Temple Institute Wants Animal Sacrifices Now, But…

Temple Institute Altar

There are calls for animal sacrifices this Passover:

Temple Mount Activism in Honor of Passover

by Hillel Fendel 04/14/2011…

As in previous years, a group of Jews who wish to fulfill the commandment of offering the sacrifice on Passover eve, this coming Monday, have asked for police protection. If the results of previous years’ requests are any guide, the police are expected not only to refuse to provide such protection, but to ban the event from taking place at all…

Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, head of the Temple Institute in Jerusalem. “There are rabbis who are blue-and-white Satmar (a hassidic dynasty that opposes Zionism – ed.)!” he said with great emotion. “What did they say Hallel [prayer of praise] for in 1967 when the city was unified?! Did they say it because we liberated the Arab market place?! Did they say it for the plaza outside the Western Wall? They said it for the Temple Mount, the site of the Holy Temple, the holiest site in Judaism! How can they say they are Zionists if they turn their backs on Mt. Zion?!” http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/143566

At its own website, the Temple Institute’s latest post states:

Jews evading Passover mitzvah are risking supernatural punishment, warns Safed’s Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu

by Kobi Nahshoni

The annual attempts to resume the Passover sacrifice received a first significant rabbinical backing recently. Safed’s Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, a prominent religious Zionism leader, has called on the public to perform the sacrifice mitzvah on the eve of the Jewish holiday…

According to Rabbi Eliyahu, there is a halachic, legal and public possibility to offer a Passover sacrifice these days. http://www.templeinstitute.org/news.htm

While there may be a “legal and public possibility to offer a Passover sacrifice these days”, the political realities, especially with the unrest in the Middle East and the change of government in Egypt make the likelihood of sacrifices on the Temple Mount even more remote this year.

The Temple Institute finished a sacrificial altar (December 2009) and has many of the associated implements (Temple Institute Completes Altar of Unhewn Stones), which in theory could be used.

Though many feel that the Jews must have a physical temple prior to the arrival of the final Antichrist, the reality is that the Jews do not need temple to perform animal sacrifices (Ezra 3:6), only an altar–which they already have, plus governmental permission–which they do not completely have. The first Passovers in the Bible were done well prior to the construction of any temple.

Israeli courts have agreed that Jews have the right to perform animal sacrifices, but have repeatedly denied this right as the timing would have excessively negative consequences. And to rebuild a temple in the area that the Muslims consider sacred would be even more problematic politically–especially at this instant.

Of course, in a nation as politically fragmented as modern Israel, the time may come when a ruling coalition will itself have in it some members of a small religious group that will insist on the resumption of sacrifices on the Temple Moun for it to remain in office. And allowing sacrifices on a small altar certainly would seem politically more plausible than the construction of a Jewish temple on the dome of the rock or otherwise next to the al-Aqsa Mosque. While this may not be seen as viable in every possible Israeli administration, it certainly is a possibility for a future one.

The Bible is clear that sacrifices will be stopped by the final King of the North (Daniel 9:27; 11:31). And in order for them to be stopped, they must start first. And while a temple could be built for that purpose, politically and biblically, the idea that sacrifices will start on an altar outside a rebuilt temple is more likely. The fact that almost half of Israelis support the idea of a temple being rebuilt strongly suggests that a significant amount of them would support the idea of sacrifices–with or without a rebuilt temple.

And this will happen, though probably not yet (though some sacrifices could still be done in Israel that are not related to the prophecies in Daniel).

Some articles of possibly related interest could include:

Why is a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem Not Required? Although people like Timothy LaHaye teach a third Jewish temple is required for end-time prophecies to be fulfilled, who is ‘the temple of God” in the New Testament? What does the Bible teach about the temple in the end-times? The Bible teaches that the sacrifices will be stopped (Daniel 9:27; 11:31), but do Jewish sources or the Bible mandate a completed temple for those sacrifices? What did Ezra do when there was no temple?
Who is the King of the North? Is there one? Do biblical and Roman Catholic prophecies point to the same leader? Should he be followed? Who will be the King of the North discussed in Daniel 11? Is a nuclear attack prophesied to happen to the English-speaking peoples of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand? When do the 1335 days, 1290 days, and 1260 days (the time, times, and half a time) of Daniel 12 begin? When does the Bible show that economic collapse will affect the United States?
Some Doctrines of Antichrist Are there any doctrines taught outside the Churches of God which can be considered as doctrines of antichrist? This article suggests at least three. It also provides information on 666 and the identity of “the false prophet”. Plus it shows that several Catholic writers seem to warn about an ecumenical antipope that will support heresy.
Is There an Islamic Antichrist?Is Joel Richardson correct that the final Antichrist will be Islamic and not European? Find out.
Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel What will happen to Israel? Are the Americans, Canadians, British, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo-Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first? What about the modern nation of Israel and Jerusalem?