The blood

[irishcowboy]

I am amazed to think of how the blood of so many innocent animals had to be shed in the old sacrificial system atoning for the sins of the people... Christ's blood being the absolute last. I've wondered if God required blood as payment throughout time because of the first shedding of blood to make tunics of skin as an adequate covering for Adam and Eve instead of the fig leaves they had sewn together.

I'm hoping there are scholarly people in here who have done in-depth studies as to why the need for blood to appease God.

I'm also hoping that someone could shed light on what I heard in the past about the validity of Israel making preparations to bring back the old sacrificial system. I heard bits and pieces of some rich cattleman here in the U.S. who is raising some pure strain of red heifer to sell to Israel for future plans.

Is this true? Anyone?

the system is ready, all they need now is the alter/temple... the architects have already been getting things ready for the building....

the Word of God even says the sacrafices will begin, and they already have (at least) one red heffer that meets the requirements, they already have the anointing oil ready for the priest. the building materials are either in route or there.

I have not heard that about a rancher here doing that, but I would not be surprised.... too much is coming into play.

in the cliff dwellings ( i cant remember what they are called) there are crates and containers that are tagged with "feed the children" .....too much coming about not to ensure a person is ready.

mike

[dcampsart]

I have not heard that about a rancher here doing that, but I would not be surprised.... too much is coming into play.

For whatever it's worth, I found this article from a website known as "Reformation Theology"

Evangelical Zionism

A rather disturbing trend among some evangelical groups in the past decade is the rise of Christian Zionism. Among those who are among their number there are some radical elements which think that they can help hasten the Apocalypse by means of forcing the fulfillment of prophesy. This, they believe, can be done by helping Orthodox Jews to raise red heifers and assist in rebuilding the Temple that was destroyed by the Romans in the first century in Jerusalem. Several evangelical groups are actually raising and shipping red heifers to Israel in the belief that the birth of a red heifer in Israel will signal the rebuilding of the Temple.

A cattle rancher and ordained minister with the National Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ, Clyde Lott believes, like many dispensationalists, that three preconditions mentioned in the Bible are necessary for the coming of the Messiah: the state of Israel must be restored; Jerusalem must be in Jewish hands; and the Temple, last destroyed in 70 A.D., must be rebuilt. The modern state of Israel, of course, was established in 1948, and since 1967, the Jewish state has controlled all of Jerusalem. That leaves the rebuilding of the Temple, and since a red heifer was part of the sacrificial ritual in the Temple -- mentioned several times in the Bible, including in the Book of Numbers, chapters 19-22 -- many believe the birth of a red heifer in Israel will signal the Temple's return. Many Jews believe that the same preconditions will bring about the coming of the Jewish Messiah.

At least two other American Christians are breeding similar cows in the United States in hopes of bringing them to Israel, according to Gershon Solomon, the leader of the Temple Mount Faithful, another group dedicated to rebuilding the Temple.

Two major problems with this action by Christians should be self-evident to those who frequently read the Bible:

1) God has never called us to pry into His secret will or try to bring about the fulfillment of prophesy through attempting, by force, to bring about the end of the world. God will bring about the eschaton in His own time, according to His sovereign good pleasure. He calls Christians, rather, to preach the gospel and to act in justice, mercy. love and humility. There is no place for Christians to speculate about the end times and attempt to bring it about by their own efforts. There is no command of God to do so and we should focus on the gospel rather than spend all our effort on the secular state of Israel.

2) I can hardly think of anything more blasphemous than for persons (claiming to be Christians) to be raising red heifers or helping rebuild the Temple. To do so is to go backwards in redemptive history and to fail to heed to warnings listed in Hebrews 6 & 10. The book of Hebrews is about Jesus Christ and his superiority to Angels, to Moses and to the ritual Levitical Sacrifice. The warnings in Hebrews were specifically geared toward those Jewish Christians who were tempted to go back to the shadows of the levitical sacrifices instead of trusting in Christ alone, who the sacrifices themselves pointed to. To return to the sacrifices is simply to deny Jesus Christ by exalting the shadows, and this is accompanied with the severest warnings. Perhaps these evangelicals are "well-meaning" but good intent will not take the place of obedience. Jesus Himself said that if the Temple were destroyed he would rebuild it in three days. This was in reference to His resurrected body, so Jesus Himself made clear that he was the True Temple.