Yet you have not refuted anything.
You are saying this becasue you cannot refute what I wrote.
No, you are being ludicrous. You do not have a spiritual understanding of what Christ talked about in the first two verses of Matthew 24, for example:
Mat 24:1-2
(1) And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to
him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
(2) And Jesus said unto them,
See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you,
There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
I have no problem with them saying the disciples spoke of the literal temple (G2411 - hieron). IN fact, we can see it's quite obvious. The disciples were NOT greatly enlightened as yet so were still thinking in terms of the Old Testament dispensation, as the Holy Spirit of "revealing" had not been poured out at Pentecost yet.
John 16:12
- "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
- Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
- He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you."
John 14:26
- "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."
Revelation is not instant, as many things were revealed to the Disciples
progressively. We can see remnants of this "
even" after Pentecost as Peter was talking about requiring circumcision in the church, and his poor understanding of the lawfulness of eating unclean meats. We're talking about progressive Revelation here, bud! The Disciples were still thinking in terms of Old Testament Temple, when Christ was revealing the mystery of new and Spiritual things that the emporal merely "
represented." Christ is illuminating (
to them, and by extention, us) the fall of the Old Testament Temple as a type of the Old Testament congregation, and the coming restoration/rebuilding of the Temple and Holy City in the New Testament type of the New Testament body of Christ--which is the church (Acts 15:14-17).
Note the language as Christ "
went out of the Temple," and He "
departed from it." Granted, it may seem coincidental language that this is when they pointed out the Temple buildings. But it has a Spiritual meaning! The Disciples are illustrating the great pride they (
being Jews) had in this glorious building, and such reverence for the greatness of it as the pride of Israel. They put so much stock in their bloodline and Jewish traditions, when without Christ their Messiah, this was all meaningless.
What it represented would be thrown down. Selah! Many of the Jews (
and their cousins the Premillennialists, Dispensationalists, PReterists, and oh yes, like YOU and Preterism infused amillennialists today) had put all their trust in the natural/physical/temporal, and God was prophesying in the Spiritual--which isn't an anomaly since this is what Christ did throughout His ministry. Just like when the disciples' brethren, the Jews, asked Jesus for a sign. And He gave them one, even though they didn't even realize it or its significance. They missed it because they were thinking like many in the church today, in terms of a literal Temple being destroyed, and Christ was responding to their question by prophesying in spiritual terms. Not one stone left standing one upon another is very specific illustrating that it is completely vanished, totally GONE! It no longer represented the Holy One of Israel. The Disciples in that episode were glorying over a building, and Christ is saying
what it represents will be taken away completely in God's economy. His words are not ever coincidental, they are deliberate. Again, as in His promise of the sign to the Jews (
which they asked for) was fulfilled, and all they could think about was a literal build--just li the congregation today. But whether or not men ever understand what Temple Christ was speaking of, doesn't mean that he spoke of a physical, literal, brick Temple. Because the Holy Spirit being poured out at Pentecost would eventually reveal the "
real" deeper Spiritual truth of His words--to His people. e.g., when Christ threw the buyers and sellers
out of the Temple (G2411 - hieron)
John 2:18-21
- "Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?
- Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
- Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
- But he spake of the temple of his body."
That word Temple Christ used there is a different word (G3485 - naos), but it is obvious that the words are interchangeable as the Jews spoke of the physical building, declaring it took 46 years to build. And note Christ never told them that He spoke of the Temple of His body, it remained a mystery to them. But it is written by the Apostle John for us, who would come
after and receive the deeper Spiritual truth of His words. True to His words,
they did destroy the Temple, and Christ did raise it up in three days, and
it was the sign that Jesus had the power/authority to do these things--as they had asked. A sign that many are blinded to from that day to this very day.
The truth is many Jews looked upon the Gentiles as Dogs and Swine and gloried in the fact that they were the chosen seed of Abraham that could never fall from that (
in their minds). Even as many in the premillennial/Dispensational church today think the church can never fall. But the fact is, they did fall and the congregation today is no better than the congregation was then. Because their eyes were on the temporal rather than the Spiritual, even as the Disciples were admiring the great buildings of the Jewish nation. The Premillennial and Dispensational church today feels the very same way about the nation of Israel's position because their hermeneutic is almost identical in its looking at God's word only literally (
John 3:4) and to some degree having great disdain for God authored Spiritual truths. It's simply the other side of that "
exact same" coin of methodology. Stones represent the people--both those who fell and those who would be raised up/ built again, when we understand the builder and maker is God. i.e.:
Matthew 3:9-10
- "And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
- And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire."
Yes, God
was able of those stones to raise up children unto Abraham,
And He Did! Not literal stones, but Spiritual ones. Get it, humm?
Galatians 3:29
- "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."
Nothing coincidental about the language of God raising up stones as the children of Abraham, though it may seem so to many who seem antithetical to the Spirit of truth. Nothing coincidental about stones being the building of the church, or the stones being made of wood hay and stubble, or of gold silver and precious gems "
when we gracefully receive God authored Spiritual truths!" The word temple (G2411 - hieron) used by the Disciples doesn't preclude Christ from talking about a spiritual Temple any more than the word temple (G3485 - naos) that the Jews used in saying it took 46 years to build it precluded Christ from speaking of His body and not whatever building the Jews spoke of.
