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To: crystalk
Okay, so you're marking the beginning and end of the 1260-year period with the shifting of the city's control to and from the Muslims, with the construction of the Al Aqsa mosque being a defining moment, a marker in the timeline that provides good point at which to start the 1260 year countdown. That seems plausible.

The larger point I'd like to make is this: considering these prophesies to be evidence in support of a larger interpretive construct which includes God desiring a new, phyical temple is a mistake. The New Testament makes it absolutely clear that the temple is spiritual in nature, just as Christ's kingdom is spiritual in nature. The unclear must be understood in the light of the clear, and it is clear that Jesus Christ fulfilled Old Testament prophecy in a way that the prophets themselves would never have imagined -- spiritually.

The spiritual nature of Christ's kingdom harmonizes and unifies the Old and New Testaments and will ultimately harmonize and unify Jews and Gentiles. It is the power of God's Spirit moving through His Church, which is His Temple, that will draw people to His Kingdom.

Of course, once you've accepted the spiritual nature of the Kingdom, you start to see that the whole pre-millenialist view of things is probably incorrect: there will be no earthly temple, no rapture, no thousand years of peace, no Gog and Magog, no satanic world ruler, no failure of the Church to make disciples of the nations, and no slaughtering of the world's armies by Jesus Christ.

I would guess that our beliefs about these things are 180-degrees apart, and I doubt we're going to reconcile them on this thread! So let me just say thanks for all your thoughtful replies, and I'll see you again soon on another thread.

157 posted on 11/10/2001 11:51:10 AM PST by Yardstick
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To: Yardstick
Not if the Rapture happens tonight, and I hope it does!
158 posted on 11/10/2001 12:42:33 PM PST by crystalk
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