The Temple of God
There always has been, is now, and always will be, only three
earthly, corporate, tangible dwelling places of God. Though the
Bible makes reference to the dwelling place of man in just two
chapters, it spans fifty chapters in addressing the first
earthly, dwelling place of God. The first is the Tabernacle of
Moses, the second, the Temple of Solomon and the third the Church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Each succeeds the former in both
importance and magnificence
THE TABERNACLE OF MOSES
One of the great verses of the Bible is Exodus 40:33c –
"And Moses finished the work." Verses 33 and 34 read, "And the
cloud covered the tabernacle of the congregation; and the glory
of Jehovah filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to come
into the tabernacle of the congregation because the cloud dwelt
on it. And the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle."
Moses finished the work and the glory of God filled the house
of God.
THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON
History repeats itself. 2 Chronicles 5:1 – "And all the
work that Solomon made for the house of Jehovah was finished."
Verses 13 and 14 read, "And [they] were as one to the trumpeters,
and to the singers to cause one sound to be heard to praise and
to thank Jehovah. And when they lifted up [their] voice with the
trumpets, and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised
Jehovah [saying], For He is good; and His mercy [endures]
forever, and a cloud filled the house, the house of Jehovah; so
the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for
the glory of Jehovah had filled the house of God."
Worship draws God. Solomon’s Temple was dedicated in the
Feast of Tabernacles. Solomon finished the work and the glory of
God filled the house of God.
THE CHURCH OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
Jesus Christ is yet to finish building His church. The gates
of hell will not prevail against it. When completed the glory of
God will fill the house of God! This will fulfil the statement in
Ephesians 5:27, "a glorious church." If that means anything, it
means a church filled with glory! And this must occur prior to
the Second Coming of Christ! It would appear from this
declaration that this majestic event is sometime off in the
future.
Haggai 2:9a "The glory of this latter house shall be greater
than that of the former, says Jehovah of hosts". The end-time
church will eclipse the glory of the early church, and we
certainly have seen nothing yet that approaches that.
The Church of Jesus Christ was born on the Day of Pentecost
two thousand years ago. The descent of the Holy Spirit changed
the temple of God forever! From now on God would no longer dwell
in temples made with hands. Acts 7:48-50 "But the Most High does
not dwell in temples made by hand, as the prophets says, "Heaven
[is] My throne, and the earth is a footstool of My feet; what
house will you build me, says [the] Lord, or what is the place of
My rest? Did not My hands make all these things?" [Isaiah 66:1,
2]
The quotation of these verses by Stephen, the first Christian
martyr, was the apex of his brilliant address. It was the
application of these texts that sealed his death warrant. Verses
51 to 60 conclude, "[Oh] stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart
and ears! You always fell against the Holy Spirit. As your
fathers [did], you also [did]. Which of the prophets did your
fathers not persecute? And they killed those who before announced
the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become betrayers
and murderers, who received the Law by the disposition of angels
and did not keep [it]. And hearing these things, they were cut to
their hearts and gnashed the teeth on him. But being full of
[the] Holy Spirit, looking intently into the heaven, he saw the
glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right of God. And [he]
said, Behold, I see the heavens, having been opened, and the Son
of man standing at the right of God! And crying out with a loud
voice, they held their ears and rushed on him with one passion.
And throwing [him] outside the city, they stoned [him]. And the
witnesses put off their garments at the feet of a young man
called Saul. And they stoned Stephen, invoking and saying, Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit. And placing the knees, he cried out
with a loud voice, Lord, do not make stand this sin to them. And
saying this, he fell asleep."
When the Holy Spirit is appealed to He will stir up the
spirits of religious bigots. In his marvellous address, Paul
reinforces the position of Stephen in relation to the temple of
God. Acts 17:24 - "The God who made the world and all things in
it, this One being Lord of Heaven and of earth, does not dwell in
handmade temples."
It is he who explains that the Christian’s human body is
the temple of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 3:16 - "Do you not
know that you are a sanctuary of God, and the Spirit of God
dwells in you?" 1 Corinthians 6:19 – "Or do you not know
that your body is a sanctuary of [the] Holy Spirit in you, which
you have from God, and you are not of yourselves?"
When the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, among other
supernatural occurrences, the veil in the temple was rent from
top to bottom, exposing the Most Holy Place for the first time in
history. Why was this allowed to happen? God was finished with
manmade temples, never ever to return! Matthew 27:51-52 –
"And, behold, the veil in the Holy Place was torn in two from top
to bottom. And the earth quaked, and the rocks were sheared! And
the tombs were opened and many bodies of the saints who had
fallen asleep were raised."
Religious bigotry rises to the full when the greatest
miscarriage of justice occurs in human history at the mock trial
of the Lord Jesus. Matthew 27:22 – "Pilate said to them,
What then should I do to Jesus called Christ? They all said to
him, let him be crucified. But the governor said, For what wrong
did he do? But they the more cried out, saying, Let him be
crucified. And seeing that nothing is gained, but rather an
uproar occurs, taking water, Pilate washed [his] hands before the
crowd, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just one; you
will see. And answering, all the people said, His blood [be] upon
us and on our children."
It is bad enough to live under a curse, to have family DNA run
riot in your life. Thank God the Lord Jesus has redeemed every
Christian from the curse of the Law. But to curse yourself
voluntarily must be the height of stupidity. To curse your
children is insanity and borders on demon possession. Galatians 3:13
- "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having
become a curse for us; for it has been written, ‘Cursed
[is] everyone having been hung on a tree.’" [Deuteronomy 21:23]
Ephesians 2:14-16 – "For He is our peace, He making us
both one, and breaking down the middle wall of partition, in His
flesh causing to cease the enmity, the Law of the commandments in
decrees, that He might in Himself create the two into one new
man, making peace, and might reconcile both in one body to God
through the cross, slaying the enmity in Himself."
Ephesians 2:20-22 - "Being built up on the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being [the]
cornerstone, in whom every building having been fitted together
grows into a holy sanctuary in [the] Lord, in whom you also are
being built together into a dwelling place of God in [the]
Spirit."
The Lord Jesus Himself reinforces the truth of the "third"
temple immediately following His cleansing of the restored
temple: John 2:18-21 "Then the Jews answered and said to Him,
What sign do you show to us, since you do these things? Jesus
said to them, Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will
raise it up. Then the Jews said, This sanctuary was forty six
years being built, and do you raise it up in three days? But he
spoke about the sanctuary of His body."
Indeed, the New Testament writer’s record in unison that
the Church of the Lord Jesus is not a physical building made with
hands. Rather, it is a spiritual temple. The N.T. knows nothing
of a physical temple. The oft misquoted statement of Paul of the
[one] opposing and exalting himself over everything being called
God, or object of worship, so as for him to sit in the temple of
God as God, proclaiming that he himself is God, is recorded in
2 Thessalonians 2:4 . This, in turn is spawned from an incorrect
application of Daniel 9:27 - "And he shall confirm a covenant
with the many [for] one week. And in the middle of the week he
shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease. And on a
wing [of the altar will be] abominations that desolate, even
until [the] end. And that which was decreed shall pour out on the
desolator."
Firstly, it is Jesus Christ who confirms the promises made to
the fathers over a one week [seven years] period. The first half
was confirmed by the Lord Jesus Himself throughout His 3½
year ministry. The last half is confirmed by the two witnesses,
Moses and Elijah, for a time, times and half a time, 3½
years, 42 months, 1,260 days, the length of the Great
Tribulation.
It surely must strike the reader as being strange that of the
74 times the number seven is used in the Book of Revelation, not
once is it mentioned in reference to the tribulation period!
Secondly, it was the once for all offer ing of Jesus’
sacrifice on Calvary, and that alone, which caused both the
sacrifices and offerings to cease! When He cried ‘It is
finished’, it really was finished. Nothing more can be
done. The work has been completed. To attempt in vain to
reinstitute animal sacrifices in a rebuilt physical temple is not
only superfluous, it is both blasphemous and an abomination!
Thirdly, it is to the fulfilment of this statement of Daniel,
that reference is made to the abominations which make desolate
even until the end. This is directly applicable to the
abomination of Isaiah quoted in part by Stephen as has already
been shown.
Isaiah 66:1-3 – "So says Jehovah; Heaven [is] My throne,
and the earth the footstool of My feet. Where the [is] the house
you build for Me? And where then [is] the place of My rest? And
My hand has made all these things, even all these things exist,
declares Jehovah. But I will look to this one, to the afflicted,
and [to] the contrite spirit, even trembling at My word. He who
kills an ox [is as if] he struck a man; he who sacrifices a lamb
[is as if] he broke a dog’s neck; he who offers a present
[is as if it were] swine’s blood; he who makes incense [is
as if] he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their way, and
their soul delights in their abominations."
Animal sacrifice is compared to killing a man! A sacrificial
lamb is compared to a dog! Offering a present as pig’s
blood! And incense as worshipping an idol!!!
Consider the KJ3 update [2005] of the phrase in verse 3: It
reads, ‘he making mention of incense is as if he blessed
iniquity.’ All that is required today is just to make
mention of incense. Incense speaks of prayer and praise. Making
mention of incense is as blessing iniquity!
What is contended here is not that a "third" temple will be
built in Jerusalem, but that should it be erected, God will not
be in it! Talk is made of the Ark of the Covenant being concealed
in Jerusalem, the final ingredient of the anointing oil having
been found, the rediscovery of the red heifer, the restitution of
the ancient Sanhedrin, the preparation of the Levitical
priesthood and the building of the temple.
That there is to be a regrafting of the Jewish people into
their own olive tree there can be no doubt. See Romans 11 in this
regard. But the stubborn fact remains: Every human being stands
in need of a Saviour. The blood of bulls and goats can never
fulfil the requirement. Only the blood of Christ can do that.
To declare that the Jews have their own approach to God, apart
from Christ, turns out to be the most blatant form of
anti-Semitism ever devised by a human or demonic brain. To
withhold Jesus from the Jewish people is to escort them to
hell.
"Scriptures Taken From the Literal Translation of
the Holy Bible, Third Edition, Copyright © 1995.
Used by Permission of Copyright Holder, Jay P. Green, Snr."
© End Time Publications Brisbane, Feb, 2007
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