1 00:00:04,910 --> 00:00:10,710 Greetings, this is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of 2 00:00:10,710 --> 00:00:15,949 truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And today, 3 00:00:16,149 --> 00:00:22,589 in what temple do you rejoice and find your hope? There are two temples in which Christians place 4 00:00:22,589 --> 00:00:29,010 their hopes in our own day. Let's explore them and see where they lead. Two temples, the true temple 5 00:00:29,010 --> 00:00:35,170 and the trendy tribulation temple, as I call it. Well, let me tell you the temple in which I rejoice, 6 00:00:35,310 --> 00:00:41,869 all right? First of all, not four points to this temple. I rejoice, first of all. I rejoice and find 7 00:00:41,869 --> 00:00:47,710 my hope in the temple of Christ's body. There can be no starker contrast than that of the time-bound 8 00:00:47,710 --> 00:00:52,909 temple of the Jews and the eternal temple of Christ's body. Jesus draws a clear line between 9 00:00:52,909 --> 00:00:57,189 them when he cleansed the temple by casting out the money changers, and the Jews asked him, 10 00:00:57,189 --> 00:01:02,829 what sign do you show us for doing these things? And Jesus answered, destroy this temple, and in 11 00:01:02,829 --> 00:01:08,769 three days I will raise it up. The Jews then said, it has taken 46 years to build this temple, and will 12 00:01:08,769 --> 00:01:14,890 you raise it up in three days? But he was speaking about the temple of his body, the Apostle John says, 13 00:01:15,269 --> 00:01:20,969 is into this body that I have been made a member. Paul tells us that when the father raised Jesus to 14 00:01:20,969 --> 00:01:26,450 his right hand, he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 15 00:01:26,450 --> 00:01:32,790 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. And secondly, I am now a living stone 16 00:01:32,790 --> 00:01:39,510 in the heavenly temple. This body is also the true temple. As you come to him, Peter says, a living 17 00:01:39,510 --> 00:01:45,590 stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God chosen and precious. You yourselves, like living 18 00:01:45,590 --> 00:01:52,769 stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices 19 00:01:52,769 --> 00:02:00,609 acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. All to which the earthly temple, only pointed, is now a reality 20 00:02:00,609 --> 00:02:06,590 in heaven, dear listener. I am a spiritual stone in a living heavenly temple. And Paul says the same 21 00:02:06,590 --> 00:02:11,870 thing in Ephesians, when he calls Christ the chief cornerstone of the heavenly temple, and he goes on to 22 00:02:11,870 --> 00:02:19,210 say, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. Amen. And then 23 00:02:19,210 --> 00:02:24,449 thirdly, the one and only temple is the heavenly temple. The true temple is the heavenly one that 24 00:02:24,449 --> 00:02:29,789 could only be foreshadowed by Israel's earthly temple. It was meant to picture Christ, not to be 25 00:02:29,789 --> 00:02:37,250 an eternal verity in itself. When speaking of the passing nature of the earthly temple sacrifices, 26 00:02:37,430 --> 00:02:43,289 Hebrews says, and I quote, thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified 27 00:02:43,289 --> 00:02:49,469 with these rights, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has 28 00:02:49,469 --> 00:02:55,090 entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven 29 00:02:55,090 --> 00:03:01,689 itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Unquote. Hebrews chapter 9. So any earthly 30 00:03:01,689 --> 00:03:08,870 temple and its sacrifices can only be approximations at best. Only in heaven, where Christ now ministers on 31 00:03:08,870 --> 00:03:15,750 our behalf is true reconciliation made for sins. Temple sacrifices were not the thing itself, but only 32 00:03:15,750 --> 00:03:24,590 a copy or passing shadow of Christ and his real efficacious sacrifice. Hebrews says again, they, that is 33 00:03:24,590 --> 00:03:32,009 those sacrifices in the temple, serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, unquote. And then 34 00:03:32,009 --> 00:03:39,449 fourthly, temples are now obsolete and irrelevant to God. Hear this, dear listener, those of you who love 35 00:03:39,449 --> 00:03:47,509 the trendy tribulation temple. Temples are now obsolete and irrelevant to God. With the coming of Christ and 36 00:03:47,509 --> 00:03:52,689 the cutting of the new covenant, all of the rites, ceremonies, institutions of the old covenant 37 00:03:52,689 --> 00:04:00,030 matter not one whit at all. They are the, they are the first place. They are obsolete. And what is becoming 38 00:04:00,030 --> 00:04:05,830 obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away, as Hebrews says. When the author of Hebrews wrote this 39 00:04:05,830 --> 00:04:12,229 letter, the temple in Jerusalem was still standing. But in AD 70, the glorious Herodian temple vanished 40 00:04:12,229 --> 00:04:18,350 away, as he says, being raised to the ground, not one stone standing upon another, as our Lord predicted. 41 00:04:18,629 --> 00:04:23,910 There is no longer any need for an earthly temple. As Hebrews says, once again, he does away with the 42 00:04:23,910 --> 00:04:29,610 first in order to establish the second, that is the heavenly temple. And by that will, we have been 43 00:04:29,610 --> 00:04:37,430 sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, unquote. There's no, no need to 44 00:04:37,430 --> 00:04:43,490 have an early temple. Well, if all of these things are true, and they are, what can we say about trendy 45 00:04:43,490 --> 00:04:49,290 tribulation temple teachers who claim that a third temple will be rebuilt before the great tribulation? 46 00:04:49,689 --> 00:04:55,009 Countless dispensational Bible teachers claim breathlessly that plans are already in place and 47 00:04:55,009 --> 00:05:00,490 being executed to build a temple in Jerusalem, in which pious Jews will again offer sacrifices, 48 00:05:00,970 --> 00:05:06,769 anticipating the great tribulation, the abomination of desolation initiated by the Antichrist and its 49 00:05:06,769 --> 00:05:13,009 enduring prominence, then, the temple's prominence, throughout the 1,000-year millennium of Christ's 50 00:05:13,009 --> 00:05:18,990 reign on earth. This is a long-standing verity among dispensational premillennialists. 51 00:05:18,990 --> 00:05:25,389 Tim LaHaye, in his book, Are We Living in the Last Times?, says unequivocally, and I quote him, 52 00:05:25,629 --> 00:05:31,389 all prophecy teachers who interpret the Bible literally agree that the Jewish temple will be 53 00:05:31,389 --> 00:05:39,290 rebuilt, unquote. Let me just say that in a rare point of agreement, I too believe with dispensationalists 54 00:05:39,290 --> 00:05:44,709 that the Jewish temple will be rebuilt. Are you surprised? Well, one should not be, 55 00:05:44,709 --> 00:05:50,389 if the student understands the interpretive principles of the genre of apocalyptic. One 56 00:05:50,389 --> 00:05:55,790 of those crucial interpretive principles of apocalyptic is that of recapitulation. 57 00:05:56,629 --> 00:06:02,910 Recapitulation is defined as the Bible repeats biblical themes throughout redemptive history. 58 00:06:03,089 --> 00:06:08,970 Quite simply, recapitulation means that the Bible repeats biblical themes throughout redemptive 59 00:06:08,970 --> 00:06:14,529 history. And the classic example of this principle is how it's used by Paul in Romans chapter 5, 60 00:06:14,529 --> 00:06:20,089 between the two Adams, the first Adam and the second Adam. The first Adam was a type of the one who 61 00:06:20,089 --> 00:06:26,730 was to come, as the apostle Paul says. The one to come, of course, was Christ, who recapitulated Adam's 62 00:06:26,730 --> 00:06:33,709 place for the entire race of men, where Christ obeyed and where Adam disobeyed. And thus, Christ won 63 00:06:33,709 --> 00:06:40,589 redemption for all that are his. Paul puts it this way, therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation 64 00:06:40,589 --> 00:06:47,290 for all men. So, one act of righteousness led to justification and life for all men, a snapshot 65 00:06:47,290 --> 00:06:53,829 of recapitulation. Now, apocalypse uses this principle ubiquitously. And one of those repetitive 66 00:06:53,829 --> 00:07:00,610 themes is that of the abomination of desolation. That is, how a temple is desecrated by an unclean 67 00:07:00,610 --> 00:07:07,470 act or person. Contrary to the literal method of interpretation, our Lord himself insists that this 68 00:07:07,470 --> 00:07:12,089 has happened three times, the abomination of desolation. It's happened three times already 69 00:07:12,089 --> 00:07:18,089 in redemptive history, not just some far-off point in the future. In Matthew 24, Jesus says, 70 00:07:18,410 --> 00:07:25,389 well, so when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy 71 00:07:25,389 --> 00:07:32,089 place, let the reader understand, our Lord says, let the reader understand. What does he mean by this 72 00:07:32,089 --> 00:07:38,930 enigmatic statement? Well, he means that he is calling on one that already happened that Daniel 73 00:07:38,930 --> 00:07:45,449 predicted. Well, the first abomination that caused desolation was committed by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC 74 00:07:45,449 --> 00:07:51,069 when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. The second abomination that caused 75 00:07:51,069 --> 00:07:58,889 desolation was committed by Antiochus Epiphanes in AD 167 when he invaded Jerusalem and tried to impose 76 00:07:58,889 --> 00:08:05,470 Greek customs and ways on the Jews by sacrificing a pig on the altar of the temple. This is the one 77 00:08:05,470 --> 00:08:13,149 to which the prophet Daniel alluded in his prophecy. And then, of course, the third abomination that 78 00:08:13,149 --> 00:08:19,769 caused desolation was the one being foretold here by Jesus in Matthew 24. And that came when Titus of 79 00:08:19,769 --> 00:08:29,810 Rome invaded Israel in AD 66 and burned and destroyed the temple in AD 70. So, as we saw once again in our 80 00:08:29,810 --> 00:08:36,610 treatment of Daniel and the genre of apocalyptic, Daniel was first prophesying of that desecration of 81 00:08:36,610 --> 00:08:43,470 Antiochus Epiphanes, not one far off in the future, but Jesus understanding full well the genre of apocalyptic 82 00:08:43,470 --> 00:08:49,950 like we all should. That he was using at this very moment, this genre, even as Daniel did, Jesus wants 83 00:08:49,950 --> 00:08:55,850 the reader to understand that the abomination of which he spoke was very much like that prophesied 84 00:08:55,850 --> 00:09:03,190 by Daniel being recapitulated. That is a man of sin who so pollutes the temple that it is profane, 85 00:09:03,389 --> 00:09:09,730 that is unusable as a sacred place. To Jesus' mind, the abomination of desolation he was prophesying 86 00:09:09,730 --> 00:09:16,450 would recapitulate that spoken of by Daniel. So, if the reader understood apocalyptic, 87 00:09:16,830 --> 00:09:23,250 they too would see this. When we understand apocalyptic, we understand Jesus' Olivet Discourse. 88 00:09:23,370 --> 00:09:29,250 That is, he foresaw Titus' abomination of desecration, not that of some far off future 89 00:09:29,250 --> 00:09:34,950 Antichrist. Well, with these things in mind, let me first take up the fatal misunderstandings, 90 00:09:34,950 --> 00:09:40,649 the fatal misunderstandings to the idea of dispensational premillennialism, fatal 91 00:09:40,649 --> 00:09:46,830 misunderstandings of the trendy tribulation temple that's coming. Number one, the temple coming is 92 00:09:46,830 --> 00:09:56,190 being rebuilt by unbelieving Kabbalist Jews, not pious believers. Yes, the trendy tribulation temple 93 00:09:56,190 --> 00:10:03,409 is being rebuilt by unbelieving Kabbalist Jews, not pious believers, dear listener. And there's a kind of 94 00:10:03,409 --> 00:10:10,889 catch-22 involved with the trendy tribulation temple, a catch-22. It is being rebuilt by unbelieving 95 00:10:10,889 --> 00:10:17,450 Kabbalist Jews. So, it cannot be, by definition, God-honoring. But if they were Jews God-honoring 96 00:10:17,450 --> 00:10:25,129 and believing in the Messiah, they wouldn't rebuild it in the first place. So, you see, do you see what I 97 00:10:25,129 --> 00:10:30,769 mean by this? Well, first of all, those spearheading the rebuilding of the temple are unbelieving 98 00:10:30,769 --> 00:10:37,929 Kabbalist Jews. They are unbelievers. We know this of a certainty. Kabbalah is the ancient mystical 99 00:10:37,929 --> 00:10:44,490 interpretation of the Torah according to principles ensconced in the ancient mystery religions going 100 00:10:44,490 --> 00:10:49,610 back to Babylon and Egypt and even further. Features like the Tree of Life and the mystical 101 00:10:49,610 --> 00:10:55,250 interpretation of Numbers or Gematria, these are employed to uncover the deeper meaning of God's Word. 102 00:10:55,250 --> 00:11:01,309 Do you see where this goes? Ostensibly, the true wisdom of the Torah is hidden from man by God and 103 00:11:01,309 --> 00:11:07,549 can only be uncovered by the practice of Kabbalah. Well, one of the foremost advocates of Kabbalah is a 104 00:11:07,549 --> 00:11:14,049 man named Rabbi Chaim Richman, the international director of the Temple Institute, which is dedicated 105 00:11:14,049 --> 00:11:20,149 to rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. In addition to this damning evidence, we can observe from the 106 00:11:20,149 --> 00:11:26,350 construction of the Council of the Seventy itself or the Third Temple Sanhedrin that it is structured 107 00:11:26,350 --> 00:11:32,090 precisely after the pattern of the Kabbalah Tree. Now, dear listener, if you weren't aware of this, 108 00:11:32,649 --> 00:11:37,809 understand now that the Third Temple cannot be rebuilt unless and until the Jewish religious 109 00:11:37,809 --> 00:11:42,789 authorities or the Sanhedrin, and of course, that goes all the way back to Moses. It was the Sanhedrin 110 00:11:42,789 --> 00:11:49,830 also which crucified Jesus and persecuted the early church. This Third Sanhedrin must first be 111 00:11:49,830 --> 00:11:53,970 established, and this has been done already. In fact, the meeting chamber has already been built 112 00:11:53,970 --> 00:12:00,570 according to the precise patterns of the Kabbalah and not the Bible. Oh, dear listener, much more can 113 00:12:00,570 --> 00:12:06,590 be said, but suffice it to say that there is abundant evidence that the Third Jewish Temple is not being 114 00:12:06,590 --> 00:12:12,970 constructed as a temple to the God of the Bible, Yahweh, as were the first and second temples, but rather 115 00:12:12,970 --> 00:12:18,809 after the pattern of the God of the mystery religions. It is, in the first place, a synagogue of Satan, 116 00:12:18,809 --> 00:12:25,269 as Revelation calls it, and it also will be, in the second place, a temple of an antichrist, 117 00:12:25,490 --> 00:12:33,049 not Christ. How could it be anything different? I solemnly warn all of you, this temple is a friend 118 00:12:33,049 --> 00:12:39,210 of the beast and an enemy of Christians, no matter how enthusiastic are its Christian supporters now. 119 00:12:39,450 --> 00:12:45,230 How could it be any different, dear listener? The Jewish Sanhedrin crucified the Lord of Glory. 120 00:12:45,230 --> 00:12:51,149 After his resurrection and ascension, they persecuted his followers, the church in synagogue after 121 00:12:51,149 --> 00:12:57,009 synagogue as chronicled by Acts. Anyone who thinks that things will be different once the temple is 122 00:12:57,009 --> 00:13:05,470 rebuilt and sacrifices are inaugurated, these are naive fools. Secondly, we must also note about the 123 00:13:05,470 --> 00:13:12,750 trendy Tribulation Temple. We must note number two, an earthly temple would be an abomination to God, 124 00:13:12,750 --> 00:13:18,610 not a sweet savor. Yes, an earthly temple, and this includes one rebuilt in Jerusalem, 125 00:13:18,610 --> 00:13:25,529 would be an abomination to God, and not a sweet savor. Despite the gaga rose-colored glasses that 126 00:13:25,529 --> 00:13:32,070 trendy Tribulation teachers have on, when they teach on the rebuilding of the temple, our Lord sees it 127 00:13:32,070 --> 00:13:38,210 clearly for what it is, a stench in his nostrils. A metaphor in the Bible for when God is pleased with 128 00:13:38,210 --> 00:13:44,929 worship is a sweet savor unto the Lord. All through the Pentateuch, God calls properly offered sacrifice, 129 00:13:45,269 --> 00:13:53,129 a sweet savor unto the Lord. That sacrifice and worship improperly offered, he rejects as a stench 130 00:13:53,129 --> 00:13:59,809 in my nostrils. It must be clearly understood from the outset, excuse me, dear listener, that the purpose 131 00:13:59,809 --> 00:14:06,669 for the temple and its sacrifices was to serve as a type and picture of things to come. As Hebrews chapter 132 00:14:06,669 --> 00:14:14,690 8 puts it, they serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Hebrews insists, earthly temples were 133 00:14:14,690 --> 00:14:21,669 not meant to endure forever. When the real thing comes, the copies and shadows must go away. In fact, not just the 134 00:14:21,669 --> 00:14:28,649 temple and its sacrifices, per se, must now of necessity go away, but the entire old covenant and the Jewish 135 00:14:28,649 --> 00:14:35,610 order must disappear. Hebrews chapter 8 says, in speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. 136 00:14:35,610 --> 00:14:43,629 And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away, unquote. That which was ready to vanish 137 00:14:43,629 --> 00:14:50,889 away was the temple in the author of Hebrews day. And it did in A.D. 70 when Titus took Jerusalem and 138 00:14:50,889 --> 00:14:56,509 burned the temple. Dear listener, if you want to know what God thinks of temples now, look at Jerusalem 139 00:14:56,509 --> 00:15:02,409 in A.D. 70. Yes, if you want to know what God thinks of temples now, you're so excited about 140 00:15:02,409 --> 00:15:08,330 the tribulation temple to come. No. If you want to know what God thinks of temples, look at Jerusalem 141 00:15:08,330 --> 00:15:16,970 in A.D. 70. Yes. Read Josephus' account of that siege and how barbaric it was. The true temple in 142 00:15:16,970 --> 00:15:23,110 heaven is now functional on the death of Christ. Christ has entered the true heavenly temple with his 143 00:15:23,110 --> 00:15:29,590 own blood, to which all those sacrifices in the earthly temple of the Jews only pointed as a copy or 144 00:15:29,590 --> 00:15:35,710 shadow. Hebrews chapter 9 says, for Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands, 145 00:15:35,710 --> 00:15:41,649 which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of 146 00:15:41,649 --> 00:15:48,809 God on our behalf, unquote. Oh, this is glorious, truly glorious. Even more, Christ ministered in that 147 00:15:48,809 --> 00:15:55,330 heavenly temple with his own blood on our behalf. Hebrews 9 says, he entered once for all into the 148 00:15:55,330 --> 00:16:01,129 holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and cows, but by means of his own blood, thus securing 149 00:16:01,129 --> 00:16:08,490 an eternal redemption, unquote. You profane and desecrate the blood of Christ and that eternal 150 00:16:08,490 --> 00:16:14,710 redemption when you get the vapors over the rebuilding of a third temple. Many of you not only get excited 151 00:16:14,710 --> 00:16:20,549 over the prospect because you think it indicates the approach of end times, but you also pray for it and 152 00:16:20,549 --> 00:16:27,490 you give money to its rebuilding. Like John Hagee does, who has given over $70 million to causes in 153 00:16:27,490 --> 00:16:33,269 Israel, including the rebuilding of the temple. God demonstrated the finality of Christ's work and 154 00:16:33,269 --> 00:16:39,710 the obsolete nature of the temple when at his son's death, the text tells us, and behold, the curtain of 155 00:16:39,710 --> 00:16:48,149 the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Matthew 24 tells us that single act demonstrates to us 156 00:16:48,149 --> 00:16:54,409 that we now have access to the presence of God, where before it was restricted in the earthly temple. 157 00:16:54,769 --> 00:17:00,690 Hebrews says again, therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the 158 00:17:00,690 --> 00:17:07,970 blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain that is through 159 00:17:07,970 --> 00:17:14,430 his flesh. Oh, the body of Jesus is now the curtain by which we have access. The old temple curtain is 160 00:17:14,430 --> 00:17:20,329 done with, through, finished. Brothers, we must listen to the message of Hebrews. I've been citing it 161 00:17:20,329 --> 00:17:25,769 prolifically. It is a message that has direct application to this very issue of the rebuilding 162 00:17:25,769 --> 00:17:31,690 of the temple. Hebrews was a book written by a Jew for Jews in order to dissuade them from abandoning 163 00:17:31,690 --> 00:17:37,970 the Christian church and going back to the temple and its now obsolete sacrifices, which is what you 164 00:17:37,970 --> 00:17:43,829 dispensationalists want to do with the tribulation temple. There were so many reasons to love the temple 165 00:17:43,829 --> 00:17:49,109 and its rituals and its liturgies. They were so beautiful. Those great traditions going back 166 00:17:49,109 --> 00:17:55,630 generations, they were so difficult to surrender. But Hebrews is uncompromising. As I swore in my wrath, 167 00:17:55,690 --> 00:18:01,730 he says, they shall not enter my rest. It was no time to compromise. Christ had come. The old order 168 00:18:01,730 --> 00:18:07,410 was vanishing away. The temple was obsolete. A much more glorious temple and sacrifice had come. 169 00:18:07,410 --> 00:18:13,710 The real one that saves us once for all, as Hebrews says, from our sins. So what has changed, 170 00:18:13,710 --> 00:18:20,869 dear listener? What can a third temple add for the Jew except abomination that causes desolation of the 171 00:18:20,869 --> 00:18:27,009 heavenly spiritual temple? There is one temple now for both Jew and Gentile, the heavenly one, 172 00:18:27,130 --> 00:18:33,349 where our risen mediator has gone into heaven itself, as Hebrews says, now to appear in the presence 173 00:18:33,349 --> 00:18:40,910 of God on our behalf, unquote. Dear listener, no Jew will please God with a temple. There is only one 174 00:18:40,910 --> 00:18:47,970 way to God, the Father, now, and that is through Jesus and his blood, by which we have confidence to 175 00:18:47,970 --> 00:18:53,910 enter into the holy places, as Hebrews says. Dear listener, if you love Jews and you want to see them 176 00:18:53,910 --> 00:19:01,089 saved, preach the gospel to them. Urge them to become a part of the church and stop swooning over the 177 00:19:01,089 --> 00:19:07,289 trendy tribulation temple. What makes you think for a moment that when that temple is rebuilt, that God 178 00:19:07,289 --> 00:19:12,809 will take pleasure in it, that the sacrifices offered in it will be a sweet savor unto the Lord? 179 00:19:13,190 --> 00:19:20,329 It is in Christ's sacrifice that God the Father takes pleasure completely and finally, once for all. 180 00:19:20,329 --> 00:19:27,089 Dear listener, a restored temple in which animal sacrifice is renewed. Think about this. Animal 181 00:19:27,089 --> 00:19:33,670 sacrifice renewed. It is an implicit rejection of Christ and his sacrifice, even as Hebrews says 182 00:19:33,670 --> 00:19:40,670 on page after page. It is an insult, an abomination to the Father and the Son to rebuild the temple. 183 00:19:40,950 --> 00:19:48,910 Your trendy tribulation temple is sheer unbelief, unbelief in the sacrifice of Christ, unbelief in which 184 00:19:48,910 --> 00:19:56,150 the so-called Christian is complicit by encouraging and enabling the Jew to take up the temple and its 185 00:19:56,150 --> 00:20:02,730 building. It is an implicit rejection. The temple, rebuilt temple, is an implicit rejection of the 186 00:20:02,730 --> 00:20:09,609 very gospel itself. And then to add insult to injury, the dispensationalist asserts that this 187 00:20:09,609 --> 00:20:15,029 tribulation temple will endure for the entire thousand-year millennium and that Christ will take 188 00:20:15,029 --> 00:20:21,329 delight in it. Do you seriously mean to tell me that the one who offered his sacred blood once for all 189 00:20:21,329 --> 00:20:27,589 is really going to be pleased with the now profane blood of bulls and goats that could never take 190 00:20:27,589 --> 00:20:34,490 away sin, though repeatedly offered, as Hebrews says? The real abomination of desolation here is the very 191 00:20:34,490 --> 00:20:41,009 rebuilding of the temple and its sacrifices, which are a stench in the nostrils of the Father. And once in a 192 00:20:41,009 --> 00:20:47,849 while, I'll hear the lame explanation, oh, pastor, there'll only be memorial sacrifices, as if this explains 193 00:20:47,849 --> 00:20:54,930 anything once more. The dispensationalist denigrates and demeans the gospel. Do we not already have a 194 00:20:54,930 --> 00:21:01,029 memorial of Christ's sacrifice? What might that be, dear listener? And of course, it is the Lord's 195 00:21:01,029 --> 00:21:07,670 supper, a meal for Christian and Jew. Our Lord commands us, do this in remembrance of me. The body 196 00:21:07,670 --> 00:21:13,849 and blood of Christ in the bread and wine of the supper is our memorial, not profane, reinstituted 197 00:21:13,849 --> 00:21:22,170 animal sacrifice. The rebuilt temple and reinstituted sacrificial system is a monstrosity and profanity 198 00:21:22,170 --> 00:21:28,170 to the gospel. And you dispensationalists who teach and advocate it are participants in this profanity. 199 00:21:28,490 --> 00:21:35,109 That is not all. Number three, those who serve and support the rebuilt temple unwittingly serve the 200 00:21:35,109 --> 00:21:42,490 beast. I'm constantly amazed at how excited trendy tribulation temple teachers get when they talk about 201 00:21:42,490 --> 00:21:48,390 when the Antichrist will enter the trendy tribulation temple and declare himself God. I actually heard 202 00:21:48,390 --> 00:21:53,869 one of these trendy tribulation temple teachers repeat it over and over as he described the rebuilding 203 00:21:53,869 --> 00:22:00,289 of the temple. This is actually where the Antichrist will declare himself God. Personally, if I believed 204 00:22:00,289 --> 00:22:06,430 this nonsense, it would nauseate me, not thrill me. And over the years, as I've studied very carefully 205 00:22:06,430 --> 00:22:12,329 the genre of apocalypse, I've come to see that writers such as the Apostle John were drawing 206 00:22:12,329 --> 00:22:18,970 on a rich heritage of symbols to describe present-day realities with which they and their audience lived. 207 00:22:19,230 --> 00:22:24,690 Ezekiel, Daniel, our Lord, the Apostle Paul, and the Apostle John all did this. And one of those 208 00:22:24,690 --> 00:22:30,369 symbols was that of the beast. They have always been beasts. There have always been beasts to afflict the 209 00:22:30,369 --> 00:22:36,089 people of God, not just one in the far-flung future. The serpent was the very first beast to afflict 210 00:22:36,089 --> 00:22:41,730 our first parents. Now, the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God 211 00:22:41,730 --> 00:22:47,390 had made. And the book of Job chronicles the very prototype of Revelation's beast from the land and 212 00:22:47,390 --> 00:22:53,690 the sea. Job says, Behold, Behemoth, beast from the land, which I made like you. Or can you draw out 213 00:22:53,690 --> 00:22:59,329 Leviathan, the beast from the sea? Babylon also is characterized all through the prophets as a beast 214 00:22:59,329 --> 00:23:05,670 and monster from the land that afflicts Israel. Babylon has swallowed me like a monster, Jeremiah says. 215 00:23:05,670 --> 00:23:11,410 He has filled his stomach with my delicacies. And then Egypt is also pictured as a beast from the sea 216 00:23:11,410 --> 00:23:18,930 that is Rahab, who afflicts the people of God. Isaiah 30 and 7 says, Egypt's help is worthless and 217 00:23:18,930 --> 00:23:25,529 empty. Therefore, I have called to Rahab, who sits still, unquote. Well, on and on we could go. But 218 00:23:25,529 --> 00:23:30,509 suffice it to say that when the Bible speaks of beasts afflicting the people of God, it is not 219 00:23:30,509 --> 00:23:36,190 restricting itself to one mega beast in the future in the end times. If this is your teaching, you are 220 00:23:36,190 --> 00:23:41,250 just plain wrong. The Bible is clear that there have always been beasts in every generation 221 00:23:41,250 --> 00:23:46,829 which have afflicted the people of God. It was true in Daniel's generation, that is Babylon and 222 00:23:46,829 --> 00:23:52,210 Medo-Persia. He wasn't prophesying about end times. And it was also true in John's generation, 223 00:23:52,210 --> 00:23:58,069 that is the Roman Empire. John wasn't speaking of some far off end times beast and antichrist. 224 00:23:58,430 --> 00:24:05,490 Consequently, dear dispensational premillennialist, you are unwittingly serving the beast of scripture 225 00:24:05,490 --> 00:24:11,210 already, especially as you become enablers of the rebuilding of the third temple. I have 226 00:24:11,210 --> 00:24:16,049 news for you. If your eyes were open, if you're hearing what the spirit says to the churches, 227 00:24:16,170 --> 00:24:21,309 as John says, you would understand that the beast of revelation is already here and you 228 00:24:21,309 --> 00:24:27,430 unwittingly serve him. You bear his mark, the mark of the beast already, and you don't even know it. 229 00:24:27,430 --> 00:24:32,450 That mark is not a barcode tattooed on your forehead or hand or a microchip implanted on your 230 00:24:32,450 --> 00:24:38,150 forehead or hand. Rather, as the Bible pictures consistently throughout, the mark of the beast is the 231 00:24:38,150 --> 00:24:43,750 sum total of your thoughts, that is your forehead, and the sum total of your actions, that is your 232 00:24:43,750 --> 00:24:49,990 hands, with which you do things. And this is all given over to the service of the beast. Before God, 233 00:24:50,109 --> 00:24:56,009 dear listener, you are marked by your thoughts and your deeds, whether they are good or evil. When 234 00:24:56,009 --> 00:25:02,190 they are given over to the rebuilding of a profane abomination, like a temple in Jerusalem, complete 235 00:25:02,190 --> 00:25:07,970 with blood sacrifices that can never atone for sin, where your antichrist will appear to declare 236 00:25:07,970 --> 00:25:13,730 himself God, well then, you bear the mark of the beast when you're given over to this. And let me say 237 00:25:13,730 --> 00:25:19,569 it again. If you serve the rebuilding of the trendy tribulation temple, that is, you pray for it, you hope 238 00:25:19,569 --> 00:25:24,490 for it, you become thrilled at the thought of it, you give money towards its rebuilding, you make it a part of 239 00:25:24,490 --> 00:25:30,950 your belief system, well then, you bear the mark of the beast. The temple, when it is rebelled, will serve the 240 00:25:30,950 --> 00:25:38,390 beast. Well, behold the biblical alternative to your obsession with the trendy tribulation temple. Give it up. 241 00:25:38,630 --> 00:25:44,829 Return to the true temple, the one not made with hands. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men, 242 00:25:44,910 --> 00:25:50,490 but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a 243 00:25:50,490 --> 00:25:56,349 spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through 244 00:25:56,349 --> 00:26:02,529 Jesus Christ. Unquote. I love this temple. It is the only one for me. How about you? Are you content to 245 00:26:02,529 --> 00:26:07,509 be a living stone in the spiritual house of God of which Christ is the cornerstone? What a beautiful 246 00:26:07,509 --> 00:26:13,869 ministry we have as priests offering spiritual sacrifices, not bloody animal ones. Join me in 247 00:26:13,869 --> 00:26:19,630 exalting the Lord Jesus Christ in his spiritual temple, his body, rather than profaning him by 248 00:26:19,730 --> 00:26:25,529 exalting a trendy tribulation temple. This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox 249 00:26:25,529 --> 00:26:31,009 Presbyterian Church. We meet for holy worship on Sunday. I invite you to join us in the spiritual 250 00:26:31,009 --> 00:26:37,809 worship, spiritual sacrifices we make on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 1014th Street on the corner of 4th and 251 00:26:37,809 --> 00:26:49,329 Boulevard. Call us for feedback or more information at area code 208-523-0196. That's area code 208-523-0196.