PART 2 - WHY EKKLESIA REPLICATES “THE LORD’S APPOINTED TIMES”

PART 2 - WHY EKKLESIA REPLICATES “THE LORD’S APPOINTED TIMES” BY Doug Krieger (Another in a Series on Ekklesia) This 9/24 Feast of Dedication is AMPLIFIED TO THE UTTERMOST in the “Ultimate Dedication” of the Latter House

And, although the Second Temple was altogether inferior to Solomon’s majestic First Temple, the LORD so encouraged His “Two Sons of Oil” (Zerubbabel the Governor and Joshua the High Priest – Haggai 2:4) that He declared this far-reaching prophecy regarding the ultimate manifestation of the Holy District and New Jerusalem’s Temple/House as seen in Ezekiel 40-48 and Revelation 21; to wit: “For thus says the LORD of hosts; ‘Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS, and I will fill this temple (house) with glory,’ says the LORD of hosts. The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the LORD of hosts. The glory of this latter temple (house) shall be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give PEACE; says the LORD of hosts’” (Haggai 1:6-9).

The Glory of the Latter House Shall be Greater than the Former

This is a marvelous prophecy—it does NOT refer to the Second Temple, nor the glory of Solomon’s Temple nor of Herod’s “redo” of the Second Temple—but of the ultimate manifestation of the Oneness of His people who shall constitute the very Temple of the Lord—this is the PEACE, the Good News of the Gospel of Peace which would ultimately resound in the bringing together of the TWO (both Jew/Judah and Ephraim/Gentile) to be ONE NEW MAN—SO MAKING PEACE through the “blood of His cross” – THE DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS, our Lord Jesus Christ, HAS COME . . . for we read: “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation . . . that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross . . . and He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near . 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, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a HOLY TEMPLE in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a DWELLING PLACE OF GOD IN THE SPIRIT” (Eph. 2:14-22, excerpts). And again . . . “Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth…I will shake all nations . . . and I will fill this house with glory” (Haggai 1:6-7). And the prophecy is repeated in Hebrews 12:26-29: Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire. No, this is NOT far-fetched – this is God’s ULTIMATE INTENTION and PURPOSE! This is the “Glory of the Latter House shall be greater than the former!” “Behold the TABERNACLE OF GOD is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God . . . But I saw NO TEMPLE IN IT [i.e., the Holy City, New Jerusalem], for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Rev. 21:3, 22). This is the eternal relationship wrought between YHWH and His people for eternity! This has always been His Eternal Purpose: “I will set My tabernacle among you . . . I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people” (Lev. 26:11-12); “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Jer. 31:33); “‘Thus they shall know that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and they, the house of Israel, are My people,’ says the Lord God. ‘You are My flock, the flock of My pasture; you are men, and I am your God,’ says the Lord God” (Ezk. 34:30-31); “My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed, I will be their God, and they shall be My people. The nations also will know that I, the LORD, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore” (Ezk. 37:27-28) It is after the Lord’s final statement: “‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the LORD of hosts” (Hag. 2:9) that the three 9/24s are mentioned in Haggai 2—connecting the Feast of a future Feast of Dedication with the Temple and its association with the Antichrist archetype, Antiochus IV Epiphanes (which automatically connects to the final Antichrist who “shall sit in the Temple declaring himself as God in the Temple of God” as found in 2 Thess. 2), before the final Feast of Dedication is celebrated, I believe, prior to the Millennium and the manifestation of the Holy District with Holy City found in Ezekiel 40-48 whereby the fulfillment of this prophecy found in Daniel 9:24 shall come to fruition: “To seal up vision and prophecy, and to ANOINT THE MOST HOLY PLACE” (which is His Temple and Messiah in absolute union). Jesus at the Feast of Dedication juxtaposed to Antichrist In John’s gospel (John 10:22-42) Jesus declares: “I and My Father are one” (vs. 30). By this He declared His divinity. He was NOT saying, as some ignorantly extrapolate: I and My Father are in agreement! The Father and the Son agree but more so: The Father and the Son are ONE! Jesus came to the Temple and declared this: “Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter (24/25 Kislev – the ninth month is always around the Gregorian Christmas time). And Jesus walked in the TEMPLE, in Solomon’s porch . . . then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, ‘How long do You keep us in doubt (lit “suspense”)? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.’” (John 10:22-24). The Jewish leadership (religious) obviously knew the implications of the Lord’s statement: “I and My Father are one.” For we read: “The Jews answered Him, saying, ‘For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, MAKE YOURSELF GOD.’” (John 10:33). Please notice – not “equal with God” but “make yourself God!”

Jesus at the Feast of Dedication in John 10

Dancing around reinterpretations of the text is naught but eisogesis to the extreme – how else can one interpret Jesus’ final statement recorded by John in Solomon’s Porch, in the temple: “. . . believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him” (John 10:38). It was shortly thereafter that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead—that WORK was incomparable to all His other works during His earthly ministry . . . and many believed in Him (John 11). What we have here, in essence, is JESUS DECLARING HIMSELF AS GOD IN THE TEMPLE OF GOD! That is precisely what Satan incarnate into the spirit of the Antichrist shall do. Thus, the Man of Sin will be revealed as the Son of Perdition, the Lawless One who with at his coming shall perform: “ . . . according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (Ref. 2 Thess. 2:3-10) . . . and as “Satan entered into Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve” (Luke 22:3) . . . . . . to commit his dastardly deed of betrayal, even so shall Satan enter into the body/temple of the Antichrist and commit not only the desecration of a rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem but the desecration of the human spirit—from thenceforth this final Antichrist shall be entitled THE BEAST, for a beast cannot fellowship with the Living God—for a beast is NOT made in the image of God . . . animals have no spirit. And where shall this Abomination of Desolation transpire? “. . . the Son of Perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thess. 2:33-4). Yes, this understanding of Jesus’ divinity took place at the Feast of Dedication—Kislev 24/25. The Feast of Tabernacles is Tied to the Feast of Dedication Yes, both the Feast of Tabernacles–the dedication of the Solomonic Temple in the year 958 BC (some 7 years in its building and being completed in the eleventh year of King Solomon’s reign–2 Chron. 3:2; 1 Kings 6:1, 37-38--i.e., between 965 B.C. [480 years after the first Passover in Egypt in 1445 BC unto 965 BC in the fourth year of King Solomon’s reign] and 958 BC (7 years in building from 965 BC unto 958 BC) and the ultimate Feast of Tabernacles celebrated at the dedication of the Solomonic Temple in 958/7 BC . . . AND . . . the Feast of Dedication celebrated in 165 BC on 24/25 Kislev (the 24/25th Day of the Ninth Month) and connected by the Prophet Haggai . . . thus, we must see the New Testament’s recording of Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles! In John 7:2-39 the Triune God–Father, Son and Spirit are revealed. The ultimate revelation centers on these passages: “Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught . . . On the last day, that great day of the feast [the Feast of Tabernacles’ Seventh Day of the Feast], Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:14, 37-39). I bring to our attention Jesus’ arrival at the Feast of Tabernacles “about the MIDDLE OF THE FEAST.” Why? Because this was a seven-day feast and He did not show up until “the middle of the week” (7 days or at the mid-point at 3 1/2 days). Is this somehow a reflection of both the final week of Daniel’s 70th Week and, as well, of our Lord’s 3 1/2 years of earthly ministry? Is this a possible reflection of the very Passion Week in which from Nisan 10–His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday unto His crucifixion on Nisan 13, Passover Preparation Day–Wednesday (morning) or 3 1/2 days of the Week–i.e. Sunday (morning only); Monday Evening/Morning; Tuesday Evening/Morning; Wednesday Evening/Morning unto Nisan 13/14–and from thence, Thursday Passover Evening/Morning; Friday Evening/Morning; Saturday Evening/Morning; Sunday (evening only) unto Nisan 17–thus, 3 1/2 days for a complete 7 days total or one week? I believe so–for when Jesus came mid-way during the 7-day Feast of Tabernacles He was declaring his opposition to Satan’s inhabiting the spirit of the Antichrist (as well) by declaring that at the end of the 3 1/2 days left in the Feast of Tabernacles (i.e., at the end of 7-days) He would shortly be glorified and from thence, all who would believe into Him would receive the Holy Spirit and all the Promise of fellowship within the Triune God! Whereas Satan would “enter into the body/temple of the Antichrist” akin to that of entering into Judas Iscariot (Luke 22:3) – deadening the spirit of man – this same Jesus, when glorified, would declare: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink . . . out of his innermost being (the spirit of man) will flow rivers of living water . . . He spoke concerning the Spirit” (John 7:37-39). DEATH vs. LIFE and life more abundantly! That is precisely why Jesus participated first in John 7 at the Feast of Tabernacles as the Life-giving Spirit and secondly, at the Feast of Dedication to declare His Divinity in the Temple of God which Temple today we are! Thus, the Life-Giving Spirit of Christ resides in His Holy Temple–His Life infuses the Temple of the Lord, the Latter House with GLORY – for He is glorified in His saints! Even His ultimate glory: “On the day He comes to be glorified in His saints” (2 Thess. 1:10; Eph. 3:21–“Unto Him be glory in the Ekklesia“). Thus, will the future Antichrist present himself “in the middle of the week” of Daniel’s yet future Seventieth Week in the Temple of God, declaring that he is God at some future Feast of Tabernacles, Nations, Weeks? The probability in contrast to the Life-Giving Spirit of Christ is most likely! What is Haggai really saying? Now, with the aforementioned remarks as a backdrop, the THREE uses of the Twenty-fourth Day of the Ninth Month made by Haggai in Haggai chapter 2 take on profound consequence: “10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, 11 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests about the law: 12 ‘If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy?’” The priests answered and said, “No.” 13 Then Haggai said, “If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?” The priests answered and said, “It does become unclean.” 14 Then Haggai answered and said, “So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, declares the Lord, and so with every work of their hands. And what they offer there is unclean.” (Haggai 2:10-14) At issue here is the defilement of the people of Judah who have returned—they were condemned by Haggai for their mixture. The “holy” and the “profane” were NOT separated—neither were they. Because they were contaminated by these mixtures “every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean” (Hag. 2:14). It is a sad commentary upon God’s people who “offer unto the Lord” that which has become unclean. Yes, it starts out as “holy meat” and kept from anything dead—but then the Lord’s servants contaminate the holy with the profane and vainly attempt to offer it unto the Lord . . . but now it is UNCLEAN! Yes, you have received the “holy meat” as from the Lord but then you place it in the “fold of your garment” and then the “edge” of that garment “touches bread or stew, wine or oil, or any food” and you think that by so touching you can make these items “holy”? Answers the priest: NO! No, because the SELF has gotten into the mix and destroyed the purity of the message. The message is pure, but the vessel conveying it is impure—and everything that “selfish garment” touches will be considered unholy for it was NOT holy to begin with! We think that since we bear “holy meat” that everything we touch will somehow bear witness to the original “holy meat”—but such “transference” is contrary to the work of the Holy Spirit. We cannot distribute holiness akin to a commodity. Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit—it is not gained by osmosis or “being around” someone . . . it is sanctified by the Holy Spirit of God and cannot be contaminated by the flesh, nor by the soulish man. Be aware, God Almighty has been known to speak through Balaam’s ass! His preference is to speak through you and me – but is the vessel out of whom He pours His Living Water prepared for the Master? Sure, we can offer all we want—“and what they offer there is unclean.” 15