At the crossroads

Judaism and Christianity, two religions that for the most part agree that they believe in the same God, but disagree on how one can please Him, intersect at numerous crossroads. One of these is the crossroad of the Temple, an earthly (and heavenly) building in which God and man meet each other. Though this meeting can and does happen anywhere, in the Temple, the Beit HaMikdash, the context of that Meeting takes on a unique significance. If this weren’t true, even for Christians, there would be no reason to have church buildings, since we (I am a Christian) believe that the body of the believer is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

This morning I discovered an interesting post on the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, the so-called Third Temple, and because this may not be a subject of much interest to most visitors to my blog, I will not quote too long a passage from it. For me, however, this subject has a great deal of meaning and significance, even as a Christian. Just as there is really only one Church which has not been and can never be divided, might there also not be only one Israel which has not been and can never be divided? And if that were true, might the crossroads of Judaism and Christianity be more important than we think?

Rabbi Tzvi Fishman writes,

The Beit HaMikdash (Holy Jerusalem Temple) is not just a building. Something takes place within the building. The main goal of the Beit HaMikdash is not the courtyard and chambers and walls of the building, but rather the service of G-d which is conducted inside. Yes, we could construct the outer shell of the Beit HaMikdash today, but what would we do there?

Beit HaMikdash means the holy House of G-d. This is the intersection point of G-d’s Divine Presence, known as the Shechinah, with the world. The whole concept of the Beit HaMikdash is the fear and reverence for G-d. This means that a person, and the Jewish Nation as a whole, on ascending to the Beit HaMikdash, are to put the fear and reverence of G-d as the main goal and aspiration of our lives, with an utter commitment to the commandments of the Torah and its Divinely-given laws.

Now I ask you – is the Nation ready for this?
[Full article]

Aside from all the speculation and even preparation that various individuals and groups have invested in the rebuilding and restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem, there remains the basic question that this honest rabbi asks, ‘Is the nation ready for this?’ As the rebuilding of the Temple and the return of Jesus Christ are two roads that intersect at a crossroad, the same question can be asked of Christians, this time referring to the event in which we put our trust. It’s a question, in fact, that we should be asking ourselves every day. ‘Are we ready?’

We often ask ourselves, ‘Am I ready?’ but with a slightly different emphasis we can and should ask ourselves ‘Are we ready?’ just as this rabbi asks his people Israel. And why is this? Because it isn’t only what we do and are in our individual lives that matters to Christ, but what we do and are in following Him together. Are we people who live as though we really believe the angels’ words? “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go…” (Acts 1:11).

Soon we will be coming to the Sunday of Judgment, and we, no less than the Jews, will have to face our Lord and Christ, and they their Lord and Moshiach, as it is written, ‘Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple’ (Malachi 3:1). With or without the Third Temple on the mount, the Lord will come, as He Himself declares, knowing all things, and what the prophets meant. Both the old and the new Israel, or maybe the one Israel if we are one, will meet the Lord on that Day.

Let’s live, then, at this moment and for the time that remains, as people who can say, ‘Yes, Lord, we are ready.’