The Second Adam

        When you hear the name Adam, you automatically think about the first created human being. God created him from the dust of the ground to be in His image and of His likeness. Adam was designed for perfection from the beginning because God said that his creation was good, and that included man. Adam was the first self-governing human being in history, and God gave him law and freedom. The law was to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and freedom was to be able to eat from every other tree in the Garden of Eden. Eating the forbidden fruit made one know good and evil, and the consequence of that led to death. Breaking the law of God is sin, and the wages of sin is death.

        Had Adam not sinned, he could have been the perfect being to give mankind eternal life through the tree of life that was planted in the Garden. But, Adam sinned, ate the forbidden fruit and broke the law, and death reigned from Adam. Because of his sin, God had to separate Adam and Eve from the tree of life. Man wanted to do it their own way without God by knowing good and evil—even though the only way to truly know good and evil is to learn it from the Being that can discern good from evil: God. But, God wanted something better for us: he wanted us to have life and life eternal. Because death reigned from Adam, we were in desperate need of a Savior to reverse what Adam did.

        Then the second Adam came through the womb of the Virgin Mary, and he was called Jesus the Christ. It was said from Gabriel the archangel that Jesus was to save us from our sins, and He was to be the Son of God. It’s true that Jesus is the Son of God, and the signs and wonders that were performed through Him were proofs of his divinity. Jesus had a union with God the Father that only a family relationship can have between a Father and His Son. Adam could have had this family relationship with God, but he chose to separate himself from God. Jesus chose to stay close to God with every move that he made on earth—even in prayer. There are other attributes that the second Adam had that the first Adam didn’t have.

        According to Robert Lewis’s Raising a Modern-Day Knight, the first thing that Jesus had that Adam didn’t was the following: he rejected passivity. While Adam looked on when Eve was seduced by the serpent to eat of the forbidden fruit, Adam didn’t try to stop Eve from eating the fruit or defend God’s command to not eat of it. He passively let the serpent seduce Eve. On contrary, Jesus rejected being passive. He was active all throughout his ministry. He even provoked the Scribes and Pharisees by healing on the Sabbath. It was forbidden to heal on the Sabbath according to the Pharisee’s oral law, but that was a tradition of men. Jesus knew it, and actively broke the oral law to heal on the Sabbath.

        The second thing that Jesus had that Adam didn’t was the following: He accepted his responsibility while Adam ran from his responsibility. When Adam sinned and his eyes were open knowing good and evil, what did he do when God confronted him with what happened? He ran away, hid himself because of his shame, and even blamed Eve for eating the forbidden fruit. He didn’t take responsibility for his own actions. Jesus did the opposite. He accepted his responsibility of the crucifixion for us even though he prayed that the cup pass from him. He prayed sweating blood to avoid the suffering, but once he realized the will of God, He faced it like a man. “For the Lord God will help me; / Therefore I will not be disgraced; / Therefore I have set My face like a flint, / And I know that I will not be ashamed.” (Isaiah 50:7).

        The third thing that Jesus had that Adam didn’t was the following: He led courageously. Adam let Eve eat of the forbidden fruit, and did not rebuke her. He also let Eve convince him to eat of the fruit; he didn’t lead courageously to stop the serpent or Eve from sinning. He let Eve be in charge, and that’s why God said that the woman had to submit to her husband. On the contrary, Jesus actively provoked the Scribes and Pharisees because of their traditions. Jesus even proclaimed a series of woes against them knowing that they were plotting to kill Him. Jesus publicly proclaimed that the temple would be desolate because of the sins of the Scribes and Pharisees. It took a lot of courage to publicly proclaim destruction for a place, but Jesus did it.

        The fourth thing that Jesus had that Adam didn’t was the following: He expected a Godly reward. Adam was handed everything that He had by God. He had abundance of food, had animals to play with, and a wife to love. Adam didn’t have to expect a reward for his actions because he was already handed the best things by God. Adam even had the tree of life in the Garden with him, but didn’t eat of it. Adam lost the best things when he sinned. Jesus, on the other hand, often spoke to the disciples about his death and the reward of His resurrection. Jesus looked to the Godly reward of the resurrection in order to face the terrible torment of His crucifixion. Jesus knew that His Father would resurrect Him from the dead after the 3^rd day.

        The last thing that I will mention that Jesus had that Adam didn’t was the following: He’s a life giving Spirit while Adam was made from the dust of the ground. Adam was an example of how man can fail without God. Adam was a life-taking person that drew his life from Eve, and not from God. But Jesus is the giver of life to all men, and He’s in union with God the Father. Jesus didn’t speak anything unless the Father gave Him the words to speak. Before He became flesh, Jesus was the Word of God. Through Him, God created the Heavens and the earth as well as all of mankind. He gave man his very breath of life. Adam never knew what it was like to live eternally, but Jesus did. Jesus can also give life eternal to the children of God by the authority of God the Father.

The Temple Mount

        Have you been able to visit the Dome of the Rock lately? Have you been able to see the structure that was built in the 7^th century? I haven’t lately. It’s one of the shrines of Islam because they believe that Mohammed ascended to heaven on a horse at this place. This was at Jerusalem so it must be true right? I am not so sure. They say that the dome was built on top of the site where Solomon’s temple was. Is that true? Where does the evidence lead? I am going to take you on a journey through time, and give you the truth about the Dome of the Rock, and about Solomon’s temple. I am going to use history, and scripture to explain what’s actually there. Hopefully, I would be able to measure out the temple mount at the location where the evidence leads.

        Here is a brief history of the Dome of the Rock. The building was built in 685-691 by Umayyad Caliph Abdul al-Malik. A former rabbi named Ka’ab Al-Ahbar told the builders that the site that they were building on was Solomon’s temple—even though it was built on top of a large rock. Today that rock is still inside the middle of the main building. The building was not built to replace Solomon’s temple. It was a building used to convert Christians to Islam by walking into the building, reading the Arabic inscriptions denouncing the divinity of Jesus Christ centered around a rock, and exiting the building in the direction of Mecca. If you didn’t convert, you were considered an infidel by the Muslims.

        Muslims building the Dome of the Rock weren’t thinking about the Temple of Solomon at the time because there were mostly Christians in Jerusalem. In fact, Solomon’s Temple was never built on top of a single large rock at all. It was built on top of a threshing floor of wheat. When King David of ancient Israel numbered the people, God was displeased with him and sent a plague on Israel for three days. To stop the plague, David was commended by God to build an altar on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. When David finished the altar and gave God burnt and peace offerings, the plague stopped. David said after this in I Chronicles 22:1: “This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel”. Solomon never built the Temple of God on top of a rock, but on ground paved with the stumping of oxen.

        The threshing floor was an outdoors floor made with small rocks. It’s slightly sloped in order to avoid water build up from the rain. The slope would help wash away the water from the floor. Josephus said: “Now this temple as I have already said, was built upon a strong hill. At first the plain at the top was hardly sufficient for the holy house and the altar, for the ground about it was very uneven” (The Wars of the Jews Book 5 chapter 5). Because the land was uneven, although useful for a threshing floor, the temple would need a foundation to keep it leveled. The foundation had been built with stones that you see at the western wall today. You don’t use a big cornerstone for the foundation because it wouldn’t fit the side of the hill. The Dome of the Rock has a foundation stone under it. It makes no sense to use a large cornerstone for a project that has to be built on a hill. You have to use small stones.

        Before the Dome of the Rock was built, there was another structure built before it. It was the Roman Fortress of Antonia. Josephus said: “Now as to the tower of Antonia, it was situated at the corner of two cloisters of the court of the temple; of that on the west, and that on the north” “It was erected upon a rock, of fifty cubits in height”. “it contained also four other distinct towers at its four corners; whereof the others were but fifty cubits high; whereas that which lay upon the southeast corner was seventy cubits high, that from thence the whole temple might be viewed.” (The Wars of the Jews Book 5 Chapter 5). It makes sense to not measure the court of the temple because it was given to the Gentiles in the form of the Dome of the Rock because the dome was built where the Romans built the Fort of Antonia.

In measuring Solomon’s Temple, a cubit is used. A cubit is a measure from the elbow to the middle finger, which is about 18 inches: a feet and a half. The temple was measured as followed: “its length was sixty cubits, its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits” (1 kings 6:2) Today, the measurements would be a length of 90 feet, width of 30 feet, and a height of 45 feet. The vestibule in front of the front door of the temple was twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits long. The vestibule was 30 feet by 15 feet in today’s measurements. The altar of God would most likely be located at the vestibule of the temple. Solomon also built side chambers on both sides of the temple that were five cubits high (seven feet, six inches). 

“The temple resembled a citadel” a first-century Roman historian named Tacitus said in the histories “It contained an inexhaustible spring”. How could the temple have a spring? there was only one source of water in Jerusalem; that source of water was the Gihon Spring. Aristeas of Egypt wrote in 285 B.C. that the temple had an inexhaustible spring that was welled up in the interior of the temple. That spring was needed for the washing of the priests and Levis during and after sacrifices. In the tabernacle that Moses made, a bronze laver was used for the washing rituals. That changed with the building of the temple in the days of Solomon. The Gihon spring was used for Solomon’s temple, and was also used for the second temple. It will be used again for the third temple as well.

 

        Solomon’s Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians on 586 B.C. It remained desolate until Cyrus of Persia allowed the Jews to return to the Holy land and rebuild the temple. “Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, / And he shall perform all My pleasure, / Saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built,” / And to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.”’” (Isaiah 44:28). “The hands of Zerubbabel / Have laid the foundation of this temple; / His hands shall also finish it. / Then you will know / That the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you.” (Zechariah 4:9). The second temple foundation and building was done by Zerubbabel, and it took 46 years to complete the temple. It stood from 516 B.C. until 70 A.D.

         

The second temple was destroyed by the Roman’s because the Jews didn’t accept Jesus as the messiah during His first coming. Jesus saw the foundation stones and said: “not one stone shall be left here upon another that shall not be thrown down”. Jesus was prophesying about the destruction of the temple by the Romans at 70 A.D. Yet Jesus must have known about a third Temple that has yet to be built today, but will be built soon. First the temple needs to be built in the right location, and that location requires a spring. The Temple needs to be at the Gihon Spring, and the court of the temple was given to the Gentiles. The Dome of the Rock was built on the same rock as Fort Antonia, and the Fort was built on the court of the Temple. The Dome of the Rock is at the court of the Temple.

Prochoice Excuses

        I am tired of all the excuses the prochoice religious fanatics believe through their own philosophy. This blog will address all there excuses and the biblical counter to them. There’s going to be a lot of heavy material in this blog—please bear with me until the very end. The first thing that needed to be addressed is the origins of the Abortion debate. I highly recommend a book from 1987 called Abortion: toward an Evangelical Consensus by Paul B. Fowler. This book dug deep into the heart of the debate about abortion, and gave the history of Roe vs. Wade. The true origins of the prochoice movement came from ancient Greece. The philosophies of the prochoice movement based their reasoning on the philosophy of Aristotle.

        Aristotle wrote in Politics: “when couples have children in excess, let abortion be procured before sense and life have begun; what may or may not be lawfully done in these cases depends on the question of life and sensation.” If you didn’t believe that life begins at conception, which was the biblical definition, you would see it lawful to abort a child as Aristotle did. If you wanted to control the population and not have too many children, than you would believe abortion and birth control were good ideas. The ancient Greeks used pessary to produce an abortion, and there was a Hippocratic Oath by the Physicians to not do it. Biblically, God told mankind to be fruitful and multiply—don’t think God had population control or birth control in mind when he commanded it. That was man’s idea, and a horrible one.

        Aristotle also wrote in Politics: “As to the exposure and rearing of children, let there be a law that no deformed child shall live”. This was the idea behind the Spartans killing their babies because they were deformed. It was also an excuse for prochoicers out there for having abortions. Let’s look at what God sees. Jesus Christ opened the eyes of a blind man that was born blind because “the works of God should be revealed in him” (John 9:3). Today, a man named Nick Vujicic was born without arms and legs, and is an inspirational speaker and author—amazingly. God has a purpose for each one of us, and He wanted the deformed to live to fulfill that purpose for His glory. Those children should not be aborted.

        What about incest? Should abortion be done because of incest? No, because the problem is not the child being born from sexual intercourse between family members or close relatives. It’s the behavior of the incest itself that’s the problem. God forbid incest in Leviticus 18:6-18, and Paul ordered the Corinthians to take away a man that had an incestuous relationship with his father’s wife in 1 Corinthians 5:1-8. Punish the ones that did the deed, and not the child that knew nothing about the deeds of their parents. “Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.” (Deuteronomy 24:16). In American English today, don’t punish the children for the sins of the parents and don’t punish the parents for the sins of the children. Don’t kill a child in the womb because of an incestuous relationship of the parents.

        What about rape? Surely the child should be aborted for rape? Again, should the child die for the sin of the rapist father? Shouldn’t the rapist be punished for sexually assaulting the woman through sexual intercourse? In Genesis 34, Dinah (Jacob’s daughter) was raped by a prince of Shechem, and her brothers punished the Canaanites by killing the rapist, killing the men of the city, and took the spoils. In 2 Samuel 13, Amnon raped his sister Tamar, and Absalom (Amnon’s brother) killed him and fled. No one had the idea in mind to kill the child in the womb for rape. Rapists need to be punished for their crimes—not the children in the womb.

        What about the mother’s health? Should the mother risk her health for the birth of her child? Let’s look at some biblical examples for this excuse. In Genesis 35:16-20, Rachel gave birth to a son and died while in labor pains. Jacob named the child Benjamin, which means “Son of my right hand” in Hebrew. If Rachel chose to abort the child, there would be no race of people living in the world today because of one selfish act. Rachel was selfless. About 500 years later, Hannah was selfless as well. Hannah gave born to Samuel, but she lent him to God because she asked for the child. Samuel became a Priest/Prophet that anointed the first two kings of Ancient Israel: Saul and David. Hannah wept in wanting to bore a child because she was barren—she didn’t weep because she aborted one.

        Finally, there’s the argument that the fetus is not really a person, but a potential person that will gradually become a person. That’s an evolutionary approach to the fetus, and it’s only logical to those people who don’t believe that life begins at conception. The Hebrew word for conceive in the bible is Harah: it means to think up, to imagine, to conceive, to become pregnant. It happens instantly the sperm and the egg fertilize. God thought of you from conception. God imagined you to be a part of His family with a special purpose just for you. God ordained Jeremiah to be a prophet from conception in his mother’s womb. Don’t tell me there’s potential life in the womb—God already thought of the idea of you at conception, and that idea came into a living being.

        I know that this is a lot to take in, and I hope everyone who reads this blog would read it until the very end. The truth about abortion is clear: it’s an evil that needs to be done away with. I personally believe that a constitutional amendment to the U.S. Constitution would end the legal problems of it, but only the people of this great nation can make that happen. I am only one man with a cause. I hope abolishing abortion would happen in this generation—if not, it would surely be abolished at the return of Jesus Christ.