Alrighty, things are coming down to the wire in our little study of the history of Solomon’s temple and the kings who ruled Judah.
So, picking up where we left off, Jehoiakim was succeeded by his son, Jehoiachin.
But the royal homie didn’t last long.
After only three months on the throne, Nebuchadnezzar marched in, took him prisoner, and hauled him off to Babylon.
He didn’t go alone.
Thousands of people from Judah were dragged away with him, along with a huge amount of treasure from the Temple.
Next came Zedekiah.
He was Judah’s last king.
But he committed the same error as the king who came before him.
The homie rebelled against Babylon.
That was the final straw.
Nebuchadnezzar returned with guns blazing, and his army leveled Jerusalem.
The Temple was burned to the ground, and the city was left in ruins.
The Temple wouldn’t be rebuilt until 536 B.C.
But even then, its story was far from over.
Over the centuries, it was repaired, expanded, damaged, rebuilt, and defiled again and again.
Then came Herod.
He transformed the Temple into the largest and most breathtaking complex ever built on Mount Moriah.
This brings us to the end of this part of our Temple journey.
So lemme close with a couple of thoughts.
People have argued for centuries over whether the Temple the Babylonians destroyed should still be called Solomon’s Temple.
Why?
Because it had been altered, repaired, and remodeled countless times over and over again.
Many folks wondered if it even made any sense to consider it the same Temple anymore.
This leads to another interesting question.
If the simple building created after the Jews returned from Babylon was the Second Temple…
Then what about Herod’s Temple?
Should it be considered the Third Temple?
Or was it just a massive upgrade to the Second Temple?
And if that’s true, then what should we call the future Temple spoken of in prophecy?
Should we call it the Third Temple or the Fourth?
Ya feeling me here, homie?
The point is Bible history ain’t always so clean and simple.
And neither is Bible prophecy.
If you wanna be an honest student of God’s Word…
Sooner or later, there’s something you gotta admit to yourself.
Scripture simply does NOT provide every answer to every question you might have stirring around in your noggin.
Ya feel me?
A ton of past details are left unexplained.
And a ton of future details have yet to be revealed.
So while it’s cool and all to wrestle with prophecy…
You still need the humility to admit that not everything is clearly laid out for us in Scripture like a Radio Shack manual or something.
Ya feel me?
On top of that, recognize you ain’t got a snowball’s chance in hell of understanding past Biblical history if you only read the New Testament.
And if you restrict yourself to only the “Old” Testament, you ain’t got a snowball’s chance in hell of getting the complete picture when it comes to the future.
Both are necessary.
Alrighty, let’s close this baby with a profound takeaway.
So here’s the thing.
Ya gotta be careful when some homie comes around claiming prophetic infallibility.
A lot of the popular teachings out there are based more on marijuana-induced speculation than on clear Bible passages.
Ya feeling me here?
There are too many inflated egos out there who become too attached to their own ideas that they treat them like proven facts.
So what’s the lesson here?
The lesson is to study the Scriptures carefully.
Hold your convictions with confidence…
But keep the humility, man.
Because as I just said…
Scripture simply doesn’t answer every question.
Done.
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