Tag: second temple

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Appointments With God Chanukah Discussions Prophets and Writings

Haggai and Chanukah: How Messiah fills God’s House with greater glory

Heaven calls us to be “ambassadors” of the Messiah (Christ) and “temple(s) of God” (1Cor. 3:16; 6:19), and Yeshua (Jesus) called His body a temple (John 2:19–22).

The prophet Haggai’s message was that the House of God is not a building, but it does reflect the heart condition of the people. Haggai proclaimed that the glory of God and foretold a time when God will fill His house with a greater glory than He did when Solomon commissioned the first Temple (Hag. 2:9). That greater glory arrived when Yeshua stepped foot into the Temple during the Festival of the Dedication (Chanukah, John 10:22-39) in fulfillment of what that prophet foretold would be a crucial work of the Mashiakh (Christ).

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Discussions Torah

Exodus 38:21–40:38: Abomination of desolation vs. glory of habitation

"The Tabernacle in the Wilderness," Holman Bible, 1890
"The Tabernacle in the Wilderness," The Holy Bible. Illustration. Public domain (U.S.). Philadelphia, Penn.: A.J. Holman & Company, 1890. Via BreadSite.org.

During the course of Israel’s settlements in the wilderness and later in the Promised Land, God’s name rested on several places, including Shiloh and later Jerusalem. The Tabernacle was never desecrated by outside forces but it’s worship was compromised from the outside in.

The Temple, in Jerusalem, on the other hand, was sacked several times by corrupt kings as well as foreign invaders. Sometimes, God blessed the dedications of His temples with a visible sign of His Divine Presence, sometimes he did not. In the Torah reading פקודי Pekudei (“countings,” Exodus 38:21–40:38), we will look at how and why God did or did not visibly show His presence when the various Tabernacles and Temples were dedicated or rededicated through Israel’s history.

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Apostolic Writings Appointments With God Chanukah Discussions Prophets and Writings Torah

It’s all about Yeshua: Multilayered message of God’s Living Temple of hope for humanity

Yeshua/Jesus cleanses the Temple of money changers and merchants. (Photo by LUMO project via Freebibleimages.org.)

It used to be common to ask, “What would Jesus do?” Well, why did Yeshua visit God’s House on an extrabiblical Jewish festival — Chanukah — to make one of the most startling statements about God’s love for humanity? Why did the “disciple whom Iesous loved” record it? Rather than focus on layers upon layers of manmade tradition about a winter celebration of the birth of Yeshua, let’s dig through a number of layered messages that actually are in the Bible about God’s dedicating of a Living Temple — the Messiah — among humanity that could never again by left desolate or destroyed.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions

Luke 13:31-35: Yeshua laments Herod ‘that fox’ in God’s ‘desolate’ henhouse

Jeff

Early rabbinical literature echoed the imagery of Yeshua’s description of Herod as “that fox.” There may not be a coincidence that Yeshua then refers to the love of God for rebellious Israel as a hen caring for her chicks. Some have claimed the “house left to you desolate” in this passage refers to Israel in favor of “the church,” but similar parables related by prophet Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) suggest otherwise.

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Apostolic Writings Appointments With God Chanukah Discussions

John 7-10: Yeshua answers on Chanukah the question of His being the Messiah

The only winter celebration mentioned in the Gospels is the festival of Dedication, or Chanukah. Yeshua was at the Temple during that eight-day celebration and stated boldly, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). This caps a string of clashes between Yeshua and certain religious leaders — recorded in John 7-10 and covering a two-month period from Sukkot, or the festival of Tabernacles, to Chanukah — over whether Yeshua was the Messiah.

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Discussions Prophets and Writings Trumpets

1st Kings 6:1-14: Design of Solomon’s temple mirrors foundation for believers

Daniel Agee

The temple of King Shlomo (Solomon) is the prototype of the temple in Ezekiel and the temple apostle Yokhanan (John) sees in Revelation as well. These components were not put in by Shlomo’s own choice. They were designed and selected by God ahead of time because they mean something to God. In a sense, the Temple is us. Each physical component has a spiritual component.

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Appointments With God Tabernacles

Sukkot — creating a place in our hearts and minds in which God will dwell

The Temple, as envisioned by King Solomon was meant to be a “house of prayer for all nations.” Yeshua was upset at the fact that the priests of His time had lost sight of that mission to the point that they set up sales tables in the courtyard where the Gentiles were supposed to pray. However, the Bible tells us that even in the Messianic age, there will be a temple for God to dwell.