FEAST OF ATONEMENT OR YONKIPPUR
“And the Lord said unto Moses saying also on the tenth day of seventh month there shall be a day of atonement. It shall be an holy convocation unto you and you shall afflict your souls and offer an offering by fire unto the Lord. And ye shall do no work in that same day for it is the day of an atonement to
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The Redemption Plan of God make an atonement for you before the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 23:26-28). The fifth feast called trumpets would occur on the first day of the seventh month and on tenth of the same month the feast of atonement would occur.
The day of atonement would come nine days later on the tenth day of the same month so from the day of trumpets to the day of atonement there are only ten days. The Jews described these 10 days as wonderful to them. According to their tradition 3 books would be opened in heaven on the feast day of trumpets. The first one is the book of life for the righteous. The second one is the book of unrighteous and the third one is the book of those who are in between righteous and unrighteous. If a man is deemed to be righteous by the time of the feast of trumpets his name shall be written in the book of life for righteous for the coming year. If a man is deemed unrighteous his name will be written in the book of life for unrighteous and he will not survive the coming year. If a man is deemed in between the judgment would be delayed from the feast of trumpets to the day of atonement. God will give that period of time to the people of that type to repent before the book is closed and sealed.
This statement appears to be very hard and disinteresting. King David said to that kind of people in suitable words. He said that kind of people must be blotted out of the book of life and not to be written with the righteous. And Moses also pleaded with God on behalf of the stiff necked Israel “Yet know of thou forgive their sins – and the Lord said unto Moses whosesoever hath sinned against me him will I blot out of my book.” (Exodus 32:32-33). This dictum is hinted in the New Testament also in connection with the “Great white throne judgment.” The beloved apostle John wrote these lines during ten days of awe the Jewish would observe on the first day by going to an ocean or river. Then they will recite a prayer and quote some lines or read from Psalms or from the book of Micah in which they request God for His mercy and forgiveness before the close of the books for the next year. The correct meaning of Hebrew prayer is “You will cast.” They search even their pockets and if they find any crumbs of leavened bread they will throw those pieces into the water because keeping or eating of leavened bread is a sin. On the day of the feast of trumpets the church
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Seven Jewish Holidays - Part II will be ruptured and the day of the Lord’s wrath commences upon the earth and it will be a very short time. At the time of physical return of God to earth the Jews who survive the purging of our Lord on the earth will be saved. Then God destroys all nations that go against Jerusalem. He wants to show mercy upon the house of David and inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Israelites day of atonement required a shedding of blood. But the temple of Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D. and as a result the functioning of priesthood and sacrifices came to a stand still. The offering of the sacrifices also came to abrupt end what they had to do in such conditions because it is blood that makes atonement of the soul the total destruction of the temple, nonfunctioning of the priesthood and sacrifices should have taught the Jews a lesson by reminding them that Christ the son of Abraham and the son of David was once and for all their sacrifice for the sins committed by them. Instead of accepting Jesus as their Messiah who literally sacrificed His life for the sins of all humanity they followed the leadership of “Yohanam” a rabbi and substituted with their good deeds in the places of sacrifices. After sometime they added prayer and fasting to good deeds as a means to achieve God’s acceptance. In doing so they remembered their patriarch Abraham who believed in the Lord. They believed and counted Abraham’s belief and faith towards the God and praised his righteousness. Some of the orthodox Jews followed the same praying and fasting to achieve God’s mercy and forgiveness. It was a testimony in olden days among many orthodox Jews that God required sacrificial blood for sin. This day of atonement for eradication of sinful life was not only for Israel but also for every individual in the society.
After Jesus returns to the earth many will repent before the book of life is closed. The Gentiles were also in his mind which He expressed in his Olivet discourse. When the son of man comes in his glory He will be followed by a large number of angels and then He shall sit upon the throne of His glory. All the nations shall be gathered before Him and He shall separate from one and another as a shepherd keeps sheep and goats separately. He will keep sheep on His right hand side and goats on His left then Jesus will say to the right hand side sheep
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The Redemption Plan of God “You are blessed by my father come and occupy the kingdom which is prepared for you with the foundation of the word. Those were the children of Jacob who inhabited messianic kingdom and who are still in mortal bodies. In the end both Jews and Gentiles would be saved by grace through faith apart from works.
THE FEAST OF TABERNACLE
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“And the Lord spoke unto Moses saying speak unto the children of Israel saying the fifteenth day of the seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacle for seven days unto the Lord and ye shall take you on first day the bows of trees braches of palm trees, bows of thick trees and willows of the brook and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days and ye shall keep in a feast unto the Lord (seven days in the year). It shall be a statute for ever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month, ye shall dwell in booths for seven days all that are Israelite born shall delve in booths.” (Leviticus 23: 32-33). On the fifteenth day of Tashri month the seven day feast of the tabernacle will commence. It is the seventh and final feast. According to our calendar it occurs in October. To celebrate that festival the Jews would erect huts or booths with bed rushes or palm leaves etc. those small huts which were temporary remind them their fore fathers who built such huts during their Exodus wanderings. Everyday of the seven days feast of the tabernacle would be filled with joy and important festivity. The high priest along with the other priests and thousands of worshippers would go on a precession on the final day of the feast and descend down from the temple mount Moria. They will take rest for a while on the steps of temple and at the pool of “Siloam” the chief priest would fill the pitcher with water and again go back to the temple mount through the water gate. The chief priest had to go to the big stone altar and pour water out of the pitcher into a silver basin.
According to their belief this water ceremony would be considered purity for the purpose of getting rains at correct times, so that they have good harvest. It was also their belief that the water ceremony would certainly invoke God thereby He will provide necessary water for better crop and good blessings.
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Seven Jewish Holidays - Part II Then in the last day being the last great feast of tabernacle the Jesus would stand and shout saying “If anybody is thirsty let him come to me and drink he that believeth on me and as the scripture hath said out of his belly flow rivers of living water. We are told so far he would provide water then living water and the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The feast of tabernacle eloquently speaks about the Messianic kingdom of a new beginning without the ravages of curse or sin. The seven feasts foretold the major redemption work of Messiah 1500 years before he was born. In a very short time the trumpets will blow the final blast of this age regarding His second coming then the dead in Christ will be resurrected. The living in Christ will be ruptured. The long night resolves into a glorious new day for all those who have accepted his invitation and attend His appointed time.
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LOCATION OF SOLOMON’S TEMPLE
by Kevin Howard
According to the Bible and historical facts, the correct location of King Solomon’s temple is on the Mount Moriah. The Jewish people respected not only the temple building but also the temple mount because of its geographical location. As we see in the Bible Abraham got a son Isaac when he was about hundred years old with the blessing of God. Then God asked him to sacrifice his only son on the mount Moriah to test his faith but Abraham simply obeyed God and received abundant blessings and became father of many nations.
After about one thousand years king David established his capital city upon this same mountain. Then King Solomon was instructed to build the first Gods temple on this mountain. So Biblically as well as historically this mountain has its own importance. In addition to that, in 586 B.C. the king of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar plundered the city of Jerusalem and the temple, and then he took about fifty thousand people as captives to Babylon, including some
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Location Of Solomon’s Temple intelligent men like Prophet Daniel. Who used to pray to God three times a day by turning toward this mountain and even Ezekiel saw Messianic visions of this mountain.
Late some of the exited Jews returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple on the same foundations and called it second temple. Even today the Jewish people pray to God by turning towards the temple mount. According to the Lord, the mount Moriah with its beautiful landscape city of Jerusalem became the centre of the world. One prophet writes in the following manner. Thus saith the Lord God, this is Jerusalem, I set it in the midst of the nation and the countries that are round about her”. (Ezekiel 5:5).
The renowned Hebrew world map illustrates this truth with the medieval world pictured as a three leaf clover. Each leaf indicates a continent (Asia, Europe and Africa) and these three leaves joined at one place called Jerusalem. If we study the history we can find more religions and tourist people have streamed to this mountain in those days, if anybody wanted to go from one continent to another for any purpose, he must go through Jerusalem only.
I happened to look into some books of Biblical history in America I was surprised to find that even Jesus Christ met some Indians who went through Jerusalem on their business. If seemed they told Jesus about Indian Epics also. This example shows that Jerusalem became the nerve center of the world traders in olden days. In the Bible some important references are made about Jerusalem. It is said all nations shall flow into it, in the Messianic future. Biblically the temple mount is considered to be the spiritual center of the world.
My main purpose of presenting this article to the readers is to gave a clear idea about the locating of the temple with the following doubts
1) Where is Zion? 2) Who selected that place? 3) What is its future? Exact location of Zion: Zion is located on the temple mount. Many passages have been found in the Bible regarding the correct location of the low mountain called “mount Zion” (psalm 50:2) and in future the messiah shall reign from this
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The Redemption Plan of God mount Zion (Isaiah 24:23). Mount Zion is the place of the name of our Lord of hosts. Hebrew prophets called Zion, the mountain of the house of God. That name “Har Habayet” remains as its most common name in Hebrew language today. So the temple mount and mount Zion both are the same. They are the names of Gods dwelling place on earth. Zion is the geographical name of ht4 mount that’s as temple mount is functional name of the mount.
The word “Zion” appears 7 times in the New Testament. Some scholars are of the opinion that the New Testament refers allegorically to Zion for example, the writer of “Hebrews’ asserts but ye are come unto the mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the living Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of angels (Hebrew 12:22).
This verse does not give an indication that Zion is a church or it is located in heaven. It gives us the idea that those who are under new covenant will inherit internal access to three things mount Zion, the new Jerusalem, which will reside on it and the presence of the holy angels it is clearly pointed out in the book of revelation by (st.john 21:2) that in future this heavenly city of new Jerusalem will descend from heaven and settle forever on the enormously expanded mount Zion. John also saw in his vision the second coming of Jesus the messiah and 1,44,000 servants standing on the earthly mount Zion and heard the classical musical symphony that was coming from heaven.
Therefore, mount Zion is always referred to as a physical and literal earthly mountain upon which the New Jerusalem comes down and settles on this mount. So Zion is an earthly mount only. The authentic information reveals t the believers as mount Zion is located on mount Moriah range. It is a specific or separate hill top on the Moriah mountain range. Generally individual mountains are part and parcel of larger mountain range. It is like the “Mount Everest” the highest peak of the Himalayan mountain range with (29,024 ft) high on the earth’s surface and also the largest part of Himalayan mountain range in Asia.
Therefore there is no contradictory opinion about this fact, regarding the temple being located on the mount Zion and also on the mount Moriah (II
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Location Of Solomon’s Temple Chronicles3:1). That is to say there is close relationship between the mount moriah and God’s people. According to scripture, God commanded Abraham to go to the land of Moriah with his son Isaac, then ascend one of the mountains he would show and there he should sacrifice his son at that particular place. This incident clearly indicated that God was interested at a particular place on that Moriah mountain area.
In reality moment Zion is surrounded by beautiful steep valleys and mountains. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem so the Lord is round about His chosen people from henceforth and even forever”. (Psalm 125:2). It is said the temple mount is lower than the other peaks around it. It is estimated that the preferable height of mount Zion is (2,428 ft or 740 meters) Zion has a permanent link with the city of Jerusalem the same Jerusalem is also King David’s capital city located on the mount Zion. Because at this Jerusalem is known as the city of Zion as it is built on the mount Zion.
The name ‘Zion’ appeared suddenly in 1000 B.C. when king David captured Jebusites fortress on the southern ridge of mount Zion. Then David took the strong hold of Zion and that later became the city of David (II Samuel 5:7). Thus the jebusites as long as it was in their control changed the name Salem into “Jebus” again in the reign of king David it was renamed as Jerusalem and since then it became Israel’s eternal capital by divine command.
Geographically mount Zion consisted of David Jerusalem (II Samuel 5:7) on its southern nine acres ridge and the temple on its northern seventeen-acre hill top. The flat area that separated these two places is called “ophel”. So without any further discussion or doubt the word Zion is sometimes referred to the city Jerusalem and sometimes to the hill top of Zion (the temple mount). That is to say the temple was located in both Zion (in mount) and Jerusalem (the city). And the psalmist sang in Salem also is his tabernacle and his dwelling place in Zion” (psalm 76:2). Both the references one true God non controversial.
In Hebrew language the word “city” is considered to be feminine gender and the city Jerusalem is located on mount Zion. So Jerusalem is often called
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The Redemption Plan of God the daughter of Zion. The psalmist said “I may show forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion. And the prophet also exhorted Israelis capital concerning the Mesiah rejoices greatly. O daughter of Zion, shout, o Lord daughter of Jerusalem, behold thy king cometh unto thee” (Zechariah 9:9).
The site of the temple is supported and accepted by the scripture as well as by the archeologists. King David rejoiced great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our Lord I the mountain of his holiness. The joy of the whole earth is mount of Zion and on the northern side the city of the great king (psalms 48:1). Selection of Zion: since Zion is important Biblically and historically a number of questions may arise in the minds of the readers.
1)Why was mount Zion chosen for the location of the holy temple?
2)Who must have selected that place for that purpose?
3)What were the historical events surrounding its selection?
Mount Zion was chosen by God Himself as the suitable location for the holy temple. This is a settled and authentic fact mentioned in the Bible. God chose it for his dwelling purpose. He has desired it for his habitation. He said “This is my rest forever, here will I dwell, for I have desired it”. (Psalms 132:13-
14). God chose to keep His name there. He selected that place, for the house of sacrifice”. God has kept His eternal affection on mount Zion only. In His sovereign plan God has always proposed to dwell among His men from the mount Zion for this truth, there is historical evidence also.
Long before the construction of Solomon’s temple on this mount, there was earthly priesthood established by God anointed high priest Melchizedek. He was the grandson of Canaan and Canaan the grandson of Noah. He was a shepherd boy lived in the area of “mount Hararath”. One day God anointed him and asked him to go to the distant land of mount Moriah and build a town on His name. He did accordingly and called that town Salem and later it became Jerusalem. He remained there permanently by serving bread and wine to the
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Location Of Solomon’s Temple passers by on the altar as the high priest of the most high God. Later he became king also to that place we have the Biblical reference as Melchizedek king of Salem (genesis 14:18).
Melchizedek was known as the first high priest king of Salem, and king of righteousness. He wrote a book “The roots of mount Hararath” wherein he said about the family history of Noah and the genealogy of mankind. All these incidents speak about mount Zion one thousand years before the construction of Solomon’s temple. Even father Abraham got the chance to meet Melchizedek and pay his tithes on mount Zion. And Abraham received a shepherd stick from Melchizedek as a memory. So there was earlier priesthood and altar for sacrifice on the mount Zion about 1000years before David God commanded Abraham “take now thy son thine only son Isaac whom thou lovest and get thee into the land of Moriah and offer him there for burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of (genesis 22:2).
The place of the sacrifice was not selected casually or abruptly. God commanded Abraham to travel three days to the Land of Moriah Mountains. After he reached that place, God reveled to him the exact spot on the mountain top (mount Zion). God did not send him to a hill top which was much closer to his place Hebron. God sent him only to mount Zion because he had already set his affections upon that.
At the time of sacrifice Abraham could not understand why God gave so much imposture to that mount Zion. But he called that peace “Jehovah Jireh” and since that time the name has been continued even today and it shall be seen in the mountain of God. Abraham also referred to this mount Zion as the mountain of the Lord. Mount Zion belonged to go Almighty. The Lord confirmed the Abraham covenant on the mount Zion. He said with his solemn oath. By myself have I sworn saith the Lord, because thou hast done this thing and hast not withheld thy son thine only son. That in blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven and the sand which is on the sea shore and thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice.
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The Redemption Plan of God
The writer of the “book of Hebrews” also referred to this most important event that occurred on the mount Zion and argued the eternal aspect of Abrahamic covenant. The covenant was promised not by an ordinary God; but the creator of the universe. There was n coincidence that God took this oath on this place; where in the holy temple would be built on the same spot after about one thousand years by King Solomon. God has eternally preferred that place as his residence on that mount Zion God actually dwelt with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden from the earthly throne on the holy mount of God.
The Jewish people believed that Adam was created on the mount Zion. But the scripture does not give any satisfactory clue about mount Zion as Eden’s mountain of God. Prophet Moses the author of “the book of Genesis” also knows about Abraham’s mountain of the Lord. He affirmed that the mountain continued to be known to the people with the same name “to this day” it was the place of God’s oath to Abraham. But neither he nor any one of Israel of his day had seen it.
God promised that when Israel came into that land. He would reveal to them the exact location of that mount Zion which he had chosen as His permanent dwelling place. And there is no other approved site mentioned in the Bible than this for the construction of the temple. The location was exact and unchangeable. Let us hope and believe that one day Israel would certainly identify the place of the temple only on the mount Zion. Accroding to the scripture it is from this place that “the Lord shall reign forever even thy God O Zion unto all generations”.
God has wholeheartedly desired that mount Zion. King David established mount Zion as the proper site for the ark of the covenant of God before the temple was built he declared war against Jebusits a dominating tribe at that time in Jerusalem. David won the battle with the blessing of God, and immediately he went and brought the Ark of God from the house of Obenadal into the city of David happily. Then he offered scarifies on the stone altar that was built by him. He understood that the temple of the Lord was to be constructed on the mount Zion only, but he waited patiently for the divine revelation; as God revealed in the case of Abraham.
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Location Of Solomon’s Temple
The choice of the Temple mount by God was not an alternative selection. It has been in the mind of God for a long time. He has great passion zeal and fervor for that location. But regarding people from the twelve tribes of Jacob, he chose only the tribe of Judah along with mount Zion. God loves the gates of moment Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. The Lord declared concerning Zion “he that loves you loves the apple of his eyes” (Zechariah 2:8). God loves Zion immensely.
God concentrated His affection mount Zion, because his sovereignty decided to dwell among men from there. So He said this is my rest forever here will I dwell for I have desired it”. But there is some controversy over God’s choice of Zion. Zionism is an ideology that God has given the land of Israel to Jacob and to his descendants for a national homeland and Jerusalem as her eternal capital. Zionism is not racist. It does not have any prejudice against Arabs or any people of any religion like Islam.
This Zionism is originated in the Bible itself. It comes out of oft-repeated promises by “one true God” that the land of Israel belongs to Jewish people. Twenty six hundred years before Mohammed established Islamic religion and twenty six hundred years before the Arabs entire into Israel from the Arabian Peninsula, this land was promised to Abraham as an everlasting possession. Then God repeated the same promise to Isaac to Jacob and to Israel during the time of Moses brought them from bondage sin Egypt and again to Israel at the time of Joshua and again to Israel at the time of the age and Moses in his wonderful farewell speech to Israelites accosted the nation and said “go in and possess the land which the Lord swore unto your fathers. Abraham Isaac and Jacob to give unto them and to their seed”.
Zionism recognizes God’s sovereign situation regarding the land of Israel because God has every right to do whatever he wished his choices are always righteous and just. But the world rejects the Lord’s eternal choice of the land of Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people then Jerusalem as her eternal capital and mount Zion as the temple mount. This controversy and hatred toward Jewish people may continue and even indentify until the end of the age.
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The Lord declared, he would make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people then all enemies might join together against Jerusalem. At that time he will take the chance to crush the reflection of the mankind once and for all in future day of the Lord. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations. His fury upon all their armies and finally all of them would be defeated and delivered to the slaughterer because it is the day of the Lord, the enemies of mount Zion will not succeed in their aspirations as they stand against God and scripture.
Mount Zion was legally purchased by King David. So the present step taken by the Muslims about mount Zion is quite illegal and the Jews may have to proceed legally basing on the historical transfer of the land to David. According to Biblical history that land was purchased by King David 3000 years ago. For the purpose of the Holy temple and this happened sixteen hundred years before the appearance of Mohammed without any controversy. It was not given to David as a free gift, nor did he take it by force. He paid the full amount of the market value at that time and possessed the land and then left it to the custodianship of Jewish people for the temple of God.
The transfer of the title was not lost. The historical record the physical location the parties the terms and the sale price of the property are all still in existence. The record of the purchase of mount Zion is translated into more than one hundred languages and the matter contained in hundreds of millions of copies of the Bible, and can be seen in countless homes hotels and places of worship on the planet. So the present struggle of the Muslims for the ownership of mount Zion is baseless and unjustified. One can understand that they must be doing only to peek up quarrel with God’s people (the Jews).
Most of the readers are under the impression that possessing mount Zion must be the plan of some radicals, but occupations of the land of others by force or power does not claim ownership.. History has all the details of the ownership of mount Zion. They took if by force in 638 A.D. with the conquest of Jerusalem. The fact is even King David was not the owner of the temple mount though he paid the money; it was given over to the Lord who had chosen it as his eternal home on earth. The Lord called mount Zion” my mountain and “my earth hill”.
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Location Of Solomon’s Temple
The temple mount was confirmed by the Lord. He sent fire upon David’s altar in the thrusting floor to confirm his approval. The Lord reconfirmed the same to King Solomon “and the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said unto him “I have heard thy prayer and have chosen this place for myself for a house of sacrifice”.
This temple mount is in the center of a spiritual battle and it has to be delivered by God alone. This is true now and it will be true in future. Those who hate Zion also hate the God of Zion. But the God of Israel is alive. His plan for the ages is still there he will ultimately deliver mount Zion. This promise is cock sue. He will return to Zion. He will come as a young lion roaring for his prey. So, shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion and for the hill there of.
Thus saith the Lord I am returned unto Zion and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem and Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. He will come to establish His kingdom for Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace and for Jerusalem sake I will not rest until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness and salvation there of as a lamp that burnethe.
The purchase and ownership of mount Zion is recorded in two separate Biblical accounts. The details are also confirmed by another summary statement.
Kind David in the later years of his reign commissioned his top military general Joab to conduct a military census of Israel male population. David did not consult God before he took that hasty step of ordering for census. His pride of past victories must have prompted him to do so. Actually any censes were forbidden at that time. Any way after some time Joab had returned to Jerusalem with his officers and the result, to meet the king. But the king David’s heart was broken already by that time. He realized the depth of his pride and sin which made him to forget God and His help. So, God got angry and sent a prophet by name ‘gad’ to offer him three choices for divine punishment. They are.
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1)Seven years of famine in the nation
2)Three months of flight from invading armies.
3)Three days of pestilence across the nation.
Now David was at the mercy of God and he chose the third one plague. He repented for his blunder and confessed. “Let us fall into the hand of God for His mercies are great and let me not fall into the hand of man”. His foolishness caused plague that ravaged the entire nation as a result 70,000 young men who were in the list of census died. David and his leaders wore black sack cloths during the three days and lay on their faces.
On the third day David looked outside from the palace and saw the mighty fortress of Zion. He recollected the conquest of Jerusalem for a while. Then how he came to that city with his army. Which was called ‘Jebus’ at that time He remembered how the Jebusite army men mocked at him and boasted of themselves by saying they could protect their city only with their blind and lame people. In such circumstances he repented how God had given him victory after victory and how he crushed the philistines and other enemies with the powerful hand of God.
He repented for all the help he received from God and shed tears. He became so foolish and sinful in his thinking of past victories. He thought they were all due to his own strength and abilities. And God saw all this wonderful change in David and “thundered from heaven”. He said it is enough. The fiery angel was readily standing there for any action. This angel stood on top of mount Zion with flaming sword in his hand like a mighty colossus between heaven and earth. He stretched his flaming sword toward Jerusalem ready to destroy.
Then David cried unto the Lord. “Let thine hand I pray be against me”. (II Samuel 24:17). God heard his prayer and sent the prophet ‘Gad’ again to David with a message of mercy. David had to build an altar in the threshing floor on the top of mount Zion and do scarifies to avoid plague. He did it and the plague subdued.
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Location Of Solomon’s Temple
David and his men came out of the royal palace, and began to ascend though the fields of Arau’nah (Orman) and saw him threshing in the early summer heat. He prostrated before the king and the king asked him he wanted to purchase his threshing floor of the top for a sacrifice. And Arau’nah (or man) gladly offered that piece of land as a free gift. But David did not want to accept free gift. He said he would not offer sacrifices in the land if he get it freely.
Finally David purchased the threshing floor and oxen for 50 shekels of silver and the complete hill top for 600 shekels of gold. Then he built stone altar on the revealed location and offered oxen as burnt offerings and peace offerings. He offered wheat also as meal offerings. God answered his prayer by sending fire to the altar to consume the sacrifice. Now the word of God, and a permanent place for his temple were mount Zion and that hill top remained forever as temple mount. Later king Solomon built the temple on that spot.
The prophetic scripture reveals that mount Zion was the historical location of David’s throne and it will be also the future location of Messiah’s throne. Then the future worldwide rebellion of Armageddon against divine rule will be averted by the strong decision of the Lord. He said “Set my king upon my holy hill of Zion” (psalm 2:6).
Messiah as the foundation stone and corner stone will be laid at mount Zion. On that mount the Lord shall prepare his Messianic supper, after that the Lord will completely wipe out the curse of suffering and death. As the daughter of Zion Jerusalem is his holy city. This is the only city that God has chosen out of many on earth.
The eternal promises made by the Lord, concerning mount Zion have not been nullified. He will stick on to his promises and fulfill them at the appropriate time. The temple of the Lord shall be built. He will rule through Messiah in mount Zion. Hence forth even forever. On that day the righteous will exalt the greatness of the Lord. He will be greatly promised and worshipped in the holy city of Jerusalem and in the holy mount Zion. That Zion will remain beautiful forever and a joy to the entire world. It will be the mountain of the Lord’s house and the city of the great king.
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