Temple Fever

No piece of real estate in the world has generated more attention than the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Situated on Mt. Moriah, where Abraham prepared to sacrifice Isaac, the site is considered holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Here, Solomon’s magnificent temple stood from the tenth century BC until Babylon destroyed it in 586 BC. And here again, the second temple was erected by returning Jewish exiles in 516 BC. It was in this temple that Jesus taught and healed. He also prophesied its eventual destruction.

Today the Temple Mount is controlled by Muslims who oversee the Dome of the Rock shrine, commemorating Mohammed’s visit to the site during his miraculous “Night Journey” from Mecca in AD 621. It is the third most revered site to Muslims and contains the oldest existing Muslim architecture.

Recent Temple Fever

In recent years, a number of Jewish groups have placed the Temple Mount at the top of their agendas, either to attain rights to ascend and pray on the mount or to promote the establishment of the Third Temple. In the 1990s such temple activists were marginal, but today they are mainstream.¹ They live their life with a “temple consciousness”—a constant awareness that as Jews they are to live in accordance with the commands of the Torah, some of which cannot be observed without a temple.

Organizations like the Temple Institute are already developing actual temple ritual vessels, priestly garments, and building plans suitable for immediate use should conditions permit a reconstruction.² There are even efforts to secure the red heifer, whose ashes are considered necessary to purify those who will serve in this temple.³ All this is so they can “participate in the process that will lead to the Holy Temple becoming a reality once more.”⁴

Why all the urgency to rebuild the temple? Some Jews believe the Messiah won’t come until a temple is built for Him. Others believe the problems of the world and those of the Jewish people will only be solved once the temple is rebuilt. As RabbiChaim Richman, director of the Temple Institute, has stated, “In terms of our mission as a people, we cannot in any way reach our spiritual status without the Temple.”⁵ 

Some evangelical Christians are also keenly interested in a rebuilt temple because it plays into their interpretation of prophetic end-time events. Dispensationalists teach that the temple must be rebuilt, an altar constructed, and animal sacrifices reinstated so the antichrist can appear in this temple and set up false worship. But while this belief has been popularized in novels, books, and movies, and is endorsed by some of the nation’s largest theological colleges and institutions, there is no concrete biblical support for the building of a third temple. Here’s what the New Testament actually teaches about the temple.

Jesus and the Temple

One day Jesus entered the temple and saw merchants selling oxen, sheep, and doves. He drove the merchants out, proclaiming, “Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” John 2:16. The Jewish leaders were indignant and asked Him for a sign of His authority to do this. Jesus answered them, “‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ Then the Jews said, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?’ But He was speaking of the temple of His body.” Vss. 19–21.

Christ was the foundation and life of the temple. Its services had only served one purpose—to point all to Himself as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29. All the sacrifices foreshadowed His death and could have no efficacy after the Cross. Since everything related to the temple was symbolic of Christ, it had no value apart from Him. When He died, the inner veil of the temple was rent in two from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51), signifying that the system of sacrificial offerings had forever ended.

Right before His death, Jesus told the Jewish leaders, “Your house is left to you desolate.” Matt. 23:38. Of their beautiful temple, He prophesied, “not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Matt. 24:2. Then He revealed to His disciples that the “‘abomination of desolation’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (Matt. 24:15) would take place when they saw “Jerusalem surrounded by armies.” Luke 21:20. God could no longer protect the nation of Israel or their temple because of their unwillingness to be a light to the world and because they had rejected their Messiah. Less than 40 years later, in AD 70, the Roman armies destroyed Jerusalem and burned the temple to the ground.

A Spiritual Temple

When Jesus told the Jewish leaders, “The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it” (Matt. 21:43), this was the signal that a new nation, the Christian church, would inherit the covenant blessings. It would become the new temple on earth. “You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ…. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people.” 1 Pet. 2:5, 9.

In the New Testament, the physical earthly temple is replaced with a spiritual temple made up of both Jews and Gentiles. The two Greek New Testament words for “temple” clarify this. The word heiron is used only in reference to a literal temple and means the “entire building with its precincts.” But the word naos, which refers to the inner sanctum where God dwells, is used throughout to symbolize God’s church or Christian believers. This is the same word Jesus used to describe the temple of His body in John 2:19.

Paul speaks of this spiritual temple: “You are…the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy templein the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” Eph. 2:19–22. To the members of the church, Paul writes: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” 1 Cor. 3:16. “And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.’” 2 Cor. 6:16.

Neither Jesus nor the New Testament writers ever speak of a literal rebuilt temple at the end of time. The only meaningful earthly temple after the Cross is the people of God who make up His church.

Antichrist in the Temple

So how do we understand 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4? “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” Dispensationalists use this text to show the necessity of a rebuilt temple. However, Paul uses here the same Greek word naos (temple) that he consistently uses to define the church or the individual believer, showing he is not referring to a literal structure.

Paul identifies the antichrist as a religious power coming up within the church, claiming the prerogatives of God. It is not some infidel coming from outside the church as is commonly taught. This is also seen in the term “son of perdition,” which was used to describe Judas, the disciple that betrayed Jesus. John 17:12. Historically, Protestant Reformers understood 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4 to refer to the papal power that rose from within the church during the Middle Ages. 

The Heavenly Temple

The other main usage of the word temple in the New Testament is in reference to the temple in heaven. “Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple.” Rev. 11:19. According to the book of Hebrews, this heavenly temple served as the pattern for the wilderness sanctuary. See Exod. 25:8, 9; Heb. 8:5.

Today, our resurrected Savior ministers for us in heaven’s temple. “Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.” Heb. 8:1, 2. As our High Priest, Jesus intercedes for us (Heb. 7:25), makes atonement for our sins, and provides aid to us when we are tempted. Heb. 2:17. In Him we “obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Heb. 4:14–16.

But one of the most important things Jesus is doing in heaven’s temple is the work to “cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” Heb. 9:14. You see, earthly sacrifices could never cleanse the heart and mind of the sinner. This is why the sanctuary had to be cleansed every year on the Day of Atonement. See Lev. 16; Dan. 8:14. But the blood of Jesus is so powerful that it can purify our conscience so we can discern what is sinful to Him, and it can cleanse our lives from those sinful deeds. 1 John 1:9.

In Revelation 11:1, John sees an angel who is told to “rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there.” The temple and worshipers being measured today are God’s church and professed people. And it is by the standard of God’s law that the church is measured or judged. James 2:12. 

The rebuilding of a literal temple in the Middle East is a dangerous end-time deception. It distracts minds from Christ’s work as our High Priest in the temple in heaven, both in cleansing and judging His people. Jesus is only interested in preparing His spiritual temple on earth for His soon return. He invites us to keep our eyes on Him above and to allow Him to cleanse our hearts from sin. He promises: “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.” Rev. 3:12.

All verses taken from the New King James Version of the Bible.