Q. In Luke 24.53 it says the apostles were continually in the temple praising God. So, was this the temple or a house?

A. This was the Temple sanctuary in Jerusalem located on Mt. Moriah. It says in v 52 they went back to Jerusalem. Contrary to the prevailing theology of today the 1st century believers were Torah-observant and went to the Temple daily in some cases (Acts 2.46) although they also had a house to stay in during the festivals and visits to the city apparently (Acts 1.13). They attended the prayer services there (Acts 3.1) and there are many other examples of this. The truth is, they continued to worship, pray and attend services in the Temple until its destruction. Paul went there often and offered animal sacrifices there nearly 30 years after Yeshua’s resurrection (Acts 21.15-28, 24.10-21). The question you have to ask yourself is this. If the Law was done away with by Yeshua’s death and resurrection, why did the apostles disobey him? Why did they write in the gospels and epistles that we should follow the commandments if they were told they were done away with? Were there other commandments? The only choices you have is either they disobeyed Yeshua and kept the commandments anyway, or Yeshua never came to do away with them and he never told the apostles to stop obeying them either. The answer is Yeshua never came to do away with the Law and the 1st century believers and the writers of all the gospels and epistles never taught it either. In fact, what is taught in Bible schools and seminaries today would have never been allowed in the congregations of Yeshua in the 1st century. So, to see the apostles and other believers going to the Temple is perfectly consistent with the life of a believer in Yeshua back then, and would be now if there was a Temple, and it will be in the future when Ezekiel’s Temple is built. Read Ezekiel chapters 40-48, Isaiah 66.18-24, 56.6-8 to name a few places that talk about worship in the messianic age. You are going to have worldwide Sabbath observance, kosher laws, biblical festivals and all the things theologians have said has been done away with. I can’t make someone understand the scriptures, only God can open your minds. We have two examples of this in our chapter in Luke. The two who walked with Yeshua on the road to Emmaus and the apostles themselves had the best biblical training anyone had ever had in the history of the world because they were students of Yeshua and yet they did not understand all that was going on and the scriptures until their eyes were finally opened by the Spirit of God in v 31 and 45. I will say the same thing the apostles said in their epistles. If anyone tells you the Law, the Sabbath, the festivals, food laws and the like have been done away with and replaced by a “new” covenant that has replaced the “old” covenant they are false prophets and you need to avoid them. Then, with the proper understanding given by the Spirit of God verses like this make sense. The true test of the Holy Spirit’s working in one’s life isn’t tongues, feelings, goose bumps, miracles, singing or what passes as a move of the Spirit today. It is pure doctrine which is the true fruit of His working (Deut 13.1-5, Matt.7.15-29, I Jn 2.3-4, 4.1, 5.1-3). The world is being set up for the false messiah and his anti-Torah doctrines (1Jn 2.18) and only the Spirit can help us discern the truth.