Thursday, December 20, 2018

Hanukkah, the Abomination of Desolation and the Third Temple

With so many Christians supporting the current rebuilding efforts of a physical 3rd Temple in Jerusalem, I consider this  focus to be a PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT


On Monday, marking the end of Hannukah a group of orthodox rabbis claiming themselves to be the new Israeli Sanhedrin consecrated the altar for the Third Temple. It was a full-dress reenactment of the daily sacrifice and is something that excites many Christians even though it has nothing to do with God's plans for the Temple Yeshua is building in Israel.


The linked title above leads to an English translated excerpt from the Hanukkah message preached by Tiferet Yeshua pastor Gil Afrait at the Tel Aviv congregation. I hope you all will read it, as it communicates information that every Christian in our day needs to grasp about the end-times prophecies about the temple. 

DIORIO:  Afrait preached to the Israeli congregation in Hebrew, "Yeshua refers to the Temple in Matthew 24 as “the holy place”. However, it is unarguably clear that if a Third Temple is built in Jerusalem by orthodox Jews before the return of the Messiah, it will not be holy because the Spirit of the God will not dwell there. On the other hand, the New Testament clearly states that redeemed believers in Yeshua are the temple of the Holy Spirit: Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? ~ I Cor. 3:16.  One could argue, therefore, that the “Third Temple” is actually the collective redeemed body of Messiah."  

This has been my belief throughout the past 17½ years of doing the Weekly Summary of Prayer Requests from Israeli Ministries. It is the Living Temple of God in Israel that I believe we are to concern ourselves with - not the efforts of unsaved Jews to build a temple made of stone. 

The rise of Jewish salvation in Israel simply does not move those who have fixed their eyes on a prophetic interpretation that the sign of Jesus soon return is when the Jews rebuild the temple of stone in Jerusalem. They may well or may not at all rebuild a temple of stone in Jerusalem, and Gil Afrait point out in this message how that is possible. 

Could it be that for a long time Christians have been looking for the wrong temple to be raised up and now that the Living Temple is being raised up they don't have eyes to see it? That's exactly what I believe. 

Even if there will be a 3rd Temple built of stone in Jerusalem, it is a MUCH LESSER SIGN to the Christian world that Yeshua will soon return than the reality that Jews are coming to faith in Yeshua. We should be more willing to consider that and support those Israeli Messianic ministries who are bringing in the harvest, than in being thrilled & chilled by what an fringe group of Orthodox rabbis are doing. Let's get out of this 'temple-fascinated' interpretation of prophecy. 

Mercy! The Jewish spiritual Living Temple is being built in our day and we are to be playing a pivotal role in it! Father, we are praying for a breakthrough of spiritual revelation and understanding in Christendom of what YOU are doing by Your Holy Spirit as Yeshua abides in the hearts of those ministering the Good News to Your chosen ones in Israel. 

This morning as I work to wrap up this issue I see a new article about this group of temple-builders and how they are now taking donations to make a golden, jeweled crown for the Messiah to wear when He arrives. Little do they know that the jewels in the crown of Messiah Yeshua are not anything they could possible craft for Him, but His crown jewels are the people being saved as Israeli ministries well know. Don't waste your money on a crown that Jesus will never wear. God has His own crown chosen for the return of the Messiah — Zechariah 9:16
the Lord their God will save them, as the flock of His people; 
for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on His Land.

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