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BillK
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| Joined: | Sun Jan 6th, 2008 |
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| Posts: | 39 |
| First Name: | Bill | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Revert to Catholicism (dabled in Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist, Evangelical, Messianic ... |
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Posted: Sun Aug 10th, 2008 05:18 am |
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I've heard on a Messianic Jewish website that, according to scripture, there will be a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem prior to the second coming and that animal sacrifices will resume. I find this difficult to believe. The person defending this argument quotes from several O.T. prophecies. Some seem to support his conclusions while others don't.
Does the Church teach anything specifically about this?
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David W. Emery
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| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Brownsville, Texas USA |
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| First Name: | David | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic |
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Posted: Sun Aug 10th, 2008 04:58 pm |
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Bill, if you look around, you will find the Dispensationalists (the “Rapture” crowd) saying exactly the same thing. Now the Dispensationalist arguments have pretty much all been debunked; not only Catholics, but numerous Protestants, have done a good job of that. So I would suggest that you take a look at what is said in these works for answers to the Messianic Jewish assertion.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Church can offer the following against the idea of a resurgence of Jewish sacrifice:
“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Hebrews 9:11–14)
Christ has obtained a ministry which is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second. For he finds fault with them when he says: “The days will come, says the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not continue in my covenant, and so I paid no heed to them, says the Lord.” (Hebrews 8:6–9)
So while it might possibly come to pass that someone will actually build a new temple in Jerusalem and start offering animal sacrifices again, this will not have any bearing on the Christian, for he is part of a superior covenant with a superior and eternal high priest, Jesus Christ.
An additional problem for the Jews is that, after 2,000 years of atrophy, their priesthood is gone. There may be a handful of known priests left (I’m speaking literally here — less than half a dozen recognized around the world today, and some of those are doubtful), but the vast remainder have been mingled with other blood to the extent that they are unrecognizable. I recall reading several years ago a speculation that DNA profiling might help. But even the advocates admit that scientific methods can only distinguish who is not a priest, not who is, so it is not really going to re-establish the Jewish priesthood. And without a priesthood, who is going to offer the sacrifices? Of what use, then, is this proposed temple?
Another argument can also be built from the New Testament rejection of the Judaizers — those early heretics who demanded that Christians be subject to the Law of Moses (see passages like 2 Corinthians 11:13–15, 21–23; Galatians 1:6–7; 2:4; 3:1; Philippians 3:2–3, 18–19 for their condemnation). If circumcision, keeping kosher and all the rest is not germane to the Christian covenant, neither are the Jewish temple and its sacrifices. Christ, not Moses, is the head and foundation of the Christian Church. So the Messianic Jews have no standing for their assertion.
David
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NorthStar
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| Joined: | Sat Mar 15th, 2008 |
| Location: | Wisconsin USA |
| Posts: | 105 |
| First Name: | Chuck | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Roman Catholic, Evangelical, Orthodox |
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Posted: Sun Aug 10th, 2008 05:14 pm |
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BillK wrote: I've heard on a Messianic Jewish website that, according to scripture, there will be a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem prior to the second coming and that animal sacrifices will resume. I find this difficult to believe. The person defending this argument quotes from several O.T. prophecies. Some seem to support his conclusions while others don't.
Does the Church teach anything specifically about this?
The Orthodox POV is pretty much identical to the Catholic POV. Someone, someday might build a new temple in Jerusalem, but it has no bearing on the Christian. If it does happen, the Orthodox position would be that it is not because God willed it as part of some divine plan, but rather human beings were trying to self fullfill what they believe to be Bible prophecy. It certainly wouldn't be the first time misinterpretations of the Scriptures has lead to self fullfilling prophecies (just look at 19th century America with all the people going to the mountain tops waiting for Christ to return). So it "could" happen, but it would have nothing to with bible prophecy, because the Church is not dispensationalist, and it never was.
From a purely practical standpoint, such an idea is absurd. Can you imagine the uproar around the world, that the Dome of the Rock would be destroyed, then the Israeli gov't moves in, with the backing of some American protestant Christian groups, usurps control of the temple mount, builds a new temple and ANIMAL SACRIFICES resume? holy buckets batman!!!! 
The whole world would be up in arms, and certainly the Palestinian Christians of jerusalem wouldn't be to pleased about it, considering they'd be caught once again in the crosshairs. Yes it "could" happen, but I would see it as humans trying to "force God's hand" in bringing the messiah (like what happened in 70AD and 130AD) rather than God's actual divine will. But I could be wrong.
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setapart
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| Joined: | Sat Jan 13th, 2007 |
| Location: | Austin, Texas USA |
| Posts: | 269 |
| First Name: | Bill | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Born Catholic, Non-Denominational Charismatic, Catholic |
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Posted: Tue Aug 12th, 2008 02:56 am |
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BillK wrote: I've heard on a Messianic Jewish website that, according to scripture, there will be a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem prior to the second coming and that animal sacrifices will resume. I find this difficult to believe. The person defending this argument quotes from several O.T. prophecies. Some seem to support his conclusions while others don't.
Does the Church teach anything specifically about this?
There are two excellent books addressing this:
Will Catholics Be "Left Behind"? A Catholic Critique of the Rapture and Today's Prophecy Preachers
by Carl E. Olson
http://www.carl-olson.com/Site/Welcome.html
and
Rapture: The End-Times Error that Leaves the Bible Behind
by David Currie
http://www.salvationhistory.com/mission/staff/curriebio.cfm
____________________
But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture. Mal 4:2
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