The Temple Doors and the Scapegoat
Leviticus 16:1-8
Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they had approached the presence of the Lord and died. And the Lord said to Moses, "Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. "Aaron shall enter the holy place with this: with a bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. "He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his body, and he shall be girded with the linen sash, and attired with the linen turban (these are holy garments). Then he shall bathe his body in water and put them on. "And he shall take from the congregation of the sons of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.6 "Then Aaron shall offer the bull for the sin offering which is for himself, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household.
"And he shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the doorway of the tent of meeting. "And Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. "Then Aaron shall offer the goat on which the lot for the Lord fell, and make it a sin offering. "But the goat on which the lot for the scapegoat fell, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness as the scapegoat."
There is an amazing reference in the Talmud concerning the doors of the Second Temple.
"Forty years before the destruction of the Temple (ie. 30 C.E.) the lot did not come up in the right hand, nor did the crimson stripe become white, nor did the westernmost light burn; and the doors of the heikhal (the Holy Place of the Temple) opened of their own accord, until Rabbi Yochanon ben Zakkai rebuked them. He said to it [the Temple]:
'O heikhal, heikhal, why do you alarm yourself? I know full well that you are destined to be destroyed, for Zechariah ben Iddo has already prophesied concerning you 'Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour the cedars' (Zech. 11:1).'
--Talmud Bavli, Yoma 39b
It is also important to note that the Talmudic reference is 40 years before the destruction of the Second Temple. The Second Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E. The date of this amazing event was 30 C.E. which is the exact year that Yeshua (Jesus of Nazareth) was sacrificed in Jerusalem.
The very massive doors of the Temple opened on their own accord. There is also a secular Jewish source that indicates the doors also opened on their own accord.
At the same festival (Passover)... the Eastern gate of the inner court of the Temple, which was of brass, and vastly heavy, , and had been with difficulty shut by twenty men, and rested upon a base armered with iron, and had bolts fastened very deep into the firm floor, which was there made of one entire stone, was seen to be opened of it's own accord about the sixth our of the night.
-Josephus; The Wars of the Jews 6.5.3
The New Testament indicates that the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom:
Matthew 27:50-54 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook; and the rocks were split, and the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many. Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, "Truly this was the Son of God!"
Truly a miraculous event occurred forty years before the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. The Talmudic passage above also affirms two other incredible events. After the death of the Messiah, the western most light also did not continue to burn. The eternal light "Ner Tamid" no longer would burn within the Holy of Holies. The the lot failed to come upon the right hand and the crimson stripe failed to turn white forty years before the destruction of the temple.
The lot was cast for the Azazel, or the scapegoat on Yom Kippur. Two goats were selected and the lot always fell upon the goat on the right hand. After the death of the Messiah, the lot was cast and the goat on the left was selected to "carry the sins of the nation into the wilderness" There was a crimson cord tied around the neck of the scapegoat.
The cord would always turn white indicating the sin's of the nation were forgiven.
Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the Lord,
"Though your sins are as scarlet,
They will be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They will be like wool."The crimson cord stopped turning white 40 years before the destruction of the Temple. Yeshua was executed 40 years before the destruction of the temple. The events recorded in Talmud account for the incredible event that occurred in 30 C.E.