“Therefore when you see the`abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place ” (whoever reads, let him understand), (Matt. 24:15 NKJ)

Normally “holy place” would refer to the Temple area, that’s how Daniel would have understood it (Dan. 11:31). But Christ is speaking about a future event, and Daniel didn’t understand the prophecy as it applied to the end times because the words were “sealed”:

7 Then I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever, that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time; and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished.
8 Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, “My lord, what shall be the end of these things?”
9 And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. (Dan. 12:7-9 NKJ)

The natural reason for words that describe the end time to be sealed is because they refer to different things in the end time. Christ’s sacrifice changed everything, the Temple of God became the Church. If Daniel had a vision of a NT church while hearing the words, he would be totally confused. To him the words were “sealed”.

Notice the Holy Spirit cautions the reader right after the words “holy place”, “let him understand.” We in the End Time are to understand the “Holy Place” is NOT the literal temple, its the new place where God’s Spirit indwells, the Church.

Therefore, the following is sound:

1. Redefinition of the Holy Place in the New Testament​

Under the Old Covenant, the τόπος ἅγιος (holy place) was primarily associated with the physical temple in Jerusalem, the locus of God’s presence. However, the New Testament frequently redefines “holy” spaces and practices in spiritual terms:

• Believers as God’s Temple:
  • “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16, NKJV).
  • “You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”(1 Peter 2:5, NKJV).
    • The shift from physical temple to spiritual community means that references to holy places can now be applied to the gathered Church, which is where God’s Spirit dwells.
• Jesus’ Redefinition of Worship:
  • “The hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father… God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”(John 4:21, 24, NKJV).
    • Jesus eliminates the necessity of physical locations like the temple, further supporting a spiritual understanding of the holy place.

2. Matthew’s Use of Symbolism​

Matthew often employs symbols and typological language to connect the Old Testament with its fulfillment in Christ and His Church:

• The Abomination of Desolation in Daniel:
  • In Daniel 9:27, 11:31, and 12:11, the abomination refers to sacrilegious acts desecrating sacred spaces. Historically, this included Antiochus IV Epiphanes’ desecration of the temple. However, in Matthew 24:15, Jesus points forward to events beyond the physical temple, as evidenced by His broader eschatological discourse.
  • Matthew 24 addresses the end times, suggesting that the “holy place” could symbolize the spiritual domain of God’s people, not merely a geographic location.

3. Paul’s Parallel in 2 Thessalonians 2​

Paul’s discussion of the “man of sin” provides a framework for interpreting Matthew 24:15:

• “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”(2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, NKJV).
  • Paul refers to the “temple of God,” but in the New Testament, this phrase often denotes the Church rather than a physical temple. For example:
    • “For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” (1 Corinthians 3:17, NKJV).
  • The “man of sin” sitting in the temple symbolizes a spiritual corruption or apostasy within the Church, aligning with the broader New Testament theology.

4. The Church as the Covenant Community​

In the New Covenant, the Church replaces the physical temple as the locus of God’s presence:

• “You are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.” (Ephesians 2:19-21, NKJV).
• This new identity of the Church as God’s holy temple suggests that references to the “holy place” may also apply to the collective body of believers.

5. Spiritual Desecration in the Church​

The concept of the abomination standing in the holy place is consistent with warnings about apostasy and corruption within the Church:

• “For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”(Matthew 24:24, NKJV).
  • Spiritual defilement occurs when false teachings and leaders usurp the authority of Christ within the Church, metaphorically standing in the “holy place.”
• This aligns with warnings in Revelation about the infiltration of evil within the community of believers (Revelation 13:6-8).

6. Historical and Eschatological Applications​

While Matthew 24:15 may have had a historical fulfillment in events like the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in A.D. 70, its eschatological dimension points to broader spiritual realities:

• Just as the temple represented God’s presence in the Old Covenant, the Church represents His presence in the New Covenant. Thus, desecration of the “holy place” refers to the spiritual corruption of God’s people, consistent with the broader New Testament understanding.

Conclusion​

The phrase τόπῳ ἁγίῳ in Matthew 24:15 can refer to the Church, understood as the spiritual temple of God under the New Covenant. This interpretation is supported by:

1. The New Testament’s redefinition of holy places.
2. Matthew’s use of symbolic language.
3. Paul’s parallel reference to the “temple of God” in 2 Thessalonians 2.
4. The Church’s identity as the locus of God’s presence.

This perspective shifts the focus from a physical temple to the spiritual community of believers, emphasizing the New Covenant’s theological framework.

11 “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.

12 “Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. (Lk. 8:11-12 NKJ)

The gospel is preached in the public square, and many by the “wayside” hear. As they go home thinking about the message, the devil comes and subtly argues it’s not true (cp. Gen. 3:1-5) taking the Word from their heart.

Paul also speaks of this telepathic deception that affects the physical organ of the brain. “He who comes preaching another Jesus” can include “a different spirit”:

3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted– you may well put up with it! (2 Cor. 11:3-4 NKJ)

But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. (Gal. 1:8 NKJ)

Telepathic messaging is how Satan blinds the mind to the gospel:

3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,

4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. (2 Cor. 4:3-4 NKJ)

According to Scripture, the Holy Spirit speaks to our spirit, bypassing the fleshly organ of the brain, in a “non verbal” communication. But I wouldn’t rule out He might use words on occasion (Acts. 13:2-4).

Our spirits “know what God is saying” without words, just as we “know we are the children of God” without words:

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, (Rom. 8:16 NKJ)

Paul describes this communication as though it exists in our “conscience”:

I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 9:1 NKJ)

Christians commune with God the Holy Spirit all the time, often not realizing the “knowing” they should do something in Christ, is the Holy Spirit speaking to them.

13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.

16 For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Cor. 2:13-16 NKJ)

Verbal words appearing in brain are not from God.

God has nothing to do with our fallen flesh, its unclean. But our spirit is born again, a new creature in Christ—born from above “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4) having passed from death into life (John 5:24) spiritually seated with Christ in the heavenlies (Eph. 2:6).

In love God communes with the born-again spirit because in Christ it is Holy. In judgment He will reveal His wrath to flesh, body and brain.

Back to the point, Satan deceives through the flesh. Any sensation, any voice experienced in unclean flesh, is not from God. In our “flesh nothing good dwells” (Rom. 7:18):

7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors– not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

17 and if children, then heirs– heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. (Rom. 8:7-17 NKJ)

Although thinking “non verbally” aids in detecting “foreign ideas” telepathically trying to deceive, its impossible humans on their own overcome the deception. Only those God grants “victory”, will overcome them.

1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,

2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,

3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Eph. 2:1-7 NKJ)

The Two Phases of The Antichrist: Man of Sin and Son of Destruction

Give no belief to false words: because there will first be a falling away from the faith, and the revelation of the man of sin (266 ἁμαρτία hamartia), the son of destruction (684 ἀπώλεια apoleia), (2 Thess. 2:3 BBE)

“Man of sin” (458 ἀνομία anomia). The Genitive construction describes him as “of sin”, sin characterizes him. As “sin is lawlessness” (1 Jn. 3:4), his “lying signs and wonders” (2 Th. 2:9) “teach the lie lawlessness has divine approval”, that God’s Word the Bible no longer applies (2 Th. 2:10).

The Holy Spirit likely chose the title “son of destruction” to allude to Judas a “son of the evil one” (BBE διάβολός ἐστιν Jn. 6:70; 17:12). Confirming this, Satan is called “Destruction” and “Apollyon” in Revelation 9:11. Like Judas he will be a miracle working Jewish Christian the apostate church receives as “The Christ (Mt. 24:4-5, 23-25).”

At mid-week the “man of sin false Christ” morphs into “the son of destruction” “seed of Satan” (Gen. 3:15), revealing he is a hybrid Elohim-human created by the Nephilim (Gen. 6:1-4) “extraterrestrial Designers”. His Pompous Mouth (Dan. 7:8, 20; Rev. 13:5) boastfully claims his hybrid nature is superior to all Elohim, all formerly called God but who actually were extraterrestrials. In this way he denies the Deity of Father and the Son (1 John 2:18-23), opposing all called God in history while exalting himself above them all.

who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. (2 Thess. 2:4 NKJ)

The prophet Daniel also revealed the Desolator (Antichrist) comes in two phases, first as a friend to the world’s religions, but at mid-week he forbids their sacrifices and offerings to God:

And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week; and for half of the week he shall cause sacrifice and offering to cease; and upon the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.” (Dan. 9:27 RSV)

John’s Revelation also reveals the two phases False Christ/Antichrist when the End Time Beast with a “lion’s mouth” (Rev. 13:2) gets a new “mouth speaking great things and blasphemies” for the remaining 42 months (Rev. 13:5; Dan. 7:8, 20, 25; 11:36).

1 Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name.
2 Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.
…
5 And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. (Rev. 13:1-5 NKJ)

ANTICHRIST
antichristos (ἀντίχριστος, 500) can mean either “against Christ” or “instead of Christ,” or perhaps, combining the two, “one who, assuming the guise of Christ, opposes Christ”-Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., White, W., Jr. (1996). In Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Vol. 2, p. 30). T. Nelson.

So the Antichrist has two phases. For 3.5 years he is the “Man of Sin” “false Christ” speaking through a mouth “like a lion” (2Th. 2:3. Rev. 13:2), then he opposes the historic definitions of God speaking blasphemies (Rev. 13:5) pompously exalting himself above them all as the “Son of Destruction” (2Th. 2:3-4) “Seed of Satan” (Gen. 3:15) “Antichrist” denying the Father and the Son (1Jo. 2:18, 22).

3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away (646 ἀποστασία apostasia) comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,
4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. (2 Thess. 2:3-4 NKJ)

The great apostasy from God begins in the Christian church when it receives the “Man of Sin” as “the Christ”. That apostasy “takes away” (05493 סוּר cuwr, Dan. 12:11) the Daily offered to God in Christ, the sacrifice for our sins.[1] The religious apostasy goes global as the Man of Sin morphs into the Beast Son of Destruction. Then everything called God or formerly worshipped as God, is replaced by worship of Adonikam who claims his hybrid human-Elohim nature is superior to all Elohim, regardless what God is called on the earth. That is when he ends all sacrifice to God globally (Dan. 9:27), at “mid-week” or 3 ½ years into his seven year reign.

John saw the seven head ten-horn Grecian Roman Empire “Beast” rise from the sea in the end time “week of years” (Rev. 13:1-8). The entire Beast symbolizes both the “Kingdom” and the “King”, notice the personal pronoun “he” from Revelation 13:5 on. This also happens in the book of Daniel where the same ten-horn version of the Roman Empire appears in the end time (Dan. 7:17, 23).

For the first 3.5 years the mouth of the beast is “like a lion”. In Revelation 5:5 Jesus Christ is called the “lion of the tribe of Judah”. Therefore, as the “lion’s mouth” is on the Beast it is a “false Christ” that speaks through it.

The “Man of Sin” is a miracle working Jewish Christian named Adonikam, who appears in the end time in the region of ancient Antioch. [1] He will work miracles and do signs and wonders that seem to authenticate his claim to be “the Christ”. But they lie (2Th. 2:7-12). He is called the “man of sin” because he condones sin for the sake of ecumenical unity. The already fallen away Christian church loves his Gospel of health and wealth and hail him as “the Christ” (2 Th. 2:3-4).

Sometime earlier God had stopped restraining the mystery of lawlessness, spiritism (2Th. 2:7-12) and there was a war in heaven. Satan and his angels were cast out and they appeared on earth (Rev. 12:7-12) claiming to be “the Elohim Creators” of life on earth. They lyingly pointed to the fossil record claiming it proved they designed life on planet earth. Now they had returned to ascend mankind to the next level, and gift it with immortality. The human race would become like the Elohim, and travel the universe also creating life on other planets as participants in the cycle of life. They demanded a NWO be created, and the seven head ten-horn Grecian Roman Empire was born.

The Man of Sin welcomed the arrival of the “Elohim”. He adopted their “scientific Atheism” and welcomed their arrival as the coming of the Kingdom of God. The Elohim therefore made Adonikam Chancellor of the New World Order. [2]

Ancient Babylon was rebuilt using fallen angel technology and supernatural character of the city so impressed those who dwell on the earth, they believed the Grecian Roman Empire invincible:

3 One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound [buried beneath desert sand], but its mortal wound was healed [Babylon rebuilt], and the whole earth marveled [at its supernatural character] as they followed the beast [Chancellor Adonikam].
4 And they worshiped the dragon [commander of the “ETs”], for he had given his authority to the beast [Adonikam], and they worshiped the beast [the concept of the NWO], saying, “Who is like the beast [NWO], and who can fight against it?” (Rev. 13:3-4 ESV)

As the rider on a white horse, “Chancellor” Adonikam the false Christ didn’t use any arrows to conquer the earth, globalist ecstasy swept the planet:

And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He [Adonikam] who sat on it had a bow; and a crown [Chancellorship] was given to him [by Satan], and he went out conquering and to conquer (Rev. 6:2 NKJ)

At mid-week the lion’s mouth stops talking, the Grecian Roman Empire is given a new Antichrist mouth that speaks “great things and blasphemies.” (Rev. 13:5. 1Jo. 2:18-22) He morphs into the “Son of Perdition” “opposing” all earthly definitions of God, and “exalting” himself above them all. His hybrid Elohim-human nature is claimed to be above the Extraterrestrial Elohim themselves. He proudly claims to be the “seed of Satan” (Gen. 3:15), claiming he is the source of the Elohim DNA in his genome (2Th. 2:3-4).

For five months before mid-week evil spirits tormented and terrorized the TARES in Christendom to convert to scientific atheism, to be loyal to Adonikam when he proclaims himself the “seed of Satan” “Son of Perdition” (2Th. 2:3-4). But Satan so hates God, anyone alive remotely connected to Christianity, even the apostates that converted to the Beast and accepted his Mark, were slain by the demonic Kings of the East and their demon Calvary (Rev. 9:13-19). The third of the earth’s population that once claimed to be Christian was slain.

Then the Beast Emperor Adonikam turns his attention to those all who refuse his mark. The Great Tribulation for the Church begins and most die a martyrs death (Rev. 13:5-7).

Now you know the two phases of Antichrist.

For more on the seven head ten-horn Grecian Roman Empire click here.
For more on the 666 allusion to the name Adonikam Click here.
For more on rebuilt religiopolitical Babylon Mother of Harlots click here

END NOTES
[1]
The “Man of Sin” is a miracle working Jewish Christian named Adonikam, who appears in the end time in the region of ancient Antioch.

That the “Lawless One” will be a miracle “lying” sign and wonder worker filled with the energy of Satan to deceive is explicit in 2 Thessalonians 2:7-9.

I infer from Daniel 11:37-18 “God of his fathers” he is Jew. I infer from “son of perdition” (2 Th. 2:2-3. John 17:12) he is a Christian Jew like Judas.

I infer from Micah 5:5 (Isa. 14:25-27) he is “the Assyrian” which connects him to Nimrod founder of “Old Babylon” where the Harlot was born.

I infer from Scripture’s powerful allusion to the Greek Syrian Antiochus Epiphanes (Dan. 8:8-17; 11:31) who failed to fulfill all the parameters of the Antichrist—as it is expressly said the prophecy pertains “to the time of the end”, that much true concerning Antiochus and his dwelling in Antioch, is predictive about the coming “King of the North” (Dan. 11:40-43) 666 Adonikam Jewish Christian Assyrian. Of the tribe of Dan (Gen. 49:17)

666 is Biblical allusion to Adonikam’s name, the double entendre “number OF a man” is literally true, Adonikam generated 666 children (Ezra 2:13).

This is not an exhaustive list, there are other texts consistent with these inferences, I at the moment can’t recall them precisely.

I am not a prophet, none of this is prophecy in the classic sense. Its inference only and as such any part or all of it except what is required by sound exegesis, can be wrong.

16 Bind up the testimony, Seal the law among my disciples.
17 And I will wait on the LORD, Who hides His face from the house of Jacob; And I will hope in Him.
18 Here am I and the children whom the LORD has given me! We are for signs and wonders in Israel From the LORD of hosts, Who dwells in Mount Zion.
19 And when they say to you, “Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?
20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. (Isa. 8:16-20 NKJ)

[2]

Again, this is not prophecy, its abductive logic, inference. Scripture depicts the Devil as intelligent and strategic. Recent events prove there is something to the reports of UFO’s. Persons of impeccable character and specifically trained to observe and report what they see (astronauts, military pilots etc) saw and experienced UFOs. Added to this is the massive delusion reshaping the public perception of reality to accept “ancient astronaut theory”. Therefore, as UFO spectacle and massive indoctrination exist, its clear something or someone is causing it to exist. It is certainly affecting the church causing many to fall away (2 Thess. 2:3-4).

It would be strategic genius to convince mankind extraterrestrial (Designers) have created mankind, all life on planet earth. It would appropriate creationist intelligent design arguments, efficiently incorporating the facts of the fossil record and all known physics to destroy the mass delusion of evolution. There is only one being who would benefit from such events. Satan. Its ironic, only after YHWH God is removed as the Intelligent Designer, will “intelligent design” arguments convince mankind.

Its reasonable to infer the UFO deception being preached today is part of the Satan’s strong delusion to convince mankind join the Great Revolt against all called God or worshiped (2 Th. 2:3-4). If we take scripture literally, when the Devil and his fallen angels are cast out of heaven it is truly WOE to the earth. It follows they appear physically on earth and in our skies (Rev. 12:7-12), perhaps as they did in the Days of Noah (Gen. 6:1-4).

Although I have not surveyed all the UFO cults existing today, its seems very likely what Satan taught a former automobile journalist and race car driver Claude Vorilhon (now Rael) will be basic deception he uses in the end time. “Scientific Atheism” is abductively the likely gist of the strong delusion Satan will use to convince the earth to fight God at Armageddon (Rev. 16:13-14). “Flying frogs” are symbolic of UFOs, out of the mouths of the evil trinity, the “inspired” “BIG LIE” YHWH God can be defeated by men and fallen angel. Just as happened in Nimrod’s revolt at the Tower of Babel. Or before that, when men conspired with the Nephilim to seduce the angelic sons of God into apostasy. This Demonic-Human rebellion against God has happened before, it will happen again (Rev. 20:7-10).

Again, I am NOT a prophet. The LORD has not spoken to me. I am inferring what will be, assembling pieces of the puzzle that is before us, to arrive at a picture consistent with Bible revelation. Its inference. Not prophecy. It certainly is a leap over vast chasms of the unknown. It seems elegant to me, parsimonous to the facts available. Only time will tell if I assembled the pieces correctly.

If assembled correctly perspicuity of scripture and sola scriptura alone account for it. If not, the blame is mine alone. Scripture is always 100% correct.

May the generation alive suffering the Great Tribulation keep looking up for Jesus their Redeemer, He is surely near. Maranatha! Amen and Amen, Come LORD Jesus!

END NOTES
[1]The Daily Sacrifice today is offered up by the priesthood of the Church. That is consistent with the NT applying Temple language to the church (1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:19-21). Peter identifies the church as a spiritual house “a holy priesthood, to offer up “spiritual sacrifices” (πνευματικὰς θυσίας) acceptable to God” (1 Pet. 2:5). In Hebrews we are admonished to “offer (399 ἀναφέρω anaphero) sacrifice (2378 θυσία thusia)” and that word is used in the Greek Septuagint to offer (399 ἀναφέρω anaphero) the whole burnt offering that in Hebrew is the “daily” (08548 תָּמִיד tamiyd) 1 Ch. 16:40; 23:31; 2 Ch. 2:3; 24:14.

Our sacrifice of praise is to be offered “continually” (1275 διαπαντός) to God. In Hebrews 13:1-17 the ethical exhortations being an expansion of the acceptable duties priests offer God daily (Heb. 12:28 λατρεύωμεν εὐαρέστως τῷ θεῷ).

Christ is our perpetual sacrifice for sin (Heb. 10:11-18), it follows “that the daily sacrifice “shall be taken away” (05493 סוּר cuwr; 868 ἀφίστημι) is taken away by the church’s apostasy when it receives the false Christ man of sin, which occurs at the commencement of the seven years.

Not taking up the cross daily for Christ, doing service to the false Christ, is the apostasy that removes the daily sacrifice of praise and offerings to God and that marks the beginning of the end time week as does the arrival of Moses and Elijah to prophesy in Jerusalem (Rev. 11:3-7)

The Coming False Christ and His Followers Revealed
The Little Horn in Daniel with the Big Mouth
Adonikam is the Name of the Beast having 666 meaning
Antichrist will sit in the Temple of God: Third Temple or the Church?
The Antichrist: His Names Titles and Descriptions
What did the apostle John reveal when he said: “It is the last hour”?
The Coming False Christ and His Followers Revealed

The First Temple built by King Solomon was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar about 586 BC. The Second Temple replaced it only to be destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans. The Third Temple has yet to be built. Many believe Bible prophecy implies a Third Temple will take its place in the End Time.

The argument for a Third Temple by Professor John F. Walvoord is as follows:

On the basis of Matthew 24:15 with supporting Scriptures from Daniel, 2 Thessalonians 2, and Revelation 11:1, it may be concluded that Scriptures anticipate a future temple with a sacrificial system which will be under way at the time “the prince that shall come” exercises his authority, desecrates the temple, and establishes himself as the object of worship.- Walvoord, J. F. (1968). Will Israel Build a Temple in Jerusalem? Bibliotheca Sacra, 125, 99–106.

Not mentioned in the Professor’s argument is the changed reality created by the Advent of Christ, the creation of the “Israel of God“:

15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.
16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. (Gal. 6:15-16 NKJ)

That changes how Old Testament prophecy is to be interpreted, often in a way not suggested by the Old Testament context.

For example, Paul applies Hosea 1:9; 2:23 which context applies ONLY to Israel, to the Church (Rom. 9:24-26). Israel is now “enlarged” to Paul’s mind, Gentiles were grafted in (Rom. 11:17-20) to become one redeemed “Israel of God” (Eph. 2:11-13, 19; 3:6). Therefore, texts which the OT has fulfilled in Israel, are fulfilled in the Greater “Israel of God” which includes the church. Having been grafted in, the “wild olive tree” is now a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree (Rom. 11:17) and only when fulfillment is seen in all those once “not my people” Jew and Gentile (Hos. 1:9-10) that “all Israel will be saved” (Rom. 11:26).

[The words would be “sealed” to Hosea’s understanding, but unsealed to Paul knowing its application to the Israel of God.]

Another example, God makes a New Covenant with Israel in Jeremiah 31:33-34, but Paul applies it to the Church in Hebrews 8, because the Church is now part of the “Israel of God”. The context of the Old Testament however, applied this to “the house of Israel” and “house of Judah” (Hebrews 8:8-12), not Gentiles. Therefore, a “Biblically partial literal hermeneutic”, which omits the New Testament “Israel of God” reality created by Jesus Christ”, will fail to correctly interpret Jeremiah’s prophecy. The words are in effect, “sealed” until future New Testament revelation “unseals them”.

[One could suppose if Jeremiah saw in his vision the Israel of God while receiving the words of the prophecy, he would have been confused, the words being “closed up and sealed till the time of the end” (Dan. 12:9 NKJ). But Paul knowing the Christ Event, easily perceived its actual fulfillment. To Paul the words were unsealed.]

That is why Walvoord’s founding presumption is wrong. He interprets the Abomination of Desolation and its effect on the Daily Sacrifice solely as if it refers to Antiochus’ IMAGE in Daniel 11:31. THEN the need for a Temple is obvious. BUT the New Testament doesn’t look back at the Antiochus image, it looks forward to the ANTICHRIST PERSON who stands up where he ought not. Antiochus is not the Antichrist and he never did what scripture says the Antichrist will do.

Christ cautions us NOT to generalize the Abomination of Daniel 12:11 with Antiochus, when he prays “let the reader understand” (Mat. 24:15; Mark 13:14). The Abomination set up in the end time (Mt. 24:15; Mk. 13:14) is different than the image Antiochus set up. In the End Time the Abomination is a man; he “standing where he ought not” (Mk. 13:14 ESV), ἑστηκότα and δεῖ are masculine. Only the abomination in Daniel 12:11 (LXX) matches the precise Greek in Mt. 24:15; Mk. 13:14.

Absolutely lethal to Walvoord’s Biblically partial literal hermenutic, if the words describe an Antichrist who rises up in a Third Temple, why didn’t Daniel, enabled by God to understand enigma, dream and vision (Dan. 2:47; 4:8-9; 5:11-12), understand the words (Dan. 12:8). If Walvoord’s methodology is correct, why did our LORD say the words are “closed up and sealed?” (Dan. 12:9). That certainly is NOT what Walvoord is saying.

In other words, if the Antichrist rises in a rebuilt Third Temple and ends its Daily Sacrifice, what is “closed up and sealed” in these words (Dan. 12:7-11)? Answer: Nothing. Therefore, the Antichrist does NOT rise up in a rebuilt Third Temple, because the words ARE “closed up and sealed”. It was their “end time” fulfilment in the enlarged “Israel of God” which left Daniel confused (Dan. 8:27; 12:8).

“All scripture is inspired and beneficial for…correction” (2 Tim. 3:16)

The words are “closed up and sealed” to all using the “Biblically partial literal hermenutic” used by Daniel and Walvoord. Without the added New Testament Scripture revealing the “Israel of God”, the words remain “closed up and sealed”.

Only a “Biblically complete literal hermeneutic” can unseal the words of Daniels END TIME prophecies. When the LORD said they are “sealed until the time of the end” (Dan. 12:9), that implies end time information “unseals them”, not divine revelation.

While the Old Testament defines the Temple and Daily in a Jewish Context, the expanded “Israel of God” New Testament reality gives it wider application. The Church is the Temple of God for all those once called “not my people,” and its Daily Sacrifice is taking up the cross of Christ daily.

Only a “Biblically complete literal hermeneutic” that defines words literally according to usage throughout the Bible, where the Christ Event changed their application or meaning, is the “literal hermeneutic” used by the apostles Peter and Paul..

So how did the Advent of Christ and the expansion of Israel into the “Israel of God” “unseal” the words? The Temple of God is the Church, and its service in Christ is the Daily Sacrifice, IN THE END TIME when these prophecies are fulfilled.

Both Paul and Peter transfer Temple imagery, its priesthood and the Daily Sacrifice to the church. The Church the Temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21), its members are Temple priests (1 Pet. 2:5). Christians offer up “the Daily Sacrifice” (1 Pet. 2:5; Rom. 12:1; Lk. 9:23; Heb. 13:15).

Other parts of Walvoord’s argument also fail upon close inspection. For example, the New Testament never hints the destroyed Temple will be rebuilt. If its so central to understanding end time prophecy, that is inexplicable. Against any possibility it will be rebuilt is God’s obvious wrath against it: “There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (Matthew 24:2). That total destruction implies God’s Wrath against it is eternal. In fact, that is expressly required by Hebrews 8:13. What is obsolete does not return, contradicting Walvoord’s conclusion totally:

In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. (Heb. 8:13 NKJ)

Nor did the professor explain how Paul, an apostle of Christ, could call a Christ rejecting Temple built in the future “the Temple of God”. Its a fact of the New Testament, Paul ONLY calls the Church the “Temple of God” (1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19. 2 Cor. 6:16. Eph. 2:21) even while the literal Temple in Jerusalem still stood. It is unsound special pleading to interpret 2 Thessalonians 2:4 otherwise.

As for the Temple in Revelation 11:1-2, it is not a literal Temple:

1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
(Rev. 11:1-2 KJV)

This Temple has only two compartments, the inner with the altar and worshippers, the outer given to the nations. That is unlike any Biblical Temple:

At Jerusalem the naos was the central temple building, which included an entrance hall, a forecourt, and an inner chamber, or holy of holies. This design was used for Solomon’s temple, the temple in Ezek 40–48, and the Herodian temple. In the first century CE a table, lampstand, and incense altar stood in the forecourt; the holy of holies was empty. The altar for burnt offerings stood outside the temple (Josephus, J.W. 5.216–25) -Koester, C. R. (2014). Revelation: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. (J. J. Collins, Ed.) (Vol. 38A, p. 484). New Haven; London: Yale University Press.

The apostates in Christendom are this outer court. They have been “cast out” (1544 ἐκβάλλω ekballo) from God’s presence and will soon be destroyed.

Therefore, Professor Walvoord’s argument was circular, it assumed what it hoped to prove, that the New Testament had to be forced to fit Old Testament definitions. Nothing in the New Testament suggests the Third Temple must be rebuilt.

The abomination of desolation in Daniel 11:31 is in the past, almost all commentators are agreed it was fulfilled by Antiochus IV about 164 BC. The Abomination set up in the end time (Mt. 24:15; Mk. 13:14) is very different than the image Antiochus set up. This one is a he “standing where he ought not” (Mk. 13:14 ESV), breathing, speaking and killing all who refuse to worship (Rev. 13:14-15). Only the abomination in Daniel 12:11 (LXX) matches the precise Greek in Mt. 24:15; Mk. 13:14. It follows from our LORD’s prayer “let him that readeth, understand” that we should not generalize and ignore unique details when reading this text.

The precise phrase Christ used “βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως”[1] (Mat. 24:15; Mk 13:14) is found ONLY in the LXX Daniel 12:11, and the Hebrew it translates is also slightly different than that found in Dan. 11:31:

Part. שׁוֹמֵם the desolator (i.e. Antiochus Epiphanes [?]), Dan. 9:27. הַפֶּשַׁע שׁוֹמֵם (for פֶּשַׁע הַשּׁ׳), ibid. Dan. 8:13, the sin of the desolator, and שִׁקּוּץ שֹׁמֵם abomination of the desolator, Dan. 12:11, i.q. βδέλυγμα ἐρημώσεως, 1 Macc. 1:54; 6:7 (either the altar or the idol which Antiochus caused to be erected over the altar of the temple at Jerusalem.) [But see, Matt. 24:14, as to the “abomination of desolation,” as something even then unfulfilled].-Gesenius, W., & Tregelles, S. P. (2003). Gesenius’ Hebrew And Chaldee Lexicon To The Old Testament Scriptures (p. 835). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

The “Continual Sacrifice” ( תָּמִיד08548; ἡ θυσία 2378) διὰ παντὸς (“the sacrifice through all [day]”) ceases from “religious apostasy” (הוּסַ֣ר 05493; ἀποσταθῇ 868 lxx).[2]

In the NT Church, the “continual sacrifice” is the figurative offering of ourselves to God daily, in word and practice—it is the “taking up the cross of Christ daily” (Lk. 9:23):

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. (Rom. 12:1) NKJ (Comp. Mk. 9:49)

Compare:

Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. (Heb. 13:15) NKJ

you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Pet. 2:5) NKJ

Therefore the ending of the “continual sacrifice” does not require the Jewish Temple, to be consistent with the rest of the New Testament it requires the Church the Temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19. 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21).

When the already fallen away Church receives Adonikam the “man of sin” as “the Christ” (2 Thess. 2:3-4), sacrifice and offering to the True God has ceased (Dan. 12:11). After he morphs into the Son of Destruction 666 Beast at 1,260 days, it takes another 30 days to fully set up his image the abomination of desolation, 1,290 days. The desolation caused by this “breathing” image is unlike any before it. As it is the image of the Beast, both are the Abomination (Demon filled) causing desolation, the “son of destruction” (2 Thess. 2:3-4) aka the “Desolator” (Dan. 9:27; 12:11).

 

END NOTES
[1]Our Lord cautioned critical thinking was necessary. Analyzing this from every perspective and picking the solution that manifests elegance.

Jesus is God the Eternal Son, His perspective sees both fulfillments, that in the first century and that in the end time. Hence “let the reader understand” is written not just those hearing, but to US who read.

An abomination of desolation is any event or thing that causes the Temple of God to be desolate of God’s presence and consequently its valid use. It therefore can have dual fulfillment in the literal Temple, and the Church as the Temple.

The first century abomination can be found in two events, the pagan ensigns worshipped by the surrounding Roman armies (Lk. 21:20), Jerusalem being the holy place. Or the acts of the Zealots and Idumeans who took over the Temple and murdered thousands including the High Priest, installing “the clown Phinnas” in his place. Drunk in women’s clothing they celebrated. That was an abomination of desolation.

The abomination in the end time is a person “standing where he ought not.” (Mk. 13:14 ESV) What connection to an image does he have? In Revelation 13:15 the image of the Beast can breathe, kill any who don’t worship. Its given life by the dark arts of the false prophet, an abomination indeed. The 666 Beast himself therefore is the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not, in the holy place of the Church the Temple of God. When the fallen away church accepts him as “the Christ”, all sacrifice and offering to God ends because of their apostasy. At 1,260 days (Dan. 9:27; 12:7) the “man of sin” declares himself above every definition of God (2 Th. 2:3-4) and it takes him 30 days or on the 1,290th day (Dan. 12:11) the Quantum AI connected to every device is set up. This gives the Beast real time “God like” ability to see and hear everything, and react with deadly force anywhere if anyone try to resist. This abomination enforces his 666 Mark membership only economy (Rev. 13:15-18).

[2] Some insist it is unhistorical “the Daily” not refer to a sacrifice of lambs in a literal temple, or the “abomination of desolation” not be an idolatrous image like that of Antiochus. But it follows from Daniel’s not understanding the prophecy the words used have unfamiliar meaning (Dan. 12:9). What is the likeliest cause of Daniel’s confusion AND the unsealing of the meaning of the words in the end time? Only in the end time did reality uncover the additional meaning the words have. Daniel had no knowledge of the Church, that it would become the true Temple of God after the abomination of the crucifixion made desolate the Temple of the Shekhina Glory of God (Dan. 9:24, 26; Mt. 23:37-39; 27:51; 1 Ki. 19:11). He didn’t know Temple imagery and Priesthood were now properties of the Church.

Let’s consider this in reverse. The Word of God testifies Daniel had “an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences” (Dan. 5:12-16). So why was he confused about “the Daily” and the “abomination of desolation”? When prophesying about Antiochus nothing suggests he was confused then, so why in the end time prophecy are the words causing Daniel confusion? What unseals them in the end time? The only plausible answer to both questions, these words gained meaning unknown to Daniel that becomes known when end time events add new meaning to them.

God the Holy Spirit dwelt in Daniel (Dan. 4:8. Cp. Lk. 1:15) granting him “knowledge, understanding, interpreting dreams, solving riddles, and explaining enigmas (Dan. 5:12 NKJ).

So why didn’t Daniel understand his own End Time prophecy? Nothing in it was mysterious to him. The “holy” (06944 קֹדֶשׁ qodesh) “people” (05971 עַם `am), the “Daily” (08548 תָּמִיד tamiyd), the “abomination” (08251 שִׁקּוּץ shiqquwts) of “Desolation” (08074 שָׁמֵם shamem) are things he fully understood. Yet Daniel says: ” Although I heard, I did not understand” (Dan. 12:8):

9 And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
10 “Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise (07919 שָׂכַל sakal) shall understand. (Dan. 12:9-10 NKJ)

When Daniel asked for understanding he is NOT told prophets in the End-Time will unseal the words, rather “critical thinkers” in the End Time would understand”. The Hebrew שָׂכַל sakal means “to be prudent, be circumspect….to give attention to, consider, ponder”, i.e., critically think about every possibility that conforms to the text.

Therefore, Bible Believers aware of the modern context in which the prophecy unfolds are the wise who understand sealed words that confused Daniel.

For example, unknown to Daniel Christ’s apostles interpreted OT Temple imagery as applying to the Church. Believers in the Church became the priests sacrificing daily through their prayers and offerings and taking up the cross of Christ.

As Christ fulfilled the law the “continual” [08548 תָּמִיד tamiyd] sacrifice (ἡ θυσία δι παντoς, LXX) became a function of Christ’s ministry. Confirming this, the apostles apply Old Testament Temple imagery to the Church, calling it “the Temple of God” (1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; 2 Thess. 2:4; Eph. 2:21). Its members Temple priests (1 Pet. 2:5). We offer up “the Daily Sacrifice”::

you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Pet. 2:5) NKJ

As we take up Christ’s cross daily (Lk. 9:23) our sacrifice and service is continual:

Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. (Heb. 13:15) NKJ

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. (Rom. 12:1) NKJ

Now that we have the “interpretive keys” to understanding the prophecy Daniel could not, lets interpret it:

7 Then I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever, when the Man of Sin morphs into the 666 Beast (2Th. 2:3-4) at “mid-week”, all things will be fulfilled within three and a half years (Rev. 13:4-5. Seven years total).

8 Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, “My lord, what shall be the end of these things?”
9 And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

10 “Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand .

11 “And from the time that the daily of Christians is taken away by their apostasy (so the count begins at the start of the end time week), when the Man of Sin appears and is hailed as “the Christ”, there will be 1260 days. Then he morphs into the 666 Beast Adonikam at “midweek”. An additional 30 days passes when Britain and America join the Revived Roman Empire of the Beast and set up his 666 image mark membership only economy. To buy or sell his Mark must be on hand or forehead and all who refuse to take it will be slain (Rev. 13:11-18). 1260+30=1290 days.

This is the Great Tribulation, it will last 45 days during which most of the Church will be martyred. The Harlot Babylon’s religious ministry has no place in the New World Religion of the Beast so it is burned with fire (Rev. 14:8-12; 7:9-14).

12 “Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days, for you will be raptured (Rev. 14:12-16).

13 “But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days.” (Dan. 12:7-13)

[3] Professor John F. Walvoord’s book “Jesus Christ Our Lord” is a tour de force exposition of God the Eternal Son. I thank God for the Professor’s insight into the scriptures, including biblical prophecy. I am in his debt. He showed incredible grace accepting the phone the call of a no body like me, wanting to thank him for making clear just how great Jesus art, God the Eternal Son. I am forever in his debt and nothing on this site implies otherwise.

The Daily Sacrifice shall be taken away—Daniel 12:11
Antichrist will sit in the Temple of God: Third Temple or the Church?
The Two Phases of Antichrist: Man of Sin & Son of Destruction
End Times Timeline
What did the apostle John reveal when he said: “It is the last hour”?
Where Is The Judgment Of Fallen Angels?
The Coming False Christ and His Followers Revealed

Will the Temple in Jerusalem be rebuilt, a “third Temple” or will the Antichrist sit in the Church the Temple of God?

3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. (2 Thess. 2:3-4) KJV

 

 

 

Arguments for the Temple of God being the Church:

1) As Matt. 24:2-3 associates the destroyed Temple with the time of Christ’s coming, therefore it won’t be rebuilt before He comes.

2)In John 4:21 Christ likens the fate of the Temple in Jerusalem to that of the Samaritan Temple that lay in ruins as He spoke, saying the time would come (about 40 years later) when the Father would never again be worshiped in either Temple. Therefore, even if the Temple in Jerusalem is rebuilt by unbelieving Jews or antichrists, it would not be a “temple of God”.

3)Paul speaks elsewhere of a coming Christian apostasy (1 Tim. 4:1–3; 2 Tim. 3:1–5; 4:3–4) as do other apostles (2 Peter 2:1; 3:3; Jude 1:18; 1 John 2:18-19; 4:3-6). Therefore, this is a Christian apostasy that permits the “man of sin be revealed…and sit as God” among them. As a Christian apostasy is irrelevant to who rises up in Judaism or sits in their Temple, the “Temple of God” in 2 Thess. 2:4 must be the Church consistent with Paul’s teaching elsewhere (1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21).

4) Only the literal temple in Jerusalem could be God’s Dwelling (naos) to “Pharisee Paul” (Acts 23:6), but he consistently calls the Church the “Temple of God” (1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21). This implies “Apostle Paul” has undergone a deep and permanent change in perspective that would prevent any casual switch in reference, with no explanation.

The only other times Paul spoke about a physical temple were in 1 Corinthians 9:13, Acts 25:8 and Acts 17:24. In 1 Corinthians 9:13 and Acts 25:8 he uses the word “hieron” (G2411) specifically to refer to the physical temple in Jerusalem. In Acts 17:24, however, he is quoted as using the word “naos” to refer to physical temples in general, however his entire point was that it was no longer a physical temple in which God dwells. Why? Because the Church was now that temple. In these instances where Paul spoke about a physical temple he never referred to it as “the temple of God” or an equivalent expression.-ICA (David Wood) 03/13/2011, MidnightWatcher’s Blogspot.
https://midnightwatcher.wordpress.com/2011/03/13/2-thessalonians-24-a-rebuilt-jewish-temple-or-something-else/

5) Paul’s references to the Holy Spirit among the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 1:5-6; 4:8; 5:19; 2 Thess. 2:13) strongly imply they understood the Church is the peculiar “dwelling naos of God” (1 Peter 2:4-10) and not the literal Temple in Jerusalem.

6) Thessalonica was populated by Macedonians and Romans, gentiles (1 Thess. 1:9) who had little awareness of events in faraway Jerusalem. Yet Paul speaks of an apostasy leading up to events in the Temple as though the Thessalonians would have full awareness as these occur. Therefore, the “temple of God” must be the Church for it alone has the required property of Thessalonian “awareness.”

7) He is a “man of sin”: Man teaching aberration from God’s truth in parody of Christ (cp sin versus truth, John 8:46). False teaching defiles “God’s building” the “temple of God” (1 Cor. 3:9-10, 16-20) which temple the church is.

Paul seems to have in view false teachers who deviated from apostolic truth teaching their own doctrines. Hence they lost all reward for their works, when the fire of God’s judgment inspects them they barely escape the flame as if from a burning house, stripped of everything that might have merited reward (1 Cor. 3:15.) But Paul’s object changes, from plural men to a single man as though he has someone in particular in mind: “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy, for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are” (1 Cor. 3:17)

Clearly he has in view the “man of sin”, the miracle working False Christ Man defiling the Temple of God, “which temple ye are” with aberrant Christianity. The “destruction” threatened confirms this, in 2 Thess. 2:3 the “man of sin” is named the “son of destruction” because he will merit everlasting destruction in the lake of fire (cp John 17:12).

This “man of sin” “son of destruction” connection is manifest in the Old Testament:

Ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἁμαρτίας [man of sin]answers to the Hebrew אִישׁ אָוֶן, [unrighteous man] Isaiah 55:7; Prov. 6:12, υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας [son of destruction]to the יֶלֶד פֶשַׁע [children of transgression], Isaiah 57:4, which the LXX. translate by τέκνον ἀπωλείας [children of destruction]. –Biblical Commentary on the New Testament by Dr. Hermann Olshausen. (A. C. Kendrick & D. Fosdick Jr., Trans.) (Vol. 5, p. 315). New York: Sheldon, Blakeman, & Co.

In Isaiah 57:4 the “children of transgression” are also ‎ זֶ֥רַע שָֽׁקֶר “seed of falsehood” (KJV); “offspring of liars” (NIV); “a lying race” (NJB)

Therefore, “temple of God” in 2 Thess. 2:4 is the church the miracle working man of sin will defile with his aberrant Christianity. A literal temple in Jerusalem cannot be similarly defiled.

Arguments why temple of God cannot be the church.

1)

An objection fatal to interpreting the temple of God here as the Church (1 Co 3:16, 17; 6:19) is, the apostle would never designate the apostate anti-Christian Church “the temple of God.”-Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 396). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

Ad Hominem, circular, begging the question. Its educational the opposing side uses the same argument:

As God’s residence of old was in the temple of Jerusalem, so he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God: not that temple that was built by Solomon, and afterwards rebuilt, and to be built again, as the popish doctors speak: for it is now destroyed, and if it be built again by this man of sin, as they say, at his coming, would the apostle call that the temple of God? 2 Cor. 6:16; Rev. 3:12, &c.-Poole, M. (1853). Annotations Upon The Holy Bible (Vol. 3, p. 760). New York: Robert Carter and Brothers.

Paul calls the “revelation” (ἀποκαλύπτω) of the “lawless one” a “coming” (παρουσία), this is a parody of Christ’s coming to His church, “False Christ in parody of True Christ” therefore calling an apostate Church “the temple of God” is in keeping with OT usage of “Israel, Zion” etc. where a fallen away people did not lose their “title” even though apostate. The presence of TARES in the church does not change its identity as “God’s field” even when both grow together until the harvest (Matt. 13:30, 36-42).

Arguments 1-8 below are from Professor John Eadie’s Commentary on the Greek Text of the Epistles of Paul to the Thessalonians. (W. Young, Ed.) (pp. 271–272). London: Macmillan and Co.

(1) There is no allusion in the context to believers as being God’s temple, but in the text quoted believers are directly asserted to constitute it.

Incorrect, Paul asks: “Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?” (2 Thess. 2:5) NKJ “These things” necessarily include the transition that began in the gospels where Jesus’ Body is the Temple (Mat. 26:61 comp. John 2:21) and the Church is the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27; Eph. 4:12 cp. 1 Peter 2:4-10).

And if so, καθίσαι makes no difficulty. Its figurative sense, as holding a place of power, sitting as judge or ruler, is more frequent still: see in St. Paul, 1 Cor. 6:4: and Matt. 23:2: Rev. 20:4: to which indeed we might add the many places where our Lord is said καθίσαι on the right hand of God, e.g. Heb. 1:3; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; Rev. 3:21.-Alford, H. (1976). Alford’s Greek Testament: An Exegetical And Critical Commentary (Vol. 3, p. 290). Grand Rapids, MI: Guardian Press.

(2) The sitting in the temple does not harmonize so fully with the notion of an ideal or spiritual structure. The citations adduced by Alford are scarcely in point, as 1 Cor. 6:4 where, ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ occurring, the meaning is evident, and the clause signifies, set them as judges for a definite purpose; Matt. 23:2, where sitting in Moses’ chair is without ambiguity; and the image is as evident in Rev. 20:4. The places where Jesus is said to sit on the right hand of God are not in analogy; his royal seat is the symbol of highest exaltation and of universal dominion.

Fallacy of accent. “He as God sitteth in the temple of God” (kjv) therefore Alford is correct, its figurative of Divine authority:

“The primitive religious idea expressed in the image of the enthroned God, which has Canaanite roots, is strongly represented in the OT (cf. 1 Sam 4:4; 2 Sam 6:2; 1 Kgs 22:19; 2 Kgs 19:15; 1 Chr 13:6; Pss 9:8; 11:4; 47:9; 80:2; 99:1; 103:19; Isa 6:1; 37:16; 66:1; Jer 3:17; 14:21; Ezek 1:26; 10:1; Dan 3:55, etc.)-Balz, H. R., & Schneider, G. (1990–). Exegetical Dictionary Of The New Testament (Vol. 2, p. 225). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans.”

(3) If the temple of God be the church, what is meant by the Man of Sin entering and seating himself in it, what is the position which he thus occupies, what is his locality? for he is no ideal usurper, no personified evil influence, but a man with human conditions.

See #2 directly above, same Fallacy of accent. He sits as God figuratively in the figurative Temple of God the Church. Neither are literal.

(4) Could those for whom the epistle was written easily understand by the phrase the Church of Christ; or would not their first and most natural conclusion be that the Man of Sin was to intrude into some actual edifice, set apart to God as His shrine, like that at Jerusalem, and appropriate it.

Circular Argument begging the question entirely as its clear from Paul’s consistent application of “Temple (naos) of God” to the church proves.

(5) The next clause, “Showing that He is God,” leads to the same conclusion—he that sits in God’s temple takes God’s place and prerogative, for the temple is His dwelling—a conclusion which could not have the same force and evident connection with the premises, if the temple were the church so symbolized, for the usurpation would in that be more directed against Christ, the Head of the Church, or the Holy Spirit who fills it.

Hasty Generalization Fallacy Ignoring surrounding context. The man of sin appears to an already fallen away church with all power signs and wonders that serve the lie he is the Christ. The energy of Satan inworking is an energy of error that deludes the apostate church to descend into even more lawlessness. As they do not love God’s truth Holy Scripture they have no means of discerning the spirits. At mid-week he casts off all trappings of Christianity and morphs into the Son of Destruction, denying the Father and the Son (1 John 2:18-23) elevating himself above all called God. He continues to work signs and wonders that serve that lie. A Jewish Temple is foreign to this context.

(6) Were the Church to permit such intrusion, and such impious self-assumed exaltation on the part of the Man of Sin above all divine persons and worship, it would cease to merit the appellation of the temple of God, and also on account of the previous apostacy which made such self-deification possible.

False Cause Fallacy. Self-deification isn’t dependent upon the fallen away church. Its dependent upon the unrestrained working of Satan in all power, signs and wonders serving the lie the man of sin is the Christ and his gospel of lawlessness divinely approved. Then at mid-week casting off all trappings of religion he declares himself above everything called God or worshiped becoming the Son of Destruction Beast Antichrist, denying the Father and the Son (1 John 2:18-23).

(7) The entire prophecy is distinct and personal, of prosaic and plain directness in its description of a man possessing a certain character, bringing on himself a certain destiny, and as he is at length to be consumed by the Lord at His Second Advent; may it not therefore be said that it would be out of harmony with this literal style of prediction, if in the midst of it should occur an unfamiliar image as the name of a place which is the scene of a usurpation without parallel?

Fallacy of Misleading Context. That is a distorted view of the text which does not mention an image, it speaks of a man who figuratively sits down as God in the church working signs and wonders that serve that lie.

(8) This is also the earliest interpretation. Irenæus says expressly, “Besides he has also pointed out, which in many ways I have shown, that the temple in Jerusalem was made by the direction of the true God. For the apostle himself, speaking in his own person, distinctly calls it the temple of God … in which temple the adversary shall sit, trying to show himself off as Christ.

Argumentum Ad Verecundiam appeal to authority and hasty generalization fallacy as the “earliest interpretation” necessarily dates from the 1st century, not the second century. Alas, those early writings are mostly lost to us.

That ends Professor JOHN EADIE’S arguments. There are others which I will treat at a later time.

The Third Temple: Does scripture anticipate a future Jewish Temple?
The Two Phases of Antichrist: Man of Sin & Son of Destruction
The Daily Sacrifice shall be taken away—Daniel 12:11
The Seventy Weeks in Daniel 9 Explained
The Antichrist: His Names Titles and Descriptions
What did the apostle John reveal when he said: “It is the last hour”?
Where Is The Judgment Of Fallen Angels?
Do Ancient Aliens Appear in the Bible?
The Coming False Christ and His Followers Revealed