In Exodus 25:8 Moses was told by God to make Him a sanctuary as it says, “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.” The Rabbis say it is a commandment for everyone to build a dwelling place for God. When we build Him a place to dwell with us, we are hasten the day of the Lord. Ezekiel speaks a lot about the Temple. In Ezekiel 37:26-28 it says
“I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed, I will be their God, and they shall be My people. The nations also will know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”
Ezekiel 44:16-27 explains a lot more details about Levitical Priesthood and what it will be like for them when there is a Temple during the times of Messiah. When Jesus was here, the Temple was the core topic of His discussion, and when He comes back, God will set His Temple back in place here where Jesus will reign as Messiah for 1000 years. While we wait for that day of Jesus’ return, we need to be working on our own sanctuary to do our part to hasten the day of the lord.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.”
The Rabbis comment on Exodus 25:8 and say we are to make a sanctuary for God in our homes, and unless the sanctuary is dedicated to God’s service (which is living out God’s commandments), it is meaningless. The sanctuary is a place for God to dwell among us. A place for our prayers and sacrifices to be accepted. A place that has been set apart for God and made holy.
2 Peter 3:11-12 “… what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming…”
After Jesus ascended to Heaven, the Apostles remained close to the Temple, and they continued to participate and worship in the Temple. Paul even continued to do sacrifices along with everyone else. For example, in Acts 21, there were people doing exactly what is happening today and saying that Paul told the Jews to no longer keep the Laws of Moses. In Acts 21:19-26 Paul was explaining that because of the knowledge of Jesus, the Jews were more zealous to keep the Torah. Paul even proved he was still keeping the Torah by purchasing the animals used for sacrifices for the other individuals with him that was needed to sanctify themselves after doing a Nazarite vow. Without a proper understanding of what the sacrifices were, Paul’s actions will not make sense.
The Sacrifices and the Temple
During the time of the Temples, there were five types of sacrifices (called korbanot) that were brought to the Temple. The word korban means to draw near. If you want to learn more about the sacrifices please read Daniel Lancaster’s book called What About the Sacrifices. It is a good resource that gives detailed information about each sacrifice and what they represent. He further explains how they will be used again when Jesus comes back. To help explain sacrifices in order that you understand them now, you should think about them as a way to eat dinner with God; you and your family are having a BBQ at the Temple. Although there are some sacrifices you do not eat, for a general understanding here, when you do get to eat them, God gets His portion of the animal, the Priest gets their portion, and you and your family get your portion. It is just like a very important date night with God. This illuminates why it was so important for everyone to be in a state of purity before going to the Temple for a sacrifice; they wanted to be prepared to meet with God.
There are the five types of sacrifices:
- Burnt Offerings (Leviticus 1)
- Grain Offerings (Leviticus 2)
- Offerings of Well-Being (Leviticus 3) This is a Peace offering, and Paul used this offering to explain how we should view Jesus as a way to bring peace between God and man in Ephesians 2:14-19.
- Sin Offerings (Leviticus 4) This is for unintentional sin and saying, “Oops, I did not mean to do that, and I messed up.” It is for purification, and to put you back in a proper condition spiritually to continue to worship God in the Temple.
- Guilt Offerings (Leviticus 5:14-19) This was an offering for restitution.
The sacrifices are instituted when there is a Temple, therefore, since there is no Temple, no one gets to draw close to God through the sacrifice process at the Temple. In Isaiah 56:6-7 it says that non-Jews (Gentiles) who keep Sabbath will have a place there, and “Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar.” There is a lot more to this subject, but what you should understand for now is that when there is no Temple, and no sacrifices, our prayers are the replacement. You can read more about prayers in Day 25.
Something important to mention is how long sacrifices have been taking place. Sacrifices were well established before the 10 commandments were given to Moses. As stated on Chabad.org, “The Bible records that Cain and Abel, sons of Adam and Eve, brought sacrifices to God: Cain from the fruits of the ground, and Abel from the choicest of his sheep. Noah sacrificed animals and birds to God upon leaving the Ark after the Great Flood. At the Binding of Isaac, Abraham brought a ram as a burnt offering in place of his son.” Why did God choose sacrifices as a method to draw close? It is one of those things we can ask Jesus about when He comes back. For now, studying the Torah helps bring light to this subject.
Understanding Holiness
It is hard for us to understand holiness because we are not living in the days of the Temple, but when we study God’s holiness and what He expects from us, we are hasten the day of the Lord. Paul tells us we are the Temple for the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 6:19, and we should spend time to learn what that means. For the best teachings about the Temple you can visit Joe Good’s site called Jerusalem Temple Study. He and his team developed a Second Temple App that gives a virtual tour of the Temple, created based on their biblical research and understanding. The Rabbis in Jerusalem at The Temple Institute use their research.
To know if we are building our temple correctly, we should consider the meaning behind the temple use. Here are a couple important things to consider about the Temple:
- It was a place to celebrate the appointed times (festivals) listed in Leviticus 23.
- Prayers every day
- Sabbath
- Spring Festivals that were about Jesus coming the first time:
- Pesach (Passover & Feast of Unleavened Bread)
- Pentecost (Feast of Weeks)
- Fall Festivals that are pointing to Jesus’ second coming:
- Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets)
- Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)
- Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles, a.k.a. Feast of Booths)
- It was a place of worship.
In Ezekiel 37:12-14 it says, “I will open your graves and raise you from your graves.” Do you realize how powerful this statement is? The same Spirit in Jesus is going to raise you from the dead. When you say you have Jesus in your heart, you are saying you have a Torah Observant Jew living in you, and you are in a purified state for Him to dwell in. If you really think about how amazing that statement is, it should put an urgency for you to do your part to make sure your dwelling place is ready. Have you ever thought what it would be like for Jesus to visit your house? What if He was hungry – would you understand that Jesus is Jewish and can only eat Kosher food? What if Jesus came to your house on Sabbath or one of the other festivals, would you understand what that means? These questions are not to be condemning, this is to motivate you to learn about these topics.
The Rabbis say when we stand in judgment, we will be asked three questions:
- Did you conduct business in an honest manner?
- Did you set time apart to study God’s instructions?
- Have you anxiously awaited the redemption, and what did you do to prepare for it?
Hasten the Day of the Lord
Peter said we are to speed up (hasten) the day of the coming of the Lord. Exactly how can we speed it up?
- Live a repentance driven life
- Spend your life studying the Torah and Scriptures (Prophets and New Testament)
- Apply what you have come to understand, spend time in prayer, and help others who want to learn
When you live a repentant life, you will impact every single person in your life; your family, your friends, and your co-workers. God will use your life as an example, and you will be fulfilling the commandments as Jesus did. If you fulfil your job, it does not mean you are done working, it means you have done your job. To live a holy life means to live a separated life. If you apply what you learn every year, you will live out holiness.
James 1:22 says, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
Jesus said we are to count the cost, and it is a lifetime commitment to study and live out the word of God and hasten the day of the lord. The most important steps in doing this, are desiring to know the things of God, to know what God’s desires are, and to live them out. When studying the Bible, you get to know what God’s thoughts are and how He thinks.
If Jesus our Jewish King comes today, would you want to know and understand what His customs and lifestyle are? Would you want to know how and what festivals he celebrated? Do you desire to understand what’s it like for King Jesus to keep the Sabbath, or how He prays? You can find the answers to all of these questions by studying the Bible from a Jewish perspective. To do this, you can check out some of the resources available in the resource section of this website.
The most important thing we need to do is prepare ourselves by refining our thoughts, speech, actions, and create a clean sanctuary within us where God can dwell. This is a lifetime process. The Rabbis say the main objective God has for humanity is to make our physical body become holy. If you have not started your 30-day journey yet, put your faith into action and start today. If you desire to live a holy life, you can start by creating a list of what it is you need to improve and/or refine, write out an action plan, and then work on it.
The repentance process will build your Temple and hasten the day of the Lord; commit to working through it.
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