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This post is speculative, and if this post is long, it's only to make the reader aware of where my thinking on this is coming from.
To make this post more clear to the reader, let me make it clear that although the way I understand Predestination is not Calvinist, I fall into the camp of what is known as "Historical (and Post-Tribulation) Pre - millenial" in scripture (which differs from the Dispensational view regarding Israel), and I don't believe "Ezekiel's temple" fits into the millennium following the Lord's return at all, but is symbolic of the temple of the New Heavens and New Earth:
When the first temple was built in Jerusalem, Solomon prayed regarding the house of the LORD and the people, and in 2 Chronicles 6:18 we read that during his prayer, Solomon said,
"But truly will God in deed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, Heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You! How much less this house which I have built?"
and in 2 Chronicles 7:1 & 3 we read:
"Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house."
"And when all the sons of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD on the house, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped and praised the LORD, saying, For He is good, for His mercy endures forever."
Much later in Judah's history we read of the glory of the LORD gradually departing from the temple (Ezekiel 9:3 - 11:23), due to Israel's idolatry and waywardness.
Then in Ezekiel's vision we read of a temple which has never been built in accordance with the dimensions given, and we read of the glory of the LORD entering the temple once again:
Ezekiel 43
4"And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the doorway looking to the east.
5 And the spirit, lifting me up, took me into the inner square; and I saw that the house was full of the glory of the Lord.
6 And the voice of one talking to me came to my ears from inside the house; and the man was by my side.
7 And he said to me, Son of man, this is the place where the seat of my power is and the resting-place of my feet, where I will be among the children of Israel for ever: and no longer will the people of Israel make my holy name unclean, they or their kings, by their loose ways and by the dead bodies of their kings."
Ezekiel 44:4
"And he took me to the north doorway in front of the house; and, looking, I saw that the house of the Lord was full of the glory of the Lord; and I went down on my face."
Nevertheless, Jesus called His own body the temple of God (Mark 14:5; John 2:19-22), and in Acts we are told that God does not dwell in temples made with (human) hands (Acts 7:47-50 & Acts 17:24). In 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 and 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 we are told that the bodies of individual believers in Christ are the temple of God; and Ephesians 2:20-22; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; and 1 Peter 2:5 make it clear that together we are the house of God, Christ's body, the church.
In Revelation 13 we read that 'the beast' that ascended from the earth which has two horns like a lamb and speaks like a dragon:
"And it does great wonders, so that it makes fire come down from the heaven onto the earth in the sight of men." (Revelation 13:13)
It's not often that we read of fire coming down from heaven in the Bible:-
* In Exodus 9:23, fire came down upon in Egypt in one of the judgment-plagues.
* In Exodus 19:18 and Deuteronomy 9:15 the LORD came down on Mount Sinai in fire.
* In 2 Kings 1:10 and 2 Kings 1:12 fire came down in judgment.
* In Revelation 20:9 fire came down in judgment.
* In Luke 9:54 James asks the Lord if he would command his apostles to command fire to come down on the Lord's enemies, and the Lord rebuked him.
* In 2 Chronicles 7:1 and 2 Chronicles 7:3 fire came down on the dedicated temple built by Solomon.
* In Revelation 3:13 the false prophet does great wonders and causes fire to come down from heaven.
Today many Christians who believe in a literal thousand year reign of Christ following His return, are teaching that Christ will 'live' in 'Ezekiel's Temple' during the thousand years. In other words, "Ezekiel's temple", which they believe will have been built with (human) hands, will become the seat of Christ in the world during the millennium.
Revelation 13:15 says of the beast ascended from the earth which has two horns like a lamb and speaks like a dragon: "And there was given to it to give a spirit to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might both speak, and might cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed."
Could this be a false claim that the Spirit of God (the glory of God) had entered a temple made with (human) hands ("Ezekiel's temple") and filled the temple? Would this spirit which had filled the temple speak from the temple?
I believe that the Bible is always consistent with its own symbolism. In the Bible we find the following symbols:
Serpent/Dragon: Satan.
Beast: Kingdom/empire/realm of authority, as in Daniel ch. 7.
Crowns: symbols of kingship, authority.
Horns: Kings/those with authority over whole nations of people, as in Daniel ch. 7.
Heads: The seat of a king/Capital cities of kingdoms, as in Daniel ch. 7 and Isaiah 7:8.
Therefore if a the beast mentioned in Revelation 13 erected an image to the beast that had received a mortal wound to one of its heads (and in Revelation 17 the beast is mentioned as having existed at one time, but did not exist when John received the Revelation, and would ascend again out of the abyss and go to perdition), can this be understood to mean a kingdom whose seat or capital city ("head" of the kingdom) had been wounded by the sword (as in war), and then its mortal wound was healed, and then the same kingdom rose again (from out of the abyss)?
Many Christians disagree with me on this, but to me, the symbolism of the Bible implies that the 'beast' in Revelation 13 which ascended from "the earth" speaks not of one man only, but of a kingdom in which two men who hold kingly authority (a beast with two horns - perhaps one with a priestly role and one with a political role); and their kingdom appears like the kingdom of Messiah (like a lamb) but this is not the Messiah, and this kingdom speaks like a dragon.
This kingdom causes those dwelling on the earth to erect an 'image' to the kingdom that had received a mortal wound to is seat of authority/capital city, and yet lived, rising again from out of the abyss, and this kingdom causes fire to come down from heaven (on the "Temple"?), and this kingdom does miracles by which it deceives those who receive the mark of the kingdom or the number of its name, and its number is 600 hundred and 60 and 6. It seems to be the 8th kingdom of Revelation 17, which exercises all the authority of the other kingdom in its presence. The ten kings of the other kingdom will hand over all their power and authority to it.
In 2 Thessalonians we are told that there will be an apostasy (from faith in Christ), and that God would send strong delusion:
2 Thessalonians 2:3-12
3 "Let not anyone deceive you by any means. For that Day shall not come unless there first comes a falling away, and the man of sin shall be revealed, the son of perdition,
4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself forth, that he is God.
5 Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you?
6 And now you know what holds him back, for him to might be revealed in his own time.
7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already working, only he is now holding back until it comes out of the midst.
8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the breath of His mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming,
9 whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 and with all deceit of unrighteousness in those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, so that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie,
12 so that all those who do not believe the truth, but delight in unrighteousness, might be condemned."
Many Christians (correctly, I believe) recognize that the beast ascended from the earth (which has two horns like a lamb and speaks like a dragon), is the false prophet mentioned in Revelation 19:20, because:
* Revelation 16:13 speaks about John seeing "three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet"; and
* Revelation 19:20 says, "And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet doing signs before it, (by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast), and those who had worshiped his image. The two were thrown alive into the Lake of Fire burning with brimstone."; and
In the Revelation, this is the beast ascended from the earth (which has two horns like a lamb and speaks like a dragon) which deceives those who had received the mark of the beast.
This entire post is speculative on my part, but IF the image of the beast is a "third temple" in Jerusalem (also known by many Christians as "Ezekiel's Temple", which they believe will be inhabited by Christ), then if and when such a temple is built, if the false prophet causes fire to come down from heaven at this temple's dedication, and a spirit enters it which is not the Spirit of God, and they hear the voice of this spirit speaking from this temple, then we will understand the strong delusion, and the apostasy of many Christians spoken about by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2.
In Ezekiel ch.40, the dimensions of the walls and East Gate of the temple, according to the length of the cubit on the measuring reed which Ezekiel saw in the man's hand (which is a cubit and a hand-breadth long), is as follows:-
* The breadth and height of the outside wall: 6 x 6 cubits.
* The threshold inside of the East Gate as you walk through the doors into the hallway, 6 cubits wide.
* On the other end of the entrance hallway is a porch also measuring 6 cubits.
* Inside the entrance hallway are three chambers on each side of the hallway (a total of six chambers), the length and breadth of each is 6 x 6 cubits.
* The height of the East Gates' side pillars: 60 cubits.
* The breadth of the Gate opening: 10 cubits.
Hence the dimensions of each of the six chambers in the hallway is 6 x 6 x 60 cubits (according to the length of the cubit on the reed seen in the man's hand).
I haven't gone into the dimensions of "Ezekiel's Temple" a great deal because it's difficult to follow if you're not an architect or boilermaker or draftsman, but all I'm saying is that if man attempts to erect a copy Ezekiel's Temple, this temple will be a temple made with (human) hands, and because many Christians already believe that Jesus will dwell in a temple made with (human) hands, this gives us reason to pause and think about what this 'image of the beast' written about in Revelation 13 might be. We are told that 666 is the number of its name. The beast itself is referred to as the beast who had a wound by the sword and lived. The wound was to one of its heads, and it's deadly wound was healed.
"Then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ! Or, There! Do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders; so much so that, if it were possible, they would deceive even the elect. Behold, I have told you beforehand.
Therefore if they shall say to you, Behold, He is in the desert! Do not go out. Behold, He is in the secret rooms! Do not believe it.
For as the lightning comes out of the east and shines even to the west, so also will be the coming of the Son of man.
For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered.
And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
And then the sign of the Son of man shall appear in the heavens. And then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of the heaven with power and great glory.
And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other." Matthew 24:23-31
To make this post more clear to the reader, let me make it clear that although the way I understand Predestination is not Calvinist, I fall into the camp of what is known as "Historical (and Post-Tribulation) Pre - millenial" in scripture (which differs from the Dispensational view regarding Israel), and I don't believe "Ezekiel's temple" fits into the millennium following the Lord's return at all, but is symbolic of the temple of the New Heavens and New Earth:
FALSE PROPHET AND ITS IMAGE OF THE BEAST?
When the first temple was built in Jerusalem, Solomon prayed regarding the house of the LORD and the people, and in 2 Chronicles 6:18 we read that during his prayer, Solomon said,
"But truly will God in deed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, Heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You! How much less this house which I have built?"
and in 2 Chronicles 7:1 & 3 we read:
"Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house."
"And when all the sons of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD on the house, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped and praised the LORD, saying, For He is good, for His mercy endures forever."
Much later in Judah's history we read of the glory of the LORD gradually departing from the temple (Ezekiel 9:3 - 11:23), due to Israel's idolatry and waywardness.
Then in Ezekiel's vision we read of a temple which has never been built in accordance with the dimensions given, and we read of the glory of the LORD entering the temple once again:
Ezekiel 43
4"And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the doorway looking to the east.
5 And the spirit, lifting me up, took me into the inner square; and I saw that the house was full of the glory of the Lord.
6 And the voice of one talking to me came to my ears from inside the house; and the man was by my side.
7 And he said to me, Son of man, this is the place where the seat of my power is and the resting-place of my feet, where I will be among the children of Israel for ever: and no longer will the people of Israel make my holy name unclean, they or their kings, by their loose ways and by the dead bodies of their kings."
Ezekiel 44:4
"And he took me to the north doorway in front of the house; and, looking, I saw that the house of the Lord was full of the glory of the Lord; and I went down on my face."
Nevertheless, Jesus called His own body the temple of God (Mark 14:5; John 2:19-22), and in Acts we are told that God does not dwell in temples made with (human) hands (Acts 7:47-50 & Acts 17:24). In 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 and 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 we are told that the bodies of individual believers in Christ are the temple of God; and Ephesians 2:20-22; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; and 1 Peter 2:5 make it clear that together we are the house of God, Christ's body, the church.
Fire coming down from heaven:
In Revelation 13 we read that 'the beast' that ascended from the earth which has two horns like a lamb and speaks like a dragon:
"And it does great wonders, so that it makes fire come down from the heaven onto the earth in the sight of men." (Revelation 13:13)
It's not often that we read of fire coming down from heaven in the Bible:-
* In Exodus 9:23, fire came down upon in Egypt in one of the judgment-plagues.
* In Exodus 19:18 and Deuteronomy 9:15 the LORD came down on Mount Sinai in fire.
* In 2 Kings 1:10 and 2 Kings 1:12 fire came down in judgment.
* In Revelation 20:9 fire came down in judgment.
* In Luke 9:54 James asks the Lord if he would command his apostles to command fire to come down on the Lord's enemies, and the Lord rebuked him.
* In 2 Chronicles 7:1 and 2 Chronicles 7:3 fire came down on the dedicated temple built by Solomon.
* In Revelation 3:13 the false prophet does great wonders and causes fire to come down from heaven.
Today many Christians who believe in a literal thousand year reign of Christ following His return, are teaching that Christ will 'live' in 'Ezekiel's Temple' during the thousand years. In other words, "Ezekiel's temple", which they believe will have been built with (human) hands, will become the seat of Christ in the world during the millennium.
Revelation 13:15 says of the beast ascended from the earth which has two horns like a lamb and speaks like a dragon: "And there was given to it to give a spirit to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might both speak, and might cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed."
Could this be a false claim that the Spirit of God (the glory of God) had entered a temple made with (human) hands ("Ezekiel's temple") and filled the temple? Would this spirit which had filled the temple speak from the temple?
THE BEAST ASCENDED FROM THE EARTH
I believe that the Bible is always consistent with its own symbolism. In the Bible we find the following symbols:
Serpent/Dragon: Satan.
Beast: Kingdom/empire/realm of authority, as in Daniel ch. 7.
Crowns: symbols of kingship, authority.
Horns: Kings/those with authority over whole nations of people, as in Daniel ch. 7.
Heads: The seat of a king/Capital cities of kingdoms, as in Daniel ch. 7 and Isaiah 7:8.
Therefore if a the beast mentioned in Revelation 13 erected an image to the beast that had received a mortal wound to one of its heads (and in Revelation 17 the beast is mentioned as having existed at one time, but did not exist when John received the Revelation, and would ascend again out of the abyss and go to perdition), can this be understood to mean a kingdom whose seat or capital city ("head" of the kingdom) had been wounded by the sword (as in war), and then its mortal wound was healed, and then the same kingdom rose again (from out of the abyss)?
Many Christians disagree with me on this, but to me, the symbolism of the Bible implies that the 'beast' in Revelation 13 which ascended from "the earth" speaks not of one man only, but of a kingdom in which two men who hold kingly authority (a beast with two horns - perhaps one with a priestly role and one with a political role); and their kingdom appears like the kingdom of Messiah (like a lamb) but this is not the Messiah, and this kingdom speaks like a dragon.
This kingdom causes those dwelling on the earth to erect an 'image' to the kingdom that had received a mortal wound to is seat of authority/capital city, and yet lived, rising again from out of the abyss, and this kingdom causes fire to come down from heaven (on the "Temple"?), and this kingdom does miracles by which it deceives those who receive the mark of the kingdom or the number of its name, and its number is 600 hundred and 60 and 6. It seems to be the 8th kingdom of Revelation 17, which exercises all the authority of the other kingdom in its presence. The ten kings of the other kingdom will hand over all their power and authority to it.
In 2 Thessalonians we are told that there will be an apostasy (from faith in Christ), and that God would send strong delusion:
2 Thessalonians 2:3-12
3 "Let not anyone deceive you by any means. For that Day shall not come unless there first comes a falling away, and the man of sin shall be revealed, the son of perdition,
4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself forth, that he is God.
5 Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you?
6 And now you know what holds him back, for him to might be revealed in his own time.
7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already working, only he is now holding back until it comes out of the midst.
8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the breath of His mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming,
9 whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 and with all deceit of unrighteousness in those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, so that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie,
12 so that all those who do not believe the truth, but delight in unrighteousness, might be condemned."
Many Christians (correctly, I believe) recognize that the beast ascended from the earth (which has two horns like a lamb and speaks like a dragon), is the false prophet mentioned in Revelation 19:20, because:
* Revelation 16:13 speaks about John seeing "three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet"; and
* Revelation 19:20 says, "And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet doing signs before it, (by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast), and those who had worshiped his image. The two were thrown alive into the Lake of Fire burning with brimstone."; and
In the Revelation, this is the beast ascended from the earth (which has two horns like a lamb and speaks like a dragon) which deceives those who had received the mark of the beast.
----------------------------------------------------
This entire post is speculative on my part, but IF the image of the beast is a "third temple" in Jerusalem (also known by many Christians as "Ezekiel's Temple", which they believe will be inhabited by Christ), then if and when such a temple is built, if the false prophet causes fire to come down from heaven at this temple's dedication, and a spirit enters it which is not the Spirit of God, and they hear the voice of this spirit speaking from this temple, then we will understand the strong delusion, and the apostasy of many Christians spoken about by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2.
In Ezekiel ch.40, the dimensions of the walls and East Gate of the temple, according to the length of the cubit on the measuring reed which Ezekiel saw in the man's hand (which is a cubit and a hand-breadth long), is as follows:-
* The breadth and height of the outside wall: 6 x 6 cubits.
* The threshold inside of the East Gate as you walk through the doors into the hallway, 6 cubits wide.
* On the other end of the entrance hallway is a porch also measuring 6 cubits.
* Inside the entrance hallway are three chambers on each side of the hallway (a total of six chambers), the length and breadth of each is 6 x 6 cubits.
* The height of the East Gates' side pillars: 60 cubits.
* The breadth of the Gate opening: 10 cubits.
Hence the dimensions of each of the six chambers in the hallway is 6 x 6 x 60 cubits (according to the length of the cubit on the reed seen in the man's hand).
I haven't gone into the dimensions of "Ezekiel's Temple" a great deal because it's difficult to follow if you're not an architect or boilermaker or draftsman, but all I'm saying is that if man attempts to erect a copy Ezekiel's Temple, this temple will be a temple made with (human) hands, and because many Christians already believe that Jesus will dwell in a temple made with (human) hands, this gives us reason to pause and think about what this 'image of the beast' written about in Revelation 13 might be. We are told that 666 is the number of its name. The beast itself is referred to as the beast who had a wound by the sword and lived. The wound was to one of its heads, and it's deadly wound was healed.
"Then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ! Or, There! Do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders; so much so that, if it were possible, they would deceive even the elect. Behold, I have told you beforehand.
Therefore if they shall say to you, Behold, He is in the desert! Do not go out. Behold, He is in the secret rooms! Do not believe it.
For as the lightning comes out of the east and shines even to the west, so also will be the coming of the Son of man.
For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered.
And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
And then the sign of the Son of man shall appear in the heavens. And then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of the heaven with power and great glory.
And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other." Matthew 24:23-31
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