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You just don't know it. Am I terrible? Well, good evening. We will, uh, I'm gonna open us up with a word of prayer and then we'll get started. Lance, will you open us up with a word?
Dear Lord, thank you for today. Thank you for the beautiful weather. Thank you for everyone that's here and thank you for those that are not able to but wish they could. Dear Lord, be with those that are sick and in the hospital and those that are shut in.
May the Lord bless Mike tonight and may the Lord give him the words to say to touch us and bring the word to us the way you want us to see it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen. So far we have, um, we have seen the development of Christ's fulfillment in the Old Testament. We have seen the development of Christ in the New Testament. We have seen Christ's fulfillment with the coming of the Spirit.
And we have seen Christ's identity as His embodiment of the identity of Christ. We have seen all of these things but now we're gonna get to something that might be a little controversial. Um, depending on, uh, we good?
Depending on what spectrum you land on in your eschatology. And this is eschatology. And interesting enough we often think that eschatology is here at the end of all things. And it is the study of last things.
Eschaton. It is the study of last things. But does anybody have any idea, this isn't a trick question, any idea when eschatology actually begins? It's not a trick in the beginning. It began at the fall.
He had the Garden of Eden. And our first parents. You good? And our first parents were put in the Garden. The most beautiful, most perfect plush place that God had ever put. Hey, uh, our time will be longer than this line, alright?
I'm not trying to cram everything on this little line. Uh, but he put him in the most plush place. And he was given one prohibition. That prohibition was, everybody should know by now, do not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Because the day you eat in dying, you will die. And he, we hope, and we have no reason to believe that he did not. That wasn't relayed to his wife. And they were however long that lasted before the fall actually took place, we have no idea.
Could have been three hours. Could have been three days. It could have been three months. It could have been three years. We don't know. But when it did take place, the fall happens. They are exiled from the Garden of Eden.
And we'll even say that was a gracious act of God. Gracious act of God because why? What was another tree in the Garden that they could eat of? They could have eaten the tree of life. And if they would have now in their fallen condition reached their hand out and ate of the tree of life, perpetual state of sinfulness.
So what does God do? He exiles them, puts an angel to guard them where they can't go back into the tree of life. That's when eschatology begins. Everything from here is pointing towards the culmination of all things, okay?
Now, those of you that have been in my Sunday school class and have heard me teach biblical theology, even starting in Revelation, the book begins. One begins in a garden and basically the other one ends in a garden.
What have I called the Garden of Eden in the beginning? Anybody remember? Don't think of the temple as a concrete structure. Don't think of it or the tabernacle. It began here. And what was the Garden of Eden?
Anybody? The dwelling place of God. And the beginning of all things begins with God the Creator in perfect harmony with His creatures and the creatures in perfect harmony with their creators and specifically dealing with Adam and Eve in perfect communion.
I mean, perfect communion. Imagine that. Husband and wife, perfect communion with one another. No rift ever. Walking around unashamed and with their creator walking in the garden with God. Now, this is I'm not willing to die on what I'm fixing to say or even fight about it or even argue about it, but I believe that Adam and Eve walked in the garden with the pre-incarnate Christ.
That's what I believe. I believe that too they were walking in the garden. Now, so, here's the temple. They're exiled from the temple. Why were they exiled from the temple? Disobedience. They broke the law of God.
God gave them a prohibition. They broke it. Boop, 86th. And this pattern will happen as you get into the time when you get into the land, you get into the temple. God's, you're exiled and put away from the place of God for disobeying the word of God.
So, here it is. You have the fall. You have all this time that takes place. You have Noah. You have the patriarchs. You have Moses. And then a year after the exodus takes place, something extraordinary happens.
What happens one year after they come out of the land of Egypt and they're wandering around in the wilderness? What takes place one year after? Tabernacle. I couldn't figure out the time frame here. If you take the total of those, those could be wrong.
There were roughly 16, based on what the 1 ,656 years before between Adam and the flood, roughly. I don't know for sure, but we're just going by the generations that we have. And then you have the time from Noah to patriarchs and from the patriarchs to Moses, probably somewhere around 2 ,500 years.
This was gone. The dwelling place of God was gone. Now, people didn't commune with God. Now, I do want to at least be honest with how the scripture has unfolded itself, not saying that nobody had ever had a moment of communion with God.
Everybody understand the difference? The difference is, here, they could walk with God in the garden. They were hand in hand, arm in arm, embracing one another. There was no barrier of sin or anything because they were in perfect communion.
But once that happens, that communion can't take place the way it did here because they've been removed from the communion in the dwelling place of God. Well, you did have, we could even say, I believe that Abraham in some way, shape, form, or fashion, communed with God.
Everybody remember the Oaks of Mamre? They ate what he made lunch or dinner where it was, and they ate. And then, if you wanted to get to the time of the judges, I'm just using these because these are the things that we would remember pretty...
What about Mrs. and Mrs. Manoa? And you say, why you put her mom first? His mom first? Because who did he tell first they were going to have a kid? The angel of the Lord came and told Mrs. Manoa you're going to have a baby.
She goes and tells Mr. Manoa and he says, no, I'm not going to believe that until I hear it for myself. The angel of the Lord comes back and he says, shows up, he says, hey, what did you tell my wife?
He said, I ain't got to tell you because I already told her. You should listen to her. And you remember they spent time together, communing with one another, and it says one of the, to me, it was one of the oddest things.
He did many signs that amazed them. What were they? I don't know about y 'all but that's what I'm thinking. What was he doing? But he did things that amazed them and Mr. Manoa says, what's your name? And he says, can't tell you.
It's too wonderful. It's too wonderful. So these people did have times where they did have short term communion, which always points forward to go, oh man, you know, but remember what Mr. Manoa said when the angel of the Lord left?
It says that...
When his wife was saying what she said, he's like, you know, he could have struck us dead, and he was like, well, if he wanted us dead, he would have killed us. And he said,.
He said, we should die because we have seen the Lord. I use this passage here, if you ever talk to a Orthodox Jew, they say, God never would come as a man, never did he come as a, showing himself as a man because God won't do that because he's spirit.
I said, well, I'll tell you this, you ain't going to disagree with Abraham. Who did he see at the Oaks of Mamre because he worshipped? These people bowed down and worshipped the angel of the Lord, and that angel accepted it, and he even said, Mr. Manoa says, we've been in the presence of God.
So, he, Mr. Manoa, knew that it was God. Now, how he, whether he was a manifestation of a man, an angel, we don't know. So, we do see at times where people commune, but it wasn't until here, when the tabernacle comes, that you then have,.
And then you come out here and you would have maybe some butcher tables and the altar labor.
This would be what would be institute inside, this would be the surrounding area, and this would be basically the tabernacle and its vicinity because it was roped off by a thing, it's actually called screens is what they call in Exodus, that right here would be the Holy of Holies, and what dwelled in the Holy of Holies?
Presence of God. What was it going over top of? The Ark of the Covenant. What was in the Covenant? The carrier of the Covenant, right. And, right here would be the incense in which they would come in, here, and this would be the showbread, menorah, and when they would go into here once a year, where God dwelled, there was still a barrier.
They would go through that veil, but he would take that incense, and he would smoke it out in there. Anybody see what a smoke machine does at a concert or any kind of show? What happens when light hits smoke?
Okay. Still, he was shrouded in that cloud of incense. There was still some barrier there. But, it was the place where one time a year, one man could go in and be in the presence of God. But the promise of God's people when they came out of the land of Egypt was, I'm going to be where I can dwell in the midst of you.
I will be your God, and you will be my people. How many could come through this? There was a gate here. Who could go through there? What's that? Only a certain type of man. We're going to get to that in a minute.
And, priest. Only the priest. This is up in Tabernacle. That's it. I see your eyes moving. Wait till we get to the temple. Things get a little different. You have more courtyards. Now, what was around here?
No. Around here was the 12 trials that were set out in certain ways. We're going to fix the draw of the temple because it wasn't until the temple came along that you get these out of courts. Okay? So, they were set out here.
The priest came through here. They did their deal. But actually, the only ones that could come past this altar into this area here were priests and pyramid. Amen. That's it. Now, the dwelling place of God has come back.
But not the way it was in the garden. Would we agree? Who actually saw the glory of God in the dwelling place of God once a year? Only one man. And it was the descendant of Aaron who would have been a priest and he went in there one time a year.
Now, when you get to your temple I might have to make this a little bit smaller because I got to get the... You had here. There's a reason why I'm drawing this. When we get to Ezekiel, you're going to see that some of this ain't here no more.
Anybody read all of Ezekiel 43 -48? Okay. So, you had outer court was what? Who could go there? Everybody! Matter of fact, this is where proselytes and Godfears could come if they wanted. We'll begin with Godfear.
Godfear was the one putting himself under the Mosaic legislation, believing that Yahweh was the faithful, true, and only living God. But then, what was the proselyte? A little different. Both of them were converts, but one went all the way to circumcision.
The other Godfear didn't, but both of them could go here. But, they couldn't go any further than here. No matter if they were Godfear or circumcised. Okay? You could be a Greek that's been circumcised.
You still couldn't go past here. This would have been court of women, pure men, here. So, who can go there? See what's narrowing down? Who can come? Who can come? Only those authorized. Only those who can come.
Then, if I remember correct, this would have been the Decatur gate. Then, when you come through here, only the priest. Only the priest. And men, circumcised men, would come here, but they couldn't go past here.
It was almost like an imaginary line here. Because men would come in, and it was here that they would, if you go read Leviticus, you know who took place in the butchering of the animal? We often think, they go to the priest, and he's gone.
That's not what takes place. The worshipper takes part in that animal, watches him be cut. That's why there was butcher tables everywhere in there, and it was part of the worship. Now, it wasn't every time, but that was part of the worship.
But they couldn't go past here once it was butchered. You had the altar, the laver, the incense, and another golden incense here. As you got back, once again, who could come here?
Only the descendants of Levi. Go ahead. They were butchering. There was tables. My question is, if I may be incorrect, but I thought in Jewish, they had to bleed the animals. They couldn't just kill them outright.
They had to.
Cut a vessel and let the blood out. Some of them, there was basins under the table. Some of them, there was basins up under. Once it was a permanent structure, there was, and I'm running out of room with my expert drawing technique, where the altar would be, much bigger than the one that was carried around.
There was drains that went down into the Kidron Valley that got the blood out. You've got to remember, not everything that they were cutting was bleeding. It was to be ate. Stuff that had to be ate, eaten, sorry, had to be eaten, had to be bled out, because it had to be kosher.
You could eat anything that had the blood in it. There was a violation of the Mosaic Law. But stuff that was butchered, parts of it would go on the altar for burning, and then some of it was given to the priest.
How do you think the priest ate? They ate the food. What was dirt bag one, dirt bag two, hoppy and phineas? What was their problem? They were extorting the people. They were putting it in a certain way, and they'd pull it out before they burned the fat off.
Everybody remember that? Then they were extorting the women, their sex, all that. That's what they were doing. This isn't about so much kosher as it is the way God prescribed them to do the sacrifice.
Then what was left over after the sacrifice is then given to the priest to eat, along with hides for clothing and whatever else they used it for.
They had to take commandments. Where did they get all the laws about how they could kill stuff, and where did that come in? Read the book of Leviticus. That's the Levitical law. About who? That's why it's all bloody.
I've got to move on.
Because I've got a lot to cover. Read Leviticus and read Hebrews. Those work good together. Dwelling place of God is still here. Here was the holy place, most holy place. Only one person can go there.
It's the only place that God dwelled. That is it. We're talking about His covenant dwelling. I'm not talking about God's being omnipresent. I want you to understand what I'm saying. The dwelling place of God.
If somebody wanted to worship God, what was the most holy city in Israel? What's that? Jerusalem. What was the most holy place in Jerusalem? 30 cubits by 30 cubits. When this started, back with the tabernacle, it was 20 by 20.
I'm sorry, that would be 30 feet by 30 feet under Solomon's. When was Solomon's... Just to let you know, the way that the barriers were set up was set up by Solomon. The Herod's temple, the courts were the same.
They were just expanded. This couldn't expand, but this could. That is what Herod did. He expanded it. 35 acres. Just to let you know. 35 acres total. If you were looking at the Temple Mount today, that whole temple complex would have taken that up.
The court of the Gentiles expanded that into Solomon's portico and colonnade. So, when the temple was destroyed in 586, everything was wiped clean. Knocked down. Everything. There wasn't nothing left.
So, that would have taken to 586 and maybe 5... Between 573 and 571, depending on your time frame of the last part of Ezekiel's prophecy, he'd been prophesized roughly from 40 to 48. And that is dealing with a new structure in his vision that is much larger than what was there when Solomon was there.
As a matter of fact, it would be much larger than anything that Herod would have fixed. So, when they come back into the land, that temple that's built technically would be Zerubbabel's temple. But if you take your Bible and you open it up to Ezekiel, because that's where we're at, I'm going to begin showing you...
I'm going to read all of 40 through 48. But I do want to read chapter 47. I'm not going to read the whole chapter. But he's given this basically a read and he's supposed to measure. Measure this. Measure that.
Measure this. Measure that. You get a thousand here. A thousand there. A thousand this. A thousand that. Now, whether those measurements are literal or whether they're symbolic, that's an argument for another time in the book of Revelation.
If you want to come hear that argument, we can talk about that. But the most important thing about this is when you get to chapter 47 of Ezekiel, and he's talking about this new temple now. This is a vision temple in his mind.
When we think of apocalyptic vision, does this mean this is something literal? Or is this signifying something? Signify. It's a something being signified. It is a vision. This is telling you something that will take place.
That's why I don't believe this is a real temple on a real piece of land because it would have never fit. It was 500 cubits by 500 cubits. That wasn't even the fit on Mount Moriah. So when you get to chapter 47, listen to verse 21.
He's talking, giving all the west side, east side, south side, all these things. He says, So you shall divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. You shall divide it by a lot for an inheritance among yourselves.
And listen to this. And among the aliens who stay in your midst. Hey, under the Mosaic legislation, were they to divide their land with anybody but the tribes? No. So this and this vision, God's giving them, hey man, this new land is not just for you.
It's for, some translations say sojourner. Yeah, sojourner. Aliens. People that aren't settlers of the 12 tribes. One translation said immigrant. Immigrants. And I think that is a good way of saying it.
It's like, look, you've got these people that are not Jewish and they're coming. It says divide your land and give them an inheritance among your midst that they would stay in your midst. And here it is.
Who bring forth sons in your midst and they shall be to you as the native born among the sons of Israel. Do you hear how shocking this would have been? I want you to take these people that are not native born, that are not of the descendant of the blood of Abraham and I want you to allot them parts of your land and treat them just as if they were a descendant of Abraham.
That's what he's saying. He says here, and they shall be allotted an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. And the tribe with which the alien stays there you shall give him his inheritance declares the Lord.
Hey, did God ever tell them under the Mosaic law, hey, you're going to have to divide your land with other people. No. Matter of fact, they weren't supposed to do that in the sense of, this is once Joshua laid out their land.
So this vision is expanding on something different. This would have been certainly would have been shocking to those that heard. Certainly been shocking. Now, if you have this temple that began here in the garden and you get that was exile and you move forward you had the tabernacle and they were exiled from the garden because of disobedience.
Anybody know why the tabernacle was taken out of Shiloh? Disobedience. Disobedience. Remember why it was taken? It was Hophi and Phinehas. You remember those guys? They took it out to war and it was captured by the Philistines.
And then it was basically not used like it was intended to use, but then comes back to David, brings it back to Jerusalem. He then has his son build the temple. There it is. Now you have the dwelling place of God progressionally getting bigger from here to here.
The holy of holies only expanded once under from here to here. So you see a progression of the expansion of that which becomes sacred. The most holy would be in the middle, here, then the back. But these areas here become more sacred around.
When you were reading chapters 40 through 48, did you notice that? As you were reading, hey, the outward courts begin to get sacred. The sacredness of the place is much greater. But what's cool is Ezekiel's temple gets bigger.
All those barriers go away. I want you to read Ezekiel. There is no court of the Gentiles. There's no court of the women. It is everybody now coming and having access to worship God, the dwelling place of God, unhindered.
That's an amazing thing. In the progression of Revelation, not the book of Revelation, but God unfolding, that was jaw-dropping. Now there's no barriers anymore. You read it here? Now that which was allotted is for everybody, even the alien-born.
Now, what does this represent? That's the question. What does this represent? If it has knocked down, his vision has knocked down that which was the barrier between Jew and Gentile. Something has to come and take place, correct?
Hey, if you get a new law, there has to be a new what? A new covenant. Because with a new covenant comes a different law with a different priesthood and all of that. So, here it is. These barriers are now gone, but as he is developing his vision, God is giving this to him, do you know it still stays in the confines of the Mosaic Law?
Because if he is to completely do away with the Mosaic Law, saying that the Mosaic Law doesn't matter, what would they have done to Ezekiel? It would have made him a full-blown heretic. Think about Zechariah chapter 14.
Zechariah chapter 14, in that last passage it talks about, and God will descend and he will set his feet on the Mount of Olives and he splits it in two. Everybody remember that passage? And it says it makes ways for all of the nations to come and worship and to observe the Feast of Tabernacles.
You're like, well, wait a minute. If it's the new heaven to the new earth and that's what you believe it is, then why is he still saying that they will come and they will worship and observe the Feast of Tabernacles?
Because they can only prophesy in the structure in which they already have been given. They can't prophesy outside of that. Why do you think, and this moves us forward, why do you think when Jesus came and He says, don't think I've came into this world to do away with the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill it.
You know, Jesus never prophesied anything different other than affirming what the Prophets said before Him. Do you know that? That's when He did. But, what did get them is when you get to John chapter 2 and He's having His interaction with them, with the Pharisees, and He says, you destroyed this temple and in three days I'll raise it up again.
What did they think? It was stupid. Exactly! Why did they think it was stupid? Well, I mean, which He says is correct. Because you know what they said to Him? What do you mean? It's taken us 46 years to build this place.
That's a long time. That is a very long time and here it is, this guy who they think's a crazy man. They've already called Him a devil. And He says, hey, I'm going to, I'm going to tear it down and in three days I'll raise it back up again.
And it says, not even His disciples knew until after He was resurrected He was talking about Himself. So when Jesus says, I've not come to do away with the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill it, Jesus comes in and fulfills all of all the Old Testament the sacrificial and He fulfills all of the temple and its surrounding barriers.
What does Jesus come in and do? He comes in and fulfills all that God required, then willingly laying His life down and then what does Paul say? He now has knocked down the barrier between the Jew and the Greek.
Between bond and slave. Hey, we'll just turn it over. I think that's in Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. We'll begin in verse 13. Verse 13. It says, But now in Christ Jesus you who were formerly were afar off have been brought near by the blood of Christ for He Himself is our peace.
He made both groups into one and broke down the barrier and the dividing wall by abolishing in His flesh the enmity which is the law of the commandments contained in ordinances. So that in Himself He might make two into one new man and thus establishing peace and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross by it having put to death the enmity.
And He He came. I'm sorry. He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through Him we have our access in one spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers nor aliens but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are the household of God.
Having been built in the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you are also being built together into a dwelling of God in the spirit.
So when Jesus comes fulfilling all that the temple prophesied although in picture Jesus then knocks down the barriers between all of these things that could not come close and through His own flesh now makes everybody available to come to whom?
To come to God. Why? Because we are now priests because of our high priest. We fail to remember that because Jesus is the fulfillment of the temple, His body being the temple of God, laying it down, God resurrecting it, then sending forth the spirit, we now have access to God.
You don't have to go to a priest anymore under the Levitical law. Why? You have access to Him. That's where we, everybody makes a big deal and we should when He said it is finished it said it was torn top to bottom meaning nobody grabbed it from the bottom and it was torn making access to all who would believe in Jesus Christ.
Jesus being the temple. Then and Him giving the Holy Spirit to us, which we did last week, when He gives the Holy Spirit to the believer now who is the dwelling place of God? The believer. Collectively, the church.
And what does Paul say in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 16? You are the temple of God. And then he said, not only did he say it then, he says it again in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Do you not know you are the temple of God?
The dwelling place of the Holy? So, because we have this progression you go from Solomon's temple remember Herod's temple is not up yet. Now if I could have kept going that way I would have. You have Ezekiel's vision which points to Gentile inclusion which would then point to Christ who would come and once Christ came He sends the Holy Spirit to dwell with all believers and willing to die for this.
If you do not have the Holy Spirit, you are not a member of the new covenant. You're not. What was the promise of the new covenant? What's that? Everyone would have the Spirit. What did we, what did Moses, I said last week, you had Eldad and Medad and they were prophesying and Joshua came to him and said hey those guys need to cut it out and he said oh man, oh then I wish that all of God's people had the Spirit and that's what takes place with Christ therefore the temple structure is no longer needed.
It's no longer needed. Why? Because you don't need a sacrifice. If you don't need a sacrifice, you don't need an altar. If you don't need an altar, there's no reason to have a temple anymore because it's all irrelevant.
Now I know this may not sit well with some people and if anybody's watching online, this is not to be snarky but Judaism and second temple worship is an irrelevant religion. No temple, no sacrifice, no priesthood irrelevant.
Those are the elements that you have to have second temple Judaism. It's irrelevant. And why is it irrelevant? Because the true temple had come that both temples pointed to and now that that true temple has come the dwelling place is no longer in a 30 by 30 section.
It's in the heart of all people and that's why we can say that all of the earth will one day be the dwelling place of God. And why is that? Because when you get to Revelation chapter 21 and 22 it says there's no need for a light because the land is their light and there is no temple there.
It says there's no temple there. Hey, let's just turn over here. Because it goes there's no temple there and then it goes well there is a temple there. So watch this. 21 verse 22. Revelation 21 verse 22.
And this is John the revelator still seeing his vision on the isle of Patmos and here's what he says. Once again this is just one of the proof positive again that this is a visionary prophecy and I saw no temple in it.
He's in, remember he's in heaven, he's in a new Jerusalem. He says I saw no temple in it for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. So the temple used twice in the same verse. What is he talking about?
He said, go ahead.
I always looked at this verse in connection with the last verse of Ezekiel.
48? Oh yeah, he says and the Lord will be there. Yeah.
I remember when I first read that maybe like last year this came to my mind right away.
Yeah, the last thing, the last phrase of Ezekiel is and the Lord was there. That's how his book ends. And the Lord was there. And he uses that at the end of after giving all of the enlargements and all of these crazy descriptions of this temple vision.
But when you get here it says there's no temple in it. Well wait a minute, there's no temple. What does he mean no temple? There's no structure here. There's no structure here. There's no block structure here with outer courts and a holy of holies.
Why? Because the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. When Jesus says he was the temple of God, why did he say that? Because everything about God dwelled in him in bodily form. Now, the only gotta be careful how I phrase this, the only attribute that Jesus doesn't share with the Father is flesh.
Their attributes are all in character the same. But God's spirit Jesus is flesh. That's the only, we would say difference in their person. Okay? Now there's distinctions between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
We can talk about economic distinctions on another semester. But in this case there's a distinction here. He says the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple. Showing that they are in and of themselves the same essence.
And he says and the city has no need for the sun or of the moon to shine, for the glory of God has illumined it. And its lamp is the Lamb. And here it is. And the nations will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring glory on it.
I'm sorry, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory on it. And in the daytime there will be no light, no night there. Its gates will never be closed. And they will bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.
And nothing unclean, no one who practices abominations, lying, shall ever come in it. But only those whose names have been written in Lamb's book of life. So, the dwelling place of God is no longer bound to a 30 by 30 cube.
Because with Christ coming he fulfills the dwelling place of God. And then going at his exaltation and enthronement, he receives a kingdom. Remember Daniel 7? Daniel says the Son of Man goes and he says he goes to the ancient of days and he is given a kingdom of every nation, tribe, and tongue.
He then receives that kingdom by completing his work and he then gives that kingdom to his people through the Spirit. Now he says now go and make disciples of all the nations. And by making disciples of all the nations we then in short populate the earth with God's people.
I'm not a post-millennialist. I'm just saying that's what happens. That is how Jesus fulfills Ezekiel's temple. Now I've got seven minutes. Questions, comments, outbursts of anger, letters to the editor, riots, demonstrations, or protests.
Yes sir?
This is going back just a second because I'm not sure if I understood. When you were talking, I agree with you that Second Temple Judaism is not relevant. But if you would agree that Herod's temple was a legitimate Herod's complex.
Was a legitimate temple. Because Jesus kind of fulfills that. That's why God takes it away from you.
When you said it went from the tabernacle to Solomon's temple.
I went from Ezekiel's vision because if Ezekiel got the vision.
Ezekiel wasn't pointing to Herod's temple. That's what you're saying.
That's why he jumps from not being another temple. If you look at it, that's why you started at 47 chapter 47 whatever that was at the end, verse 21. Because he jumps from not being another structure like that he jumps to oh wow this temple has Gentile inclusion which would have been unheard of.
I mean they didn't have they didn't have rights and property. Gentiles didn't in the land of Israel. That was unheard of. From a person hearing that I could see why a Jewish person would have been shocked.
You mean to tell me I'm of the tribe of Reuben and I've got to give Lance I'm not from the tribe of Reuben I've got to give Lance who's from India I've got to give him some of my land that doesn't seem right.
Well it is right because when Christ comes and fulfills that, what does Paul say? He knocks down that barrier. It's no more the slave or the free or the Gentile or the Jew. It's all in one body, one baptism one Christ.
One body and what's that body? It's made up of living stones and that living stones is the church. Now I know we're talking about individuals but it does take individuals that make up the church. Now we can make an argument about we shouldn't use collectively and all that.
We're made up of living stones that make up the church and as we go and make disciples you know that we fill the nations. Not fill the nations as we Christianize every man, boy, woman and girl. That's not what we're saying but as Jesus says I have all authority.
Now you're able to go and do what I've called you to do and when you go it will be profitable. It might not be the way that we want because we've always got the promise of this. When the word is preached and it goes out it will go forward and it will accomplish what God said it would do.
If God goes to a nation and He sends and He saves two as He kept His word you better believe it. He says there will be someone from every nation, tribe and tongue. He didn't have to save any one of them but He saved two.
That's all He saved. He's kept His word. He's not a lawbreaker. He's not a liar. Question? Question? Did I just scratch any lips?
Confusing? If I need to straighten something out tell me. I think that's also very concerning because as modern today we can travel and go anywhere. You know Christ says He's going to come back once the gospel is preached to all the nations.
I'm coming back. Sure. So as we can go to all these different outreach crazy places that no one's ever been to should give us pause and say hey we need to get our.
Hearts right. Yeah and I think me and Keith might be a little different on eminence. Christ could come back at any moment. I don't think He's going to come back in the next ten minutes. Could be wrong.
If He comes back buddy I'll change my mind mid-flight. But and that's where because I do believe that there are unreached people groups that have not heard the gospel and because they haven't now that could happen relatively quickly and I've told Keith that's my understanding.
That could happen relatively quickly but I don't think Jesus is going to come back in seven minutes from now. He could. I don't understand the.
Scriptures that way. Yes sir? No I was just going to bring up that last thing you just brought up. We were talking one time and it was just a small conversation and I think you were saying oh yeah you don't have to rush through reading because you're not going to be caught up to glory tomorrow.
I think I said that you were just like yeah not until all those elect children have heard His word. Yeah not until.
The last elect person has been called into the kingdom. That's it. Then we know. And I do believe they're based on just our own missionary. There are unreached people groups outside of His that have not heard the gospel.
So what is our if we're trying to and this could be a loaded statement, hasten His coming. You'll have it set in time. How do you hasten it? By being excited that we want Him to come and the fact that we get people to those unreached people groups the faster that Christ had come, that could be the means by which He brings about the culmination of all things.
Anybody else? Good. Good. Anything questions from last week? This is the last time you'll get to ask me, not forever but in this class. Good. Alright. Can I ask a question before we finish? This is for everybody who's watching.
So you're done with me. Tim, I didn't want to interrupt.
I'll have you break away. Okay, I will. Thank you. Guys, I just wanted to make a very quick announcement. This is primarily for our online students but also would affect you if anybody in here is going for a certificate.
We have had some website issues over the last few months and we've had some things that have happened that have required us to actually get a new website built and it's been being built for the last few weeks behind the scenes while our old website is up.
But the new website will be going live this week. The old website will go away, the new website will come and here's a couple of the benefits of the new website. If you're an online student or want to take any of our older classes, you used to, you had to register as a student before you could even see a class.
Like you couldn't see anything before you registered. That's changing. Our new, the person who's building our new site is making it to where all of our classes, all of the videos will be available to be seen.
If you want to get credit, you have to register, you have to do the work, you have to send it in. But if all you want to do is get the information or if you want to know where our videos are, like if you've taken a class with us and you want to go back and watch class four of something we did last year, it'll all be available on the website.
It's sovereigngraceacademy .org and it's going to make it, I think, a lot better. Very thankful for Fellowship Studios. They're the ones who do our church website and my personal kiefoski .com website.
Well now they're doing our sovereigngraceacademy .org website and hopefully from here on out, we'll have a really solid platform to work from. So that's for all of our online students and don't forget next week is the last class in this course.
I'll be doing the final class and after that last class, there will be one month to turn your paper in if you want to get a certificate. As soon as the last class is over, you have four weeks to finish your paper, turn it in, and receive a grade.
And after that, the academy will be done for 2026. We're not doing any more classes but we want to continue doing Bible study on Wednesday night. So the Wednesday night following, so two weeks from tonight, we're going to begin teaching through the 1646 Confession which is our confession that we hold as a church.
We're going to be doing a comparative study between the 1644, the 1646 and the 1689. The 1689 is bigger so we won't be able to compare the whole thing but specifically on issues that it teaches, we're going to be looking at those and I'm going to have it charted out.
So if you're interested in what we teach, what we believe here as a church, that's going to be really good. And if you have folks in the church that you think should be here, which I think everybody should, if you can go tell them and encourage them to come, that would be great.
Alright? Well, I'll pray for us. Father, thank you for Brother Mike and for leading us in a reminder tonight, so many good things about your presence and your temple and what it represents to us and who Christ is to us, the very presence of God that came and dwelt among us.
Lord, your word says, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And now Lord, as we move forward with our week, we pray that we would seek to glorify you, to lift up your name and Lord, to in every way that we can, Lord, seek to be like Christ.
And we pray it in his name. Amen.