Sometimes the pictures we keep in our minds regarding the
Bible are not actually the reality of history. There has always been a pulling
and tugging between religious leaders and their versions of faith and practice,
and regular people who have a personal relationship with Yahweh. By listening
to religious leaders without thought, or believing their stories without
documented fact and historical authenticity, we develop mind pictures that are
a fantasy, not reality. Do you realize that neither Jesus nor the prophets ever
entered the Holy Place or the Holy of Holies and ministered there? Jesus only
entered and taught in the outer courts. He was thought of as a bastard child by
the religious leaders. Jesus did teach in synagogues, but he never performed a
sacrifice or ritual temple service before laying down his own life. There was
no temple for Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob but they all will enter the kingdom of
heaven; they, and the prophets also, will enter the kingdom of God. But there
was no temple and they all lived long before the Exodus and the passing over of
the destroyer.
From the time it was built, corrupt and evil practices
occurred in the temple alongside the glory of Yahweh. We have been led to
believe by some people that we have to observe temple practices, but what we
are doing is trading what Jesus the Messiah did, for the observances of men. This
can be fueled by religious spirits or just pious self-righteousness. Can
following a religious ritual observance, without the actual shedding of blood,
atone for anything? Can a religious leader atone your sins as completely as
Jesus can? Is there any atonement other than Jesus? We have allowed ourselves
to believe that there is a practice one must keep; but the reality is that the
entire temple became corrupt and devoid of the glory of God, therefore why
would we think Yahweh will show up if we practice an old ritual? We have Jesus
on one hand, and men performing rituals on the other, which is best? With the
intensity of the coming of the Glory of Yahweh Aleph Tav in Solomon’s temple (I
Kings 8), and the dramatic leaving of the Glory of Yahweh (Ezekiel 10), do we
really think following a ritual rather than Jesus will bring back the Glory of
Yahweh? If the Glory of Yahweh came, where would it reside? Since there is no temple and no place to offer
blood sacrifices, what if worshipping Jesus for his sacrifice as a Passover
lamb is the only practice we should participate in?
Picture a floor plan of the temple. If you do not know what
the temple/tabernacle floor plan looked like we can keep it simple by picturing
a rectangle inside a rectangle, inside a rectangle. Three rectangles. The outer
one is the outer courts, the middle one is the Holy Place, and the inner one is
the Holy of Holies. Picture Jesus the sacrificial lamb standing in the outer rectangle/court.
Now picture religious men in the Holy Place and one religious man in the Holy
of Holies, the two smaller inside rectangles. Can you see it all? Jesus is our
atonement in the outer courts. But somehow people think they have to go to the
men in the inside places to perform some service to be atoned. Look at it.
Jesus, or religious men? Jesus, or religious men? Jesus, or religious men?
Celebrating the coming out of Egypt is nice but remember that Yahweh was not
pleased with the people and offered Moses the opportunity to become a great
nation while Yahweh destroyed the Israelites, Exodus 32:10. The people were
corrupt and therefore we humans needed a permanent and complete atonement. http://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2014/12/erasing-jesus-intentional-sabotage.html
In Judea, Josiah had a lot of “house” cleaning to do to
because of evil ritual practices in the temple, so did Hezekiah before him. But
by the time we get to Ezekiel, we recognize all the same practices were taking
place once again. With all that Josiah did to clean up the temple, we would
think that it would have stayed clean but it didn’t. Over and over we had
messages from the prophets warning the nation, but the warnings went unheeded. Fast
forward to 32 AD as we see that Jesus was murdered by the very religious
leaders that ministered in the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. The
dishonesty of the people in the temple seems to be epidemic no matter which
temple or what time period the people lived. Let’s read what Josiah had to do
to clean up Judea and hold a Passover. I will cite several past blog posts just
in case one wishes to document the material we have previously covered. http://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2014/03/passover-male-prostitution-in-temple.html
2 Kings 23:4-9Then the king ordered Hilkiah the high
priest, his associate priest, and The Temple sentries to clean house — to get
rid of everything in The Temple of God that had been made for worshiping Baal
and Asherah and the cosmic powers. He had them burned outside Jerusalem in the
fields of Kidron and then disposed of the ashes in Bethel. 5 He fired the pagan
priests whom the kings of Judah had hired to supervise the local
sex-and-religion shrines in the towns of Judah and neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
In a stroke he swept the country clean of the polluting stench of the round-the-clock
worship of Baal, sun and moon, stars — all the so-called cosmic powers. 6 He
took the obscene phallic Asherah pole from The Temple of God to the Valley of
Kidron outside Jerusalem, burned it up, then ground up the ashes and scattered
them in the cemetery. 7 He tore out the rooms of the male sacred prostitutes
that had been set up in The Temple of God; women also used these rooms for
weavings for Asherah. 8 He swept the outlying towns of Judah clean of priests
and smashed the sex-and-religion shrines where they worked their trade from one
end of the country to the other — all the way from Geba to Beersheba. He
smashed the sex-and-religion shrine that had been set up just to the left of
the city gate for the private use of Joshua, the city mayor. 9 Even though
these sex-and-religion priests did not defile the Altar in The Temple itself,
they were part of the general priestly corruption and had to go. (from THE
MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All
rights reserved.)
This seems like a lot of crazy things going on in the
temple. It is safe to say that just because a building is made for the purpose
of worshipping Yahweh, it may not stay that way even if the Glory of Yahweh is
still residing there. Let’s go on. http://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2014/11/lucifer-worship-of-cherubim-star-gospel.html
2 Kings 23:10-16 Then Josiah demolished the Topheth, the
iron furnace griddle set up in the Valley of Ben Hinnom for sacrificing
children in the fire. No longer could anyone burn son or daughter to the god
Molech. 11 He hauled off the horse statues honoring the sun god that the kings
of Judah had set up near the entrance to The Temple. They were in the courtyard
next to the office of Nathan-Melech, the warden. He burned up the sun-chariots
as so much rubbish. 12 The king smashed all the altars to smithereens — the
altar on the roof shrine of Ahaz, the various altars the kings of Judah had
made, the altars of Manasseh that littered the courtyard of The Temple — he
smashed them all, pulverized the fragments, and scattered their dust in the
Valley of Kidron. 13 The king proceeded to make a clean sweep of all the
sex-and-religion shrines that had proliferated east of Jerusalem on the south
slope of Abomination Hill, the ones Solomon king of Israel had built to the
obscene Sidonian sex goddess Ashtoreth, to Chemosh the dirty-old-god of the
Moabites, and to Milcom the depraved god of the Ammonites. 14 He tore apart the
altars, chopped down the phallic Asherah-poles, and scattered old bones over
the sites. 15 Next, he took care of the altar at the shrine in Bethel that
Jeroboam son of Nebat had built — the same Jeroboam who had led Israel into a
life of sin. He tore apart the altar, burned down the shrine leaving it in
ashes, and then lit fire to the phallic Asherah-pole. 16 As Josiah looked over
the scene, he noticed the tombs on the hillside. He ordered the bones removed
from the tombs and had them cremated on the ruined altars, desacralizing the
evil altars. This was a fulfillment of the word of God spoken by the Holy Man
years before when Jeroboam had stood by the altar at the sacred convocation.
(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H.
Peterson. All rights reserved.)
By scattering old bones over the place where he destroyed
all the idols, Josiah was hoping to deter anyone from taking any of the
fragments of the idols as the old bones were considered unclean. From the time
Solomon died and the kingdom split, the idolatrous practices started, but the
Glory of God was still there until the time of Ezekiel (over 300 years).
2 Kings 23:17-24 Then the king said, "And that
memorial stone — whose is that? "The men from the city said, "That's
the grave of the Holy Man who spoke the message against the altar at Bethel
that you have just fulfilled." 18 Josiah said, "Don't trouble his
bones." So they left his bones undisturbed, along with the bones of the prophet
from Samaria. 19 But Josiah hadn't finished. He now moved through all the towns
of Samaria where the kings of Israel had built neighborhood sex-and-religion
shrines, shrines that had so angered God. He tore the shrines down and left
them in ruins — just as at Bethel. 20 He killed all the priests who had
conducted the sacrifices and cremated them on their own altars, thus
desacralizing the altars. Only then did Josiah return to Jerusalem. 21 The king
now commanded the people, "Celebrate the Passover to God, your God,
exactly as directed in this Book of the Covenant." 22 This commanded
Passover had not been celebrated since the days that the judges judged Israel —
none of the kings of Israel and Judah had celebrated it. 23 But in the
eighteenth year of the rule of King Josiah this very Passover was celebrated to
God in Jerusalem. 24 Josiah scrubbed the place clean and trashed
spirit-mediums, sorcerers, domestic gods, and carved figures — all the vast
accumulation of foul and obscene relics and images on display everywhere you
looked in Judah and Jerusalem. Josiah did this in obedience to the words of
God's Revelation written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in The
Temple of God. (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by
Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
Look at verse 22 again, none of the Kings of Israel and
Judah had celebrated Passover. 2 Chronicles 35:18 says the same thing. “None”
means no one, not one. Remember that Hezekiah had to celebrate Passover on the
second month because there were too many unclean people. No other king had ever
done this on the first month before. I know I’ve been led to believe that from
the time of Moses people were celebrating Passover faithfully, every year, but
that is clearly not the case. The practice of Passover didn’t resume until
after the Babylonian captivity. By Jesus’ day there was plenty of corruption in
the temple. Even though there wasn’t male and female prostitutes and idolatry
in the temple (that we know of), there were very corrupt men lording over the
masses. Remember Jesus driving out the people selling sacrifices and changing
money?
Here is something to think through. Buildings become
corrupt because people are corrupt. Abraham did not build a building, he
worshipped wherever he was. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not have a temple to
worship in, wherever they were, the temple was. Just like today, we are the
temple of God, no need to build a building. If Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were
the temple, they were in a different dispensation than the time of the Exodus
through the time of the kings. There is no physical temple on earth today. We
are in a different dispensation than the temple years. We should stop trying to
erase the word dispensation from the
Bible. Going backward to the years of the temple seems ridiculous in light of
all the defilement there was in the temple. Instead of backing up one
dispensation why not back up two, to the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? We
can see how silly it is to try to force temple rites and rituals into our day
and time as 1) there is no physical temple, 2) the temple was extremely corrupt,
and 3) we are the temple. The true God-ordained rituals will be practiced again,
once at the start of the tribulation when the temple is built and sacrifices
resume, and then again when there is a physical temple during the millennial
kingdom, when Jesus rules and reigns.
Jesus was trying to set our focus towards faith not rites
and ritual service. He was teaching about the coming kingdoms, and Jesus said
something rather telling. Once again we have a tendency to confuse the kingdom
of heaven with the kingdom of God. He was commenting about the faith of a
Centurion when he brought up Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of
heaven.
Matt 8:10-12 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to
them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no,
not in Israel.11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and
west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of
heaven.12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer
darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. KJV
All the children of Israel had to do was behave like
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and have a personal relationship with Yahweh, instead
the children of Israel relied on rituals and rites which were without faith.
How is it that people would see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven
but they themselves would be in the outer darkness (hades) with weeping and
gnashing of teeth? If Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob could enter the kingdom of
heaven without performing temple services and rituals, why would we think we
have to perform rites and ritual services to enter the kingdom of heaven?
As we have noted previously, there are two kingdoms that
people want to make into one. There is a kingdom of heaven and a kingdom of
God. Heaven is in heaven and the kingdom of God will be fully on earth during
the millennial reign of Jesus. As we reviewed last week, when the dead rise,
they rise to heaven along with the living redeemed at the time of the harpazo. So
here, a Centurion had greater faith than everyone else in Israel, even the
Israelites. The comparison story is in Luke 7:1 but mistakenly people think
Luke 13:26-ff is the comparison. It is not. Just because Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob are mentioned, the rest of the details do not connect. Let’s look at
this.
Luke 13:23-30 Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few
that be saved? And he said unto them,24 Strive to enter in at the strait gate:
for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.25 When
once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye
begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto
us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye
are:26 Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and
thou hast taught in our streets.27 But he shall say, I tell you, I know you
not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.28 There
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac,
and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves
thrust out.29 And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from
the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.30 And,
behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be
last. KJV
The question someone asked is if there would only be a few
people saved. Jesus gave the requirements. Remember the door from Mathew’s
story of the virgins? Re-read Matthew 25:12. People will be upset when they
point out that they knew Jesus but Jesus is telling them that He didn’t know
them. Here, we are speaking about the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of
heaven. People will try and convince Jesus that they saw him, ate and drank
with him, and listened to him teach.
I like Victor Alexander’s translation in his Aramaic New
Testament of the second part of verse 27.
Instead of “Depart from me all you workers of iniquity”, it reads “Depart
from me disloyal workers” or as footnoted “workers of obligatory work”. By
obligations and obligatory works people thought they could enter the kingdom of
God.
Remember Matthew’s account, the Centurion had more faith
than everyone else in Israel. Here people think that if they were casual
observers of Jesus and do what they are obligated to do by “law” they should be
allowed into the millennial reign rather than spend one thousand years in
hades. These people will be mad when they see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the
prophets in the kingdom of God. This account includes the prophets. Remember
all those guys who warned the people to no avail? Remember those guys who
weren’t allowed into the Holy Place or the Holy of Holies while they were on
earth?
Jesus is saying that the last will be first, the people of
the last days will enter the kingdom before the people of Jesus’ day. Why?
Because people in the last days will have faith instead of obligatory works
because there is no temple. The people who did not see him teaching in the
streets, or ate or drank in the same places he was eating and drinking will
have faith like the Centurion. They know and believe. We have to think that
through; on one hand we have Jesus, on the other hand we have men, which do we
choose?
We need to notice something here. The religious leaders had
Jesus killed by the Romans, and yet that same type of practice is still
happening today. People try to disannul Jesus in favor of rituals that
religious men perform. Many times there is a “yes, but” as in, yes you are saved by Jesus’ blood, but you have to go to confession; or yes you are saved by Jesus’ blood, but you have to observe these holy days
or you won’t be saved or approved or holy or special. There always seems to be
a group of religious people who earn their living by telling others what to do,
and they have a vested interest in things that perpetuate the binding and
stifling of people. There always seems to be hidden secrets and evil workings
in the inner most parts of religion. What a shame. And hardly anyone says
otherwise.
As we clearly see, it is not whether we know Jesus that
matters. If I know Jesus, that is not a determining factor in me getting into
heaven or the millennial kingdom. It is whether Jesus knows me that gets me
into heaven or the millennial kingdom. Jesus has to know us, therefore it
doesn’t matter how many candles I light or how many days I don’t eat yeast
products. It doesn’t matter if I celebrate the Exodus or Apollyon the destroyer
“passing over” the Israelites’ houses in Egypt. What gets me into the
millennial kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven is Jesus knowing me. If
Jesus knows me I would know Him, but simply me knowing Him doesn’t automatically
get me into either of His kingdoms. Think again on our temple picture of Jesus
outside the holy places, the very places someone was to be ministering to
Yahweh Alph Tav, yet Yahweh Alph Tav wasn’t inside but outside. If the
religious men knew him, they would have been outside with him.
http://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2014/12/omni-god-his-name-is-yahweh-mighty.html http://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2013/12/jesus-name-in-old-testament-messiah.html http://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2013/04/apollyonabaddon-locusts-bound-spiritual.html
Jesus testified of himself being greater than the temple.
Jesus told them but they didn’t get it. Young’s is the literal of this verse.
Matt 12:6 and I say to you, that a greater than the temple
is here; YLT
Matt 12:6 But I tell you, Something greater and more
exalted and more majestic than the temple is here! AMP
Jesus drove out those using the temple as a house of merchandise.
Remember Lucifer merchandized his people; and in the future Babylon is
destroyed for the buying and selling of men’s souls. The temple was not meant
to be used for marketing, merchandizing, or as a place of business. Since the
split of the kingdom, the temple has been unclean, not just Solomon’s temple
but Herod’s temple as well. Whether it’s prostitution, human sacrifice,
incense, selling sacrifices, changing money, or scheming to have Jesus
murdered, the physical temple became defiled. It would seem that the devil has
always had a way into the earthly temple.
John 2:13-17 Now the Passover of the Jews was approaching,
so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 There He found in the temple [enclosure]
those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers sitting
there [also at their stands]. 15 And having made a lash (a whip) of cords, He
drove them all out of the temple [enclosure] — both the sheep and the oxen —
spilling and scattering the brokers' money and upsetting and tossing around their
trays (their stands). 16 Then to those who sold the doves He said, Take these
things away (out of here)! Make not My Father's house a house of merchandise (a
marketplace, a sales shop)! [Ps 93:5.] 17 And His disciples remembered that it
is written [in the Holy Scriptures], Zeal (the fervor of love) for Your house
will eat Me up. [I will be consumed with jealousy for the honor of Your
house.] [Ps 69:9.] AMP
Jesus was upsetting the order of things wasn’t he? He
challenged the religious leaders to stop doing what they were doing, but
instead of agreeing that he was correct they demanded a sign or miracle to
prove that he had the authority to drive out the merchandizers. This is why the
tax collectors and harlots enter into the kingdom of God before the chief
priests and elders, Matthew 21:31-32.
John 2:18-22 Then the Jews retorted, What sign can You show
us, seeing You do these things? [What sign, miracle, token, indication can You
give us as evidence that You have authority and are commissioned to act in this
way?] 19 Jesus answered them, Destroy (undo) this temple, and in three days I
will raise it up again. 20 Then the Jews replied, It took forty-six years to
build this temple (sanctuary), and will You raise it up in three days? 21 But
He had spoken of the temple which was His body. 22 When therefore He had risen
from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this. And so they believed
and trusted and relied on the Scripture and the word (message) Jesus had
spoken. [Ps 16:10.] AMP
As always, the Jews didn’t understand what he was saying.
Yet even though he was speaking of his own body rising after three days, he
also very clearly taught that the temple would be destroyed. Jesus told
everyone when they see the city surrounded, get out of town. We know that this
event took place in 70 AD and not one stone was left upon another, Matthew 24,
Mark 13, Luke 21,:5-6 Luke 19:44, all because they did not recognize the hour
of His visitation. Consequently, Jerusalem was also destroyed. We also know from
archeology that the true site of the temple is not where people think it is
today on the temple mount. It is not under Palestinian control, the true site
is under Israeli control and can be utilized any time. http://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2014/08/traditions-temple-in-city-of-davidthe.html
Jesus wasn’t impressed by the Jew’s demand for signs, miracles
and wonders. He did plenty of miracles among and for all the people. The common
people all believed on him.
John 2:23-25 But when He was in Jerusalem during the
Passover Feast, many believed in His name [identified themselves with His
party] after seeing His signs (wonders, miracles) which He was doing. 24 But
Jesus [for His part] did not trust Himself to them, because He knew all [men];
25 And He did not need anyone to bear witness concerning man [needed no
evidence from anyone about men], for He Himself knew what was in human nature.
[He could read men's hearts.] [1 Sam
16:7.] AMP
Jesus knows what is in man’s heart. From a timeline
perspective we can see that at this point in time there was still corruption in
the temple, but a different kind of corruption than in Solomon’s temple. All
the years of captivity taught the people something, but unfortunately it was
not enough for the religious leaders to be watching for the Messiah. Jesus’
time on earth was not only about the living, it was also about setting free the
captives, the dead who were redeemed. The devil lost the keys to hell and death
when Jesus went into the grave and witnessed to the imprisoned spirits, which
was the first part of Jesus’ plan in coming to earth. The second part was to
set free the living so that they could also be redeemed. While regular people
believed on Jesus, it was not just about the short time period Jesus spent here
on earth, once he left and because he left, we became the temple. http://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2013/09/eden-garden-of-god-jesus-plan-for-lower.html
The Holy Spirit has a permanent dwelling within the
redeemed. That makes us holy. Paul says this:
1 Cor 3:16-17 Do you not discern and understand that you
[the whole church at Corinth] are God's temple (His sanctuary), and that God's
Spirit has His permanent dwelling in you [to be at home in you, collectively as
a church and also individually]? 17 If anyone does hurt to God's temple or
corrupts it [with false doctrines] or destroys it, God will do hurt to him and
bring him to the corruption of death and destroy him. For the temple of God is
holy (sacred to Him) and that [temple] you [the believing church and its
individual believers] are. AMP
You are the temple of Yahweh. The Holy Spirit dwells in
you. Picture again the floorplan of the temple. Jesus is in the outer courts,
men are in the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, but now this floorplan
resides in you. Kick the men out, and allow Jesus and the Holy Spirit to reside
in your inner most being.
1 Cor 6:19-20 Do you not know that your body is the temple
(the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have
received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own, 20 You were bought with a
price [purchased with a preciousness and paid for, made His own]. So then,
honor God and bring glory to Him in your body. AMP
You are the temple of the living God, his name is Yahweh. Does
it seem worthless to do obligatory works, rites, and rituals when in the
deepest inner most part of you resides Yahweh?
2 Cor 6:16 What agreement [can there be between] a temple
of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God; even as God said, I
will dwell in and with and among them and will walk in and with and among them,
and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. [Ex 25:8; 29:45; Lev
26:12; Jer 31:1; Ezek 37:27.] AMP
The veil of the temple tore from top to bottom when Jesus
died, opening the very secret places men inhabited. The curtain that separated
the regular people from Yahweh was torn open, now everyone could see into the
Holy of Holies. It was not a secret place any longer.
Mark 15:37-38 And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed
out His life. 38 And the curtain [of the Holy of Holies] of the temple was torn
in two from top to bottom. AMP
Matt 27:50-53 And Jesus cried again with a loud voice and
gave up His spirit. 51 And at once the curtain of the sanctuary of the temple
was torn in two from top to bottom; the earth shook and the rocks were split.
[Ex 26:31-35.] 52 The tombs were opened and many bodies of the saints who had
fallen asleep in death were raised [to life]; 53 And coming out of the tombs
after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many
people. AMP
Luke 23:43-46 And He answered him, Truly I tell you, today
you shall be with Me in Paradise. 44 It was now about the sixth hour (midday),
and darkness enveloped the whole land and earth until the ninth hour (about
three o'clock in the afternoon), 45 While the sun's light faded or was
darkened; and the curtain [of the Holy of Holies] of the temple was torn in
two. [Ex 26:31-35.] 46 And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, Father,
into Your hands I commit My spirit! And with these words, He expired. [Ps
31:5.] AMP
Not only did Jesus free people from hades, taking them to
paradise; he opened the way into the temple. You are the temple, within you
Jesus the Passover lamb resides. There is no earthly temple other than the people
who believe in Jesus as Messiah. The fight between the religious leaders and
Jesus’ followers is over because there is no earthly temple for religious
people to atone for sin. Jesus clearly tells us that to enter into either of
His kingdom’s he needs to know us. It is not the rites, rituals, or works of
men that get us into the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God, it is the
relationship that we have with Him that allows us entry. Passover is not
necessary to observe for atonement. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not have a
temple, nor did they observe Passover, and yet they are going to enter both the
kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God. Not only that, the last will enter
first because the people who live in the last days, enter the kingdom of God by
faith, not obligatory works. Does Jesus know you? Do you rely on the rituals of
men or do you have faith in Jesus the Messiah alone?
