This causes a lot of debate. A physical building, or the human body?
I have always seen it is a physical temple.
2 Thessalonians 2 needs very careful reading.
God in some way is involved in the deception
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
Now this is quite heavy stuff if you think about. Paul starts off by telling the Church not to let any man deceive us, but then tells us that God is involved in the deception!
The deception then that God sends is not a human being, as Paul has said not to let a human being deceive you.
Personally I believe that the deception God sends is the very temple itself, which is why Paul calls it the 'Temple of God', when of course it is no such thing, it is the temple of Satan.
Revelation 21:22 And I saw
no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb
are the
temple of it.
The temple as that seen is used in parables to represent that not seen the faith principle. The parable hides the spiritual meaning from the lost as those who do walk by sight..called the evil generation . Those who require a sign before they can believe.
The use of the temple was temporal until the time of refomation. Its purpose was to preach the the suffering of Christ through the use of ceremonial laws beforehand and the glory to follow (the promised opening of the grave of the ten time thousands of Old testament saints who were held in a temporal place until the time of refomation.
This occurred when Christ said it is finished . The representative unseen glory was the earthquake and the darkening of the Sun . The angels in heaven witnessed the event as they entered the Holy City the heavenly new Jerusalem (Zion) as the prepared bride of Christ, the church.
The present as that seen the temporal, served as a metaphor in that
parable as a
figure to represent the true temple. Christ in us, as Christ with us (Emanuel) . Not Christ is us.
The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:Which was a
figure for the "time then present", in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; Which
stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the "time of reformation."Heb 9:8
We who live in bodies of death are not the temple of God . We have the treasure of that temple in us but are never to assume it could be us .
When the viel was rent the bricks or gates or what ever was in view vanished .
Some worshiped the existing stones as idols and make not one stone left upon another as that which determines it useless had come to a end. 70 AD.
I look at it from when the veil was rent, the last days began .
It seems that disclosing a reformation and to what it accomplished and discussing its work is something many stay away from . Not just the Jews who do turn bricks called the wailing wall into another veil, in idol, worship putting their hope in that seen...