Part 3 - The Third Temple

Summary

Part 3 moves from the previous lesson's identification of believers as the spiritual Third Temple to the question of what the speaker believes Daniel predicted would happen inside that temple. The central text is Daniel 11:31–35. The speaker reads its language of a polluted sanctuary, removed daily sacrifice, abomination of desolation, corruption through flattery, faithful people who know God, instructors who understand, persecution, testing, purification, and the appointed time of the end. He then applies these elements to the Christian church. Under his interpretation, the earlier physical desecration of the Jerusalem temple becomes a pattern for a later spiritual desecration of God's people. The “daily sacrifice” is interpreted as obedience; its removal represents rejection of God's law; and the abomination represents religious teachings that the speaker believes substitute human tradition for Yahweh's commands. The second half develops the idea of a counterfeit Messiah. 2 Corinthians 11:4 and Galatians 1:6–8 are used to argue that deception comes through “another Messiah,” another spirit, and another gospel rather than through obvious hostility to Christianity. Revelation 14:9–12 and Revelation 19:20 are then incorporated into his interpretation of the beast, image, mark, false prophet, and deceptive signs. The sermon concludes by returning to the corporate Third Temple. The congregation joins together physically as an illustration of being “fitly joined together,” and the members dedicate themselves collectively as the temple of Yahweh.

Core doctrine

Daniel 11:31 - 35 - The speaker teaches that Daniel's Prophecy of a polluted sanctuary, removed daily sacrifice, abomination of desolation, deception by flattery, and a faithful people who "understand" has an end-time spiritual fulfillment within the corporate body of believers as the Third Temple; he interprets the removal of the daily sacrifice as the replacement of obedience to Yahweh with lawless religion and identifies the antichrist deception as a counterfeit Messiah and gospel operating within the church.

Source document