Page 5
|
|
Myths About a Third Temple
and Two Witnesses Two metaphors in particular
have been grossly misunderstood. A metaphor is when one thing mentioned
actually represents something else entirely different. It is a “figure of
speech”. The Old Testament ends saying
that Elijah would come to prepare the way for the Messiah’s coming (Mal.
4:6). The New Testament begins by explaining that John the Baptist was the
fulfillment of the coming of Elijah (Mt. 11:7-14). How can this be if John
did not call down fire from heaven or do the miracles of Elijah? The answer seems related to
John being a Levite as well as a prophet. Only a Levite, descendants of Moses
and Aaron, were allowed to touch, transport or transfer the things of the
temple (II Sam 6:6-7, 19). John the Baptist, being a Levite, was an
instrument in transferring the Shekinah (or Holy Spirit) from heaven to the
body of Christ during Christ’s baptism. Then how does John the
Baptist get credit for doing the works of Elijah? He identified who Christ
was and baptized him, and it is likely that John baptized the 12 apostles
before they became disciples. These 13 did the miracles of Elijah. The “fire
from heaven” motif is repeated very often. Elijah did miracles and called
down fire from heaven. The 12 apostles were to
become kings over 12 tribes, and these works will surely follow. They were
sent in pairs from house to house with power to heal the sick and raise
the dead (Mark. 6:7; Mat. 10:8). Herod thought perhaps John the Baptist,
whom he had beheaded, was risen from the dead to perform the prophesied works
of Elijah (Mark 6:14). James and John, “sons of thunder”, sought to sit on
the left and right sides of the throne of the coming kingdom, and they asked
Jesus if they should call down fire from heaven to consume their foes even as
Elijah did (Lk. 9:54), just as in Revelation 11:5. Jesus did not say his
disciples could not call down fire from heaven. He merely said he was called
to save lives, not to destroy them. The “fire from heaven” motif
is repeated very often. Those rejecting these pairs of witnesses were to be
deemed worthy of worse punishment than Sodom, which was consumed by fire. Christ’s body was the temple
even in the first century when he said, “Destroy this temple, and I will
raise it back up in three days.” So it is likely that the Body of Christ is
the third temple as stated in Hebrews 9:11: “…a more perfect tabernacle not
made with hands, that is to say, not of this (physical) building”. Revelation
says: “And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb
are the temple of it” (Rev. 21:22). This is supported by an omen
found in the Jewish Mishna and Talmud. For 40 years after the crucifixion, on
every day of Atonement, lots were cast to see which of the two goats would be
sacrificed as atonement. The lot “for the Lord” did not come in the right
hand of the priest forty times in a row. For 40 years, the right hand of the
priest held the “scapegoat” each year until the temple was destroyed in 70
AD. This suggests that the Shekinah
(Holy Spirit), which had resided in the first two temples, was transferred to
the body of Christ at his baptism or perhaps at his transfiguration in the
presence of Moses and Elijah. This would explain Acts 3:12, when the body of
Christ received the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Metaphor
of “the Two Witnesses” is Multifacited As mentioned, two metaphors
in particular have been grossly misunderstood. A metaphor is when one thing
mentioned actually represents something else entirely different. It is a
“figure of speech”. Recently, over twenty men have claimed to be one of the
Two Witnesses of Revelation 11. Googling the
words "The Two Witnesses" will produce 20 million “hits”. Speculation
has become one of America’s favorite pastimes. It’s like being in a huge
crowd, where every person in the crowd has a speech to give. All have been
wrong; Religious fraud is nothing new. Jews today are still
expecting both Elijah and their Messiah. |
|
|
|