Missing the Point: It is amazing that believers can miss the
teaching that the tabernacle, the temple, its priest and sacrifices,
were only TYPES of the true spiritual things in the New Covenant {New
Testament} established by Jesus. They are called "copies" (Heb. 9:24)
and "a shadow of the good things to come." (Heb. 10:1) The sacrifices
would not take away sins, so Jesus, the true Lamb of God, "offered one
sacrifice for sins forever." (Heb. 10:4, 10, 12) Under the law {shadow
of good things to come} only the High Priest could enter the Holy
Place, the second room of the temple. But Christ became "a great
priest over the house of God," (Heb. 10:21) and after His resurrection
"sat down on the right hand of God," (Heb. 10:12) and now all
Christians are exhorted to have "boldness to enter in to the holy
place by the blood of Jesus." (Heb. 10:19)
With the perfect sacrifice made "once for all" (Heb. 10:10) and the
High Priest having entered "once" into the heavely Holy Place, the
temple in Jerusalem ws rendered useless. As Jesus died, the temple
veil to the Holy Place was ripped from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51),
INDICATING THAT IT WAS OF NO FURTHER SIGNIFICANCE TO GOD. It was now
time for the fulfillment of the prediction Jesus made to the woman of
Sychar: "The hour is coming when neither in this mountain (nation) nor
in Jerusalem, shall you worship the Father." (John 4:21) Yet it was
necessary for the Lord to destroy the earthly temple to get the
believers' minds and hearts away from the formalistic idolatry (Jer.
7:3-14) and centered on true worship.
A Counterfeit. Should the Zionists, with their kosher supporters
like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and the majority of some 80,000
fundamentalist preachers who broadcast daily over 400 radio and TV
stations, succeed in building their temple in Jerusalem, it will be a
counterfeit temple for several reasons.
1). By His death, Jesus nullified forever the OT system of temple
sacrifices. (Hebrews 9:10-15; 10:1-4, 18)
2). Christians are forbidden to go back to the OT system. (Gal.
3:23-25; 4:3-9; 5:1; Col. 2:16-17)
3). It will have no priest, as Christ is the High Prest now seated
at the right hand of God. (Heb. 10:11-12)
4). God will not dwell there, as He dwells in individual
Christians, not in house men build. (Acts 7:48)
The True Temple. Jesus shocked the Jewish clergy when He said, "One
treater than the temple is here." (Matt. 12:6) More shock waves were
felt when He predicted the temple's total destruction. (Matt. 24:2)
The material temple was to be replaced by a temple of a different
nature. The prophet Amos had prophesied the future building of the
Tabernacle of David to receive the saved of the heathen. (Amos 9:12)
In a special counsel of apostles and other leaders, James declared
that this prophecy was fulfilled as people were being converted
through the preaching of the gospel and were becoming the SPIRITUAL
HOUSE OF GOD. (Acts 15:13-19) this was called "the true tabernacle,
which the Lord pitched, not man." (Heb. 8:2)