GOD’S TEMPLE (I)

Verse 30 of 1Kings 8:22-53 reads, “And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou hearest, forgive”. The ‘place’ meant by King Solomon in this verse is the Jerusalem Temple i.e. where God’s dwelling place used to be among men. Nowhere else did God ever choose to tabernacle the people of the earth. In the holy of holies or the third compartment of the sanctuary was placed the ark of covenant which was the mercy seat and upon which the Holy Spirit sat as the Jehovah of the Israelites; of whom we see in verse 53, “For thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD”.

In 1Kings 9:3 the Bible shows God’s gracious response with, “And the LORD said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually”. This verse holds an astounding fascination. The word ‘hallowed’ is qadash (kaw-dash’): ‘to be (causatively make, pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally)’. Then we have the word, ‘name’, which is shem (shame): ‘fame, glory; an appellation, as a mark or memorial of individuality; by implication honor, authority, character’. Shem happens to be the name of one of the antediluvian sons (by whom the present population of the earth came into being) of Noah. Shem is the patriarchal ancestor of Israel. God put His fame in the physical Israel i.e. the Church. God pronounced the sanctity of Israel as perpetual. His eyes (attention of Divinity) over Israel has no end. His heart (Eternal One’s thought) of endearment towards Israel is forever. No wonder the physical nation of Shem’s progeny is still a reality of a global force to be reckoned with.

Temple made with hands

Yes, I hear your sound argument against the perpetuity in the light of: i. the Holy Spirit’s departure of the holy of holies (Hebrew 10:19-22), ii. Israel’s apostasy (Acts 7:51, “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye”. Matthew 3:7, “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”) and, of course, iii. the unavailability of the very temple in question – having been completely destroyed (1Kings 9:7; 1Kings 9:8; Jeremiah 26:18; Ezekiel 7:20-22; Daniel 9:26; Daniel 9:27; Micah 3:12; Matthew 24:1-2 & Luke 19:44) (a probable proof of the fallibility of the oracular afflatus according to the Bible?). “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”; is the Lord Jesus’ assertive pronouncement in Matthew 16:18, even when the LORD God still tabernacled Solomon’s Temple. Matthew 15:37 & 38, “And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. 38) And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom” (confer Hebrews 10:20). That which gave Jesus the authority to declare, “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins”, in Matthew 26:28, is because He is the LORD God of the Old Testament!

God had always walked into Eden

“6) But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. 7) But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day” (Matthew 12:6-8). Two facts emerge from these verses. Jesus is greater than Sabbath (which is the reason for worship). Jesus is the Lord of Sabbath (no wonder He made the categorical statement, “…I will give you rest”. He had just told them that He created the seventh Sabbath day! (…to be concluded…)

Read part I, click here.

ISRAEL (2nd part)

THE LION OF JUDAH

 

The prophetic Book of Daniel in chapter 9 verses 21 to 27 is astounding. Daniel 9:24, “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy”. This verse is pregnant with the denotations of the phenomenal role of Israel and its grave effect on human history. The word ‘determined’, chathak (khaw-thak’): ‘to cut off, that is, (figuratively) to decree’. Do we not understand that every civic rule affects all inhabitants of its geographical entity whether an individual agrees with the law or not? The One who ‘determined’ is the Potentate Ruler, the Governor of nations.

The word ‘finish’ is kala’ (kaw-law’): ‘to restrict, by act (hold back or in) or word (prohibit)’. What is being ‘finished’ in this prognosis is ‘transgression’, rendered in Hebrew as pesha‛ (peh’-shah) {From pasha‛ (paw-shah’) to break away (from just authority), that is, trespass, apostatize, quarrel}: a revolt (national, moral or religious)’.   ‘End’ is: tamam (taw-mam’) ‘to complete in a good or bad sense’ & chatham (khaw-tham’) ‘to close up, especially seal‘. chaṭṭa’ah or chaṭṭa’th (khat-taw-aw’) is ‘sin’ Noun Feminine; an offence (sometimes habitual sinfulness), and its penalty, occasion, sacrifice, or expiation; also (concretely) an offender’. ‘Reconciliation’ kaphar (kaw-far’) ‘to cover (specifically with bitumen); figuratively to expiate or condone, to placate or cancel’. ‘Iniquity’,‛avon (aw-vone’): ‘perversity, that is, (moral) evil’. ‘Bring in’ is bo’ (bo): ‘to go in, enter, come, go, come in’. Tsedeq (tseh’-dek) is the Hebrew for ‘righteousness’, meaning: ‘justice, rightness’. ‘Seal up’ chatham (khaw-tham’) BDB Definition: ‘to seal, seal up, affix a seal’. ‘Anoint’ is mashach (maw-shakh’) BDB Definition: ‘1. to smear, anoint, spread a liquid. 2. to anoint (as consecration)’.

The mantic seventy weeks was not demystified until 70×7days=490 days produced no realization of Daniel’s vatic pronouncement. They came to the understanding that each of the 490 days was actually a year, hence, four hundred and ninety years was Prophet Daniel’s actual prediction! It may be of immense interest that when one does careful scriptural calculations from the day of Daniel’s prediction to the day of the ascension of Jesus in the book of Acts of the Apostles, in the first chapter, it is exactly 483 years. Where is the remaining seven? I will come to that soon.

Whether it is a logical conviction to the rational mind of intelligence or not is not the bone of contention, it is of the simple fact that the Author and Owner of creation did determine to promulgate a divine decree of seventy weeks for the people of Israel. Four hundred and ninety years, commencing from the day of the revelation, was the allotment for the rearrangement of the cosmic order through Daniel’s people, Israel. Israel is God’s chosen, covenanted people, the lifeline given to redeem mankind (Exodus 4:31). It is for this reason Israel cannot be annihilated, she is firmly tied to God’s scheme of earthly business. This decree was promulgated to free God’s people, through Israel (to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile, Romans 2:10) to the entire peoples of the earth, and to condemn the disbelievers of the word of God even His Christ. Everything is strictly because of Jesus Christ!

 

 

                                                              Solomon’s Temple

The holy city is Jerusalem with a grave focal point on the Temple. That temple was the only place in the entire world where His physical presence was made available for true worship. The Holy Spirit was seated majestically in the holy of holies to receive the Divine worship (Exodus 33:8-10) and preserving mercy for thousands (Exodus 34:7). The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. When Satan stole Adam’s dominion he took over the earth. At the appointed time the land God promised Abraham was taken from Satan and handed over to Israel and Jerusalem was made its capital, where the Temple stood. The Antichrist will on behalf of Lucifer dominate the apostatized Israel, use Jerusalem to maximize the worship of himself, underscoring Jerusalem’s central of Divine attraction position.

 

MESSIAH

The expected Messiah will descend to ‘finish’ or more understandably, to restrict or put an end to the punishment meted on Israel and by extension the world. Matthew 1:21, “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins”. 1John 3:8, “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil”. Jesus will put an end to satanic influence. He will cleanse the world of the iniquitous life style of the Devil, orchestrated by his Antichrist. (to be concluded)

 

Read 1^st part here.