The Temple Vision – Part 3, The Glory Returns

✊🏼😄 The wheely-throne is back!

Ezekiel falls on his face as usual. And if you saw something like this, and didn’t hit the dirt, I’d question your sanity.

🤓 That’s a really cool picture. Where’d you find that one? It kinda makes me think of inline skates.

😎 The LORD…on rollerblades? As if He was’t awesome enough already…🛼🛼

My cousin made this picture using A.I.

🤓 Nice!

😎 Thanks, cousin. Very cool.

She’s a fan of you guys too.

🤓Aww… ☺️ shucks.

The LORD enters by the “East Gate.”

And when we read about the Eastern Gate or hear it mentioned in songs, we think of this:

And then we read this verse…

“Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east. And it was shut. And the Lord said to me, “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut.”
‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭44‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭ESV‬‬

…and we imagine… all kinds of things. But we’re not allowed to make up history. Here’s the actual history of the gate pictured above:

I’m pretty sure I’ve heard preachers preach that when Jesus returns, He will enter Jerusalem by the Eastern Gate. I hate to burst any bubbles, but there is no text that actually teaches this idea. It comes by cutting and pasting Ezekiel 44:1-2 with Zechariah 14:4 and throwing in a little Revelation 19, photos of a gate no one has ever seen open, and a little imagination.

We have already established that the temple Ezekiel has been touring in this vision, is not currently, nor has it ever been in existence as a literal, physical structure. If it is in some way a physical structure to be built in the future, then the current Eastern Gate of Jerusalem is probably not part of it. The angel already measured the gates of the temple structure and they are much larger than this bricked-up portion of the old city wall.

It’s very likely that Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday through the Eastern Gate as it is directly across from the Mount of Olives. But it wasn’t sealed up afterward. Plenty of people entered through that gate after He came through it. It was open for 1500 years.

And whatever Ezekiel’s “eastern gate” is, it’s different than the 3 pearly gates that face east in New Jerusalem which are “never shut at all.”

IF… Ezekiel’s Temple is en encrypted picture of the Church, then what might the sealing of the gate once the LORD has come in signify? For one thing, it makes me think of the “sealing” of the Holy Spirit, (2 Cor. 1:22-23, Eph. 1:12-14, 4:30). Might it suggest that no other god or lord belongs in His Church?

With that idea in view, how might we think differently about this text?

“Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.”
‭‭2 Thessalonians‬ ‭2‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The “man of lawlessness” or “man of sin” is generally understood to be the figure we call the “Antichrist.” And no one wrote more about antichrist than John. In fact, he’s the only one to use that term in his letters. It appears no where else in scripture. And “antichrist” already had an M.O. in John’s day.

Antichrist Characteristic 1

“Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”

“Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭2‬:‭18‬-‭19‬, ‭22‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The spirit of antichrist appears Christian, but denies the exclusive Messiahship of the biblical, historic Jesus and, consequently, the work of the Father. It’ll even come to church. But if that church insists on clinging only to the biblical Jesus, the spirit of antichrist won’t stay. The people who are under its influence will leave.

Antichrist Characteristic 2

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus, is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭4‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

John identifies the spirit of antichrist point-blank. It will refuse to confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. It will dance around the issue with spiritual-sounding talk of Jesus and the Holy Spirit and being “Christed” or having “Christ-consciencness.” It’s important that you, dear saint of God, develop what theologians call a “high Christology.” It just means a strict, Biblical belief about who Jesus is and what He did. None of this loosey-goosey, I’m-spiritual-but-not-religious nonsense.

There was a real, divine-human child born to a real virgin in first century Judea under Roman rule. He was fully man and fully Divine (not a half-man, half-divine demigod). He was not a human who became divine or enlightened. He was the eternal Word of God incarnate. He lived a sinless life and perfectly kept all of God’s laws. He was crucified in the flesh and truly died as an atoning sacrifice for sin. He didn’t swoon or appear to die. He actually, physically DIED. He was physically buried and in the grave for 3 days. And He rose bodily, not spiritually. He’s not just “alive in my heart.” He is physically, bodily alive and ascended and sitting currently at the right hand of the Father on the throne of the universe. And He didn’t quit being human when He rose from the dead. He is now and forevermore fully human and fully divine. THAT is a high Christology. And holding on to it against all arguments will keep you from being fooled by the many antichrists already in the world.

Antichrist Characteristic 3

“For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.”
‭‭2 John‬ ‭1‬:‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

This is the 4th and last use of the actual word “antichrist” in the Bible. The antichrist is a deceiver who will happily confess many points of Christian doctrine (that’s what is so deceptive), but he will not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the FLESH. And that may refer to His first coming or His second coming or both.

If you hear a “Christian” preacher or teacher, author or influencer, saying that Jesus wasn’t really God in the flesh, or He isn’t bodily returning to earth, or that Jesus was a mythological figure or a good example or a yogi or an ascended master or any of the other boat-load of nonsense that gets peddled as spiritual teaching, congratulations, you’ve just met the spirit of antichrist.

😐 We’re really close to the End, aren’t we?

Yup.

🤓 So… the 3 characteristics of antichrist are all the same? It’s denying that Jesus is Who the Bible says He is?

Yes. It’s like the 3 principles of real estate:

Location. Location. Location.

If we were to encounter this spirit of flaky, unbiblical Christology taking a seat in the living temple of the Lord (the Church), and teaching that he himself is divine (and probably teaching that everyone is divine), would that be, at least in one way, a fulfillment of 2 Thess. 2:3-4?

Because we could find “churches” like that right now with a quick Google search.

😐 We’re really, really close to the End, aren’t we?

Mmm-hmm.

Maybe the antichrist will be as glaringly obvious as a man (of some kind) going into a physical temple built in Jerusalem (with tv cameras rolling) and demanding the whole world worship him as a god.

That’s not exactly subtle, but it could happen.

But what if it didn’t look like that? What if it took decades to unfold? What if “the man of sin” is a turn of phrase that Paul uses as he does the phrases “the old man” and “the new man?” We understand those not to be some unique person but a way of speaking of our unregenerate or regenerate souls. What if the apostate Church has “the sinful man” enthroned on their hearts instead of Jesus? If the “sinful man” is enthroned in a person’s soul, is it not taking the place of God and demanding to be served (worship)?

Would Christians be fooled into believing the antichrist if the whole deception was much more…sneaky? Modernity taught the world to think in very concrete ways; particularly material, physical ways.

But perhaps we would be wise to consider every possible interpretation, lest we get so fixated on only one possible (literal/physical) explanation that we cannot see prophecy unfolding right in front of our eyes.

…just like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day.

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When the LORD has entered the temple, He says…

“…Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the people of Israel forever. And the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoring and by the dead bodies of their kings at their high places,”. Ezekiel‬ ‭43‬:‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Whatever Ezekiel’s Temple is, God says it is to be His permanent residence.

So, the HUGE question is, how do we square this circle with the Church and the New Jerusalem, because, aren’t those the Lord’s permanent dwelling? And what about Revelation 21 where John says there is no temple in the New Jerusalem because the LORD and the Lamb ARE the temple?

The solution is simple and elegant if they are all the same thing.

The New Testament (which we are coming to in about 2 months!) is very consistent with the language of the Church as Temple and believers as the priesthood.

I think we all understand that the Church isn’t the building, it’s the people.

Well, what if Ezekiel’s Temple and The New Jerusalem aren’t the buildings either, but the redeemed people of God, Jew and Gentile, of all the ages?

“For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭14‬-‭22‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Paul speaks of the Jewish and Gentile believers together as being part of “one new man” in Christ. The temple is the Church; the Congregation of the redeemed. It’s a spiritual temple. Peter, James, and John and the other foundational apostles and prophets are not doing this:

“you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭2‬:‭5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭2‬:‭9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The Church is also the priesthood. Remember that only the descendants of Zadok can be priests in Ezekiel’s Temple. And the name Zadok means “just,” “justified,” “righteous.” And while Zadok was a real, and faithful priest of God (and praise God for him and his faithful descendants!) Paul makes it clear that “there is none righteous no not one.” We are called “righteous” (Zadok) through faith in Jesus Christ.

“Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,” Revelation‬ ‭21‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Like Ezekiel, John is taken to a “great, high mountain” to see the holy city.

The Bride of Christ is the Church. The New Jerusalem is the Bride of Christ. The New Jerusalem IS the Church.

It’s rather like an equation.

Let x = The Bride of Christ

Let y = The Church

Let z = New Jerusalem

x=y, z=x, z=y, so x=z=y

🤓 You had help with that, didn’t you?

Yes, Mr. Pocket-Protector, I did. (Thanks Lisa)

Each image (including Ezekiel’s Temple) is a different facet; gives us a different detail. But the bottom line is the same.

It’s not the building. It’s the people.