Why can't the Jewish rebuild their temple?

[agiosotheos]

Don’t you find the following passage to be a rather convincing proof that the blessed L-rd G-D wishes for a terrestrial place to be sanctified for His Glory as well, though? :

" [5] So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house.

[6] And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me.

[7] And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places.

[8] In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger.

[9] Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever.

[10] Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.

[11] And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them." (Ezekiel 43: 5-11)

To my way of seeing, the stress here appears to be on putting aside sinful practices, upon repentance and upon following the instructions of the pattern laid out in previous chapters to “keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them,” which doesn’t seem so mystical or celestial to me, but very concrete and direct.

I don’t deny that their needs to be a concrete realization of the Heavenly Temple on Earth. This is precisely what we think that we have in the parish church. In the Sacred Mystery of the Eucharist we believe that the Holy Spirit descends upon as and makes the Incarnate Word to be present in the bread and the wine in the entirety of His being. As I mentioned, He is recognized as mark of the New Covenant. We believe that the substance of the New Covenant is our actual redemption, superseding the forms and shadows of the Old Covenants. As such, we understand what goes on in the Sacred Mysteries of the Church to each be far more holy than whatever went on in the First Temple (and even more so than the Second which didn’t even have the Ark). To thus suggest that it would be important to construct another Temple emulating that of the Old Testament would be ridiculous to us, because we would contribute more to the redemption of Man by simply building another church.

 

[swariffin]

Who is Ben Masada?

Ben is my Jewish brother. I argued a lot with him. His view is somehow different than what I know about the Jewish. At least, he opened my eye that how little I know about Judaism. For sure, I did like to discuss much with him. His view made me realize how little I know about Catholicism, and encouraged me to learn more about Catholicism. He definitely interpret the bible the way he likes. But, that is logical. If he interprets the bible the way I do (perhaps) than he is a Catholic rather than a Judaist.

 

[singh]

Here is a detailed answer to the OP’s question:

beingjewish.com/unchanged/rebuild.html.

 

[Aunt_Raven]

I notice that several postings posit that for the construction of the third temple the current mosque / Dome of the Rock would have to go, the most logical way being through war.

Hey, there is a huge geological fault line running from the Garden of Olives through Jerusalem and there is a prophecy in the apocalypse that at Armageddon it will split the city bigtime. This fault has produced earth tremors historically (the gospel notes an earthquake on Good Friday, which tore the temple veil top to bottom), and it is not beyond the realm of possiblity that a moderate earthquake could bring down the Dome and other Muslim buildings currently on Mt Moriah.

Such an earthquake in God’s good time would be make evident to all that this new building site would indeed be AN ACT OF GOD. – without need for another messy but indecisive war, of which there have been a few since the refounding of Israel in 1948. The Israeli government currently has a stranglehold on all building/rebuilding permits, --and they would find it easy to legally deny permission for Muslims to rebuild the site.

Now as Catholics, we know that the Church is the body of Christ and as such is “the temple not built by human hands.” Christian Catholics don’t need to see the Jerusalem Temple rebuilt, because we know the Messiah (Jesus Christ) has come–we are waiting for him to come again. But the Jews are still waiting for the messiah to come the first time, and the rebuilding of the temple (God would permit this at the right time) would be to them logical proof that the messiah is about to appear; --indeed the man who rebuilds it (the antichrist) will present himself–with power, signs and wonders-- as the messiah, whom they will accept as the grand temporal ruler, King of the Jews, they always hoped for .

At the same time, there is Catholic prophecy (google “Catholic prophecy antichrist” for a lot of centuries-old speculations) that the antichrist will chase the Pope from the Vatican-- and he will eventually die a cruel martyrdom in exile-- and the antichrist may well install himself or another in the Vatican as an anti-pope, and “supress the daily sacrifice” (the Mass) for 3 1/2 years of terrible persecution of remaining faithful christians.

So by simultaneously presenting himself “with signs and wonders” as the messiah to the Jews in a new temple in Jerusalem, --and presenting himself --or: perhaps what the apocalypse notes as his “false prophet” – as “a new type of pope”, the antichrist could deceive pretty much everybody (Christian or Jew) left on earth except “the elect” who he will be greatly persecuting.

This is just speculation (that the antichrist could be active both in Jerusalem and Rome) but when the time comes God will unmistakably fulfill old prophecies in an unexpected way.

As Mark Twain once observed, “History doesn’t repeat itself–but it DOES rhyme.” Prophecies fulfilled one way at the first coming of Christ will be fulfilled in a new and surprising way at His second coming. When this happens, those who “have endured unto the end” will stand up and cheer when they see him coming on clouds and with majesty to snuff out the antichrist, and put things right.

 

[PJM]

=swariffin;5476762]The first temple was built by Salomon under the guidance of God. When the Jews turned away from God, the temple was destroyed during the Babylonian conqueror. The Jews went back to God, and the temple was rebuilt under Ezra and Nehemia. That temple was destroyed again in 70AD by the Roman. Even after 1939 years and the Jewish has become a nuclear weapon owner, they can’t rebuild their temple. Does it mean they have not turn back toward God?

Perhaps NOT to the god [small “G”] thy choose; BUT clearly thy have MISSED The Time of God’s Visitation as the Long Awaited Messiah."

The reason thy can’t build “technically” is because there is a Muslim Mosque on AT LEAST part of the site it ought to be built on.

Some call this '“Irony,” while I SUSPECT it may well be Divine Justice?

Additionally; like many Eourpean Countries: England, France, Spain for example; the population once heavely populated with Catholics; basicly have no NATIONAL religion. This appears clearly where Jerusalem is these days.

America seems to be following this same trend.

God Bless,
Pat

 

[KathleenGee]

Singh,

Thanks for the link! My pastor said…only thing he ever expressed fear…was if the Jewish Temple should be rebuilt…My!..

When all the Jews return…the Body of Christ is the fulfilled Temple of God. He is the cornerstone…but more than the analogy of a building…Christ refers to Himself more as the Bread of Life…that we come to Him at the Banquet Table…The Church, it has been said, is the New Jerusalem.

If it were not for the Holy Spirit, and the mandate to bring the Good News to all people, we would have had a Hebrew Church where the Jews would dominate everything. I do not mean that at all in a prejudice way. But the Old Testament and the Jewish people are one…it is their history…their genes…

I have read a number of insightful studies and reflections on the New Israel by the Hebrew Catholics. When they discuss the Old and New Testaments, I can only stand back and see my faith and understanding renewed…and a great peace between myself and the Jewish people.

St. Paul said God hardened the hearts of the Jews so that the Good News could be preached to all. The Holy Spirit did not keep Peter in Jerusalem, (acknowledging the Roman led Diaspora)…but led him and St. Paul to Rome…the new center of faith…

Hebrew Catholics express this sentiment that they experience their Judaism now more deeply as Catholic Jews than before. But I personally see in them as well a dominance, simply because they have always been God’s chosen people…The Hebrew Catholics believe some day that they will come to help the Gentile Catholics/Christians…and what a glorious day it will be when all the 12 tribes of Israel and the Gentiles are no longer two lamps of God’s light, but one great light of the New Jerusalem!

 

[rinnie]

This may be silly, but here is my take on it.

We have the CC, the Protestants and the Jews. That could qualify for about every Faith possible.

Now the word of God states the anti-christ will say HE is God. Now I believe that this is when everyone who believes in God will become one. The Jews, Catholics, Protestants will all unite the way God wants us to.

Then we will all ban together against the anti-christ and Jesus will come down and destroy him once and for all the way he promised us he would.

Because think about it, you have the CC. Never has any Pope or Bishop etc ever claimed to be God. Same with the Jews, Same with the Protestants. Never have they said they ARE GOD. The devil will state that. He will claim to be God.

The bible does say though many good people will be fooled. Lets pray its not any of us.

 

[Aunt_Raven]

I was researching historical earthquake activity on the Temple Mount and found that the Al-Aqsa Mosque, after an earthquake in AD 746, was completely destroyed and rebuilt by the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur in 754. Another earthquake destroyed most of al-Aqsa in 1033, but two years later the Fatimid caliph Ali az-Zahir built the mosque which has stood to the present-day.

It is quite realistic and possible that in God’s good time, another earthquake can at once destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock (both occupying site of the Second Temple) without need of warfare; thus clearing the way for the Anti-Christ to rebuild the “Third Temple.”

I recommend looking up “Temple Mount” on Wikipedia to see what various branches of Judaism think about the necessity of a third temple which many think will be rebuilt at the coming of the Messiah. Following links within that article will also answer questions about what the Jews believe about this, which of course is to Christians relevant to the advent of the Anti-Christ.