaShem, Elohim!’ Uzziah became enraged, and he already had a censer in his hand for burning incense. As he was becoming enraged with the Kohanim, a leprous growth appeared on his forehead in the presence of the Kohanim in the Temple of HaShem, near the Incense Altar. Azariah, the chief Kohen, and all the other Kohanim turned to him, and behold he was leprous on his forehead! So they rushed him away from there; he, too hastened to leave, for HaShem had afflicted him. King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death. He dwelt in his leprosy in a place of asylum (The cemetery), for he was banished from the Temple of HaShem. His son Jotham took charge of the royal house and judged the people of the land.” Can you see HaShem’s House i.e. His Temple is a House of complete order? Any deviation from what He has established results in judgment and death and Uzziah shows this perfectly! Uzziah lived another 25 years with leprosy, banished from Jerusalem as well as the Temple and lived in a cemetery because leprosy is akin to a dead corpse.
The great earthquake is recorded for us in Amos 1:1 which says “The words of Amos, who was one of the herders of Tekoa, who saw visions concerning Israel, in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.”
Zechariah 14:5 also talks about the earthquake, which says “And you will flee to the valley of the mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azal, and you will flee as you fled from the earthquake that was in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah.” The commentaries all reference how this earthquake tremendously shook the Temple and the veil and roof were tore and sunlight shown down upon Uzziah revealing his leprosy on his forehead! That veil can ONLY be ‘The Heavens!’
Point for all of this is to highlight this veil that Christendom talks about is NOT the ones that separated the Most Holy Place from the Holy Place, which means access to the Most Holy Place is still very much restricted to us today!! Nothing has changed!!
Now to answer the second part of the objections listed above, “Christ was the final sin sacrifice, therefore there is no need for a rebuilt Temple.” If this was true, then why do we read in the Apostolic Writings how Paul brought Chatat (SIN) offerings to the Temple some 30 years AFTER Yeshua had come and gone? Again, this is where we MUST understand His Torah and His Temple, because we read in Acts 18 how Paul took a vow. What vow did he take? He took a Nazarite Vow and when we read in Bamidbar (Numbers 6), what is required when he has completed his Nazarite Vow? Again per Bamidbar 6:13-15 it says “This shall be the law of the Nazarite: On the day his abstinence is completed, he shall bring himself to the entrance of the Ohel Moed (Tent of Meeting – The Temple). He shall bring his offering to HaShem: One unblemished sheep in its first year as an Olah (Burnt) Offering, one unblemished female sheep in its first year as a Chatat (Sin) Offering, and one unblemished ram as a Shelamim (Peace) Offering; a basket of unleavened loaves; loaves of fine flour mixed with oil and unleavened wafers smeared with oil; and their meal offerings and their libations.”
Did Paul do this? Yup! Acts 21:23-24 says “So do this, what we say to you (The council in Jerusalem speaking to Paul): We have four men who have taken a vow (Nazarite). Take them and be cleansed with them, and pay their expenses (Cost of the korbonot/offerings) so that they shave their heads (Required in Bamidbar 6). And ALL shall know that what they have been informed about you is not so, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Torah.” So if Yeshua did away and nailed the Torah and the Temple to the cross, then why are there so many Jews who are zealous for the Torah, bringing offerings to the Temple, taking Nazarite Vows and continuing to bring Chatat (Sin) offerings to the Temple some 30 years AFTER Yeshua had come and gone? Its because Yeshua changed NOTHING!
Why is it we read in Yechezkel (Ezekiel) where the Prince (The Nasi/Kohen HaGadol/High Priest/King Mashiach) will offer up a Chatat (Sin) offering on behalf of himself and Israel in the rebuilt Temple? It is recorded in Yechezkel 45:17 which says “Upon the prince shall be the responsibility for the Olah (Burnt) Offerings, the meal offerings and the libation, on the festivals, on the New Moons, and on the Shabbats, on all the appointed times of the House of Israel; he shall prepare the Chatat (Sin) offering, the meal offering, the Olah offering, and the Shelamim (Peace) offering to atone on behalf of the House of Israel.” Further, Yechezkel 45:22 says “On that day (Day of HaShem) the prince shall bring a bull Chatat (Sin) offering for himself and for the entire people of the land.”
It is interesting to note that just about every commentator going back hundreds years and further all agree, the Nasi/Prince here in Yechezkel can be none other than King Mashiach who is officiating both offices of King and Kohen HaGadol (High Priest) in the order of Melchizedek! So again I ask the question, if the Temple of HaShem and the korbonot (Offerings) are now rendered to be the height of blasphemy and the domain of evil and the throne of the future False Messiah, then how do you explain Yechezkel chapters 40-48 where HaShem restores everything to include the animal korbonot?
Believe me, this subject of the Temple is GIGANTIC and would take many lifetimes to learn even a fraction of it all, but one thing is absolute about His Temple: It is the House of Kedusha (Holiness) and by studying and learning about how His House functions, we learn what it means to be Kadosh (Holy!) It is an utter impossibility to do so apart from His Temple!
Consider that out of the 613 Commandments which comprise the Torah of HaShem, 271 of them pertain directly to the Temple of HaShem!! Now does it make more sense why we need to study His Temple as He commands in Yechezkel 43:10-11? Trust me the Apostolic Writings will explode into life and accuracy when we do so!! Paul’s letters will finally make sense as they will fit properly and completely in line with His Torah, not opposed to it as Christendom’s doctrine teaches!
As I said before, His House (Temple) is ordered, it has boundaries, it functions exactly as He has determined and none of us have any right to change one thing He set up! The notion the ceremonies in the Temple were all added by the Rabbis, as Christendom claims, is again nonsense and has zero truth to it! Read the Mishnah and the Talmud and you will see the rabbis were fully aware of this and knew NOT to add too or take away from what HaShem has established! As my teacher said in his book ‘Measure the Pattern’ “The Temple through this tavnit (architecture, floorplans, ceremonies, concepts of holy and profane, clean and unclean, and all ordinances associated with the above), becomes the translator of HaShem’s Torah.” Christendom is missing out on so much and has either unknowingly or unwittingly, in most cases, tossed aside the keys of HaShem and have adopted a doctrine of darkness, chaos, destruction and death. May it be VERY soon in our days He delivers and rescues out His Own from these futile, worthless doctrines and brings them into His Kingdom which is orderly, structured, is functional and produces life.
Much to consider!
Shabbat Shalom
SOURCE MATERIALS:
- The Scriptures for the Institute for Scripture Research
- The Stone edition Chumash by Artscroll
- The Rubin Edition The Prophets by Artscroll
- The Milstein Edition The Twelve Prophets by Artscroll
- The Writings I-II Chronicles by Artscroll
- The Milstein Edition The Prophets Yechezkel by Artscroll
- Measure the Patter Volume I by Joseph Good, HaTikvah Ministries (Used with permission)