Prof Zebulon No E219

K) Christian Virtues (Orderliness)

This virtue is not exclusive to Christians, many people have it and we will see how nature and the Bible give us examples of this desirable quality. In nature, the Lord shows us orderliness in a small, sometimes pesky little animal that finds its way into gardens and golf courses; this animal is the ground hog or the woodchuck and its habitat is Canada and the North-eastern United States. The ground hog demonstrates orderliness in the way it digs its home; it is a maze of tunnels and compartments. Some of the tunnels are for food, some are for sleeping, some are for waste and a ground hog’s home or den always has an emergency exit tunnel. The Lord gave it these traits so that it would survive in the wild. Oh, by the way, it cannot forecast the weather with its shadow in the beginning of the month of February. In fact, it is unlikely that it even leaves its den during that period.

The Bible gives us several examples of this virtue but we will be looking how the Lord gave orderliness to the third king of Israel, Solomon. As we know, God’s Temple was to be built by Solomon and it is fascinating to see just how much orderliness Solomon used to accomplish this monumental task; the work actually took seven years (1 Kings 6:38). His father David had amassed a huge amount of gold, silver and precious stones prior to his death and when Solomon began to build the Temple, he put in much effort organizing his resources. He sent many thousands of skilled workers to neighbouring countries to collect the stone and lumber that was required for this massive structure. After 4 ½ years of gathering material, he began the actual building and there were 70,000 men working under the direction of 14,000 supervisors. Solomon can also be used as an example of how not to have orderliness. During the last years of his life, he was anything but orderly and this was to the demise of Israel because the kingdom was divided after his reign. The orderliness that he possessed at the beginning of his life eluded him later on and he became bitter and disillusioned. He following verse sums up how he felt towards the end “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” Ecclesiastes 1:2

V) God’s Abode (The Tribulation Temple or Third Temple)

God’s present temple is in all believers as we saw in our last study. He is, of course, in heaven but when the Church, the Body of Christ will be raptured as indicated in 1 Thess 4: 13 – 17, an actual physical temple will be erected in Jerusalem as in Old Testament times. In the book of Daniel in chapter 9:27 the Bible reads “…And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease…” The “he” referred here is the antichrist who will come into the picture after the Rapture and for him to cease the sacrifices and oblations, this activity must be going on; otherwise the passage makes no sense.

Just as in the days of Haggai, the Levitical sacrifices of the Second Temple looked forward to the coming Messiah, in the days of the Third Temple, the book of Leviticus will look back in remembrance of the blood sacrifice of Christ. The next Jewish Temple must be built by the midpoint of the seven year tribulation period as indicated above. The antichrist will stop the kosher Levitical sacrifice of the Biblical Jews at that time and they will flee into the wilderness for the last part of the tribulation.

There is only one spot on which this temple can be built. When Israel won the six-day war and re-took the part of Jerusalem where the original temple was built, there was a question asked “Should we re-build the Third Temple?” Unfortunately, the third holiest place of Islam is located on the temple mount – the Omar Mosque or the Dome of the Rock. This edifice would have to be torn down and we all know what that means – all-out war in the Middle East. How will this happen?? When will this happen? These are questions even the best politicians aren’t able to answer. There is really only one sure thing – God has a plan and it will come to pass whatever the circumstances.