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Yet Mark 1 and other New Testament scriptures identify John the Baptist as
fulfilling
that prophecy.
But REMEMBER GOD'S PURPOSE WORKS IN A PROCESS of DUALITY! John the
Baptist was a TYPE or forerunner, of one to prepare the way for His Second
Coming. Jesus
is to come to His TEMPLE (Mal. 3:1). He came to a material temple of stone,
wood, gold
and materials A.D. 27-31. To what Temple will He come IN OUR TIME, SOON NOW?
Hold this prophecy of Malachi 3 in mind, and turn to Haggai 2, beginning
verse 3.
Zerubbabel was governor of a colony of Jews sent from Babylon back to Jerusalem
70 years after
destruction of Solomon's temple, to build a new temple. This also was days of
prophets Ezra
and Nehemiah. Zerubbabel was builder of this second temple. It was the temple to
which
Jesus came at His first appearing as a human.
Verse 3, the former temple of Solomon was then as nothing compared to its
original
physical glory. God commands Zerubbabel to be strong and work to build the
temple (verse 4).
Verse 6 goes into a far-future prophecy of a time just before Christ's Second
Coming, when
God will shake the earth and shake all nations, and the GLORY OF THIS LATTER
HOUSE
SHALL BE GREATER THAN OF THE FORMER" (verse 9). The temple Zerubbabel built
of stone, wood and physical materials was nowhere near as glorious as the former
temple
of Solomon! This is a PROPHECY speaking about the temple to which Christ shall
come
the second time, in supreme POWER and GLORY--a temple far more glorious than
Solomon's!
To WHAT temple will Christ come very soon now? Are the Jews going to
demolish
the Moslem temple, Dome of the Rock, which stands on that site now, and build a
new
super-glorious new temple? NO! Turn to Ephesians 2:19-22. The Church at Ephesus
was composed
of former gentiles. They are no longer foreign gentiles, but fellow-citizens
with the saints --
a spiritual NATION. They are also a FAMILY--of the "household" of GOD--the GOD
FAMILY.
As a BUILDING they are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ
being chief cornerstone. As a BUILDING, they are fitly framed together (in
UNIFIED
ORGANIZATION) growing into a HOLY T E M P L E!
At Christ's Second Coming, what happens to the CHURCH? Those dead "in
Christ shall
rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the