Temple Institute

We went to a place in Jerusalem the other day called the Temple Institute. The people here are a more extremist Jewish group whose goal is to build another temple - the third temple. (A brief bit of history here: first we had Solomon's Temple at approx 1000 BC, then we had Herod's Temple at around 25 BC, both were destroyed.) There are several problems with this goal. Most obvious is that they do not have the land (the Temple Mount in the Old City), and the temple must be built there. Not only built there, but the Holy of Holies must be built on the exact spot of the current Dome of the Rock. Some people (not me, anymore) don't quite understand this group and fear that they might resort to terrorist actions to obtain the land.

Since they cannot build the temple, they are now re-creating vessels that the temple will need. These include the table of the shewbread, the menorah (they made one; it's huge), parts of the altar, and various other vessels. They also are making large amounts of clothes for the Levite priests whom they hope will come back when the temple is built to officiate therein. They have some high priest garments, too, but apparently this is somewhat difficult to make because the blue overcoat for the high priest can only be dyed with a particular snail, who is rather rare, and somehow makes blue die. (Incidentally, they are doing nothing to make sure they do not kill off all these snails; I asked.)

It was very interesting to hear their opinions on the matter. The guide I had was a girl about my age, and was very strong in her desire to have a temple again. However, only Levites can officiate in the Jewish temple. But what authority do they have beyond lineage? There's a huge piece missing here. When we asked her about some of the things that took place (ie sacrifice) she said she didn't know why, necessarily, but it was out of obedience, and the Lord would let them know through a prophet if things were to change.

It also opened my eyes to how other places and religions, etc. seek for righteous things, and want to come to God. Many times I wanted to say something. No! You're almost there - it's a righteous worthy desire! But we do have a prophet! We do have temples! Everyone can be worthy to enter. It's as though they are looking so hard for the mark that they completely miss it and look beyond it. Sacrifices mean something beyond obedience, though obedience is good: they point to Christ. Going here helped me realize how much I appreciate what I know and how grateful I was for that.