This content has been archived. It may no longer be relevant
I’ve spoken a good deal lately regarding the coming end of the age and today’s post is no different. I have been doing so because, as I see it, we are rapidly approaching the time wherein our having a proper understanding of the coming events – that is, an understanding based upon the textual evidence plainly presented to us in scripture – will be of paramount importance.
Why?
My people are destroyed for want of knowledge. …
Hosea 4:6 CJB
In fairness, I cite this passage out of context as the chapter itself speaks to the (then) coming judgement of God upon Israel. The principle behind my use of it here, is sound however.
I see, read and hear a lot about the coming “end of the world” lately it seems, and I am always tempted to chuckle a bit. You see, we’re not looking for the end of the world, but the end of the age, and the difference is wider than the Grand Canyon in terms of world view. Simply put, there’s no way you can be looking for the right signs if you’re not even looking for the right thing… you follow?
Consider for a moment, what generally springs to mind when you hear or read the term ‘apocalypse‘. Most people actually think this word refers to the end-times… and yet it doesn’t. Apocalypse means ‘revelation‘ or, ‘revealing‘. If you think that pointing this out is a matter of semantics, I’d ask you to return the Apocalypse, that is, the Book of the Revelation, and read chapters 1 – 4 again.
The Revelation, as it were, is not the revealing of the end, but the revealing of the King of the Universe in glory. I mean, there are 22 chapters in this text alone and we don’t even start cracking seals until chapter 6. Moreover, chapters 20 -22 discuss the things that are to come after. That means that we generally don’t focus on a full 37% of the content presented.
That seem like semantics to you? Yeah, me neither.
In truth, most believers who adhere to a Western-Theological mindset are looking for a mass catching away of believers. Yep, the pre-trib rapture again… and yet, even if they were correct in their view, that isn’t the sign we’re told to watch for.
The fact is, regardless of how convoluted the presentation of the events of this time-frame might seem, there’s a fairly simple sequence that occurs in chronological order – and it is in this that we find the tell-tale sign that will herald the seven years, or the time of Jacob’s trouble.
“So what is it?” you may be asking.
Straight up; it’s the Tabernacle.
Not the rapture, not the anti-Christ, the TABERNACLE.
In order to better get to grips with this, we need to address two things; why I specifically use the word tabernacle instead of temple and then, why that’s what we should be looking for.
First of all, let’s start with the term tabernacle – I am a huge proponent of the fact that “words mean things” and I generally avoid the flippant use of terms in an improper context. Especially here.
The original Tabernacle – the one designated by God to Moses was, for all intents and purposes, a Tent. There were no fixed foundations or portions of this Tabernacle that could not be picked up and moved, and yet it was sanctified and deemed adequate by God almighty to conduct sacrifices and facilitate atonement. If you’re not fully grasping this yet, let me put this another way – a Tabernacle can simply be a Tent (you’ll likely recall scriptural references to the “Tent of Meeting”). Now, a Tent can act as a Temple and that’s why we would call it a Tabernacle.
Clear as mud?
My point is to illustrate that, while the coming Temple may actually be a brick-and-mortar edifice, it doesn’t have to be… at least not at first. A Tabernacle could be erected in a day – and trust me when I say that the accoutrements that would be required to do so already exist. This means that we could literally go to bed one evening and awaken the next day to find that there is a Tabernacle and that the daily sacrifices have been resumed from days of old.
If that doesn’t perk your eyebrows, then I got nothing for you, because it should.
Next we need to address why I am identifying this as the event for which we should be watching. You see, it’s not simply that, the day after this all happens, the Devil jumps out of a hole in the ground and starts beheading believers. It’s that this is one of the last remaining puzzle-pieces that must fall into place in order to facilitate the events prior to His coming… and the point of it all IS His (Yeshua’s) coming.
Consider the following:
He will confirm a covenant with many for one week. But in the middle of that week he will bring sacrifices and offerings to a halt. …
Daniel 9:27
Know that the entire context of Daniel 9 pertains to matters that were then to come. It is the prophecy given to Daniel by Gabriel concerning the 70 weeks.
Some of the matters within this prophecy have been fulfilled, and others won’t be concluded until the time of the end. In this passage, we see the Man of Lawlessness makes a covenant (with Israel) but later halts the sacrifices that ensue following this covenant.
So plying logic, we need to ask ourselves, what would be required to reinstate the sacrificial system in Israel?
Did you say a Tabernacle? ‘Cause it’s a Tabernacle.
Honestly, there are a number of matters to which Yeshua speaks concerning the coming of the end in Matthew 24 which will certainly precede this. He says as much in the dialogue – however those matters are comparatively vague and open to some level of interpretation. A third Temple on the other hand, whether it comes in the form or a tent or a stone building – well that is specific and the reinstatement of the sacrificial system would be even more so.
These facts mark this as an invaluable sign-post. You won’t require any insight or interpretation when you see it happen. You’ll know we are in the time of the end. No ‘if’s, ands or buts’ about it.
Until next time,
שלום עליכם – Shalom Aleichem – Peace Be Upon You