I read something about this a few years ago, but recently I dug into it in a little greater depth and detail. The Talmud discusses several unusual events that occurred around the time of Christ's death (or at least around the time of His ministry)—things that stopped happening or began happening about 40 years before the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70, or about AD 30.

The Talmud is a huge collection of Jewish writings generally focused on the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament) and the Tanach (basically the entire Old Testament), and these writings comprise a massive compendium of teaching, opinions, and interpretation pertaining to both, as well as other aspects of Judaism. These writings began to be compiled in earnest in the aftermath of the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70, since prior to that such teachings had primarily been passed down orally within a relatively closed Jewish society. But after the temple was destroyed at the hands of the Romans and the Jewish people were scattered to the nations of the world, such oral traditions became far more difficult to maintain and pass on.

Plus, after AD 70, Jewish scholars had their work cut out for them. The challenge? Invent a version of Judaism that could function in the absence of a temple—which, if you count the original tabernacle in the days of Moses, had been the heart and soul of Jewish life for 1,500 years.

There are two versions of the Talmud: a smaller one compiled in the land of Israel and redacted in the mid-fourth century known as the Jerusalem Talmud, and a larger version compiled in Iraq from the third to the sixth centuries known as the Babylonian Talmud. There are many differences between the two, but the majority of Jewish scholars consider the Babylonian Talmud as more authoritative, and refer to it more often than the Jerusalem Talmud.

The reason I mention this is because the unusual events I am about to discuss are described in both, which lends greater credence to the fact that these were widely accepted by the Jews as actual historical events.

As we shall see, the four unusual events we are going to look at that occurred around the time of the Crucifixion each in its own way gives us the distinct impression that God was giving the Jews signs that His relationship with them had fundamentally changed. It seems very much as if God was dropping hints for His people that things were different after their religious leaders persuaded their Roman masters to execute this grifter from Nazareth who did nothing but spout parables, use His demonic power to perform "miracles," and mislead many people into foolishly accepting Him as the Messiah, in spite of His obvious failure to fulfill a single messianic prophecy to their satisfaction.

Before we look at the four unusual events that are mentioned in the Talmud, I want to mention one miraculous sign that was given to Israel that was an obvious hint that at the moment Christ died, something radically changed in God's relationship with not only Israel, but with all of mankind.

It is recorded in all three of the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), and it involved an extraordinarily tall, thick, heavy curtain (or "veil") that concealed the Holy of Holies:

⁵⁰Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit. ⁵¹Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split. (Matthew 27:50–51 / emphasis added)

³⁷Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and gave up the spirit. ³⁸The veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. (Mark 15:37–38 / emphasis added)

⁴⁵The sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. (Luke 23:45 / emphasis added)

In the temple, there were two main curtains, and one of them hung at the entrance to what was called the Holy Place (equivalent to a nave). The Holy Place contained a seven-branched candelabra called a menorah (representing Christ as the Light of the World), the table of shewbread (representing Christ as the Bread of Life), and the altar of incense, and priests went in and out of this area on a daily basis to perform various duties.

But the Holy Place also contained the Holy Of Holies, a smaller area which contained the ark of the covenant and which was separated from the rest of the Holy Place by a second thick, heavy curtain. Only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and only once a year on the Day of Atonement to offer sacrifices for both his own sin and for the sins of the entire nation of Israel.

The moment Christ died, it was this inner curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Holy Place that was ripped in two, from top to bottom. At a height estimated by some at about 60 feet, this is clearly suggestive of the fact that it was God who did the ripping. But most importantly...

It told us that the way to God

was now open to all, thanks to the

blood that Christ shed on the cross.

¹⁹Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus [some translations render this as "the Holy Place," but note that Paul is clearly referring to the Holy of Holies contained in what many refer to as the Holy Place, just as I did above], ²⁰By a new and living way, which he has consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; ²¹And having an high priest over the house of God; ²²Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:19–22 AKJV / emphasis & [comments] added)

"Let us draw near"...in a way that no one on earth could dream of doing prior to Christ's perfect work of atonement. Especially the Jews.

After Christ's death, the effective atonement for sin no longer required any High Priest to enter any Holy of Holies and offer any sacrifice, and the reason is thunderingly simple:

The Son of God's perfect sacrifice for sin had just been offered once and for all, and had been accepted by the Father.

But unlike the other four unusual events we are going to discuss, the ripping of the curtain that concealed the Holy of Holies from view is NOT mentioned anywhere in the Talmud, or in any Jewish writings anyone is aware of.

I suspect that at least part of the reason for this is because the rending of this curtain was such a disturbingly bizarre event that the priests would have instinctively sought keep it as quiet as possible. According to Jewish tradition, the priests simply got busy and quietly sewed the curtain back together and pressed right on as if nothing had happened...and no doubt labeled any lingering rumors as pernicious conspiracy theories spread by heretics who foolishly clung to the absurd notion that the Nazarene trickster that had been executed was actually their anticipated Messiah.

The abject spiritual bankruptcy of the

Jewish religious leaders had reached

the point where they literally didn't

know what else to do, think, or say.

Plus, this curtain-ripping thing only happened once. The other events we will discuss each occurred on a regular basis (daily or annually) for 40 years, and so they would have been widely known and acknowledged by the Jewish public—and as a result are mentioned in both versions of the Talmud.

The Yom Kippur miracles

The four events we are going to discuss are sometimes referred to as the "Yom Kippur miracles," which is perhaps not the best name for them since not all four are specifically connected to Yom Kippur. I've never made any effort to come up with a moniker of my own, but if someone threatened to spit in my coffee to get me to do so, it might be the "post-Crucifixion, pre-temple-destruction oddities mentioned in the Talmud" (clunk...)

On second thought, I think I'll just go with the "Yom Kippur miracles."

But regardless of how you choose to refer to them, all four of these strange events are mentioned in both the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud. Here is how the Babylonian Talmud summarizes them:

The Sages taught: During the tenure of Shimon HaTzaddik, the lot for God always arose in the High Priest's right hand; after his death, it occurred only occasionally; but during the forty years prior to the destruction of the Second Temple, the lot for God did not arise in the High Priest's right hand at all. So too, the strip of crimson wool that was tied to the head of the goat that was sent to Azazel did not turn white, and the westernmost lamp of the candelabrum did not burn continually.

And the doors of the Sanctuary opened by themselves as a sign that they would soon be opened by enemies, until Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai scolded them. He said to the Sanctuary: Sanctuary, Sanctuary, why do you frighten yourself with these signs? I know about you that you will ultimately be destroyed, and Zechariah, son of Ido, has already prophesied concerning you: "Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars" (Zechariah 11:1), Lebanon being an appellation for the Temple.

Rabbi Yitzhak ben Tavlai said: Why is the Temple called Lebanon [Levanon]? Because it whitens [malbin] the Jewish people's sins, alluded to by the root lavan, meaning white. — The Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Yoma 39b [Source]

1. The lot for the LORD.

One of the procedures carried out on Yom Kippur involved two goats of very similar size and appearance. One goat was chosen to serve as a sacrifice to atone for the sins of the people (i.e. the one "for the LORD"), and the other would symbolically carry the sins of the people far away from the camp (i.e. the one "for Azazel," or the scapegoat).

I'm going to keep this rather general, because the details of how these things were actually carried out varied somewhat over the centuries. First of all, the roles of these two goats would be chosen by lot. At one time, two stones from the High Priest's breastplate were used. At other times, two marbles or stones were used: one white and one black.

The High Priest would draw out one lot in his right hand and the other in his left. It was considered auspicious if the lot for the LORD came up in the High Priest's right hand, and according to the Talmud it did so every single year during the tenure of the venerated Shimon HaTzaddik (aka Simeon the Righteous), who served as High Priest for 40 years in the fourth century BC. After his death, the Talmud indicates that the lot for the LORD came up in the High Priest's right hand only occasionally, but it still did sometimes.

But the Talmud also states that starting around AD 30, or 40 years before the destruction of the temple, the lot for the LORD never came up in the High Priest's right hand again.

Now, this business of drawing lots makes this all sound like it was just random chance, but according to Scripture it was anything but:

³³The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from Yahweh. (Proverbs 16:33)

In other words, the LORD always had total control over which lot came up in which of the High Priest's hands.

Lord help him with his math: While I was working on this, I stumbled across an article by some well-meaning individual who blubbered on about how the odds of this occurring were about 5,500,000,000 (5.5 billion) to 1!!! WOW!!! Uh, no. First of all, his numbers are off by a factor of 200. Assuming it's at the mercy of random chance, the odds of this occurring 40 consecutive times would be approximately 1,100,000,000,000 (1.1 trillion) to 1. Second of all, and more importantly, odds have nothing whatsoever to do with it: "Its every decision is from Yahweh." So save the blubbering.

But odds or no odds, the religious leaders understood that the fact that the lot for the LORD was consistently coming up in the High Priest's left hand every single year did not bode well for the Jewish people.

They just didn't know why it was happening.

2. The scarlet ribbon.

Warning—sharp curves ahead: What follows in this section is a bit involved, and I literally don't know one single person who agrees with me on every detail...which tends to make me a bit nervous. So hang in there and focus, and I'll do my best to get us through this in one piece.

The goat for Azazel or the scapegoat would be driven far from the Jews' camp, or far outside the city of Jerusalem and out into the wilderness. There, it would either simply be killed or shoved off a cliff so it would fall to its death.

Again, I have to go easy here because the details varied over time and so you will see sources that describe things a bit differently. Basically, however, the scapegoat would have a scarlet ribbon or cord tied to its horns or around its neck, and a section of that same ribbon would be kept by the priests or tied to the door of the temple. If that scarlet ribbon turned white, it represented the fact that atonement for the sins of the people had been successfully carried out. This idea was based on the following passage of Scripture:

¹⁸Come now, and let us reason together, said the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18 AKJV)

If it didn't turn white and remained scarlet, it may have cast a bit of a pall over the proceedings, but life went on—do some good deeds and all that. But the fact that this scarlet cord never turned white again for the entire 40 years prior to the destruction of the temple told the Jewish people something of critical importance, and it told them with screaming clarity:

Their actions on Yom Kippur were no longer atoning for anything.

Something had fundamentally changed in the way atonement was made for sin, and every born-again believer knows exactly what that is:

What happened about 40 years prior to the destruction of the temple was that the Lamb of God provided atonement for sin through His perfect, one-time sacrifice on a cross at Calvary.

That's an integral part of what the Day of

Atonement had foreshadowed for 1,500

years—but when the Jews were finally

confronted with the reality, they balked.

Notice I said that what Christ did on the cross is part of what the Day of Atonement had foreshadowed for 1,500 years. It's notoriously easy for us as non-Jewish believers to overlook the fact that there's more than Christ's work of atonement being foreshadowed by the Jewish celebration of Yom Kippur.

I recently saw a question online that a Jewish person had asked that was related to the idea of the scarlet cord being attached to the scapegoat and failing to turn white for the last 40 years before the destruction of the Second Temple, and the answer was written by none other than Rabbi Tovia Singer, founder and director of Outreach Judaism and Christian-basher extraordinaire. Here is an excerpt, and he is talking about the Millennial Kingdom and referencing the book of Ezekiel:

Notice how Rabbi Singer cleverly tries to make it sound as if all the temple activity during the Millennial Kingdom will essentially be a return to the Law of Moses as per the Old Testament, and that nothing in this regard will have substantially changed. His goal is obvious: He wants to scare Christians (at least those who aren't as well versed in the Old Testament as they should be) into believing that these Torah-esque animal sacrifices are the only way there will ever be to atone for sin, just as it was for Israel under the Law of Moses—so phooey on your phony Messiah and all your born-again baloney.

"Yep, it's gonna be one big Law of Moses redux, so all you deluded missionaries* can take your book of lies and go pack sand."

(*Be aware that in Israel today, the word "missionary" is used as a pejorative term for Christians, especially those who attempt to share the gospel with them. It's more or less the equivalent of Gentiles calling Jews "kikes.")

Sadly, the reason a man like Tovia Singer can do this with abandon and with every confidence that he can get away with it is because he knows from experience that 99.9 percent of Christians don't know the Old Testament well enough to call him out on his grotesque misrepresentation of Scripture and run it through a shredder.

Well, stand by...because that's precisely what I am about to do.

Ezekiel 40–48 reveals some very interesting facts about the Millennial Kingdom. Yes, there will be a temple. Yes, animal sacrifices will be (gasp) reinstated. But a careful reading of a couple of those last few chapters of Ezekiel also reveals that there are some crucial differences between what was done in the Old Testament and what will be done during the Millennial Kingdom. And I'll just go ahead and spit one of 'em right out at you:

There will be no Yom Kippur

in the Millennial Kingdom.

No Day of Atonement?! Hmmm...now that's interesting.

Yom Kippur gone AWOL: Don't believe me? Read Ezekiel 45 carefully. I've written about this before, but please understand that during the Millennial Kingdom animal sacrifices will still be made in the Millennial Temple. Why? Because they will still be required to cleanse and make atonement in the sense of covering over or purging the ritual uncleanness of people entering His presence and objects being used in His service. Just as in the Old Testament, He will still be a holy God living in a sinful world among natural men with sin natures. The chief difference is that during the Millennial Kingdom, those sinful men will be required to believe in faith in the work of atonement Christ accomplished on the cross to atone for their sin in the sense of removing the moral guilt—not merely the blood of bulls or goats as in Old Testament days. They will also have to maintain a faithful testimony. During the Millennial Kingdom, there will only be Passover/Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles—the Day of Atonement has gone AWOL.

Here is the key passage from Ezekiel's discussion of the celebration of Jewish holy days during the Millennial Kingdom:

²¹In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month [that's the biblical day of Passover (Lev. 23:5)], you shall have the passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten [hence this could easily and naturally be viewed as including the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Lev. 23:6)]. ²²And on that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock for a sin offering. ²³And seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to the LORD, seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish daily the seven days; and a kid of the goats daily for a sin offering. ²⁴And he shall prepare a meat offering of an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and an hin of oil for an ephah. ²⁵In the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month [that's the biblical day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:34)], shall he do the like in the feast of the seven days, according to the sin offering, according to the burnt offering, and according to the meat offering, and according to the oil. (Ezekiel 45:21–25 AKJV)

And that's pretty much it as far as traditional Jewish festivals are concerned: Passover/Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles.

There appears to be something missing, as in Firstfruits (nobody is waving any sheaves of grain before the LORD), Pentecost, Trumpets, and Atonement. Not to be overly dogmatic or anything, since sometimes others see things in different ways and find ways to read things into Scripture that don't jump out at me. But in my humble opinion, it's crystal clear:

They're not there.

Ezekiel only mentions the actual biblical dates for two of the seven festivals: Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles—and I'm more than willing to toss in the Feast of Unleavened Bread as a gimme, since the eating of unleavened bread is specifically mentioned in connection with Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread is considered part of the celebration of Passover anyway.

Where's the blood? To hear the "gospel" preached in many churches today, you might almost get the idea that our dear, sweet Jesus just waved a magic wand to forgive everyone who deigns to invite Him into their heart: no muss, no fuss. Easy peasy Japanesey. Straight up—there are simply no words to describe the horrific pain and suffering that was inflicted on Christ that day 2,000 years ago by the Romans. The lashes alone were enough to kill a man. They weren't intended to merely inflict pain—they were intended to literally rip the flash from a man's body so severely many would bleed to death (or pray they would). After the lashes, being nailed to a wooden cross was almost redundant—that was intended primarily as a final, humiliating public spectacle. Most victims of crucifixion were three-quarters dead by that time anyway.

The point is that God is going to continue Passover, which foreshadowed and was fulfilled by the Crucifixion, throughout the Millennial Kingdom because the Father is going to honor His Son by never letting us forget what that perfect, sinless Son endured on our behalf, all so that we could be forgiven of our sin and reconciled to Him through faith. In other words:

God is never going to let us forget the blood.

Now, I believe the Feast of Tabernacles will be continued in the kingdom because the Millennial Kingdom is its prophetic fulfillment. For the entire 1,000 years of the kingdom, that prophetic fulfillment will be a work in progress because God will be "tabernacling" with us. That's the entire point.

But Firstfruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, and Atonement? Zip. Nada. And that begs the question: Why?

I don't want to go too far afield here because it's an interesting subject in and of itself, but consider:

• Firstfruits (Yom Hibikkurim): Firstfruits was fulfilled by the Resurrection: That one's been a done deal for 2,000 years.

• Pentecost (Shavuot): The fulfillment of Pentecost was inaugurated by the conception of the Church 50 days after the Resurrection, and I believe the entire Church Age is its complete fulfillment. Israel's prophetic time clock is stopped while God deals with His "heavenly people" the Church. When the Church Age ends at the Rapture, God will restart the prophetic time clock of His "earthly people" Israel and this one will be a done deal as well.

• The Day of Shouting (Yom Teruah): What most Christians call the Feast of Trumpets will be fulfilled by the Second Coming of Christ to the earth to launch His kingdom. And I referred to it by its more literal name just to remind you that what many believers (this writer included) routinely refer to as the "Feast of Trumpets" (a) is not one of the three "feasts" (those would be Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, and Tabernacles), and so does not foreshadow a gathering of people to God and so is not the Rapture. Also, it (b) arguably has precious little to do with trumpets. After the Second Coming, that'll be a done deal.

• The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur): On Yom Kippur, Jews believe the books are sealed—and in Old Testament days you were either in or out. They had just completed a 10-day period known as the Days of Awe that served as their opportunity to repent, right wrongs, forgive others, do good deeds, make amends, etc. If you had done an adequate job of it, God would forgive you and your atonement was secure—your name would remain inscribed in the Book of Life and you would live and be blessed for another year. If not, however, your name would blotted out and the books would be sealed without your name in them, and you would die during the coming year.

Before we go any further, recall one basic principle that applies to the final prophetic fulfillment of all seven of the Jewish festivals:

Every single one of them is fulfilled by

Christ Himself and in their given order.

1. He fulfilled Passover at the Crucifixion.

2. He fulfilled Unleavened Bread with His burial.

3. He fulfilled Firstfruits at the Resurrection.

4. He will fulfill Pentecost when He catches away the Church at the Rapture.

5. He will fulfill Trumpets when He returns at the Second Coming.

6. He will fulfill Atonement when He decides who is granted and denied entrance into the Millennial Kingdom (more on this below).

7. He will fulfill Tabernacles by ruling in the Millennial Kingdom on earth.

OK, steady now...I believe the Day of Atonement finds its final fulfillment in the form of the Sheep and Goat Judgment of Matthew 25:31–46, and I pray that I can make this clear because I already know some of what I am about to say is liable to rattle a few cages out there.

It strikes me that most Christians today have been mistaught about the Sheep and Goat Judgment, if they have been taught anything at all about it (which many haven't). I am convinced that everyone who stands before Christ at the S