Discerning the Signs but Looking for the Lord
I do listen. As I get older, I forget more easily, but I do listen to people’s concerns. In the last several years, a number of devoted Christians have asked me some form of the following question: “Are we close to the return of Jesus Christ?” As with any Biblical teaching, we must be careful with this subject. In Matthew 24:36, Jesus said, “Of that day and hour knoweth no man.” Later, in Acts 1:7, He added, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons.” Paul wrote in I Thesssalonians 5:2 that “the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” Thus, date-setting defies God’s Word and dishonors our Savior. However, in Matthew 16:3, Jesus pointedly asks, “Can ye not discern the signs of the time?” We do not know and cannot know the exact time of Jesus’ Second Coming and the resulting period of the Tribulation, but we are told to seriously study the signs found in Scripture. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
A fourth sign for our consideration is the construction of a third temple in Jerusalem. Solomon’s Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. Zerubbabel built a new temple, larger but less impressive than Solomon’s; this second temple was significantly upgraded by Herod. Herod’s Temple, as it was known, was leveled by the Romans in A.D. 70. The third temple is predicted in Ezekiel 41-43. II Thessalonians 2:3-4 tells us that a world leader, often called the Antichrist, will set himself up to be worshiped in this place; in Matthew 24:15, Jesus specifically speaks of this “abomination of desolation” in this third temple. Preparation after preparation is taking place in Jerusalem for this temple – priests are being trained, temple furniture is being constructed, and the red heifer, necessary for ritual consecration, is being bred (some reliable sources say that it has already been successfully bred). All of these activities are being performed by people who do not believe the New Testament! Some see a serious problem ahead: how can a temple be built where the Dome of the Rock, a revered Islamic mosque, currently stands? I have seen detailed studies that show that this mosque could be located in the Court of the Gentiles of the new temple, based on the dimensions given in Ezekiel. Perhaps there is another solution to this apparent dilemma. We can be certain that all of these ongoing preparations are not in vain, for God’s predictive Word cannot be thwarted.