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lak611
Guest
Who is Hashem? Is that another name for Messiah?
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Valke2
Guest
Hashem means “the Name” and it is one of the ways we refer to God.
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lak611
Guest
Thank you so much. That also clarifies the rest of your post. By the way, you mentioned three different Jewish views on the Temple being rebuilt. Is there any correlation to each view in terms of Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Judaism?
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Valke2
Guest
The beliefe that the Temple will be rebuilt by people when the Messiah comes, that the Temple will descend directly from Heaven and that we have an obligation to rebuild the TEmple as soon as possible, are all consistent with Orthodox and Conservative beliefs. Reform Jews don’t believe that the Temple needs to be rebuilt. They believe that prayer has replaced sacrifices and that there is therefore no need for a Temple.
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Mr.Ex_Nihilo
Guest
Exactly. Jesus is the tree of life and the river of life.
Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence.
More importantly, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
I think bearing these things in mind, it’s significant to note the change of the altar as noted within the texts of Ezekiel. Like all the other ones previous to it, the altar of sacrifice stands in the inner court in the Ezekiel text. But every previous altar in Israel’s Temple history was apaprently approached from the south by a ramp whereas Ezekiel specifically mentions that the steps to this altar will face the east.
Some have postulated that the reason why the Israelites were never allowed in the past to approach their altars from the east because the pagans appraoched their own altars from this direction in their worshipping of the sun itself. I’m not sure if this fully accurate, but it does seem consistent with many of the laws found within Judiasm designed by God to distinquish the Israelites from the pagan nations around them.
Another interesting fact about this altar is the word used to describe it. The Hebrew word mizbach is the word used to describe the altar in every Scripture passage except one. In Ezekiel 43:15-16 the word used to describe the altar is the Hebrew word ariel.
The root meaning of the word ariel means “lion of God”. And when one examines the positive usage of lion within the Isrealite’s past, one is confronted with passages such as Genesis 49:9-10. As far as I understand, these passages indicate that the messiah will be a descendent of Judah. In fact, in Revelation 5:5, Jesus is refered to as the “the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah.”
It is clear that John the Baptist introduced Jesus as the Lamb of God in John 1:29. But, according to Catholic theology, when Christ returns he will come as the Lion of Judah. It seems appropriate from a Christian perspective that the altar in Ezekiel’s temple is described as Ariel (Lion of God) in honor of the coming messiah. And while Revelation 5:5 describes Jesus as the Lion, I think it’s also significant to note that the very next passage describes him as the Lamb of God too.
In dying, Christ had slain death. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.
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