I am of the belief that the statement that I bolded and enlarged is illogical.
I could be incorrect..... but that is how I personally understand the implications of
the verse......
Luke 24:25
"Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:"
I understand the phrase...."all that the prophets have spoken" to include every verse from Ezekiel chapter 40 - 48, including those living waters predicted in Ezekiel chapter 47.
Of course it does, i dont quite understand the problem, though. If it is that the prophecy MUST be fulfilled in a physical sense, no matter how israel would respond to the prophecy, then i disagree because the text itself says its a commandment to repent and build it, and then it implies they could also NOT repent and not build it (which happened).
Second, it is nothing new that the prophecies in the OT is conditional. The whole law of moses included many such prophecies which would be fulfilled only if they fulfilled their part of the old covenant.
Third, this passage from luke you quote says he opened their eyes so they could understand all of the scriptures and what was written about him.
In other words, if ezekiels temple must be fulfilled then it istn about him but about a building. But the fact that it is ALL about him, is still true, becaue: But all of the temples - whether they are buildt or not - whether they stand to day or not (and we know none of them stood the test of time nor God, because of their disobedience) is only a "shadow" of the true body, which is the body of christ, and the true temple, which in the new testament is 100% eternally claimed to be the body of christ, aka the saints.
So its still about him, but as so many other conditional prophecyes it was never fulfilled, but as all of the law and prophets, it still serves as shadow for the gospel.
The question is.....
is Messiah Yeshua - Jesus like ancient King Cyrus in any ways?
Cyrus gave freedom of religion to all 127 provinces of the Medo - Persian Empire, so does Messiah Yeshua - Jesus allow freedom of religion on earth.... when Zechariah chapter 14 is fulfilled and the millennial rule over the earth begins?
Well, of course, zech 14 also talked about jesus and the day he would open a river of life for all nations coming out from jerusalem, and his feet would stand on the mt olive etc (it happened): There are many things in all of the prophets that are of a prophetic allgircal language, and we today tend to assume a literal physical fulfilment, so we miss what it was all about. But it happened.
The millennial rule over earth is no where described in the bible, its only parphrasing erronious a part of a passage in rev. 20. It just says that certain of these saints/martyrs will rise again and rule with crhsit for a thousand years. It does not say christ will mainfest physically on earth and rule here for 1000 years some day in the future. In fact the whole book repeats that his knogdom and rulership is now, and because he is on the ultimate place of rulership, Gods throne - which from the day of that vision was not only called The throne of God, but the throne of God and the lamb.
On top of this, the particular book of revelation stats already in its first verse that the whole vision part was symbolic ("semeion" is the greek word) and numbers and beasts etc should not be taken literally. We dont think people actually will run around with 666 on their foreheads (well some do, i guess....) we also realize that when god talks about the cattle on the "thousand hills", its not literally noe thousand hills! It means how many hills there are with cattle on them, god owns them. Mill as the greatest number in the greek numerical system meant symbolically eternal.
As for a kingdom, if we insist that this passage talks about a kingdom taht will stand for a thousand years, it would then only mean that it will do what no other kingdom ever has done....withstand the force of time! If a kingdom still stands after a thousand years, it is the eternal kingdom.
But this strange passage does not have the autority to topple all the clear gospel teaching in the new testament, that says jesus is the king of kings now, and that he already made us "kings and priests on earth" with him (not some i a coming millennium, which is a un biblical word btw) and that he was given "all power in ehaven and on earth" No millennium can change that.
I believe that he does.... and the amazing meeting between former Atheist Howard Storm Ph. D. is an example of Messiah Yeshua - Jesus in his role as the ultimate Cyrus!
I love howard storm, its an amazing story, but i dont see what it has to do with the ezekiel temple.
