Bible prophecy

Shabbat Parah Adumah.

The Third Temple: Finding the Red Heifer

In order for a cow to qualify as a red heifer for this holy purpose of purification, it must meet the following requirements, as outlined in Numbers 19, and also in the writings of the oral tradition of the Talmud:

1.  The red heifer must be absolutely perfect in its redness.  Even two hairs of any other color will disqualify it.  Even its hooves must be red.

2.  It was to be three or four years old.  Although older animals could be used, younger could not.

3.  It must be free of any kind of internal or external defect or blemish.

4.  It must not have been used for any type of physical labor and never have been placed under a yoke – not even once!

Only an animal that meets all these requirements may be used to provide the ashes of the purification process in fulfillment of the commandment.

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The animal was not technically a sacrifice, since it was not slaughtered and burned in Temple; rather, it was slaughtered on the Mount of Olives, outside the camp (Numbers 19:3).

The Temple Institute, which has already prepared the sacred Temple vessels, has in the past identified two possible red heifer candidates—one in 1997 and then again in 2002.  Although both were initially thought to be kosher, they were later found to be unsuitable.

Even Christian Zionist ranchers in Texas have tried to produce a red heifer that they hoped could be transported to Israel.

Still, efforts to produce the Parah Adumah are ongoing, and rumors abound that this rare red heifer does exist today.

But rare is the operative word.  Such a perfect creature is so elusive that its ceremonial burning has seldom happened in all of Jewish history.

The Mishnah, which is an authoritative, written embodiment of Jewish oral tradition, teaches that only nine red heifers were sacrificed from the time of Tabernacle worship until the Second Temple was destroyed in 70 AD on Tisha B’Av [begins on the evening July 28, this year].

The Jewish sage Maimonides believed that the tenth animal would only be found and sacrificed when King Messiah was ready to appear.

And this is one reason why many Jews and Christians wait in anticipation for the discovery of that perfect, unblemished red heifer capable of inaugurating the service of the Third Temple, which the Bible seems to indicate will play a central role in the spiritual life of all mankind.

Hebrews 13:12 NKJV

12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.

Numbers 19:1–10 NKJV

1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 “This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying: ‘Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which a yoke has never come. 3 You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take it outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him; 4 and Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood seven times directly in front of the tabernacle of meeting. 5 Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight: its hide, its flesh, its blood, and its offal shall be burned. 6 And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer. 7 Then the priest shall wash his clothes, he shall bathe in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp; the priest shall be unclean until evening. 8 And the one who burns it shall wash his clothes in water, bathe in water, and shall be unclean until evening. 9 Then a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and store them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for the water of purification; it is for purifying from sin. 10 And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until evening. It shall be a statute forever to the children of Israel and to the stranger who dwells among them.

The Quran calls for the sacrifice of a yellow heifer.

Baqarah 2:68 calls for a Sarah cow Sarah=yellow

The Bible and Torah says Adumah. Adumah=Red

The Eastern Gate

In Hebrew this gate is called the Sha’ar Harahamim= Gate of Mercy

This gate is the closest gate to the tmple and provides direct access to the temple (When it is open.)

It has been closed for 500 hundred years, and was sealed to prevent the return of the Messiah. I twas sealed between 1540-41 by Suleiman the Magnificent, a sultan of the Ottoman empire.

This is the gate that Jesus used on HIs triumphal entry.

The Spirit of God entered the temple through this gate.

Ezekiel 43:1–5 NKJV

1 Afterward he brought me to the gate, the gate that faces toward the east. 2 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory. 3 It was like the appearance of the vision which I saw—like the vision which I saw when I came to destroy the city. The visions were like the vision which I saw by the River Chebar; and I fell on my face. 4 And the glory of the Lord came into the temple by way of the gate which faces toward the east. 5 The Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

Ezekiel 44:1–2 NKJV

1 Then He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary which faces toward the east, but it was shut. 2 And the Lord said to me, “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the Lord God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut.

Ezekiel 46:12 NKJV

12 “Now when the prince makes a voluntary burnt offering or voluntary peace offering to the Lord, the gate that faces toward the east shall then be opened for him; and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings as he did on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he goes out the gate shall be shut.

Eastern Gate

Location

1. The Eastern Gate is located on the eastern side of the Temple Mount and faces the Mount of Olives.

2. It is an important gate because it plays a central role in Scripture and prophecy.

3. The current Old City of Jerusalem is surrounded by a wall containing eight major gates.

Lions Gate (Stephen’s Gate)

Eastern Gate (Golden Gate, Shushan Gate)

Dung Gate

Zion Gate

Jaffa Gate

New Gate

Damascus Gate

Herod’s Gate

4. The Eastern Gate is unique in that it is sealed shut.

5. It is the oldest gate in Old City Jerusalem.

Historical Background

1. The original Eastern Gate was built by Solomon (960 BC), or at a later date, by Hezekiah (715 BC). The ancient posts located inside the gate today, along with the stones beside the gate of the Eastern Wall, date back to these time periods and would affirm its early existence and location at its present-day site.

2. It is very likely that Nehemiah rebuilt the Eastern Gate when he rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem in around 444 BC. Some believe the original gate was then named the Eastern Gate by Nehemiah at this time.

3. Herod the Great then rebuilt the Eastern Gate in around 19 BC and added a stairway, or rebuilt an existing one that led up to the gate. This stairway ran alongside the Eastern Wall. In the 1860s, Charles Warren discovered an outer wall that enclosed the stairway leading up to the Eastern Gate that Herod had built.

4. The best evidence suggests that the gate was then rebuilt during the Umayyad period (661–750 AD), on the foundations of the earlier gate dating to the time of Solomon or Hezekiah. Part of the gate from this time period has been preserved.

As mentioned above, the remains of two massive ancient gateposts are preserved inside this gate. These gateposts are situated in the same line as the Eastern Wall of the Temple Mount. They also line up with the lower massive stone masonry on both sides of the Golden Gate. The gateposts, along with the masonry sections of the Eastern Wall, suggest they are all part of the same construction. The upper part of the southern gatepost is level with the top of the ancient stone masonry that can be seen south of the Golden Gate. The gatepost in the northern part of the gate is one stone course higher and is located just one stone course lower than the surface of the Temple Mount. These two ancient gateposts belong to the gate dating back to the First Temple period, which is most likely the Shushan Gate that is mentioned in Mishnah Middot 1.3. This gate was the only gate in the Eastern Wall at that time.

The current gate that is seen today was rebuilt by Suleiman in around 1541 AD and was built on the foundations of the earlier gates. The Eastern Gate’s outer facade today consists of two blocked-up gateways decorated with detailed carved relief arches.

The original gate was thought to have been discovered in 1969 by Dr. James Fleming and was believed to be east of the current Eastern Gate a bit and about 8 feet (2.5 m) lower. However, after significant research and archaeological work was done and analyzed, it appears what Dr. Fleming found were arches of a stairway that led up to the Eastern Gate that Herod the Great built. Again, inside the gate are ancient posts that date back to the First Temple period. These reveal that the level of the current Eastern Gate is relatively the same as it has always been.

​The bedrock beneath the Eastern Gate rises sharply upwards from the Kidron Valley to the Temple Mount, so this would make it very unlikely that the original gate was beneath the current one as the bedrock would be in the way and prevent this.

​Moreover, the stones of the arch that Dr. Fleming discovered are Herodian, which are much later than the original Eastern Gate, making it unlikely the arch that was discovered was part of the top of the Eastern Gate. Again, reputable archaeologists now believe that what Dr. Fleming discovered was one of the arches of the stairway leading up to the Eastern Gate. Herod built this stairway, so the stone type that was found would match this time era as well.

It’s believed that the closing of the Eastern Gate was to prevent the Jewish Messiah from gaining entrance to the temple on the Temple Mount.

Muslims also put a cemetery directly in front of the gate as an extra layer of precaution, believing that the Messiah, being a good Jew, would not walk through it and become unclean in doing so. However, whatever Christ touches becomes clean, so that presents no problem.

Though it is formally called the Eastern Gate, it is also known as the Golden Gate, the Gate of Eternal Life, the Mercy Gate, the Shushan Gate, and sometimes as the Beautiful Gate. Scripture says in Acts 3:1–10 that the Beautiful Gate was one of the temple gates.

Acts 3:1–2 NKJV

1 Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple;