Posted on 03/22/2007 9:54:02 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
In a donated apartment concealed among the narrow streets of the Jerusalem suburb of Nahlaot, 13 Orthodox Jewish men meet every Tuesday to debate matters of Jewish law. They are the management team of a larger developing Sanhedrin, or religious court, in Israel.
And they plan to sacrifice sheep on the Temple Mount on the day before or one month after Passover, which starts at sundown April 2. Either date is permissible under Jewish law. "If the government will not resist," said Rabbi Dov Stein, 68, a member of the group, "we will do it."
As Easter eclipses the last days of Passover this year, Christians will focus again on the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus. The Sanhedrin, meanwhile, will literally attempt to resurrect the Passover sacrifice of old.
For these Jews, the sacrificial Passover offering is not their redemption per se, yet it is vital to the process.
The Passover sacrifice is the latest of more than 40 legal decisions issued by the modern Sanhedrin. Seventy-one Orthodox men revived the court more than two years ago in the city of Tiberius, the same geographical spot they believe marked the final days of the Sanhedrin a few hundred years after the time of Jesus.
In antiquity, the Sanhedrin determined Jewish practice. It now rules on political and religious issues and ultimately sees itself as an alternative to the secular Supreme Court of Israel. It hopes to impose Jewish law on the Jewish people and the seven "Noahide" laws -- prohibitions on theft, murder, blasphemy and others, based on Jewish teaching -- on Gentile nations.
"We want all the world," Stein said, "to walk with God."
Descriptions of the Sanhedrin can be found in Jewish legal writings and the New Testament. The Gospels say Jesus was brought before the Sanhedrin so its members could assess his messianic claims. This current Sanhedrin also sees as one of its goals to evaluate any potential messianic contender. "There is no redemption without the Sanhedrin," said Stein. "We are building the opportunity for a king (messiah)."
Some Orthodox Jews see the Passover sacrifice on Jerusalem's Temple Mount -- one of the most disputed pieces of real estate on the planet -- as key to quickening redemption.
The Sanhedrin bought a herd of 12 sheep -- 110-150 pounds each -- from a farm in southern Israel. Anyone wanting to eat of the sacrifice can pay seven shekels ($1.67) for an 8-10 gram slice, the minimum required by Jewish law, Stein said. The group is hoping to collect 30,000 signatures through its Web site to prove its influence to the Israeli authorities, and gain access to the Temple Mount area.
Some members of the Sanhedrin are a bit more cautious.
"The Passover plans are just preparation," said Hillel Weiss, a professor of Hebrew literature at Bar Ilan University. "Not everyone is in favor of it."
The Passover sacrifice will draw the attention of some religious Jews as well as evangelical Christians who see both the restoration of the Sanhedrin and sacrifice as part of end-times prophecy. Other Orthodox Jews want to distance themselves from this group, which they consider extremist.
Religious Zionists, such as Israeli settlers, serve as the main audience for the new Sanhedrin, said Mordechai Inbari, 37, an Israeli who teaches at the University of Florida. Inbari sat in on some of the Sanhedrin meetings last year for his doctoral research.
Zionists perceive Israel as in the process of redemption, Inbari said, but most see the Temple's reconstruction with its sacrificial system as the last stage, occurring only after a widespread repentance in which all Jews turn religious. "But the extremists see it as going hand in hand," he said.
Hila Lipnick, a 28-year-old Orthodox woman who lives in Cambridge, Mass., used to live in Jerusalem and traveled daily to Gush Etzion, a settlement in the West Bank, for school. While she believes in the eventual rebuilding of the Temple, she is unsure about sacrifice.
"I can't see rivers of blood going all over Jerusalem," she said, "and society just accepting it."
In order for the Sanhedrin to proceed with the sacrifice, they would need to build an altar on the Temple Mount, at least the size of 1 amah (21 inches) by 1 amah, Stein said. They would slaughter the sheep and sprinkle the blood towards the altar, said Hillel Weiss. The meat would then be taken from the Temple area and cooked on a special oven and given to families to eat.
Some leaders in the Jewish community question not only the renewal of sacrifice without a Temple, but the validity of the Sanhedrin itself.
"They are a self-selected group," said Michael J. Broyde, an Orthodox rabbi who sits on the Rabbinical Court of America. "And they have no more and no less authority than any other self-selected group of rabbis."
While many Jews are either ambivalent or hostile toward the Sanhedrin and other Temple-related groups, some evangelicals support these projects. They get excited when they perceive the Jewish people fulfilling what they view as part of future prophecy, said Randall Price, an evangelical professor and author of four books about the Temple. "Then they think we're getting closer to that being a reality," he said.
The Sanhedrin considers the Passover sacrifice equal in importance to circumcision, since it is the first collective commandment given to the Jewish people.
"Since the Passover sacrifice is an eternal commandment, we should do it," said Rabbi Yeshayahu Hollander, an English spokesperson for the group. Those who do not observe the sacrifice, he said, will be cut off from the Jewish people.
"If we have psychological inhibitions, it is our duty to educate ourselves, to overcome the inhibitions," Hollander said. "This is part of our redemption. An essential part."
So you admit rhis alleged plan has nothing to do with God's temple (which, after all, is in heaven) or prophecy being fulfilled.
"Bigoted" can be a highly subjective term. People may use it defensively simply because they do not like the way truth comes at them. It's kind of a coping mechanism for dealing with an unpleasant reality.
"But he continued, 'You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.'" (John 8:23,24)
Jesus said lots of things that offended the powers of His day, and they put Him to death for His "offense". I guess calling a person a bigot is better than trying to kill them.
I think that would be going a bit too far.
It certainly COULD be the fulfillment of prophecy. Time ALWAYS proves futurists right or wrong.
Is it possible that this temple could be torn down and another built in a future era that would be the one mentioned in 2 Thess 2. Maybe.
But, in any case, there would be a temple there, and when there is that would make a thinking man do some thinking.
I agree. But rest assured not this person given the history of your posting.
"But he continued, 'You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.'" (John 8:23,24)
He also allegedly continued: Matthew 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
Jesus said lots of things that offended the powers of His day, and they put Him to death for His "offense". I guess calling a person a bigot is better than trying to kill them.
I'm happy for him if he indeed said those things. But Jesus, unlike you, would probably have read my posts and noticed that I called a theology bigoted and not any one person. But then I guess if the shoe fits who am I to offer the shoehorn.
While it is easy to point to many obstacles in the natural order of things, it is far more important to realize that with this very small parcel of land -- the land called Holy -- we are dealing with a supernatural order of things. As the Eternal Word Jesus Christ has written so it will be, and it is for us to prepare ourselves and our households and to extend the divine mercy of the Good News of Christ to others while there is day.
My point was that animal sacrifices are no longer effective. Christ made the ultimate sacrifice and they refuse to accept Him.
They have been wrong so far.
Is it possible that this temple ...
What temple? Isn't that part of the fantasy?
The more men fix their eyes on an earthly temple the more they ignore the heavenly Temple and the throne of David where Jesus now reigns. That is why God destroyed the earthly temple.
But of the true Temple, Jesus said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
That is the only Temple we should be pointing out to people.
If there's a temple sitting there some day, then that certainly opens up the possibilities. Just common sense.
Do you think the temple will be rebuilt?
That's a theory of rather recent origin that creates more problems than it allegedly solves.
did not say to Satan...hey, you have no authority to offered them to me.
Actually, Satan had no such authority. Just look at Jesus's response, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.' " Jesus made it clear God alone had authoriy over the nations and that they would all belong to Jesus by the power of His resurrection. "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
Renald Showers.
I am familiar with the dispensational party line having been one myself. In fact I could have written the same material because I read the same material as Showers and his friends. They all draw on the same flawed interpretation of a few select Scriptures. They rely on a hyper-literalist interpretation of some OT passages and ignore most of the NT explanation of the kingdom.
Please consider that we gentile Christians lost much in understanding of the old and New Testament when the gentiles surplanted the Jews during the time of Constitine. ... its grounded in Jewish meaning which we has lost.
Historical revisionism. The Church has always had the deposit of the truth because we have always had the infallible Word of God. The Church has always been blessed with Hebrew and Greek scholars as well as those versed in church history. I don't think a "latter day saints" approach to Biblical theology is very helpful.
His Bride, the Church. (But don't overlook that Isreal Is descibed as the wife of Jehovah God...
Is this one of those veiled suggestions that God is a polygamist? I'm sorry, I don't buy it.
Temple or WalMart, it doesn't make much difference to God.
Your preconceptions enable you to see through only one lens.
What history books have you been reading? There have been Jews living in that region since the time of Christ. There are still more Jews living in US than Israel. And it doesn't look to change in the near future.
until the last Gentile be come in in ...then....
Then what? The judgment. There will be no second chance. Unless a Jew comes to Christ in this age he will be eternally lost. Today is the day of salvation. Anyone who says differently is playing with folks' immortal souls.
The Passover sacrifice has nothing to do with the Temple, which is exactly why the 'Sanhedrin' is playing with the idea.
One young man, studying for traditional rabbinic ordination, asked me, "Don't they know that no one takes them seriously?"
Non-Jews are far more impressed by this would-be Sanhedrin than are Jews, precisely because non-Jews are little aware of the insurmountable obstacles to it.
How many lens do I need to see through? (This sounds like some post-modernist question.)
OK, do you have any NT verses, esp. after Jesus announced the destruction of the temple (which occurred in AD70) that says the earthly temple in Jerusalem would be rebuilt? Seems odd that Jesus would speak of its destruction, and speak of Himslf as the true temple, and overlook this (alleged) gaping hole that the temple needs to be rebuilt.
One would get the impression that Jesus was spiritualizing the temple as an ultimate reference to Himself.
"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
There's no getting around Jesus's view of the temple.
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