Rebuilding The Temple

Rumors abound that the temple will be rebuilt on its original site. The temple furnishings and vessels have been re-crafted, on display at the Temple Institute in Jerusalem. And there are reports that Jewish priests are in training to resume temple worship. There is even hearsay that the ark of the covenant is in hiding and safekeeping in Ethiopia. All of these hopes and dreams swirl around the interpretation of two key Biblical passages – Daniel 9:27 and II Thessalonians 2:4.

The single biggest hindrance to rebuilding the Jewish temple on the Temple Mount, obviously, is the fact that there are currently two very revered Muslim buildings on that site – the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. It is highly unlikely that those holy buildings will ever be removed and the site handed back over to the Jews, or taken by the Jews. That would either cause an international crisis, or it would require a miracle. In fact, both of those will take place, soon, when Messiah Jesus comes back to earth. When Christ returns, he will be worshiped as Messiah by the Jews who live through the great battle of Armageddon that will take place in Israel and Jerusalem. When King Jesus reigns in Jerusalem, part of the rebuilding program will be to rebuild a Jewish temple for the Millennial Kingdom. It is described at length in Ezekiel 40-44. It will probably not incorporate all the sacrificial and atonement rituals, but it will be rebuilt by Messiah to allow for the Jews to worship Him with remembrance of their historic covenant, feasts, festivals, and liturgies.

That is not exactly how the rebuilding of the temple is envisioned by Orthodox Jews and American Christians. The Jews believe that the temple must be rebuilt before the coming of Messiah, and the Christians insist that it must be rebuilt before the start of the 7-year Great Tribulation. In fact, Christians who believe in a 7-year Great Tribulation adamantly believe that the rebuilding of the temple will be one of the signs, in the last days, that the first installment of the return of Christ, the rapture, is about to take place. This belief and insistence finds its source in the belief that an anti-Messiah, the man of lawlessness, will abominate and destroy the temple half way through the seventieth week of Daniel 9, at the mid-point of the great Tribulation.

Daniel recorded a vision of seventy weeks (Dan 9:24-27), an incredible prophecy about the coming Messiah. The seventieth week is the focal point of the prophecy. Messiah will make a covenant for one week (i.e., seven years). That refers to the New Covenant made by Messiah, not a covenant made by Antichrist. In the middle of the seventieth week, he will put an end to sacrifice. That was a prophecy of the crucifixion, which put an end to the need for Jewish sacrifices for atonement. It is not referring to Antichrist reneging on his covenant, destroying the temple, and bringing an end to temple sacrifices. Then there is the very difficult passage, the last half of verse 29. It predicts the destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 AD. But many suggest that Titus serves as a prototype of the Antichrist, another ruler who will destroy the city and the sanctuary.  But the grand Messianic prophecy does not shift its whole emphasis from Messiah to Antichrist in the closing statement. It is God’s decree of the end of the city which was being prophesied, the city and sanctuary being important secondary themes of the prophecy along with Messiah. Jesus confirms that Daniel’s prophecy was referring to the destruction of the temple and city in 70 AD (Matt 24:15).

The other Biblical passage used to support the destruction of the temple by Antichrist in the middle of the Great Tribulation is in II Thessalonians 2:4. Paul uses a Greek word, naos, not the Greek word, ieron, in this instance. He is referring to a spiritual temple, like the temple of God in heaven (Rev 7:15), not the brick-and-mortar temple in Jerusalem. What Paul is prophesying is the appearance of the lawless one (the Islamic Mahdi), the grand rebellion that he will lead, and his claim to be God. This is all referring to the buildup to Armageddon at the end of the age, Paul’s timeline of what must happen before the return of Christ.

In conclusion, we need to be looking mainly at the signs that are recorded in Revelation to warn us that the coming of Christ is right at the door, rather than insisting that the temple must be rebuilt before the rapture and Great Tribulation. And many of those signs are already being fulfilled. History is interpreting prophecy before our very eyes. Is your heart and your faith ready to stand up under the extreme tribulation that we will all suffer in the last days?