it’s time for the exiled church to rebuild her temple

Throughout history, Israel has followed God in a cyclical pattern of love, idolatry, judgement, punishment, repentance, and back to love again. Towards the end of the Old Testament, God allowed the Assyrians to drag ten tribes of Israel off into exile, and He allowed the Babylonians to conquer the remaining two tribes of Judah and imprison them in exile for 70 years. God told Israel that her exile and judgement would fall on her because of her idolatry and hardness of heart towards Him. They turned from God and began worshipping the idols of Baal by offering up their children as living sacrifices. The prophet Jeremiah warned Israel of the coming judgement and destruction of the temple while most other prophets of his day were prophesying peace and prosperity for Israel. Towards the end of Judah’s exile, God stirred up in the spirit of King Cyrus of Persia to write a proclamation allowing the Jewish people to return home to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.

The Lord showed me in the Book of Ezra many similarities between the exiled Israel and today’s Church. He showed me it is now time for the Church to begin the process of becoming co-laborers with Jesus in rebuilding God’s temple in the earth. It is no coincidence that Israel is currently rebuilding the third temple in Israel today, but the Church’s temple and Israel’s temple are not one and the same and will not be rebuilt in the same way. The Church will function as co-laborers with Christ because this temple will not be one made of human hands, but Christ Himself will do the building while the Church serves as a harvester of the material He will use.

According to the scriptures, God does not change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. It has been said that “history repeats itself,” but this is merely evidence that God does not change. The earth goes through cycles as man’s selfish ambitions come and go, but God’s law and love is unchanged causing the appearance of repetition. “History repeats itself” because selfish desire and idolatry lives in the heart of man in a cycle of birth, existence, and death. This idolatry to oneself repeats with every new generation and will continue to do so until Jesus Christ returns to the earth. Our own imperfect will or desire struggles against the perfect will of the Father, and since His perfect will or plan never changes, the error that causes this cyclical pattern is the sinful and idolatrous nature of man. God’s desire is for His creation to love Him above all things, praise and worship Him continuously, and give Him glory as often as possible. From generation to generation, Israel found themselves repeating this cycle of love, idolatry, judgement, punishment, repentance, forgiveness, and back to love again. I realized while reading the Book of Ezra that the Church has fallen into the same cycle in her relationship with Christ.

Since the Book of Acts, the Church has experienced cycles of manifesting God’s presence and power in the same way as Israel. There have been “movements” of God in the earth like the “Jesus Movement” of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. This movement caused hearts across this nation to fall in love with the Son of God, Jesus, and the love of Jesus began to flow through those hearts into the people who heard His words of love. There was a power behind those words of love and many people gave their hearts to the Lord because of the power and authority that came with the message of His gospel. Unfortunately, as with Israel, it did not last. The Church let go of the anointing that she had to evangelize the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the world fell deeper into idolatry and sin.

The Church failed to stand up to the murderous spirit of Baal, so this nation turned to the sacrificing of their infants to the idols of Baal just as Israel did in the past. Today altars to Baal take on the form of abortion clinics, and the priests of Baal are the doctors, nurses, and government officials who facilitate the offering of millions of innocent lives every year. Israel offered up their children to Baal from a heart full of fear, not love, or to make their lives better by placing their trust in false gods rather than the One True God. The same fear and lack of trust in God can be seen in those today who choose to sacrifice their children to Baal by means of abortion.

Immorality and murder have become pervasive in this nation and even in the Church. Abortion is not a practice that is only utilized by women who are not proclaiming to be followers of Jesus Christ. A simple search on the internet will show that many people in the Church have either had an abortion themself while in the Church, or they support and even fight for a mother’s right to have an abortion. Even if they are not sacrificing the unborn babies themselves, many in the Church vote for government officials who will allow others in this nation the ability to continue to worship the idols of Baal.

This evil took root in our culture, and eventually the Church, because people sought out and worshipped the spirit of immorality known in the 1970’s as “free love.” They worshipped the flesh of man rather than pursuing the love of Jesus, and the unwanted pregnancies from the “free love” movement led to the murder of million upon millions of unborn babies. We no longer call it “free love,” but the spirit of immorality is alive and well in the culture of this nation and in the Church. The number of sacrifices to Baal has increased both in our culture and in the Church. Fornication, adultery, homosexuality, pornography, and even sex trafficking can be found within the walls of the Church in America. What has been coming to light in recent years is only the tip of the iceberg. It has become so prevalent and accepted that people are marching through the streets protesting for their “right” to worship Baal at the demise of millions of innocent lives. Today’s Church has gone the way of the exiled nation of Israel as people today have once again turned to idolatry in their pursuit of their own will and desire over that of God’s.

The Church has been in exile for many years for the same reason that Israel was allowed to be taken as prisoners by her enemies. Idolatry and immorality have caused the Church to be led into exile, but one of the reasons God has removed His power from the Church is because she failed to stand up against the spirit of murder and injustice that was living in her midst. God is desiring the Church and this nation to turn back to Him as it says in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If…My people who are called by My name humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” There have been remnant pools of the Body of Christ showing God’s presence just as with Israel and those who worshipped and followed God during the exile, but the Church, over all, has been held captive by the enemy. That enemy is sin, and many in the Church are bound by it. Abortion is only one of the egregious sins the Church has allowed to permeate its body. The Church is sick and in bondage, but Jesus is coming to heal her and free her from her exile beginning with her heart. Ephesians 5:25-26 says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” Jesus Christ, the Word of God, is going to purify His Church and remove her from captivity and exile. Her captivity and exile are evident by the lack of power and authority in the Church today. I posted a message on what this process would look like in an article titled “She is Perfect in Him” which you can read if you scroll back through this blog site.

Jesus said we would do greater things than He did. Where is this happening today? Does the Church operate in the same power as Christ did when He walked this planet? Do we even operate in the same power and authority as the early Church? The enemy has prevailed against the Church in America because of the sin and idolatry in her heart. The Book of Acts describes events almost unheard of today, and this power of God has not been evident in the Church for quite some time. There have been waves throughout the history of the Church in the same way that there were cycles of God’s power and authority throughout Israel’s history. Because the Church has become so void of God’s authority and power, even a small fire or manifestation of His presence might seem like an inferno to those who witness it. It should not be that way. What would happen today if God showed Himself in the earth as He did to the children of Israel on Mount Sinai? I believe He is getting ready to do that very thing, and all men will see the fullness of the power and glory of God. Before He reveals Himself again in that way, He wants the Church to rebuild the temple of her heart, so He might come and dwell among us once again.

There have been many prophecies about how God plans on using President Donald Trump as a modern-day King Cyrus. God said He wanted to use Trump to restore this nation unto Himself, and Trump even played a major role in having the U.S. embassy moved to Jerusalem while recognizing her as the capital of Israel. He led the nation in returning the decision about the legality of abortion to the states. While this does not remove it completely from the nation, it is a step in the right direction. It has decreased the sacrifices to Baal in this country, and along with his war on child sex trafficking, Trump has led in bringing justice back to America. He is actively working on restoring the biblical principles this country was founded on and written about in the Constitution of the United States. He has written many decrees in the form of executive orders to restore the freedom of religion in this nation and to rebuild this nation back into a republic form of government. He has professed his faith in God and acknowledged, as King Cyrus did in Ezra 1:2, that it is God who has given him his authority. I believe President Trump has symbolically been placed by God to serve as King Cyrus did while restoring the balance of power in this nation as it was for Israel. This restored balance will pave a way for the Church to rebuild the temple of God in this earth.

It says in Ezra 1:5 that “everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the LORD” rose up in response to the Lord’s calling. There is a remnant of the Body of Christ today who have also been chosen by God to serve as forerunners in the rebuilding of the temple in the hearts of those within the Church. They are being chosen because of their intimate relationship with Him and their willingness to obey His perfect plans and desires above all else. They are hearing the call to become holy and righteous priests unto God. God is stirring up in their spirit a desire to unify the Body of Christ by aligning our desires with His own. God no longer lives in a temple made by man’s hands, but rather, He lives in the hearts of those who believe in Him and love Him by obeying His words and commandments.

This rebuilding will begin with the foundation. 1 Corinthians 3:11-17 says, “For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each one’s work. If anyone’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet only so as through fire. Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.” God is coming to the earth in fire, and after He burns away that which was built with man’s plans, He will rebuild the temple according to His perfect plan as He did in the book of Ezra. He is coming with fire not only to burn away that which is not of Him, but to expose the foundation of man’s heart. He will separate the sheep from the goats because all will see the foundation within their own heart, and they will know the truth of their salvation or lack of therein.

The proclamation of King Cyrus stated that there was to be gold and silver given to those who were going to rebuild the temple. They were to receive supplies from those who lived around them and even from the government of Persia. There have been many prophecies about a transfer of wealth that is coming to the earth. This wealth will be given to those who are rebuilding the Church as they have need of it. I believe the Lord will supply the wealth of this world for the caring of the orphans and widows, the sex trafficked, and the unwanted babies born into the world when abortion is irradicated. There has been so much greed in this nation and the Church by those who do not love God, and God will make it a point to publicly remove the wealth of the greedy and sinful within this nation and the Church and transfer it to those who will use it to fulfill the desires and purposes of God.

When King Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the first temple, he took from it all the articles of the house of the Lord and placed them within his own temples. King Cyrus returned those articles to the Jewish priests for the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. These articles were items like golden bowls and dishes to be used by the priests in the temple as they served and worshipped God. They were tools used to minister to God allowing His power to be manifested in the earth. God will also restore the spiritual gifts to the Church that have been taken while she has been in exile. The enemies of God have attempted to hold the Church in exile while hoarding these gifts in their own temples. The enemy, in many cases, has shown a greater power on the earth than the Church has been able manifest.

These spiritual gifts will be given to those who are co-laboring with Jesus in rebuilding the temple of the Church, so God’s power will once again be manifested in the earth. We have not seen the power of God moving in the earth as they did in Acts 2, and we have not even fathomed the power of God that Jesus spoke of when He said we would do greater things than He did. The articles of the temple are the spiritual gifts of the Church, and they are being returned to those whose hearts have been qualified by the blood of Jesus and rebuilt by Him as purified temples capable of hosting the fullness of the Godhead. As it says in Colossians 2:8-12, “See to it that there is no one who takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception in accordance with human tradition, in accordance with the elementary principles of the world, rather than in accordance with Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over every ruler and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision performed without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.” Those who have the Spirit of Jesus Christ living within them and have gone through this purification or circumcision, will have the fullness of the Deity, the Godhead, within them as well because Jesus has it within Himself. We must not be held captive or be in exile if we want to walk in this fullness.

In Ezra 2:61-62, it says that there were priests who wanted to return to help in the rebuilding of the temple, but they could not be located among their ancestral registration. Because they had no evidence of their priesthood, they were removed from those who qualified to return. There will be some in the Church today who will want to be a part of this rebuilding process, but they will need to show evidence of their priesthood first. This will be possible when the fire of the Holy Spirit comes because anything made by man will be burned away. The foundation of Jesus Christ will be revealed in their heart, or the absence of His foundation will be exposed. If there remains a foundation laid in Jesus, they will be qualified to serve with Him as He rebuilds the temple of His Church.

There are many in the Church today who are not a part of the remnant of the Body of Christ. They are like the exiled Jews who did not worship God during their exile. Instead, they chose to participate in the culture and lifestyles of Babylon. They were Jews, but they did not follow God. In the same way, there are those today who are a part of the Church in name only. They lack any evidence of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in their life showing no love for God or others. Jesus said that He and the Father would take abode within those who loved Him and obeyed His words. When God moves through the earth as He soon will, the evidence of the love of the living Christ within us will qualify those of us who desire to be a part of the rebuilding process of the Church. This is the foundation of Jesus Christ; It is His manifested love covered by His blood. Those who qualify will already have rebuilt temples in their heart and will be hosting the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They will serve God by helping to rebuild the temple in others by allowing the Father to do His works through them. They will work for Him by gathering in the hearts for Jesus, so He might rebuild those hearts in His love.

Ezra 3:1 says that the people gathered “as one man to Jerusalem.” This will be key in the way God begins to rebuild the Church. We will begin to see a unity as they did in the upper room in the Book of Acts. The Church is divided into many fragments today. Some call these fragments denominations. Even within individual churches there can be found division and divisive behavior. God will remove the division within the Church, and the Spirit of Christ living within the remnant of the Body of Christ will be drawn to others who are hosting that same Spirit of God. This unity will allow those who are responsible for helping to rebuild the temple of the Church to be identified by others. Jesus said this unity would be manifested because of His foundation of love in us. John 13:34-35 says, “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another.” This foundation of love will either be evident or obviously missing when the fire of God burns away the fake love that many in the Church are hiding behind today.

In the Book of Ezra, one of the notable individuals responsible for the priestly duties of rebuilding the temple was Jeshua, the son of Jozadak. The name Jeshua is another form of the name Yeshua or Jesus. Jeshua was responsible for building an altar to God to offer burnt offerings according to the law of Moses. Today, we have a high priest in the Son of God. His name is also Yeshua or Jesus. He offered Himself up for us as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of man. In Ezra it says they offered up sacrifices to God both day and night. Hebrews 7:25 says, “Therefore He (Jesus) is also able to save forever those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” He is our high priest and our sacrifice or burnt offering wrapped up in one body. He is preparing us right now to have the temples of our hearts rebuilt by making Himself a sacrifice or burnt offering continuously before God for anyone who wants to return to the Father. Ezra 3:6 says that they offered the burnt offerings day and night even though the foundation of the temple had not been laid yet. Jesus became a burnt offering for anyone who comes to God even before the foundation of the gospel of Christ has been laid in their heart. Jesus will rebuild the temple of the heart of man, and God will abide once again within the heart of the Church manifesting His power and authority in the earth. The Church will become the Body of Christ as she was created to be, by hosting the Spirit of Christ in His fullness, power, and authority.

Another important figure in the rebuilding process of the temple in Jerusalem was Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel. He was a child of Israel and a descendant of King David, and he was born in Baylon during the exile. He oversaw the rebuilding of the temple while ensuring that it was built precisely according to God’s plan and instruction. The rebuilding of the Church will also be led by those who were born during its exile. Some in the Church today might identify these individuals as being the “next generation” of believers. These will be individuals whose hearts belong completely to the Lord. They will not seek fame or fortune. They will not concern themselves with the desires or plans of men, but only be concerned with the perfect will of God. They will be more concerned with the Father’s desires than their own. They might not be the obvious choice to man, but they will be the obvious choice to God. They will face opposition from the religious spirit that dwells within the Church, but when God moves in fire and that spirit is silenced, their voice will be heard because they will be speaking the words of the Father. 2 Chronicles 16:9 says, “For the eyes of the LORD roam throughout the earth, so that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.” Those born during this exiled period of the Church whose hearts are completely His will be those entrusted by the Lord to rebuild the temple of the Church.

When the temple foundation was laid, the priests and Levites stood and worshipped the Lord saying, “For He is good, for His lovingkindness is upon Israel forever.” They shouted with a great shout and rejoiced in the Lord, but “the old men who had seen the first temple wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes.” The scripture says the loud weeping and the shouts of joy could not be distinguished apart because the sound was so great. When the Lord moves in power in the Church, as He did in Act 2, and lays the foundation of Jesus Christ in the heart of the Church, there will be great sounds of joy and great sounds of weeping once again. While some might believe the old men wept tears of joy, I believe they wept from hearts of repentance having now understood that it was their idolatry and sin that had caused the first temple to be destroyed. They recognized their pride and arrogance before God led them and those around them into exile. Their hearts were grateful for God’s mercy and grace in allowing them to witness the rebuilding of the temple while weeping for the time they had lost.

There are those within the Church today who will feel this same sorrowful repentance when they see God’s glory come upon the earth. They are the ones in exile who still follow God but not completely. They have struggled to allow all their selfishness and pride to be burned away allowing Jesus to be able to rebuild the temple of their heart according to His perfect will. They might be stuck in a theology or doctrine of man that is partially or not founded at all on the word of God. They might be deceived while following a portion of the truth but refusing to hear the fullness of it because they are unwilling to walk in the humility and lowliness of Christ. A religious and prideful spirit might veil their eyes from the light of truth. They are the ones Jesus spoke of in Matthew 15:8-9 when He quoted Isaiah and said, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. ‘And in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” They have not urgently sought God to burn away anything that is not aligned perfectly with His will.

Those who have allowed idolatry and sin to control them and place them in bondage will also weep when they realize what their idolatry and sin has allowed to happen to the Body of Christ. We will see what Jesus meant when He said in John 16:13, “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” Those whose hearts are already one with the truth and Spirit of Christ will shout with joy because they will realize they are witnessing the power and glory of God. They will stand in awe as God begins to reside in the heart of the Church once again as she loves Him and obeys His word as she has been ordained.

In Ezra 4, it says that the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard about the rebuilding of the temple and approached Zerubbabel asking if they might help in the rebuilding process because “we, like you, seek your God; and we have been sacrificing to Him.” Zerubbabel and Jeshua told them they had nothing in common with them in building a house to the God of Israel. The people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah from rebuilding and even attempted to frighten them from building. They hired counselors to frustrate them and wrote accusations against them to the government leaders trying to remind the kings of Persia that the people of Jerusalem would not pay taxes and would damage the revenue of Persia if they were allowed to rebuild the temple and Jerusalem. They challenged them to look back in history to see if the people of Jerusalem had been rebellious and damaging to kings and provinces in the past. When the kings of Persia investigated the matter, they decided to halt the rebuilding by using force of arms.

Zerubbabel and Jeshua began rebuilding yet again, and again, their enemies attempted to stop them. By now, King Cyrus had died, and King Darius sat upon the throne of Persia. The enemies of Israel told King Darius that the rebuilding had continued, and they had been told by the Jews that King Cyrus had ordered that the temple be rebuilt. The enemies of Judah and Benjamin wanted to stop the temple from being rebuilt, but God intervened. The proclamation from King Cyrus was found, and after reading it, King Darius ordered the enemies of Israel to pay for the rest of the rebuild and threatened to have them killed and their homes destroyed if they stood in the way any longer.

There are many enemies of the Church in the world today. Some of those enemies are currently taking up residence within the Church even though they oppose the Spirit of Christ at every turn. When they see the temple of the heart being rebuilt in the Church, they will pretend to stand with her to find a way inside to cause chaos while trying to damage the process. They may even attempt to use physical force like having people arrested or prosecuted for crimes against the state or humanity. The process of rebuilding the temple took twenty years. The process of rebuilding the Church will also take time. The enemies of God today will not sit idly by as the power of God moves through the earth. They will remind the governments of the world that the Church follows only one King. They will attempt to draw upon Church history to voice their arguments against her returning to the heart of God. They will even utilize lawyers and counselors to form accusations against her to stop what God is doing, but it won’t work. God will turn their words against them as He did with the enemies of Israel.

The decree from both King Cyrus and King Darius called for the Persian government to pay for the rebuilding of the temple. God will also transfer the wealth of those who have meant harm to the Church to be utilized in the rebuilding of her today. With the rebuilding of the heart of the Church, God will be calling in a great harvest that will need to have a place to worship. There will be physical needs for those who have been oppressed by the enemies of God, and as the enemies of the Church attempt to delay or stop the work of God, they will be forced to pay for the plans of God for the Body of Christ.

When the temple was finally rebuilt there was great rejoicing, worship, and sacrifices made on the altars of the temple. There was no weeping this time, but instead, there was a unity among the people, and their focus was on God alone. Eventually, most of the exiled Jews returned to Israel and the temple in Jerusalem, but some of those in exile stayed in the country where they were exiled. Not everyone who is in the Church today will be a part of the rebuilding or purification process of the Church, but many will make their way back to her after the temple or heart of the Church has been rebuilt. The Spirit of Christ will abide within the hearts of those who love Him and who obey His commandments. The Church will spiritually govern within the earth while walking in the power and authority of Jesus Christ. He is coming to rebuild the heart of the Church so the Body of Christ might move in His power and authority. We are moving into very exciting times, and there will be many powerful and awesome displays of the Spirit of God in the earth. We understand and know so little of the fullness of God, but He is going to expand our knowledge and understanding of who He is very soon. He wants a temple worthy of His glory, so God is sending the Spirit of Christ to rebuild it in us Himself.

You can read more about this and other truths by obtaining a copy of “Prodigal to Prince” by Beau Walsh at BarnesandNoble.com or Amazon.com.