The Non-Sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham
Gen 22:2 ���.and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering, upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of�. Also note in verse 7 Isaac asks his father �where is the lamb for a burnt offering�, not an insignificant question on the part of Isaac.
To this day we know for certain which hilltop in the land of Moriah upon which Abraham built the altar for the sacrifice. It is the same hilltop the Israelites would use about 1500 years later on which to build their temple, exactly the same location from which Abel and Noah previously offered their acceptable burnt offerings, this is simply a continuation of the pattern of sacrificial offering events culminating with construction of the Temple during Solomon�s reign in Israel.
Prior to the trip Abraham and Isaac made to Moriah, it is evident both men were intimately knowledgable of the details and purpose of �burnt offerings�, otherwise how could Isaac have asked the question, �..where is the lamb for a burnt offering�, they knew the �law� of the future Levitical Priesthood, just as Abel and Noah had intimate knowledge of what constituted acceptable offerings. How did they come to knowledge of such things?
God is not haphazard with his specifics, his planning calls for consistently designated times and places. Abel didn�t need to travel a great distance to the location to present his sacrifice, he was practically born on the site of it or possibly only a few hundred yards from it. God took Noah via the Ark to the location from which Noah was to make the sacrifice on Mt Moriah. Finally in the case of Abraham and Isaac, they were specifically instructed to leave where they were presently living to travel to a different land for the express purpose of making the burnt offering sacrifice on a hilltop in the land of Moriah. It should be curious to the reader why a specific hilltop in the land of Moriah is so important a place for the location of the Holy of Holies, it is because it will be the holiest site in the Jerusalem yet future to Abraham and Isaac, see Dan 9:16 "....thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain (Moriah)...", Isa 56:7 "..I bring to my holy mountain ...in my house of prayer their burnt sacrifices shall be accepted upon my altar..". On this planet God has but one "holy mountain", God told Abraham and Isaac it was Moriah, on the peak of which in the future Jerusalem would be located the Holy of Holies at the entrance to which would be located his earthly altar.
The Plight of Religious Jews in Today�s World
In today�s world, Torah keeping Jews want their temple mount returned to their possession. They know their messiah will not return until such a time as the temple sacrifices from the site of the altar at the entrance to the Holy of Holies has been reinstituted.
Religious Jews in today�s diaspora and those presently in Israel, understand that the only �lawful� manner burnt offerings can be presented to the Lord is from the center of the four compass points of the earth�s circle, the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem, for this reason religious Jews have never proposed a practice for sacrifices to be offered from a synagogue in New York City or London, or somewhere else in the world, the Holy of Holies has but one location, it�s a lesson the Jews and the house of Israel in the diaspora have learned well, perhaps we should too, it would clear away a lot of confusion about the Bible.
The Tree of Life
At the center of the garden of Eden was the �tree of life�, Gen 2:9. The �tree of life� is also cited in Rev 22:2, located in the New Jerusalem, beginning Rev 21:2 to the end of chapter 22 the context of the discussion is solely about Jerusalem, see also Ezek 36:35: ��.This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden�..�, the land under discussion being defined in verse 28: �And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers�.�, this not someplace in Iraq. Ezek 47:12 references this time as being Christ�s millennial kingdom on earth, with the contextual comparison to the garden of Eden of Adam and Eve. Logical thought would dictate that God has never deviated from his original plan, thus placing Jerusalem of any eon only at the geographic location of the original site of the first tree of life. Once again, it�s the temple template of the future Jerusalem foreshadowed by the Garden of Eden and subsequently fulfilled in the New Jerusalem.
Most of present-day expositors of Biblical studies, have not only transplanted Eden�s garden to a foreign location outside of Israel, but consequently the �tree of life� with it, it is incomprehensible to this author that there are those who would place God's centerpiece of salvation outside the city of Jerusalem, but that is exactly what many have done by placing Eden's garden anywhere on earth but inside the nation of Israel. It is only within the borders of the nation of Israel inside the boundaries of the city of Jerusalem one will find the location of the �tree� that gave life to the original garden of Eden, it will once again spring forth from Jerusalem�s center and supply life to the whole world, exactly from the same location where it was previously rooted in Eden�s garden. No question about it, the �tree of life� has never been located someplace in present-day Iraq or Iran. The �tree of life� has been rooted in the past, and will once again re-root, in but one location, from the location of the center of the garden of Eden, also the location of Old Jerusalem, present day Jerusalem, and the center of the future location of the New Jerusalem in turn being the center of the four compass points of the earth�s circle. (...continued on next page, P 4)
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