Final Countdown Volume 3

I have begun a series of articles on END TIME PROPHESY. This is Volume 3, which below includes  Chapters 18 to 23. 

Chapter 18: I Thessalonians 4:14-17 

After you’ve studied this article, take a second look at the “Rapture” article that follows it. 

1 Thessalonians 4:14-17

Verse 14, “For IF we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them (believers) also which sleep (have died) in Jesus will God (Jehovah) BRING with him.”

“If” is conditional, it depends on the individual, to believe in Christ, or not.  

The word “bring” in verse 14 is a verb and is used in the same sense of bringing or leading to.

“Them also which sleep in Jesus will God (Jesus) bring with him.” “To bring with him” Where is He going to bring them, “Into heaven,” collectively with verse 17, “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them (believers who were resurrected from the dead) to meet the Lord (Jesus) in the air.”

Let’s examine the word “up,” a synonym for up is, above. Up is an adverb, denoting a place where, Acts 2:19, “In heaven above.” Revelation 5:3, “In heaven.” Hence, as an adjective, what is above, upper, referred to heaven, and therefore heavenly, celestial. So, heaven, John 8:23, “I am from above,” compare with John 3:13-31, “No man hath ascended up to heaven,” and John 6:38, 17:5. But things above, heavenly or divine things.

Verse, 15, “For this we say unto you (believers) by the word of the Lord, that we (believers) which are alive (breathing) and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (precede) them (believers) which are asleep (have died.)”

Verse 16, “For the Lord (Jesus) himself shall descend (come down) from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump (trumpet) of God: and the dead (those who have fallen asleep believing) in Christ shall rise first:” 

To “Rise” is a verb that expresses action and limited to the agent, in this case those who have been resurrected from the dead. Is also in the pluperfect, meaning an action or event that took place previous to another past action or event.  And as a Middle term of a syllogism meaning when two extremes are separately compared, as in, death to life. So, to arise from the dead, and return to life, is what arise means.

The word “first.” It means a division or distribution, as referring to a series or succession of circumstances and followed by other adverbs of order, as in sequential, after, to follow, or time expressed or implied: Or “and then, or, then, or secondly.”

Examples:

1 Corinthians 12:28, “First apostles, secondly prophets —.”

Mark 4:28, “Then the ear, AFTER that the full corn.”

James 3:17. Mark 16:9, “When Jesus was risen early the first day of the week he appeared first to Mary Magdalene –,” collectively with, verse 12, “After that he appeared in another form.”

Now verse 16 ends in a colon, not a period. Therefore, the thought and the subject are the same in verses 16 and 17. To refresh your memory as to what a colon is.

It’s to mark a major division in a sentence, indicating what is to follow is a summation, of what preceded. It is NOT a different thought taking us to a different period of time.

Verse 17, “Then we (believers) which are alive (breathing) and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air:”

To be “Caught up:” is used as a transitive verb, a verb that expresses an action that passes from the agent (God) to the object (those being resurrected).

It speaks of what is snatched suddenly away; used in the common form; to carry away, to hurry off, by force and involuntarily; spoken of persons, John 6:15, “Would come and take him by force.” Acts 8:39, “The Spirit — caught away Phillip.” Acts 23:10, “take him (Paul) by force.” 2 Corinthians 12:2-4, “Caught up to the third heaven.” 1 Thessalonians 4:17, “Shall be caught up together.”   

Phil LaSpino  www.seekfirstwisdom.com

Chapter 19: Is the Word “Rapture” Biblical?

The catching away, or rapture of the body of Christ is biblical and from God. It is part of God’s plan of saving believers from the tribulation to come.

Many deny the word rapture; and also deny the event. Question, is the word rapture in the English version of the Bible? No! Is the word rapture, “rapturo” in the Latin Bibles? Yes!

The first 66 books of the Bible were first gathered together in the 4th century by Jerome. Jerome was a priest, theologian, and historian. He was born March 27th in the year 347 A.D. and died in September of 420 A.D. He is best known for his translation of most of the Bible into Latin, and his commentaries on the Gospels.  

The Bible was first written in Latin and the Latin word used for rapture is “rapturo” which means to be seized by force, snatched up. From the Latin, the Bible was then translated to Greek, and the Greek word used is, “harpazo” which also meanings “to seize upon by force” or “to snatch up”. Finally, the Bible was translated into English and the phrase used for rapture is “caught up.” So, the English word rapture comes from the Latin word “rapturo”, and the Greek word “harpazo,” all three mean the same thing, to seize upon by force, to snatch upon by force. So, depending on the Bible version and language your Bible is written in, the three words have the same meaning, therefore the three words are legit.

Here’s a good comparison, the name of our Lord in English is Jesus, in Hebrew its Yeshua, in Greek Iesous, in German, wer ist das. Question, is one correct and the other not? Of course not! Again, it would depend on the language your Bible is written in.

Therefore, in the same way, the English word “rapture” which means “to be caught up,” is an excellent translation for the Latin word, “rapturo”, or the Greek word “harpazo”, but they all mean the same thing.

Phillip LaSpino  www.seekfirstwisdom.com

Chapter 20: Drugs: A Sign of God’s Final Countdown

Nearly 21 million Americans ages 12 and older had a substance use problem according to a new federal estimate.

Every single day, more than 115 people in America die after overdosing on opioids. The misuse of and addiction to opioids—including prescription pain relievers, heroin, and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, and synthetic opioids such as is a serious national crisis that affects public health as well as social and economic welfare.

It is estimated that the total “economic burden” of prescription opioid misuse alone in the United States is $78.5 billion dollars per year, including the costs of healthcare, lost productivity, addiction treatment, and criminal justice involvement.

How did this come about?

In the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies reassured the medical community that patients would not become addicted to prescription opioid pain relievers, and healthcare providers began to prescribe them at greater rates. This subsequently led to widespread diversion and misuse of these medications before it became clear that these medications could indeed be highly addictive.  Opioid overdose rates began to increase and more than 33,000 Americans died as a result of overdose, including prescription opioids, heroin, and illicitly manufactured fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid. It is estimated 2 million people in the United States suffered from substance use disorders related to prescription opioid pain relievers, and 591,000 suffered from a heroin use disorder in the same year.

Revelation 9:21, “Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication (immorality), nor of their thefts.”

The word sorceries: Greek, pharmakeis, means a   medicine, poison, magic potion or formula, the preparing and giving of medicine, English is pharmacy.

In N.T. we read of the magic arts, sorcery, enchantment, also in Galatians 5:20, “Witchcraft.” Revelation 9:21, 18:23, “For by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.”

The Septuagint for Hebrew, Exodus 7:11-22, “The Pharaoh also called — the sorcerers,”

Isaiah 47:9, “But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children (abortion), and widowhood, they shall come upon thee in their fullness.

Among those with a substance use disorder, some 15.7 million had a substance use disorder related to alcohol,

It has been reported that more than 64,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2016, including illicit drugs and prescription opioids–nearly doubling in one decade.

Drugs offers the unsaved many benefits; or they would not commit themselves to them. Drugs will make them spend more than they want to spend: drugs will make them go further than they intended to go, and drugs will cost them more than they are willing to pay. These are the wages of doing drugs.

Countries Where Drug Lords rule:

1. Burma (Myanmar). … Burma or Myanmar is a pillar of the so-called Golden Triangle, one of Asia’s two main areas of illicit opium production which also include Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand. It is the world’s second largest producer of illicit opium. Run by a military junta, Burma’s government has been on paper trying to eradicate opium production, but its senior officials have been persistently reported to be involved in the drugs trade, and that drug money continues to pour into government coffers.

2. Mexico. … The Guzman-led Sinaloa cartel is just one of the four major drug cartels wreaking havoc in Mexico, the major transit point for over 90% of America’s cocaine supply. With the dismantling of Colombia’s Medellín and Cali cartels, Mexico’s Sinaloa, Juarez, Tijuana and the Gulf cartels have become the predominant smugglers and wholesale distributors of South American cocaine and Mexico-produced marijuana, methamphetamine and heroin. These cartels have grown increasingly wealthy and powerful over the years, and if their ongoing war against the Mexican and US government is any indication, have become increasingly violent as well.

3. Colombia. … The Medellin and Cali cartels, which have come close to making Colombia a narco-state in the 1990s, may no longer exist, but Colombia remains the world’s top producer of cocaine, with 70% of the world’s coca leaf grown there, and approximately 90% of the world’s cocaine processing market.

4. Peru. … is the second biggest producer of cocaine in the world, next only to Colombia. Historically,

5. Bolivia: ranking third behind Colombia and Peru in cocaine production is Bolivia, which, according to a recent United Nations report, has allocated 28,900 hectares of its land to coca production in 2007, a figure that is more than double than what Bolivian law allows. This leniency towards coca growing, however, is hardly surprising, considering that the sitting president, Evo Morales, did not only farm coca himself during his youth, but was also head of Bolivia’s coca growers association before he became president.

6. Afghanistan: With the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the drug lords of Afghanistan have slowly worked their way towards becoming the world’s top producer of opium today. More than 90% of the world’s opium is produced in the country, a major part of The Golden Crescent, the name given to Asia’s principal area of illicit opium production covering Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. It is believed that the opium trade flourishes in Afghanistan because Afghan government officials are said to be involved in at least 70 percent of opium trafficking in the country. Experts say that more than a dozen provincial governors have a direct hand in the production and distribution of opium.

7. The Bahamas: For such a tiny island nation like the Bahamas have a thriving illegal drugs trade. A recently released United States narcotics report has revealed that more than a dozen drug-trafficking organizations are operating in this Commonwealth territory. This underlies the central role in drug smuggling that it has assumed over the last two decades, starting with Medellin Cartel cofounder Carlos Lehders initiative to use The Bahamas as a transit point for drugs from Colombia into the United States. Lehder, who is currently incarcerated in the US, even went to the extent of commandeering an entire Bahamian island, called Norman’s Cay, and made it his own drug fortress, where 300 kilograms of cocaine would arrive every hour.

The word “sorceries” in the Greek is ‘pharmakeia.’ In scripture it is translated sorceries. What word do we get from ‘pharmakeia’? It’s pharmacy. And what is pharmacy? Drugs!

It appears in these last days it is going to be a world literally saturated with drugs, and a drug culture. What particular events have taken place as a result of drugs? Those on drugs have to steal to support their habit. In the process of stealing they may commit murder, and along with that they come into gross immorality, prostitution, kidnapping and slavery. This will continue to mushroom until the world is living under the environment of drugs.

But the Scripture gives us hope, one day there will be an end to it all.

Phil LaSpino www.seekfirstwisdom.com

Chapter 21: More End Time Signs

Question, “Does the Lady of Fatima, and Mohamad’s daughter Fatima have any future role in Vatican-Muslim dialogue in these end days?

The Muslims hold Mary in high regard and have a great deal of respect for her, yet it stops short of the Catholic churches devotion to her. So, the question, why did the mother of our Lord in this 20th Century choose to reveal herself in the insignificant little village of Fatima, to three young children, and in all future generations be called “Our Lady of Fatima?” The proper name Fatima and the place Fatima Portugal have this strange connection between the Muslims and Catholic faiths?

Consider the following; the daughter of Mohammed was called Fatima Zahra. She was born in 615 and died in 632 A.D. Not so very long ago, the Moslem’s occupied Portugal but were eventually driven out. The last Moslem chief had a beautiful daughter called by the same name as Mohammed’s daughter Fatima. In the very same town lived a young Catholic man who would fall in love with Fatima, and because of him she stayed behind when the Moslems left. Now because of her love for the man, she would come to embrace the Catholic faith, and her husband because of his love for her would change the name of the town where he lived to Fatima.

Thus, the very place where Mary is said to have appeared in 1917 appears to hold an historical connection to Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed and the daughter of a Muslim chieftain. So, the question, was it the Lord who in 1917 sent this image to the children in Portugal, or was this designed by fallen spirits to deceive?

Christians are warned in 1 John 4:1, “Believe not every spirit, but try (test) the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” 

Mary is for the Moslems the true Sayyida, or Lady. The only serious rival to her in their creed would be Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed himself. But after the death of Fatima, Mohammed wrote: Thou shalt be the most blessed of women in Paradise, after Mary. In a variant of the text Fatima is made to say; I surpass all the women, except Mary.”

So, can this be the one thing that will one day unite the Catholic religion with the Muslim religion?  Can, or will some form of dialog be established because of their agreement concerning Mary and Mohammed’s daughter Fatima in Fatima Portugal?

The apparitions at Fatima ended in October of 1917, and in November of the same year 1917, the Balfour Declaration was issued. This set into motion a series of events which enabled the Jews to reconstitute their political society and legitimately bear arms. The image of Mary is claimed to have returned to a Sister Lucia in July 1929 to ask for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart. Soon after in October of 1929 the stock market crashed affecting America, Europe and other parts of the world, and this was to be followed by mass unemployment, an event that brought the Nazi Party out of the sewer from which it grew, taking to itself enough electoral gains in Germany to get Adolf Hitler elected as Chancellor in 1933.

So, one can ask, were these events connected in any way, and will these events trigger future events plunging the world into its darkest hours ever?

 

Doors of Hell were opened:

In the not too distant past we have read of the Roman Catholic church, represented in Nebuchadnezzar’s image of a man as the feet of iron and (potter’s) clay going forth, and hell would follow after her, she having the power to kill all who challenged her authority. She was lead by the most cunning and brutal ruler’s mankind had ever given life to.

Many fiery persecutions have blazed around the Christian community, both from within and from without.  But by the grace of God, God’s people have survived these many woes. But what followed this Catholic Empire came from the darkest and deepest part of the earth. A man who was given power to spread religion across the continents, a religion born of deception, terror, blood and death.

The ancient Arabs had a form of knowledge concerning the power of the gospel of Christ as did this one man, Mahomet. Mahomet was a wicked imposter who opening the doors of the bottomless pit, establishing for himself and his followers a false religion; a religion that spread as would cancer through a body. Mahomet was originally a trade’s men. About the year 608 B.C. he formed the bold scheme of setting up a new religion, and would soon become the head of an empire.

He declared, there was one God and his name is Allah, and that he, Mahomet was his prophet. He captivated many Jews and Christians when he allowed both Moses and Christ to be true prophets in his religion; and also represented himself as superior to both in spiritual light and power. He falsely claimed to be sent by God in order to reform the system Moses and Jesus had established. His books were compiled from oriental tales and fables; from the legendary trash of Rabbi’s, and from the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. He then commenced to write, he composing a strange concoction of blasphemy and lies. And his ideas of providence were those of the fatalist.

Mohomet’s his own morals were spread among his men giving to them free indulgence for their passions; and the promise of a carnal heaven, where they should spend an eternity in the grossest of sensualities.  When he first announced himself as the prophet of God, a storm arose against him in 622 A.D. so he fled to Mecca and Medina, this is called by Islam, the Hegira.
His followers grew as did his fighting men. He would soon wage a war of extermination against his own people who refused to receive him: his proselytes were made by fire and the sword. Soon the time would come when no force or power could withstand his armies, not even the power of the Roman Catholic church. Before his death he became complete master of all Arabia.
But his death did not end this march of death because he had opened the doors of hell, and from them came a darkness within a darkness. Syria, Persia, Egypt, and many others fell under Islam’s dominion. The once flourishing Christian churches became graves. Jerusalem, where David ruled; where Isaiah prophesied; where our Lord was crucified, and where the Holy Spirit was given, all falling before the Muslim onslaught in the year 637. Great slavery and wars followed from Africa to Spain, advancing into France, Islam intending to overrun Europe and blot out the name of Christian. But an opposing power met them in 734 A.D. under Charles Martel who defeated them killing some 370,000 in one day. But they would soon push into Italy and spread their terror to the very walls of Rome.

Over time, they pushed into India, and throughout their conquest immense numbers were induced to embrace the religion of Islam. Soon the light of Christianity would be nearly extinguished had it not been for the hand of God.

But, now in the 13th century, a new and terrible power appeared in Asia, called the Ottomans, who would soon be persuaded to embrace the religion of Mahomet. And the war between light and darkness continued to grow over the centuries. In the year 1453, Mahomet the Great took Constantinople and with it all Greece, where Christianity had for centuries triumphant.
Eventually two principal sects of Mahometan’s appeared: the Shiites, who are chiefly Persians, and the Sunnites who inhabited East Persia, Arabia, Turkey and what was once independent Tartary, a name used from the Middle Ages until the twentieth century to designate the great tract of northern and central Asia stretching from the Caspian Sea and the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, inhabited mostly by Turkic peoples after the Mongol invasion.

Today, there are about 1 ½ billion followers of Islam. This religion and its followers are an awful mystery in the providence of God, and as it has been asked over and over again, “why is this being permitted by our LORD?”

But, from the prophesies spoken of in Daniel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Matthew, Revelation etc. these who have bowed and continue to bow to this evil will soon bow at the feet of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His time is approaching, His judgments are near when He will be taking vengeance against every false religion, and every political and military power known to this world.

Phillip LaSpino  www.seekfirstwisdom.com

 

Chapter 22: Who Are The Arabs of Today?

Abram, Terah and other family members made their way up along the Euphrates River into the area known today as Syria. Then Terah and his three sons made their way down to the Gulf of Arabia, to a place later known as Haran. After Terah died, Abraham came down into the land of Canaan.

Let’s begin with Noah: Noah had three sons, Ham, Shem and Japheth. Let’s begin with Japheth, because he became the progenitor of who the Bible refers to as the “Goyim” today we know them as Gentiles.

Later in history, the Goyim became the Caucasian people, or the Indo-Europeans. The term Gentile refers to any non-Jewish people. Again, let’s make our way back to the three sons of Noah in order to illustrate the family tree beginning with Noah.

After the flood, something terrible happened between Noah and his son Ham. Noah would pronounce a curse on Ham’s descendants, the Canaanites, but not Ham himself. 

Genesis 9:24-25, “And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.”

Ham was the father of the Canaanites who would live along the shores of the Mediterranean in the land we now call Israel.

From Shem, the son of Noah, came the man Terah who had three sons, Haran, Abram (Abraham) and Nahor. From these three, came the families of the Arabs, Egyptians, and Israelites.

Now Haran was the father of Lot. Lot had two sons by his own daughters who became pregnant back at the time when Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.

Lot’s offspring, those born of his two daughters became the Moabites and the Ammonites. The present-day capital of Trans-Jordan is Amman, it all goes back to the same root.

Nahor had a son named Bethuel, and he had a daughter named Rebekah. You can read more about her in Genesis 24. Nahor also had a son named Laban. Laban in turn had two daughters named Leah and Rachel. 

Now let’s take a look at Abraham’s family. First, he had a son by the Egyptian slave girl, Hagar, named Ishmael. Then he had a son by his legal wife, Sarah, named Isaac. After Sarah died, he took a wife named Keturah, and she had a son, among others, from whom came the Midianite nation.

The Midianites were the people to the east. When Moses fled to the desert after leaving Egypt the first time, he married the daughter of the priest of Midian.

So, it’s becoming obvious that all the Arabs of the Middle East, the Israelites and Egyptians are related, and their families are intertwined with each other except for the Canaanites. God specifically Commanded the Jewish people not to marry any Canaanites.

Hagar, Ishmael’s mother was an Egyptian, so, Ishmael married an Egyptian woman. The Egyptians, of course, came from Ham, so we have a connection between this line of the offspring of Ishmael to the Canaanites and the Egyptians. The Egyptians are not true Arabs, but they interact with the Arabs as if they were next-of-kin.

We know that Isaac had two sons, Esau and Jacob. Esau, married two Canaanite women, which the Scriptures say were “a grief of mind” to Isaac and Rebekah. Jacob, on the other hand, went back to his father’s family, marrying Leah and Rachel. From those two marriages, we have the twelve sons which became the twelve tribes of Israel.

From the tribe of Judah came David and Solomon. From Solomon the genealogy splits and on one side we have the genealogy of Mary, who’s bloodline goes all the way back to Adam and Eve. On the other side, we have the line that led to Joseph, who was not the blood father of Jesus, but was his legal father.

We can see how everything fits perfectly down through the centuries of these family trees, and regardless of any circumstances, God has been Sovereign and in complete control.

Remember now, all of these families in the Middle East except for Japheth’s, are all inter-related. That’s why today, they have such a hatred for each other – they are all related by blood.

Genesis 24:3-5, Abraham is speaking to the servant in his house, “…thou shalt not take a wife unto my son (Isaac) of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: But thou shalt go unto my country (Ur of the Chaldees), and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.”

We know the rest of the story. From this family came the 12 tribes, Moses, David, Solomon, Mary and Jesus.

Phil Laspino  www.seekfirstwisdom.com

 

Chapter 23: A Temple Without God

The purpose of this article is to show that the Temple from the time of Nebuchadnezzar 605 B.C. to 70 A.D. when it was destroyed by the Romans was of no value to God. Its only value lay in the stones and wood it had been constructed from. Therefore, the desecration of it by Antiochus 1v, in 12/16/ 167 B.C., made absolutely no difference except to an already fallen people.

King Nebuchadnezzar in 599 B.C. removed the sacred vessels from the Temple, also when the Ark of the Covenant, the mercy seat and two gold covered Cherubim were never seen or heard from again?

To show that God was done with the Jews and their sacrifices, let’s take a look at the book of Amos, having been was written between 767-740 B.C.

Amos 5:21, The LORD is speaking to the house of Israel, “I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell (savor) in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.”

The book of Jeremiah was written between 627-586 B.C. We read in,

Jeremiah 14:12, “When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.”

The 10 Northern tribes of Israel went into captivity during the Assyrian siege. The Southern two tribes were deported during the three invasions of Israel, 598, 587, 584 B.C. by Nebuchadnezzar In 599 B.C., the king had removed the sacred vessels from the Temple. The reason these foreign invasions were successful was because the Jews had been cursed by God for idolatry.  

The LORD had said to this people, I will give to you my law; I will have you purchase for me a piece of ground; I will let you build for me a Temple, a house of worship. I will give to you my terms and rituals for the remission of your sins. In this was the sacrificial system of the Jews established. The Levites, the tribe of priest was set aside; a system of animal sacrifices; Holy vessels, washing, burnt offerings and a specially woven curtain made, separating the Holy of Holies from all but the High priest where the LORD would present himself on the Mercy seat which sat atop the ark of the covenant once each year. This was God’s Holy of Holies.

God said, all this will I do for you, and if you obey my commandments, you will have my blessings and your sins forgiven. 

The tabernacle of the Holy of Holies had been partitioned off from the Holy Place. This inner room was 20 cubits on the sides of the house and a heavy curtain covered its way. Within its walls the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat rested between the two Cherubim having outstretched wings. The two Cherubim were 14 or 15 feet tall and their wings 8 feet in length.

1 Kings 8:20, Solomon said, I “built a house for the name of the LORD God of Israel. And I have set there a place for the ark, wherein is the covenant of the LORD,–.”

Concerning the second Temple, there is no complete description of the Temple built by Zerubbabel, but, there are some details available from various sources.

Those who returned to Israel from captivity constructed their altar on the site of the altar of the First Temple. The Temple building was of hewn stone, with wooden beams reinforcing the walls from within. The Temple itself was approximately 90 feet high. But the Holy of Holies was nothing but an empty room, having no Ark, no mercy seat, no cherubim and no sacred vessels.

After twenty years in the year 515 B.C., the construction of the second Temple was completed. Certain sacrifices could now take place in accordance with the rules laid down by the codes of the Torah, but for the most part to no avail. Some 500 years later, Herod the Great would refurbish the Temple starting in 20-19 B.C. God’s house had been rebuilt, but the High Priests of the Pharisees was corrupt.

Now the LORD said to Haggai concerning the temple, “

Haggai was written about 520 B.C. or later.

Haggai 2:3, “Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? And how do ye see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as NOTHING?

Zechariah as written between 520 and 505 B.C.

Zechariah 10:6, “For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land (the Jews), saith the LORD: but lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbor’s hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land (Israel), and out of their hand I will not deliver them.”

Malachi the last book of the O.T. was written between 436 to 400 B.C.

Malachi 1:13, “Ye brought that which was torn, and lame and the sick (as and offering); thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? — cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and vow, and sacrifice unto the Lord a corrupt thing:”

Malachi 2:1, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. If ye will not hear and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, — I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings, yea, I HAVE CURSED THEM ALREADY, because ye do not lay it to heart.

Verse 8, “But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.”

The purpose of the ark and the mercy seat was to provide a covering for the sins of Israel, the Covenant people.  Israel was too come to the LORD as the sinless Bride and be united with God in union.

The Ark was Jehovah’s holiest Altar of sacrifice. The other two altars were the bronze Altar of Burnt Offerings in the courtyard and the golden Altar of Incense. Once a year, on Yom Kippur, the “Day of Atonement” the “mercy seat” served as the holiest altar of sin-offerings.

In the ordinary sacrifices on ordinary days and during the days of the 7 Sacred Feasts of God, the blood of the sacrificed victims was sprinkled and then poured out at the corners of the great bronze Altar of Burnt Offerings in the courtyard of the Temple or sprinkled upon the horns of the golden Altar of Incense that stood in the Holy Place in front of the curtain woven with cherubim that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies in which the Ark of the Covenant rested.

Neither in principle nor even in minute detail were the directions of Jehovah about the Temple’s construction to be disobeyed or changed.  From the ark to the hooks for the curtains, to the priests, God’s command was,

“See that thou make all things according to the pattern showed thee in the mount.”

The Temple building was a place for prayer. It was also a place where the priests, prophets, vessels etc. were consecrated. Men learned to call nothing that God has cleansed common or unclean. And most important of all, the Holy of Holies with the ark and the mercy seat was the place for the revelations of God to this people. But without these vessels, the Jews only hope lay in the coming Messiah.

So, what has the Temple from the time of king Nebuchadnezzar 599 B.C. to do with end-time prophesy? NOTHING! When Jesus came, they had false teachers leading the people, thus, when the Lord came to the Jews, he called them “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Phillip LaSpino www.seekfirstwisdom.com