Welcome friends to the Line of Fire broadcast. I've been looking forward to being with you today.
This is Michael Brown here. Five days a week to infuse you with faith and truth and courage to help you stand strong on the front lines. I want to say to each of you from the Scriptures, don't be weary in doing good for in due season. You will reap a harvest if you don't quit, if you don't cave in, if you don't throw in the towel. Friends, God is not throwing in the towel. God is not throwing up his hands in despair and worry and neither should we. Jesus is Lord.
He sits in throne. He is working on the earth by his Spirit, working throughout the world, raising up a body, raising up a people who will shine for him. And the New Testament perspective, 1 John 2, the darkness is passing and the true light is shining. I'm not looking forward to everything getting worse and worse no matter what happens in this world.
I'm looking forward to the glorious return of the King where he establishes his glorious kingdom and rules and reigns forever. All right, if you're not getting our inspirational informational frontline newsletter, it's once a month that we send it to you. It's digital. It's got everything from a Hebrew word study to an inspirational message to powerful testimonies to excerpts from my books. We just pour everything into it to bless you once a month. It's free. If you're not getting it, go now to thelineoffire.org, fill in your name, email.
You just click subscribe and we will get it right out to you. We'll also put you on our welcome tour, share more about my own background testimony and most importantly, how we can serve you and equip and help you. This entire month, we've been focusing on the end times. We've been using as a textbook, the book that Professor Craig Keener and I wrote, Not Afraid of the Antichrist, Why We Don't Believe in a Pretribulation Rapture. But we've made clear our purpose is not just to divide over these points or to hammer home what we don't believe in. It's been to look at different points, different emphases, different end time beliefs, understand one another and then lay out what we see as most important in scripture. So on the heels of talking yesterday about God's purposes for Israel, which remain according to the word of God. And I say this again as someone who is not a dispensationalist and does not hold your preacher rapture. I say that God's ongoing purposes for Israel in scripture are plainly laid out. And it's important for us as believers to understand those and hold to those and thereby stand with God on the earth today in terms of what he is doing.
There are many questions, though, that come up. Will there be a third temple built in Israel? What does the Bible actually say?
Does it address that? Will there be a temple in the millennial kingdom? Those of you who believe, as I do, that there will be a thousand year reign of the Messiah on the earth when he returns before we go into the eternal age. Will there be a temple there? Will there be a temple with sacrifices? How can that possibly be reconciled with the gospel and the cross?
And doesn't it go backwards and undo things? Let's unpack these questions today. But let me start here by saying this. My focus is not on whether a third temple will be built or not. I am not searching the news to find out the latest report about red heifers.
I'm not searching the news to find out the latest report about movements within Israel with political leaders talking about rebuilding the third temple. I'm not concerning myself with any of that whatsoever, nor do I believe the Bible tells me to focus on those things. And often we can get sensationalistic. Often that can become the focus. That can become the thing that we're looking at instead of focusing on living godly lives, raising our families in godly ways, being a witness in the workplace, being people of prayer and purity, and living such lives that will hasten the return of Jesus according to 2 Peter chapter 3.
So these are interesting things, but I encourage you not to make them a major point of focus. So do I believe, as often asked the question, that there will be a third temple built in Jerusalem before Jesus returns? Do I believe that? I personally do. I'm not dogmatic about it.
Again, it's not my focus, but I personally do. One reason is the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24. We spent about three whole broadcasts just dealing with Matthew 24, reading it through, and saying without a doubt much of it was applicable to that first generation that saw the temple destroyed in the year 70. And there's no doubt about it that much of it is applicable to the final generation that will see the return of Jesus in the clouds. Not some metaphorical return, but his real return in the clouds when we'll be gathered together to meet him. So I see that there is a future temple there that, in the words of the baseball player Yogi Berra, it's like deja vu all over again. That there are going to be parallels, just as we see with the return of the exiles from 2,500 years ago, and then at the end of the age, parallels in terms of what happened and the Jewish people coming back to the land in unbelief, and then only there encountering the Lord. We're seeing those things unfold. So it's kind of a recapitulation.
It happened A, B, C, D. The first time now, the second time, it's going to be B, C, D, E, F, G. So there's overlap. But I do believe that the picture painted and Jewish believers in Jerusalem and there being restrictions on travel, all these things are in place right now. That's the reality in Israel. The rise of the religious right that will have more and more influence in Israel, then the open persecution that can come over faith in the Messiah growing and expanding, under an anti-Christ figure, etc.
It's all working itself out that we don't have to imagine that much because the table has been set. So Matthew 24 points to a future temple that will be destroyed in the final conflict, a future and final abomination of desolation, just like there was one in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, about 160 years before the time of Jesus, and then an abomination of desolation when the temple was destroyed in the year 70. I believe there'll be a final one at that time, and a final war, and a final destruction of the temple, out of which God will deliver his people out of that final battle and conflict, and on the heels of which there'll be a national turning of the Jewish people to the Messiah and all Israel will be saved.
There's also this interesting passage in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 that I want to read to you. Paul writes concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, so the word coming there again parousia, the standard word for the second coming, his literal arrival, that's what it speaks of, his literal presence, arrival on the earth. Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus the Messiah and our being gathered to him, we ask you brothers and sisters not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us, whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter, asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. So Paul plainly saying that we will not be gathered to the Lord, the day of his coming will not come until there is a final rebellion.
Jesus speaks of it in Matthew 24 12 because the love of many, because iniquity will abound, the love of many will wax cold, because of lawlessness the love of many will wax cold. So Paul says there will be this final rebellion and the man of sin, the antichrist, will be revealed. And then it says this, he is the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose, second Thessalonians 2 4, he will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped so that he sets himself up in God's temple proclaiming himself to be God. Now is it possible that God's temple is metaphorical here, that Ephesians 2 indicates that we as believers have become the temple of God. First Corinthians 3 says that the body of Christ is the temple of the Holy Spirit. First Peter 2 says that we are living stones in this temple. Could it be metaphorical that the antichrist will set himself up among God's people in the church and proclaim himself to be God? It's possible but there's no hint here that the Paul's using it metaphorically. In other words he's talking about very literal real things that will happen with a very literal person and he's saying that he will set himself up in God's temple proclaiming himself to be God. So that to me would indicate that there will be a future temple in Jerusalem.
This has not yet happened. The events spoken of here have not yet happened. It's not speaking about Nero or someone else and therefore it seems that there will be a future temple.
And then Paul goes on to write this, don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things. And now you know what is holding him back so that he may be revealed at the proper time. A passage we'll look at again next week. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so until he is taken out of the way and then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroyed by the splendor of his coming. So the same coming where we gather together to meet him, one of the same coming when he destroys the antichrist. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved. These verses suggest to me that there will be a future temple, a third temple built in Jerusalem before Jesus returns. But this is by no means an overwhelming series of verses pointing in this direction. It's nothing to be dogmatic about.
It's nothing to divide over and most importantly it's nothing to focus on. If and when the temple is actually rebuilt then we know we're even closer to the end than we've ever been. We will be right back. I'm Dr. Paul Burnett, a board-certified doctor of holistic health and I've got some exciting news for you today about an amino acid formula scientifically shown to build lean muscle, improve strength, and reduce recovery time at any age. Dr. Robert Wolf was a researcher of muscle health who raised 20 million dollars to fund 30 years of research and now this formula is available in TriVita's MyoHealth.
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So call now 1-800-771-5584, 1-800-771-5584, or online at trivita.com. Thanks, friends, for joining us on the Line of Fire. Michael Brown, so delighted to be with you. Remember that we have thousands of resources for you. Whenever I'm out on the road, people always want to ask questions. There's never enough time on our live radio broadcast that we do on other stations. We have a live call-in show we've done since 2008. When people call in just with questions, there's never enough time to get to all the questions that everybody has, but we've answered thousands of them already in articles, videos, different resources that we have, and they're free. So go to thelineoffire.org and just search.
Search through things to your heart. What about women in ministry? What about speaking in tongues? What about this? What about that?
What about the Sabbath? We've addressed it. I don't mean everything I'm saying is perfect and authoritative. I'm saying that if you're looking for my input and my understanding, as best as we can open up the scriptures, there you get it. So it's all free. Thelineoffire.org. And then also the books that I've written, classes you can take, all there. You can check them out for yourself. Okay, what about the red heifers?
Why is it that I'm not making a fuss over it? Well, the whole concept of the red heifer goes back to the book of Numbers, where these animals you would have a cow, so a red cow, that's never been yoked or used and is unblemished, would be slaughtered, then would be completely burned, then the ashes would be mixed with water, and the water would be used for a cleansing of a ceremony of impurity. So whether you accidentally touched a dead body or a couple had sexual relations or it was a woman's monthly cycle, things like that, you become ritually unclean, so you go outside the camp, you wash with the ritual water, and then at night you can come back in the camp. So what's happened is, with the destruction of the temple in the year 70, there's been no water for ceremonial purity, you haven't had the red heifer to sacrifice, you haven't had a place to sacrifice the animal, etc. So because of that, the entire Jewish world would be in a state of uncleanness, because one's going to contaminate another, it's just the reality because you don't have the waters of ceremonial cleansing. So in preparation for the temple, the various priestly garments have been made by the Temple Mount Faithful and the replicas of the ark and all these different things, and the candle stand, and it's all there, and at the lampstand it's all ready, and they're having classes and training for when the moment comes and the temple's rebuilt. So these things are actually going on.
It's fascinating, but nothing I focus on or pay attention to. Well, recently a Texas rancher, Christian, sent three red heifers over to Israel, so again, unblemished, unmarked, unused, and one of them could potentially then be killed, and then its ashes be used for the waters of purification. Okay, great. So you still have the Al-Aqsa mosque standing there. There could be no temple, a new temple built while that's standing there, because that's the location. Others have argued for other locations, but nothing has stuck or been the ongoing belief of the Jewish people. So there's nothing going to be done right now. There's nothing I'm thinking about, nothing I'm focused on. And look, who thought that Israel would celebrate 50 years, 70 years, 75 years, 76 years in the land? And many thought, no, within 40 years, 1948 to 1988 for sure, or 1967 to 2007 for sure, and all the dates.
We talked earlier this week about the error of date setting. So what's the same with the red heifer? I'm just not focused on that. I encourage you, don't get caught up with these peripheral things, because from headline to headline to headline, and then nothing will materialize. Best to focus on walking with the Lord. You say, I can do both.
Well, I'm not saying you can't. I'm just saying don't waste your time on secondary issues. That's all.
That's all. Will there be a millennial temple? Well, Acts, excuse me, Isaiah, the second chapter with parallelism, Micah 4, that speak of all the nations streaming up to Jerusalem, to the house of God, would speak of a temple there. Zechariah 14, which is speaking of sacrifices being offered, would speak of a temple there.
And then Ezekiel 40 through 48 gives detailed descriptions that would speak of a future temple. The problem is that there be sacrifices offered in this temple. And that would seem to be a blatant contradiction of the cross. In fact, there are countermissionary rabbis that will point to that and say, obviously, there is no cross where the Messiah dies and pays for sins once and for all, because in the millennial kingdom that even you Christians believe in, there's going to be a temple with sacrifices.
So it's a serious objection. Now, the first thing I point out to my countermissionary rabbi friends is, you know, Ezekiel 40 through 48 is a problem for everybody because the dimensions of the temple in Ezekiel 40 through 48 do not match the dimensions of Solomon's temple and the dimensions of the tabernacle, which would then be a violation of Torah law. So that presents problems like how does this work itself out in traditional Judaism? There's one account of a Talmudic rabbi, an ancient rabbi, who spent endless nights comparing the figures and worked out how they're actually not contradictory, after all, that in point of fact, there's not a contradiction. But whatever he came up with has been lost. Nobody's been able to recreate it.
So it's problematic for everyone. And it seems in context that Ezekiel was expecting to be part of it because God's telling Ezekiel how he'll be part of the offering the sacrifices and things like that with the high priest. And in the Book of Ezekiel, he's supposed to show his people in exile the plans of the temple. So they'll be ashamed because they're there in exile. They're supposed to be back in the land building this. So the expectation would have been they return from Babylon, the glory of God comes with them, the nation turns to the Lord with one heart, and they build this glorious temple.
So that didn't happen either. So there's a lot of mystery to it. Is it possible that a passage like Ezekiel 40 through 48 is simply speaking in metaphorical terms, in spiritual terms, in priestly terms, because Ezekiel was a priest about the glory of God that will cover the earth on that day, and that it just speaks of worship and adoration and sacrifice in that respect? It could be. And that's how many would interpret it who are all millennialists. They don't believe in a physical, literal millennial kingdom. Maybe that's how you read it, just a spiritual interpretation.
It's possible. But the problem with it is it's so detailed. Couldn't you make that same point in a different way that would be even more effective in making the point unless confusing? Why did God inspire it to be written in that way? So that definitely raises questions.
That definitely raises issues in terms of why is it so specific and detailed. So let's just say there will be a literal temple in a literal Jerusalem after the Messiah returns while he reigns on the earth for a thousand years. Will there be sacrifices? Well some would argue that just like the sacrifices in the Old Testament pointed forward to the cross, that the sacrifices in the millennial kingdom will point back to the cross.
One pointed forward to the cross, these will point back to the cross. Just as the animal sacrifices look forward to the coming of the Messiah, now the animal sacrifices of the millennial kingdom will look back. You say that doesn't make sense because the first ones were types and shadows.
Now that the reality came, why go back to the types and shadows? Well the foremost evangelical scholar that I know who's focused on sacrifices and offerings and their meaning in the Old Testament and the book of Leviticus is my colleague Professor Richard Averbeck, long-term professor of Old Testament Semitic languages at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. And he said the Old Testament sacrifices could never take away sin the way the cross did. They were for ceremonial purposes and it will be the same with the sacrifices in the millennial kingdom. In other words, it doesn't detract from the cross because it doesn't compete from the cross.
It's a totally other lane. My view is, I do believe there'll be a temple and it seems there will be sacrifices, but I don't try to figure it out from this viewpoint. What is clear is that Jesus died for our sin once and for all and that nothing can be added to that. What is clear is that atonement and forgiveness can come completely through him and if you don't have that today, if you don't know that your sins are forgiven, if you don't know that you're in right relationship with God through the cross, you can cry out to him today for mercy and forgiveness and he will have mercy on you. That's what's clear to me scripturally.
What's coming in the future is not going to be laid out with the same precision as that which has already happened simply because it is prophecy which is understood fully as it comes to pass. So no need to debate that or divide over it. Let's keep our focus where it needs to be. This is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks so much for tuning in. Just a reminder that we are listener supported. If we have been a blessing to you, if you're being enriched in the word and prayer and your own walk with God through this broadcast, then stand with us so that we can reach many, many more and bless many, many more. Together, friends, we're making a difference. So go to TheLineOfFire.org, TheLineOfFire.org and click donate.
