Things Jewish
Lately, I have been drawn to exploring the Jewish roots of my "Christian" faith. I think it is pretty clear from the gospels that Jesus did not come to start a new religion, but to fufil his Father's plan and desire for reconciliation with all his creation. In mid-April I discovered the website http://www.myjewishlearning.com/ and after reading a few things, began to participate in the discussion forum. The responses to me as a gentile, especially as a christian, have been interesting. There is a fair amount of suspicion that I am there to "convert" Jews, especially from those ex-christians who are in the process of converting to Judaism. The following is from a post I did there on May 25th. How would you respond?
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I have been reading the articles posted on this website for Yom Yerushalyim. One of them is "The Heavenly Jerusalem" by Rabbi Art Vernon. Have you read it? The first paragraph reads:
The concept of an ideal or heavenly Jerusalem appears to emerge in Jewish tradition in the third century of the Common Era. There is a midrash, a rabbinic homily, in the name of Rabbi Yochanan, a leading rabbinic figure in Tiberias in the early third century, who asserts, in part, that in the future the earthly and the heavenly Jerusalem will be reunited as one. This teaching is based on an exposition of Psalms 122:3, "Jerusalem built up, a city knit together." According to the midrash, 'knit together' means the uniting of the earthly Jerusalem with the heavenly Jerusalem as one. However, the roots of this idea are found in earlier Jewish thinking.//
Yes, one place we see that "the roots of this idea are found in earlier Jewish thinking" is in a writing of a Jewish writer, John, a follower of Yeshua, who wrote in the first century CE something known to us as the Apocalypse or the Revelation. It claims to be his record of a heavenly vision. There are two passages in it- one near the beginning and one near the end, which refer to a heavenly Jerusalem.
"Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God...." (Revelation 3:12)
"I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.' " (Revelation 21:2,3)
And it seems to me the idea that something in the physical realm represents something in the spiritual realm is found in the Torah, long before Greek philosophy could have influenced Jewish thinking. God told Moses to be sure he made the temple and all its furnishings exactly like the heavenly pattern he was given. David told Solomon that he had received and written down the instructions for the temple by the spirit of God. To me these are instances of a heavenly pattern represented in an earthly form.
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I have been reading the articles posted on this website for Yom Yerushalyim. One of them is "The Heavenly Jerusalem" by Rabbi Art Vernon. Have you read it? The first paragraph reads:
The concept of an ideal or heavenly Jerusalem appears to emerge in Jewish tradition in the third century of the Common Era. There is a midrash, a rabbinic homily, in the name of Rabbi Yochanan, a leading rabbinic figure in Tiberias in the early third century, who asserts, in part, that in the future the earthly and the heavenly Jerusalem will be reunited as one. This teaching is based on an exposition of Psalms 122:3, "Jerusalem built up, a city knit together." According to the midrash, 'knit together' means the uniting of the earthly Jerusalem with the heavenly Jerusalem as one. However, the roots of this idea are found in earlier Jewish thinking.//
Yes, one place we see that "the roots of this idea are found in earlier Jewish thinking" is in a writing of a Jewish writer, John, a follower of Yeshua, who wrote in the first century CE something known to us as the Apocalypse or the Revelation. It claims to be his record of a heavenly vision. There are two passages in it- one near the beginning and one near the end, which refer to a heavenly Jerusalem.
"Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God...." (Revelation 3:12)
"I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.' " (Revelation 21:2,3)
And it seems to me the idea that something in the physical realm represents something in the spiritual realm is found in the Torah, long before Greek philosophy could have influenced Jewish thinking. God told Moses to be sure he made the temple and all its furnishings exactly like the heavenly pattern he was given. David told Solomon that he had received and written down the instructions for the temple by the spirit of God. To me these are instances of a heavenly pattern represented in an earthly form.
posted by lornewel at
1:56 p.m.
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