Monday 29 February 2016

The Abomination of Desolation: A response to Walid Shoebat 5

Let us continue looking at what Walid Shoebat had to say in his paper on the abomination of desolation.

"The gist of the Book of Hebrews is regarding the temple which is this new covenant, the covenant with the church, both Jew and Gentile, and will eventually include the whole house of Israel upon Christ’s return as Ezekiel covers in his theme from beginning to end. He was speaking of the church including the end of days and the coming of the Lord. There can never be another covenant with the house of Israel; does God make null and void the new covenant? Impossible. "

Not sure what he is getting at, claiming there is a third temple wouldn't nullify the new covenant. On a side note, the new covenant was made with the Jewish people, not the church. The church is grafted into the covenant and the Jews only become recipients of the new covenant if they are born again. But I digress.

"Ezekiel must be viewed as John in Revelation. It is crucial to see that Ezekiel had a vision: “In the visions of God He brought me into the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain” (Ezekiel 40:2).
Is this a literal mountain? Yes and no. John in Revelation also saw a vision when he was taken to the desert and there he saw a woman, a beast with seven heads and ten horns, but was this a literal woman, literal heads and literal horns? Perhaps the desert is just as the mountain can be literal. It is therefore crucial to recognize where the literals are and where the metaphor is. Ezekiel was called “the creator of symbolism”.

However, there is ample evidence that we should reconcile “I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion” (Ps 2:6) and that Christ stands literally on the Mount of Olives and there is a literal battle as well (Ezekiel 38) to end all battles, and there is also a new world order: the Kingdom of Christ and the New City coming down from heaven."

Not really much for me to say here to be honest. This particular interpretation is plausible. 

"We also have a river: “It was a river that I could not cross, for the water was too deep, water in which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed. He said to me: ‘Son of Adam, have you seen this?.’ Then he brought me and returned me to the bank of the river”(Ez 47:5-6). John in Revelation 22, reflects on the same scenery: “And he showed me a pure river of Water of Life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” While Ezekiel could not yet cross this river since Messiah has no yet come in his time, and when He did come, the Messiah made it clear to John this water comes from Christ: “He who believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”’ This river also resembles baptism, which embraces the inhabitants of the world, peoples and nations, who come from everywhere (East, west, north, and south). He saw “fish of the same kinds as the fish of the Great Sea; exceedingly many” (Ez 47:10, 22, 23); a reference to the entrance of the Gentiles into the eternal.
If this temple was a literal temple, John makes it clear that “there will be no night there. And they need no lamp, or light of the sun; for the Lord God gives them light.” (Revelation 22:5) “And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty is its Temple, even the Lamb. And the City [Heavenly Jerusalem] had no need of the sun, nor of the moon, that they might shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” (Revelation 22:22-23)
John’s temple is the same temple Ezekiel declared all with its “gates”: “And its gates may not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there.” (v.25)"

Firstly, I'll deal with Revelation 21:22-23, Which is what I think Shoebat but hey, we all make mistakes and are not infallible. Any, Regarding the temple, is it there, Yes. But is this temple be around forever? or only for a time? Revelation 21 gives the answer:

"Revelation 21:9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia[c] in length, and as wide and high as it is long. 17 The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits[d] thick.[e] 18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.[f] 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.

22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life."

Now how do I reconcile with what I said about the third temple regarding the Millennial Reign? Simple answer, the temple is not eternally established, but rather remains throughout the Millennial Reign until it's purpose if fulfilled. The temple does exist for a time but later will be discarded, hence why in verse 22 it is not present in the city.

Other than that, interpreting the fish as the Gentile people is a plausible one, so not much to say on that point.

"Ezekiel’s Temple can be summarized from the New Testament: “For having been drawn to Him, a living Stone, indeed rejected by men, but elect, precious with God; you also as living stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:4-5 MKJV)."

A spiritual temple and priesthood does NOT refute the concept of a literal priesthood and literal temple in the Millenial Reign, See my previous paper on the subject of a physical and spiritual temple: http://answering-judaism.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/the-abomination-of-desolation-response_85.html

Answering Judaism.


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