Discover why Leviticus 21, Ezekiel 44, John 4 and 6, and 1Corinthians 10–11 focus on the “table of the LORD” and what that means for us today. We explore what it really means that ancient Israel’s priests handle the “food of God,” why Yeshua (Jesus) says His food is to do the Father’s will, and how our approach today to Heaven’s altar reveals whether we’re truly drawing near — or just dropping off a gift and walking away.
Tisha b’Av mourns the destruction of the First and Second Temples and other Jewish tragedies, observed with fasting and prayer. For believers in Yeshua (Jesus) as the Messiah and the “Word (of God) made flesh,” He brings to fullness the pattern of the Temple’s role as a pattern of Heaven. Believers are “temples of the Holy Spirit” and “living stones,” forming a spiritual house. Prophetic hopes of Temple restoration and Ezekiel’s ark-less temple point to Yeshua, culminating in the New Jerusalem, where God and the Lamb are the temple.
Why is there so much ink in the Torah devoted to the design of Israel’s Tabernacle? As we see in this study of Torah reading תְּצַוֶּה Tetzaveh (“you shall command,” Exodus 27:20–30:10) and parallel passages on Ezekiel’s temple and Hebrews 13, the emphasis is God’s dwelling among His people, who are to be a lifeline for humanity. The architecture, offerings and rituals of the Tabernacle (and later temples) are essential, enduring blueprints for the atoning work of Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) and believers’ personal transformation through God’s Spirit to be continual “living sacrifices” (Rom. 12:1–2) in how they behave.