Teaching #1: the Tabernacle, the Temple, & the Church
Did you go to “Church” on Sunday? Maybe so. You along with millions of others on the first day of the week. Did you pray? Most likely. Your Pastor probably told you that the Church is supposed to be “the House of Prayer” (Matt. 21:13). Nevertheless, how many “Christians” do you know personally who are still living in sin despite their faithful Church attendance? By the looks of things, it stands to reason that God isn’t hearing the prayers of all these people (Ps. 66:18).
“He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.” – Proverbs 28:9
Before you go to a building on Sunday, and call it a Church, you might want to consider if God is even there at all to begin with (Matt. 18:20, 2 Cor. 6:17-18). The most popular religious building in town is almost certainly a God-Forsaken Church! If the LORD isn’t present in saving power to set sinners free from sin, don’t you dare think that the holy God of the Bible is present in the assembly (Jer. 23:18-22; 1 Cor. 14:24-25). Are you in disbelief that God can indeed forsake a Church?
God forsook the Tabernacle at Shiloh (Ps. 78:59-61). When the glory of God departed from the Tabernacle at Shiloh, the High Priest and the Priests were all killed by divine wrath in one day (1 Sam. 4:21-22)! It was all for good reason (Jer. 7:12, 14-15, 26:1-9). Nevertheless, on the same day, the people still believed that God was with them, insomuch that they shouted and roared declarations of faith in the God of Israel while on the battlefield (1 Sam. 4:1-9), meanwhile God strengthened their adversaries to defeat them in battle (1 Sam. 4:9-22; Lev. 26:17, 32-39; Ps. 17:13-14).
"When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel: So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men; And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand.” - Psalm 78:59-61
God forsook the Temple at Jerusalem in the Old Testament (Ezek. 7:20-22, 9:7, 79:1; Jer. 7:1-30). Ezekiel even saw the glory of God depart from the Temple in a prophetic vision (Ezek. 8:4, 10:18-22, 11:22-25)! Nevertheless, the people kept going to “Church” to pray and offer sacrifices, among other things, and they thought that God was with them because they were still going to Church (Isa. 1:11-20). But they were actually trusting in the Temple instead of God (Jer. 7:4, 14)! They were putting their faith in a building instead of the actual Person of God. The people kept reading their Bibles, and the preachers kept preaching from the Bible, all the while the people claimed to be wise because they had the Bible in their possession (Jer. 8:5-9). The only problem was that they weren’t obeying the Bible! Therefore, the LORD said that He abhorred their assemblies and rejected their prayers, and then He mercilessly slaughtered most of them through Babylon (Ezek. 9:1-11; Isa. 22:14, 27:11). Not even Jeremiah could intercede on their behalf (Jer. 14:10-12, 15:1, Lam. 3:8, 3:44).
God forsook the Temple at Jerusalem in the New Testament during the 1st Century. When Jesus came looking for fruit from the Jewish People, instead He found a cry for judgment (Mark 11:12-21; Isa. 5:1-7). The angry Messiah rebuked the people, overturned the tables, and drove out the animals, but it was all to no avail. The situation was beyond recovery. Upon Jesus being crucified, lo and behold: “…the veil of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent” (Matt. 27:50-51). The Father forsook the Temple. Nevertheless, the Jewish People continued on religiously thinking that God was still with them.
What happened to Judaism can happen to Christianity (Rom. 11:1-25). It’s a stated biblical fact! Read the Scripture for yourself and see. Every brand of Modern Christianity is vulnerable to divine wrath. So is every branch that is grafted into the Vine of Jesus Christ (John 15:1-7)! No one is exempt. God can even forsake individual, local, biblical Churches of the New Testament (Rev. 1:20, 2:1, 5). The threat delivered to Ephesus could happen to any true Church anywhere. The Christians at Laodicea even forced Jesus out the door of their Church (Rev. 3:14-22)! Howbeit, the LORD will not allow the gates of Hell to prevail against the Body of Christ universally or finally (Matt. 16:18; 1 Kings 19:18, Rom. 11:4). God will use Babylon to purify her at last (Rev. 7:14; Eph. 5:25-27; Rev. 19:7)! Nevertheless, most professing Christians will continue to go to Church thinking that God is with them no matter what, even while the spiritual climate around them is as dark as midnight (Matt. 5:13-16, 25:1-13).
“And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD. And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man and his house.” – Jer. 23:33-34
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