CHAPTER SEVEN

IN THREE DAYS I WILL BUILD MY TEMPLE

“JESUS ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO THEM, DESTROY THIS TEMPLE, AND IN THREE DAYS I WILL RAISE IT UP. THEN SAID THE JEWS, FORTY AND SIX YEARS WAS THIS TEMPLE IN BUILDING, AND WILT THOU REAR IT UP IN THREE DAYS? BUT HE SPOKE OF THE TEMPLE OF HIS BODY.” (John 2:19-21)

Two thousand years ago, this word was fulfilled. Jesus rose from the dead on the Third Day. Yet, because of the prophetic season we are in and because prophecy is often fulfilled throughout many generations and dispensations, we are comfortable in addressing this Scripture with the view of it BEING FULFILLED COMPLETELY IN THIS GENERATION! Jesus said that ALL THINGS WRITTEN CONCERNING HIMSELF IN THE PSALMS, LAW AND PROPHETS ARE FULFILLED! However, we read in the first chapter of the book of Acts that Peter had found scripture that NEEDED TO BE FULFILLED concerning the BISHOPRICK of Judas. And there can be no doubt that there are still scriptures that must be fulfilled concerning this generation, and not only scriptures to this generation individually, but scriptures to this generation that COMPLETE the WHOLE of prophecy. The Head was raised two thousand years ago, but He has a body (corporate).

Yes, His Body (individual) was raised; and the disciples remembered He spoke of this; but there is a deeper fulfillment of the words of our Lord. He spoke concerning His Body of believers in the earth! He said that there was to be another temple, a THIRD TEMPLE, erected in His glory and honor. There is no doubt that the temple He referred to is the temple of His Body, which is an organic body of believers made up of every tribe, tongue and culture. The temple He was looking at on that day was a physical building that was only a renovation or re-modeling of an old structure that was built in the days of Haggai the Prophet, the second temple. This second temple was beautiful and well restored but was not the temple that God would ever come to again. The last time we hear of that temple of mortar and clay and marble is in the year 70A.D. when Titus came into Jerusalem and DESTROYED the temple. However, by the time Titus came in to destroy the temple made with hands, another temple was already under construction on the earth and in the heavenlies; it is known as the temple made WITHOUT hands! It is the temple referred to by Paul the Apostle: “THE BONE OF HIS BONE AND THE FLESH OF HIS FLESH.” (Eph. 5:30)  Peter wrote to the disciples of his day telling them that they were LIVING STONES, being BUILT UP into a SPITRITUAL HOUSE to OFFER UP SPIRITUAL SACRIFICES! Religion has done everything in its power to destroy this organic Temple Of Christ, by ignoring it or lightly esteeming it as some far-off future reality.

Satan has worked through a religious cloak to keep everyone’s eyes on the natural temple in the Middle-East, while keeping them FAR-OFF the one being erected in heaven and all around the world. While some men looked upon the destruction of the Temple in 70A.D. and were saddened by the event, there were others who had their eyes fixed upon things above and not on the earth. They saw, like father Abraham, a city whose builder and maker is God, and understood that city to be the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven adorned as a Bride. They understood that this city was HEAVENLY! In order to grasp this spiritual temple, we must understand that Jesus Christ was the CHIEF CORNERSTONE. A cornerstone is the beginning stone of the whole structure; and of course, He is the CAPSTONE or the head of the structure, too. This means that from Christ Jesus throughout the last two thousand years, many spiritual stones had been fitted into the eternal and spiritual structure, which we are calling the Third Temple. Those spiritual stones are people! They are hearts, minds and spirits!  This is ORGANIC! This is the temple that God is interested in. This is the one that He will inhabit forever. This temple is His dwelling place, and He will come and fill it with the fullness of His glory! I will tell you right now, when Jesus said He would rear it up in three days and was speaking of His Body (individual), He was also speaking of a future event wherein His body (corporate) would be reared up, completed and finished, prepared for habitation and the fullness of the presence of the LORD! What had happened to one Man, Jesus Christ, is INCOMPLETE as far as the WHOLE OF PROPHECY, THE MESSAGE IN GOD’S BOOK, being fulfilled.

There was INDIVIDUAL fulfillment in Christ Jesus; but in order to fully realize the purpose and plan of God, there must be a CORPORATE fulfillment, that is, a completion of that which began. It is not enough for us to conclude that prophecy has been fulfilled because it was realized in one Man; we must recognize that we, along with Jesus, make up that ONE NEW MAN. In other words, the Head without the body is INCOMPLETE! The resurrection of the Firstborn Son must have its in-working in the MANY sons who are being brought to glory! Looking from this point of view, we can easily recognize that Jesus was saying that, in the Third Day, He is going to rear up His body of believers. There is ONE BODY, says the Scripture, and that ONE BODY has a completion. The Body of Christ is the Temple of the Holy Spirit; it is the HABITATION OF GOD and the dwelling place of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit together. This organic body of Christ has been under construction and has been growing into the FULL STATURE of Christ. Once this body is complete, mature and perfect, the HEAD will come and join Himself to it, thus creating the ONE NEW MAN. As of this moment, there are many schisms and divisions in the BODY, thus causing its fullness to be restrained. This, of course, is the work of the enemy and largely due to the carnality and immaturity that exists within, not to mention the many doctrines of UNBELEIEF that are taught every Sunday from the finest pulpits, teaching God’s people that this kind of unity is not possible this side of heaven. I beg to differ!

I see words spoken from the MAN OF TRUTH that will be fulfilled and completed. I see the pattern of the Third Day Church, entering into a time of completion so that the Glory of God may once again come and fill the house. This time, however, there will be no measure to the presence of God but a FULL display of His manifest presence in His People. This is the Third Day, and we are the finalizing stones within the Third Temple. There will never be another temple built with human hands that God will have anything to do with. Those old thoughts and ideas must be forever removed from our hearts and minds so that the Truth of the Gospel may have its way deep into our hearts, giving expression and release to that which is already prepared in the invisible realm. If we could see just how close we are to this temple being completed, we would be amazed! We are close brethren, very close to experiencing the greatest revival this world has ever known; and this revival has everything to do with God coming to His temple in this, the prophetic Third Day of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Seventh Day of Almighty God. You see, it is time for God to rest again.

It was on the Seventh Day that he rested from all His labor, and this is the prophetic Seventh Day. For the past SIX THOUSAND years, God has been working to bring His creation back to Himself! However, we are going to find that His resting place is on the INSIDE of us! Jesus said, “THE SON OF MAN HAS NO PLACE TO REST HIS HEAD;” (Matt. 8:20) yet in this glorious hour of completion, a BODY, a TEMPLE, has been prepared for the Son of Man to rest His head upon. He will not rest in a building made with hands, nor will he have any respect for such things.  “BUT TO THIS MAN WILL THE LORD LOOK UPON!” (Is.66:2) What man? The NEW MAN! Get ready to be raised up, Saints, for our Lord said that he would RAISE UP HIS BODY ON THE THIRD DAY!

A great mystery is found in the first book of KINGS. 1Kings 6:1 says, “IN THE FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHTIETH YEAR AFTER THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WERE COME OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT, IN THE FOURTH YEAR OF SOLOMON’S REIGN OVER ISRAEL, IN THE MONTH ZIF, WHICH IS THE SECOND MONTH, THAT HE BEGAN TO BUILD THE HOUSE OF THE LORD.”

As I was studying this chapter, I asked the Lord why it mentioned FOUR HUNDRED EIGHTY years, the second month and the fourth year of Solomon’s reign. I wanted to know how many generations had passed before Solomon came to rule; what I found was amazing. I had been doing a study on the number twelve and found the twelve Tribes of Israel, the Twelve Apostles, the Twelve Gates etc. I was looking at the number twelve as the number for “government” because that is what the number twelve represents in Bible numerology. I noted that the twelve spies that were sent to spy out the land had been divided, ten against two; and because of that division, the whole nation was kept out of the Promised Land and most perished in the wilderness.

 I saw how a government divided affects the whole of a nation. I then looked at the twelve Apostles in the Book of Acts and saw how Peter found the scripture referring to a replacement of Judas’ Bishoprick. He saw the need for a governing body, fully functioning in one accord, in order to release the glorious power of the winds of heaven. Once the twelfth apostle was elected and brought into the ranks, the Holy Spirit descended and the glorious church came to life. The result of right government was UNITY, PEACE, SINGLE-HEARTEDNESS and ONENESS. We see this in Acts Three and Four. Next I looked at Solomon. I wondered how many generations had passed; so I divided forty, which represents a generation, by four hundred eighty, and guess what? The answer was TWELVE. I saw how, under Solomon’s rule, the Israelites were at PEACE. There was no struggle, threat of war, or any disturbance to their existence. God had brought His man to the throne, right government, order, and peace resulted.

I thought it would be a good idea to bring this information to the congregation since we had already been studying the number twelve, so I went to my computer the following day and began to compile the information. However, I made a mistake; instead of dividing 480 years by 40 to come up with 12, I multiplied 480 times 12 and came up with the number, 5760. I looked at that number and realized that I had made a mistake, and yet the number looked familiar to me. Then I recognized the meaning of the number; I had been studying the Hebrew calendar for several years seeking to understand the feasts, especially tabernacles and remembered that the number 5760 was the Hebrew year for 2000 in our present-day calendar. Was this a mistake, or was it a divine leading of the Holy Spirit expressing the timeline of the completion of the Temple? Was the year 5760 a sign of the times? I believe it was. I noted that Solomon BEGAN to build the Temple in the FOURTH year of his reign. We are now in the year 2005, one year from the starting point in Solomon’s day.

A new President was elected into office in the year 2000. He has the Father’s heart. It sayss in 1Kings that Solomon began to build in the fourth year and  COMPLETED the TEMPLE IN SEVEN YEARS! Again I ask the question, did I receive a hidden mystery, a sign for this generation? Did you know that the year 2000 was the FIFTIETH GENERATION from the Birth of Christ? Did you know that the year 2000 was the FORTIETH JUBILEE since Christ was on the earth? We are talking about significant numbers here! Let me close with this thought. I believe we have entered into the LAST SEVEN YEARS of HUMAN HISTORY, as we have always known it to be. I believe the FINISHING TOUCHES of the THIRD TEMPLE are being completed as we speak. Because we are under a new covenant and in a new dispensation, all things take on a different look. However, the things in the Old Testament are for our learning.

They are types and shadows! What I see in 1Kings is a witness to what I see in this present day. If I am right, the COMPLETION of the TEMPLE will be somewhere between 2007-2011. Many have attempted to map out their ideas of when the end will come and have been proven wrong. Therefore, I refrain from following the same mistake; yet I want to have the boldness of the Spirit to say that we are in the SEASON of the COMPLETION of what began 2000 years ago. I know there are many clever thoughts and ideas in the minds of those who would oppose Christ and His message, BUT GO TELL THAT FOX…..