ISAIAH 56

7 Even them will I bring to My holy mountain [Har Kodesh], and make them joyful [have simcha] in My house of prayer [Bais Tefillah]: their burnt offerings [olot] and their sacrifices [zevakhim] shall be accepted upon Mine altar [Mizbe'ach]; for Mine house [Bais] shall be called an house of prayer for all people [Bais Tefillah l'khol HaAmim].

SHILOH TO BUILD A TEMPLE.

In the everlasting covenant made with David, it is declared of his immortal son by the Lord, saying, "He shall build a house for my name." David wished to execute this great national work, but was forbidden. It was afterwards accomplished by Solomon, and in this he eminently typified the "greater than Solomon," who is to construct a similar edifice, only on a vastly more magnificent scale. This will appear from the following testimony. After Solomon's temple was laid in ruins, and while the Jews after their return from Babylon were erecting a new one upon the site of the old, the word of the Lord came to the prophet, saying,

"Behold the man whose name is THE BRANCH: and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord; even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and shall be a priest upon his throne. And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord" (Zech. 6:12,13,15).

Let the reader turn to the texts below, and he will have no doubt as to the person styled the Branch (Zech. 3:8; Isaiah 11:1; Jer. 23:5; 33:15; Rev.22:16). The Melchizedec Son of David, then, is to build the third temple in Jerusalem to the name of Yahweh; and as the Tyrian Gentiles aided Solomon to rear his edifice, so those who are far off from Jerusalem, where the prophecy was delivered, are to co-operate in the erection of Shiloh's, which is to be "a house of prayer for all people" (Isaiah 56:7), when the Lord shall "plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people" (Isaiah 51:16).

If the reader wish to know more about the temple to be built by Shiloh in Jerusalem, he can consult Ezekiel (Ezek. 40, 41,42). The description comes in between the battle of Armageddon in which Nebuchadnezzar's image is broken to pieces on the mountains of Israel, and the earth shining with the glory of the Lord. The first nine verses of the forty-third chapter show that the era of the Temple described is when Shiloh "dwells in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and His holy name they shall defile no more." This is conclusive; for ever since their exode from Egypt until the present time, they have incessantly defiled the Lord's name; but the prophecy contemplates a period when they shall do it "no more."

When the Lord Jesus shall sit upon the throne of his father David, as high priest of the nation, and has dedicated the temple to the Most High, what then?

"Many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house (or temple) of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths" (Isaiah 2:3)."

The sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant: even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar."
And "there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts " (Zech. 14:16-21; Isaiah 66:20,21,23).

Elpis Israel 2.5.

The last two quotes show who will/not be welcome to attend the temple from among the nations. It will be those who are faithful to Yahweh's covenant - not representative heads of nations. There will be no human governments in the age to come. Sovereignty belongs to the Lord Yahoshua Anointed and his immortal associates redeemed out of every nation by his shed blood.

However, a rabble of usurpers will be permitted to organize under the headship of an antitypical Gog and amass at the close of the millenium in rebellion against Zion's King.

When these words were written, the temple of Solomon was still standing as the house of prayer for Israel. But the prophet speaks here of a future temple, which should be a house of prayer, not for Israel only, but for all peoples. That house has not yet been erected, but will certainly be, for Zechariah testifies that the man whose name is The Branch shall build the temple of Yahweh"-a temple very minutely described by Ezekiel.

Upon the altar of this temple, then, the burnt-offerings and sacrifices of the sons of the stranger will be accepted: offerings which shall be selected from the flocks of Kedar, and the rams of Nebaioth. For, says Isaiah, the Gentiles shall come to the Light of Jerusalem, and kings to the brightness of her rising, when she shall arise and shine, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon her; and "they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord. All the flocks of Kedar, shall be gathered together unto her, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto her; they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar and I will glorify the house of my glory.

Again, Isaiah tells us that in a time, which has hitherto never obtained, when "the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians, and Israel shall be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of Palestine-then shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, a pillar at the border thereof to Yahweh. And it shall be for a sign, and for a witness unto Yahweh of armies in the land of Egypt, for they shall cry unto the Lord because of oppressors and he shall send them a Saviour, and a Great One, and he shall deliver them. And Yahweh shall be known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians shall know Yahweh in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto Yahweh, and perform it."

...Now the feast of Tabernacles cannot be kept without sacrifice as will appear by consulting the law by which the festival was decreed, which reads thus;

"The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of Tabernacles, seven days unto Yahweh. On the first day shall be a holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work therein. Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto Yahweh, on the eighth day shall be a holy convocation; ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto Yahweh; it is a solemn assembly, and ye shall do no servile work therein."

For the Gentiles to keep this feast, they must observe it as the Israelites did before them, according to the law; and not as they "keep the Sabbath" now, observing the first or eighth instead of the seventh day, after a fashion of their own, and omitting those requirements which are inconvenient.

...The Feast of Passover is also to be observed in the Age to Come; which, however, cannot be kept without sacrifice. Jesus said to his disciples, "I will not any more eat of the Passover, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God." This was equivalent to saying, "When the Passover is fulfilled in the kingdom of God I will eat of it." Hence we find its restoration testified by Ezekiel in these words:

"On the fourteenth day of the first month ye shall have the Passover a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. And upon that day shall the Prince prepare (by the priests who offer his burnt-offerings and his peace-offerings, 100: 46:2) for himself and all the people of the land, a bullock for a sin-offering. And seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt-offering to Yahweh, seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish, daily the seven days; and a kid of the goats daily, for a sin-offering. And he shall prepare a meat-offering of an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and a hin of oil for an ephah. And in the next verse the feast of tabernacles is thus referred to: "In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, shall he do the like in the feast of the seven days, according to the sin-offering, according to the burnt-offering, and according to the meat-offering, and according to the oil."

The reader will observe, however, that the Passover is a feast for Israel's observance, not for that of the nations.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Nov 1854

This is the millennial future state. Abraham and Jesus are, then, the greatest personages upon the earth; the former being the spiritual father of Jesus and the saints, and the political father of a multitude of nations, over whom Christ and His brethren rule until "the end" (1 Cor. 15:24).

Such is "the world" of which Abraham and his Seed are the heirs.

Speaking of the latter in this relation, the apostle says, "whom God hath appointed Heir of all things, and on account of whom He constitutes the Ages" (Heb.1:2) - the Age of Jubilees, and the Jubilee Age. And to the joint-heirs of Abraham and Christ He says,

"Let no man glory in men: for all things are yours; the world, life, death, things present and things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's" (1 Cor. 3:21-23).

Elpis Israel 2.2.

10 His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.

What is the point in all this? Where is it all leading?

Just this. The Word of God sounds a clarion call to stop and think, to consider, to meditate, to analyse, to reason, to reflect. What are we? Where are we going? What does life mean?

Is eating and drinking and merriment the highest limit of our faculties and possibilities-or is there a richer, higher, more abundant way to live? Is the greatest good and happiness to be found in a lifelong effort to satisfy the insatiable lust and pride and ambition and covetousness that we are all born with, or is there far greater possibility of enjoyment and freedom to be found in a divinely-guided control and subjection of these things?

Are we satisfied with life as the vast majority of people live it? Is there enough to it? Are we prepared to say that though there may be something transcendently better, this is good enough for us? Are we prepared to set a height of joy and happiness and satisfaction beyond which we do not care to rise?

These are not unnecessary questions. Many people, sadly enough, could honestly answer them in the affirmative. They feel no more desire for something better than the present than the animals do. The Word of God speaks of this class as

"natural brute beasts, fit only to be taken and destroyed" (2 Pet. 2:12) "dumb dogs, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber" (Isa. 56:10)-"whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, who mind earthly things" (Phil. 3:19).

These evaluations are by God Himself-have we any desire to be distinguished in His sight from these? Is our manner of life such as to warrant such a distinction?

Do not these questions lead logically to a serious analysis of our position? -to a sober, thoughtful, reflection that perhaps after all, we are missing the greatest part of the beauty and purpose of life?

We cast about for an answer-for a clear conception of life's meaning and possibilities. We search for instruction, for guidance, for light-and, regardless of what our opinions concerning it may be, the Bible looms irresistibly into the picture as an inescapable fact with a very pertinent bearing on the question.

Bro Growcott - The One True Faith