Daily Devotionals

Voice of the Lord

Devotional: 22nd of Tammuz

Mashiach will be cut off and have nothing. The people of a prince yet to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary (Daniel 9:26).

The Talmud records some peculiar changes that occurred in the Temple about 40 years before its destruction. The lot for the goat to be sacrificed on Yom Kippur ceased to come up on the right hand of the Cohen HaGadol (High Priest) as it had previously. The crimson cloth put out on Yom Kippur would not turn white as it had before. The western light ceased to burn. Finally, the doors of the Temple no longer opened of themselves.

The Temple was destroyed in 70 c.e. after about three years of being under siege by the Romans. Jerusalem was leveled. That splendid city which housed the Shekhinah (Glory of God) ceased to be the center of Jewish life.

What was the cause of such destruction? Some rabbinic sources explain the reason for the fall of Jerusalem as the sin of "hate without a cause." Although the rabbis do not explain this in more detail, those who embrace this theory are close to the truth.

The prophet Daniel spoke of a Messiah who would come and be killed as a sacrifice; then the city and the Temple would be destroyed. Yeshua was the Mashiach (Anointed One, Messiah). He came to give us eternal life with him. Nonetheless, he was hated without a cause and was killed about 40 years before the destruction of the Temple. He who was sinless became our atonement because of his love for those who hated him.

...seek to explain the love of Messiah to those who hate him.

EK