No. 23 - THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION By: John J. Blanchard Saturday, August 31, 2002 Before I started writing this sermon the first thing I did was look up the two words abominate and desolate. I used my dictionary that I have in my office. It is a Funk and Wagnall’s. What it said for abominate is “to make hateful, loathsome, extremely disagreeable.” Desolate means “to be destitute of inhabitants or dwellings, deserted, made unfit for habitation, gloomy and dreary, to make sorrowful or forlorn.” Abominate and desolate are a couple of depressing words. Yet we know that these Biblical terms apply to the history of God’s people. Abomination and desolation has happened to God’s people in the past and has been recorded in the Bible. In the Old Testament, examples speak of this in regard to Jerusalem and to the temple of Solomon and ultimately to the temple that Zerubbabel had restored. In 586 B.C. the first abomination of desolation took place when the Babylonians destroyed the temple of Solomon and killed many Jews and took them captive. It happened a second time in 167 B.C. when Antiochus Epiphanes abominated but did not desolate the temple. It happened again in 70 A.D. when the abomination and desolation (both) took place once again. So this occurred three times in the past. The Jews still mourn those occasions because of their horribleness. They have never forgotten. When we think of their history of sad times, we think of the holocaust. They do not think of the holocaust nearly in the terms of these. These were more devastating to the Jews than the holocaust because this not only killed huge portions of their people but it almost robbed them of their faith, their religion. It did take their holy sites. It scattered them around to ultimately the world. They were devastating things to their people. I want to take a look at what happened and what it was like to be abominated and desolated if you had been alive in 586 B.C. If you had been alive in 586 B.C. and saw that beautiful temple Solomon had built and the priests worshipping there, you would have known the stark terror as the Babylonians laid siege to that city and eventually overcame it. They destroyed that temple where God had been working and His presence had been since Solomon had built it. You would have seen your people go captive to a cruel captor and eventually just a tiny remnant come back. Let us briefly examine what this temple was like, this temple that was abominated and desolated in 586 B.C. Turn, if you would, to I Kings chapter 5. Let us read this to get an idea of the grandeur, the glory and what God was trying to achieve. I Kings chapter 5, verse 1: “Now Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, because he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, for Hiram had always loved David.” This is king of another country who loved King David. “Then Solomon sent to Hiram, saying: ‘You know how my father David could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the wars which were fought against him on every side, until the Lord put his foes under the soles of his feet. But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrence.’” Verse 5: “And behold, I propose to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spoke to my father David, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, he shall build the house for My name.’ Now therefore, command that they cut down cedars for me from Lebanon; and my servants will be with your servants, and I will pay you wages for your servants according to whatever you say. For you know there is none among us who has skill to cut timber like the Sidonians.” They must have been a little bit like “Yoopers” or Canadians - good loggers! Continuing in verse 7 of I Kings 5: “So it was, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly and said, ‘Blessed be the Lord this day, for He has given David a wise son over this great people!’ Then Hiram sent to Solomon, saying: ‘I have considered the message which you sent me, and I will do all you desire concerning the cedar and the cypress logs. My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon to the sea; I will float them in rafts by sea to the place you indicate to me, and will have them broken apart there; then you can take them away. And you shall fulfill my desire by giving food for my household.’” Verse 10: “So Hiram gave Solomon cedar and cypress logs according to all his desire. And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household, and twenty kors of pressed oil. Thus Solomon gave to Hiram year by year. So the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as He had promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty together. Then King Solomon raised up a labor force out of all Israel; and the labor force was thirty thousand men. And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts: they were one month in Lebanon and two months at home; Adoniram was in charge of the labor force.” This was quite a building project. I Kings 5, verse 15: “Solomon had seventy thousand who carried burdens, and eighty thousand who quarried stone in the mountains, besides three thousand three hundred from the chiefs of Solomon’s deputies, who supervised the people who labored in the work. And the king commanded them to quarry large stones, costly stones, and hewn stones, to lay the foundation of the temple. So Solomon’s builders, Hiram’s builders, and the Gebalites quarried them; and they prepared timber and stones to build the temple.” It was a lot of work to gather the material to build the temple. I Kings 6, starting in verse 1: “And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord. Now the house which King Solomon built for the Lord, its length was sixty cubits, its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits. The vestibule in front of the sanctuary of the house was twenty cubits long across the breadth of the house, and its width extended ten cubits from the front of the house. And he made for the house windows with beveled frames. Against the wall of the temple he built chambers all around, against the walls of the temple, all around both the sanctuary and the inner sanctuary. Thus he made side chambers all around it.” I am going to show you a drawing of this in a minute so you can understand the lay out. Continuing in verse 6: “The lowest chamber was five cubits wide, the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for he made narrow ledges around the outside of the temple, so that the support beams would not be fastened into the walls of the temple. And the temple, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.” This was so sacred they did not want the usual construction noise even on that site. Every piece was fitted together before it was put in place. You might want to bear that in mind. Verse 8 of I Kings chapter 6: “The doorway for the middle story was on the right side of the temple. They went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle to the third. So he built the temple and finished it, and he paneled the temple with beams and boards of cedar.” Drop down to verse 19: “And he prepared the inner sanctuary inside the temple, to set the ark of the covenant of the Lord there.” When I show you the lay out, you see the outer part with the chambers around it. You see walls which form the sanctuary and inside the sanctuary is divided into two parts. One part is the inner sanctuary and that is where the Holy of Holies was. This is what is getting described there and that is where the ark of the covenant sat. Verse 20: “The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid it with pure gold, and overlaid the altar of cedar.” So that room looked like pure gold. Verse 21: “So Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold. He stretched gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary; and he overlaid it with gold. The whole temple he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the temple; also he overlaid with gold the entire altar that was by the inner sanctuary. Inside the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high. One wing of the cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of the cherub five cubits; ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. And the other cherub was ten cubits; both cherubim were of the same size and shape. The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was the other cherub.” Verse 27: “Then he set the cherubim inside the inner room; and they stretched out the wings of the cherubim so that the wing of the one touched one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall. And their wings touched each other in the middle of the room. Also he overlaid the cherubim with gold.” Can you imagine walking into a room like that? How awesome it must have been! I Kings 6, verse 29: “Then he carved all the walls of the temple all around, both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. And the floor of the temple he overlaid with gold, both the inner and outer sanctuaries.” Can you imagine that? You are even walking on gold! “For the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood; the lintel and doorposts were one-fifth of the wall.” He goes on to describe the inner court. This was a beautiful building with a tremendous amount of labor and expense brought to bear in its completion. This is what Solomon did because this is what God told his father, David. He said this is what it would be like. These were God’s plans. Solomon did not design this. These were God’s plans. Turn to II Chronicles and we will start reading once again about the temple in chapter 3. Starting in verse l, Solomon Builds the Temple. “Now Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.” We have talked about that before. It is where the plague was stopped. David bought that threshing floor from Ornan and that is where the temple was built. You can go look that episode up. Verse 2: “And he began to build on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign. This is the foundation which Solomon laid for building the house of God...” It once again goes through the dimensions and the gold that was used. As you drop down, it talks about the weight of the gold. We do not have time to read all of these things right now. When you get down to chapter 4, he talks about the furnishings. II Chronicles 4, verse 1: “Moreover he made a bronze altar: twenty cubits was its length, twenty cubits its width, and ten cubits its height.” That is where they made the sacrificial offerings. Verse 2: “Then he made the Sea of cast bronze, ten cubits from one brim to the other; it was completely round. Its height was five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference.” Some archeologists and researchers feel the copper that was used to make all of these bronze implements came from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan! As a matter of fact, it came from the Keweenaw Peninsula! Isn’t that interesting? They can tell by the spectroscopic analysis of the copper in some of the implements and vessels they have found that it actually came from upper Michigan. So there is a chance that part of the temple was built with copper mined right here, interestingly enough, approximately 3,000 years ago! Then it goes on and it describes more of the vessels as you continue on down through II Chronicles chapter 4. Go to I Kings chapter 6. This project was started 480 years after Israel left Egypt. I Kings chapter 6 and verse l: “And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord.” So it was 480 years before the temple was actually started. If you were to see it drawn out, I think this is as accurate as any drawings we have to show today. I know I have shown these to you before. You see the sea, the bronze altar and the building here that was the temple. In the inner drawings of how it was laid out this is the temple with the outer courtyard, the sanctuary being that building. The Holy of Holies, the little section at the left, the Holy Place in front of it where they had a table and lamps. You see out in front the bronze sea and the altar where they would do the sacrifices. In this drawing you see the chambers and the pillars around it. So you have the sanctuary which is this main building, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. In the Holy of Holies is the ark of the covenant, the cherubim and the mercy seat. This is what was built by Solomon all by God’s instruction. These were plans provided by God. Why did God want such an elaborate structure that cost so much in terms of financial resources and labor and this tremendous effort by so many tens of thousands of people? What was so important about this building? And then for the Almighty, all-powerful God to ask this to get done and then allow it to get destroyed. Does it make any sense? I want to go back to II Chronicles chapter 5 and read what went on in this temple that made it so special. II Chronicles chapter 5, verse 1: “So all the work that Solomon had done for the house of the Lord was finished; and Solomon brought in all the things which his father David had dedicated: the silver and the gold and all the furnishings. And he put them in the treasuries of the house of God. Now Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel, in Jerusalem, that they might bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord up from the City of David, which is Zion. Therefore all the men of Israel assembled together with the king at the feast, which was in the seventh month.” The upcoming feast for us today is the same feast we are talking about. Continuing in verse 4: “So all the elders of Israel came, and the Levites took up the ark. Then they brought up the ark, the tabernacle of meeting, and all the holy furnishings that were in the tabernacle. The priests and the Levites brought them up.” By the way, this might have been the Feast of Trumpets. It does not really indicate the fall feasts starting with Trumpets but this could have been on the Feast of Trumpets. “Also King Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him before the ark, were sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered for multitude.” Verse 7: “Then the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim. For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles.” Those two gold angels, the cherubim, had their wings stretched out. On one side they were touching the walls and on the other side each of them had a wing over the ark of the covenant in the Most Holy Place, the Holy of Holies. Verse 9: “And the poles extended so that the ends of the poles of the ark could be seen from the Holy Place, in front of the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day. There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they had come out of Egypt. And it came to pass when the priests came out of the Most Holy Place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, without keeping to their divisions), and the Levites who were the singers, all those of Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, stood at the east end of the altar, clothed in white linen, having cymbals, stringed instruments and harps, and with them one hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets...” There was a lot of fanfare. Continuing in II Chronicles 5, verse 13: “...indeed it came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying: ‘For He is good, for His mercy endures forever,’ that the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.” Now you see the significance of that building. As beautiful as it was, it was still just a beautiful building until the glory of the Lord went in. That in the Hebrew is the “Shekinah Glory” when God entered there with the cloud. That was the glory that they had carried with them through the desert, through the wilderness, that had only a portable home until Solomon built a permanent dwelling place in Jerusalem at the site of Ornan the Jebusite, the threshing floor. And that became Solomon’s temple and that is the temple the Jews mourn to this day because of its collapse, because of its abomination of desolation. It had become loathsome (that is abominated) and desolated (destroyed) and left without inhabitant or house. That is what happened to the city and to the temple. I want to digress for a moment and ask what was so special about the Shekinah Glory? What was amazing and so awesome to the people about this? Turn to Exodus chapter 25, starting in verse 8. This is God’s instruction to Moses. “‘And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.’” At this point, it was portable because they were taking it with them. Then we go into the ark here. Verse 10: “‘And they shall make an ark of acacia wood; two and a half cubits shall be its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height. And you shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and shall make on it a molding of gold all around. You shall cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in its four corners; two rings shall be on one side, and two rings on the other side. And you shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.’” Verse 14: “‘You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, that the ark may be carried by them. The poles shall be in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. And you shall put into the ark the Testimony which I will give you.’” That is the law. “‘You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit and half its width. And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat.’” The mercy seat is above the ark of the covenant. Verse 19: “‘Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it of one piece with the mercy seat. And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat. You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you.’” So on top of this ark is this mercy seat. Christ dwelt above that mercy seat under the out-stretched wings of the cherubim. The seat on top of the ark signifies a coffin. When you look that word up that box portrays a coffin. Ark means “box”. The ark that Noah made was just a box to carry the people in. This ark was a box that was called a coffin. This was the same word used for coffin at that time. Inside it was the law. So you have the mercy seat sitting on top of the ark and Christ dwelling above the mercy seat. Now that is what made that Holy of Holies so holy. God dwelt there. It was not called the seat of judgment, the seat of vengeance, the seat of death and destruction, the seat of terror. You can imagine all of those descriptions and people would be scared of the ark of the covenant and the God who dwelt there. Interestingly enough, God named it the “mercy seat”. That is why we see the reference when the priest were praying “the mercy of God endures forever”. They did not say we built this building because we are scared to death of this God forever because He is harsh. They did not say that. The temple signifies the following things. If you turn with me to II Chronicles, chapter 6 and verse 12, we are going to read here about Solomon’s prayer. Solomon’s prayer tells us a lot. Solomon’s prayer is a little further into II Chronicles 6. Before we do I want to look at what was significant about this Great God moving into this building. Why didn’t He move into one of the temples of pharaoh or one of the Aztec temples? Why here with these people? First of all let us start in verse 1 of II Chronicles chapter 6: “Then Solomon said: ‘The Lord said He would dwell in the dark cloud. But I have built You an exalted house, and a place for You to dwell in forever.’ Then the king turned around and blessed the whole congregation of Israel, while all the congregation of Israel stood.” So this is the assembly we were talking about at the dedication of the temple when the Shekinah glory came in. Solomon is speaking here at that occasion. Verse 3: “Then the king turned around and blessed the whole congregation of Israel, while all the congregation of Israel stood. And he said: ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His hands what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying, “Since the day that I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I have chosen no city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house, that My name might be there, nor did I choose any man to be a ruler over My people Israel; but I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name may be there; and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.”’” So the first thing we see is God talks about a people He chose. He chose Israel. He chose a city called Jerusalem. He chose a lineage after King David. That is God’s prerogative. He chose these people. He chose that place. He chose that building. No one has any right to tell Him otherwise. When He told the people, I have chosen you, do you agree to this? If you go back and read about the covenant, they said yes, all that you say, we will do. So the people accepted it. So when the building was built, the glory of God moved into it because this is the people He covenanted with. He chose, they agreed, they made a covenant and that is where He dwelt. Continuing in verse 7: “‘Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, “Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for My name, you did well in that it was in your heart. Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who will come forth from your own loins, he shall build the temple for My name.” So the Lord has fulfilled His word which he spoke, and I have filled the position of my father David, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised; and I have built the temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. And there I have put the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord which He made with the children of Israel.’” There you have it, why it came to be there - the Shekinah glory. At this point, Solomon offers a prayer. It is called the prayer of dedication. Solomon prayed this way about this temple, starting in verse 12: “Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread out his hands (for Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and he stood on it, knelt down on his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven), and said: ‘Lord God of Israel, there is no God in heaven or on earth like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.’” Verse 15: “‘You have kept what You promised Your servant David my father; You have both spoken with Your mouth and fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day. Therefore, Lord God of Israel, now keep what You promised Your servant David my father, saying, “You shall not fail to have a man sit before Me on the throne of Israel, only if your sons take heed to their way, to walk in My law as you have walked before Me.” Now then, O Lord God of Israel, let Your word come true, which You have spoken to Your servant David. But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth?’” Solomon even questions it here. Why would God dwell with us? Why would the Great God of the universe want to do this? Continuing in verse 18: “‘Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You; how much less this temple which I have built!’” So the finest building on earth, some say the finest building ever built on earth, Solomon says this is not good enough for God. It is what God wanted. So they did what God wanted. Verse 19: “‘Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant is praying before You: that Your eyes may be open toward this temple day and night...’” He is saying God you wanted this, we have done it and now always please look kindly upon this building. Always look kindly upon Your people. Continuing “‘...toward the place where You said You would put Your name, that You may hear the prayer which Your servant prays toward this place.’” Any servant of God praying toward that temple Solomon was saying always please hear the prayers of Your servants working in this temple, praying toward this temple. Verse 21 of II Chronicles 6: “‘And may You hear the supplications of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; hear from Your dwelling place, in heaven; and when You hear, forgive.’” Solomon knew that this is where people could be forgiven. This is where people could learn to keep the covenant, have their mistakes wiped away and could have help of every sort when they needed it. The beauty of this building was what the people could get accomplished there for them! It was their hope and indeed the hope for all mankind. Verse 22: “‘If anyone sins against his neighbor, and is forced to take an oath, and comes and takes an oath before your altar in the temple, then hear from heaven, and act, and judge your servants, bringing retribution on the wicked by bringing his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness.’” In other words, justice will be dispensed here in this building! People will be treated fairly, justly and honestly. Righteousness will be rewarded and wickedness punished. Verse 24: “‘Or if Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and return and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication before You in this temple, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to them and their fathers.’” So even when the whole nation sins and is punished, if they turn back and repent at this temple, God please hear them and forgive them. This is Solomon’s prayer. Verse 26: “‘When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.’” Verse 28: “‘When there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is; whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows his own burden and his own grief, and spreads out his hands to this house: then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts of the sons of men)...’” Anyone on earth who had a grief, a worry, a concern, a sin, a disease, suffering drought, famine or pestilence could turn to that temple and be heard by the Great God! Continuing in verse 31 of II Chronicles 6: “‘...That they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You gave to our fathers. Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but who comes from a far country for the sake of Your great name and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm, when they come and pray in this temple; then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all people of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that he may know that this temple which I have built is called by Your name.’” Anybody could come to this temple and talk to God and have their prayers answered! That is why it is special. The Shekinah glory was there and you could take any concern, any problem, any sin that you wanted to repent of and go there and the Great God would dispense mercy! Verse 34: “‘When Your people go out to battle against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to You toward this city which You have chosen and toward the temple which I have built for Your name, then hear from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin), and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive to a land far or near, yet when they come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, “We have sinned, we have done wrong, and have acted wickedly”; and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been carried captive, and pray toward their land which You gave to their fathers, toward the city which You have chosen, and toward the temple which I have built for Your name: then hear from heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You.’” Verse 40: “‘Now, my God, I pray, let Your eyes be open and let Your ears be attentive to the prayer made in this place. Now therefore, arise, O Lord God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. Let Your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let Your saints rejoice in goodness. O Lord God, do not turn away the face of Your anointed; remember the mercies of Your servant David.’” Now I ask you, when you see the Jews on the news at night kissing the Wailing Wall praying, are they stupid? Are they foolish? No! They know these words. They understand. They understand that they have sinned. Millions and millions of them have died, gone into captivity, suffered horrible fates, persecutions and all they have left are a few stones in the Wailing Wall at Jerusalem. They go and stick their prayers into the cracks and they cry. They beg God to hear them. They pray, “God, bring Your glory back! O, God restore us. O, God save this world.” It is very important to them. So they have four fasts every year crying out to God for mercy and for forgiveness because they know they blew it! That temple was destroyed because of their sins. They know that there is a promise that if they repent and turn back to that temple, they can be forgiven. They have been begging for 3,000 years! That is how important it is to them. God dwelt over the mercy seat beneath the cherubim in the ark inside the Holy of Holies, inside a temple building (a tabernacle), surrounded by an outer court. This was inside Jerusalem inside a country called Israel, God’s chosen people on the earth. They understand that. They feel the weight of that everyday! Anyone who is taking their faith seriously, feels the weight of this everyday. I have had enough contact with some rabbis now that I understand this better than I ever did before; and every year they say, “next year in Jerusalem, next year in Jerusalem, next year in Jerusalem.” The temple is where God dwelt upon the earth and Israel is the people God had covenanted with. He ruled them. The priesthood conducted His affairs from this building, the temple. They were the intercessors for the people of Israel and intercessors for the people from around the world who would make pilgrimages there to the Lord their God. Those priests, those ministers performed the sacrificial system through which the people could go to God. That was their link to God. The high priest and the sacrificial system cleansed them everyday, morning and evening. They wanted to be clean enough to hear the people’s concerns, to deal judiciously and fairly with them and to get God’s forgiveness for them. That went on there day after day after day. I want to read you a dialogue. It is called “A Dialogue of a Rabbi” written by a rabbi I think a couple of hundred years ago but I cannot give you the exact time. I am quoting. This is from page 83 and 84 of “Jewish Literacy” by Rabbi Telushkin. “God’s world is great and holy. The holiest land in all the world is the land of Israel. In the land of Israel the holiest city is Jerusalem. In Jerusalem the holiest place was the temple. In the temple the holiest spot was the Holy of Holies. “There are seventy peoples in the world and the holiest of these is the people of Israel. The holiest of the people of Israel was the tribe of Levi. In the tribe of Levi the holiest are the priests. Among the priests the holiest was the high priest. “There are 354 days in a lunar year. Among these the holidays are holy. Higher than these is the holiness of the Sabbath. Among the Sabbaths the holiest is the Day of Atonement, the Sabbath of Sabbaths. “There are 70 languages in the world and the holiest is Hebrew. Holier than all else is the language of the holy Torah. In the Torah the holiest part is the Ten Commandments. In the Ten Commandments the holiest of all the words is the name of God. “Once during the year at a certain hour these four supreme sanctities of the world were joined with one another. That was on the Day of Atonement when the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies and utter the name of God. Because this hour was beyond measure holy and awesome, it was the time of utmost peril, not only for the high priest but the whole of Israel. For if in this hour there had, God forbid, entered the mind of a high priest a false or sinful thought, the entire world would have been destroyed!” That is how holy that place was. It was awesomely holy and awesomely significant. That place got destroyed because of the sins of the people. That is what I want to talk about today, the abomination of desolation that took place in that most holy of places on the earth. Turn, if you would, to II Kings chapter 25, starting in verse 1: “Now it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around. So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.” The city was surrounded and cut off. Nothing could go in and nothing could go out. Continuing in verse 8: “Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month (which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great men, he burned with fire. And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls of Jerusalem all around.” So this beautiful city and this beautiful temple was completely smashed. All the houses that meant anything were burned down. The house of God was burned down. Jeremiah warned the people beforehand that this was going to happen. He said to repent so this will not have to happen. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 26, verse 1: “In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Stand in the court of the Lord’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the Lord’s house all the words that I command you to speak to them. Do not diminish a word.”’” He told Jeremiah you go stand right in front of My house and you talk to these people. I have something to tell them. You tell them everything I tell you to say. I do not want you to mince any words! Continuing in verse 3: “‘Perhaps everyone will listen and turn from his evil way, that I may relent concerning the calamity which I purpose to bring on them because of the evil of their doings.’ And you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: If you will not listen to Me, to walk in My law which I have set before you, to heed the words of My servants the prophets whom I sent to you, both rising up early and sending them (but you have not heeded), then I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.’ So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord.” Verse 8 of Jeremiah chapter 26: “Now it happened, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, ‘You will surely die! Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, “This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without an inhabitant?”’ And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.” How dare you say this beautiful building we built in which the Shekinah Glory dwells shall be made desolate! Can you imagine that? He goes with the Words of God and they want to kill him! How can you tell us God is going to leave this place and allow it to be desolated and destroyed? Go to chapter 52 of Jeremiah, starting in verse 1: “Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. He also did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. For because of the anger of the Lord this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, till He finally cast them out from His presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. Now it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around.” That would be the first fast: the tenth of the tenth. Continuing in verse 5: “So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. By the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled and went out of the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans were near the city all around. And they went by way of the plain.” Verse 8: “But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him. So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced judgment on him. Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. And he killed all the princes of Judah in Riblah. He also put out the eyes of Zedekiah...” So he could not see; he was blinded. “...and the king of Babylon bound him in bronze fetters, took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.” Verse 12: “Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month (which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.” So continues the story that we read earlier. This was not the only warning they received. Ezekiel warned them as well. Turn to Ezekiel chapter 8. They were not without warning. Ezekiel chapter 8 and verse 1: “It came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there.” This is Ezekiel speaking here. Verse 2: “Then I looked, and there was a likeness, like the appearance of fire - from the appearance of His waist and downward, fire; and from His waist and upward, like the appearance of brightness, like the color of amber. He stretched out the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my hair; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the image of jealousy was, which provokes to jealousy.” He took him to the temple in vision, and there was an image of jealousy there. Continuing in verse 4 of Ezekiel 8: “And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the plain.” There was the Shekinah Glory there too. “Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, lift your eyes now toward the north.’ So I lifted my eyes toward the north, and there, north of the altar gate, was this image of jealousy in the entrance. Furthermore He said to me, ‘Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here, to make Me go far away from My sanctuary?’” I just showed you the drawings of the temple, so picture this. Inside the Holy of Holies is the Shekinah Glory. At the entrance coming into the sanctuary is the image of jealousy! God is saying I want you to see something. Look what is coming in the building and what caused it to come was the sins of the people. So I am preparing to leave! This is what Ezekiel is seeing here. Concluding in verse 6 it says, “‘Now turn again, you will see greater abominations.’” It goes on to more abominations, which we will not read right now. Suffice it to say the temple was a polluted mess! God said I cannot dwell here anymore. I am getting ready to leave. Sometime we will do a study or sermon on that. That is fascinating as well. Go to Ezekiel chapter 10. I do want to read a few scriptures about the glory leaving the temple. Ezekiel chapter 10, verse 1: “And I looked, and there in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubim, there appeared something like a sapphire stone, having the appearance of the likeness of a throne. And He spoke to the man clothed with linen, and said, ‘Go in among the wheels, under the cherub, fill your hands with coals of fire from among the cherubim, and scatter them over the city.’ And he went in as I watched. Now the cherubim were standing on the south side of the temple when the man went in, and the cloud filled the inner court.” So the glory was still there but it had moved to the inner court from the Holy of Holies. Verse 4: “Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub and paused over the threshold of the temple; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord’s glory.” So the Shekinah Glory got up from above the mercy seat, moved to the door and to the outer court. Drop down to verse 17: “When the cherubim stood still, the wheels stood still...” This is the portable throne of God. “...and when one was lifted up, the other lifted itself up, for the spirit of the living creature was in them. Then the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim. And the cherubim lifted their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight. When they went out, the wheels were beside them; and they stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.” So now you see the glory of God has left this beautiful ark and these golden angels and the real angels are moving Him out! Solomon knew that the God of the heaven of heavens cannot be contained in a building unless He wants to. When He does not want to, there is nobody that is going to stop Him from leaving either. So He has moved from the Holy of Holies, then to the outer court and now He is getting ready to leave the outer court. Drop down to verse 22 of Ezekiel 11: “Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was high above them. And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain, which is on the east side of the city.” So now in a third phase or third movement, He has left the temple area all together and He has left the city and He has gone up on a mountain on the east side of the city which happens to be the Mount of Olives. So now God is not in Jerusalem, but what was going into the building as He was leaving? The image of jealousy was moving in there. There are a lot of other warnings I could give but we do not have time. We have two here from Jeremiah and Ezekiel about what was going to happen if the people did not repent. Jeremiah specifically says it is going to be smashed, desolated. Go back to Ezra because what happened after this got smashed is God rebuilt it! Ezra chapter 6. He rebuilt the temple and He reinstituted the sacrificial system. Ezra chapter 6, starting in verse 1: “Then King Darius issued a decree, and a search was made in the archives, where the treasures were stored in Babylon.” So they went and looked at the archives, the history books, so to speak of their time. Of course, it recorded the destruction of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple and how their armies were victorious and how they tore those buildings down. Verse 2: “And at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of Media, a scroll was found, and in it a record was written thus: ‘In the first year of King Cyrus, King Cyrus issued a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem: “Let the house be rebuilt...”’” So they were looking at the historical records and they saw that they had destroyed this place but King Cyrus came along and said the people could go and rebuild it now. Continuing in verse 3: “‘Let the house be rebuilt, the place where they offered sacrifices; and let the foundations of it be firmly laid, its height sixty cubits and its width sixty cubits, with three rows of heavy stones and one row of new timber. Let the expenses be paid from the king’s treasury. Also let the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple which is in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and taken back to the temple which is in Jerusalem, each to its place; and deposit them in the house of God’” So he not only said to rebuild this, Cyrus had decreed, but he said let them have all of their implements of worship back. Take them back to this temple they are going to build. Darius was having this read to him. He said my predecessor gave permission for this to get done. There are a lot of other historical things surrounding this that we will not read. Verse 6 of Ezra 6: “Now therefore, Tattenai, governor of the region beyond the River, and Shethar-Boznai, and your companions the Persians who are beyond the River, keep yourselves far from there. Let the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God on its site.” So permission was granted to continue to build the house of God. Continuing in verse 8: “Moreover I issue a decree as to what you shall do for the elders of these Jews, for the building of this house of God: Let the cost be paid at the king’s expense from taxes on the region beyond the River; this is to be given immediately to these men, so that they are not hindered. And whatever they need - young bulls, rams, and lambs for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the request of the priests who are in Jerusalem - let it be given them day by day without fail, that they may offer sacrifices of sweet aroma to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king and his sons.” Verse 11: “Also I issue a decree that whoever alters this edict, let a timber be pulled from his house and erected, and let him be hanged on it...” This guy takes it seriously. You are not going to stop these people from building their temple and offering sacrifices to God. So the sacrificial system is also going to get restored. The people are not only allowed to rebuild the building, but they are going to start the sacrificial system. The priesthood will once again become operational. Go to Haggai, please, chapter 1. The same decree is spoken of here. Haggai chapter 1, verse 1: “In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, ‘Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, saying: “This people says, ‘The time has not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.’”’ Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, ‘Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?’” God is saying, hey, why should you be dwelling in nice homes and My temple still lie here in ruins? Verse 5: “Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Consider your ways! You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes.’” Verse 7: “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Consider your ways! Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,’ says the Lord. ‘You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house.’” Verse 10 of Haggai 1: “‘Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds it fruit. For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.’” I cannot bless you with the attitudes you have; and until you get your priorities straight, you are not going to be blessed. So He says, “Consider your ways.” Continuing in verse 12: “The Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him; and the people feared the presence of the Lord. Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, spoke the Lord’s message to the people, saying, ‘I am with you, says the Lord.’ So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God...” So the people were moved and began to work. Let us drop down to chapter 2 of Haggai, verse 1: “In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying: ‘Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying: “Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing?”’” The people who were old enough to have been alive 70 years before that when Solomon’s temple was destroyed saw that what was getting rebuilt was nothing in comparison. All that gold, all those beautiful timbers and every vessel so perfectly made could not be duplicated. Yet they were told to rebuild this building and get the sacrificial system and priesthood operational again. But the Shekinah Glory did not come back. So even though it was not beautiful like the first one, it was rebuilt. This was the temple to which Christ came to with His first coming. Now it has a sad history. The temple itself all the way through has a sad history. It was desecrated by abomination twice and then in 70 A.D. was destroyed again. In other words, it was desecrated when it was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. and it was desecrated by a man by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes in 167 B.C. Antiochus did not destroy the temple but he tried to destroy the faith of the Jews there. He did desecrate the temple with pig’s blood and also put up pagan idols on the site. The name Epiphanes means “God manifest”. This guy thought a lot of himself. He did the following things in 167 B.C.: he outlawed circumcision, he outlawed the Sabbath, he outlawed owning a Bible, he desecrated the altar with pig’s blood and he put up a statue to the Greek god of Jupiter in the Holy of Holies! The guy was pretty audacious. Then he had the gall to also stop the daily sacrifices so there were no more sacrifices taking place. Daniel refers to this incident in Daniel chapter 11, which we will turn to in Daniel 11:31. Daniel chapter 11, verse 31: “‘And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation.’” So this was speaking of the former fulfillment of Antiochus Epiphanes polluting God’s temple. Turn to Matthew 24. We are finally going to get to some New Testament scriptures because Christ refers to this incident. Matthew chapter 24, verse 15. This is a verse we are all familiar with. “‘Therefore when you see the “abomination of desolation” spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place...’” So when you see what Daniel talked about standing there, he wants you to pay attention. Understand this because this is a significant event. He knew it had already happened with Antiochus Epiphanes and he goes on from there. Continuing in verse 16 and on through and he talks about the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem which was answering the questions of the apostles in verses 1 and 2. What is going to happen with this beautiful building and Your return? That brings us up to the second abomination and total destruction of the place which took place in 70 A.D. Interestingly enough, the temple was destroyed on the same day (the ninth of Ab) as the first time. If you were to continue reading in Matthew 24, this is referred to in verses 15 to 22. Let us start reading in verse 16 of Matthew 24: “‘...then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those with nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.’” All that happened in 70 A.D. Remember we talked about some of the men of war who ran through the wall in the night and escaped. It does not say anything about the women who were pregnant and the little kids. They could not get them out of there. A few of them did manage to survive because apparently it did get cut short a little bit. But, otherwise, there was total destruction of the temple, the buildings, Jerusalem all the houses were destroyed. There was no time to go into your house and get the things you wanted. You just had to get out. You just had to flee. This is all well documented in Jewish history. The Christians apparently had left before this. They had heard a voice and the Christians had left and had gone to Pella, but that is another story. Right now we are talking about the destruction of this temple. Since this time there have been no sacrifices and the Jews mourn this time once again on the ninth of Ab because some historical records say as many as one million Jews perished in this battle! For back then that is a lot of people. But we, supposedly knowledgeable Christians, understand, well, since then we do not need a sacrificial system. Right? That is why God did not care to restore it after this, because we have Jesus Christ, the high priest. That is not the whole story by a long shot. Now we are going to make a huge transition going from the historical record in the Old Testament and looking at the New Testament prophecies coupled with some Old Testament prophecies that will take us into the spiritual realm. We are going to go from physical destruction to spiritual, and we are going to go from 586 B.C., 167 B.C. and 70 A.D. up to the present time. That is what we are going to try to accomplish here yet in this sermon. Let us continue reading in Matthew 24 from where we left off. We left off in verse 22 which we will reread. “‘And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened. Then if anyone says to you, “Look, here is the Christ!” or “There!” do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.’” Verse 26: “‘Therefore if they say to you, “Look, He is in the desert!” do not go out; or “Look, He is in the inner rooms!” do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.’” Verse 29: “‘Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.’” That we understand without a doubt is the end time and the return of Jesus Christ. So we have gone from 70 A.D. and the previous destructions all the way up to the end of “time”, the time we now live in. So I do not think there is a shadow of a doubt this is speaking prophetically because Christ gave this to the apostles to write 2,000 years ago. Now let us take history and the physical abominations, the physical destructions of the past and apply them to today. Let us look at the physical things that happened, the historical record, and apply it to today. Let us see if we can understand something. Christ said in verse 15 that when you see this thing standing in the holy place to understand what is going on. Do not be tricked! Do not be fooled! False prophets may come but we do not want to be fooled. So there is something important to learn here. The common thoughts regarding the end time are this, these are just the main ones: there are signs of Christ second coming that would be wars and rumors of wars. This is spoken of in Matthew 24:6-7. There would be nations rising against nation, famines, pestilences and earthquakes. Christ DID NOT say that those would be the signs of His second coming! Read it for yourself in Matthew 24:6-7. “‘And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all of these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.’” Remember He is answering the apostles’ questions back in verses 1, 2 and 3 where they said, “‘Tell us when these things will be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’” He said do not be troubled about wars and rumors of wars. Continuing in verse 7: “‘For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.’” He said do not be troubled about that. That is not the sign I want you to look for. What is the sign everybody seems to be looking for? They are looking for wars and rumors of wars, pestilences, famines and earthquakes! There are some additional signs that have been added into these. I can go through a lot of them. I just want to mention a few. One is a one world government. You might hear about black helicopters. You might hear one thing after another. This one world government, we have to watch for that, as well as nuclear war, stars hitting the earth or comets hitting the earth. These are signs. A beast power that is going to conquer the United States. Everybody on the earth is going to put a mark on their forehead or hand or have a microchip in them. There is a building in Brussels that is called “The Beast”. Watch out! From that building they will rule the earth. You are not going to find any of that in the scriptures! These are just additional signs that people have tacked on to all of this. They do have little hints here and there where they try to prove their point from the scriptures. You are not going to find the word “nuclear” or “Brussels” or any of that in the scriptures. I am not being facetious, I am just mentioning that. These are the things that people say. There are also some things that they infer from the scriptures that we just read in Matthew. Right now on that temple mount there is a Dome of the Rock. That has to get destroyed, obviously. That has to get destroyed because another temple has to be built. We know that because there has to be another sacrificial system installed again and the only ones who can run it is the Levitical priesthood. So obviously we all know that the Dome of the Rock has to be destroyed, an altar built there inside of a temple and the Levites have to start offering sacrifices. Because that is how we are going to get an abomination of desolation again! Christ said right there in verse 15 that when you see that happen, now you better start getting worried. So people infer all of those things. The last one in the big pile that they have built on this edifice is that the “abomination of desolation” will take place in there. When you see that, we are in big trouble! Everybody is scared and everybody is watching the news, watching Israel, watching the conditions around Jerusalem, watching what different religions do. What is the Pope going to do? What are these evangelicals going to do? What are these Arabs going to do? Everybody is scared and wondering what is going to happen. Christ said, “Let him who understands...” This proves something doesn’t it? It is hard to discern! I am telling you millions and millions of people think they understand this. If that were the case, it would not be hard to discern! There is a book series with I do not know how many tens of millions of copies floating around. They think they have it all figured out! Almost every Christian group thinks they have it figured out. Most of them are blaming the Catholic Church for what is going to come. I tell you every faith on this earth is deceived! We should not point our finger at any one particular faith and think they are worse than anybody else. But that is what people have done to this end-time scenario. They have worked it all out and they have people watching in fear and terrified of all of these signs. What did Christ say in Matthew 24? Drop down to verse 24. We just read it. “‘For false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, as to deceive, if possible, even the elect.’” What false signs? What false prophecies? When you go and look these up in the Greek, false prophets means “false testifiers”. Great signs means “exceeding sore, afraid, markers to indicate” and wonders means “omens”. So in other words, false testifiers or teachers are going to cause fear and panic among people pointing to the wrong markers and the wrong omens for Christ’s return. We just have to back up a little bit to verse 6 and 7. Wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, pestilences, those are the false markers! We understood that as a Church a long time ago. Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong said it over and over again. None of those are the sign of Christ’s return. There is only one sign of Christ’s return and that is back there in verse 14 of Matthew 24. “‘And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.’” That is the only sign given! There are other companion scriptures that go along with that sign but they have nothing to do with famines, earthquakes, pestilence and all of that! We do not have time to go into all of that today, but we have in the past and we will some more in the future. But that is the one sign and Mr. Armstrong understood that a long time ago. Now we have forgotten! Let us go to God’s word to help us understand what did He mean when you see the “abomination of desolation” standing in the holy place. What does this mean? Let us turn to a few scriptures we have read I do not know how many times in the last few years but we are going to read them again. Go to I Corinthians chapter 3, verse 9: “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Verse 12: “Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become manifest; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God...” We are the temple! “...and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” Did they not say Solomon’s temple was holy? There was the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. Now we are getting somewhere! Go to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 19: “Now, therefore, 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...” Verse 21 spells it all out. Verse 21: “...in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.” The holy building of PEOPLE is the temple of the Lord! You read in Hebrews 3 about the household of God. We do not have time to read that now. The people of the Church are the household of God. Let us conclude this little section with I Peter chapter 2. I Peter chapter 2 sums it up nicely. I Peter chapter 2, verse 1: “Therefore, laying aside all malice, all guile, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 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.” Just like that old sacrificial system only we are talking a spiritual building with spiritual people, His Church, forming it. I Peter 2, verse 6: “Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.’ Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,’ and ‘A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.’ They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. But you are a chosen generation...” (speaking to us here, the Church) “...a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” WE ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD who have obtained mercy. We have a covenant with God. God chose us. We agreed to it just like ancient Israel. God moves in, the glory moves into us. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, it says in Galatians. The Shekinah Glory dwells in us. The Holy Spirit is in us, the temple of God! Let us remember the purpose of Solomon’s temple. Do you remember Solomon’s prayer? He prayed about a place where every human being could turn for help. It was that temple. They could turn for intercession with God. They could have sins forgiven. They could be healed of diseases. They could go for help in every way whether it be how to live rightly to please God to justice rendered, fair, equitable justice. That is what the temple was there for. And that is what Solomon prayed. Do you remember? Now in the New Testament we are talking of a mysterious spiritual temple and a mysterious, in some ways, spiritual priesthood because you cannot see it. There is no building to point to and no stones. Except there are living stones and that is the people. We are not all assembled in one place all of the time because it is a spiritual building and Christ is the chief cornerstone. Let us go to the key book. Mr. Armstrong called it possibly the most misunderstood Book in the Bible and that is the Book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 8, verse 1: “Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.” Solomon’s temple was built by men. God’s temple is built by God. Verse 3: “For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; WHO SERVE THE COPY AND SHADOW OF THE HEAVENLY THINGS, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, ‘See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.’” Moses was handed a blueprint so to speak when he met God on the mountain. He said this is what I want you to build. He built a portable one. Solomon built the one that should have been permanent. Verse 6: “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.” These promises were always going to come. It did not mean that the other temple had to get destroyed. These better promises would have come but the other temple did get destroyed. There is a reason why all that was allowed to happen. The Old Testament scriptures were there for those upon whom the ends of the world have come. The physical is there so we can understand the spiritual because we cannot see spiritual things. So physical Israel went through all of that in one sense to help us see what we need to do in this permanent, ever-growing, ever-lasting government of God. Let us drop down now, please, to Hebrews chapter 9, starting in verse 1: “Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary; and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, which had the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant...” Remember this was inside the ark. “...And above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.” We do not have pictures of it. It is not there anymore. It was destroyed a long time ago. But that was a shadow of something God was going to do spiritually with people, with human beings! Continuing in verse 6 of Hebrews chapter 9: “Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the service. But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance...” In that Holiest of Holies only once a year the high priest could go in. He had better be clean! Remember what I read to you from the rabbi how they feel about the temple and the Holy of Holies? The high priest goes in there once a year and he had better be clean and purified. He is there with a little bit of blood on behalf of the people once a year. Verse 8: “...the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.” What they were doing was not showing what really is going to happen some day. It was portraying it but it was not the real McCoy but it was a great teaching tool. God did answer their prayers from there but that was never going to be from where God would forever dwell. He was always planning to have a spiritual temple. The building still did not have to get destroyed. It could have been there to this day, but it would never have replaced the spiritual temple is what I am trying to say. Verse 9: “It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience - concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.” So it was only symbolic, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if we still had that symbol there? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could go there and look and see Aaron’s rod and the ark of the covenant, see the temple and all of the gold? We could then picture how beautiful we must become, but we can only imagine. The sad part is we are so poor at imagining this that how many of us in this room (or anyone else who might hear this tape who thinks they are involved with the truth) could talk about the temple the way that rabbi did? And we are the real McCoy? The Church of God is the real spiritual temple! Do you know how we should feel with warnings of defilement, about abomination, about how beautiful we must make this temple where God dwells? We should be a thousand times what that rabbi was but we are not! They still go to a wall and put little prayer notes in it and cry everyday! Yet, look around at the brethren who have given things up, who have gone down the tubes, who have polluted themselves with false doctrines once again, and ask yourself just how many tears have been shed? How many say, well, maybe next year it will be fixed? What can I do to help? That is what I am trying to convey, brethren. We need to feel way more than that rabbi felt about the spiritual temple of God, which is each other. There is a lot of evidence that we do not yet. We should cry about that. This is what we need to learn. Continuing in Hebrews chapter 9, verse 11: “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” If they had to kill a heifer and take the blood into the Holy of Holies and make holy water out of it to sprinkle on the people and that was enough to get God to hear anybody in the world who wanted to pray to that physical building or near that physical building come to God, how much more is the real High Priest who shed His real blood for the real temple and for all mankind, going to take care of our conscience? Because you see our conscience, our mind, our heart is where He is dwelling! They used to go through all those ceremonial purifications and sacrifices to keep that physical building clean. How much more is Christ doing that with His real dwelling place, His eternal dwelling place - the spiritual temple of God? He is a Minister, as it said, of that temple. I looked up those words “cleansing your conscience”. In the King James it says “purge your conscience”. When you look up “conscience” in the Strong’s Concordance, it comes from number 4893 it is “suneidesis” which is “co-perception or moral consciousness”. That is the same derivative word as 4894 “suneido” which means “to see completely, to understand and be aware”. Those words are compounds of two other words 4862 and 1492. Number 4862 is “sun” the prefix of suneidesis or suneido, which means “union, with or together, close association”. “Eido” that was stuck with it there to make suneido means “to know”. So what we are talking about here is a conscience that knows God. He has cleaned our conscience which used to have a close association with the god of this world. He has now made a union and very close association with a human being! In each case where that is done that human being is a living stone in the temple of God at this time, the firstfruits! They are a living stone, part of that royal priesthood. He dwells with us in our mind making a union with our mind! What a beautiful and wonderful concept. Only God could come up with such a thing! To summarize, Christ’s blood sprinkled on the tabernacle as it said here and the vessels of the ministry cleanse us from our association with the god of this world. Now we have a close association with the true God in His service as a royal priesthood in His temple. Now go back and read how clean they kept that temple and how hard those priests worked when they were doing it correctly. Then put ourselves in that situation. As part of the royal priesthood and part of that temple, what are we doing to help God keep it clean? What are we doing so that He will allow us to work with Him on this building He is building? Are we going to be able to help the world so that anyone can come to this temple and ask for help, healing, cleansing, advice, counseling on how to get close to God? You see how awesome it is what we are involved with here? Now by contrast, you can take that word, that suffix “eido” number 1492 that means “to know” and you can compound it with “oleion” and make “eidoleion” which means “a profane image” that is 1493. Or you can go to 1494 and put “eido” to “lothuton” (eidolothuton) which means “image sacrificing, idolatrous offering”. Or you can go to 1495 and put “eido” with “olatreia” (eidolatreia) which means “image worship”. Or you can go to 1497 and put “eido” with “olon” ( eidolon) which means “heathen god or image”. We can know the heathen image (remember the image of jealousy) or we can know and have association with the true God. It is the same prefix just a different suffix. We should know better. That is how we can become defiled. Just change the suffix. Christ only had to die once, as we read in Hebrews. Let us continue on and read that in Hebrews chapter 9, verse 23: “Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices...” So the physical could be done and cleansed with physical sacrifices. But we who are spiritual can only be cleansed by a higher sacrifice, Jesus Christ. Verse 24: “For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us...” He is up at that throne going back and forth as our High Priest on our behalf. Verse 25: “...Not that He should offer Himself often as the High Priest...” He does not need to do it often. He just does it constantly for us but He does not have to offer a sacrifice again. He did that once. “...enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another...” The high priest physically had to do that every year. Christ only had to do that once as far as dying and shedding His blood. Verse 26: “He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.” He is cleansing His temple now and we are part of that temple! Let us continue that thought a little bit in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 1: “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.” The physical system could not make people perfect permanently. No way. Verse 2: “For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purged, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: ‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me.’” What do we think that body is if not the Church? The Church, the body of Christ, is prepared for Christ to dwell in just as the physical temple and the people of Israel were prepared for the Shekinah Glory back then. This body has been prepared. This body can be called the Church, the bride of Christ or the temple. We know from Malachi 3:1 that Christ will suddenly come to this temple. We are involved with something that is so awesome anything else in our life pales into insignificance. It is nothing compared to what we are involved with here. We cannot let the cares of this world choke this off and it can happen so easily because we are physical. We have to fight our physicalness all of the time and realize there is a spiritual component to our lives that is awesomely wonderful and it is part of the hope of the world. It is part of the government that will reign in this universe forever! We sometimes put Esau down for trading a scepter for a bowl of soup. Some people have traded a lot more than that for a lot less than that. God will not let it happen to everyone. Let us not make that mistake in our own lives. We have seen now how the physical was there to help us understand the spiritual and that we are a sanctuary and a tabernacle not built with hands. We are a temple where Christ’s blood has been sprinkled, just as they did in the physical temple, to cleanse us of our conscience. It will cleanse us of our dead works and clean us up so we can be used by Him as a royal priesthood and a temple where every human being on earth someday will get comfort, solace, love, concern, help and healing. We have to think about this constantly, brethren, in all of our daily affairs. So now I ask the question, what is the abomination of desolation? Where does it take place? Is it in Jerusalem on a physical rocky mountain in a physical temple once they destroy a physical building called the Dome of the Rock and offer some more pig’s blood and put up a statue there? No! It is in the spiritual temple of God! No amount of pig’s blood can defile you, me or anybody else in the Church. No statue put up anywhere on earth can defile us. No religious figure setting up a throne anywhere can defile us because it is all in our head. It is in our mind. The temple of God is in our mind. This is where God dwells. We waste our time if we watch the news for wars, earthquakes, famines, pestilences, armies and what have you. This is a spiritual abomination! This is a spiritual desolation! This is a spiritual destruction. Far along that road we have come! This all takes place in the temple of God. Let us quickly review a few scriptures, some of which we already read. Turn to Matthew 24, verse 15. You get it twice today. We are going to read it again. “‘Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place’ (whoever reads, let him understand)...” What do we understand now? Where is the Holy Place? It is in the temple not made with hands. It is the temple of living stones. What does abomination and desolation mean? The evidence of destruction is all over the place, brethren. What happened to God’s beautiful Church that Mr. Herbert Armstrong was used to build up? He assembled temple material like David and Solomon gathering all of that material to build a beautiful building. Mr. Armstrong gathered all of these living stones to build a beautiful temple to God. What is the condition of it now? It is destroyed. It is abominated and desolated. There are very few inhabitants left. The individual houses that we have talked about have been ruined. The women have been ravished. We are the women. The individuals in the Church, we are the ten virgins. We just have to understand and stop looking at physical things. Abomination is what makes the Church loathsome: pig’s blood versus Christ’s blood, false doctrines and false teachings versus the beautiful thoughts of God, a temple that intercedes for mankind and loves them or a temple that calls for their destruction. Can you start to see why God would find His temple loathsome? The temple of God cannot condemn people. It is here to help the people. Desolation means “destitute of inhabitants”. There are very few inhabitants and that is where we are today. There are very few inhabitants left. Let us go to II Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 1: “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 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...” No mention of earthquakes, wars, rumors of wars, famines and pestilences. There is mention of a falling away of the truth. There is mention of a man of sin that must be revealed, the man of perdition. Verse 4: This man “who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” Where is that temple? We saw it in I Corinthians, Ephesians and I Peter. We are that temple and when Satan gets the temple doing his bidding, it is abominated! When people go down spiritually, it is desolated! That is the abomination of desolation in the Holy Place. We are the Holy Place. That abomination of desolation has been going on for quite sometime and it does not seem to matter where you run. It follows you there ! Satan wants his entire enemy, God’s Church and Jesus Christ, destroyed. He wants the body of Christ totally wiped out so the world has no hope. As a matter of fact, it is even worse than that. He wants to take it over and get it doing his bidding so that the next billion years people will continue to be ruled by tyrants who are under his control. What an awful, thought! God cannot give anybody who does not have love, mercy and compassion a rod of iron. You would be replacing one dictator for another. It is the mercy seat, remember. It is where love and kindness are dispensed. Yes, justice as well but with love and compassion for those who are deceived and only the truly wicked punished. Anyone who blasphemes God’s name (Remember the sermon we have had recently called “Clearing God’s Name”?) by preaching vanity and who is scattering and destroying the temple and pounding on God’s people and pounding on minister to minister and Church group to Church group is preaching the wrong thing! Anyone preaching doctrines of death and destruction as if the world deserves it, when they are deceived, and that the abomination of desolation is a physical thing in a physical place on a physical people taking a physical nation held captive is preaching the wrong thing! It is spiritual! We just proved it. The abomination of desolation is in God’s temple and in His holy city. We have proved that in past sermons as well. Whenever that is done, we are hiding the love of God from the world. The world cannot see where God is working. Anyone doing this is inadvertently aiding Satan’s cause. What pollutes people? Dead bodies pollute people. Let us go to Numbers chapter 19, starting in verse 1. “The Laws of Purification” my subheading says here. Numbers 19, verse 1: “Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ‘This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying: “Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer...”’” That is that red heifer we just read about in Hebrews. “‘...without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which a yoke has never come.’” Verse 3: “‘You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take it outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him; and Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood seven times directly in front of the tabernacle of meeting. Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight: its hide, its flesh, its blood, and its offal shall be burned. And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer.’” You still have people on this earth looking for red heifers, believe it or not. We just read in Hebrews that does not matter one bit. Christ replaced that. We are sprinkled with His blood. Let us continue the story here. Verse 7: “‘Then the priest shall wash his clothes, he shall bathe in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp; the priest shall be unclean until evening. And the one who burns it shall wash his clothes in water, bathe in water, and shall be unclean until evening.’” Verse 9: “‘Then a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and store them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for the water of purification; it is for purifying from sin. And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until evening. It shall be a statute forever to the children of Israel and to the stranger who sojourns among them. He who touches the dead body of anyone shall be unclean seven days.’” Verse 12: “‘He shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean. Whoever touches the body of anyone who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall be unclean, because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him; his uncleanness is still on him.’” Verse 14 of Number 19: “‘This is the law when a man dies in a tent: All who come into the tent and all who are in the tent shall be unclean seven days; and every open vessel, which has no cover fastened on it, is unclean. Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain by a sword or who has died, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.’” Verse 17: “‘And for an unclean person they shall take some of the ashes of the heifer bunt for purification from sin, and running water shall be put on them in a vessel. A clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, the slain, the dead, or a grave. The clean person shall sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, wash his clothes, and bathe in water; and at evening he shall be clean. But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord.’” I am telling you when we are abominated and desolated, we become part of the dead part of the body of Christ. We are unclean. We better beg God for mercy while something can be done about it. A whole lot of us have become very unclean. We are finally learning what it means to be part of a royal priesthood, part of a temple, and part of a tabernacle and a sanctuary sprinkled by Christ’s blood. We are not sprinkled with the blood of a red heifer mixed with holy water. We are sprinkled with His blood and His Holy Spirit, the blood and the water. That cleanses us. When we blaspheme His name and go back to preaching that God is unmerciful, unloving, cruel and wants ninety percent of the world killed so He can prove a point, the temple has been abominated. When we do not show the love of God so that the world can find us to ask for solace, to ask for comfort, to ask for help, to ask for direction, to ask how to get to know the Great God the temple has been abominated. When we murk up God’s name and muck it up that way, we are in deep trouble for the temple has been abominated. As it gets abominated, people perish; and that makes it desolated. Look at the work Mr. Herbert Armstrong had done in his life and you tell me if it is not abominated and desolated. We still have people in the true Church looking for red heifers, the Dome of the Rock to go down, sandstone altars to be built and pig’s blood to get offered on it. Have we been deceived or have we been deceived? Let us go to II Peter chapter 2, verse 1: “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.” Drop down to verse 18 of II Peter 2: “For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through licentiousness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty...” Think “place of safety”. “...they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.” This is scary stuff. We have to represent God’s love and mercy. Remember the mercy seat. II Timothy chapter 3, starting in verse 1: “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come...” This is talking about the Church. “... for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” That term there in the King James “hardhearted” means “without natural affection”. It means exactly hardhearted toward their kindred and toward the people of the earth. In the last days people in the Church, in the temple of God, would become HARDHEARTED, vicious, cruel and blasphemous! How? They are saying God is vicious and cruel, God is going to kill you all! People are deceived. God IS NOT going to do that to a deceived world. The temple is here to help them, not condemn them. Go back and read Luke 9, verses 51 through 56. When the apostles wanted to call down fire on a town that had insulted Christ, Christ said don’t do that! You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. You are acting for the other side right now because those people did not know any better. When Jonah was jumping up and down waiting for Nineveh to get destroyed and they repented and listened to God, he was acting like the Church does today. So many people are jumping up and down and so excited to get this “tribulation” on. It is a cruel hoax for the temple of God to turn like that on the world! We are part of the world’s hope. That is how you can blaspheme God’s name. It is sad that the Church has become so brutal and despisers of good that when someone wants to preach of a loving and merciful God, they get cruelly treated. It is sad. It goes on to say if you drop down to verse 6 of II Timothy 3: “For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts...” Think the ten virgins, the bride of Christ getting led off. “...always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Verse 8: “Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.” We do not want to find any of us who are part of the temple whose folly is made manifest to the world. Once they see what the real God is like, it will be wonderful to be part of the temple of God portraying God the right way and be told, “Well done good and faithful servant.” I want to look at two prayers before I close. They are two very famous prayers recorded in the Bible to help us keep all this in perspective. Turn to Daniel chapter 9, starting in verse 13. This is Daniel’s prayer after the desolation of the temple when the abomination of desolation took place when he wanted to beg God for mercy on behalf of the people as a temple priest. Even though the temple did not exist, he knew he was a priest. He wanted to pray for the people, and this is what he prayed. Verse 13 of Daniel chapter 9: “‘As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth.’” This really applies to today. Verse 14: “‘Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day - we have sinned, we have done wickedly! O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all who are around us.’” Galatians 4 says we are spiritual Jerusalem. Verse 17: “‘Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which IS DESOLATE. O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies.’” We have no righteousness, brethren. Only because Christ cleaned us up can we go with boldness to the throne of God and beg for mercy. This is what we should be doing. Verse 19: “‘O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.’” We are called the Church of God but we do not act like it. We have hidden God’s love from the world. I want to reread a small portion of Solomon’s prayer in closing. II Chronicles chapter 6, verse 17: “‘Now then, O Lord God of Israel, let Your word come true, which You have spoken to Your servant David. But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth?’” Yes, He does! “‘Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You; how much less this temple which I have built! Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant is praying before You: that Your eyes may be open toward this temple day and night, toward the place where You said You would put Your name, that You may hear the prayer which Your servant prays toward this place. And may You hear the supplications of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; hear from Your dwelling place, in heaven and when You hear, forgive.’”