This week I had a conversation with a man who has made finding the Ark of the Covenant and the holy things that were lost when Herod’s temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. part of “his ministry.” He said these things were necessary so that the “Third Temple” (it would actually be the fourth) in Jerusalem can be built. In the last couple of decades we have seen much to do about things pertaining to this supposed “new temple.” People have made new cornerstones for the temple (1), attempted to breed spotless red heifers for its sacrifices (2), and manufactured new temple artifacts modeled after the instruments that were lost (3). Temple enthusiasts looking for its original site even excavated under the Dome of the Rock (4). All these things are seen as a threat by the Islamic world and is the cause of the current Islamic Intifada that has cost the lives of millions of people around the world. Here is their own statement.

“The Muslim Brotherhood calls upon the sons of the Islamic Umma (nation), its Ulema (Muslim religious scholars), figures and blocs for an Intifada in order to stop the (alleged Israeli) violations of holy sites…” (5)

The temple mount is where the Muslim shrine to the Prophet Muhammad is and where his “Night Journey to heaven” supposedly took place. They believe that the Dome of the Rock shrine would have to be destroyed to make room for the new Jewish temple, and Orthodox Jews and many Christians would love to see this happen. An organization in Jerusalem dedicated to the rebuilding of the new temple wrote this on their website:

THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE CONSIDERS IT OF PRIMARY IMPORTANCE to educate about the great significance of Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the only site in the world that is considered holy by the Jewish people, and the only site in the world which G-d chose to rest His presence through the establishment of the Holy Temple. (6)

The Ark of the Covenant has not been seen since the Babylonians invaded Israel and destroyed Solomon’s temple and carted off all its holy artifacts to Babylon about 597 B.C. (see Nehemiah ch. 5). Years later when Cyrus the king of Babylon gave orders to return the vessels and artifacts of the former temple to Jerusalem to furnish the “Second Temple” of Ezra, the Ark was not among them. But this did not stop Ezra or Herod the Great from building the second and third temples in Jerusalem. The Holy of Holies was empty in both these structures. The Ark with its Shekinah glory dwelling between the two cherubim on its top was gone. They were offering sacrifices to an empty room. Yet, this man I was talking with–along with other men who make up this “ministry”– think they know where it is, deep beneath the floor of a shop in the old part of Jerusalem where they claim the actual spot of the Holy of Holies once stood.

There has been many a claim as to where the Ark is to be found and among them are a closed-off temple in Ethiopia, southern Africa, Chartres Cathedral in France, the United States, Rome, England, Ireland, buried under Mount Nebo where Moses was buried, under the Dome of the Rock, and now this! Yet all these so called “sites,” many of them “Christian,” ignore the very scriptures themselves as to where it is.

And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his covenant: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail. (Rev 11:19, KJ2000)

 

The Antichrist and the Temple of God

These false teachers are all about the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem and say that it has to happen because of their misinterpretation of this passage from Paul’s letters,

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come the falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now you know what restrains that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity does already work: only he who now restrains will do so, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked One be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the breath of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deception of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them a strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be condemned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2Thess 2:3-12, KJ2000)

They teach that the temple must be built in Jerusalem so that the antichrist can sit on its throne. But where is the temple of God according to the New Covenant? Yes, it is made up of the ecclesia of Christ, the church, not some building in Jerusalem. This passage is a dire warning that these many antichrists (see 1 John ch. 2) will come into the church with all power and signs and lying wonders seeking whom they may deceive. But know this, those who belong to Jesus as His bride will not be seduced by them. There are both wise and foolish virgins. The most subtle form of the antichrist spirit is found in the Greek meaning of this word:

Antichristos – opposed to or instead of Christ

Today in the church we see Paul’s warning to the elders of the church at Ephesus coming to fruition in the form of men rising up from among us, lording over the flock of God, drawing believers away from Christ and making them disciples unto themselves. Christendom today is full of cult followings of men. Paul said,

For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. (Acts 20:29-31, KJV)

Paul and John (see 1 John ch, 2) saw it coming. We have grown so accustomed to men coming into our meetings and rising up among us and lording over the flock of God that we expect it, yet where is the humble servant demonstrated by Christ? These men are antichrists for they stand before us drawing our attention to them with their self centered teachings instead of to Christ. The more arrogance and pride they demonstrate, the more they boast of their great ministries, the more we give place to them like so many hapless sheep. And it’s not long until we have another personality cult formed in our congregations. You don’t think that you are in a personality cult? Answer me this: What happens if these strong leaders fall into sin, leave or die? The church splits and there is a falling away every time. This would not be so if the people were being formed and founded on Christ as their One True Foundation, if so hey would continue to be members one of another as God’s loving family.

Religious Idolatry

Earlier in the history of Israel, the Ark was also lost as well. Samuel was the judge and prophet over Israel and the High Priest Eli’s two sons presumed to take it out into battle against the Philistines. They thought they had the magic that would conquer their foes. They were wrong. Eli’s two sons were perverse and abused God’s people with their priesthood. The Philistines killed them and took the Ark and put it in their pagan temple of Dagon (see 1Samuel ch. 4-6). When David later recovered it, he found out the hard way that God was very specific as to how Israel was to transport it. Because he did not move it “after the due order,” on the shoulders of sanctified priests, his presumptuous act resulted in the death of Uza. Witches and the occult use black arts and cast spells on their enemies with their sacred objects, but God is all about His glory and will not have it defiled by presumptuous men and their superstitions.

When will Christians ever learn this lesson? When the glory is gone out and God is through with one dispensation because of its lack of usefulness to accomplish His ends, He moves on to the next. The Jewish system at the time of Christ had come to that very place. The temple had ceased to be a house of prayer for all nations and became a den of thieves. Because of this Jesus said that it would be totally razed to the ground, and that is what the Romans did in 70 A.D. Not one stone was left upon another just as He said.

And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See you not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. (Matt 24:1-2, KJ2000)

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets, and stone them which are sent unto you, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. (Matt 23:37-38, KJ2000)

Carnal man always looks at outward things made with hands, the things of this world that can be seen, touched, tasted, smelled, or heard.  This is where he places his heart’s desires, but God looks upon the heart and the inward motivations from where we live and act. Carnal man worships in physical temples and idolizes such religious trappings, yet Jesus said that the kindom of heaven comes without outward observation for it is in our midst. Paul said to the superstitious Greeks,

Therefore then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Deity is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God overlooked; but now commands all men everywhere to repent: (Acts 17:29-30, KJ2000)

Yes, God once used a physical temple for a season, but no longer. He has moved on to its spiritual counterpart. As Paul put it, “First the natural then the spiritual.” God once used a bronze serpent on a pole to heal the people of snake bite in the wilderness. All they had to do was look upon it and they were saved. Jesus referred to this as a symbol of Himself and His perfect sacrifice on the cross when He said to the Jews, “Lift me up and I will draw all men nigh.” When we look to Jesus only as our Savior, not the contrivances of religion, we put our faith in Him alone and His life within us and we are saved (see Romans 5:10)..

Right here is the problem with Christendom’s focus on physical things. It occludes our understanding of the New Covenant, God’s spiritual house and spiritual priesthood and the depths of spiritual meaning that is written about in the New Testament. We have become all about buildings and their decorations and artifacts, worship bands, human offices and human stature (talented men and women who teach and minister to us and hear our problems as our counselors, etc.)  Have we never read Isaiah’s prophesy about Jesus?

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. (Isa 9:6-7, KJV- emphasis added)

He is our Wonderful Counsellor and of the increase of HIS government there will be no end. And as for our need of human teachers, what does the New Covenant say? Do we dare to believe it?

And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. (Heb 8:11, KJ2000)

It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that has heard, and has learned of the Father, comes unto me. (John 6:45, KJ2000)

But the Comforter, who is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14:26, KJ2000)

These things have I written unto you concerning them that deceive you. But the anointing which you have received of him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in him. (1John 2:26-27, KJ2000)

In the economy of God, it is all about Jesus. HE is the one born as the Messiah who was the Son of David (of the lineage of David). It is HIS throne and government which will last forever. HE is the Wonderful Counsellor and our Prince who gives us peace. In HIM dwells the fullness of God our Everlasting Father. It is His Spirit within that teaches us. It is the zeal of our God who has made this come to pass for us. It is not by human might nor by power, but always by His Spirit.

Today Christians are spending their time, efforts and resources on supporting physical Israel and the rebuilding and furnishing of another temple in Jerusalem where they hope Israeli temple priests will offer animal sacrifices once again. What an affront to God and to His Son! By this idolatry we are telling God that Christ’s sacrifice once for all was not enough! We are telling Him that we are not His temple any longer! We are telling Him that Jesus is not our High Priest. We are telling Him that we are not the true spiritual Israel, that we are not His people and that HE is not our God (see Romans 2:28-29)!  Just as it was with Israel in the wilderness so it is today. What Stephen told the leaders of the Jews 2000 years ago (and it got him killed), applies today!

“Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it… So it was until the days of David, who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says, “‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?’ “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.” (Acts 7:44-51, ESV2011- emphasis added)

This dire warning to the Jews back then applies to the visible church today! The Holy Spirit was given us to lead us into all truth and how often I have seen the Spirit quenched in our meetings as He has tried to speak or lift us up into spiritual worship! Jesus said this to the Samaritan woman at the well:

Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship you know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:21-24, KJ2000- emphasis added)

What is so hard to understand about the spiritual nature of the New Covenant and its description in the Bible?  God is Spirit and His Christ is building Him a SPIRITUAL house, one made with living stones–those who are of HIS household of faith? Why is it so hard to understand that in the New Covenant, we who believe in Christ are the true Israel? Is it so hard to understand that the true Zion and Jerusalem are from above, the Kingdom of Heaven? All this fuss and hoopla over the rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem is a ploy of our enemy to get us to focus on the kingdoms of this world and their material trappings. There is a lot of worldly politics and carnal focus on this fallen kingdom of Israel. All this focus on worldly things is nothing less than idolatry! Will the Jewish people be saved? Yes, He has promised that a special appeal will be made to them once “the times of the Gentiles has been fulfilled,” but they will have to enter the Door of the Sheepfold, Jesus Christ, the same way we did, by faith instead of blaspheming His name as they do today.

Where is God’s Holy nation today and His priests? It is His ecclesia (church) of called-out ones,

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own; that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: Who in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. (1Pet 2:9-10, KJ2000)

Where is HIS temple today?

Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1Cor 3:16, KJ2000)

And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (2Cor 6:16, KJ2000)

Now therefore you are no more strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone; In whom all the building fitly framed together grows unto a holy temple in the Lord: In whom you also are built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit. (Eph 2:19-22, KJ2000)

All through the Old and NEW Testaments we see references to Christ being the one who was to raise up the temple of God as its Cornerstone and its Foundation, not men. Here are just a few:

Also the LORD tells you that he will make you a house. And when your days be fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your offspring after you [Jesus, the Son of David], who shall proceed out of your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. (2Sam 7:11b-14a, KJ2000)

[Solomon prayed] And now, O God of Israel, let your word, I pray you, be confirmed, which you spoke unto your servant David my father. But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built? (1Kgs 8:26-27, KJ2000)

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation: he that believes shall not be in haste. (Isa 28:16, KJ2000)

According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds thereon. But let every man take heed how he builds thereupon. For no other foundation can a man lay than what is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1Cor 3:10-11, KJ2000- emphasis added)

Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and will you raise it up in three days? But he spoke of the temple of his body. (John 2:19-21, KJ2000- emphasis added)

Jesus died and rose again on the third day in His resurrected body. And who and where is His body in this NEW Covenant? When Jesus rose again He led the way for us to be raised as spiritual beings in THIS life as members of His body. Paul wrote of this event.

“But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” (Eph 4:7-8, ESV2011)

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that just as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection (Rom 6:4-5, KJ2000)

Jesus took our captivity to sin upon Himself on the cross. He not only dealt with our sins, but our propensity to sin by giving us a new heart. We who believe in Christ alone are of the New Jerusalem which is from above, not the Old one down here!

But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. (Gal 4:26, ESV2011)

Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which you have, that no man take your crown. He that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. (Rev 3:11-12, KJ2000)

As members of His risen body we are spiritual beings who have made our home in heaven with the Father. Although our bodies are living on this earth, this is not our home.

For as the body is one, and has many members, and [we are] all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. (1Cor 12:12-13, KJ2000- emphasis added)

Now you are the body of Christ, and members in particular. (1Cor 12:27, KJ2000)

So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. (Rom 12:5, KJ2000)

So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit… As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. (1Cor 15:42-49, ESV2011- emphasis added)

The old temple system was done away with for a reason. It did not work! Israel just kept on sinning until His very house of prayer had become a den of thieves. Finally the stewards whom He placed over His vineyard killed His Son so that they could have the whole vineyard to themselves (See Luke 20:9-18 and John 11:47, 48). God did away with the first in order to make way for a more excellent Covenant based on His Son and the power of His grace, not on the law and sacrifices of Moses that were weak through the flesh. A physical worldly system of worship was done away with to make room for a spiritual one where we worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.

Just before the Romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem and the nation of Israel, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews wrote this:

Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such a high priest [Jesus], who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens… For if he were on earth, he would not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things… But now has he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he says, Behold, the days come, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not… A new covenant, he has made the first old. Now that which decays and grows old is ready to vanish away. (Heb 8:1-13, KJ2000- emphasis added)

Christ came to establish the NEW and more excellent Covenant based on Him alone living in the hearts of men. He is our High Priest that ministers for us before God’s heavenly throne as our Advocate. The old priesthood and temple system were mere shadows of things to come. All those animal sacrifices for sin were only a shadow of Christ’s perfect sacrifice for sin, ONCE for us ALL.  With this being true, why are Christians worshiping in their hearts and desiring to reestablish a former shadowy system instead of the ONE casting that shadow? Israel, Jerusalem, the temple, the Levitical priesthood, the Holy of Holies, the Ark of the Covenant and all the furnishings of that old temple were all signs of things to come and this is why Jesus said, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign.” To still seek after these signs and not after the Substance they point to is idol worship and spiritual adultery.

When you drive into our town, there’s a sign on the outskirts that says, “Entering Coeur d Alene, Idaho.” Do we read it and say, “Oh, the sign says we are entering Coeur d’ Alene! Let’s camp right here around the base of this sign. We have arrived”? No, we go on to the place in our town that is our true destination. Anything less and we are still not home.

To worship and devote ourselves to a mere signs and shadows is no different than what Israel did when they made an idol out of the brazen serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness when Gideon was a judge over Israel. That sign was pointing to Jesus being raised up on the cross for all our sins. It was not the Substance, but the shadow or sign pointing to Him.

So, dear saints of God, fix your spiritual eyes on Jesus and HIS kingdom, not on a covenant that was done away with or the kingdoms of men and their so-called “ministries” that are all about the things of this earth. As the Father said on the Mount of Transfiguration in the presence of Moses and Elijah, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.”

(1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_O1K94NyFA

(2) https://www.timesofisrael.com/red-heifer-temple-institute/

(3) https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/33583/new-details-emerge-rebuilt-holy-temple-jewish-world/

(4) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/israelis-dig-tunnel-near-temple-mount-1610601.html

(5) https://www.investigativeproject.org/6418/muslim-brotherhood-leads-calls-for-intifada

(6) http://www.templeinstitute.org/