WHAT IS THIS RED HEIFER PROPHECY
QUESTION? / COMMENT!
How do i explain in a catholic way about what this red heifer prophcy is?
ANSWER! / COMMENT
The Protestant prophesied eclipse couched with cherry picked bible verses will be as eschatologically significant as Y2K. A big nothing burger. The whole rapture theology is based on “Jesus is not going to let us suffer. He’s going to take us to heaven, and all the other losers on earth will suffer.”
Guess what they’re wrong. we are all suffering right now (under Biden), we will continue to suffer and we will suffer until Christ comes back, or our heart stops, whichever comes first. Saint Caspar of Bufalo said “life is a school of crosses.” Or as we pray in the Hail Holy Queen, life is “a valley of tears.” But only those who persevere in faith to the end, will be saved (Matt 10:22; 24:13). Life is warfare (Job 7:1 DR), life on earth is a battle (CCC 409).
Dr Schneider: Red heifers are rare. Later Jewish tradition said the messiah would sacrifice a red heifer due to something said by, I think it was, Rabbi Maimonides. This is really silly stuff. Don’t get caught up in it
I text messaged Michael Barber regarding that link that was sent this morning in a group text about the red heifers. He sent me the above response. So, while acknowledging that some Jews may take this very seriously, it's not biblical in terms of what their expectations are. If Michael's response did not get to all of the people who were on the first thread, if someone could forward it to the rest of the people who might not have gotten it. I don't know how to do all that.
Michael is correct. I would add that the red heifer thing is a Protestant invention. This whole debate does show, however, why the evangelicals support Israel so much, as they presume that if they can help Israel re-store the animal sacrifice then they can speed along the coming of the anti-Christ and second coming of Christ. This is why the greatest supporters of Israel reclaiming their land in the 1940’s were evangelicals. They want the animal sacrifice to be reinstated so Jesus will come back according to their misreading of various scriptures. One prophesy they do miss, however, is Malachi chapter 1: "from the rising of the sun to its setting, a perfect sacrifice will be made…" Of course, we know that to be the Eucharist and the inclusions of the Gentiles into the new covenant, but the Protestants, who reject both the Church and the Eucharist, see that prophecy as yet unfulfilled. So, they pick up later (probably medieval) Jewish relecture of various texts by Jews still seeking the Messiah. When you combine the Protestant error with the Jewish error of rejecting Jesus as Messiah, that baby is a red heifer. So if you miss that the OT sacrifice points to Christ and the Eucharist, you end up seeing into things that aren’t there.
A text without a context is a pretext, so good exegesis begins with genre (history, prophesy, wisdom lit, etc.) and context. The base error here is reading as prophetic or apocalyptic literature what was historical narrative, things which ultimately prefigured and pointed to Christ (ie Col 2.17, Heb 10.1, 1 Cor 10.1-5). That is, what occurred in history we now have in mystery, and embedded into the OT historical narratives were shadows which ultimately pointed to the reality of Christ. The Protestant error is to collapse the eschatological tension of the ‘already but not yet’ and their seeking to reinstate animal sacrifice in the temple means we collapse that tension and we think we can actually force Christ’s second coming. That tension between the two comings, however, is only eased in the Eucharist. Remember, the Greek word ‘parousia’ means both ‘presence’ and ‘arrival/coming’ (hence, adventus). This is why St. Bernard called the Eucharist the ‘middle coming’ of Christ (his first coming was in time and his final coming at the end of history). So if you read what is historical OT narrative in the Catholic tradition, you have true history but also prefigurative shadows pointing to Christ (Col 2.17 literally says ‘the body of Christ’). The ‘perfect sacrifice’ prophesy is the unbloody, eternal, re-presentation of Calvary. Time and eternity intersect, if only for a moment. If you read prophesy into historical narrative (and not through the lens of typology and allegory, as the Fathers) you end up seeing all sorts of apparent prophesies. Including the red heifer.
Jesus himself said “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.’ Matt 24.36. so I am skeptical of any system that predicts the second coming.