THE MESSIAH AND THE THIRD TEMPLE

Ken Graydon

 

We are absolutely blessed to have the freedom to read and study the Tanakh. The plans and prophecies of ETERNAL are put before us in very simple terms, that with prayer and open minds we can understand and build our faith upon.

The Tanakh makes it very clear who is to be the Messiah, as we will see - but we have to be aware that the Hebrew word that we interpret as messiah means ‘anointed one’ and could apply to each High Priest or King. It is not possible that the carpenter of the ‘new testament’ could be the messiah as his described life and death contradicts the very clear truths of the Tanakh.

We need to look into the prophecies from ETERNAL as written for us by Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea and Zechariah to see the truth.

 

Jeremiah 30: 3,8,9. For days are coming declares ETERNAL – when I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah, said ETERNAL and I will bring them back to the land that I gave their fathers and they shall possess it.

In that day – declares ETERNAL of Hosts – I will break the yoke from off your neck and I will rip off your bonds. Strangers shall no longer make slaves of them; instead they shall serve ETERNAL their CREATOR and David, the king whom I will raise up for them.

 

Ezekiel 34: 23-24. Then I will appoint a single shepherd over them to tend them – My servant David. He shall tend them, he shall be a shepherd to them. I the ETERNAL will be their God and My servant David shall be a ruler among them – I the ETERNAL have spoken.

 

Ezekiel 37: 21- 25. [This follows the ‘two sticks’ prophecy vv 15-20] Thus said ETERNAL; I am going to take the Israelite people from among the nations they have gone to and gather them from every quarter and bring them back to their own land. I will make them a single nation in the land, on the hills of  Israel and one king shall be king of them all. Never again shall they be two nations; and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms. Nor shall they ever again defile themselves by their fetishes and their abhorrent things and by their other transgressions. I will save them in all their settlements where they sinned and I will cleanse them. Then they shall by My people and I will be their ETERNAL. My servant David shall be king over them; there shall be one shepherd for all of them. They shall follow My rules and faithfully obey My laws. Thus they shall remain in the land which I gave to My servant Jacob and in which your fathers dwelt; they and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, with My servant David as their prince for all time.

 

Hosea 3:5  Afterward, the Israelites will turn back and seek ETERNAL their CREATOR and David their king – and they will thrill over ETERNAL and over His bounty in the days to come.

 

So we can clearly see that David, the once and future king, is to be raised up to be the messiah. This can only happen after the return of the scattered Israelites to rejoin their brothers of Judah in the Land. Those of us called to this walk of faith must be doing whatever is possible to bring about a reconciliation between Judah and the scattered people of Israel [and the strangers who have attached themselves by obedience to ETERNAL].

 

Zechariah 6: 12-13  Thus said ETERNAL of Hosts: Behold a man called the Branch shall branch out from the place where he is, and he shall build the Temple of ETERNAL. He shall build the Temple of ETERNAL and shall assume majesty and he shall sit on his throne and rule. And there shall also be a priest seated on his throne and harmonious understanding shall prevail between them.

 

We have seen from the previous prophecies that David is to be king and to rule, he is ‘the branch’. A better rendering of the Hebrew would be ‘the shoot’ which gives a better illustration. In the way that a shoot comes up from the ground so too, will David be raised up and he will build the Temple.

We all long for the day when we can go up to the Temple of ETERNAL, perhaps live in the Land and be under the majestic rule of David our king and know that ETERNAL’s presence is there for all time. However we cannot change the plan ETERNAL has laid out. Our first priority is to expedite the regathering of Judah with the scattered Israelites. When this is achieved we may expect the messiah to appear and the process of building the Temple to begin. There will be many obstacles on the path but we must not get out of the will of ETERNAL by seeking to change His plan. We will need every blessing and all of His support. We will need prayer, study and more prayer.

I will pray we will all be open to His guidance.

  <kennygee@bigpond.com>