Shincheonji - 0034 - The Church and the Holy Temple

The Church and the Holy Temple

             God appointed Noah after Adam’s fall. God appointed Moses and Joshua after Ham’s sin destroyed Noah’s world. God made a covenant with Abraham and fulfilled it through Moses by delivering the Israelites from Egypt (Ex 12) and through Joshua by entering Shechem in the promised land of Canaan (Jo 24:25).

             After they entered the land of Canaan, judges and kings were appointed to rule the Israelites who had made a covenant with God. King Solomon, however, worshipped gentile gods, thus, dividing Israel into north and south (1Kgs 11). Later, even the city of Jerusalem in the land of Judah was invaded by gentiles (Is 1).

             The era of Moses’ law and the era of the kings, which both occurred long before Jesus, can also be referred to as the era of the temple for burnt offering and sacrifice. After Jesus came, God no longer wanted burnt offerings and sacrifices. He wanted people to truly know him. The era of heaven’s gospel, also known as the era of the church, had begun.

             The Greek word for church, ecclesia, means gathering. A church is, thus, a place where people are gathered to receive teachings. A temple, on the other hand, refers to the holy place where God dwells. God does not dwell within the church building, and when Satan sets himself up in the holy temple, it can no longer be called a temple. Regardless of its location or its appearance – whether a hut or a palace – any place God dwells can be called the temple. If God is in a person’s heart, that person is the temple (1Cor 3:9, 16-17). This is why Jesus was the temple of God.

             When Jesus came the first time, the law of Moses, the prophets, and their prophecies came to an end (Lk 16:16). When Jesus comes a second time, the era of the church, which lasts until the appearance of the seven messengers of the seven churches in Rv 1, 2, 3, comes to an end. The gospel (the seed), pastors, and prophecies of the New Testament all come to an end at this time as the true grains are harvested from the world’s churches. This is when the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony, where all nations must come and worship, opens (Rv 15:4-5). The eternal gospel (i.e. the fulfillment of the New Testament) appears, and the holy city of New Jerusalem descends from heaven to Shincheonji (i.e. the New Heaven and New Earth). This is the beginning of the era of the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony, which is New Jerusalem (Rv 21:1-6).

             The temple in this city is God and it is Jesus (Rv 21:22). All believers must distinguish the time they are living in according to the Bible so that they can find the correct path. We must go and unite with the place where we belong to reach our hope of eternal life. According to the four gospels and to Jesus’ words in Revelation (the beginning and the end), the era of the Christian church ends and a new generation is created. Let us understand the prophecies of the Bible and believe in their fulfillment.