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Page 17 of 30 20.
TEMPLE TO BE BUILT IN LAST DAYS:
See: THE TEMPLE SCROLL,
and THE NEW JERUSALEM SCROLL. See the quote from Black for item 23
below. "The world is to be restored to its "paradisiacal" state
before the Fall; the glory which Adam lost as the Fall is to be
restored to the renewed mankind, sin and evil are to be banished from
the earth, and a renewed and obedient mankind are to live on for a
thousand generations, an expression which in fact practically means
"eternal" life. Thus Adam is restored to his state before the Fall
and lives forever in his new Paradise. The nature of this eternal life
is given distinctive expression in the scrolls by the idea that the
loyal covenanters will enjoy an angelic existence. They are not only to
live like angels and consort with angels, but also to become as angels.
The thought has no doubt developed out of the idea of God coming to
dwell with men with His holy angels in a restored Temple in Jerusalem."
BLACK p. 139. He quotes l QS iv.23, cf CD v. 55-6: "God in His
wonderful mysteries forgave their iniquity and built them a sure
house in Israel. They that hold fast to it are destine for the life of
eternity and all the glory of Adam is theirs." And CD vii
(xix).5-6: "all those who walk in these things in the perfection
of holiness the Covenant of God standeth fast to preserve them to a
thousand generations." Reference to a thousand generations is
equivalent to eternal, "olam." BLACK points out on page 139, that
the belief "in a doctrine of immortal or eternal life is in the
scrolls, and "This is implied by the contrast between "joy in eternal
life", and the "fire of dark regions". It is true the concept of
"eternity" is q quite different one in modern thought from the
ancient Hebrew idea, but in the case of the "(ever)lasting life" of
the scrolls, we are almost certainly intended to take the term in the
meaning of a life without an cessation by death." BLACK p. 139.
A characteristic feature of the scrolls is the apocalyptic
elements,
including the "earthly stage where the final conflict is fought out."
the whole conflict is lifted up on the plane of the supernatural by
the part played by the angelic hosts and Israel's protecting angels,
among them Michael himself. This is stated in so many words in the
lines describing the final conflict ..a congregation of gods and
an assembly of men, the sons of light, and the lot of darkness will
fight together the trumpets of gods and men on the Day of
Destruction. Where the "Prince of Light" wil "have brought the
angel Mastema to the pit." after a reference to the subduing of the
Prince of the dominion of darkness, God sends the glorious angel,
Michael , with eternal light, to give light to Israel." BLACK p. 154.
In conjunction with the Damascus Document, and in particular,
the
"the prominence in the expectation of the sect of the idea of a New
Temple in a restored Jerusalem, .the expected Kingdom of God (or New
Creation) of eternal duration on the present earth, with Jerusalem (and
the Temple) as its center. And this new creation, innocent of all evil,
reproduces upon earth the state of Eden before the Fall. BLACK p. 136.
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