Which Rebuilt Temple?

 

 

 

I hear of a rebuilt temple,

I mean one to come

Where the Jews will worship

In a millennium kingdom.

 

It’s after the tribulation

When the Jews will be gathered in,

And all of them in a single day

Will be saved from their sin.

 

It bothers me, though,

If this is really true,

Then for whom did Jesus die?

This question is to you.

 

When he said, it was finished

What did he really mean?

What was it that was finished,

If not the old covenant theme?

 

If the blood sacrifices were types

And the physical temple a shadow,

Why rebuild a new temple?

Please tell me; I want to know.

 

 

If the middle wall of partition

Was really broken down,

Then on the idea of a new temple

We ought to frown.

 

I like the Sunday school song

We sang so long ago,

It conveyed an understanding

That I think we need to know.

 

“We’re building up a temple

We’re building up a temple

We’re building up a temple of the Lord,

Hey brother, won’t you help?

Hey sister, won’t you help?

We’re building up a temple of the Lord.”

 

1 Peter 2:5; 1 Corinthians 3:16

 

What is the nature of this temple?

It’s a temple not made with hands,

But a temple of lively stones:

A spiritual house, as God planned.

 

To offer up spiritual sacrifices

Acceptable to God by Jesus Christ,

We, as lively stones, are God’s temple

Ever since his finished sacrifice.

 

The disciples once went to Jesus

To show him the temple structure

And no doubt, they were disappointed,

As he showed them the sad picture.

 

Not one stone, he said then,

Would be left upon another,

As he foretold the temple’s destruction

The disciples were clearly bothered.

 

They equated this with Jesus’ return

And the end of the world,

“When shall these things be?” they asked,

They were clearly perturbed.

 

The temple was the centre-piece

That is all that they knew,

Just like the ark of the covenant

It was security to the Jew.

 

The temple with its sacrifices

Was coming to its end,

The old covenant would pass away

And this was around the bend.

 

 

This was the rebuilt temple

From back in Persian times

And its destruction, after Herod’s upgrade,

Would be a significant sign.

 

It was a splendid edifice

Of which the Jews were proud

But not long after Jesus’ prophecy

Its destruction would be loud.

 

The end of the Mosaic covenant

The end of the blood sacrifice,

Another would become the focus

And that would be Jesus Christ.

 

So, when I hear of a rebuilt temple

I really have to ask, “Which one?”

It can’t be one in our future

For the temple worship has gone.

 

Stewart Russell © June 2020

 

Its Radical Nearness

 

 

Jesus is coming soon!

It is nearer than we think!

It is so near, some even say

“In just another blink!”

 

This was noised abroad

Way back in the 1^st Century

And some of the things Jesus said

Suggested that eventuality.

 

It was not Jesus alone

But some of the apostles too,

Peter, James and John

Were of a similar view.

 

Hebrews 1:1-2

 

Paul was of the same mind

And the writer to the Hebrews,

Not near as in 2000 years

But a lesser distant view.

 

 

Jesus said “this generation”

And even some standing still

Would not taste of death

Till all these things be fulfilled.

 

Were anyone of them

Still in in our company today,

Methuselah could not be the oldest-

Oh no, my friend, no way!

 

Jesus’ response to his disciples

Indicated radical nearness

And the queries they asked of him

Were of an urgent request.

 

Hence Jesus responded in kind

And they clearly understood,

It shocked the daylights out of them

Right where the temple stood.

 

The temple was their life

And Jerusalem was their city

Yet Jesus said when these things occur

From the city they should flee.

 

Flee to the mountains he said

For these be the days of vengeance,

What is written was fulfilled

It is all in the past tense.

 

This was counterproductive,

It should be the other way around

But Jesus was warning them

The temple would be torn down.

 

 

In a city refuge is found

But surely not at this time,

They must depart their cherished city

If safety was on their mind.

 

Jerusalem would be breached

It would be judgment time

And not one stone upon another

Of the temple they would find.

 

Their house would be desolate

As Jesus had foretold,

The end of the old Jewish covenant

Seemed a heavy load.

 

This was the great tribulation

About which the apostle John had warned,

As chronicled in Revelation,

This was the impending storm.

 

He used words like near

At the door and also at hand,

Jesus would be coming quickly

According to the Divine plan.

 

But this radical nearness

Does not apply to us

Two thousand years hence

Since the advent of Jesus.

 

In James chapter 5 and verse 8

There is more,

The coming of the Lord drew near!

The judge stood at the door! 

 

1 Peter 4:7

 

Peter said to watch and pray

The end of all things was at hand

The apostle Paul in Romans 13:12

Saw it as God’s unfolding plan.

 

Little children, it is the last time

This according to 1^st John 2:18,

The “many antichrists” was the sign

And were already on the scene.

 

 

 

The things spoken of in Revelation

Were to shortly come to pass,

Not the future in the 21^st Century

But the 1st Century that is passed.

 

Revelation 1:3

 

Blessed is he that readeth,

and they that hear the words of this prophecy,

and keep those things which are written therein:

for the time is at hand.

 

Paul presented a history lesson

In 1^st Corinthians 10

Showing that idolatrous fornication

Was Israel’s problem.

 

After all of God’s mercies

And all His benefits to them,

They made and worshipped a golden calf

Despite being His children.

 

Twenty-three thousand fell

In one single day,

So, in chapter 10 and verse 11

Here is what Paul had to say.

 

Now all these things

happened unto them for ensamples:

and they are written for our admonition,

upon whom the ends of the world are come.

 

The ends of their world had come

As they soon came to recognize,

Certainly, to John and the apostles

It would come as no surprise.

 

It was radically near

As all the prophecies declared

And the fact they all came to pass

To me is biblically clear.

 

Stewart Russell © November 12, 2021

 

Our Future or Theirs?

 

 

Revelation 1:7

 

Behold, he cometh with clouds;

 and every eye shall see him,

and they also which pierced him:

and all kindreds of the earth

shall wail because of him.

Even so, Amen.

 

In whose future is this?

The popular view says ours,

Thus, let me share with you

My study of several hours.

 

When studying the Scriptures

Audience relevance is vital,

Not everything that is written therein

Is for every people.

 

As I read Revelation 1:7

In conjunction with Matthew 24

I get the clearest of impressions

It’s their future more and more.

 

Whose future you may ask?

The Future of those Jews

The very ones that Jesus was addressing

In that prophetic view.

 

 

John on the Isle of Patmos

Picks up this very intent

That it’s to his brothers in tribulation

That this revelation was sent.

 

These were scheduled events

That must shortly come to pass,

John was certainly clear on this

And the urgency of his task.

 

Not only would they happen shortly

But the time was at hand,

Note the imminence of the prophecy

This was a short-term plan.

 

In their future not ours,

It was to happen in their time

Or why this intense urgency?

It’s time we disabuse our mind.

  

Written to seven churches then

Not to churches in our time

Though these specified characteristics

Are applicable to yours and mine.

 

There is a message there for us

That we should take to heart

But this would be so in every era

Post Pentecost and from the start.

 

The events of that 1^st Century

Affected the entire world,

Not long after Jesus left

Began the chaotic whirl.

 

The Christians were persecuted

Firstly, by the Jews

And the Romans subsequently joined

According to historic reviews.

 

 

In the Olivet discourse

As in the events of the Revelation

Jesus spoke to the horrid times at hand

Also known as the tribulation.

 

The disciples were apprehensive

Not for us in our time

But for themselves and others,

Fear and distress racked their mind.

 

Remember this is pre-Pentecost

Jesus is still with them,

However, soon he’ll be going away

Herein lies the problem.

 

 

The temple will be destroyed

Jerusalem will be laid waste,

Nothing like this had they experienced

And it was coming with haste.

  

Like an oncoming storm

With little chance of escape,

The disciples understood its imminence

Let us make no mistake.

 

Do not be deceived

Jesus warned his disciples,

That they bear in mind what he said

Was absolutely vital.

 

It was vital to them

Because it would happen to them,

Not in two thousand years

But imminently back then.

 

In their time I must repeat

Certainly not in ours,

The urgency was as clear as could be

Concerning the oncoming horror.

 

 

Then shall they deliver you up

To be afflicted and killed,

The audience that Jesus addressed

Was standing before him still.

 

Many shall be offended

And shall betray one another,

It was of them that he spoke

Hence why they were bothered.

 

When would these things be?

The disciples had enquired,

And Jesus’ response was

Before that generation had expired.

 

When you shall see these things

Know that it is near,

It was the generation that heard him

 Right then and there. 

 

Matthew 16:28; Luke 9:27

 

There be some standing here,

Which shall not taste of death,

Till they see the son of man

Coming in his kingdom.

 

Matthew 24:15-21

 

When ye therefore shall see

The abomination of desolation,

Spoken of by Daniel the prophet

Stand in the holy place.

 

Let them that be in Judea

Flee to the mountain

And let him that be on the housetop

Not come down for anything.

 

Neither let him that be in the field

Return back for his clothes,

All this would befall Jerusalem

In this time of woes.

 

Then shall be great tribulation-

In that time, not now

But for a reason unknown to me

It will be in our day, somehow.

 

Daniel the prophet

Prophesied of this occasion,

Matthew 24 is Jesus’ confirmation

It will happen to that generation.

 

That generation, not ours

More than two thousand years hence,

Read the Scriptures as they are

And I mean no offense.

 

 

Coming with clouds

According to chapter 1 of Revelation

But this does not speak to the end

As in the final consummation.

 

And even if it did

None knows when that would be,

To say it would be in our time

Would be to say so mistakenly.

 

Their future, not ours

Speaks to the end of that age,

The end of the old Jewish covenant-

This was the transitional stage.

 

It speaks to Jesus’ lament

Over the city of Jerusalem

As he bemoaned their rejection

And their coming desolation.

 

Matthew 23:37-38

 

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,

thou that killest the prophets,

and stonest them which are sent onto thee,

how often would I have gathered thy children together,

even as a hen gathereth her chickens under hew wings,

and ye would not!

 

Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

 

Revelation1:7

 

Behold, he cometh with clouds;

 and every eye shall see him,

and they also which pierced him:

and all kindreds of the earth

shall wail because of him.

Even so, Amen.

 

Revelation 22:10

 

 

Daniel 12:4

 

 

Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book:

For the time is at hand.

Very unlike the instructions that Daniel had:

Shut up the words and seal the book was the plan.

 

In their time not ours

Not our future but theirs,

I have given a condensed summary

But I believe the point is clear.

 

Stewart Russell © October 27, 2020