The Defilement and the Cleansing of the Sanctuary - Hopeandmore.at

The temple in 2.Thess. 2, 4, and its relation to the sanctuary in Daniel 8
In 2. Thessl. 2, 14 we read from the “man of lawlessness” who gets sitting in the “temple of God”. In
Greek we have the word “naon”, which normally describes not only the temple as a building, but the
innermost part of it.
• The temple in 2. Thessl. 2, 4 not a sacred place but the sanctified people
In the book of Revelation the word “naon” describes the Most Holy place, where for example the ark was
seen by John in the vision of Rev. 11,19. It is also the temple in Rev. 7, 15, where the redeemed will be
before the throne of God.
Although in 2. Thessl. 2,4 we have the word “naon”, which in the NT and in Revelation points strongly to
the heavenly temple and even to the Most Holy Place, we do not have a problem to say, that there Paul is
not talking about the heavenly sanctuary. In all our commentaries the relation is shown to the NT-church,
where the papacy built up its dominion against the church and its truth.
Now, according to my understanding of 2.Thessl.2 the man of lawlessness and the little horn must be
identical. If so, than the temple also must be the same us in Daniel 8! How could we be sure of this
parallel?
The interpretation of the “little horn” and the “king of the north” according to 2. Thessalonians 2
It is not the intention of this paper to go into all details of a comparison between Daniel and
2.Thessalinians, though it would be very helpful in the interpretation of the little horn and the sanctuary
theme. But we want to see just the main words that I think Paul had the prophet Daniel in mind, when he
wrote to this church!
Paul first calls this power “the man of lawlessnes, and the son of destruction” ! He also says that this
power “will oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God and that is worshipped, so that he is God
sitteth in the temple of God shwoing himself that he is God.” (v.4)
So we can find in this passage all important elements that we can find in Daniel 7, 8, and even 11.
This deceiving power would have a conflict with the law of God: it would be a power of destruction, that
will oppose God, and His worship in His temple exalting himself above God.
We sure can see, that this is a description of the same actions, that Daniel were shown in his vision of
chapter 7, 8, and 11. I believe that Paul, - by inspiration, and his personal understanding of the OT in
2.Thessl. 2, - gives his interpretation of the power and actions of the little horn, which is described in
Daniel 7, 8, and 11!
SEN728 – Cleansing of the Sanctuary INITIATIVE Mitternachtsruf www.hopeandmore.at 28