The Sixth Annual International Temple Mount Awareness Day
The Temple Institute in Jerusalem reported the following today:
Wednesday, March 25/5 Nisan
THIS YEAR’S THEME: EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO ASK ABOUT THE TEMPLE MOUNT & HOLY TEMPLE, FEATURING YOU, OUR FRIENDS AND FOLLOWERS! …
This year, International Temple Mount Awareness Day is about the Holy Temple and you!
WHAT IS INTERNATIONAL TEMPLE MOUNT AWARENESS DAY?
A special presentation of the Temple Institute which takes place each year during the week of Rosh Chodesh Nisan – the New Month of Nisan. What’s special about this month?
The month of Nisan is the anniversary of the dedication of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. It’s also the day on which fire descended from Heaven onto the altar, and the first day in which the Shechina, the Divine Presence, rested in the Tabernacle.
Nisan is the month of redemption, the month in which our forefathers were redeemed from Egyptian bondage. But the month is called so not only because of the upcoming Festival of Passover and our ancestors’ passage from slavery to freedom. Tradition teaches that in the future, as well, the great and final redemption will take place in Nisan!
INTERNATIONAL TEMPLE MOUNT AWARENESS DAY celebrates the promise of the rebuilding of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and the revolution in Temple consciousness that is taking place in Israel!
The Sixth Annual International Temple Mount Awareness Day is dedicated to you, our followers and supporters. https://www.templeinstitute.org/events.htm
Basically, the Temple Institute wants to promote its views of the Temple and likes to use the first month of the Hebrew calendar to do so. Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread occur during the month of Nisan and those begin next week (for when, see Holy Day Calendar).
As far as everything people want to know about the Temple Mount and ‘Holy Temple,” those at the Temple Institute simply do not understand enough of the New Testament or even Old Testament to do that.
Why do I say that?
One reason is that the New Testament makes it clear that God’s Holy Temple is composed of truly converted Christians.
While it is true that the Hebrew scriptures state that the Jews were God’s holy people (Deuteronomy 7:6), the New Testament shows that God’s holy people are Christians:
13 Jesus Christ…15 He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:13, 15-16)
9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, (1 Peter 2:9)
The question for now is does the New Testament connect Christians (Jews or Gentiles) or non-believing Jews with the temple of God?
The Apostle Paul told the Christians in Corinth:
16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19)
16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (2 Corinthians 6:16)
Notice that the Apostle Paul supports the idea that the naos/temple of God now has to do with Christians, not necessarily the Jewish peoples (except those who are Christians and have the Holy Spirit). Additionally, his wording “know ye not” indicates that this is something that they already should have known.
It is converted Christians who are God’s holy people and who compose the Temple of God in the end times.
As far as some of the Temple Institute’s misunderstanding the Old Testament, notice some of what it teaches:
Our sages teach that the stone under the Dome of the Rock is called the “Foundation Stone,” for it is the very foundation of creation. It is the spiritual center of the world and the starting point of creation; all the prayers of all mankind assemble in this place before ascending on high to G-d. It was here that the Ark of the Covenant was placed within the Holy of Holies.(The “Foundation Stone” of Creation. http://www.templeinstitute.org/ctl_articles_2.htm viewed 11/10/13)
Being the King of the Universe, God could have chosen any location in the universe “to place His name,” “to dwell,” and “to rest His presence.” Where did He chose do to this? Jerusalem, and more precisely, the Temple Mount. (Deuteronomy 12:5, I Kings 8:29 & 11:36, Isaiah 37:16 & 60:13, Ezekiel 43:7, Zechariah 8:3, Joel 4:17, Psalm 32:13) If God is incorporeal and omniscient, why or even how could there be a precise location for His Presence to dwell? Couldn’t Rabbi Nachman have directed his sentiments anywhere, since God is everywhere? Yes, God is everywhere. Yet He chose to manifest Himself more intensely and to associate His Name with one specific place, Jerusalem. And even more precisely, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
“In many places, when speaking of the Jerusalem, the Torah calls it, ‘The place that G-d will choose to make His Name dwell there.’ To the extent that we can understand it, this means that G-d associates Himself with this place. This is very difficult for the human mind to comprehend, and indeed, Solomon, the wisest of all men, found it impossible to understand. He thus said to G-d, ‘Behold, the heavens and the heavens of Heaven cannot contain you, how much less this House that I have built’ (1-Kings 8:27). Yet, he knew that G-d had somehow associated Himself with this place, as G-d Himself had proclaimed.” Aryeh Kaplan
The Temple Mount, where God chose to place His Name, is literally the point of creation; the place where the physical realm came into existence. And it is the place where everything we can’t see, i.e. the spiritual world, attaches itself to the physical. It is literally the portal between heaven and the earth. This precise point of creation on the Temple Mount is called the Even Shetiyah, the Foundation Stone.
It appears to me that the primeval point which G-d created out of nothing is what the sages called the foundation stone from where the world was founded.” – Nachmanides, Commentary to the Torah, Genesis 1,1
“When the Holy One, blessed is He, created His world, He created it like an infant born from its mother. For a fetus born from the mother, begins from its navel and expands outward to all four directions so too, the Holy One, blessed is He, began to create the world from the Foundation Stone and from that, the entire world was established.” – Midrash Tanchuma – Pikudei #3
Jacob saw a vision of this primeval point of creation that links heaven and earth. His vision is famously known as “Jacob’s ladder” and is recorded in Genesis 28.
Jacob departed from Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He encountered the place and spent the night . . . he took from the stones of the place which he arranged around his head, and lay down in that place. And he dreamt, and behold! A ladder was set earthward and its top reached heavenward; and behold! Angels of God were ascending and descending on it . . . Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely Hashem is present in this place and I did not know! And he became frightened and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the abode of God and this is the gate of the heavens! Jacob arose early in the morning and took the stone that he placed around his head and set it up as a pillar; and poured oil on its top . . . and said this stone which I have set up as a pillar shall become a House of God.
Did you catch that? Even prior to the Temple standing, Jacob called the Temple Mount the “abode of God” and “the gate of the heavens.”…
Yet at the same time what an apt name – the place – as if it is the only place of real significance in the world. Jacob slept at the precise location of the future altar of the Holy Temple. No wonder it was the place where Adam, Cain, Abel, and Noah made sacrifices, according to Pirke de Rabbi Eliezar 31. And it was the place where Abraham bound Isaac to the altar. In fact the 12 stones Jacob gathered around his head before he slept came from the altar Abraham made and bound Isaac upon (A call to remember. August 5, 2013. http://www.templeinstitute.org/a-call-to-remember.htm)
They are placed on the Foundation Stone, the Even Shtiya, of the Temple Mount, the Holy of Holies. We Jews know that upon it, Yitzhak was bound, it was purchased by David from Aravna and over it Solomonn built the First Temple. (Medad Y. A Found(dation) Stone Lost. June 29, 2102; reprinted from Jerusalem Post Blogs. http://www.templeinstitute.org/archive/29-06-12.htm viewed 11/10/13)
So, claiming that this comes from the Bible as well as Jewish tradition, the Temple Institute claims that the stone that Jacob used as a pillar was the foundation for the creation of the world.
Here is what the Bible records about Jacob, the stone, and the related dream:
10 Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. 12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. 14 Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”
16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”
18 Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. 19 And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously. 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, 21 so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. 22 And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.” (Genesis 28:10-22)
The Bible does not seem to place the creation importance on this particular stone itself that the Temple Institute places on it. It does NOT teach that this same stone was used by Adam, Cain, Abel, and Noah.
Jesus warned that the Jews sometimes relied on their own traditions above the Bible (Mark 7:9-13) and that is what the Temple Institute seems to be doing in some instances (see also The Red Heifer, Jewish Beliefs, and the End of the World; here is a related video The Red Heifer and the End of the World).
That being said, the Temple Institute is preparing to perform animal sacrifices, has given statements showing that it is willing to do them without a new temple being built (only an altar and some implements with a Levite are biblically-required per scripture, and the Temple Institute has basically claimed to have all of that; see Temple Institute Altar and Blood Moons).
The Bible teaches that animal sacrifices will stop (Daniel 9:27; 11:31), which means that they first must start. And irrespective of Jewish traditions about a foundational stone, the Temple Institute and others have indicated a willingness to start the sacrifices when allowed. And that may very well happen after some type of peace deal is confirmed in the Middle East (cf. Daniel 9:27; see also The ‘Peace Deal’ of Daniel 9:27).
Although the Temple Institute does not have all the biblical answers related to the Temple Mount nor prophecies regarding God’s Holy Temple, the biblically prophesied resumption of animal sacrifices is something that the Temple Institute may well be involved in–and they mainly only need permission from Israeli authorities to do so.
One person at the Temple Institute told to one of our sons in September 2013 that this could be done within hours of getting permission. I was also personally told by someone working for the Temple Institute that a temple was NOT needed for them to perform sacrifices in October 2013 (when I was in Jerusalem), and that is biblically correct (cf. Ezra 3:6).
Anyway, getting permission to sacrifice is not impossible–and that is something that the Temple Institute believes that is correct. Though it that may well take a war, peace deal, and/or political gridlock for that permission to happen. But it will come to pass.
Some items of possibly related interest may include:
Why is a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem Not Required? Although people like Timothy LaHaye teach a third Jewish temple is required, who is ‘the temple of God” in the New Testament? Does the Bible require a rebuilt Jewish Temple? Here is a related item in the Spanish language ¿Por qué no se requiere un templo judío en Jerusalén? Here is a link to a sermon titled The Temple, Prophecy, and the Work.
The Red Heifer, Jewish Beliefs, and the End of the World The Temple Institute is watching a ‘red heifer.’ Why might this be important in the sequence of end time events? Here is a related link in the Spanish language Novilla roja descubierta en EE.UU. e Instituto del Templo está interesado en ella. Here is a related video in English The Red Heifer and the End of the World.
Church of God on Jerusalem’s Western Hill Could this building, often referred to as the Cenacle, possibly have been the oldest actual Christian church building?
Does the ‘Cenacle’ deal have prophetic ramifications? After a 20 year negotiation, the Church of Rome has negotiated the right to have Catholic mass in the building known as the Cenacle. It is in the area where the Church of God on Jerusalem’s Western Hill once stood. This is believed to be the location of the earliest Christian church building. How does the Bible define the ‘temple of God’ in the New Testament? Could this be the area where the ‘man of sin’ will sit in the “temple of God’ that Bible prophecy discusses in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4? This is a YouTube video.
The ‘Peace Deal’ of Daniel 9:27 This prophecy could give up to 3 1/2 years advance notice of the coming Great Tribulation. Will most ignore or misunderstand its fulfillment? Here is a link to a related sermon video Daniel 9:27 and the Start of the Great Tribulation.
Jerusalem: Past, Present, and Future What does the Bible say about Jerusalem and its future? Is Jerusalem going to be divided and eliminated? Is Jesus returning to the area of Jerusalem? There is also a related YouTube video you can watch titled Jerusalem To be divided and eliminated.
Who is the Man of Sin of 2 Thessalonians 2? Is this the King of the North, the ten-horned beast of Revelation 13:1-11, or the two-horned Beast of Revelation 13:12-16? Some rely on traditions, but what does the Bible teach? Here is a related link in Spanish/español: ¿Quién es el Hombre de Pecado de 2 Tesalonicenses 2? Here is a version in Mandarin: 主编： 谁是’大罪人’？Here is a link to a related YouTube video, in English, titled Who is the Man of Sin?
Holy Day Calendar This is a listing of the biblical holy days through 2024, with their Roman calendar dates. They are really hard to observe if you do not know when they occur 🙂 In the Spanish/Español/Castellano language: Calendario de los Días Santos. In Mandarin Chinese: 何日是神的圣日？ 这里是一份神的圣日日历从2013年至2024年。.
Preparing for Passover The Apostle Paul taught that Christians should examine themselves prior to taking Passover. This YouTube video sermon gives suggestions on how to prepare.
Passover and the Early Church Did the early Christians observe Passover? What did Jesus and Paul teach? Why did Jesus die for our sins? There is also a detailed YouTube video available titled History of the Christian Passover.
The Passover Plot What was the first Passover plot? Which plots have Islam and the Greco-Roman faiths perpetuated about Passover? A sermon video of related interest is The Passover Plots, Including Easter.
Melito’s Homily on the Passover This is one of the earliest Christian writings about the Passover. This also includes what Apollinaris wrote on the Passover as well. Here is a related sermon, also titled Melito’s Homily on the Passover.
TPM: Passover on the 14th or 15th? While the real COG observes Passover on the 14th, some observe it on the 15th. Why is the 14th correct? A related sermon is titled Is Passover on the 14th or 15th for Christians?
The Night to Be Observed What is the night to be much observed? When is it? Why do Jews keep Passover twice and emphasize the wrong date? Here is a link to a YouTube video titled The Night to Be Observed.
Should Christians Keep the Days of Unleavened Bread? Do they have any use or meaning now? What is leaven? This article supplies some biblical answers. Here is a YouTube video intended to be viewed for the first day of unleavened bread: Christians and the Days of Unleavened Bread.
Continuing Church of God The group striving to be most faithful amongst all real Christian groups to the word of God.
Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel Are the Americans, Canadians, English, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo (non-Dutch) Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? What will happen to Jerusalem and the Jews in Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first? Here is a link to the Spanish version of this article: Anglo-América & las Tribus Perdidas de Israel.
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