A THIRD TEMPLE? WHAT DOES THE BIBLE REALLY SAY?
Pastor Carl Gallups explains:
"Isn't it interesting that the ONLY clear and direct mention of a "third temple" actually being built (using that actual word!) - in the ENTIRETY of the scriptures - is the "temple" of the New Testament church - made up of Jew and Gentile under the blood of Jesus."
"Every time the word "temple" is used in this context - Paul uses the Greek word "naos." Naos is the word used to speak of the literal Holy of Holies, or the Holy Place in the literal temple - but the vast majority of the time it is used in the New Testament, it is used metaphorically to indicate the church - or the temple of God in heaven (John uses the word in Revelation in this manner ... every time)! Naos is the only word Paul ever uses for "temple." Interestingly, "naos" is NEVER used to speak of the literal, physical and entire Temple complex in Jerusalem - NEVER in the entire New Testament."
Ephesians 2:19-22
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household,
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple (naos) in the Lord.
22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
16 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple (naos) and that God's Spirit lives in you?
17 If anyone destroys God's temple (naos), God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple (naos).
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
19 Do you not know that your body is a temple (naos) of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
19 Do you not know that your body is a temple (naos) of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
2 Corinthians 6:16
16 What agreement is there between the temple (naos) of God and idols? For we are the temple (naos) of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
So - EVERY time Paul uses the word naos - he uses it to speak of the naos of the blood bought church (Jew and Gentile). He also calls it the "temple of the Holy Spirit" and "the temple of God." So when we get to 2 Thessalonians - why would we "assume" Paul means ANYTHING differently? Why would we assume he means a literal physical temple complex in Jerusalem when he NEVER before uses the word in that manner?
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II Thessalonians 2:3-4
3 Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.
4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple (naos), proclaiming himself to be God.
Pastor Gallups concludes, "How much clearer could the context of this teaching be?"
Gallups continued, "Interestingly, this same passage in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 also declares "that day" (referring to "our being gathered to Him" in the first few verses of chapter 2 - clear rapture language) will NOT happen until the antichrist makes his appearance - and that we should NOT LET ANYONE DECEIVE us regarding this assertion."
"Furthermore," Pastor Gallups says, "In Luke 17 Jesus clearly gave us the pattern for the last days. He said it would be JUST LIKE the days of Noah and the days of Lot. And what were these days "like?" Well...fortunately we have the scriptural accounts to give us the direct answer and clear pattern. Both Noah and Lot (and their families), lived in and THROUGH the days of Great Tribulation for their times. Wickedness closed in on them from every side. But...just before the Wrath of God came down upon them and destroyed the unbelieving world - God "raptured" out His people! He took Noah "up" in the ark and He took Lot "up and out" through the sending of His angels."
"There is the pattern: God's people living in the time of Great Tribulation as protected witnesses, the soon coming Wrath of God proclaimed, the "rapture," then the final Wrath of God poured out. The scripture and the words of Jesus could be no plainer. There is no "pre-trib" rapture. I will stick with what Jesus and Paul said about these things. The teachings of Darby and Scofield do not interest me in the least - not when the Word of God and the words of Jesus are so clear."
Pastor Gallups is quoted as stating, "Interestingly, this same passage in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 also declares "that day" (referring to "our being gathered to Him" in the first few verses of chapter 2 - clear rapture language) will NOT happen until the antichrist makes his appearance - and that we should NOT LET ANYONE DECEIVE us regarding this assertion."
ReplyDeleteI am in agreement with Pastor Gallup’s statement in the above quote, but I must ask whether it is possible to meaningfully use that knowledge if the Temple (naos) in 2 Thess. 2:4 is a metaphorical Temple, the church?
Exactly how would the antichrist be revealed or exposed if the Temple is the church? One could imagine myriads of possible scenarios. How would one identify the actual event exposing the antichrist when it occurs? Also, what would be the metaphorical meaning behind the false messiah stopping animal sacrifices in the church (Daniel 9:27)? One can also then ask if the event which exposes the false messiah has already taken place, or if that identifying event is still future?
If the Temple (naos) is a literal and physical structure on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, then one can easily identify the lawless man of sin when he sets himself in Israel’s inner sanctuary (naos) after having caused Israel’s resumed animal sacrifices to cease.
Paul W.