Remember, WE are the Temple (1 Corinthians 3:16) and the Torah is to be written on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33).
Consider the original tabernacle, how Yehovah used it (Exodus 40:38). For the cloud of Yehovah was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night , in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.
Are we exhibiting the cloud and fire of Yehovah from our lives daily in the presence of all those around us drawing them to want the LIGHT of Yeshua in their lives as their focus and future?
Now, on with the duties of the Priests in the Temple. Let’s see how their duties can be applied daily to our walk.
Before the break of day, the Priests on duty were ready and they assembled to cast lots to decide the assignment of the various daily tasks. It started with filling the lavers with water and preparing the altar. At about 9am, they opened the gates and blew the silver trumpets to announce the beginning of the morning service. The service included slaying the sacrificial lamb, salting the sacrifice, trimming the lampstand wicks, burning the incense, presenting the burnt offering and drink offering, blessing the people and blowing the silver trumpets. This was followed by the Psalm of the day sung by the singers accompanied by the musical instruments.
Immediately after the morning service, the Israelites would bring in their private sacrifices and offerings (there were 13 different types of offerings) to fulfill their individual dedications and needs to Yehovah to worship Him and receive forgiveness and blessings for obedience.
Each family might only do this once a year or as needed or at feast times. The private sacrifices continued till near the evening (afternoon) sacrifice service at 2:30pm which was similar to the morning service and lasted until 4pm.
At night, the priests kept watch over the Temple and closed all the inner gates since there was many valuable items inside and opportunistic thieves wandering around outside.
On the Sabbath , there was the weekly replacement with fresh showbread at sunset ( the eve of the Sabbath). Before the Sabbath morning services began, the new course of priests and levites were already serving in place along with those who had been there serving all week. The morning service was done by the outgoing course and included offering 2 more lambs with their appropriate meal and drink offerings. The evening service was performed by the incoming course for the week then the outgoing course handed over the keys of the sanctuary, the holy vessels, and everything else they were using to the new course.
Remember, Yeshua said He would destroy the temple made with hands and in 3 days build another “not made with hands”. (Mark 14:58, Matthew 27:40) What happened at His crucifixion? The arch over the doorway to the holy place was broken by the earthquake and the veil was split in two (Matthew 27:51). In effect, the temple became null and void at that time with Yehovah pulling His presence from the Temple. The Ark of the Covenant hadn’t been there since 586 BC and then the High Priest and the Sanhedrin had rejected and killed Yeshua the Messiah who had come to save them. This was proven from then on by the lack of miracles for the next 40 years which normally had taken place in the Temple. (See the historical explanation below)
We and all Messiah’s disciples ARE His Temple NOW, not made with hands but by the Holy Spirit of Yehovah in us, doing His work through us. We are to serve now as His Priests making disciples of Yeshua, teaching Torah as He taught, preparing for His soon coming kingdom.
Talmudic Evidence for the miracles of the Temple ceasing in 28 CE.*
In the centuries following the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem (68 CE), the Jewish people began writing two versions of Jewish thought, religious history and commentary. One was written in Palestine and became known as the Jerusalem Talmud. [see special endnote at the end of this article concerning the Talmud] The other was written in Babylon and was known as the Babylonian Talmud. We read in the Jerusalem Talmud:
“Forty years before the destruction of the Temple, the western light went out, the crimson thread remained crimson, and the lot for the Lord always came up in the left hand. They would close the gates of the Temple by night and get up in the morning and find them wide open.”
Jacob Neusner, The Yerushalmi, p.156-157 (the Temple was destroyed in 68 CE)
A similar passage in the Babylonian Talmud states:
“Our rabbis taught: During the last forty years before the destruction of the Temple the lot [‘For the Lord’] did not come up in the right hand; nor did the crimson-colored strap become white; nor did the western most light shine; and the doors of the Hekel [Temple] would open by themselves.
Soncino version, Yoma 39b
What are these passages talking about? Since both Talmuds recount the same information, this indicates the knowledge of these events was accepted by the widespread Jewish community.
1) The Miracle of the ”Lot”
The first of these miracles concerns a random choosing of the ”lot” which was cast on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). The lot chosen determined which of two goats would be “for Yehovah” and which goat would be the ”Azazel” or ”scapegoat.” During the two hundred years before 28 CE, when the High Priest picked one of two stones, again this selection was governed by chance, and each year the priest would select a black stone as often as a white stone. But for forty years in a row, beginning in 28 CE, the High Priest always picked the black stone! The odds against this happening are astronomical (2 to the 40th power). In other words, the chances of this occurring are 1 in approximately 1,099,511,627,776 — or over one trillion to one! By comparison, your chances of winning your local state or municipal-run cash Lottery would be much more favorable!
The lot for Azazel, the black stone, contrary to all the laws of chance, came up 40 times in a row from 28 to 68 AD! This was considered a dire event and signified something had fundamentally changed in this Yom Kippur ritual. This casting of lots is also accompanied by yet another miracle which is described next.
2) The Miracle of the Red Strip
The second miracle concerns the crimson strip or cloth tied to the Azazel goat. A portion of this red cloth was also removed from the goat and tied to the Temple door. Each year the red cloth on the Temple door turned white as if to signify the atonement of another Yom Kippur was acceptable toYehovah. This annual event happened until 28 CE when the cloth then remained crimson each year to the time of the Temple’s destruction. This undoubtedly caused much stir and consternation among the Jews. This traditional practice is linked to Israel confessing its sins and ceremonially placing this nation’s sin upon the Azazel goat. The sin was then removed by this goat’s death. Sin was represented by the red color of the cloth (the color of blood). But the cloth remained crimson — that is, Israel’s sins were not being pardoned and ”made white.”
As Yehovah told Israel through Isaiah the prophet: ”Come, let us reason together, saith Yehovah, though your sins be as scarlet [crimson], they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as [white] wool” (Isaiah 1:18).
The clear indication is that the whole community had lost the Lord’s attention in relation to something that occurred in 28 CE The yearly atonement achieved through the typical Yom Kippur observance was not being realized as expected. Atonement apparently was to be gained in some other way. Who or what would provide the atonement for another year?
Concerning the crimson strip—though not mentioned in the Scriptures and long before 28 C.E.—during the 40 years Simon the Righteous was High Priest, a crimson thread which was associated with his person always turned white when he entered the Temple’s innermost Holy of Holies. The people noticed this. Also, they noted that ”the lot of Yehovah” (the white lot) came up for 40 straight years during Simon’s priesthood. They noticed that the ”lot” picked by the priests after Simon would sometimes be black, and sometimes white, and that the crimson thread would sometimes turn white, and sometimes not. The Jews came to believe that if the crimson thread turned white, that Yehovah approved of the Day of Atonement rituals and that Israel could be assured that Yehovah forgave their sins. But after 28 CE, the crimson thread never turned white again for 40 years, till the destruction of the Temple and the cessation of all Temple rituals!
What did the Jewish nation do in 28 CE to merit such a change at Yom Kippur? By some accounts, on Wednesday,April 28, 28 CE (i.e., on the 14th of Nisan, the day of the Passover sacrifice) the Messiah, Yeshua, was cut off from Israel, himself put to death as a sacrifice for sin. To this event there is a transference of the atonement now no longer achieved through the two goats as offered at Yom Kippur. Like an innocent Passover lamb, the Messiah was put to death though no fault was found in Him! But unlike Temple sacrifices or the Yom Kippur events (as detailed above) where sin is only covered over for a time, the Messianic sacrifice comes with the promise of forgiveness of sins through grace given by Yehovah to those who accept submission to Messiah as Lord and Saviour. This is essentially a one time event for each person’s lifetime. The mechanism providing forgiveness of sin changed in 28 CE.
3) The Miracle of the Temple Doors
The next miracle, which the Jewish authorities acknowledged, was that the Temple doors swung open every night of their own accord. This too occurred for forty years, beginning in 28 CE The leading Jewish authority of that time, Yohanan ben Zakkai, declared that this was a sign of impending doom, that the Temple itself would be destroyed.
The Jerusalem Talmud states: ”Said Rabban Yohanan Ben Zakkai to the Temple, ‘O Temple, why do you frighten us? We know that you will end up destroyed. For it has been said, ‘Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars’ ” (Zechariah 11:1)’ (Sota 6:3).
Might the doors have opened to also signify that all may now enter the Temple, even to its innermost holy sections. The evidence supported by the miracles described above suggests Yehovah’s presence had departed from the Temple. This was no longer just a place for High Priests alone, but the doors swung open for all to enter Yehovah’s house of worship.
4) The Miracle of the Temple Menorah
The fourth miracle was that the most important lamp of the seven candle-stick Menorah in the Temple went out, and would not shine. Every night for 40 years (over 12,500 nights in a row) the main lamp of the Temple lampstand (menorah) went out of its own accord — no matter what attempts and precautions the priests took to safeguard against this event!
We are told in the Talmud that at dusk the lamps that were unlit in the daytime (the middle four lamps remained unlit, while the two eastern lamps normally stayed lit during the day) were to be re-lit from the flames of the western lamp (which was a lamp that was supposed to stay lit all the time.
This ‘western lamp’ was to be kept lit at all times. For that reason, the priests kept extra reservoirs of olive oil and other implements in ready supply to make sure that the ‘western lamp’ (under all circumstances) would stay lit. But what happened in the forty years from the very year Messiah said the physical Temple would be destroyed? Every night for forty years the western lamp went out, and this in spite of the priests each evening preparing in a special way the western lamp so that it would remain constantly burning all night!
Again, the odds against the lamp continually going out are astronomical. Something out of the ordinary was going on. The ”light” of the Menorah—representing contact with Yehovah, His Spirit, and His Presence—was now removed. This special demonstration occurred starting with the crucifixion.
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