Lizbeth
Well-Known Member
Except that Christ is ruling and reigning now and the saints with Him. After His resurrection Jesus said all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Him, and He went to sit on His throne at the right hand of the Father. The church is His body and army on earth ruling and reigning with Him, enforcing His rule.....healing the sick, casting out demons, taking ground for the Lord in the saving of souls, resisting the devil, and just in being more than conquerors in all things that come against us, and taking gr"ound for the Lord in our own hearts. All things HAVE been put under His feet"...that means He is ruling over everything.....even though "we do not yet SEE everything put under Him". He said to the religious leaders of Israel that if He is healing the sick and casting out devils with the finger of God then the kingdom has come to them. Remember we are to walk by faith not by sight. His rule is by faith, not by sight. His kingdom comes NOT with our careful OBSERVATION (sight) but is within and among us. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things NOT YET SEEN. We need to see Revelation in light of all the scrips that came before it....I don't have a handle on every single allegory in that book, but overall it is a kind of reiteration and summing up of all that came before. So much of what is written in Rev is already seen in the earlier scriptures.Yes, Jesus will rule for a thousand years with the saints. The Third Temple will be the place of God's throne forever. But God is not limited to one point in space. The city of Yahweh Shammah (translated as "the Lord is there") will be built in Israel. God's rule from the Temple and the city of Yahweh Shammah will not be like the rule of kings or the UN. There will be a country, Israel, where saints from all nations are gathered. These saints will be one people with the Jews. The city of Yahweh Shammah is needed to protect communication with the deceased saints from the rest of the world. The deceased saints will communicate in the forbidden city only with the Israelites from the tribes of Israel. Therefore, Israel will act as a mediator between God and the rest of humanity, it will act as the Messiah. Therefore, we can say that Israel will become the incarnation of Jesus Christ at the Second Coming.
As I mentioned, I have found no command or instruction to build Ezekiel's temple. Unless I missed it and you can show it to me. God never even commanded the first temple in the first place...that has always been in the mind of man, though He allowed it and even made use of it to speak to the people in wonderful allegories/types/shadows. He Himself had it destroyed twice, because it became a stumbling block and idol to the people. Israel is getting set to double down on her error, sadly, to build another temple in still not having accepted Christ as messiah. And there is that Mystery Babylon gets judged with double judgment. And it says in scripture to speak comfortably to Israel, that she has paid double/twice for her sins.
Encourage you or anyone to read the whole chapter of Jer 7 prayerfully. The Lord has never been after the outward show of earthly things or just cleaning the outside of the cup, but it is true righteousness He seeks, in simplicity (simplicity of Christ). Those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth, not in temples made by hands of man.
Jer 7:4
Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these. (I understand the "these" to be the righteousness that the Lord goes on to describe, righteous people.)