HEBREW WORD STUDY – THE (THIRD) TEMPLE – BEIT HAMIQADASH בית התקדש Beth Yod Taw Hei Taw Qop Daleth Shin

II Corinthians 12:2-4: “I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such a one caught up to the third heaven. (3) And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) (4) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

“Because very soon, when Moshiach (the Messiah) comes, we will experience these great expressions of love and connection with God. You will know and understand. All this will come with the Beit Hamiqadash (the third temple). However, it only becomes the Beit Hamiqadash (third temple) when it is completed and descends (from the heavens) with the coming of Moshiach (the Messiah) in the clouds” – Torat Habayit, Sefer Hamaamarim 5689 p. 189.

I am surprised to learn how few Christians know that back in 1948 when the United Nations was debating over creating the State of Israel, believe it or not, there was a strong contingent of Jews who opposed the establishment of the Jewish nation. Their reasoning was clear, only the Messiah could bring in the nation of Israel when he descends in the clouds. Further still, I am surprised that many Christians are unaware of the same contingent, who still oppose the establishment of Israel as a nation also oppose the building of the third temple.

The reason behind that is just as clear. For one thing, it is believed that even before the building of the second temple Ezekiel prophesied the building of another temple. My Daily Word Studies are limited to around 1,000 words so it will be impossible to give you the entire details, However, I will be doing an In-Depth Study on this which will be posted on our Learning Channel. Only those who subscribe to our Learning Channel will be able to access this information which is not being taught among Christians, at least I have no run across any teachers of prophecy who mention this little problem. www.hebrewwordstudy.com if you are interested.

There are a number of Scriptures that allude to the third temple or the Beit Hamiqadash. The word beit means house or place of dwelling and the Hamiqadash comes from the root word as kodesh which means holy with the definite article Ha. For The Holy Place of Dwelling. During the days of Jesus, there was much debate over the legality of the second temple and it came as no surprise to many when Jesus spoke of the destruction of the temple. In fact, that is why He created such a row when He spoke of it. Many zealots of the Jewish faith actually plotted to destroy the temple and when Jesus mentioned the destruction of the temple He was automatically identified as one of these traitors.

Pilate was well aware of the dissension among the Jewish community and the real right-wing radicals who were plotting to destroy the temple because they felt it was illegitimate as it was not built by the Messiah. Which is why Pilate was not to anxious to arrest Jesus. He considers Jesus to be on the side of the Roman Government who wanted to destroy the temple.

There was a good reason for these hard feelings toward the second temple. The rebuilt temple was clearly outlined in Ezekiel 43 but the instructions the next temple was incomplete. The Jews went ahead and built it anyways without the complete plans. We completed the presence of God did not dwell in the second temple like the first, the Holy Spirit was not in the second temple nor was the Ark of the Covenant in the second temple like the first. Many Jews believed that the Messiah would come to complete those portions of the temple not found in Ezekiel 43and they argued to wait for the Messiah before completing the second temple. But instead of leaving it uncompleted, to await the final instructions from the Messiah, they went ahead and built it according to the plans of the first temple.

Now today, once again the Jews are pushing to rebuild the temple, although they do not have the exact specifications for the third temple, the Beit Hamiqadash. If not built according to exact instructions it will not serve as a Holy Place of Dwelling for God.

Ok, there is more, much more on this but you will need to join our Learning Channel to get those details. What I want to say in this short study is Paul visited the third heaven. The word in Aramaic for heaven is very similar to the Hebrew yet has a shade of difference. It is the word shami’a which means joyous, happy, and peaceful. It comes from the same root as simchas which means rejoicing.

Here is what I am finding. There is a teaching among Jews about seven levels of heaven. Which I and other Christians do not believe and neither do many Jews. But what do we do with Paul saying he visited the third heaven? I Am finding that among a strong segment of Jewish teachers, the third heaven is synonymous with the Beit Hamiqadash The Holy Dwelling Place of God or the third temple. As a good Jew and one who was trained in the depths of Jewish teaching Paul was well aware of the expression of the third heaven as a reference to the true temple of God that was being prepared in the heavens. Those who rejected the second temple anticipated it’s destruction and a third heaven was being prepared in the Heavens. Note that the word heaven is always found in a plural form in both Hebrew and Aramaic.

Note too, in the fourth verse Paul also visited paradise or paradis in the Aramaic which means a pleasure garden and is believed to be the abode of the righteous until the resurrection. In other words, the third heaven and paradise are two different places with the third heaven being the third temple. When God recreated the earth, according to this Jewish teaching, the third temple will come down to earth, the Garden of Eden be revealed again and the earth will become the Garden of Eden again for all who are righteous or in Christian lingo who have accepted Jesus as their Savior.

By the way, these Jews also believe that paradis is the Garden of Eden which exists in another realm or what we call another dimension. It exists alongside us right now in another dimension so to speak, like a parallel universe. It is where the righteous go after death or, again in Christian lingo, those who have accepted Jesus as their Savior will go when they die, we call it heaven.

Will the Jews build the third temple. They will not build the third temple that is the temple that will be a true Holy Dwelling Place for God. Only the Messiah can build that temple for only He will know the correct dimensions and style it is to be built. Now there might come a fellow who will convince the Jews he is the Messiah and will erect a temple. Watch out for this old boy, because if he successfully builds a temple He is not the Christ or Messiah, He is an anti-messiah or antichrist.

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