Years ago, when I frequented the religious debate boards (no longer in use, today), I was always disturbed over defending the word of God, when it seemed I was debating from a weak point. I had to maintain my confession of faith, and I knew the Bible was true, but at times, the better argument seemed to be in the hands of the detractor and the scoffer on the boards. Sometimes I wish I could debate with them now, but the reality is, that would be labor spent in vain. Nevertheless, I feel so blessed to understand the truth about Jesus’ coming in 70 AD, knowing I don’t have to extend the ‘last days’ of the first century 2000 years into the future (a ludicrous idea that simply denies the very meaning of words). I thank God for the truth, knowing that his word cannot and does not ever fail.
An example of a ludicrous idea would be the need for the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple in order to fulfill prophecy. Whether or not another Temple would be built in Jerusalem has absolutely nothing to do with prophecy. Jesus destroyed the Temple of the first century AD and is building the Messianic Temple today—has been since Pentecost of 31 AD.
We need to realize that the Kingdom of God is spiritual in nature, and the physical had everything to do with the Old Covenant, wherein lay the patterns or types of the New. Notice what Paul claimed:
Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. (1 Corinthians 10:11)
Paul told the Corinthians first that they were then living in the end of the age, i.e. the last days of the nation of Israel. Secondly, everything that happened to Israel under the Old Covenant occurred as a pattern or a type that had to be fulfilled in the New Covenant. For example, the nation, as a whole, rejected Moses, when he wanted to bring them into the Promised Land (Numbers 14). Therefore, the Messiah, i.e. the one who was like Moses (cf. Deuteronomy 18:15-19), would be rejected by the nation, when he wanted to take them immediately into the Kingdom of God. However, due to Israel’s unbelief, they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and, due to the Jews’ rejection of Jesus, a period of about 40 years was placed between Jesus’ crucifixion and the judgment of the nation in 70 AD. Even Israel’s modus operandi of worship was a pattern (shadow) to be fulfilled in the reality (Colossians 2:14-16).
Therefore, having this in mind, the Temple that stood in Jerusalem would be destroyed, but a third Temple needed to be built, of which Christ would be the chief cornerstone (Acts 4:10-11), and his disciples would be living stones, and a spiritual priesthood, who would offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God (1Peter 2:5). The physical pattern was seen in the Old Testament Temple, and New Testament Temple lived out that pattern in a spiritual manner (Isaiah 28:16; Psalm 118:19-29).
Now, if Israel is the pattern into which the New Testament must fit, where literal circumcision becomes circumcision of the body of sin (Colossians 2:11), where the rejection of Christ is seen in the rejection of Moses and the later rejection of David, where the physical Temple of God in physical Jerusalem is seen in the building up of the Messianic Temple composed of living stones, Christ being the chief cornerstone, what is the land? If we have a Kingdom Temple, we must have a Kingdom Land. Wouldn’t that be logical? The Kingdom Temple is found in New Jerusalem, the city of God, which comes out of heaven (Revelation 21:1-3). Isn’t that land?
The people that compose the city are the land of the Kingdom of God. The people who are the living stones that are built up into a Temple of God are the land on which that Temple sits. Both the Temple and New Jerusalem are the people of God, and these same people are the land or the Kingdom over which God rules. The Kingdom of God cannot be seen with the naked eye. Neither could one point to it here or there. Rather, the Kingdom of God is within man (Luke 17:20-21). It is a spiritual Kingdom!
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