When the apostle Paul
wrote
about destroying God's temple, he had a lot of history running
through his mind. He was aware of the Mannaseh generation of his
own countrymen who turned to idol worship and the shedding of innocent
blood. They had desecrated God's temple with idol altars and
erected an asherah pole inside
of God's temple and filled Jerusalem with innocent blood (2Ki 21:16). Homosexual male prostitutes had
even
built houses in the house of the Lord (please read 2nd
Kings,
chapter 23:4-20) - not that different from the present
time.
God summoned both the Assyrians and Babylonians to punish them, leaving
but
a remnant alive in captivity. If any man destroys the temple of God,
God
will destroy him...
In 508 B.C., the world ruling
Babylonians completely demolished God's temple, burning it to the
ground (here we accept the chronology given in the Bible itself
and set forth wonderfully by Philip Mauro in his book, "The
Wonders of Bible Chronology"). Yet, not
long thereafter we read of a festive occasion when king Belshazzer of
Babylon
ordered the gold cups, that were taken from the demolished temple in
Jerusalem,
to be brought out for the pleasure and enjoyment of his guests, his
wives,
and concubines (Dan 5:2-6). That very
night
the writing was on the wall. Babylon was conquered never to rise
again,
and her king was slain (Dan 5:30). Here
also,
Paul warns both believers and non-believers regarding the partaking of
Our
Lord's cup in an un-worthy manner. If any man destroys the temple of God,
God
will destroy him...
Next, around the year 167 B.C.,
after
a remnant had returned from the exile and restored God's temple,
the world ruling Greeks by order of Antiochus Epiphanes, purposed to
dedicate the temple in Jerusalem to Zeus Olympus, also known as Jupiter
Olympus. After erecting their abomination of desolation on the
altar of God, they filled
the sanctuary with riot and reveling while defiling themselves with
harlots
in the holy precinct of the temple (page 433, The
Annals
of the World by James Ussher, also see Maccabees). They
sacrificed
forbidden swine, and put to death all who refused to eat. Their
savage
cruelty against God's people was beyond horrific, resulting in the
Maccabean
uprising. Shortly thereafter, Antiochus was struck with an
incurable
disease in his bowels and worms bred so fast in his body that whole
streaks
of his flesh sometimes dropped from him. He died a slow horrible
death
after professing to all his friends that the cause of his calamity was
that
which he did in Jerusalem (page 444, The Annals of the
World). If
any man destroys the temple of God, God
will destroy him...
Then came King Herod.
Although
he had been spending enormous amounts of money rebuilding and
beautifying God's temple for about thirteen years prior to being
informed by the Magi of the birth of King Jesus (John
2:20), we read that "he
was troubled, and
all Jerusalem with him (Mat 2:3)". What an incredible statement that
is.
Hoping to kill King Jesus, God's temple, he put to death every male
child
up to two years old, including one of his very own. Immediately
thereafter,
Herod was inflamed with a slow fire that burned up his bowels.
His
thighs and limbs rotted and were full of worms until he died (Josephus;The Annals of the World, page 780, ).
I
will leave the present day application to those who have an ear to
hear. If any
man destroys
the temple of God, God will destroy him...
The apostle Paul did not live
long
enough to see the following, but he had absolutely no doubt about what
was
in store for his own generation. Because of Christ's own words
and
those of the prophets, the apostles told believers, "here we have no enduring city" (Heb 13:14).
Daniel
wrote about the destruction of both the city and the sanctuary (Dan 9:26). Is it any wonder that early
christians
sold their houses and shared all things in common? So now we come to
the
Jewish nation, who crucified our Lord Jesus Christ - God's
temple,
for " I and the Father
are one
(John 10:30)". What a destruction they brought upon themselves
in
70 A.D. All the innocent blood ever shed could not gravely
compare
with His innocent blood, and so from "the blood of Abel to the blood of
Zechariah..,
it shall be charged against this generation (Luke
11:51)". Within
forty years of His crucifixion (this
generation), hundreds of thousands starved to death, many of
whose
bodies were thrown over the walls of Jerusalem and into the very place
where
previous generations had sacrificed their children, the valley of the
son
of Hinnom (Atlas of the Bible, Readers Digest page 202).
There they laid as food for the wild animals and birds, with no one to
bury
them. Possibly as many as three million perished during this
siege
and war of which Our Lord had prophesied " For then shall be great tribulation,
such
as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever
shall
be (Mt. 24:21)",
while the blood flowed like a river up to the bridals of the horses
through
the streets of Jerusalem (The Annals of the World, page
882). If any
man destroys the temple of God, God
will destroy him...
Next we come to the Romans whom
God
used to punish those tenants who leased His vineyard and by killing The
Heir, tried to seize the inheritance (Mt. 21:34).
They
refused His mercy and grace and continued to trample upon the blood of
Christ
whom they had crucified, "For
wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together (Mt. 24:28)".
After
the siege and during the slaughter in 70 A.D., the Romans burned
the
temple in Jerusalem on the very same month and day that the Babylonians
had
similarly done so in 508 B.C. ( page 879, "The Annals
of the
World" by Bishop James Ussher. He uses the chronology of the Egytian
writer Ptolomy, 586 B.C.). They erected their ensigns on
the east gate of the temple
and sacrificed to Jupitor there. Then they ploughed Jerusalem to
the
ground, not a stone being left upon a stone (Mr 13:2).
Not long afterwards, they purposed to rid the earth of the followers of
our Lord Jesus Christ - His Heavenly temple and new Jerusalem (Heb. 12:24) - but glory of glories, after about ten
million
were martyred, the Christians ended up possessing the very gates of
their
enemy, Rome (Ge. 24:60). If any man destroys the temple of God,
God
will destroy him...
Now the above mentioned are but
a
small historical sample to call all Christians to holy soberness
regarding
the shedding of innocent blood and the destruction of God's temple -
their very own bodies. If the statistics are correct, millions of
Christians are using sorcerous and abortifacient products for
family planning purposes. Christian doctors and pharmacists are
daily demolishing God's
temple while multitudes of pastors refuse to blow the trumpet.
Like
those before us, we are bringing certain destruction upon ourselves and
our
nation.
Our dispensation is spiritual
and
demands spiritual understanding. Their dispensation was
natural.
They saw with their natural eyes but we see with the eyes of our
heart. They heard with their natural ears but we hear, if we have
an ear to hear what the Spirit says to the churches - what the Spirit
says. They smelled
the aroma of incense, but we have been given discernment. They
had
Abraham as their father but we have God as our Father- the Father of
our
spirits (Heb 12:9). The natural man does
not
accept the things of the Spirit of God, he cannot understand them (1 Co 2:14). God is Spirit, and though our
spirits
died in Adam, they are made alive again in Christ (1 Co
15:22). They had God with them but we have God in us, His
Spirit lives in us and so
we are a new creation in Christ. They were told by Jesus to flee
both Jerusalem (the city of God's presence) and Judea when they saw the
abomination of desolation stand in the
holy place, and history records that the entire Church (remember Noah,
also Lot
and his family) left Jerusalem in 66 A.D and escaped to Pella, before
the
wrath of God destroyed Sodom (Jerusalem). However, we know that
the
holy place of God is our own bodies. Therefore, it is time for us
who
love and obey Christ to flee from our sins of contraception
birth
control, most all of which is abortifacient.
Dear ones, "what you do unto the least of these, that
you
do unto me (Mat
25:45)".
If we continue to murder Jesus and call ourselves Christians, is that
not
blasphemy (Rom 2:24)? "The fruit of the womb is His reward (Psalm 127:3 ASV)".
They are
His.
They are as much His reward as we are. He redeemed them along
with
us in His own blood and He purposed each precious one of them to be
filled
with all the fullness of God, until Christ is all and in all, and the
whole
earth is filled with His glory, which is Christ in you. If that
is
not the goal of our salvation, then what salvation are we
receiving?
Much of what we call Christian upon the earth today is herodian in
nature,
and it will suffer the same rejection as that which went before: "your house is left to you desolate (Mt. 23:38)". Your
house.
It was no longer God's house according to God's Measure (which is
always
Jesus Christ), much as it is today. God will smash this mixture
thing
to pieces as He has done again and again throughout history, including
those
seven churches in Asia whom Paul said had abandoned him (2
Tim 1:15). They very quickly gave up on the fullness of
Christ
in the believer, and were settling for a much wider path. They
refused
His speaking from Heaven (Heb 12:25) seven times
(Rev 2:7,11,17,29; 3:6,13, 22). Surely
this is the
meaning of the destruction of the twin towers, the Protestants and the
Catholics,
Israel and Judah, the ten tribes and the two. For "yet once more I will shake not only the
earth,
but also the heaven". The
heaven
side of things, the Church, the new Jerusalem (Heb
12:22-23),
is now being shaken.
It's not too late. Even
King
Manasseh sought for God's mercy in captivity. King Manasseh, who
made
his son pass through the fire to Molech and filled Jerusalem with
innocent blood. God granted him a true repentance, spared his
life, and returned him as King over Jerusalem (2 Chron
33:9-13). God Is Love. His purpose in shaking us (Heb 12:27-28) is to fully conform us to His image and
likeness - man who is love. For just as Jesus went into the
temple in Jerusalem and overturned the money
changer's tables, He would now come into our hearts, His temple, and
with
His gentle whip do likewise, making us into a house of prayer (John 2:14-17). "For the temple of God is holy, and that
is
what you are (1Co
3:17 NAS)". That is His unique
work,
a work of Christ's Holy Spirit in us, "Who will transform the body of our
humble
state into conformity with the body of His glory (Php 3:21). Who shall also confirm you unto the end,
that
ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (1Cor 1:8)".
Solomon, Steven, Paul,
and
all of the apostles knew that only Jesus could build God's house,
fashioning
it after Himself.
For
unless the Lord (Jesus) build the house they labor in vain who try to
build
it (Ps 127:1). Herod's house is again headed for destruction,
destined
for the fire - come out from among them My people.
"And there was neither
hammer nor axe nor any iron tool heard in the house while it was being
built (1 Kings 6:7). Wherefore, beloved,
seeing that ye
look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace,
without
spot, and blameless (2 Pe 3:14). And the very God of peace
sanctify
you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be
preserved
blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1Th
5:23)".
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