The Third Temple. Chag Sameach

Submitted by MIchael S. (United States), Oct 10, 2014 at 05:05

Hi, Tovey, and Happy Feast of Tabernacles to you.

I'm trying to figure out your point here...

"Matthew does more than deal with Titus' overthrow of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple; it deals with Israel on its eternal track as the future throne of the Son of David, which in belief one need understand it IS the Son of David making the pronouncement. Further, the pronouncement is for the Jewish population of that time, and for the Jewish remnant of the future."

No, mostly Matthew 24 is about 70 AD. That is what Peter asked Jesus about, and that's what Jesus answered him about. Here's the beginning of the discourse:

Matt.24
[1] And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
[2] And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
[3] And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

Peter knew less about the end of the world than you do, and you don't know very much (nor do I). What Jesus was mainly telling Peter about, was the events surroudning the destruction of the Temple, when, as these verses clearly say, "There shall not be left her one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."

If there be any doubt that this is what Jesus was talking about, he clarified it by saying,

Matt 24:
[34] Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

Jesus mentioned a few things as happening after those days, namely,

[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.

As far as I know, verse 30 hasn't been fulfilled yet; and you and I know fully well that it would be some 2000 years before it did. Jesus was asked a sincere question by Peter, and Jesus gave him an answer that was useful to him. As it turns out, Peter (as well as Paul and many of the disciples) was killed during the troubles during the time of the destruction of the Temple. Jesus loved Peter, and wanted him to understand what would happen to him, and why it would happen. Even after rising from the dead, Jesus' primary ministry was along these lines:

John 21:
[17] He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
[18] Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
[19] This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.

God is concerned about every generation, even ours; but I think a lot of Christians will be surprised in the last days, to learn that Jesus was not thinking exclusively of them in everything he said.

I brought up Matt. 24:30 here, and so did you:

"verse 30 is NOT the 'harpazo' (the snatching out), the rapture as some will call it, but it is the actual return to a rebuilt 3rd Temple in which the LORD (Isaiah 33) will occupy His throne."

I think I said before, that I'm not a Bible scholar. Even so, I don't know what amount of study can cause a person to know for sure what all this is about. By "the LORD", I presume that you correctly are referring to יהוה, the God of Israel, and not to Jesus. You say this "occupation" is spoken of in Isaiah 33. Let's see:

Isaiah 33:
[20] Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.

Ironically, this very verse explains why Peter was so perplexed at what Jesus said, about the destruction of the Temple. In the Jewish thinking of his day, formed in part by Isa 30:20 itself, the Second Temple was to stand forever; so Peter thought that its destruction must mean the end of time itself. Concerning your reference to a "third temple", however, note Jesus' answer to the Pharisees about this same matter:

John 2:
[18] Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?
[19] Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, 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.

The "third temple" in Jesus' mind, then, was his own body; and in this present age, that body is his church:

1 Cor. 12:
[27] Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

So God does indeed reign on earth, even in this day we live in, through Messiah; and Messiah through us. Isaiah 30:20 has been fulfilled, and we need not look to some future event for its fulfillment. If this isn't what Matt. 24:30 was about, then, what was it about?

Matt 24:
[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.

There's nothing there about יהוה, reigning or otherwise; it's about the "Son of man", a title Jesus often used to describe himself. I don't know exactly what that means. Jesus' own family did not recognize him as Messiah in his day; he was also easy to lose in a crowd, and he twice disguised himself when appearing to his disciples after his death. What will he look like when he comes "with power and great glory"? Will it be the Warner Sallman Jesus? Big Butter Jesus? Nobody knows what Jesus looked like, much less what he will look like when coming in the clouds. "Power and great glory", on the other hand, is something people can get more of a handle on. That looks something like this.

We'll see, most likely.

Chag sameach Sukkot. :-)

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