Many eyes are looking towards Israel for what they believe is a
sure sign of the soon return of the Lord, - the building of a third Temple.
This is because of a particular interpretation of a verse in Daniel 9
Vs 27 ”Then he shall confirm a covenant with many
for one week;
but in the middle of the week he shall bring
an end to sacrifice and offering.”
This interpretation goes like this:- The Antichrist makes a peace pact
with the Jews. After three and a half years he breaks the covenant and stops
the sacrifices at the temple. From this they assume that a third Temple has
been built. This all happens during the last seven years of the Age, which is a
time of God’s special dealings with Israel. Meanwhile Christians will be
‘raptured’ out. The seven years are the final ‘week’ of a prophecy in Daniel 9:24
in which God told Daniel:-
“Seventy weeks are determined for your
people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of
sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting
righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.”
The weeks are weeks of years, so a week is seven years. According to
this interpretation only 69 weeks have been fulfilled and there is another week
to go. They teach that between the 69th and 70th week,
God has inserted the Church Age. When the Church is ‘raptured’ out there is a
time of great tribulation coming on the world. The promises contained in vs 24
have not yet been fulfilled.
This is the popular end time teaching in many evangelical and
Pentecostal churches. It has made its way into the notes of the Schofields,
Dakes and other Bibles and thus assumes the authority of holy writ. God told
Daniel that some end time truth is sealed until the time of the end; (Daniel
12:9) but about 200 years ago, there were those who went ahead of the Spirit
and put together an end time scenario which doesn’t leave a lot of room for the
Holy Spirit to bring revelation on the real plan of God for the Church. Getting
raptured out any moment may sound exciting but what God has for the Church is
even more exciting.
The truth is that the seventy weeks were seventy consecutive weeks; the
last ‘week’ was the week of Jesus’s ministry. In the middle of the week, after
3 and a half years of ministry Jesus brought an end to the sacrifices as far as
God was concerned, by making the one perfect sacrifice for all time. By His
death on the Cross He confirmed or strengthened the Abrahamic covenant and He
fulfilled all the promises contained in vs 24. God has only one answer for this
world’s condition, and that is the Cross of Christ. Anything that He is going
to do was accomplished there. We just haven’t yet understood the full extent of
all Jesus achieved there. Jesus work is a finished work. He is now seated at
the right hand of God “waiting till His
enemies are made His footstool.” (Hebrews 10:12-14)
Jesus moved with a sense of purpose. He knew the plan of Redemption and
worked within the will of the Father. He often said ‘it is not time yet’
because He was working to the plan. He said “I am sent only to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel.”(Matthew 15:24)) That is because the work of redemption
had to be first demonstrated in Israel, the pattern nation and priestly nation.
The whole sacrificial system and the commemorative Feasts and all God’s
redemptive acts for Israel were set up as a platform for the work of
Redemption. The time came when God told Peter to take the gospel to the
Gentiles. (Acts 10 and 11) The seventy “weeks” were completed.
There is no specific seven year period of tribulation, though
persecution and tribulation may come. The Jews may or may not build another
temple, though one would expect that they would want to. The third temple as far
as God is concerned is the Living Temple that Jesus is building, (Ephesians
2:19-22). There was, at one time in the days of Solomon, three places of
worship which are a type of the present time: –
*The tabernacle of Moses at Gibeon which represents
the Jewish people. It had lost the Ark, the Presence of God, but the sacrifices
were still made there and Solomon went there when seeking God at the beginning
of his reign. (2 Chronicles 1)
* The tabernacle of David, a tent in Jerusalem which
now housed the Ark. It was open and the Ark was in full view of the people.
David organized continual worship to be held there. There was none of the
rituals connected to Moses tabernacle and the sacrifices were sacrifices of
praise. This tabernacle represents the Gentile Church. (Acts 15)
*The great golden temple under construction being
built at the command of Solomon, son of David. This represents the Living
temple being built by Jesus Son of David.
When Solomon’s temple was finished, the Ark was brought up and placed
in the Holy of Holies. Also the old tabernacle of Moses was brought from Gibeon
and placed in the temple, probably in one of the store rooms. (2 Chronicles
5:5) Then the Temple was filled with the glory of God.
Jesus is still building the Living Temple. When it is finished, the
gentile church and the Jewish people are going to come together as ‘one new
man’ (Ephesians 2:15) and the glory of God will fill it. Jesus said “I will
build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” (Matthew
16:18) The Living Temple is going to be filled with God’s glory and the nations
will flock to it.
“’I will shake all nations and they shall
come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’
says the Lord of hosts. ‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the
Lord of hosts. ‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the
former,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says
the Lord of hosts.” Haggai 2:7-9
We are experiencing some of this shaking now. Don’t be perturbed; God
is shaking the nations to reveal the things that cannot be shaken.
“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom
which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably
with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews
12:28, 29
