Article series: INTRODUCTION – WHO IS JEHOVAH? – WHO IS THE REAL ISRAEL – THE SCATTERING – THE GATHERING: ONE-FOLD – ONE ISRAEL : THE MODERN STATE OF ISRAEL NOT CHOSEN – DANIEL 9 AND THE PRE-TRIBULATION DECEPTION – JUDAISM ACE IS NOT A GODLY REPRESENTATION OF OT – THE BIRTH OF THE MODERN STATE OF ISRAEL – THE DIFFERENCE (between Biblical Israel taking of Canaan and modern Israel taking of Palestine) – What side should we take in the Palestinian and Israeli conflict?
Jews can offer many insights into their history, language, and prophets.
However, the meaning of a word can change over time in how it is used and understood. More often than not, the closer you are to something or someone, the less you can discern and see things objectively.
David’s older brother said to him: “I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle” (1. Sam.17:28). This was the same time God said that David was a man after His own heart. What God saw as a brave heart, the older brother found to be a wicked heart. What David uttered in concern, his older brother took as thrill-seeking. The brothers’ understanding of David was clouded by jealousy and contempt, and he was not the best witness of the brother with whom he grew up. Because our hearts are subjected to sin, we sometimes do not see the obvious, or we see what we wish to see rather than how it really is. This is how Lucifer, who was closer to God than all the angels, saw God in a negative light. The beholder’s heart determines what they see, not how close they physically are to someone or how long they have been in their acquaintance. This is also how Christ could come to His own, and they received Him not (Joh. 1:11).
For many centuries, the Jewish people have listened to rabbis and interpretations of scripture that falsely represent God’s law, the same teachings Christ criticized for misunderstanding His purpose. Much of their understanding was, and still is, deeply flawed.
The New Testament is clear that the scriptures “is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2Ti 3:16), yet the Jewish people as a nation no longer speak on God’s behalf.
This is documented in scripture as well as in the actual history of the Jews after they rejected Christ.
God took from them the sanctuary, the priesthood, and the sacrifices, and without these, they could not atone for their sins as a nation. Without them, they are not kings, priests, or mediators, and they have no atonement to mediate or offer to others. Throughout biblical history, whenever Israel’s sin was not atoned for, God did not fight alongside them. This is why atonement and sacrifices were so often made before wars.
Some might be tempted to think that the following prophecy is about the Jewish nation and the fulfillment is now that they are again gathered in the land:
“For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:
Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days” (Hos 3:4-5)
Prophecy is clear that Christ is David, their king, and, according to Hebrews, He holds the ephod and is the prince. Yet many think this is a prophecy of Israel returning to the land and then accepting Christ as the Messiah.
Hosea was a prophet to the northern kingdom, the same people who would become a multitude of GOY (Nations), the same tribes scattered by the Assyrians who never returned to the land, known to some as “the lost tribes.” The Jewish nation, along with a remnant of Israel, returned to the land, rebuilt a temple, and even had princes and kings. They also had a high priest, as we see in the book of Zechariah with Joshua. Since Hosea was a prophet to the tribes of the northern kingdom who were scattered and never returned, this message is not about the Judean kingdom or the Jewish people. It is about the others. They did not have a temple, a king, or a prince. When Judea sacrificed in their temple, the lost tribes had no temple in which to sacrifice.
The quote clearly states that this long-standing condition would end with their receiving Christ as priest and King. This means they would become followers of Christ, and through this, although scattered, they would again have a sacrifice, a king, and a high priest. In other words, this is not about the return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel. For they did not receive “David, their king”, nor did they regain the high-priestly service or the sacrifices, which were only accepted when brought to the sanctuary. Modern Israel never even built a temple or secured that piece of land. They are still without all the things named in this prophecy, and thus it cannot be considered fulfilled upon them.
But did the northern displaced Israel receive Christ? We know the gospel was specially sent to them: “These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Mat 10:5-7)
Some might think He meant only the remnant in Judea, but Jacob, the brother of Jesus, understood the assignment and worked for the salvation of those scattered: “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.” (Jas 1:1)
The letter shows that the gospel had already reached many of them, which is why James writes to encourage them to remain faithful to the faith they had received.
This is the only fitting fulfillment of the message given to Hosea about the tribes of the Northern Kingdom who remained scattered. No matter where they ended up, they came under Christ’s leadership, were saved by His priestly work, and will be gathered on the day He returns from one end of the earth to the other.
The book written for the Hebrews, meaning the Jews, contains the revelation that the priesthood would continue with Christ as High Priest in a temple in heaven:
- Jesus replaced the angels in giving God’s law and testimony. Heb 1
- Jesus, who is a Son, replaced Moses, who was a servant. Heb 3
- Jesus’ House replaced the House of Moses. Heb 3
- Jesus’ rest replaced the rest Joshua gave the people. Heb 4
- Jesus replaced the Levitical Priesthood with the order of Melchizedek. Heb 5-7
- The Heavenly Temple replaced the Earthly Temple. Heb 8
- The New Covenant replaced the Old Covenant. Heb 8
- Jesus replaced the letter of the law with the Spirit of the law, and the law written in stone with the law written in the heart. Heb 8
- The Sacrifice of Christ replaced animal sacrifices. Heb 9
- The Heavenly country has replaced the Earthly country. Heb 11
- The Heavenly City of Zion has replaced the Earthly City of Zion. Jerusalem above replaced the Jerusalem below. Heb 12
(The list is from an article by B.Brown)
There is nothing to misunderstand here. Paul also says that the promise given to Israel, that God would place the law in their hearts, was fulfilled in Christ’s followers, making them the Israel spoken of in Ezekiel (Ezek. 11:19-20). In fact, many Old Testament prophecies about future Israel were fulfilled in Christ’s followers, identifying them as God’s true Israel.
What is called Israel today does not have a tabernacle or a functioning high priest, nor does it have the temple grounds on which to set one up. In the old days, the uncircumcised and Gentiles were not permitted into the temple, being considered unclean and unholy, and were forced to worship God from the outer courts.
Today, God has placed the Jewish people who have rejected Him right where they once placed the Gentiles, in the outer courts. Their worship at the Western Wall is witness to how they have been cast away from being Kings and priests for God and expelled to the position once held by the Gentiles.
The Judaism that Jews practice today is Rabbinical Judaism, which came from what the Pharisees practiced and is full of corruptions in doctrine and practice. When they lost the Temple, Rabbinical Judaism replaced Tabernacle Judaism. The Talmud was a rabbinical work written after they had rejected Christ, and it became the new Jewish mindset and direction. Human leaders had replaced God. The Spirit of God was replaced with a spirit of confusion and rebellion. Their resistance against Christ made their religion “the sin of witchcraft” and “iniquity and idolatry” (1 Sam. 15:23).
Before the temple was destroyed, God allowed them to keep it long enough to show them that their temple was now without their God. Their writings, the Talmud, record the troubling omens they experienced before Rome destroyed their temple, omens which signaled to them that God was no longer accepting their sacrifices.
– The scapegoat released on Yom Kippur would return to them with the color placed upon it still representing their sins. According to them, this was not how it had happened before.
– The priests, on Yom Kippur, used to draw the lot for Azazel always into the right hand, a sign of God’s forgiveness. In the forty years before the temple was destroyed, it never again consistently fell into the right hand.
– For the last 40 years, the seven-branched candlestick in the Holy Place would spontaneously put itself out. This lamp, according to the law, was always supposed to be burning “before the Lord”. Not being able to control it was considered a bad omen.
– In the last 40 years, the door of the temple would randomly open on its own, laying open what was supposed to remain hidden.
(Talmud: Yoma 39a:15)
All these signs indicate they were left to chance, with no divine presence watching over the temple. Meanwhile, the New Testament shows how God poured out His Spirit on Christ’s followers at the Jewish feast of Pentecost. The blessing of the Jewish feast did not fall upon the Jews who rejected Christ. The High Priest and the temple service in heaven were now concentrated upon Christ’s followers.
The Jews practicing the feasts and laws outside of Christ did it without God’s blessing. God had warned them about this in Isaiah 1, where He said that their prayers, their feasts, would be without Him and were in vain if their hands were covered in blood.
“When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.” And “When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children” (Isaiah 1:12-15, Matt. 27:24-25).
Religious Jews refuse to celebrate the Lord’s feasts and Sabbath with Christians, claiming that Christians are not “clean” to partake because of their faith in Christ. Yet the Bible teaches that it is the Jews themselves who are not clean and fit to partake. God does not accept His holy times when they are paired with rebellion.
The Bible also shows how the temple service ended with the most Holy Place being laid bare by the curtain being “rent in twain” when Christ died: “And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent” (Mat 27:51)
God let them know they could no longer seek atonement and redemption through their priestly service and animal sacrifices, before taking these away from them for good. Yom Kippur was a special witness to all the bad omens for them, because this was the day God had set aside to forgive them, as a people and as a nation, for their transgressions. When the signs showed this was not happening, it meant their sin, as a nation, remained. And they still do to this day, unless they turn to “David, their King”, Shiloh, and the Messiah.
The Jewish nation not only scattered the faithful of Israel but also rejected Christ. Their persecution and ridicule of Christians continued until the fourth century, when Christians gained power in Rome and began turning the tables. From then on, unfaithful Christians started persecuting Jews and rejecting any biblical Jewish culture. These Christians had chosen a “father” for themselves, a leader who led them away from Christ as their king. The two powers, one claiming to serve the God of the Old Testament and the other claiming to serve Christ of the New Testament, fought each other. These two groups, both having gone astray, argued over which of them was God’s people. The apostate Christians gained influence while the Jews had little by comparison. However, winning that influence did not bring the Roman church any closer to being right, just as losing it did not prove the Jews right.
Being a victim did not make the Jews “good” or “right” in their views. Victims often feel that others’ evil somehow validates them. But wrongdoers become victims just as readily as the righteous do. Their victimhood was not evidence that they were God’s people, nor was the apostate Christians’ victory a sign that God was with them. If we were to use this logic, then every dictator who rises to power must be good, and every group that is defeated must be a martyr for truth. This is a shallow way to measure truth. People from all religions are being persecuted right now, by other religions and by the irreligious alike. Jews being bullied by the Roman church did not prove they were still God’s people. It only proved that the Roman church was not practicing the principles of Christ.
Nor is victory in conflicts a sign today of “modern Israel” being God’s people. Winning battles is not evidence of God being with them, as many claim, any more than losing them is. Conflict will always exist. Wars and rumors of wars are part of this sinful world.
The Jewish people have been treated badly by apostate Christianity in the past. Yet this does not atone for their sins against the first church, the Father, and Christ, unless they repent and give their sins to Christ to atone for them. Being mistreated by a Roman pontiff does not acquit them of murdering Stephen or anyone else. That is not how atonement works.
Many believe there will be a third temple. The Bible, however, never speaks of a third temple, only the temple of Ezekiel. This temple plan was given to Ezekiel during the Babylonian captivity, before the people returned to the land to rebuild. The description includes animal sacrifices, which indicates it must speak of a time before Christ died as the “Lamb of God”, after which sacrifices would no longer be necessary. As we saw in Isaiah chapter 1, God does not want sacrifices from those who defy Him. So if they reject Christ, He does not want their sacrifices, and if they receive Christ, they have no need to sacrifice. Therefore, the blessed temple mentioned in Ezekiel cannot be about a future Jewish third temple.
This temple would have been the glory of Israel if they had been faithful when they returned to the land.
The temple described is also a description of Christ’s death on the cross. The measurements, if used, would make the buildings appear as a cross. The blood and water from the altar, running down to the valley in front of it, would flow from what would have been its side. Just as Christ’s blood poured down from His side when He hung upon the cross, the river that the blood flowed into, which continued to give life to the wilderness, illustrates how Christ’s blood gives life to the receiver. As Paul explained: “Your body will always be dead because of sin. But if Christ is in you, then the Spirit gives you life because Christ made you right with God. God raised Jesus from the dead, and if God’s Spirit is living in you, he will also give life to your bodies that die.” (Romans 8:10-11)
They had a blueprint for a temple through Ezekiel, though whether they built it according to those directions we cannot know for certain, as “There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (Matt. 24:2). Few remains of the Second Temple survive.
According to Daniel 9, they had one chance, one time period, to make this happen. After the 70 prophetic weeks, sacrifices and oblations would cease, and the sacrifices ordered for the temple in Ezekiel could not take place. “Then said he unto me, This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, where they shall bake the meat offering; that they bear them not out into the outer court, to sanctify the people” (Eze 46:20)
In Daniel: “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease” (Dan 9:27)
Thus, it has been ordained by God, messaged through the angel Gabriel, that after Christ died, there would be no more God-instituted sacrifices. This is also confirmed by Paul in Hebrews chapter 10.
Ezekiel’s temple will not be built in Jerusalem in the future. There is a temple in heaven where Christ ministers. Any temple on earth, any sacrifice, any earthly High Priest, would be a full and complete rejection of the true tabernacle, the true High Priest, and the only sufficient sacrifice. Such a temple cannot bring life.
ἐκκλησία
The New Testament is clear that Christ is the new temple, and that the faithful followers of Christ have been made “kings and priests” (Rev. 1:6). Not given a land to rule, they are instead chosen for an educational task. Further, Christ systematically calls His church in Greek ekklēsia, which is the same as the Hebrew qāhāl. It means a gathering. Mo’ed was the term for the place and time for gathering, but qāhāl and ekklēsia were the people gathering. The Greek word is a combination of two words, meaning “out” and “call”.
The church is really a gathering of people called out to join Christ.
The true gathering is therefore the gathering in Christ, first spiritually, then physically at His coming. Christ calling His church a gathering shows that He considers the Christian church, in part, the fulfillment of the promise given to the prophets. The kingdom of Christ begins in the heart and ends with a physical gathering only when Christ appears.
He has therefore given authority to the church as priests. Not the Roman church, but the ones “which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev.12:17).
They are the chosen from whom we must seek the truth, for they are the ones who carried Christ’s testimony. They are not confined to one land, but are scattered around the world for the purpose of bringing the gospel to the whole world as Christ bade. He made it clear that His kingdom would not be set up in a land in the current world, only in people’s hearts and within His congregations.