Last update 2 April, 2023.
Miracles in the Temple
The Miracle of the Lot
A random choosing of the "lot" which was cast on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). The lot chosen determined which of two goats would be "for the Lord" and which goat would be the "Azazel" or "scapegoat." During the two hundred years before 30 CE, when the High Priest picked one of two stones, again this selection was governed by chance, and each year the priest would select a black stone as often as a white stone. But for forty years in a row, beginning in 30 CE, the High Priest always picked the black stone! The odds against this happening are: ½*½ repeated 40 times is 1 in 1,099,511,627,776
The Miracle of the Red/crimson Strip
During the same 40 years the crimson strip or cloth tied to the Azazel goat. A portion of this red cloth was also removed from the goat and tied to the Temple door. Each year the red cloth on the Temple door turned white as if to signify the atonement of another Yom Kippur was acceptable to the Lord. This annual event happened until 30 CE when the cloth then remained crimson each year to the time of the Temple's destruction. This undoubtedly caused much stir and consternation among the Jews. This traditional practice is linked to Israel confessing its sins and ceremonially placing this nation's sin upon the Azazel goat. The sin was then removed by this goat's death. Sin was represented by the red color of the cloth (the color of blood). But the cloth remained crimson — that is, Israel's sins were not being pardoned and "made white."
As God told Israel through Isaiah the prophet:
Isaiah 1:18 Come, let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet [crimson], they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as [white ] wool.
The clear indication is that the whole community had lost the Lord's attention in relation to something that occurred in 30 CE The yearly atonement achieved through the typical Yom Kippur observance was not being realized as expected. Atonement apparently was to be gained in some other way. Who or what would provide the atonement for another year?
Concerning the crimson strip—though not mentioned in the Scriptures and long before 30 C.E.—during the 40 years Simon the Righteous was High Priest, a crimson thread which was associated with his person always turned white when he entered the Temple's innermost Holy of Holies. The people noticed this. Also, they noted that "the lot of the LORD" (the white lot) came up for 40 straight years during Simon's priesthood. They noticed that the "lot" picked by the priests after Simon would sometimes be black, and sometimes white, and that the crimson thread would sometimes turn white, and sometimes not. The Jews came to believe that if the crimson thread turned white, that God approved of the Day of Atonement rituals and that Israel could be assured that God forgave their sins. But after 30 CE, the crimson thread never turned white again for 40 years, till the destruction of the Temple and the cessation of all Temple rituals!
What did the Jewish nation do in 30 CE to merit such a change at Yom Kippur? By some accounts, on April 5, 30 CE (i.e., on the 14th of Nisan, the day of the Passover sacrifice) the Messiah, Yeshua, was cut off from Israel, himself put to death as a sacrifice for sin. To this event there is a transference of the atonement now no longer achieved through the two goats as offered at Yom Kippur. Like an innocent Passover lamb, the Messiah was put to death though no fault was found in Him! But unlike Temple sacrifices or the Yom Kippur events (as detailed above) where sin is only covered over for a time, the Messianic sacrifice comes with the promise of forgiveness of sins through grace given by God to those who accept a personal relationship with Messiah. This is essentially a one time event for each person's lifetime and not a continual series of annual observances and animal sacrifices. The mechanism providing forgiveness of sin changed in 30 CE
The Miracle of the Temple Doors
The next miracle, which the Jewish authorities acknowledged, was that the Temple doors swung open every night of their own accord. This too occurred for forty years, beginning in 30/31 CE The leading Jewish authority of that time, Yohanan ben Zakkai, declared that this was a sign of impending doom, that the Temple itself would be destroyed.
The Jerusalem Talmud states:
"Said Rabban Yohanan Ben Zakkai to the Temple, 'O Temple, why do you frighten us? We know that you will end up destroyed. For it has been said, 'Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars' " (Zechariah 11:1)' (Sota 6:3).
Yohanan Ben Zakkai was the leader of the Jewish community during the time following the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, when the Jewish government was transferred to Jamnia, some thirty miles west of Jerusalem.
Might the doors have opened to also signify that all may now enter the Temple, even to its innermost holy sections. The evidence supported by the miracles described above suggests the Lord's presence had departed from the Temple. This was no longer just a place for High Priests alone, but the doors swung open for all to enter the Lord's house of worship.
The Miracle of the Temple Menorah #1
The fourth miracle was that the most western/important lamp of the seven candle-
Earnest Martin states:
"In fact, we are told in the Talmud that at dusk the lamps that were unlit in the daytime (the middle four lamps remained unlit, while the two eastern lamps normally stayed lit during the day) were to be re-
"This 'western lamp' was to be kept lit at all times. For that reason, the priests kept extra reservoirs of olive oil and other implements in ready supply to make sure that the 'western lamp' (under all circumstances) would stay lit. But what happened in the forty years from the very year Messiah said the physical Temple would be destroyed? Every night for forty years the western lamp went out, and this in spite of the priests each evening preparing in a special way the western lamp so that it would remain constantly burning all night!" (The Significance of the Year CE 30, Ernest Martin, Research Update, April 1994, p.4).
Again, the odds against the lamp continually going out are astronomical. Something out of the ordinary was going on. The "light" of the Menorah—representing contact with God, His Spirit, and His Presence—was now removed. This special demonstration occurred starting with the crucifixion of the Messiah!
It should be clear to any reasonable mind that there is no natural way to explain all these four signs connected with the year 30 CE The only possible explanation has to be supernatural.
One text could be added: "and it has further been taught: 'For forty years before the destruction of the Temple the thread of scarlet never turned white but it remained red.'" (Bavli Rosh Hashanah 31b).
And according to my searching the text: "Said Rabban Yohanan Ben Zakkai to the Temple, 'O Temple, why do you frighten us? We know that you will end up destroyed. For it has been said, 'Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars' " (Zechariah 11:1)" comes not from Talmud Yerushalmi tract Sotah, but from Yoma 6:3 [33b], directly after "Forty years before the destruction of the Temple, the western light went out, the crimson thread remained crimson, and the lot for the Lord always came up in the left hand. They would close the gates of the Temple by night and get up in the morning and find them wide open" (also from Yoma 6:3 [33b]).
The westernmost (= closest to the Holies of Holies) lamp of the 7-
The Miracle of the Temple Menorah #2
I’m not sure this is different miracle or just a mistake of some sort.
In 30AD, the year of crucifixion and 40 years before the destruction of the Temple, not the westernmost but the middle light went out. The middle light is the most prominent and is also representing the Messiah. This was a one-
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The Talmud records ten Miracles that occurred at the Holy Temple in Jerusalem on a regular basis:
1. No woman ever miscarried because of the smell of the holy meat.
2. The holy meat never spoiled.
3. Never was a fly seen in the slaughterhouse.
4. Never did the High Priest have an accidental seminal discharge on Yom Kippur.
5. The rains did not extinguish the wood-
6. The wind did not prevail over the column of smoke [rising from the altar].
7. No disqualifying problem was ever discovered in the Omer offering, the Two Loaves or the Showbread.
8. The people stood crowded but had ample space in which to prostate themselves.
9. Never did a snake or scorpion cause injury in Jerusalem.
10. [Despite the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and the small geographical nature of Jerusalem] No man ever said to his fellow "My lodging in Jerusalem is too cramped for me."
The Alter of Sacrifice.
Only two logs were needed to keep the fire burning on the Altar throughout the whole day of Atonement. Starting the year Jesus died they needed many more logs.
Eating bread
Priests ate a olive sized piece of bread from the Table of Shewbread and were satisfied. Starting the year of Jesus' death they were still hungry after eating the same amount of bread.
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Nisan 8 66AD 3am an extremely brilliant light hovered around the Altar and the Inner Temple for 30 minutes and then left.
The Jews called it "The Glory departing".
The glory went to the Mount of Olives where Jesus died and stayed there for 3.5 year. The people were aware of that in some undescribed way.
Personally I see some symology in that. The Temple was the center of the Old Testament. The old Covenant.
But with Christ that changed. He became the center. For me His location is mt Olives. The place where He gave His life for us.
So the light moved from the OT-
In Ezekiel 10 we read the Lord leaving the Temple trough the eastern gate. Then goes to mt. Olives and after that left Israel.
Jesus also went trough the eastern gate to the cross which was on mt. Olives where He died. (=left)
That event took place before 586 BC when the first Temple was destroyed and 40 years before the second Temple was destroyed in 70AD.
Ps 78:14 In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.
Num 9:15-
15 And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony: and at even there was on the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until the morning. 16 So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.
17 And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud stayed, there the children of Israel pitched their tents.
18 At the commandment of the LORD the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the LORD they pitched: as long as the cloud stayed on the tabernacle they rested in their tents.
19 And when the cloud tarried long on the tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the charge of the LORD, and journeyed not.
20 And so it was, when the cloud was a few days on the tabernacle; according to the commandment of the LORD they stayed in their tents, and according to the commandment of the LORD they journeyed.
21 And so it was, when the cloud stayed from even to the morning, and that the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they journeyed: whether it was by day or by night that the cloud was taken up, they journeyed.
22 Or whether it were two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud tarried on the tabernacle, remaining thereon, the children of Israel stayed in their tents, and journeyed not: but when it was taken up, they journeyed.
23 At the commandment of the LORD they rested in the tents, and at the commandment of the LORD they journeyed: they kept the charge of the LORD, at the commandment of the LORD by the hand of Moses.
So when God decided to move camp a light started float above the Tabernacle.
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Nisan 14 66AD (Passover) at midnight the Temple gate opened. It was understood as a gift to the enemy. Those doors were so heavy they required 20 men to open them.
Pentecost 66AD.
24 priests witnessed a roar coming from the the Holies and then heard a voice saying "Hence we depart"
Amos 3:7-
7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.
8 The lion has roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD has spoken, who can but prophesy?
The glory/light/voice left and hovered over Mount of Olives where Jesus died. Meaning God's Temple was there.
The voice keep warning the Jews to repent for 3.5 years and then goes up to heaven.
Shortly after the Temple was burned to the ground.
Luke 21:20 And when you shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is near.
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The miracle of the rain
It is also reported, that during the time that the temple was building, it did not rain in the daytime, but that the showers fell in the nights, so that the work was not hindered. And this our fathers have delivered to us; nor is it incredible, if any one have regard to the manifestations of God. And thus was performed the work of the rebuilding of the temple.
The Antiquities of the Jews, 15:424
This was during the time Herod the Great renovated the Temple.
The miracle of the key
"When the High Priest saw that the Holy Temple was in flames, he climbed up to the roof of the Sanctuary together with groups of the young priests. They held the keys to the Temple in their hands and spoke before the Holy One, Blessed be He: 'Master of the Universe! It appears that we were not worthy of being trusted officers for You -
And when the priests and levites saw that the Holy Temple was indeed consumed with flames, they held the lyres and trumpets... and plunged into the fire." (Midrash Eicha Rabtai)
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