[NeitherFirstnorLast]

Originally Posted by Ohio

Soon, I believe, the "time of the Gentiles" will elapse, and Israel will have their "time" once again. The Third Temple will reject His Son initially until He returns, and then they will "look on Him whom they have pierced." Israel will repent when they see Him again, seeing the signs and wonders which will then occur. God will thus be faithful to all his promises of old.

Brother Ohio,

I see that there appears to be agreement amongst those posting here that the third Temple must be rebuilt for this prophecy to be fulfilled... I too once held this view; but I am not sure of it anymore.

There are a number of reasons for this - The first reason being spiritual: I cannot believe that any sacrifice offered up in any third Temple would itself not be an abomination in the eyes of God - for it would represent a rejection of His all-atoning sacrifice for His people everywhere. The teaching that has us all waiting with baited breath for construction to begin on a third Temple also keeps our eyes off the place where the abomination of desolation is already occuring, or beginning to... right here in the real Temple of God, the Body of Christ on Earth, the Church.

I have heard it said that were Satan with us today in the flesh, you would find him not in a brothel, not in a drug den, nor in a slaughter house - but rather you would find him behind a pulpit, expounding the Word of God with a clever and fatal twist. Satan is a Liar, and the father of them (John 8:44), and his desire has ever been to ascend above the heights of the clouds, to be like the Most High (Isaiah 14:14). The only place he can possibly attempt to do that is from within, not from without God's chosen Temple. He will attempt to decieve even the elect, were it possible (Matthew 24:24)... and how else could he deceive the elect, but to present himself as one of them?

"I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
For if he that comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might bear with him...
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as ministers of righteousness..."(2 Cor 11:3-4,13-15).

Satan DOES despise the Jew - and to the Jew, who is of the Tribe of Judah, much has been promised... but the Jew in this age, the age of the Church, is not able to raise up a Temple to God, for we ARE the Temple.

The second reason I must reconsider this interpretation of the prophecies lies in another matter I touched on in the thread on Israel; and that is this: The Israel of today is NOT historical Israel, it is historical Judah.

Israel, or Jacob as the Lord also refers to it in His Word, is made up of the twelve tribes named for Jacob/Israel's twelve sons. These twelve tribes are:

Asher
Benjamin
Dan
Gad
Issachar
Joseph* (Manasseh and Ephraim)
Judah
Levi
Naphtali
Reuben
Simeon
Zebulun

As we read the Chronicles and the Book of Kings, we see that while David united these tribes under his reign, and Solomon maintained the unity - the Kingdom actually fell apart under Solomon's heir, Rehoboam (1 Kings chapter 12). Rehoboam would retain the kingship over Judah and Benjamin, but Jeroboam was crowned King of the remaining tribes of Israel. When Rehoboam wanted to attack the Israelites for their treachery (as he saw it), the Lord spoke to him through Shemaiah the man of God - saying "You shall not go up to wage war with your brothers, the children of Israel. Every man return to his house, for this matter is of Me."

The Lord Himself caused this division - and not because one King or one people was more true than the other - both Jeroboam and Rehoboam were corrupt. However, the Lord was working something in this division, and I believe it is for something grander than we could imagine, were we only to read of the accounts in the histories of these people.

These two nations, Israel and Judah, continued alongside one another with periodic exchanges of hostilities; and the Lord permitted this for a time... but then He raised up prophets against Israel:

Hosea 8:9-10

For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has sold herself to lovers.

Although they have sold themselves among the nations, I will now gather them together. They will begin to waste away under the oppression of the mighty king.

Hosea 11:5

He shall not return to the land of Egypt;But the Assyrian shall be his king,Because they refused to repent.

Assyria began invading and conquering parts of Israel in 740 BCE where the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and eastern half-tribe of Manasseh were carried captive to Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan (I Chronicles 5:26; II Kings 15:29).
The nearly twenty year charge was finished in 722 BCE with the destruction of Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom (II Kings 17:3-6). A mere 27,290 captives were deported from Samaria (certainly much less than the number deported in the previous 19 years). Israel was no more, and Judah was already under siege on it's own.

Of the Children of Israel, God spoke through Amos saying "For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth" Amos 9:9

In Hosea 3:4-5 He says "the Israelites shall live many a day long without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without image or household gods: but after that they will again seek the Lord their God and David their king, and turn anxiously to the Lord for his bounty in days to come."

So Israel is scattered among the nations, even "sown" amongst the nations - and as sown seed she will grow. But Judahs fate is different. Judah will be taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar, and brought to Babylon for to wait 70 years in captivity, before their release and return to the wasted ruin of Jerusalem.

Judah returns from Babylon - and not all of the Jews taken, for many remain behind, having grown accustomed to the only life this generation has ever known... but Israel does not return. Where is it?

The Lord says, in Ezekial 37:19 "'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph--which is in Ephraim's hand--and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah's stick, making them a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand."

This prophecy speaks of a future time, when Israel (which, after the split between Rehoboam and Jeroboam, was dominated by Ephraim in fulfillment of the prophecy spoken by Jacob - wherein he said Ephraim would rule a "multitude of nations") is rejoined to Judah.

Where did Christ come from? He came from Galilee, yes, and born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth - but he was of the Roman province of Judea - conquered Judah. In Christ's day, he was called a Jew, and lived amongst the Jews. This was not Israel... but He spoke of these lost Israelites... do you remember it? I believe He alluded to it in
Luke 19:10 "For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost."

and I know He said it in

John 10:24-26
"The Jews therefore surrounded Him and said to Him, how long will You hold our soul in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and you do not believe. The works which I do in My Father's name, these testify concerning Me; but you do not believe because you are not of My sheep."

and He could not have said it more plainly than He did in Matthew 15:24

"But He answered and said, I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

The modern day nation of Israel was brought back through the working of God Himself. Of this I have no doubt. However, while she has taken Israel's name, she is in fact Judah - and the rest of the lost sheep of the House of Israel, where are they?

Matthew 10:5-6

"These twelve Jesus sent forth, charging them, saying 'Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter into any city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

Christ went to gain sheep who were 'not of this fold' - to gather them and preach the gospel to the ends of the Earth to obtain them.

My belief is that the children of Israel were scattered amongst the nations - sown amongst the nations - to survive the predations of Satan by hiding them - but also to gain the nations; people of every tribe and every tongue, for the Kingdom: to bless the nations through Abraham.

James wrote his epistle to the "The twelve tribes in dispersion" (James 1:1) - 800 years after the twelve tribes had been dispersed.

Peter likewise wrote to "the sojourners of the dispersion" (1 Peter 1:1).

I believe that the blood of the children of Israel runs in the veins of MANY of the saints - not all maybe, but very very many. I believe that the Lord blinded the eyes of the Jews so that salvation could be brought to the nations through Israel - and that Israel and Judah will be rejoined at the time of His coming, when the flesh is restored to the dried bones and life is breathed into the Jews as their eyes are opened and their spirits enlivened and they finally come to see Jesus as Lord.

Could I be wrong? Absolutely! In all honesty, I really DON'T believe we can know it all. The prophecies are not given to us in a time line and with clear definitions - and He intended it that way.

We are not called to look for the antichrist, but to look to Him. Not to watch the wind and the waves roaring, but to keep our eyes on Jesus Christ our Lord, so we don't sink beneath them...

In Christ,

NeitherFirstnorLast