This Building Is Eternal: Part Three
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| What is unseen does not mean not present. 'Science' claims there is more energy in 'empty' (invisible) space. Yet the invisible can become visible. |
Continued from Part Two... (PartOne)
The manner the Lord is described in Scripture is quite explicit, attributing this 'Name' as referring to none other than God.
For the Lord is the Great God,
the great King above all gods.
In His hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to Him.
The sea is His, for He made it,
and His hands formed the dry land.
Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
for He is our God
and we are the people of His pasture,
the flock under His care.
- Psalm 95: 3-7We read in this psalm how the Lord is God; Creator.
In Part Two we read that the Lord showed Himself to Moses; Moses 'saw' the Lord.
There are a variety of places in Old Testament Scripture where the Lord was visually witnessed by people.
A vision of God was at times in a dream (vision unlike an ordinary dream), and also while the witness was awake.
Sometimes more than one person would witness God in some form or fashion.
When Moses and certain men traveled up a mountain was one such event of men seeing God while awake:
Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under His feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. But God did not raise His hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.
- Exodus 24: 9-11This sight of the Lord is similar to Ezekiel's testimony of seeing God many years later, also while awake.
Then there came a Voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be His waist up He looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down He looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded Him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around Him.
This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the Voice of One speaking.
- Ezekiel 1: 25-28In previous parts of this article I shared how the Lord was going to establish a dwelling place on earth.
I shared in Part One how fulfillment of prophecy can be both immediate and at a future time; the two realities not being exclusively separate.
One expression within a prophetic message can speak to an immediate and distant future fulfillment.
As there is more than a one definition of any given word, so also do we see prophetic fulfillment beyond a singularity.
In this next passage we find this phenomenon expressed through the prophet Nathan to king David:
“ ‘The Lord declares to you that the Lord Himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish His kingdom. He is the One who will build a house for My Name, and I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever. I will be His Father, and He will be My Son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. But My love will never be taken away from Him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before Me; your throne will be established forever.’ ”
Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation.
- 2 Samuel 7: 11b-17Similar to previous mention of God growing man's understanding of 'who' God is over times, here is one place we read of God referring to Himself as a Father; more intimacy that God Almighty to Abraham, and more personal than the Name the Lord (I Am).
David desired to build a physical house for the Lord, and Solomon was granted God's permission to do so.
Yet it says the Lord Himself will establish a house for you.
For the critical minded reader, notice where in Samuel it mentions when he does wrong, it speaks to David's immediate son Solomon as referenced in 1 Kings 11 to wrongdoing.
Historically, Israel ceased to exist as a polity / kingdom / people alongside the Mediterranean for nearly 2,000 years.
A physical Temple is no more to this Day.
So interpreting this particular prophecy according to physical terms fails since your kingdom will endure forever before Me; your throne will be established forever is not physically evident.
The interpretation must lean towards a spiritual reality, otherwise God failed to keep His promise...and we understand that is impossible.
Speaking of a house and kingdom that will endure forever and a throne that will be forever established, we read the following:
In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was One like a Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His Presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
- Daniel 7: 13-14It should be noted that Daniel speaks of seeing a human being (Son of Man) that will be worshipped and will have a kingdom that will never be destroyed.
Since the kingdoms of men on the earth come and go, their rule and dominion being eventually diminished or erased by other men, and much how the lifespan of men are limited due to their finite nature (the flesh eventually dies), it is quite extraordinary what the prophet Daniel is stating.
Will the Lord, the God of Israel, the Creator of all things, allow a human being to be worshipped?
Only if that human is God Himself.
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a Sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and will call Him Immanuel.
- Isaiah 7: 14The Name Immanuel means God with us in Hebrew.
A contemporary of Daniel is the prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah, many years after David and Solomon ruled over Israel, also mentions a human being that will be attributed divine qualities and references reserved only for the Lord your God.
For to us a child is born,
to us a Son is given,
and the government will be on His shoulders.
And He will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of His government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
- Isaiah 9: 6-7Here in Isaiah chapter 9 we read that this Son will rule over a government that will have no end, once again mentioning David's kingdom.
The kings of Israel had their end (physical death) and their government (the nation of Israel) eventually was vanquished (physically) by Rome in the early part of the common era; the physical Temple being razed to the ground in 70 A.D. and the remnant population being wiped out and evicted from the land in 136 A.D..
This prophetic message speaks to a human being not living at the time this message was given.
To summarize, we read that the Lord Himself will establish a house, and a Son of Man (human being) will be worshipped and called by divine attributes.
This series will be concluded in Part Four.
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