Until a person understands the Temple of God and the leadership that runs it, they cannot fully understand the Kingdom of God. The Temple has protocols and regulations, boundaries and measurements, structures and gates with specific purposes, and an entire team that runs the day-to-day operations. When everything is running as God instructed, then the Spirit of God is present there. There are many who never take the time to study the details of the Temple, and therefore miss out on truly being able to recognize the hidden treasures that are in it. There are many things that the Temple can teach us about the Kingdom of God.
The Written Torah explains the instructions of how the Temple is to be built and operated, and the Jewish people have had all the details stored in the Oral Torah of how to practically apply those protocols and regulations that were written for us. The boundaries, measurements, structures, gates, and the teams of individuals are all detailed throughout the Old Testament. There are events that happen on specific days throughout the year, and protocols that God requires the Nation of Israel to follow during these times of the year.
The Covenant of God, the Temple of God, the Appointed Times, and the Nation of Israel is the center of the Kingdom of God
If a person truly believes they are the Temple of God as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:16, they will take the time to learn about it, and learn how to connect to the Nation of Israel and find their place in it. This post is dedicated to discussing the Messianic Era from the perspective of the Temple, and we will only touch the surface. Our goal is to give some direction and to discuss some of the key points a person should learn about in order to gain understanding of the Kingdom of God.
Let’s start by looking at a few scriptures that specifically talk about what it will be like in the Messianic Era. During that time there will be leadership set up who guides the world in living according to God’s instructions starting with a king who is also called the Messiah and rules the world, and a Levitical Priesthood that teaches the world how to serve the King. Revelation 20 refers to individuals who are resurrected and will reigned with the King.
In reference to the Messiah Isaiah 2:4 says, “He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.”
In reference to the Levitical Priesthood Ezekiel 44:23-24 says “They are to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. In any dispute, the priests are to serve as judges and decide it according to my ordinances. They are to keep my laws and my decrees for all my appointed festivals, and they are to keep my Sabbaths holy.”
Jeremiah speaks about the New Covenant and the Messianic era, and in Jeremiah 33:17-26 he explains that even God says that people are trying to say that He did away with the Levitical Priesthood and all the ordinances. God told Jeremiah that “David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of Israel, nor will the Levitical priests ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices.’” God also told Jeremiah the covenant would end only “if you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time”. For the King and Levitical Priesthood to fully function, there must be people who serve and a Temple to serve in which Ezekiel gives us details about during the Messianic Kingdom in Ezekiel 37-40. He goes into detail about how God will bring the nation of Israel back to the land, what the King will do, and then goes into detail about how the Levitical Priesthood will operate in the Temple at that time. The book of Ezekiel also discusses twenty-two and a half billion square cubits (1815.9 square miles) of holy space that will be designated as kodesh (sacred space).
There are appointed times every day, week, and month that God has given specific instructions for Israel to follow throughout the Torah. In the book of 1 Chronicles, David established an administrative system to run the day-to-day operations of the Temple that gives a very good example of what we can expect. There were many roles that needed to be filled including judges, priests, 288 singers and musicians who served each week (24 sets of 12 each serving for one week at a time), gate keepers who guarded the entrance to the city, different levels of holiness, teachers, assistants to managers, administrators, treasures, storehouses, farms, wineries, vessels, lamps, spices, food sacrifices which people eat, and ultimately a wise King who God can trust to enforce His will and fulfill His Covenant without compromise every day. The Kingdom is a place where individuals can study Torah (God’s instructions), perform Mitzvot (commandments), Pray, and in addition can practice their profession. There are activities that everyone can continually work on and strengthen in order to become a better servant.
The Levitical Priesthood is dedicated to and under the authority of the Torah and the King
The Levitical Priesthood are responsible for the sacrifices that are put on the Altar and offered up to God. Some of the sacrifices can be eaten which are Communal and Individual sin offerings, Communal Peace offerings and Guilt offerings, Thanksgiving and Nazirite offerings, Peace, first born cattle, the Pesach offerings, and the offerings that are for tithe of cattle. Each one of these have instructions on the designated space to cook, the place and time they can be eaten, and who can eat them.
Ezekiel gives many more details and rules about the Temple that are a good insight into what it will be like in the Kingdom. The commentary and overview by Rabbi Menachem Davis and Rabbi Nosson Scherman are a very good resources and is informative and has photos of the Temple. It even explains the King will get 1/13 of all land that is conquered during the Messianic Age (Ezekiel 48:21-22/Rambam Law of Kings 4:8) and will be given as an eternal right for Him and all His children.
Ezekiel 44:16-27 explains a lot more about Levitical Priesthood and what it will be like for them during that time:
- They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge.
- When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen garments. They shall have nothing of wool on them, while they minister at the gates of the inner court, and within.
- They shall have linen turbans on their heads, and linen undergarments around their waists. They shall not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat.
- And when they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall put off the garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers. And they shall put on other garments, lest they transmit holiness to the people with their garments.
- They shall not shave their heads or let their locks grow long; they shall surely trim the hair of their heads.
- No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court.
- They shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but only virgins of the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.
- They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.
- In a dispute, they shall act as judges, and they shall judge it according to my judgments.
- They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts, and they shall keep my Sabbaths holy.
- They shall not defile themselves by going near to a dead person. However, for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother or unmarried sister they may defile themselves.
- After he has become clean, they shall count seven days for him. And on the day that he goes into the Holy Place, into the inner court, to minister in the Holy Place, he shall offer his sin offering, declares the Lord God.
Appointed Times
In the Kingdom each day there are special events that take place throughout the year, these are called “Appointed Times”, and there are details about them in Leviticus 23. These appointed times have specific protocols that must be followed for the service that God requires. There are instructions for the annual cycle that the Nation of Israel is to follow, and that all the Nations of the world can join in throughout the year. There are details to follow when there is a Temple standing, and when it is not standing. All of these appointed times can be better understood when learning about them in perspective to the Temple:
- The Daily Prayers (Daily Sacrifices)
- Sabbath
- Pesach (Passover)
- The Feast of Unleavened bread
- Shavuot (Pentecost)
- Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets)
- Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)
- Sukkoth (Feast of Tabernacles)
Life In Messianic Era
People will live normal lives during the Messianic Era, but they will live longer.
In Isaiah 65:20 he says, “No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. “
People who are not a priest will still eat meat.
Ezekiel 44:31 states that, “The priests must not eat anything, whether bird or animal, found dead or torn by wild animals.”
Zechariah 8:22-23 says, “Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts IN JERUSALEM and to entreat the favor of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”
You have a place in the Kingdom if you prepare for it, and you will be known in the Kingdom by how you are obedient to God’s instructions right now.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:19, “Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
Our job right now is to be prepared for Jesus coming back, and we are to do this by repenting and seeking the Kingdom of God. The Gospel Message is: “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near” (Matthew 3:2). The purpose of repentance is to make continual correction in your life by applying what you learn from seeking God. It is a lifelong journey, and you want to be ready when Jesus takes His throne in the Kingdom. To start a journey of repentance and learn more about the Kingdom of God visit www.howdoirepent.org.
The book Joy of the Whole Earth: Jerusalem and the Future of the World by Lars Enarson, is a great resource that gives very good insight on the Kingdom of God.