the temple of God, and one who conveyed the covenant containing his everlasting plan of the promise to mankind throughout all the ages.7 His coming would be “sudden” (pit’ōm), i.e., unexpectedly rather than immediately. This word appears twenty-five times in the Old Testament and in every case except one (2 Chron. 29:36) it is connected with disaster or judgment.8 Accordingly, for the wicked the coming of the Lord would be “as a thief in the night” (2 Pet. 3:10; note in that context as well the scoffers