This Building Is Eternal: Part Four
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| When the invisible manifested... the world was tilted on its side as never before. From then on, more men have 'seen' the unseen... while sadly some have gone blind although claiming to see. The world Today is ruled from the unseen through what is seen. |
This series has mentioned several things:
- a Temple that God Himself will establish on earth
- God dwelling on earth
- God being seen by man (as Job prayed to be a personal witness) after death
- only God saves
- a human being (Son of Man) that will be worshipped and inherit David's kingdom
- this kingdom will be eternal and will rule over the entire earth
Going beyond literal interpretation and reading certain words to mean more than their literal definitions, let us consider the following:
In the last days
the mountain of the Lord’s Temple will be established
as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it.
Many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the Temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us His ways,
so that we may walk in His paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
- Isaiah 2: 2-4There is much that can be derived, but let us focus on the points previously mentioned in this series.
Part Three mentioned how the physical Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.
Nearly 2,000 years have passed without another physical Temple made by man's hands.
In context referring to the hearers (Israel), their last days arrived with the destructive force of Rome over them in the latter 1st century and into the early 2nd century under Simon bar Kokhba, a pretender messiah.
The mountain of the Lord's Temple speaks to the manner a mountain is not made by man's hands, but only by God...and this particular mountain will be highest over all others.
This speaks to the kingdom of the Son of Man who will be worshipped and will have an everlasting dominion over the all kingdoms of men (Daniel 7).
The Gospel sprouted from Jerusalem, carrying with it the law of God, and has spread (continuously) to the four corners of the world.
Those who have gone to the Lord's Temple are those who have relinquished the ways of this world so they may walk in His paths.
Did God show Himself?
Did Immanuel (God with us) as mentioned in Isaiah chapter seven and described in chapter nine, arrive on earth?
Yeshua answered, “I Am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you really know Me, you will know My Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.”
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
Yeshua answered: “Don’t you know Me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I Am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me? The words I say to you I do not speak on My own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in Me, who is doing His work. Believe Me when I say that I Am in the Father and the Father is in Me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.”
- John 14: 6-11In very certain terms Yeshua proclaimed Himself to be the Son of God with most references to Himself as the Son of Man (the Daniel and Isaiah and other prophetic messages describing Messiah).
“I and the Father are One.”
Again His Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone Him, but Yeshua said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone Me?”
“We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
Yeshua answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’? If He called them ‘gods,’ to whom the Word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside—what about the One whom the Father set apart as His very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse Me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I Am God’s Son’? Do not believe Me unless I do the works of My Father. But if I do them, even though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.”
- John 10: 30-38It was clear Yeshua claimed to be God on earth, claimed to be the Messiah, claimed to be the Son of God, and claimed to be the Son of Man; the fulfillment of the ages.
At and after the cross, we read the following:
And when Yeshua had cried out again in a loud voice, He gave up His Spirit.
At that moment the curtain of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Yeshua’s resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
- Matthew 27: 50-53The physical Temple was affected; the curtain that separates the Holy of Holies, where only the high priest may enter only once a year to offer atonement of Israel's sin, was torn.
This speaks to many details too vast to pursue in this series, but take note of this occurrence.
There is a mention of at least three holy people from the past that God says may be spared in times of trouble when referencing calamities to come over Israel (Ezekiel 14).
Reading Ezekiel 14 you will notice Job mentioned in that short list.
It is very possible that Job's prayer was fulfilled.
Job was likely one of the many holy people who resurrected along with the Messiah (the first resurrection) to witness God in the flesh, Job himself being restored to a fleshly body.
Let us find out which Temple was destroyed and which Temple was made by the Lord Himself.
Echoing Part One's lesson, a single term can mean different things and a phrase may be speaking to something literally unrelated.
Yeshua answered them, “Destroy this Temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the Temple He had spoken of was His body. After He was raised from the dead, His disciples recalled what He had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Yeshua had spoken.
- John 2: 19-22In the letters to the churches, we are taught the term 'body' in reference to Christ's body now means the church; the community of believers throughout the world, not a physical building made by man's hands, but the collective Temple made in His image and likeness.
In an earlier part of this series we read that God does not give His glory to another.
I asked if God would allow a human being to be worshipped besides God Himself.
When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. Then Yeshua came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I Am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
- Matthew 28: 17-20After the resurrection, Yeshua showed Himself to various people at different times.
There are a few accounts of these sightings / manifestations.
One manifestation of the risen Christ was to the disciples with Thomas being absent.
The doors were closed and locked, yet Yeshua manifested Himself to them and broke bread with them.
Thomas heard about this miracle from the others, but doubted this mysterious possibility.
Christ reappeared again, this time with Thomas present.
Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Thomas said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
Then Yeshua told him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
- John 20: 27-29It is very significant Thomas' confession of 'who' Yeshua is, and also the significance that Yeshua did not correct this confession, but affirmed Thomas' confession of faith and explained.
We realize that the Temple established by God Himself was none other than Yeshua.
This building has continually been grown to accommodate subsequent generations of believers; the Temple in which God lives by His Holy Spirit.
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells within you? If anyone destroys God’s Temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s Temple is sacred, and you together are that Temple.
- 1 Corinthians 3: 16-17This Scripture also serves as warning for the wicked who think they are conducting a service to God by killing the believer and follower of Christ.
In very specific terms we see the believer in Yeshua as Lord and God is a part of the Temple of the Lord, the mountain of the Lord's Temple, the body of Christ in which God lives by His Spirit.
How much more was Yeshua the Lord your God manifested on earth (Immanuel / God with us)?
In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Yeshua, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Yeshua Christ, which God will bring about in His own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To Him be honor and might forever. Amen.
- 1 Timothy 6: 13-16Here we read that God is the only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Did God give His glory to another?
Did a human being 'become' God (or a god)?
Or did God become a human being for a brief point in time as ancient prophets declared?
I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose Rider is called Faithful and True. With justice He judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on His head are many crowns. He has a Name written on Him that no one knows but He Himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His Name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following Him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of His mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On His robe and on His thigh He has this Name written:
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
- Revelation 19: 11-16Notice there is no other King of kings or Lord of lords besides the One manifested in the flesh; the Messiah and Lord Yeshua, your God.
Praised be His Holy Name!
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