BUILDING THE HOUSE OF THE LORD
BUILDING THE HOUSE OF THE LORD
“Thus
says the Lord, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then
is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? For My
hand made all these things, thus all these came into being” declares the Lord. “But
to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, who
trembles at My Word.” Isa. 66:1, 2.
Many
things are taking place in Jerusalem these days. Preparations are being made to
build the 3rd temple even as opposing forces fight over the land of
Israel. We live in momentous times. We live in a time like Jeremiah’s. He was
warning Judah of coming judgment and captivity into Babylon for their sins, but
Israel was also full of false prophets in those days, saying to resist the judgments
of the Lord and fight against Babylon for God would deliver them and they would
live in peace and prosperity.
But God
said: “I did not send these prophets, but they ran. I did not speak to them,
but they prophesied. But if they had stood in My council, then they would have
announced My words to My people and would have turned them back from their evil
way and from their evil deeds.” Jer. 23:21, 22.
But the
people of Judah did not heed the words of Jeremiah. They fought against
Nebuchadnezzar and so he destroyed their city and their temple and took them
into captivity for 70 years.
But we
also live in a time like that of Ezra and Nehemiah. After their exile into
Babylon, God sent them back to restore the walls of Jerusalem and to rebuild the
temple and they did just that with a sword in one hand and a trowel in the
other, for their enemies that surrounded them were fighting against them and
denying them the right to their own land and city and temple.
Just so
it is today in Israel. God has brought them back from all the lands wherein He
had scattered them and He has put it in their hearts to build a temple unto the
Lord. Still, as in days of old, they are surrounded with enemies that want to
drive them into the sea. We know
that this 3rd temple must be built in order for the antichrist to
commit the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel and reiterated by
Jesus as a last day event.
People
will argue that this temple will not be built, because, just like our opening
text, God’s desire is not to dwell in a building, but in human hearts for
indeed we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. However, much of Israel has not
received Yeshua as Messiah and consequently neither can they receive the Holy
Spirit into their hearts. This temple then is being built as a substitute for the
real thing and even though its building fulfills last day prophecy, it does not
constitute God’s plan for His people Israel, for indeed, He wants to dwell in
their hearts as well.
We as
Christians may look at the Jews narrowly and judge them for their blindness,
but we forget that it is God who has imposed a partial blindness upon them
until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Romans 11:25 And Zech. 12:10
tells us that they will yet look upon Him whom they have pierced and will mourn
for Him and Yeshua will open up a well of salvation for them at the appointed
time.
But I
would like to draw our attention to something that many Christians overlook.
Israel has always formed a physical template. Everything that happens
spiritually in the church is first done physically in Israel. Just as the Sanctuary
and the Feast Days and all of the types and shadows that God gave to Moses
served as templates for God’s plans through the end of time, so this upcoming
temple serves as a template for something that is about to happen spiritually
in the church.
Just as
Israel is jumping the gun to build a house for the Lord, even though the Bible
clearly says that it will be built by the Messiah during the millennial reign
of Yeshua, just so a large portion of the church is jumping the gun in trying
to form a global unity without their Messiah.
The
Ecumenical movement has joined forces to form a unity that is unholy and they have
invited the Pope of Rome to draw all of the religions of the world together in
a false global unity. But in order to meld with all other religions, they pretty
much have to deny the Word of God and the Spirit of God and the Son of God and as
such, they are being drawn into a house of Satan and his antichrist.
In
order to create such a manmade unity, they must treat all of the gods of this
world as being equal with the God of heaven who created the heavens and the earth,
who also sent His Son to die for our sins, who became the only way of
salvation.
This is
why we see certain preachers trying to persuade us that Allah is the same as the
God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in spite of the fact that Allah claims to have
no son. And since Allah has always been one of the arch enemies of God’s people,
what is being done right now is an abomination of desolation in its own rite. And even though Islam was born in around 600
AD, their crescent moons and worship of the
stars, their terrorism and forced religion at the point of a sword, goes back
all the way through biblical history. There is nothing new under the sun.
So you
see, even as the Jews seek to build a temple for God in these last days, even
so the Ecumenical movement seeks to build a temple by denying the Word, the Spirit
and the Son of God who alone can bring salvation.
So if
we want to be among God’s Remnant people who keep His commandments and hold to
the testimony of Jesus, we clearly cannot be a part of this profligate movement
that is seeking unity through compromise. It is headed for the leadership of the
antichrist even as the temple in Jerusalem will eventually be inhabited by the antichrist
who will stand in the holy place and declare himself to be God. Mt. 24:15-22,
2Thess. 2:3, 4.
Is this
not an exact parallel? And because many Christians choose to be blind and tradition
bound, they cannot see where we are in time, or even what the issues must be.
God is
building a temple for Himself made up of humble and contrite hearts. Even
though there are many prophets today preaching peace and prosperity, we are
about to go into captivity to a global antichrist regime. We can’t see it
because our doctrines are wrong even as was the doctrine of the Pharisees when
Jesus came the first time. Their traditions had so altered the truth that they
could not recognize their Messiah even though He fulfilled every sign listed in
their types and shadows.
The Lord
showed me years ago that the last great harvest would come in, not in times of
peace and prosperity, but in times of calamity amidst blood and fire and
columns of smoke. We have gone too far to enter into repentance, revival and
reformation on any sort of global scale without calamity. Times of ease have
proved that we grow lax and careless when things are going well. In some ways,
I think 9/11 was a little test to see what America would do. We had a partial
repentance for a few seeks and then returned to our rebellions even more
strongly than before.
The
final global Babylon is forming right now. God put Trump in there to slow it
down and to buy us a little more time to repent, but when that door slams shut,
there will be no turning back.
Now is the
time to get into the ark. There are massive storm clouds on the horizon and indeed
they are already blocking out the sun. We are about to enter a time of darkness
such as the world has never seen and we can know of a certainty that God is
looking for a temple to dwell in made up of humble and contrite hearts. Our
first priority then is to make for Him such a home in our own hearts, so that He
may come in and sup with us.
Yeshua
is speaking to His Remnant church right now saying: “Behold I stand at the door
and knock; if any one hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him
and will dine with him and he with Me. He who overcomes I will grant to him to
sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My father
on His throne. He, who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Rev. 3:20-22.
How we
each answer that knock will determine our eternal future. Do not delay to
answer Him for He is building His house right now… a house made up of humble
and contrite hearts. Shabbat Shalom
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