God Will Build His Temple.

by Steve Lumbley

It’s easy sometimes to be discouraged by all that we see happening around us. The visible church runs deeper and deeper into apostasy. The culture falls ever further into debauchery and wickedness. Politics has no answer and only serves to deceive. Materialism only pacifies and numbs our senses to reality.

But the bible says that where sin abounds does grace all the more abound. Grace is God’s ability, His unmerited favor and blessing. What God is doing in the earth today should be a great encouragement to all who have eyes to see and ears to hear.

For years, the kingdom now crowd in the apostate church has proclaimed a great end time revival was about to take place. Many have bought in to this idea expecting our own efforts at revival to sweep the world and usher in an era of peace and safety. We’ve been told that all will be “restored”. That Christians will assume positions of great authority in the world. Entire nations will be converted in a moment of time. Revival will suddenly break forth among various groups, especially young people who will then march forth doing great signs and wonders causing unbelievers to fall to their knees and worship the living God.

The problem with these so called prophecies is that they are all based on mans efforts. Led by self appointed apostles and prophets, deluded church people think they can bring revival by imposing their own will on the culture. They think that by getting involved in politics they can bring righteousness to the nation. Their blind leaders tell them that God is depending on us. That Jesus cannot return until we impact the culture. Therefore it is up to us.

Mans capacity for self righteousness seems infinite. I have wondered before how poor old God ever laid the foundations of the universe without us there to help him.

Ecc 1:9
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

I marvel at the parallels between the religious apostasy of Jesus day and that of today’s church. In Jesus time the covenant people had been led astray by their leaders. There were two groups within the leadership of apostate Judaism, The Sadducees and the Pharisees .

The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, nor angels, nor the miraculous. They fulfilled their religious commitment by doing good works and promoting what we would call social justice.

The Pharisees believed in the resurrection and they knew the scriptures. But they could only see the letter. They had no understanding of the spirit.

Both groups were looking for Messiah to come and establish a physical kingdom in earth. They did not see the true Messiah when he came because the signs of his coming were spiritually discerned.

The same is true today. The kingdom now bunch, influenced by the religious left seeks to usher in the millennial rule of Christ through politics and works of the flesh.

The religious right also seeks to use politics to impose their ideas upon the culture. They too seek the physical millennial kingdom. But they believe that first they all will fly away in a pre-tribulation rapture so that God can punish all those wicked sinners out there who currently resist their efforts.

Both groups are blind. Neither see the signs of the times because just as it was in Jesus day these signs are spiritually discerned.

There is a revival coming but the apostate church not only won’t see it, they will actually oppose it. The revival that is coming will be just as it was in Jesus day. It will be a revival that bypasses the blind religious leaders. It will bypass institutional religion and take place among the common people. It will be a street revival in which called out members of the body of Christ will go forth to proclaim his kingdom upon the earth.

God is calling out that first company of disciples now. There is a remnant that God is speaking to. A remnant that God is training up. They are for the most part hidden from the visible church. They will be considered a bunch of nobodies among the religious crowd just as Jesus disciples were considered unlearned men.

The book of Ezra tells the story of the first group of Gods people to come out of Babylon. God put it into the hearts of a remnant of His people to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. These were those who had been taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar 70 years earlier.

History is repeating today. God is calling first a remnant of His people out of Babylon. He is calling us out of the harlot Babylon religious system that we’ve served all our lives. He is calling us out of the harlot Babylon economic system we’ve been slaves to.

He will use this first group to lay the foundation of his temple in New Jerusalem, the Jerusalem that is from above. Later, others will come and help and the temple will be completed. But this will not be a temple made with hands. It won’t be a temple made of stone and wood. It will be a living temple, the body of Christ upon the earth.

1Cor 3:16
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

Religious people, Samaritans opposed the rebuilding of the temple by Zerubbabel. They came to the leaders and said ‘we worship God just like you do, let us be a take part in this with you’ But Zerubbabel answered and said ‘You have nothing to do with us to build a house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the LORD God of Israel…”

These religious leaders, these Samaritans who thought they worshipped the same God harassed the people as they built. They tried everything they could to stop the rebuilding of the temple. But they couldn’t stop it because God had ordained it. It was His grace, His ability that empowered the people to build

Religious people opposed the revival of Jesus. They looked upon it with scorn and disdain. They plotted to stop it. They tried to kill Jesus. But God would not allow it. Jesus could not be stopped by the religious crowd. Only when he had finished his testimony were they allowed to put him to death.

Do you see the apostasy in the church today? Have you realized that institutional religion has no answers, that it is all a farce? Do you have eyes to see that today’s visible church is far from God, that the doctrines of man have replaced the pure word of God?

If you do then God is calling you. He is stirring your spirit to be a part of the true end time revival. He is calling you to help rebuild the temple, his body in the earth.

If you hear Him call you must come. You must leave religious Babylon. You must leave the harlot Babylon economic system of the world. You must forsake all and follow Him. Do it today. Don’t delay. Don’t make excuses.

The great adventure awaits!

2Cor 6:17-18
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
And I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

Steve Lumbley 2004 www.apostasywatch.com
This article may be reproduced and distributed free of charge as long as it remains in its original form.

Hit Counter