How many names, or titles, of God are there in the Scriptures? There are a lot of them, for example “Adonai Tzekaynu (Jer 23, Jer 33); Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh (Exo 3.14); El Shaddai (Gen 17.1); El Elyon (Gen 14.18) and there are many more. But, how many of these names are said to have a “kedusha (holiness)?” Only one, the Tetragrammaton, or “YHVH.” In later teachings, we will show you this name was pronounced Yehovah. The book of Esther was not found among the scrolls of what is called the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was the only book of the Tanak not found there because it did not have the name YHVH in Hebrew. If a scroll had the name YHVH in it, they could not throw away that scroll. As a result, these scrolls are stored in what is called a Genizah, meaning “storage.” When the Dead Sea Scrolls were moved from a Genizah to the caves, the Book of Esther was not among them.
When you have a “kedusha” on something, there are limitations and restrictions associated with it. In the Temple, before daylight, the priests get together in the Lishkat ha Gazit in Beit Avtinas. When they prayed the Priestly Blessing, they could not say the name of God (YHVH). They had to say “Adonai” because there was only one place they could say the name and it was on the steps leading up to the Sanctuary building. It can only be said by the priests who who had been chosen by lot to do the Avodah (service) that day. In addition, it was only said in the morning, or Shacharit, service. When they say this blessing every morning in the Temple, they will sing the name of God (YHVH). If they move off of those steps and the name comes up, they will use a substitute. Many people today will use “Ha Shem (the name) as a substitution, others “Adonai.” However, YHVH was used in greetings anciently, and we believe we know how it was pronounced. We will teach on this in a later teaching.
All of this applied every day, except on Yom Kippur, and the High Priest will pronounce it five times, and the people answered “Baruch Shem Kivod Malkuto L’Olam Va’ed” which means “Blessed is the name of his glorious kingdom forever and ever.” This is what is said after the Shema. Not only did they say this, but every time the people heard the name of God they got on their knees, put their head down, and said this response. This is what “Selah” means. This is done every time the name was pronounced in the Temple. So, when we read in Micah 5.4 that Messiah will come, and he will stand in the “majesty of the name” it means he is pronouncing the name and it is Yom Kippur.
The Scriptures say over and over again that Messiah is coming back to Jerusalem on Yom Kippur. We have seen Moses on Sinai coming down on a Yom Kippur; Matt 24.29-31, Joel 2. the recitation of the daily Shema and on Yom Kippur alludes to it, and Micah 4.10 through 5.4. But, if you don’t know the Temple ceremonies and the festival terminology, you aren’t going to understand what you are reading. You won’t understand the Tanak, the Gospels or the Epistles. Everything will fit into its place when you do have these understandings. You won’t have to try and “figure it out.”
People have said “How can I learn all this” but it’s like eating a buffalo, it is one bite at a time. It’s not that difficult to eat a buffalo if you take your time. You can’t do it all at once. It’s the same thing with learning all of this. Take your time, eat what you can everyday. The exciting part is every time you learn something you will say, “Wow, look at this!” That is what is fun, and the more time you devote to it, the more you learn. Let’s say you learn 10 new things a day. That is 3650 new things a year. In ten years that is 36,500 new things and by that time you will be able to really put things together. God’s word was never meant to be confusing, and nobody will have it all figured out but God’s word was meant for believers to understand. Our problem is we have been trying to figure it out without the proper information and back-round. We were brought up in a culture of Replacement Theology and we have people going around saying “God told me this is what it means” and that is dangerous. We also have alack of knowledge of the Jewish understandings.
Now, we are going to get into another aspect of the Second Redemption. This will involve Ezekiel’s Temple. The question is, why are they going to build the Third Temple according to the floor plan of the Second Temple (Herod’s) and not preparing to build Ezekiel’s Temple? There are several reasons for this and we are going to develop this. One reason is we don’t have a “tavnit” or plan from God. It is incomplete. Second, we are told by Zechariah that when Messiah comes, he will build that Temple (Zech 6.11-13). Even if we had the floor plan, it can’t be built till after the Messiah comes.
Now, let’s look at some terms for the Messiah. In Isa 11.10 he is called the “Nes” or “standard, banner, ensign” and it means “miracle.” He is also called the “Tzemach” meaning “Branch.” Not every time you see “branch is it “tzemach, like in Isa 11.1. The word “shoot” is “rod” and “branch is “netzar.” But, in Zech 11.6 we see the word “Branch” with a capital “B” and this is “tzemach”, so this can be confusing so these words need to be looked up. In Isa 11.2-8 begins with the Messiah and his empowerment and how Messiah will judge. Then an understanding of Jewish eschatology is needed in order to understand verses 6-9 It then goes into familiar verses like “the wolf will dwell with the lamb and the leopard will lie down with the kid. So, we need to look at the concept of Jewish eschatology.
Time is seen in a Jewish sense as a circle, but we tend to see at a line, or linear. But the Lord created time, but the Lord is in what is called the Olam Haba, the World to come. To understand the ages, we need to keep in mind two aspects. It is chronological and it also relates to state of being. For example, people can be in the Olam Haba (state of being) but also be in the Olam Ha Zeh (this present age) chronologically. (Yeshua, after the resurrection, was in the Olam Haba (state of being), but he appeared to the talmidim and others who were chronolically in the Olam Ha Zeh Creation during the first few days was in the Olam Haba in the sense it was a perfect environment. Time was moving forward, so it isn’t exactly like the Olam Haba in that sense. Then man sinned, and he is evicted from Gan Eden. We have had a perfect environment from creation to the Fall of Man. This called the “first Heaven and Earth.” Then from the Fall of Man to the Flood we have man and nature changed and we have a second “New Heaven and Earth.” From the Flood to Rosh Ha Shannah, year 6001, and the beginning of the Atid Lavo, or “Future Age”, we have everything changed again, a third “New Heaven and Earth.” This is where we are today. During the Atid Lavo, also known as the Messianic Kingdom or the “Millennium”, we have a fourth “New Heaven and Earth.” At the end of the Atid Lavo, we enter the Olam Haba (the World to come) and everything goes back to a perfect environment, a fifth “New Heaven and Earth.”
The first 6000 years (from creation to Rosh Ha Shannah, year 6001 from creation) is called the Olam Ha Zeh. The Atid Lavo is 1000 years, and the Olam Haba is the eternal state and everything has been restored to perfection. This called the Redemption. Isa 11 describes the Atid Lavo, which means the Future Coming ” of the Messiah. We have not come back to Gan Eden Olam Haba) as yet during this period. That won’t come until after the 1000 years is over. Then we will have come “full circle” and we have come back to the Olam Haba. During the Atid Lavo (Messianic Kingdom/Millennium) there will be sin and death, but not in the Olam Haba.
Isa 11.9 is linked to the most important verse in Hebrew thought, Zech 14.9, which says, “And the Lord will be king all the earth; in that day (when Messiah comes) the Lord will be one (recognized by all men) and his name (YHVH) one.” Isa 11.9 says, “They will not hurt or destroy in my holy mountain (The Temple Mount, the world in the Kingdom of God). For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
Now, there are “three camps” or “Machanim” in Israel, and this can be seen in the Temple courts. We have the Machane Kohanim, the inner courts. We have the Machane Levi’im, the 500 cubit x 500 cubit Temple Mount and we have the Machane Israel, which includes Jerusalem. The term “my holy mountain” is the entire world in the Kingdom. That doesn’t mean that you can eat the Second Tithe or certain korbanot in London or Berlin, but the kingship of the Lord will be worldwide.
In Part 14 we will pick up in Isa 11.10-16 and pick up more concepts related to the three “camps” in Israel and how they relate to the three “camps” that came out of Egypt in the First Redemption, with some information on the “mixed multitude.”
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