Israel's Temple in Prophecy

Scripture: Exodus 25:8, Psalm 77:13, Daniel 9:24-27
What does the Bible say about Israel's temple? There are three temples in Scripture. The sanctuary teaches us important lessons about sin, salvation, and the future. God gave Moses divine plans for a portable temple that were a copy of what was in heaven. Daniel 9 speaks about the sanctuary.
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Note: This is a verbatim transcript of the live broadcast. It is presented as spoken.

Question and Answer: Karen Batchelor

DB: This is the favorite part of the program for a lot of people, and so let’s see

what--what came in.

KB: Are you ready?

DB: Don’t know.

KB—Question #1: Okay, here we go, we’re gonna go anyway. Are there any other cities here on earth besides the New Jerusalem when we return to earth from heaven after the 1,000 years are over? This came from Amerijone Sims, she’s ten years old and she lives in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

DB: That’s actually a good question. (Uh) It tells us in Revelation 21, “The New Jerusalem descends to earth; the meek will inherit the earth.” Will there be any other cities? I think there’ll probably be a lot of (uh) country dwellings but I think the center city on the planet will be the New Jerusalem. And when you look at the size of it, well we got a lesson dealing with Revelation 21 so I’m not gonna say too much about that, but I think that’ll be the primary city.

KB—Question #2: What if Satan realized the error of his ways, had a change of heart, and really repented, would he be forgiven?

DB: I was wonder if people—I get this question every seminar—are people wondering about how forgiving God is? Or are they feeling sorry for the devil? (Audience laughs)

I--I--I really wonder what the genesis of that is, but (uhm) he will not repent if you have any hope. Sometimes we think, “If he would just repent then he’d stop tempting us and everything would be better,” right? He’s not gonna repent. Satan has done what you call, committed the unpardonable sin. But the hy--hypothetical question is—if he repented. Well if he genuinely repented, (uh) God’s forgiveness is greater than anything, and so (uh) my--my bets would be more on God’s mercy, but I wouldn’t--don’t be waiting for the devil to repent. Prophecy tells us he’s not going to, and I believe God’s Word never fails.

KB—Question #3: You said at the Sunday meeting you believe that God has something planned for Israel and the Jews, what do you believe He has planned for them? Thanks. Jeannie.

DB: Well, I--of course, it’s God’s will that everybody be saved. Matter of fact, I jotted down one verse I knew this question was in there. Romans 11:23, speaking of Israel, Paul says, “And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in,” meaning back into the olive tree of truth, “for God is able to graft them in again.” Well I believe that God has a special plan for Israel in that there’s going to be a revival among the Jews and many will become believers. Matter of fact, it’s happening now. About once a year, our family goes to the National Religious Broadcasters Convention and there’s a--and in one of the biggest exhibits of course is the exhibit of Israel, and the Jews for Jesic--Jesus and the Messianic (uh) Christians is one of the fastest growing groups. But you cannot deny how remarkable it is. What other country in the world—our lesson tonight deals with Israel’s temple so I’m gonna take a moment on this.

What other country in the world has been conquered, scattered, and yet after nineteen hundred years they remain distinct, have a distinct language, writing, and then get their original territory back again? That didn’t happen to any other country. It is so obvious, God’s working with the Jewish nation, (uh) that there’s something remarkable there. But (uh) we’ll say more, keep coming.

KB—Question #4: Alright. David is asking, if we will be here on earth during the tribulation, then how do we know what time in the tribulation that we should head for the mountains before the time that Jesus comes with a shout?

DB: Good question. Well it tells us for instance in Matthew 24 and I believe it’s Luke 21, (uh) Matthew says, “When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, let those that be in Judea flee into the mountains.” Luke says, “When you see Jerusalem compassed with armies, let those that be in Judea flee into the mountains.” (Uhm) And there’s a parallel between the Fall of Jerusalem back in 70 AD and what’s going to happen at the end of time when the abomination of desolation—the beast power, begins to surround God’s people with laws. I think the--the key for us is when it becomes illegal, because of religious political laws, for us to practice biblical Christianity, we’re gonna have to make ourselves scarce. And like Elijah when Jezebel said, “I’m gonna get--take your life,” he fled into the wilderness, didn’t he? And so we’re gonna have a similar experience. That’s happened several times in the history of God’s people.

KB: So the Lord will tell you when it’s time, you’ll know. Okay, so just--

DB: Yeah, don’t look back like Lot’s wife. That’s what Jesus warns us.

KB: Just--

DB: When that day comes, if you left your coat, leave it.

KB: And He’ll keep you warm.

DB: Don’t look back, that’s right.

KB—Question #5: Alright. Pastor Doug, what about baptism, is it really necessary for salvation? If you have to be baptized to be saved, how do you explain the thief on the cross? And this is from Keith.

DB: There’ll be a lot of people who are saved that did not get baptized. What about all the people in Old Testament times? Some churches teach that it’s impossible for a person to be saved unless they’re baptized. Well what are you gonna do with everybody that lived before the time of Christ? (Uh) Baptism is a public expression that the Lord has mandated where we demonstrate our commitment to Christ. But it doesn’t mean that (uh) a person can’t be saved. Let me give you an example. Sometimes I’ll go to the hospital and I’ll pray with somebody who is terminally ill, they’re hooked up to all of these machines, they want to accept the Lord, and I lead them to the Lord, but maybe they can’t get baptized because of their medical condition. Does the Lord say, “Well I’d like to save you, but you didn’t get in the water and so I can’t save you.” (Audience laughs) No, of course not! Baptism isn’t gonna be an obstacle. I’ve been in prisons where people wanted to accept the Lord, but because of the rigid—maybe they’re on death row—the rigid rules, they couldn’t get baptized. Is that gonna be an obstacle? No! I think that anybody who can be baptized that doesn’t want to, there’s an issue of disobedience. But I think everybody who (uh) has an opportunity will naturally want to be baptized.

KB: Well when Jesus was baptized for those who could not.

DB: Good point.

KB: That should be your point.

DB: Christ was--yeah, well, I’m glad you mentioned it, that’s why you’re here. (KB: Um--Hmmm) (Audience laughs) I--I (uh) I meant to share, but (uh) the Bible tells us Christ didn’t die for His sins, He died for ours. Christ was not baptized to wash away His sin, was He? He was baptized as an example for you and me, and—if you will—in behalf of those who cannot be. They can take claim of His baptism, right?

KB—Question #6: Alright. I am a Hindu but I need to become a Christian in order to marry the person that I love. He is a Christian and wants me to learn about it. I strongly believe that I should not get baptized until I know its significance in my life. I’m seeking for help, please reply. Thanks. Vandana.

DB: Well I would say don’t get baptized in order to get married. Your commitment in marriage to Jesus must be genuine. And I have occasionally met people who, in order to accommodate the one they love, they join their church even though they may not really believe what the church believes. That’s dishonest. Even if you really love the person, you wanna marry him; don’t pretend that you’re embracing that faith in order to get married. My recommendation would be, read the Bible. I would hope that you’ll fall in love with the truth in--in Jesus and then you won’t have that conflict anymore, but do it because it’s the truth, not to get married, amen?

KB: And continue coming to the meetings and you’ll learn.

DB: That’s right.

KB: More and then you’ll have an opportunity to make that choice.

DB: Amen.

KB: Alright.

DB: We’re about out of time.

KB: I think we’re out of time for questions tonight.

(Background music starts and ends. Audience claps.)

Sermon Questions: Douglas Batchelor

DB: Thank you so much friends for tuning in. And tonight we have a very important presentation that is dealing with the subject of the temple; Israel’s Temple in Prophecy. And I think we’re gonna learn some very interesting things tonight, that some things that you maybe have never heard before but I wanna make you a promise, what we present is going to come from the Bible, amen? (Audience says amen) And so let’s just make sure we stick to the Word and then we’ll know that we’re safe.

I always like to begin with an amazing fact. And (uh) some of you maybe have heard of Henry Ford’s mansion. He renamed it Fair Lane. It is an architectural wonder. He was very involved in the designing of this magnificent structure; 32,000 square feet, (uh) 13 beautiful fire places, one of them I think is 13 feet high, made of marble, situated on 13 hundred acres right there by the Rouge River in Dearborn, Michigan, and (uh) (uh) a lot of very interesting facets to this (uh) (uh) geniuses.

Henry Ford was a genius on his own right: developed the assembly line; his architectural masterpiece among the things, he was (uh) an ornithologist; he loved birds, had 500 bird houses, had little Santa’s workshop for the kids, had a miniature farm for the kids, with miniature farming equipment. And (uh) well, one of the things that made it unique was he--he didn’t like the exorbitant prices the utility company charged for electricity so he made his own powerhouse. He diverted some water from the Rouge River and went through these turbines, and he had five hundred switches in a panel that would power his (uh) massive mansion.

Interesting thing was that in 1947 after 30 years of living there, the only time the power failed because (uh) Rouge River went on a rampage; one spring, heavy rains killed the boilers that powered the generator and the electricity went out, and it happened to coincide with the very time that Henry Ford was dying. And he died in the dark with candlelight, no heat, two miles from the place that he had been born 87 years earlier.

You know what it makes me think about a similar circumstance in the Bible. When Jesus died on the cross, at the same time that Christ died in the spring, five miles from the place of His birth, a building that He had designed had a power failure. How many of you remember that when Jesus died, what was happening in the sanctuary at the same time? The veil that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place that represented the presence of God was torn from the top to the bottom by an unseen hand, lain open the vacancy cause the ark was not there anymore. And one might declare “ichabod” did you ever hear that phrase before? The glory is departed! The significance of what happened when Jesus died, in the temple, has a very profound impact on God’s people and the role of the temple in prophecy.

Now we need to begin with the beginning. There are actually three temples on earth that you read about in the Bible. How many? (Audience answers three) Wanna make sure you’re still with me. You’ve got what they call the temple of Moses, then there’s the temple of Solomon, then there’s what they called Herod’s temple, but it was first built by the people in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, but Herod embellished it.

When the Lord brought the children of Israel out from the land of Egypt, of course they went through the Red Sea, instead of going right to the Promise Land He first brought them to Mt. Sinai. Why did he go to Mt. Sinai? Because he needed to receive the Ten Commandments, but that’s not the only thing he received upon the mountain. While he was up on the mountains there, God gave Him some divine plans for a sanctuary. And that was one of the principal reasons; not only did God give him the plans for the sanctuary they were not allowed to go to the Promise Land till they had built this portable temple. Nothing like it had ever been constructed before: a nation that carried their temple around with them. Whereas in all other cultures the temple was the center of the nation, (uh) this temple went with the people, and the presence of God hovered above the temple.

DB—Sermon Question #1: Alright let’s go to question number one. What did God ask Moses to build?

Answer? He said, “And let them make me a sanctuary that I might dwell among them.” God wants to dwell among His people. Now in the Bible, it not only tells us that God has a place that’s called a sanctuary, sometimes we call our churches the sanctuary. The Bible says that the church collectively is the temple of God and furthermore, the Bible says, “What don’t you know that you are the temple of God. Your body is the temple.” And when you’re moving around, does God’s Spirit move around with you? He says, “I’ll not only be with you, I’ll be in you.” And so He wanted to help illustrate that.

The Spirit of God was present with His people in the form of a cloud, and a fire. Cloud during the day that gave them shade, a fire at night, and that was a symbol for the Holy Spirit. (Uh) After they came out of Egypt, they had spoiled the Egyptians and they had a lot of the materials that the Egyptians used. Let me see, hey there we go, it’s working. Praise the Lord! Thank you. A lot of the materials that the Egyptians had given them: they spoiled the Egyptians, they took gold and cloth, they then dedicated to build this portable tabernacle. And God gave very specific plans to Moses, right down to the very underwear that the priest wore; I mean everything was planned out by the Lord. Matter of fact, the same way that God gave the information to Mose--(uh) to Noah about how to build the ark God, gave also very specific instructions to Moses about how to build the sanctuary.

DB—Sermon Question #2: Question number two. What did God expect His people to learn from the sanctuary?

Answer? It says in Psalms 77 verse 13, “Thy way, oh God, is in the sanctuary.” And you can understand this to mean that the way that the Lord redeems, the way of God in many respects is found in this unusual edifice. Now you might be thinking, “Pastor Doug, this is a prophecy code meeting, we expect a special emphasis on prophecy.” And we’re gonna look at prophecy tonight, but are you aware that many of the Bible prophecies revolve around the sanctuary? Revelation, whole thing practically transpires in the sanctuary. First few chapters, Jesus appears among seven candle sticks. Where do you find that? That was in the first room, the Holy Place. The vision of Isaiah: chapter six in (uh) Isaiah, “He sees the temple of God with these seraphim on the right and the left of the throne of God.” The visions of Ezekiel, part of the visions of Daniel, and many of the other Bible prophets transpire in the context of the sanctuary.

So if we don’t understand this, matter of fact I think sanctuary is mentioned—sanctuary, temple, tabernacle—over 300 times in the Bible. It’s a subject we need to understand, and yet the average Christian is fairly illiterate on what the meaning of the Hebrews sanctuary is. And it is so important and integral to understanding Bible prophecy because basically this sanctuary is telling us about Jesus. “Thy way, oh God, is in the sanctuary.” It demonstrates how He saves and it helps us peek into the whole process of salvation. I’ll say more about that and (uh) you’ll understand better as we proceed.

DB—Sermon Question #3: Number three. From what source did Moses obtain the blueprints for the sanctuary?

We can read the answer. It tells us in the book of Exodus chapter 25 verse 40, and God said, “And look that Thou make them after their pattern, which was shown thee in the Holy Mount.” Furthermore, Hebrews chapter 8 verse 5, “Moses was adma--monished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: he said, ‘See that thou makest all things according to the pattern shown thee in the mount.’” Did Moses sit there on the mountain top and just dream this up or did God give him very specific instructions on how to build this?

Any of you here ever play with match box cars? You know what I’m taking about, the little cars, how many of your kids have them? Our kids have a bucket of match box cars. Part of the reason for that is (uh) we’ve had four boys and sometimes when we go to the store and they just want something you can get ‘em for, you know, a dollar, make ‘em happy. Now one reason that they are so enduring is if you get like a little match box Mustang, you know how they developed that? They put more into that than you think. They take a full-size Mustang; they get all of the dimensions in a computer. They actually--now they have a process where they have rollers that go right over the dimensions that stored three dimensionally and then they reduce that down to this little thing, but they are built to scale, are you aware of that? It’s a very interesting fact.

The temple that Moses was instructed to build is a very miniature model of God’s dwelling place in heaven, but it’s not an exact duplicate. For instance, on the temple on earth, there were golden angels on top of the Ark of the Covenant. Does God have golden angels by His throne or real ones? (Audience answers real ones.) The temple on earth, there were angels carved in the walls of the Holy of Holies, are there carvings of angels or are there clouds of angels that surround God in heaven? The one on earth was about 45 feet; the one in heaven, 45 light years. (Audience laughs) See God works on a bigger scale. And so you know God had to get things condensed where our little minds could comprehend these things but be careful not to take these illustrations too far. You need to think in celestial terms. Remember when we go to heaven God says, “Eye has not seen, the ear has not heard, neither has entered into the heart of men the things that God has prepared for those that love Him.” “And God Himself will be the temple,” the Bible says.

DB—Sermon Question #4: Question number four. What furniture was in the sanctuary?

We’re gonna look at some of the specifics now. And to begin with we’ll start with the courtyard. (Uh) There were three parts of the sanctuary, I can tell you that to start with. There was the courtyard, the Holy Place, the Most Holy Place. How many main areas? (Audience answers three.) Three! How many parts of salvation? Justification, sanctification, glorifi--, hey we got some scholars out there; you know what the three primary areas of salvation are. The courtyard represents justification; the sanctuar--I’m sorry, the Holy Place is sanctification; the Holy of Holies, glorification; cause the glory of God was there. In the courtyard there were two primary pieces of furniture: you had the altar of sacrifice, and you can read about that in Exodus 29, “And thou shall burn the whole ram upon the altar. It is a burnt offering unto the Lord.” Then you also had the laver. Exodus 30 verse 18, “Thou shalt also make the laver of brass and thou shalt put water therein.” The priest would wash. (Uhm) Just store this and then as we go through I’m gonna stop and--and take it piece by piece and explain it.

But we have a friend who developed an animation. John Wood did this for us a few years ago, and it helps you get a little picture of now as we move into the Holy Place we’re gonna look on the screen and we’re gonna see a little bit more about what’s in the next two apartments known as the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. And (uhm) n--keep in mind you’re gonna now go where only the priest were allowed to go. When you went into the Holy Place, of course you had the candlestick on your left with seven lamps on it; that appears in Revelation, the altar of incense, and we saw on our right was a table of shewbread.

Then you move into the Holy of Holies where only the high priest could go once a year. What was in there? The Ark of the Covenant with those beautiful golden angels; and everybody would like to find that golden box. What’s the important thing though, the golden box or what’s inside? And what was in the golden box? It was called the Ark of the Covenant or the Ark of the Testament because the testimony, the covenant God made with man, meaning the Ten Commandments, was in that golden box.

So now let’s go back and we’ll review on our slides again. What was in the first room called the Holy Place? There was a table of shewbread, and how many loaves were there? Twelve! One for each of the tribes of Israel; and this is a symbol of the provision of God as they went through the wilderness, and it also represents the bread of life; the Bible.

Then you also had the candlestick on your left as you went in the main door that rep--represents the light. It was kept burning with pure olive oil, a symbol of the Holy Spirit that keeps the fire burning in our hearts, that first love fire; it illuminated the apartment. It’s the light of God’s Spirit that gives us discernment. And then in the very middle just before the veil was the altar of incense. This was the place where the priest would sprinkle incense; the smoke, this pleasant aroma would waft over the curtain into the presence of God, and it’s where he made intercession. It represents the prayers of the saints.

Now everything in that room is telling us about the personal devotions of a Christian. There are three things: the bread, the light, the altar of incense. If you want to grow as a Christian, you need to read your Bible, you need to pray; that’s the altar of incense, the bread; the word of God, and let your light shine, share your faith. Those are the three primary disciplines of a Christian. And so it’s telling us about the plan of salvation. And I’ll say more about what’s in the courtyard in a minute.

But let’s move now into the Holy Place. And you can see this is a artist concept here of the layout. The veil was separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place, angels were engraved in the walls, angels were woven into the fabric of the veil, they were not suppose to look upon the ark or the presence of God, why?—because we’re separated because of sin. When Jesus died on the cross the veil rent, meaning now we can approach the throne of God boldly through Christ. And we become a nation of priest because of His sacrifice. So, oh there’s so much here, I wish I have more time to share all this with you.

What was in the Holy of Holies, Most Holy Place? Was the Ark of the Covenant—this golden box. And in the Ark of the Covenant was what? The Ten Commandments. Deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 4 and 5, “And He wrote on the tables, according to the first writing the Ten Commandments.” And again it says in (uhm) verse 5, “I turned and I came down the mountain and I put the tables in the ark which I had made.” The golden ark that he had been instructed to build.

Now think about this, friends, over in the Middle East there’s a place called the Holy Land, what’s that country? Israel. And in the land of Israel, the holy land, is the holy city, what’s that called? Jerusalem. You know the answer, stay with me. And in the holy city of Jerusalem there’s the holy mount, who knows what that’s called? Mount Zion or sometimes mount Moriah. And on the holy mount is the holy temple, and in the holy temple you’ve got the holy place, and after you pass through the holy place you’ve got the holy of holies, you see there’s--there’s like a bull’s eye that I’m forming for you. The holy land in the holy city, holy mount, holy temple, holy place, holy of holies, and what was in the holy of holies? The holy ark. And what was in the ark? (Uh) The temple is golden and marble and the holy place is gold and the ark is gold and what was in the ark?

The focal point of all these holiest of places in the whole planet is two rocks; isn’t it interesting? Well Jesus is the Rock, isn’t He? (Audience says amen) But these are not any stones, they are inscribed by the finger of God and those words were spoken by the voice of God. And you know what it is? That law is a summary of love. Jesus tells us that all the law is summarized in two commandments. First four commandments deal with love for God, the last six deal with love for man, it’s all telling about God’s love for us. And so this is all pointing to the presence of God and i--the rock is a type of Christ, right?

DB—Sermon Question #5: Alright. Question number five, why did animals need to be sacrificed in the Old Testament sanctuary?

You know I’ve had a lot of people that approached me and said, “Doug, you know I love Jesus and the Bible has a lot of wonderful truth but I am so turned off by the grisly sacrificial system. Why was all that blood necessary”? It is an awful thing to consider, why was it necessary? Answer? Hebrews chapter 9 verse 22, “Without the shedding of blood there is,” how much? “No remission for sin.” There’s no forgiveness for sin. And (uh) again we read in Matthew chapter 26 verse 28, “For this is my blood of the New Testament,” the new covenant, “which is shed for many for the remission,” or the forgiveness, “of sin.”

Now if you live back in Bible times and you wanted to be forgiven, you would bring your lamb to the temple. And if you were the head of your family you would place your hands on the head of that little victim and you would confess your sins and the sins of your family. In the Bible times, the patriarch of the family; Job would offer sacrifice for his family, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, they offered sacrifice for their family; the father in the family, the sheikh, the patriarch would offer sacrifice for his family, and he would transfer symbolically the sins of the family; those confessed sins to this innocent lamb. And then they would cut its throat, and catch the blood, and in the temple the priest would then sprinkle the blood before the Lord, saying, “This blood represents the life of this innocent Lamb that has died for these people.”

Now think about it, if you wanted forgiveness every week, suppose you did it weekly, you ought’a be praying all through the day, for if you make a mistake or you sin you should deal with it right then and there, and at least at the end of the day, right? In case you die in your sleep. (Audience sleeps) And if I die before I wake—how many of you said that prayer sometimes, Lord. (Laughs) (Uh) I remember Tolic—is it, Tony Campola said, “Don’t pray, ‘Lord if I die before I wake,’ say, ‘Lord, wake me up before I die.’” (Laughs) (Audience laughs)

But what if you had to take a lamb and cut its throat every time you wanted forgiveness, how many of you find that extremely disturbing? It’d make a little harder to sin if you had to go watch this little wiggly innocent creature with his tail twitching and you had to take its life if you wanted forgiveness. What should bother you more, that concept or the concept that Jesus had to die for your forgiveness? Whenever the Hebrews offered a lamb that was to remind them that someday God’s Lamb would come, and that’s why it was a--a shocking thing when John the Baptist pointed to Jesus with this great crowd there and said, “This is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” He did that more than once. “There is the Lamb all those other lambs from Abel to the present point to Him.” That was a stunning statement for Him.

But do you know what happened to the Jewish nation? The same thing that happens to the church today; they got so used to it. It’s like someone that works in a slaughter house stops--they don’t think about the animals dying around them anymore, you get calloused. Christians can get calloused about sin and how it hurts Jesus. Paul tells us in Hebrews that we can get to the place where we crucify the son of God afresh and count the blood of the covenant as an unclean thing. God have mercy on us. We get to that place where it doesn’t hurt us to think how much our sins hurt Jesus when it would be harder for us to kill a lamb than to realize the Lamb of God died for our forgiveness and shed His blood. Amen? God wants it to move us—it should move us.

DB—Sermon Question #6: Number six. How was the plan of salvation illustrated in the sanctuary?

Well a number of ways. First of all I Corinthians chapter 5 verse 7, “Christ is our Passover sacrifice for us.” Now one of the things that happened when Jesus died on the cross and the veil and the earthly temple was torn, it signified that all of the ceremonial laws that had been developed and given to Moses met their fulfillment. Do we still need to sacrifice lambs for forgiveness? Does the Bible tell us that circumcision is mandatory for people to be saved? No! Paul says, “Circumcision is nothing, un-circumcision is nothing, keeping the commandments is what matters.”

And so the idea that (uhm) you know we need to keep sometimes I have dear friends that (uh) they try to urge me to keep the Jewish feast days. And I say, “Why would you wanna do that when they were shadows that pointed to the reality of Christ. There’s things we can learn from studying the Jewish Feast days but for us to keep them, do we keep the Passover now the way the disciples did? They used to sacrifices lambs. Why would you sacrifice a lamb when the Lamb of God came you can accept His sacrifice”?

You know what I say to people is it’s sort of like a family that has a young son or daughter that’s in the military, and they’re looking at their picture on the mantle and every now and then they go up they give their picture a stroke or a kiss. And finally they come home on furlough and you see them at the door you say, “Oh it’s so glad you’re here,” and you ran back over and hug the picture again. (Audience laughs) Why would you do that? They’re there, right? And--but you’re gonna meet, there’ll be Christians and they’re probably well intention that try to say how important it is to keep the Jewish ceremonial laws. I respectfully disagree, my Bible tells me, “Christ is now our Passover Lamb, things went through a radical transition; they were all shadows that have now met their fulfillment.”

Furthermore, Hebrews chapter 4, do I have to go find a Jewish priest to find forgiveness or do I have Jesus, my high priest? It says, “We have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus Christ the Son of God.” He is our High Priest and we’re all a nation of priests, amen? We’re called a nation of kings and priests. Furthermore, Hebrews chapter (uh) 8 verses 1 and 2, “We have such a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary, the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.” So Jesus is ministering in the real sanctuary of what’s the earthly one was just a model. And so the idea of carrying on with an earthly temple now does the church need that or has things gone through a transition to the heavenly temple?

Now here’s what I’ve been waiting for. This is my favorite part. And (uh) you can see in the illustration here of the sanctuary, it’s very simple. But you can see here there’s three places in the sanctuary. (Uh) You’ve got how many entrances?—one, one door. Who is the door? Who did, who said He was the door? Jesus said verbatim, “I am the door, the way to God.” Now you notice the sanctuary is separating the lost from God who is in the Holy of Holies. The presence of God is the Most Holy place. You and I have been separated from God by sin. The idea of salvation is we are trying to get back to God. I’m real tempted to walk up here to the screen but I know they hate that in the studio, so you just u--use--I’ll try to visually describe this for you as well as I can.

When you walk through the door, who’s the door? What’s the first thing you see? Altar of burnt offering! By the way, you see a little cross down there (uh) I’ve had some rabbis tell me they also had a stick driven in the ground that had a little cross piece on it cause they would tie the lambs off when they cut their throat to catch the blood. That’s interesting, isn’t it? You remember in the Bible where it says, “Jesus made a whip of cords”? They used these cords to tie up the sacrificial victims when they (uh) caught them. (Uhm) First thing you saw when you went it, oh by the way, what I just said that’s not in the Bible, that’s a--a rabbi shared that with me. (Uh) When you walk in, there was the altar; that represents the cross, that’s where the sacrifice was laid and burnt. That represents the fiery trials that Jesus went through, the suffering that He went through for you and me. The first step in salvation is what?—the cross, the altar. The cross equals what? The altar—the altar equals the cross.

Then after you’ve accepted Jesus, what’s the next piece of furniture on your journey to God? The laver; the laver represents baptism. Okay? When the children of Israel went out of Egypt, there were three areas the children of Israel went through to get to the Promise Land: slaves in Egypt, then the wilderness, they were justified in Egypt when they sacrificed a Passover lamb, right? That’s the courtyard. Then the wilderness is the Holy Place; then the Promise Land was the Most Holy Place. When the children of Israel got out of Egypt, what did they go through? Red Sea; Paul says, I Corinthians chapter 10, “They were baptized in the sea.” Before we can get out of Egypt and into the wilderness on our way to the Promise Land, you’ve gotta go through baptism. The last thing they went past before they went into the Holy Place was the water—baptism. Cleansing, commitment to Christ is symbolized there.

Now you move into the Holy Place; there’s three things in there. You’ve got the table of shewbread, who is the bread? Jesus said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” He is the bread of life. Then on the left there you’ve got the a--the (uh) candle stand. Who is the light? Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” Then there’s the altar of incense which represents the prayers. In whose name do we pray? We pray in the name of Christ. He’s everything.

Then if you should move into the Holy of Holies, you’ve got the Ark of the Covenant there. That golden box represents, what’s in the box again? The rocks in the box; who is the rock? Jesus is. And even the sanctuary, this is so incredible because i--i--it--it also even represents your body. You know the Bible says, “What don’t you know your bodies are the temple of God.” (Uhm) Do our bodies have an altar that’s consuming? Yeah, you’re always consuming energy all the time. You’re burning calories sometimes more than others. Does our body have a system that cleanses like the laver, the water? Yeah, matter of fact most of us are 90 something, maybe 85, 90 percent water.

Then there was storage of food in the sanctuary. Do our bodies store food? Yeah. The light; the Bible says, “The light of the body is the eye.” Was there a light in the sanctuary? Then there’s this ethereal altar of incense, a spirit. Does man has a spirit? Even biblically it teaches that, right? Do you know, scientists, brain surgeons, cannot tell you how a thought is stored, they still don’t know if a thought is a physical thing. It’s--it’s a mystery how the mind works.

And then if you go into the Holy of Holies, “Thy word I have hid in my heart. As a man thinketh in his heart,” that’s your mind. God doesn’t communicate with us through our elbows, or our knees, or our stomachs, He communicates with us through our minds, doesn’t He? And so it’s even a type of human body. Oh there’s so much I could share you about this but I’m running out of time and I haven’t even got to the prophecy for tonight yet, so I need to hurry along here.

(Uhm) The next temple we get to after the tabernacle was brought into the Promise Land (uh) by the time of King David, David wanted to build a new one. He gathered all the money and the resources to build Solomon’s temple. And the Bible says, “The temple of Solomon when it was being built wi--with stone, it was finished at the quarry so that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.” It was one of the most beautiful temples in the world, one of the wonders of the world, filled with gold and bronze and silver.

Keep in mind during the time of Solomon, the Bible record is there was so much gold in the country that silver was like stones, I mean wouldn’t you have liked to have seen the land of Solomon when the Queen of Sheba, you ever heard the expression, breath-taking? Do you know that comes from the Bible when the Queen of Sheba, it says, “She was breathless when she saw the marvels of Solomon,” that became one of our popular sayings. It was the most spectacular temple in the world, one of the wonders of the world back then.

But even though it was a beautiful building and the presence of God was in the temple when they dedicated it, over time the people became complacent, even Solomon set up false gods in the temple eventually. It lasted about 300 and 80 years. Finally, king Nebuchadnezzar came along and destroyed the temple in about 586 BC. Evidently, Jeremiah and some of the priests took the Ark of the Covenant and hid it somewhere around Jerusalem, probably in a cave or an old tomb, we don’t know, nobody has found it yet. Wouldn’t it be nice if they found the Ark of the Covenant and the Ten Commandments inside? Would you like to find the Ark of the Covenant? Why? Do you want the golden box or do you want the rocks in the box? Do you know that you’ve got what’s in the Ark of the Covenant in your Bible? Isn’t that right? Ten Commandments is in there, I’ll tell you what’s in the ark right now, you’ve got it. That’s a treasure.

Now when the children of Israel were carried off to Babylon when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, they had been instructed by Solomon to pray towards that place. And while Daniel was a captive in Babylon, he on a regular basis would pray towards Jerusalem. In Daniel chapter 9, he’s praying towards Jerusalem, praying about when the Messiah is gonna come and how long until God’s people get to go home again. And an angel is sent from heaven to answer his prayer. Now we’re gonna look at a prophecy in Daniel chapter 9 about when the Messiah came the first time, telling about when the veil and the temple would be torn.

Turn with me to Daniel chapter 9 and I hope you read the supplemental material because I am greatly condensing this presentation. What does the angel Gabriel say in verse 24? Regarding Daniel’s people and when the Messiah would come, “Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for the holy city, to finish transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision,” in other words this vision would be completed, “and to anoint the Most Holy.” How many weeks? Seventy weeks. And in that 70-week period of time, a lot of things were gonna happen; the sacrifice would cease, the Messiah would be anointed, the Jewish people would complete their primary purpose as a people during that time.

Then he says in verse 25, “Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince there shall be seven weeks,” he begins to divide up the 70 weeks. What does a day equal in prophecy, who knows? I’ll give you more scripture for that in a minute. That first seven weeks; if a day is a year in prophecy, seven weeks is how many days? Seven times seven is 49; 49days is really 49—it says that for that first seven weeks, “the street will be built again and the wall and troubloum--troublesome times.”

You can read in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah how during that first 49 years when they returned from Babylon, that the streets and the walls of the city was rebuilt and they started building the temple during troublous times, a lot of persecution and opposition. And he said there’d be another, “three score and two weeks.” Who remembers what a score is? If you’ve been to the Lincoln Memorial you know, a score is twenty, right? Four score would be eighty; three score is 60 and two. So you’ve got 62 weeks plus the seven weeks you got 69 weeks, one week is still missing to make a total of 70. At the end of 69 weeks, the Messiah would be anointed, now I’m gonna repeat some of these things because sometimes repetition helps us remember. Back to our lesson.

DB—Sermon Question #7: Number seven. What event and date were to mark the starting point for the 400 and 90 year prophecy?

We--we just read there in Daniel chapter 9 verse 25, he said, “From the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince will be seven weeks and three score and two weeks.” Now while we’re looking at this prophecy of 70 weeks, oh and by the way, you may hear may go back and forth. How many days in a week? Seven. Seventy weeks is, 70 times 7 is how many? Four hundred and 90 days, and a day equals a year in prophecy, so how many years is that? This prophecy is 400 and 90 years. Any of you remember when Peter said, “Lord, how often shall I forgive my brother seven times”? What did Jesus say? “Seventy times seven.” That should have clicked in your minds because that goes right back to the prophecy of Daniel, doesn’t it?

God was going to give the Jewish nation not another 70, 490 days of forgiveness; He was gonna give them another 400 and 90 years to complete their mission, okay? Oh by the way, what was the primary mission of the Jewish nation? Did God pick the Jewish nation because He liked their DNA more than other races? Or did God say that through Abraham, the seed of Abraham, all the nations of the world would be blessed? They were to--the Messiah was to come through them and they were to introduce and proclaim the coming of the Messiah. That was a primary purpose, does that make sense? Yeah, that’s why God called the Jewish nation. The--it wasn’t so they could be exclusive, it was so they could introduce the Messiah to the world and they did. I’ll get to that in just a minute.

“Unto the Messiah the Prince will be seven weeks and three score and two weeks,” okay. Now let’s look quickly some biblical support for the principle of a day equals a year. You might jot these down. Ezekiel 4:6, “Yeah, I have appointed thee, each day for a year.” Numbers 14:23, “Each day for a year,” you can even look at a prophecy in the New Testament where some adversaries came to Jesus and they said, “You know King Herod is trying to get you and he’s gonna do to you what he did to John,” I’m paraphrasing but this is exactly what Jesus said, He said, “Go tell that fox, behold, I cast out devils and I do cures today, tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.” Jesus said this about six months into His ministry. Did Jesus preach three more days or three more years? Three more years! Even Christ utilized this principle of a day equals a year in a prophecy, okay?

So the decree to restore and build Jerusalem was given by King Artaxerxes, why don’t you say that with me, Artaxerxes, in 457 BC. It’s one of the most clearly established dates in the Bible. You can even find the decree in your Bible, Ezra chapter 7 verse 7. Look it up for yourself. If you go 400 and 90 years from 457 BC; that comes to 34 AD, what happened then? Stay with me, let’s go back.

DB—Sermon Questions #8: Question number eight. Was the Messiah anointed 69 prophetic weeks or 400 and 83 literal years after 457 BC as the angel said?

Now remember it said that in order to anoint the Messiah, there would be first, seven weeks, then 62 weeks, for a total of 69 weeks, to anoint the Most Holy. Who is the Most Holy? Christ. What happened in 27 AD? Jesus was baptized. Does that mean He was anointed? When did Christ begin His ministry? At His baptism! Did Jesus perform any miracles before His baptism? No. No record. He taught in the temple when He was 12 years old but no miracles. He actually asked questions during that time. He began His public ministry in 27 AD when He was 30 years of age, old enough to serve as a priest.

Moving right along, it says here in Acts chapter 10 verse 37, “The word that I know after the baptism which John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and power.” He was anointed. Remember when He came up out of the water, what happened? Holy Spirit came down. He began--it says He was tempted by the devil and then He began preaching, “Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Isn’t that interesting? Exactly 69 weeks after the decree to restore and build Jerusalem, Jesus began His ministry. There’s still one more week to go.

By the way, I almost hate to tell you this but how many of you, you’ve heard of the seven years of tribulation? You know where they get that seven years of tribulation? From this prophecy! They take the last week of this prophecy, they pull it off and they have it floating down around at the end time. I don’t think that’s good biblical scholarship to do it that way. The Bible gives it as one complete concise whole. What good is a time prophecy if you break off the last seven years and move it? How can it be part of the first 69 weeks? Anyway, I think it’s all connected and you see if you don’t agree.

DB—Sermon Question #9: Number nine. What was to happen in the final week of the 70-week prophecy?

Answer? It tells in Daniel chapter 9 verse 26 and 27, “After three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself.” Who was the Messiah cut off for? He was

cut off for me and for you. Now how long did Jesus teach? Jesus taught for three and a half years. You know how many three and a half’s there are in the Bible? There’s several. Don’t miss the number three and a half. In a Jewish year there are 300 and 60 days. The Jews used a lunar calendar, in some ways it’s more accurate than ours, we have to add leap year, they used to add a month every few years. (Uhm) Three hundred and 60 days in the Jewish year, three and a half years is 1,200 and 60 days. You know that number appears in Revelation several times. Matter of fact in the book of Daniel, it talks about a time, a times, and half a time several times. That represents three and a half years.

There was a famine in the days of Elijah where he fled into the wilderness, how long was that famine? Three and a half years. Now we’ve told you that numbers represent something in the Bible. Matter of fact at our website, prophecycode.com, not only can you download some of the Bible symbols and their prophetic interpretation, we’ve also got a basic list of Bible numbers like the nu--number 7, and the number 40, and the number 12, and the number 70, and a number of the--a number of the numbers that (uh) frequently appear and what their meaning is.

What does the number 7 represent? A perfect, complete cycle; three and a half is half or an interruption of 7. My study leads me to believe that three and a half in the Bible represents a time of rejection and persecution. Did Elijah have to run for his life after that three and a half years of famine? Was he persecuted? Was Jesus persecuted after three and a half years? Three and a half years after Christ died, the first Christian martyr died, what was his name? Steven. (Uh) The--the Jewish Supreme Court condemned him and he was executed. And then when you get to Revelation, it says the woman fled into the wilderness during the time of persecution for 1200 and 60 days, three and a half years, 42 months; a time, a time, and the dividing of times.

That number is so important that the Bible gives it to us three different ways so we won’t miss three and a half. It’s called three and a half years; time at a time, a time, a times, which is a couple, and the dividing of time, three and a half; 42 months, 30 days in a Jewish month or 1200 and 60 days, very interesting time period. Christ preached three and a half years in person and then of course He was crucified. Now someone might be wondering, “How was it possible for this last three and a half years to be fulfilled”?

Go back, do you have your Bibles? Any of you bring your Bibles here? Hope you did. And those of you who are watching at home, go to Daniel chapter 9, back to our prophecy again. And it tells us that (uhm) verse 27, “Then He will confirm the covenant with many for one week.” Now who is it that is confirming the covenant with many for one week? This is something you’ve got to get right friends because I’m just gonna tell you right now, there are a number of Christians, and I don’t question their Christianity, they believe the one confirming the covenant is the antichrist. If you have read the “Left Behind” books, Hal Lindsey, I don’t mean to be too specific but I guess I am bein’, they believe the one who confirms the covenant is the antichrist. I’m telling you, it’s the Messiah, Jesus. We better get this right. You better find out for yourself. You study, you find out what makes more sense. Let’s just read it together here.

You know a matter of fact we gonna back up again, verse 25, “Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem under the Messiah the Prince.” What is the subject of this great prophecy? When is the Messiah coming, the Prince? Isn’t that Jesus we’re talking about? This is the subject. “They’ll be seven weeks and 62 weeks and the street will be built again and the wall even in troublous times, then after the 62 weeks Messiah will be cut off but not for Himself.” Jesus was baptized in 27 AD; He was cut off three and a half years later in the midst of that last week. “And the people of the prince who are to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.” This is the verse that confuses many people. “The people of the prince who is gonna come,” do you notice the word prince there? In your Bible is that a capital p or a small p? That’s talking about the persecuting powers, the Roman powers destroyed the sanctuary, they destroyed the temple. And it’s just giving you the overview.

Now here’s where I’ve just gotta stop and explain something. If you want to understand Bible prophecy, this is a key I’m giving you right now. The Bible writers were Jewish, with the exception of Luke and a little bit written by Nebuchadnezzar and a decree by Darius, 99 percent is written by Jews. How people can be anti-Semitic and claim to be Christian I don’t know, because they’re reading the Jewish book and using that to hate Jews. That doesn’t make any sense to me.

You know when (uh) Mel Gibson came out with his movie on the Messiah they gave him such a hard time about being anti-Semitic. Did you--some of you hear that? And my mother was a film critic, and some of these people that were criticizing were some of my Jewish friends that were criticizing the anti-Semitism and I wanted to say, “I don’t get it, the hero is a Jew, (laughs) how can it be anti-Semitic movie, the hero is a Jew.” And any event, I don’t wanna go there.

But when you think like a Jew, they think like newspapers. They write like newspapers: headlines; give you an overview, then they backup and they give you the fine print. They don’t think or talk chronologically. A matter of fact, if you sit in a room of Jews that know each other, and I’m including myself, I’m just telling you about my Jewish family. They all talk at the same time. And they understand what everybody in the room is saying. And conversing is something that you do collectively. And it is not uncommon for them to say for instance, “The Messiah will be cut off not for Himself, and the Romans that are gonna come they’ll destroy the city, but now back to the Messiah.”

Genesis, people get confused. It tells about the creation of the world the first six days, right, chapter 1? Then it backs up and tells how Adam names the animals and Eve isn’t created yet, is that the 8th day, did God create her? Wait a second it says she was created by the end of chapter 1, how come it’s backing up and telling how she’s created? This is how the Bible is written. Many prophecies are written that way where it lays out the big picture, backs up, gives you some details, then it moves on, gives you some details then it moves on, did you get that? This is how the Bible is written. If you think that the prophecies are written chronologically, you’re gonna get some very convoluted interpretations and believe me there’s plenty of them out there.

All that the angel is doing is he’s backing up and telling Daniel, “The prince that’s gonna come is gonna destroy the city,” but now we’re going back to the hero, the Messiah. And he goes on to say “He will confirm,” I’m in verse 27, “He will confirm a covenant with many for one week.” Now if you’re gonna convince me that it’s the antichrist that is confirming the covenant, then you’ve got something you’ve gottta do; show me one place in the Bible where the antichrist makes a covenant. Where does the antichrist ever make a covenant with anybody? Does the Lord make a covenant with His people in the Bible? Yes He does. “He will confirm the covenant with many for one week,” and it says, “in the midst of the week, He will cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease. He’ll bring the sacrifice to an end.”

If you go 69 weeks from the time when (uh) the command was given to restore and build Jerusalem until Jesus’ baptism, that’s 400 and 83 years. Matter of fact (uhm) put that chart up there for me. See that? Four hundred and 83 years from the time of the command being given until the baptism of Jesus, 27 AD, right on time Jesus is baptized, right? Then He preaches for three and a half years. You’re entering the last week of the whole 400 and 90 year prophecy. It’s all together friends.

You’re entering that last week. In the middle of the last week Jesus dies on the cross. What happens at the same time He dies on the cross in the temple? The veil is rent. You know what happened to the sacrifice that day? They’re getting ready to offer the Passover sacrifice and kill this Passover lamb and a lot of the religious leaders were oblivious that the real Passover Lamb was dying outside of the city at the same moment. And Jesus made the sacrifice cease. That Passover, they did not have a sacrifice, they were horrified, the earthquake from the—when Jesus died there was a massive earthquake, and the veil rent in the temple, and the graves were opened up, it completely disrupted the sacrificial system on that Passover, and ultimately the temple was destroyed. Three and a half years later, He dies right in the midst of the week. Christ confirmed the covenant for a whole week but He dies in the middle, how could He confirm the covenant for the whole week and then not be there? (Uhm) Alright, first of all let’s look at II Corinthians chapter 3 (uh) verse 14 because the veil is taken away in Christ.

DB—Sermon Question # 10: Question number ten. Jesus instructed His disciples when they began preaching to go to what group?

When He first began His ministry He didn’t say, “Go to all the world and preach to the Gentiles.” He said the opposite. He said, “I am first to confirm the covenant with My people, I have a covenant with Abraham and his descendants, and I am to confirm that covenant.” He said to the disciples, “Go not in the way of the Gentiles,” go what? “Not in the way of the Gentiles but go rather to,” who? “The lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Another time a Canaanite woman came to Him and said, “Can you heal my daughter?” And He said to her, it sounded a little abrupt He said, “I am not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” He did heal her daughter but He let her know this is His side trip, “My mission is really to the seed of Abraham.” And He kept that. He never ministered outside of the borders of Israel, did He?

You read these goofy books that Jesus went to study in India and He went to do these other things, no! He ministered to His people. He confirmed the covenant that He had made. Jesus is the one who made a covenant with Abraham, amen? He is the one who gave the plans for the sanctuary to--to (uh) Moses. All things that were made were made by Him.

Now at the--at the beginning of His ministry when Christ started preaching, (uhm) He preached exclusively to the Jews but He warned them, “If you do not embrace this you’re at risk.” He says in Matthew chapter 21 verse 43, “The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” Well during the time of Christ of course there was Herod’s temple, and it was another beautiful edifice. One of the first things Jesus did when He began His ministry, how many of you remember when He chased out all the money changers? He cleansed the sanctuary. And when He did that He said something and don’t miss these little words, He said, “Take these things, hence; my Father’s house is not to be a house of merchandise.” Whose house? My; My Father’s house, My Father’s house!

Now notice what He said at the end of His ministry. After His preaching was rejected He said, “Behold, your house has left you desolate.” Then He goes out and He dies and the veil rips. See what’s happening here? This is very important friends. His disciples come to show Him the buildings of the temple we talked about this already, and say, “Isn’t it a beautiful building”? And Jesus said to them, “Don’t you see these things, the day is coming when there’s not going to be,” (uhm) I’m rushing ahead here sorry, “there won’t be left here one stone upon another that will be thrown down.” The significance of this earthly temple is not what it’s all about it anymore. A matter of fact Christ said explicitly, He said, “Destroy this body and in three days I’ll raise it up.” What was He talking about? Destroy this temple. The church is the body of Christ now, when He died on the cross the physical temple met its fulfillment, now it’s the body of Christ, this is the temple, right?

Even at the trial of Christ the only thing that they could get to agree on they found two false witnesses that almost got it right. They heard Him say, “I’ll destroy this temple that is made with hands and within three days I’ll build another one made without hands.” He did say something very close to that didn’t He? Because that temple was gonna meet its fulfillment and it was no longer necessary anymore. It was all talking about when you’re a kid you play with match box cars, when you get to be 18 years old if your father gives you a match box it doesn’t work anymore. That’s not gonna make you happy, you want the real thing. Why would we be satisfied with this earthly ritual in this temple when we’ve got the Lamb of God and we’ve got the temple of the church, the real body of Christ! And yet there are people who are so worked up about, “I wonder when they’re gonna build the temple again so the Messiah can come back.” He already did it. He said, “Destroy this temple and I’ll raise up the one that really matters, My body.”

DB—Sermon Question #11: Number 11. Since Jesus died in the midst of this final week, how did He confirm the covenant with many for one week?

Remember it says, He’d confirmed the covenant for one week, seven years. He died after three and a half years, what about that last three and a half years, how did He do that? You read in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 3, this is a great verse. “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was,” say this with me, “was confirmed,” the very word in Daniel, “confirmed to us by those who heard Him.” Another words, Jesus then confirmed the covenant to the Jewish nation for another three and a half years through the apostles.

How many of you know that when Christ ascended to heaven they did not go to the Gentiles until after the stoning of Steven, three and a half years later? When the Jewish nation—it says they taught in the temple daily. Jesus says, “Begin preaching first Jerusalem, Judea, then Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.” But for another three and a half years they preached exclusively to the Jews; Pentecost, 2,000 are baptized, 3,000 rather, how ma--who were they, Gentiles? They were devout Jews out of every nation under heaven dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews. Five thousand baptized in Acts chapter 5, who were they? Jews! It’s not until you get to the stoning of Steven that things change.

DB—Sermon Question #12: Question number 12. When did the 70-week prophecy or 400-and-90-year prophecy conclude?

If you read on your Bibles, turn with me quickly to Acts chapter 7, I’m looking at the clock and I’m looking at all I’ve got to share and I think I might be able to squeeze this in. Of course I thought that last night and I ran out of time. Acts chapter 7, Steven is brought before the Supreme Court, the Sanhedrin. By the way, I read an Israeli news release online that January 20th, the (uh) Jewish nation had a meeting, they’re trying to reassemble the Sanhedrin again for the first time in (uh) 16 hundred years, isn’t that interesting? To discuss again, cause they don’t--they think it’s the Sanhedrin that must endorse the Messiah whenever He comes, and they believe He’s coming soon. I think a lot of people are getting ready also to accept a counterfeit so we’ve gotta know what the true is, amen?

Steven makes his defense; he preaches the Spirit-filled sermon so his face is glowing before the Supreme Court of the nation. And the Bible says that (uh) verse 54, “When they heard these things,” Acts chapter 7:54, “they were cut to the heart, they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit gazed into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, ‘look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.’ And they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears.” What does it mean when the Supreme Court of a nation, the religious leaders plugged their ears after hearing the gospel from somebody whose face is glowing? That was not a good sign. And I know it is politically incorrect to say this and I might get some letters from my Jewish friends but it’s the truth, that as a nation, there--any Jew can be saved, right? There’s no hope for me otherwise. But as a nation they blew it right then. That’s--there’s no way you can mince words about this.

The Messiah came and what did Peter say? “You’ve crucified the Lord of glory.” At least some of them have the wits to say, “Men and brethren what shall we do?” They were convicted! But these were convicted and they plugged their ears and they gnashed their teeth, they took him out, and they stoned him, and when they stoned him, you know what he did? He said the same thing that Jesus said, “Father, forgive them they don’t know what they’re doing.” Steven died very much like Jesus died; (uh) a bad trial, illegal trial, taken outside the city, killed by his own, and prays for their forgiveness.

Three and a half years after Christ begins His ministry He confirms the covenant in person, then for another three and a half years He confirms the covenant through those who heard Him—the disciples. Jesus said, “As the Father sent Me,” He told the disciples, “so sent I you. You go and preach to them now, preach to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” I believe God has a special work for the Jews. I think you’re gonna see a revival among the Jews that respond to this kind of preaching the same way they did to the preaching of Peter and Steven. Many were converted back then as a result of that.

When was Steven stoned? Thirty-four AD and you know what’s amazing? They laid their clothes down at the feet of someone named what? Saul, who later was known as Paul, he’s converted in the next chapter and he becomes the apostle to who?—the Gentiles; 34 AD something significant happened. The Jewish nation, that 400 and 90 years was up for them, that’s why Paul said, “Seeing that you put these things from you, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” Now the gospel was to go to anybody; Jew and Gentiles. The Jews are not restricted from the gospel but it was not to be exclusively for them anymore. It was now to go to whosoever will and who is Israel today.

So here you’ve got the prophecy very quickly. Four hundred and 83 years, Jesus is baptized 27 AD, then 31 AD He dies on the cross, He confirms the covenant for three and a half years in person, in the midst of the week He makes the sacrifice cease, He preaches three and a half years through those He fills with His Spirit. The same way He wants to do it with us now. Then Steven is stoned, the nation officially plugs their ears, the gospel explodes to the Gentiles after that.

DB—Sermon Question #13: Number 13. Who are God’s people and where is His temple today?

Answer? The Bible says, “And if you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.” Again you can read in Romans chapter 9 verse 7 and 8, “Nor are they children because they are of the seed of Abraham that is, those who are of the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God. But the children of the promise are counted as the seed.” If you’ve accepted the promise of Jesus you’ll become the seed. And again, “He is not a Jew who is one outwardly,” Paul says, but who is a Jew? “Who is one inwardly.” So if you’ve accepted Christ, shalom. (Audience laughs) You are a brother and sister of mine, right? You become spiritual Jews. Again Peter says, “You are also living stones.” We become the temple of God. Everybody; Jew, Greek, Gentile, male, female, we all are built up to a royal temple. Where is the temple now? Christ’s body, His church is the temple of God today.

Now you might be wondering, “What about the antichrist sitting in the temple of God showing himself that he is God”? Keep coming, we got a lesson on the antichrist and I’ll talk about what that means. Jewish temple was destroyed in 70 AD, from that day to this day the Jews have not have a sacrificial system, isn’t that interesting? Why? Because He made the sacrifice cease; “Jesus was the Lamb of God that took away the sin of the world.”

Friends and He did that for you. He has a special plan for you. He’s wanting you to know these things. All that has happened in the Bible has happened right on schedule. And don’t miss this, if Christ came according to the 490-year prophecy, He came right on time the first time, baptized in 27 AD, will He come right on time the second time? And wait until we get to some more of these prophecies friends. The Bible fits together perfectly. He’s brought you here because He wants you to know these things. He wants you to be ready. Do you wanna be ready? Let’s ask Him to help us right now.

Loving Father in heaven, thank you for the truth that your people become your temple; we can be living stones, and that our very bodies can be your dwelling place, that we individually can become temples. Please fill us with that Shekinah Spirit. Help us to be led. And ultimately, we want to be in the kingdom where You yourself are there and there’s no physical temple because your presence is with us. We want to be with you Lord. Bring these people, bless them and their families, bless them in their spirits, help them to experience forgiveness and eternal life, in Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

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