Rethinking Revelation Chapter 13 (Part 10)

In this week’s Blog, we continue our discussion about Christians being the temple of God, and the supporting Scripture.

In II Thessalonians 2:4 Paul used the Greek word naos for temple, not hieron. He used the Greek word for the human body not the Greek word used for the temple building. He is discussing Christianity and the falling away in the Last Days; therefore, we can conclude this prophecy is referring to the human body. This verse is a good definition of humanism, the religion of the new-age movement. It has swept through our country in recent years and has been one of the major causes for the rapid deterioration of our country’s moral values. It is why many Christians have fallen into deception and are no longer committed to biblical standards.

Humanism is to set ourselves up in the temple of God (naos—the human body) and decide right and wrong ourselves, as though we were God. We don’t proclaim by our words to take the place of God, but our actions state otherwise. Verse four prophesies this anti-Christ spirit will be the cause of the apostasia—the falling away. This humanistic teaching has become the philosophy that is now taught in most of our public schools and is used to establish the standards by which the majority of American people live. Abraham Lincoln’s statement that, “The philosophy of the classroom today will be the philosophy of the government tomorrow” has come true. This is one of the great deceptions Satan has pulled off in our society.

Paul was given spiritual insight to see the results of this falling away and referred to it as terrible times. Naming some of the worldly characteristics that would be common in Christians during our day he said in II Timothy 3:1-5, “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy (immoral), without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.”

I don’t think Paul is saying all of these characteristics will be found in every Christian, but some will be found in many of those who say they are Christians. In verse four of II Thessalonians chapter two, Paul gave us the major cause why these characteristics have become so common. It is because by our actions, we set ourselves up in the temple of God (our body) proclaiming to be God when we begin to decide what is right and wrong. In truth that is taking the place of God. Many in our society consider this to be our right. This is a spirit of anti-Christ and the teachings of the religion of humanism. God’s inspired Word, the Bible, is the only truth Christians are to follow and live by.

Jesus gave us another key prophetic warning about this same issue of how Satan will attack Christians in these Last Days. He stated, in Luke 17:26-30, “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.”

Jesus makes it clear He is talking about the time near His second coming. He makes a profound statement in this prophecy. Not one thing He mentions is within itself a sin. They are the everyday affairs of life: eating, buying, selling, marrying, planting, building and so forth. In the Old Testament, we are told there was a lot of evil in the days of Noah and Lot. And we know there is a lot of evil today. Read any newspaper or listen to any newscast!

Why doesn’t Jesus say one word about this evil? What is He warning us about? The fact that Jesus did not make many predictions about the conditions before His second coming causes me to believe our understanding this prophecy is extremely important.

Jesus is telling us that in the days of Noah and Lot the everyday affairs of life, like buying, selling and so forth, became so important to people it caused them to lose their commitment to place God first and live by His values. Serving God was not their primary focus. He is warning us this same temptation is going to exist in our day.

In our next Blog we will look at the power our society has through the use of highly developed advertising, new products, beautiful malls, and more!

Be sure to visit the FREE DOWNLOADS page to find several other books and booklets written by Bob Fraley. The FREE DOWNLOADS page contains complete .pdf files that you may read and download absolutely FREE! Go to: http://www.bobfraleychristianlifeoutreach.com and click on the “FREE DOWNLOADS” button!

Rethinking Revelation Chapter 13 (Part 9)

Revelation 13:7 is a stern and important warning to everyone living in these Last Days. It reads, “Also it (the beast or superpower) was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer (overcome) them” (Revelation 13:7a RSV).

The word conquer as used in this verse means to defeat or subdue like one army by another; just as we did to Germany and Japan in WW II. It does not mean to obliterate or eliminate. I again refer to Dr. Billy Graham’s research a few years ago that discovered around 90% of American Christians are living defeated spiritual lives. We know what to say in Christian circles, but our actions or fruit has been broadcasting our weakness to the world and its standards. That is, deception.

Deception is a terrible thing! One of the greatest warnings Jesus gave about the Last Days was about deception. He said, “For false Christs and false prophets (teachers) will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible” (Matthew 24:24).

Remember, deception is determined by the fruit produced as compared to the teachings in the Word of God. The fruit produced in recent years by our society is the true barometer of our deception. This deception is a result of the overpowering ability our society has developed to influence and teach us its humanistic values and lifestyle.

In II Thessalonians chapter two we find a prophecy about how those who claim to be Christians will be conquered or overcome in these Last Days. It says, “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He opposes and exalts himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, and even sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God” (II Thessalonians 2:1-4).

In the first two verses of this prophecy, we learn that Paul is referring to the Last Days and the second coming of Jesus. Verse three proclaims a rebellion will occur. The Greek word Paul used for rebellion in verse three is apostasia. It means there will be a defection or falling away by some that say they are Christians near the second coming of Jesus. They will no longer follow many of the standards of biblical Christianity. The Greek word used for man in the phrase “man of lawlessness” is the same word often used in Scripture to refer to mankind. In other words, it is more than one person that will rebel from following true biblical Christianity. Verse four reveals the cause of this falling away or rebellion against following many of the biblical values and teachings in these Last Days. The reason is as stated in verse four, “He opposes and exalts himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, and even sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.”

The common teaching of this verse is the word temple refers to the temple in Jerusalem. For that to happen however, the temple must be rebuilt and at the time of this writing the temple area is controlled by the Arabs, and a Muslim mosque stands there. Knowing that Paul was writing to Christians, and in Christianity the word temple refers to the human body, I did a word study on the word “temple” used in this verse, and this is what I found.

There are two different Greek words used in Scripture for temple. One is hieron, which refers to the temple building. The other is naos, which can be used for the inner sanctuary of the temple where the priests could enter. In Christianity however, Christians are the temple of God since everyone who is born-again receives the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). In fact, that is one of the key distinctions between Christianity and all other religions. The Holy Spirit actually lives within each true born-again Christian. That is the meaning of being born-again. It is a spiritual rebirth.

In every verse that teaches Christians become the temple of God, the Greek word used for temple is naos. For example, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple (Greek word naos) and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” (I Corinthians 3:16). There are other verses in Scripture that also teach we are the temple of God, and they too use the Greek word naos for temple. Jesus used the Greek word naos in John 2:19-21 when he told the people if they destroyed this temple, referring to His body, that He would raise it in three days.

In my next BLOG, I will continue to discuss the use of the Greek words naos vs. hieron, and what that means to us.

Be sure to visit the FREE DOWNLOADS page to find several other books and booklets written by Bob Fraley. The FREE DOWNLOADS page contains complete .pdf files that you may read and download absolutely FREE! Go to: http://www.bobfraleychristianlifeoutreach.com and click on the “FREE DOWNLOADS” button!