#3 A Future End-Times Temple? Not According to Messiah. Matt. 24:15-16



   As I hope you, the reader, understand that this blog is intentional in discerning the biblical passages that deal with our future and our hopes through the lens of biblical worldviews, not social media or even news. It should be appreciated that using the Bible to identify the bulk of biblical prophecy and language rather than current events is the aim and heart of the writer in this attempt. Not all things will you necessarily agree with but you may glean some tools for biblical interpretation and usefulness of the history that supports the prophetic claims of the Bible. 

    Before I begin this journey through biblical texts and some history, I would like to invite you to be open to evaluate the consequences. When dealing with prophecy in the sense that it is either fulfilled or yet to be fulfilled some people will say that it doesn't matter, or that it is not the main point. I beg to differ. About ten years ago, a very close Christian friend of mine was so convinced that a future temple was to be built in Jerusalem and that a full restoration to the Laws of Moses would be re-established in a future time. Due to the Christian church's historic view that the Church of Christ has replaced that temple, my friend denounced Jesus and went through a full conversion to join a branch of conservative Judaism. His wife soon got breast cancer and when I heard of it I told him I would pray for him and his wife. His reply, "Do not pray to your false god and don't ever call me again." It is a truly sad event in my life but it brings to light that views of the future are part of our hope and faith and therefore have bearing on the steering of our respective vessels on this ride we call life. Scripturally, notice the connection of 'hope' and 'the future' in many Bible passages as you read them. An often quoted verse from Jeremiah 29:11 highlights this, stating,

"'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.'"

In fact, I am sure that most of us have heard of small groups selling their possessions and giving them away in a belief that the coming of Christ was to happen on this day or that only to find that they have become impoverished and that their hopes have brought them to ruins at that point. They do not know what to believe and they often times reject faith altogether. I ask, is not prophecy part of the Scripture that we are to study? Are we not our brother's keeper and should therefore warn them when there are dangers? Should we not then pursue some understanding on this issue even if it is not the main subject matter of our faith? Won't this help us demonstrate that we are approved worthy to handle God's Word and so teach others to do the same? I believe it will.

    I am going to begin this blog by tackling the subject of a future temple for three reasons: (1) It has struck a nerve with me personally, (2) it is a time stamp for many other Bible prophecies because it is closely connected to other events of prophecy (this helps when used to interpret fulfillment), and (3) the temple in Jerusalem was a physical, tangible, and rectifiable structure. Rectifiable with past events in time, thereby making it easy to understand in a future or historical scenario (i.e. fulfilled or not). Let's begin this journey together and ask what this means spiritually, once you have an opinion. We will begin this with a passage that has been termed "The last days according to Jesus", Matthew 24:15-16.

    The first passage of Scripture dealing with the possibility of a future temple, and that we will deal with in this blog, is Matthew 24:15-16. This is the first New Testament passage dealing with this subject when reading the New Testament in order. There are only three and possibly four passages in the New Testament that are interpreted as being about a future temple. This blog will deal with them in order and then proceed into the Old Testament.

We see the portend about a future temple given here Matthew 24:15-16.

“Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place—let the reader understand--then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. (Matt. 24:15-16)

Jesus is responding to an original question posed by His disciples in 24:1-3, it reads,

Jesus left the temple area and was going on His way when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. But He responded and said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down. And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen?

This idea of a future temple is also structured by Jesus' reference to the book of Daniel which speaks of "the abomination of desolation" (note: this is not the character from the late Hulk movie). This "abomination" is spoken of in four different places in the book of Daniel (8:13,9:27,11:31,12:11) and each time it is indicated that it is associated or the cause of the stopping of the sacrifices in the temple. This is how Jesus answers His disciples as to "when" the temple they were viewing would be destroyed. In other words, Jesus was saying to His disciples "You see that temple standing there? It will be destroyed at the time of the abomination of desolation." (my paraphrase) In fact, this mention of the "abomination of desolation" is the first and only time in all of Matthew 24 that Jesus even addresses the disciples' question about the timing of the destruction of the temple. So then, 

Questions: This is a future prophecy to Jesus' disciples, is it still future? The "abomination of desolation" is the answer Jesus gives to His disciples about the temple's destruction, and they were speaking about the temple standing in front of them, is this a temple still future to us today? Or did this already take place? How does this affect the context of the rest of the prophetic events in Matthew 24? Let me know your thoughts in this post.



Here is a video that helps contextualize the timing of the events in Matthew 24.
 

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