The Temple Rebuilt

Historically the temple held a central place in the Jewish religion. After the children of Israel settled in the Promised Land, they built a temple to replace the tabernacle. There have been three temples, and all three have been destroyed. Solomon built the first one (I Kings 6; II Chronicles 3-5.). His father David wanted to build it. God forbade him to do so, however, because he was a man of war; so his son built it (I Chronicles 22:3). The second temple was built by Zerubbabel after the return from the Babylonian exile (Ezra 3(6). The third one was built by Herod the Great. It was started sometime before Jesus' birth and completed only a few years before it was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70. During His last week on earth, Jesus predicted its destruction (Matthew 24:2; Mark 13:2; Luke 21:6).

There has not been a Jewish temple in Jerusalem for over 1900 years, but a temple will play a part in latter-day events. It apparently will be rebuilt and sacrifices will be reestablished. There are several Old Testament and New Testament Scriptures predicting this.

In Daniel's prophecies we have seen that a coming king would cause sacrifices to cease (Daniel 9:27). Daniel also wrote that some "shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate" (11:31). The length of time of this is "a thousand two hundred and ninety days," or the last half of the seventieth week of years (12:11).

Jesus spoke of this period of desolation: "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand)" (Matthew 24:15). Paul also wrote of this period and the temple. "The son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God" (II Thessalonians 2:3, 4). John also wrote about the temple. In a vision he was told to measure the temple except for the court. The court was not included in the temple measurements since at that time it was "given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months" (Revelation 11:2). Notice that this time period is the same as that given by Daniel (Daniel 12:11).

This is from Chapter 7 of the book, Redemption Realized Through Christ, © copyright 1997 by Leland M. Haines, Northville, MI.

We highly recommend you read this book. It may be ordered from Biblical Viewpoints publication (see below) or visit Books.