BELIEVERS SHOULD CONSIDER THE FINAL WAR EVENTS
PART 8G
January 31, 2012
Web Site – http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
We are facing the beginning of the final war of the Age of the Gentiles, and it is not a far distant prophetic event. The Tribulation Period events associated with the final war are graphically described, and where you are when specific events occur is something worth considering. Where you are before the catching out of believers (the rapture) occurs, and where you are after it occurs, is certainly one thing believers should carefully consider for themselves based on the Scriptures.
HAVE YOU BEEN SHOWN THE MYSTERY? – Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. (I Corinthians 15:51)
ARE YOU READY FOR THE MYSTERY TO BE FINISHED? – But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. (Revelation 10:7)
ARE YOU READY FOR THE VOICE & TRUMP OF ANGEL 7? – For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: (I Thessalonians 4:16)
ARE YOU READY FOR HIS KINGDOMS ON THE 7TH TRUMP? – And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 11:15)
ARE YOU READY FOR THE LAST TRUMP IN A SERIES OF 7? – In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (I Corinthians 15:52)
ARE YOU READY TO BE JUDGED AFTER THE 7TH TRUMPET? – And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. (Revelation 11:18)
HIS 7 VIALS OF WRATH COME ON THEM AS WE ARE JUDGED? And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. (Revelation 16:1) See Archive Prophecy Updates 73D, 74A, 123B, 124A, 144A, 144F, 147D)
Please consider Parts 8D, E & F before reading this continuing exposition of II Thessalonians 2:1-12.
II Thessalonians 2:3,4 – Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; [4] Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
The man of sin, the antichrist, the son of destruction, is described critically in verse 4. The word translated as “opposeth,” is “antikeimai.” It means “to lie opposite,” hence, to oppose, to be adverse or repugnant to another person. God is the other person in this verse, against whom all this animosity is directed.
The word translated as “exalteth” is in the middle voice, meaning “to lift up one’s self over others in conceit or arrogance.” Antichrist in his own mind becomes the god of all gods, and demands that all worship be given to him alone.
The word translated as “shewing” means “to point away from other objects at one specific object,” in this case he fingers himself as the only object of worship. It is almost as if he is frantic to prove it to himself as well as others. One of the first things one will notice in most Islamic countries are the countless huge pictures and statues of the current despotic leader, an effort on their part to point to themselves as “El Jumbo Supremo.” The antichrist will be pointing to himself as the supreme one of all supreme ones, and his statues and pictures will blanket the countries of the Islamic world.
The examination of the phrase “he as God sitteth in the temple of God” is perhaps the most interesting part of verse 4.” It has commonly been taught this refers to a rebuilt temple of stone in Jerusalem, but I have every reason to believe this is not the kind of “temple” Paul refers to in this verse. Please bear with me in a rather lengthy discourse on this phrase, because it makes a lot of difference in other areas of prophetic interpretation. If Paul had used the Greek word “HEIRON” for temple in this verse, I would tell you immediately there was no question he was referring to a rebuilt temple in the old city of Jerusalem. But he chose to use the word NAOS for temple, and that makes it a horse of quite a different color.
There are two words commonly translated as “temple” in the New Testament – HIERON and NAOS.
Temple – HIERON is the word used of the Jerusalem stone temple itself and, at times, of the whole compass of the Temple Mount enclosure, including all the other subordinate buildings pertaining to the temple.
Temple – NAOS is any enclosure surrounding the place where the Spirit of God dwells. In the HIERON, it was the enclosure within the HIERON where the Spirit of God dwelled, namely, the Holy of Holies in the rear of the Temple, which was separated from the Holy Place by a thick curtain. It was torn from top to bottom by the power of God when Jesus commended his Spirit into his hands. It was his completion of the redemptive work that finished the plan of salvation for all men, and tore open the barrier between the presence of God and man. It is still open to all those who will receive him as the one who finished God’s plan of salvation.
John 19:30 – When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
Matthew 27:50,51 – Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. [51] And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
The word “temple” appears some 24 times in the book of Acts, and it is ALWAYS “HIERON.” It first appears in Acts 2:46. Its last occurrence is in Acts 26:21.
Acts 2:46 – And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
Acts 26:21 – For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me.
The word “NAOS” does not appear in the book of Acts.
There is no question that Paul thoroughly understood the exacting differences between the two words. It is true that, at times, the word “NAOS” is used in the N.T. to refer to the entire temple building, but only because it was a part of it. But let’s take a detailed look at how Paul himself used the words “NAOS” and “HIERON.”
Paul used the word “NAOS” eight times in all of his N.T. writings – Seven of these cases follow: See if there is any possible way you could twist these usages by Paul to refer to the stone temple in Jerusalem.
I Corinthians 3:16,17 – Know ye not that ye are the TEMPLE of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? [17] If any man defile the TEMPLE of God, him shall God destroy; for the TEMPLE of God is holy, which temple ye are.
Ephesians 2:21 – In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy TEMPLE in the Lord:
II Corinthians 6:16 – And what agreement hath the TEMPLE of God with idols? for ye are the TEMPLE of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
I Corinthians 6:19 – What? know ye not that YOUR BODY IS THE TEMPLE of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
None of these usages refer to the stone Jerusalem temple.
Paul did use the word HIERON for the temple located in Jerusalem in the following Scripture.
I Corinthians 9:13 – Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the TEMPLE? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?
Paul certainly knew the difference between the two words translated as TEMPLE in the New Testament, and, considering the importance of the eighth and final use of NAOS by Paul in all his writings, I don’t believe a temple will be built in Jerusalem before the 2nd Advent. II Thessalonians 2:4 – Who opposeth and EXALTETH HIMSELF above ALL that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the TEMPLE (NAOS) of God, SHEWING HIMSELF that he is God.
I believe that Paul’s usage of NAOS in II Thessalonians 2:4 carries the same meaning as Paul intended it to have in I Corinthians 6:19.
I Corinthians 6:19 – What? know ye not that your body is the TEMPLE (NAOS) of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
II Thessalonians 2:4 – Who opposeth and EXALTETH HIMSELF above ALL that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the TEMPLE (NAOS) of God, SHEWING HIMSELF that he is God.
The antichrist will sit in a sinful body of flesh on the temple mount. I now sit in a sinful body of flesh at 204 Hickory in Dardanelle, Arkansas. My body, even though it is sinful, is a temple I received from God in the womb. The antichrist will have received the body in which he dwells by the same process, and from the same God. But inside it will dwell an evil spirit and soul, claiming to be God, and trying to prove it to mankind. Jesus was God living in a temple of sinless flesh. He was God incarnate living in a sinless body formed by God in the womb of the Virgin Mary.
Jesus referred to his own body as a temple (NAOS), but the Pharisees and scribes thought he was referring to the Jerusalem temple.
John 2:19-21 – Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this TEMPLE (NAOS), and in three days I will raise it up. [20] Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? [21] But he spake of the TEMPLE OF HIS BODY.
Colossians 2:8-10 – Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after
the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. [9] For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. [10] And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
II Corinthians 5:19 – To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
John 10:30 – I and my Father are one.
John 14:9 – Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
The Devil is the greatest counterfeiter in all of history. His son, the antichrist, will be a man who the world will believe has been resurrected from the dead, after having received a deadly wound by a weapon of war. Jesus was the only begotten Son of God who came in sinless flesh and lived a sinless life. The Devil will come and dwell in the body of the antichrist after he is apparently returned from the dead. When the antichrist sits on the temple mount near the end of the tribulation period, he will be Satan incarnate in sinful flesh, claiming to be God, and trying to prove it to man and himself.
II Corinthians 11:13,14 – FOR SUCH are FALSE APOSTLES, deceitful workers, TRANSFORMING THEMSELVES into the apostles of Christ. [14] And no marvel; for Satan HIMSELF IS TRANSFORMED into an angel of light.
Revelation 13:3,12,14 – And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. [12] And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. [14] And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. (The Beast was (he was alive) – is not (he died) – yet is (is resurrected)!
Revelation 17:8-14 – The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. [9] And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. [10] And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. [11] And the beast that was, and is not, even he IS the eighth, and IS OF the seven, and goeth into perdition. [12] And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. [13] These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. [14] These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
The seven mountains symbolize seven governments (kingdoms) that will all have persecuted Israel before the 2nd Advent. When John wrote Revelation, in about 96 A.D., five of the seven kingdoms, which the seven kings represent, had already persecuted Israel in the past. They were, in chronological order, the Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and Grecian Empires. The sixth, Rome, was in power at the time John was writing, and the seventh kingdom will have the antichrist as its King. However, when he is apparently resurrected from the dead, he will be Satan incarnate in human flesh and, as such, he will also be the eighth king of the seventh kingdom. The word used for “perdition” means “destruction.” And “none shall help him,” because he will be destroyed, along with the false prophet, at the end of the final battle of Armageddon by the power of Christ’s Second Advent.
Isaiah 14:12-15 – How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! [13] For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: [14] I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. [15] Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
Revelation 19:19-21 – And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. [20] And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. [21] And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
The antichrist’s claim to be God incarnate in human flesh will be the final accumulating and consolidation of the spirit of antichrist in a single man, which is the final absolute corruption of the truth of God in Christ. The antichrist’s claim represents the absolute denial that the one who came before him was the Christ, the Son of the living God.
I John 2:18-22 – Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. [19] They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. [20] But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. [21] I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. [22] Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
But there is another reason that I do not believe Paul was referring to a temple of stone in Jerusalem when he used the word NAOS in II Thessalonians 2:4. The same event is found in Daniel 11:45, and what follows it, in 12:1 marks it as the latter part of the tribulation period. The word used for PALACE is APPEDEN, which is never translated as TEMPLE in the Bible. And it literally means a “fortress command post.” The word for TABERNACLES is rendered from the word OHEL, which always mean TENTS. The following scripture by Daniel paints the same event that Paul paints in II Thessalonians 2:4 – The antichrist on the temple mount as Satan incarnate sitting in human flesh, between the Mediterranean and Dead Seas, with the countless tents of his great army poised to strike a final death-blow against Israel in the Negev – waiting for his command that will begin the battle of Armageddon. But in spite of his multi million army of flesh, none shall be able to help him, because he is about to be zapped by the direct power of God in his creation.
Daniel 11:45 to 12:1 – And he shall plant the tabernacles of his PALACE (APPEDEN) between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him. [1] And at that time shall Michael stand up the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
Matthew 24:21,22 – For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. [22] And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
Matthew 24:29,30 – Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: [30] And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
The admonition that Paul gave to the Elders of the church at Ephesus is sorely needed today. Since Paul spoke these words countless number of grievous wolves have entered in among many flocks, and have drawn away many disciples to follow them, just as Paul said they would in Acts 20:17-31, and there are many flocks led by false teachers. They do not FEED the church of God with MEAT in due season.
Acts 20:28 – Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to FEED the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Matthew 24:44-47 – Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
[45] Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them MEAT in due season? [46] Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. [47]Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over ALL his goods.
The real question that a member of one of the Lord’s churches should be asking is this – How much of the inheritance do I want to inherit? Or, to put it another way – How close to God will you live in heaven?
Revelation 21:7 – He that overcometh shall inherit ALL things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
God has concluded ALL of Israel in unbelief, and while the words “they” and “them” in I Thessalonians 5:3 can be used to apply to all unbelievers, it is, in context, specifically referring to the nation of Israel.
Romans 11:32 – For God hath concluded THEM all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
I Thessalonians 5:3-6 – For when THEY shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon THEM, as travail upon a woman with child; and THEY shall not escape. [4] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. [5] Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. [6] Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
Should atheists, agnostics, or anyone read the book of Revelation? Yes! But the book is written to churches. And the primary applications of the writings are directed to church members. Church members, who will not swallow the MEAT of the word by applying it to their lives, are defiling their garments, which represent their visible, everyday, outer lifestyle testimony to the world. And they are going to live about as close to Jesus in his heavenly kingdom as they lived to him in this present life.
Revelation 3:3,4 – Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. [4] Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
Revelation 22:12-14 – And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. [13] I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. [14] Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
“Quickly” is an adverbial modifier used as a descriptive adjective. It is referring the manner of his coming, not the time or nearness of it. His coming for the saved will be as quick as the blinking of an eye.
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