Thoughts on Eschatology Part 2 - Unless the Lord Builds the House...

Will the Third Holy Temple be Rebuilt Soon? This was the headline I saw when I opened my email this morning. A ministry working in Israel sent it to me claiming that this temple must be built in order for the Messiah to come. They were citing passages like Exodus 25:8 where God says to Moses to make a sanctuary for Him so He can dwell among his people. Passages from Haggai about neglecting to build the Lord's house were also used to help with this project. Did God send us the better in Jesus so that we can go back to this?

What if I told you that the third temple is already here with its priests and sacrifices?

And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What's more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. 1 Peter 2:5

Paul declares in 2 Corinthians 6:16 that YOU are the temple of the living God and that God dwells and walks in you! Jesus and His body are the fulfillment of Exodus 25:8. The message of Hebrews is that God has done away with earthly temples and the sacrificial system. To teach that God is going to one day rebuild a temple, accept sacrifices, and go back to the law is serious error. Hebrews 10 clearly states that Christ took away the first, that he may establish the second. After He had offered ONE SACRIFICE for sins FOR EVER, SAT DOWN on the right hand of God and NOW WAITS for His enemies to be made His footstool (Hebrews 10:12,13). To miss the mark and go back to this system does despite to the Spirit of grace. The third temple God is building is us and it's going to be more glorious than any earthly temple ever could be.

In John 4 Jesus is speaking with the woman at the well. She questions him as to where the proper place of worship is. Do we worship on the mountain our fathers worshipped on here in Samaria or on the mountain in Jerusalem? Jesus responds to her by saying that neither mountain is the appropriate place for worship. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him (John 4:24). The Father is not seeking to dwell in a temple made with hands, but in the temple of His people.

Why is this important? Because today many Christians see a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem as a sign of Christ's soon return. This along with the message of gloom and doom have done a great disservice to the Church. Books like Left Behind and The Harbinger present a very bleak view of the last days. While certainly entertaining they don't present an accurate picture of the word of God. There's no place for scare tactics in bringing in the lost. If we bring people into the Church with a message of fear we're going to have to keep reinforcing this message to keep them there. On the contrary it is the goodness of God that leads people to repentance (Romans 2:4). Christ's return is referred to as the Blessed Hope, not the dreaded horror.

The most serious error in much of the current ‘prophetic’ teaching of today is the claim that the future of Christendom is to be read not in terms of Revival and Victory, but of growing impotence and apostasy, and that the only hope of the world is that the Lord will by His visible coming and reign complete the task which He has so plainly entrusted to the church. - Oswald T. Allis

Instead of doom and gloom let's look at Christ's return through the lens of victory and hope. While most of the Church is complaining about the giants in the land, God is raising up Caleb's and Joshua's who see things from a higher perspective. Your identity is not on the other side of the Jordan warring with the enemy (or with God for that matter) but in the Promised Land which is Christ. We haven't gone this way before. The threshold of the Most Holy Place has just been crossed. Let's enter in to all that God has for us.

Heaven is much closer than you think. In Luke 17:20 the Pharisees, like many today, were asking Jesus when the Kingdom of God should come. He answered them by saying that Kingdom doesn't come by observation, nor will they say here it is or there it is because the Kingdom of God is within (or among) you! Christ IN you (plural) (Colossians 1:27) is the hope of glory. He is coming to be glorified IN His Saints (2 Thessalonians 1:10). It's time we stopped looking for the disappearance of the Saints, but rather for His appearing.

Christ's coming is not to be understood as any minute but rather UNTIL.

1. Until His enemies are made His footstool.

But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. - Hebrews 10:12,13

Christ is currently seated in Heavenly places on the throne of David. Much teaching today says that there is coming a day where Christ will reign on His throne. Either way what you believe concerning this has huge implications for your eschatology. If he's not currently seated than neither are you! To plant one's foot on the neck of a prostrate foe was a symbol of complete victory. Leading up to the return of Christ we are going to see more ground gained for His Kingdom than ever before. This is not a time where we are going to be retreating into caves but a time where we will be a city set on a hill giving light to the nations.

2.Until the restoration of all things.

Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. - Acts 3:19-21

Here we see that times of refreshing and the restoration are coming before the return of Christ. The word for refresh in the Greek means a recovery of breath. Might I suggest that the Church is experiencing a second wind. If your Church, family, life, etc is tired and exhausted receive the breath of the Lord on your life right now. New Covenant prophets prophesy the breath of God and not the wrath of God. The Spirit is moving mightily in these days so that ALL THINGS will be restored.

3. Until we all come to the unity of the faith.

Until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. - Ephesians 4:13

The belief that the Church is growing weak and impotent is dismantled in light of this passage. The body that Christ is returning to is going to be in equal proportion to the head. As He is SO ARE WE in this world (1 John 4:17). It's time leaders are raised up like the Apostle Paul who labor as though in birth for Christ to be fully formed in His Church. Come outside of your tribes and join up with others in the body of Christ. Christ is uniting, not dividing, His Church!

4. Until He receives the early and latter rain.

Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. - James 5:7

The early and latter rain speaks of the outpouring of the Spirit resulting in a harvest. Before Christ returns we are going to see a harvest on unprecedented levels like we have never seen before. The early rain was poured out on the day of Pentecost and this latter rain is being poured out in this season of Tabernacles. The time of ingathering is upon us.

Don't be discouraged by the fear-mongers. Christ has given you His peace. Your future is bright!

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. - John 14:27

In conclusion my goal is not to present a rosy, everything will pan out picture of the future. All those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. However it's possible to live in victory and joy while outside pressure is piling up on you. The early Church suffered much persecution but grew daily and moved in mighty signs and wonders. Christ's Kingdom though starting as small as a simple stone is becoming a mountain that will fill the whole earth. Don't despise the day of small beginnings. The Lord is for you and not against you. Fear is not in your future!

The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts. - Haggai 2:9

Recommended Reading:

The Revelation of Jesus Christ - Lynn Hiles

Surprised by Hope - NT Wright

Victorious Eschatology - Martin Trench, Harold Eberle (Kris Vallotton recommends this in his book Heavy Rain)

Whose Right It Is: A Handbook of Covenantal Theology - Kelley Varner