Posted on 04/16/2002 1:47:05 AM PDT by antidemocommie
We certainly are at the potential dawn of a new age! Israel has produced a perfect Red Heifer. With this cow, it will now be possible to enter the temple grounds. By entering the Temple grounds, it will now be possible to begin the rebuilding of the Temple. Or the 3rd Temple as predicted in the Bible.
It is also possible to produce endless numbers of Red Heifers now that one perfect cow has been produced. Genetic carbon copies are as easy to produce, now.
We know that according to scripture, the AntiChrist will sit down in the Holy of Holies in the new fully or partially rebuilt Temple. He will be a Jew because he is allowed to enter the Temple, but who will the AntiChrist be to the Jews in Israel? Well, I have an answer for you that is a good guess, but remember, this is my idea. This is not from scripture!
Israel rejected Christ as the savior. Thus, today Israel is looking for the Lion who will come to their rescue. The new Temple will be built on the grounds of the 2nd Temple, but the new Temple demensions are not fully known. As a matter of fact, many aspects of the new Temple are not known, and these questions will be answered by a man who will come to help Israel. Below is an article about the rebuilding of the new Temple. In that article, you will find the following quote:
"We have a tradition that Elijah the Prophet will arrive and reveal himself to us before the Advent(return) of the Messiah.(10)
He will arrive and answer all questions and resolve all doubts.(11) He will reveal to us which families are definitely Cohanim.(12) And he is a recipient of the Ordination Of Moses(13) and can therefore restore the Sanhedrin. And he will bring peace to the world.
Will Jews see the incredible powers exhibited by the AntiChirst, and believe that he is Elijah the Prophet? Will the Antichrist bring a temporary peace to the Middle East, and help establish the foundation for the new Temple? We know the AntiChrist is Jewish because he is allowed to sit inside the new Temple in the Holy of Holies: A place where no human Jew could dream of entering. This possible "Elijah" fake will proclaim himself to be God when he sits in the Temple. That begins the last 3.5 years of the 7 year Tribulation period.
Whether Jews believe the antichrsit to be Elijah, or the savior, he will fool Israel with his power and authority, and he will be allowed to sit in the new Temple, even if only a portion of the Temple has been reconstructed.
As previously stated, the Red Heifer has arrived. Israel now has a perfect Red Heifer. This will allow for the rebuilding of at least a portion of the new Temple. Once this begins, we will be assured once again that we live in the last days prior to the return of Chirst, first for his Church, then to set up his kingdom on earth for 1000 years.
Who will the antichrist be to Israel? A very significant person: Either Elijah, or the Savior.
Please take a moment to read the article below about the Temple. Is is short and very interesting if you are a student of prophecy.
To be sure, if we had the Holy Temple, we would resume the Holy Service, including the offering of sacrifices. So why don't we rebuild the Holy Temple?
The most obvious answer would seem to be that we can't for political and safety reasons. The Muslims have control over the Temple Mount, and for us to destroy the Muslims' holy site to build our own would be a terrible and most dangerous idea. There would be no Jew safe in the entire world, or at least wherever there are Muslims.
When the Messiah comes, may it be soon, this will be resolved in a peaceful way, to everyone's satisfaction. Don't ask me how. If I knew how, I would be the Messiah. Obviously, I am not. (Isn't it refreshing to meet someone on the Internet who is not making outrageous claims about himself?)
However, there are other issues involved. Even if we received the consent of every Muslim in the world to raze or move the various Mosques from the Temple Mount, we still would not be permitted to rebuild the Holy Temple just yet.
Here's why:
Nowadays it is forbidden to enter the precise area where the Holy Temple used to be, because we are all ritually impure.(1) Whoever does so is violating a Biblical Prohibition punishable by death. In order for any of us to be able to become ritually pure, we would need the ablutions of the ashes of a red cow administered by a Cohen (Priest).(2)
Let us assume we have performed this ritual, and are now pure. Now we need an altar. Just any altar wouldn't do, it must be in the Temple area.(3) Therefore we must rebuild the altar. (I'll bypass the problems with that, as they are too complicated to explain.)
The next problem is the location of the Altar. The Law is very precise about just where the Holy Altar must be located. It is forbidden to place the Altar anywhere else. When they built the Second Holy Temple, they had to find reliable witnesses who could testify to the exact spot. They found three such witnesses, the prophets Haggai, Zephaniah and Malachi, but we don't have any prophets or witnesses today. Thus, until a prophet (we assume that it will probably be Elijah) comes and tells us where to build the Altar (among many other things we need to know first), we cannot build the Holy Altar.(4) The answer to this I shall discuss later, Hashem willing.
Without the Holy Altar it is forbidden to bring sacrifices.
Let us assume we were able to build the Altar, properly, and in the precise location. We would still need a Cohen whose genealogy can be determined absolutely and verified.(5) The answer to this problem I shall discuss later, Hashem willing.
Our next problem is that we must appoint a High Priest, or all Service is forbidden.(6) To appoint a High Priest, we need a Sanhedrin, which is a body of 71 ordained rabbis acting as the Supreme Court of the People Of Israel.(7) We cannot assemble a Sanhedrin, because the Sanhedrin must consist of rabbis ordained with the Mosaic Ordination, which was transmitted from Rabbi to Rabbi since Moses.(8) However, the Mosaic Ordination ceased to exist in the year 358 C.E. because of the persecutions Constantinius perpetrated upon the Jews.(9) This too, I shall answer later, Hashem willing.
There are yet other problems, such as Laws involving the Priestly Garments, the exact measurements of the Temple area, and many, many more, all of which demand as yet undiscovered answers.
And there are other types of concerns as well. The Torah does not even consider it a requirement on our part to rebuild the Holy Temple until most or all the Children of Israel live in the land of Israel. And there is also the matter of the Return of the Ten Tribes to consider, which will be part of our Final Redemption.
When these things have taken place, and we have made lasting peace with our enemies; when all Jews have returned to the Holy Land of Israel, and religious Jews have complete temporal and religious control over the land, then we will know that our Final Redemption has begun, and we can then turn our thoughts towards rebuilding the Holy Temple.
We have a tradition that Elijah the Prophet will arrive and reveal himself to us before the Advent of the Messiah.(10) He will arrive and answer all questions and resolve all doubts.(11) He will reveal to us which families are definitely Cohanim.(12) And he is a recipient of the Ordination Of Moses(13) and can therefore restore the Sanhedrin. And he will bring peace to the world.
Thrice daily, all observant Jews pray: "...and restore the service to the Holy Sanctuary, and the fire-offerings of Israel and their prayer you will accept with love..."
Rabbi Moshe Shternbuch, in his work, Moadim Uzmanim,(14) in his treatment of the subject, ends off by saying:
And according to what we have explained at length above, there are innumerable reasons why we do not rebuild the Holy Temple or the Altar, nor bring sacrifices today. Nor does the repossession of the Land of Israel change that Law at all. We are unable, and therefore exempt according to the Law, without a doubt, for many reasons, until the Messiah arrives...G-d forbid that anyone should reconsider or doubt this...And I only discussed these matters out of interest in the subject, due to love of the Holy Temple and the Holy Service.
May the Holy One, Blessed is He, pour upon us a spirit of purity from high above, and may we be found worthy of having G-d's Holy Manifestation in our midst when G-d returns the Service to His Sanctuary speedily, and with our own eyes may we merit seeing everything straightened out.
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Notes
1. Mogen Avrohom Orach Chayim 561:2
2. Numbers 19:1-22. For a deeper discussion of the actual Laws and rituals of this process, see Maimonides, Yad, Purity, the first two divisions: The Laws of Impurities, and the Laws of the Red Heifer.
3. Maim. Yad, Laws of Sacrifices 19:1
4. Responsa of the Chasam Sofer, Orach Chayim Responsum 208, based on B.T. Zevachim 62a
5. Babylonian Talmud, Yevamos 74b. See also Rav Hai Gaon, Succah, near the end.
6. Maim. Yad, Laws of Entering the Temple 4:15
7. Maim. Yad, Laws of the Utensils of the Temple 4:15
8. Maim. Yad, Laws of Sanhedrin 4:1
9. Zemach Dovid 4118
10. Babylonian Talmud, Eruvin 43b
11. Babylonian Talmud Pesachim 13a
12. Mishnayos Eduyos 8:7
13. Maimonides, Introduction to Yad
14. Volume Five, Section "Laws Regarding the Land of Israel," Responsum 351
I do not predict when these things will happen unlike some who know the Bible says that no man knows the hour or the day when Christ will return, but I do trust God and his word. He's told us what will happen, and there is no reason to doubt.
Man has been given a period of time to prove what happens when you reject God and his love. We cannot live without the God and survive. We are on the road to self distruction, but just before we destroy every human life on the planet, God will step in. Guaranteed.
Put down for "anything" in the Bible which includes red heifers!
You are certainly right in the fact that you guys have overlooked one very important factor about temple. And it is this: it is already being built.(although there is no prophecy stating that it is to be rebuilt) Kindly refer to the New Testament explanation of such temple as recorded in Ephesians 2: 19-22.
I guess that will be just some universal tatoo that we will use to buy or sell with. But, strangely, I remember the Bible saying something about those who take the mark have already sealed their fate and are going to by pass Heaven on their way to Hell.
I must have been reading the funnies again.
As Ed McMahon would say, "You are correct, sir!" The "mark" was symbolic. There will be no mark because there already was a mark in the first century. When you consider Revelation was actually written before Jerusalem fell (i.e. before A.D. 70), things begin to make sense. The Beast was representative of Rome (generally) and Nero (specifically). For more on this, check out the following links:
http://kennethgentry.com/Merchant2/backtothefuture.htmI'm still studying this myself but have studied it enough to know that the strict futuristic interpretation of Revelation is full of errors and inconsistencies.
http://www.reformedreader.org/mchart.htm
http://www.bibleprophecy.com/
I believe that all Scripture is God-breathed. There are no errors in Revelation, only errors in interpretation. For instance, by dating the book around 90 A.D., people can't help but read the book with the pre-conceived notion that it is interpreting still-future events. However, the internal structure of the book itself supports an earlier authorship.
As I said, I'm still studying this, but I do believe that Revelation was written by John prior to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. First, Rev. 1:1 tells us that the apostle is writing of "things which must shortly take place." Verse 3 reiterates that "the time is near." Also, the book is written to seven specific, First Century churches. Why would John write to them of things that would not occur for untold millenia?
Dr. Ken Gentry explains more about dating the book of Revelation and determining the identity of the Beast:
But the vision causes John to wonder in quiet confusion. There is a difficulty involved. And that difficulty is that the seven heads have a double reference. We learn further that the seven heads also have a political referent: "And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space" (Rev. 17:10).(For the entire article, follow this link: http://www.forerunner.com/beast/X0002_Gentry_-_Beast_of_Re.html)It is surely no accident that Nero was the sixth emperor of Rome. Flavius Josephus, the Jewish contemporary of John, clearly points out that Julius Caesar was the first emperor of Rome and that he was followed in succession by Augustus, Tiberius, Caius, Claudius, and, sixthly, Nero (Antiquities, books 18 and 19). The matter is confirmed just a little later in the writings of Roman historians: Suetonius, Lives of the Twelve Caesars and Dio Cassius, Roman History 5.
The text of Revelation says that of the seven kings "five have fallen." These emperors are dead, when John writes. But the verse goes on to say "one is." That is, the sixth one is then reigning even as John wrote. That would be Nero Caesar, who assumed imperial power upon the death of the fifth emperor, Claudius, in October, A.D. 54. Nero remained emperor until his suicide in A.D. 68, a period of over thirteen years.
John continues: "The other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space." As the Roman Civil Wars broke out in rebellion against Nero, Nero committed suicide on June 8, A.D. 68. John informs us that the seventh king was "not yet come." That would be Galba, who assumed power upon Nero's death in June, A.D. 68. But he was only to continue a "short space." As amatter of historical fact, his reign lasted but six months ÄÄ until January 15, A.D. 69. He was one of the quick succession of emperorsin the famous era called by historians: "the year of the four emperors."
I believe human beings are like ants riding down a river on a log, not realizing there's a waterfall up ahead. I believe we live in ignorance. And when it comes to understanding what's going on in the universe I think we're in way over our heads.
BZZZZZZZZZ! Wrong answer!
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