TheVision

The Jewish people observe a special date, Tisha B'Av, the Ninth of Av, which falls this year on this Sabbath. The 9th of Av (Av is the fifth month on the Hebrew calendar) is the date of certain earthshaking events in history that befell the Jewish people, which they believe came about because of their sin. They observe this saddest day on the Hebrew calendar with repentance, fasting, and prayer. Some of the events in history associated with this date of Tisha B'Av include: the discouraging report of ten out of the twelve spies who were sent to scout the Promised Land, which caused the Israelites to refuse to go into the land which the LORD had promised them because of fear; the destruction of the first temple, Solomon's temple, by King Nebuchadnezzar of Assyria in 587 BC, after which the kingdom of Judah was sent into exile to Babylon; the destruction of the second temple, which was built under Ezra's leadership, by the Romans in 70 A.D., after which many Jews were dispersed out of the land of Israel, and into the nations; in 135 A.D., a subsequent rebellion on Tisha B'Av in which 500,000 Israelites were killed, was crushed by the Romans, and the ruins of the previously destroyed temple that were left on the temple mount site were buried. On this same date, the 9th of Av, during the first Crusade, 10,000 Jews were killed in 1096. Also on Tisha B'Av, the Jews were expelled from England in 1290 A.D., from France in 1306, and from Spain in 1492. The Jews were deported by the Nazis from the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland to the Treblinka Concentration/Extermination Camp on Tisha B'Av in 1942. The title given to this special Sabbath's readings is "HaD'varim-Chazon", which means "the words - the vision". The reference to the "words" in the title is because this Sabbath marks the beginning of the reading of the Book of Deuteronomy (chapters 1-3), which is the fifth book of the Torah. "The vision" mentioned in this special Sabbath's title refers to the vision that God gives to the Jews on this saddest day of Tisha B'Av: it is a hopeful vision of the third temple, prophesied by Ezekiel, which the Jewish people associate with the coming Messiah's Kingdom. In the last post, we learned that followng Tisha B'Av, on the fifteenth of Av, the most joyous day on the Hebrew calendar, marriage to one's destined soul mate is celebrated. Considering these things about the vision of the third temple received by the Jews on Tisha B'Av, and the soon-coming marriage celebration of the fifteenth of Av, I think of the assembly of the believers in Messiah/Christ, Jews and Gentiles together, which is the Church. Of these believers in Christ, Paul, an apostle who ministered to both the Jews and the Gentiles, wrote: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are...And you are Christ's, and Christ is God's." (1 Cor. 3:16, 17, 23). He also wrote: "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Paul described the temple of God this way: "God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made of hands." (Acts 17:24, see also Acts 7:47-48). Peter also wrote of this temple associated with our Messiah: "...laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babies, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Coming to him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up to a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 2:1-5). Paul and Peter are describing a spiritual temple, built of believers in Messiah/Christ, which is being built upon the first Living Stone, Jesus. I am not suggesting that this spiritual temple referred to by Paul and Peter replaces the prophesied physical third temple that is to be built. I am suggesting that the vision of the third temple given to Jews on Tisha B'Av, while it may be about a physical third temple, because it is associated with the Messiah, it is also about a special temple in the Spirit. This spiritual temple is one in which we are called to be a part. It is helpful to look at the meaning of the number three, or third, the Hebrew word shelosh. That meaning includes the thoughts of "seeds, fruit, revelation, resurrection, new life, words of life, the giving of the Torah and the Spirit, the foundation of the Temple/House, the first and strongest geometric shape (triangle), harmony and unity, chain of continuity, the third day". The number three is also represented by the Hebrew letter gimel, which pictographically means: "something lifted up like a camel rising from its knees, to ripen, reward, nourish, mature, recompense, benefit, to gather, to carry". This is also what we know about the temple of the Messiah from Jesus: "...Jesus... said to them, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.' Then the Jews said, 'It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?' But He was speaking of the temple of His body." (Jn. 2:19-21). Again, to me, all of these things point me toward a rich spiritual meaning, along with the natural meaning, of the vision of the third temple given by God to Jews on Tisha B'Av. Believers in Messiah, both Jews and Gentiles, should understand the impact of sin upon this holy spiritual temple, as sin also had impact on the physical houses or temples of God. Tisha B'Av reminds us that two temples, which the Jewish people thought could never be destroyed, did see destruction. They thought Jerusalem would be safe because of the presence of those temples of God, but Jerusalem was not safe from attack. Jesus was and is zealous for the house of God, from which He chased, with whips made of cords, those who practiced usury and thievery as recorded in all four Gospels (Mt. 21:12-14, Mk. 11:15-18, Lk. 19:45-47, Jn. 2:14-16). Jesus was not just zealous for a physical temple made of stones. He is zealous also for the living temple of God, those who believe in Him. God is zealous for His house, which contains the pattern of the salvation provided by His Son, and He will not tolerate it to be defiled by sin. Peter wrote to "lay aside" those things that defile the spiritual temple which God is building through His Son (see verses above). Paul wrote his comments about the spiritual temple of God, which we read above, by beginning with the comment, "for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?" (1 Cor. 3:3), and "...you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren! Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?..." (1 Cor. 6:8-9). The special scripture reading for HaD'varim-Chazon of this Sabbath comes from Isaiah 1. The LORD prophesies to the heavens and the earth about His people who have become a sinful nation, laden ("kabed"- heavy, hard, massive, burdensome, very oppressive, grievous) with iniquity, a brood of evil doers and corrupters; (spiritually) sick from head to foot with wounds, bruises and putrefying sores. Even though they make many prayers...their hands are full of blood (Isa. 1:1-15). These are the words (D'varim) from Isaiah 1, and this is the vision (Chazon): "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; Seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (v. 16-18). The Jews mourn and repent over the losses of Tisha B'Av. Shouldn't we, the spiritual temple of the Holy Spirit, also remember Tisha B'Av with repentance, and receive the renewing vision of the Messiah's Temple in us? These are "the words and the vision" of Tisha B'Av. If you would like to be part of the spiritual temple that the Father is building, you can pray: "Heavenly Father, I believe that You are building a temple not made by human hands, but a living temple made from living stones. The foundation of this temple is the sacrifice and resurrection of Your Son, Jesus, the Messiah, Who died for me, and the living stones are those who believe in Him, and are filled with Your Holy Spirit. Forgive me of my sin, cleanse me, and fill me with Your Spirit, and the vision of Tisha B'Av, which is the temple of Messiah's kingdom. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen."

Test

There is a command in the word of God that is trickier than it seems on its surface, yet it is vital to our spiritual lives. This is the command:
"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test (test, examine, prove, scrutinize (as metals), to recognize as genuine after examination) the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."  1 Jn. 4:1
Deceiving spirits are very subtle and cunning (Gen. 3:1). Since the warning and commandment above is given to believers, we can conclude that it is possible for believers to be deceived. Individuals and whole nations can be deceived, as we see around us daily. In the Book of Acts, the Bereans ("well-watered"; to pierce through/beyond the other side) searched the scriptures daily in order to discover if what they were being told, in this case by apostles Paul and Silas, was true (Acts 17:10-12). The Bereans were eager to hear from them, but didn't automatically accept nor reject what they heard, but tested it, authenticated it by searching scripture. As a result, they became strong believers. Neither the apostles, nor scripture considered the Bereans as being disrespectful to the Holy Spirit because of this careful confirmation and authentication process of theirs, but referred to them as "noble".
We are told, "do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good." (1 Thess. 5:19-21).
The LORD says of false prophets that come in His name, and I want to include false prophesying spirits here as well, "I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart." (Jer. 14:14).
Proverbs tells us, "The simple believes every word, but the prudent considers well his steps ." (14:15).
Challengingly, the scripture also says that God can send false prophets, and I again want to include false prophetic spirits, in order to test His prophets, and to test His people in general, "to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul." (Deut. 13:3, 1 Ki. 13:11-26). One old prophet paid with his life for not correctly testing what he was told was the word of the LORD by another verified prophet. Doesn't sound fair, does it? But the LORD has to test us to know if we can discern the truth from the lie, especially in those whom He has specially called.
However, the testing of spirits does not apply only to our discerning of others. It also involves testing those spirits speaking within ourselves as well. Are we testing the spirits of what we spiritually hear and see? Are we testing those spiritual words and prophecies that seem to be spoken or shown to us by what we believe to be the Holy Spirit? We are to test the spirits, and not just quickly accept and believe all that we perceive is being spiritually revealed to us. We live in perilous times, when people are deceiving and being deceived (2 Tim. 3:13). Like the Bereans, we need to search the scriptures to authenticate the spiritual word coming forth.
There is one giant roadblock to our effectively testing the spirits of others, and ourselves. This roadblock is spiritual pride. The greatest experts in the world tested Jesus to discern if He was indeed the Messiah, the Christ. Their own spiritual pride, religious agenda and self-righteousness prevented them from accepting what their tests clearly revealed: the authenticity of the Man who stood before them, the One who was sent by His Father to save them.
Because of this same spiritual pride, we often do not test what the Holy Spirit is seemingly speaking to us. Is what we are hearing really the Holy Spirit, or is it a lying spirit sent to test us, or to make us turn onto the wrong path? It is not blasphemous or evil to test every spirit. It is commanded. Stop, think, measure, weigh. God will not be angry with you.
Satan knows all about this trap of spiritual pride. He fell into it himself. He is the master of it. He is defined by it (Ezek. 28:12-15, Isa. 14:12-15). His workers, those deceitful spirits, are attracted to the spiritual pride that they see in us, knowing that we are open to deception because of it. Even Jesus was brought into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tested by the lying spirit, Satan (Lk. 4:1-13). Not only did Jesus pass the test of the moment, but He successfully tested and challenged the spirit that was speaking to Him by a true comparison with the Word of God. Jesus was not only tested in His true and complete knowledge of the Word (He IS the Word) however. He was also tested in the area of spiritual pride (v. 6-7 and 9-11). There was no spiritual pride found in Jesus by which He could be hooked and fooled. These verses of the tempting of Christ found in Luke are an important study for us, deeper than would appear on a quick reading, dealing with common flaws not only in the human character, but in the religious character as well.
We are told in 1 John that the Spirit of God will always confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, while the lying spirits will not so confess and testify (1 Jn. 4:2-3). Therefore the lying spirits should be very easy for a believer to discern, right? I don't think so, because the lying spirits are subtle. The effect on our lives of these untested spirits takes the form of separating us from our faith, from fellow believers, from the completion of our assignment and place in the Body of Christ. This is a form of denying Jesus having come in the flesh, as His having come is manifested in us. These spirits will increasingly take us out of the Holy Spirit, and into the flesh, out of the Word of God, and into our own imaginations, as they are given the opportunity by our refusal to test them.
Perhaps we think that because we have been walking in faith for so long, having had the experience of hearing from the Holy Spirit so often in our lives, that we no longer need to test the spirits, because "we know the real thing when we hear it, when we feel it." Scripture does not allow this kind of exception to its command to "test the spirits". Remember the example of the old, experienced prophet in 1 Kings 13, mentioned above. These spirits don't come wearing signs that say, "I'm a liar; don't believe me." They come with convincing lies.
Recently it was reported that two gifted leaders, one a worship psalmist and the other a church leader, left the ministry saying that they were no longer of the Christian faith! What spirit have they been listening to that would cause them to completely abandon their faith? Evidently, these two men had been listening to these lying spirits for quite some time until the point came when they ended up denying Christ, which is the identifying test for these spirits, according to 1 John. We might say of ourselves, "That could never happen to me!" That is exactly the kind of spiritual pride that opens the door to just this kind of deceiving spirit. Scripture warns of a falling away that must occur before the day of the Lord, before His return (2 Thess. 2:3). Many believers, even strong, gifted believers will abandon their belief. Even the elect will be vulnerable to these deceiving spirits (Mt. 24:24). We are seeing this already.
Accepting what we are told by spirits without testing them can be very harmful to others as well. Because of this, Jesus remarked to His disciples on one occasion, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of." (Lk. 9:55). Our untested words can have a harmful effect on the hearers, as well as on ourselves.
Seven times in the Book of Revelation Jesus makes this statement, "He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."  Jesus wanted us to hear from the Holy Spirit, and only the Holy Spirit.
All will be tested. All that can be shaken, will be shaken. None of us are exempt. We will be tested to see if we will test. These times in which we are living makes this of vital importance to us.

Our Father has commanded us to test the spirits to see if they are of Him.