Sunday, August 10, 2014

(08/10/2014) A House Of Prayer For All People?

A brief Scripture study is shared, today, focused upon points of consideration for the building of a third Temple at Jerusalem.  While I found several verses that spoke of the temple in the last days as well as the temple in heaven, I found no results when I searched for “third temple,” “another temple,” and “next temple” per se.  I am convinced that the platforms of ethnic pride, inheritance, and national pride, can not replace those of humility, repentance, reverence, and Bible truth.  In my experience, the holy writings have shown that the conditions for the founding of any new temple must be a new covenant, new proclamation of divine law, new fulfillment of prophecies, and continuing operations by the Holy Spirit.  Thus, we see Cyrus, a Gentile, stirred by the Spirit to rebuild the Temple (in effect ending the Exile) in accordance with things proclaimed to Jeremiah.  Erecting a modern day house dedicated to GOD will also require response to prophesies that seem not to be available among Jews and Islamic believers, yet, have been proclaimed for a millennium throughout the earth by followers of Jesus Christ.


SOME THOUGHTS ON


Matthew 21:  12-14 (KJV)  12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,

13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.


Ezekiel 28:  25-26 (KJV)  25 Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob.  26 And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their God.


1st Chronicles 22:  18-19 (KJV)  18 Is not the LORD your God with you? and hath he not given you rest on every side? for he hath given the inhabitants of the land into mine hand; and the land is subdued before the LORD, and before his people.  19 Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of the LORD God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of the LORD.


2nd Chronicles 36:  22-23 (KJV)  22 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,  23 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.


Isaiah 56:  4-7 (KJV)  4 For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;  5 Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters:  I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.  6 Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;  7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.


Ezra 6:  14-19 (KJV)  14 And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.  15 And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.  16 And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy.  17 And offered at the dedication of this house of God an hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for a sin offering for all Israel, twelve he goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.  18 And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem; as it is written in the book of Moses.  19 And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month.


Isaiah 2:  1-3 (KJV)  1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.  2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.  3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths:  for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.


Isaiah 2:  11 (KJV)  11 The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.


Micah 4:  1-3 (KJV)  1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.  2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.  3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks:  nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.


John 2:  13-22 (KJV)  13 And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:  15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;  16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.  17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.  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.  22 When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.


1st Corinthians 6:  15-20 (KJV)  15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.  16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.  17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.  18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.  19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?  20 For ye are bought with a price:  therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.


Acts 17:  22-33 (KJV)  22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.  23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.  24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;  25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;  26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;  27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:  28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.  29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.  30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:  31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.  32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked:  and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.  33 So Paul departed from among them.


John 17:  17 (KJV)  17 Sanctify them through thy truth:  thy word is truth.


1st Timothy 4:  1-5 (KJV)  1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;  2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;  3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.  4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:  5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.


Ephesians 5:  25-32 (KJV)  25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;  26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,  27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.  28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.  29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:  30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.  31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.  32 This is a great mystery:  but I speak concerning Christ and the church.


1st Corinthians 14:  29-33 (KJV)  29 Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.  30 If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace.  31 For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.  32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.  33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.


Romans 16:  25-27 (KJV)  25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,  26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:  27 To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.


There is far more to be said, correctly understood, and spiritually apprehended.  The third temple does not have to miraculously appear to be a benefit for all mankind—not just Israelis, Jews, or those of the Middle East—however, the third temple would have to be cleansed, sanctified, and set apart as a holy dwelling by GOD.  The same mechanisms and tools given that we might avoid idolatry, materialism, superstition and worldliness must now be used to authenticate and endorse prophecy.  Prophets among us, today, also must be in obedience to earlier prophets and prophesies; and all things are to be done decently, and in order.  Once more, readers are asked to add those verses or passages from Scripture that they would like to share in the comments area (below).  Even so, I trust this fragment will be useful.  Be it unto you according to your faith.


THE BLACK PHOENIX
Washington, DC

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