Will The 3rd Temple Be Holy, Follow Up

Q

In your response to “Will the 3rd Temple Be Holy in God’s Sight?” you responded that “In order for the anti-Christ to desecrate the Temple, it will have to have been holy previously. So yes, the sacrifices will be acceptable.” My question is: Acceptable to whom? They will certainly not be acceptable to God. Following Christ’s crucifixion the sacrifices were never again accepted by God and the Temple was destroyed. Personally, I don’t believe the rebuilt Tribulation Temple will be anything but a one-sided empty service until the physical return of Christ. It will be just as it was for the 40 years after the crucifixion of Christ.

A

Everything you’ve said about the sacrifices no longer being acceptable is true now and will remain so until the Rapture. Then God will hit the reset button and those who remain on Earth will be back in the Age of Law for the completion of its last 7 years. We know this because a careful reading of Daniel 9:24-27 shows that the Age of Grace didn’t put an end to the Age of Law but rather interrupted it 7 years short of its promised duration, giving God the time to take a people for Himself from among the Gentiles. Both Paul (Romans 11:25) and James (Acts 15:13-18) explained this.

For the End Times prophecies to be fulfilled, Israel has to be back it its Old Covenant relationship with God complete with Temple and sacrifices. Otherwise the Temple could not be defiled because it would never have been consecrated, and the anti-Christ’s claim to be God while standing there could not be called an abomination that causes desolation (Matt. 24:15, 2 Thes. 2:3).