Ancient Paths Blog

Seated? How Shall the Antichrist Be Seated in God’s Temple?

Ok, so if Paul uniformly uses the word temple ναὸς (nay-oss) in the singular to refer to the Church… and by the way, we need to realize this is the New Testament understanding of the temple in contrast to the old testament one.  The old testament, the scripture tells us, was a dispensation of symbols and shadows awaiting future fulfillment, “the reality, however, is found in Christ,” Colossians 2:17 NIV. 

In other words, the Church as the temple is the real temple – the real dwelling place of God.  That it is a spiritual edifice causes many – perhaps unconsciously – to think of it as unreal.  This is in contrast to the tangible, stone and timber structure once in Jerusalem as the real thing.  But this is not so.

Now, if Paul uniformly uses the word temple in the singular to refer to the Church, for us to come to this text and insert a meaning totally at odds with this otherwise consistent usage demands a very good reason.  Where might we find this reason? 

Antichrist Seated In God's Temple - What Does It Mean?

In 2Thessalonians, ch.2 Paul is in the process of giving the Thessalonians signs that must precede the Day of the Lord (v.2), by which he means the second coming of Christ and the rapture/resurrection event (v.1).

Again, he’s providing this information so that the Thessalonians, and by extension, any and all Christians who are alive prior to the second coming, would not be “unsettled or alarmed” in their faith either by false prophetic teaching or disconcerting world events.

There are two things specifically that Paul mentions must take place before the Lord returns for His people: 1) the apostasy of the Church, and 2) the rise of Antichrist, whom Paul calls the Man of Sin.  The first of these we’ve covered already.  The second we’ve only begun to explore.

What is the Apostasy of the End Times?

Paul has warned that two things must happen before Christ comes in glory.  The rebellion and the rise of antichrist.  We saw that this rebellion or apostasy is to have at one time embraced the truth but then to abandon it completely.  And so there will be an abandonment of the truth within the Church during the last days.

But anyone acquainted with the history of the Church knows that there have been instances of apostasy, by individuals and whole denominations, since the beginning.  Even John points out that in his day the antichrist false teachers among them had gone “out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.” 1John 2:19 

So, what is this apostasy Paul warns about? 

From the Creed - What Did Jesus Experience Those Three Days in the Grave?

In my last post we saw that the creed affirms Jesus descended to hades - the grave or place of the dead.  It does not say He visited gehenna, the final place of fiery punishment for the wicked.  But is there any scripture that speaks of Jesus' post-burial experience with any clarity?  There are five passages typically cited, none of which contradict the creed's admittedly brief statement.  Only a couple speak specifically though not clearly about what Jesus did in the three days He was "in the heart of the earth," Matt.12:40.  Let's look at them briefly.

How Evangelicals Are SBNR Without Even Knowing It

It would be easy to be smug.  We could in self-righteous condescension find ourselves saying, "If this man were a prophet he would know what kind of people these are and not let them touch him..."   After all, the basic narcissism of the Spiritual-But-Not-Religious (SBNR) position is plain.  The muddle-headedness of its made to order, Burger King spirituality - where we can "Have it your way" - seems glaring.  We should sniff contemptuously and leave without bothering to explain...   Except, being evangelicals, we may very well be guilty of the same.

From the Creed - He Descended Into Hell...

I said last time that the peculiar formation of the Apostle's Creed being the product of multiple authors working independently over the course of centuries in different languages was in all likelihood the best place to look for what is meant by this phrase "He descended into hell..."

This particular phrase was not found in any version of the creed until the late 4th century AD where a Greek manuscript of it reads, "He descended into hades..." (The phrase then disappears in the commonly use versions of the creed until the mid 7th century AD).  So it's the meaning of the word hades that we must investigate.

So You're "Spiritual But Not Religious"? Right...

I recently read a CNN piece critiquing a phenomenon of western culture.  Entitled "Are There Dangers to Being 'Spiritual But Not Religious'?," the author, John Blake, explores the growing trend among (especially but not exclusive to) young people who claim to be spiritual but not religious. 

This means they believe in some sort of spiritual dimension and engage in spiritual practices without a formal commitment to any one religious faith.  They are doers but not joiners. 

From the Creed - He Descended into Hell...

We've looked at Christ's suffering at the hands of Pontius Pilate, His crucifixion, death, and burial.  Now we come to this somewhat discomfiting phrase "He descended into hell..."  We should admit that this is the one statement in the creed which has provoked some disagreement among Christians.

Many have difficulty with this statement because it does not seem to be found in scripture.  Moreover, it seems to imply further suffering by Christ beyond the cross.  What can we say about it?

From the Creed - Died and Was Buried...

That Jesus was duly noted as "dead and buried" as a result of His crucifixion is made explicit in the scriptures.

John 19:33-35 says, "But when they came to Jesus and found that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.  Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 

From the Creed - Was Crucified...

Christ's suffering under the Roman governor Pilate led directly to His execution - not in the humane, painless way of modern times (I have in mind lethal injection) - but an exquisite torture, the agonies of which were meant to be a deterrent.

So horrible and degrading was this practice that it was forbidden for a Roman citizen to be crucified.  Instead, it was reserved for the masses, the rabble, and the vilest offenders.  So Jesus is for all time identified with those who have been most degraded by man's cruelty.