The idea of constructing a third Jewish temple is a topic of current interest. Many believe that the nation of Israel has plans to do just that, building it on the temple mount after removing the Islamic holy place currently located there. Along with this would be a re-institution of Old Covenant animal sacrifices. Thanks to the Dispensational teachings of John Darby and Cyrus Scofield, millions of Christians believe all of this must take place before Jesus returns and support Israel in this matter, believing them to be “God’s chosen people.” Did Jesus have anything to say about these things?
To arrive at an answer, here are three questions we need to answer.
- Why did Jesus prophesy the destruction of the Temple, which took place in 70 AD?
- Why did Jesus say, if this temple, meaning his body, were destroyed, he would raise it again in three days?
- Why did Jesus tell the Samaritan woman that all true believers would worship God in spirit and truth without regard to a physical location?
Why the Temple Was Destroyed
Just before his crucifixion, Jesus prophesied the complete destruction of the Jerusalem and the temple.
Then as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!” 2 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Mark 13:1–2 (NKJV)
This in itself was shocking enough to his disciples, but the reason for this happening was even more startling. Our Lord provided this rationale in parabolic form.
Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 34 Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. 35 And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. 37 Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?” 41 They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.” 42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD’s doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes’? 43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. 44 And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” 45 Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. 46 But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet. Matthew 21:33–46 (NKJV)
The descendants of Abraham, except for a relatively few godly men and women, were rebels against God from start to finish.
Their history as a nation begins, in a sense, at the miraculous Exodus from Egypt. Their forty years of desert wandering after leaving Egypt and entering Canaan contained numerous examples of idolatry and rebellion against God. At one point, God was ready to destroy them and start again with Moses, but Moses interceded on their behalf. (Exodus 32:11) After they conquered Canaan, at the end of Joshua’s life, that great leader prophesied their future apostasy, despite their protests that they would be faithful to God.
But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. 20 If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.” Joshua 24:19–20 (NKJV)
Israel was part of the Old Covenant. As such, they were not able to keep God’s commandments, because no one can.
There is not one single righteous person apart from our Lord. (Romans 3:10) It is only through Jesus that anyone can be saved. (Philippians 3:9) The temple and sacrificial system were instituted as pictures of the perfect temple and sacrifice that was to come, in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, through his incarnation and offering of himself upon the cross as God’s Lamb.
The blood of animals could never remove sin – not then, not ever. Those sacrifices merely postponed judgment until the arrival of the Messiah.
But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. Hebrews 10:3–4 (NKJV)
When Jesus arrived, John the Baptist announced to the Jews and the world that God’s Lamb had come at last.
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29 (NKJV)
Jesus came to fulfill Isaiah 53, but the Jewish leaders did not receive him or believe in him.
He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:10–13 (NKJV)
Only a remnant of people among the Jews were able to recognize and receive Jesus as Savior and Lord. The Jewish leaders put him to death, which was a horrible irony. The most privileged people in the world, the descendants of Abraham, whom God had chosen to husband the Scriptures and provide the human lineage of the Messiah, chose to murder instead of worship him. As a result of their horrible betrayal, those Jews who refused to later repent at the preaching of the gospel were sentenced to pay for their monumental sin.
All the postponed judgment for Israel’s continual disobedience came upon that generation, embodied in the grisly destruction of the city and temple.
Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. 48 In fact, you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs. 49 Therefore the wisdom of God also said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’ 50 that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation. Luke 11:47–51 (NKJV)
In addition, the kingdom of God was taken from them and given to a most surprising group of people – the elect in Christ, otherwise known as the body of Christ, the one new man in Christ, and the church. Paul called this a mystery – something hidden beforehand, but later revealed by God.
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles—2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, Ephesians 3:1–6 (NKJV)
This people is composed of born-again individuals from every ethnic group, including the Jews.
Jesus Is the New Covenant Tabernacle of God
The New Covenant made the old one obsolete and no longer valid. It has been replaced by something infinitely superior.
In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. Hebrews 8:13 (NKJV)
When Jesus became a human, he also became the true tabernacle of God on the earth, replacing the temple building as the abiding place of God’s presence.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt [Greek: skenoo - tabernacled] among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 (NKJV)
The Greek word for “tabernacled” used in the above verse is the same root word for “tent of meeting” employed by the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, which was used by Jesus and the apostles. The apostle John understood, when he wrote his gospel, that Jesus carried God’s presence with him, making the Old Covenant temple obsolete. This was not apparent to the apostles until after the resurrection, but by the time of Stephen, it was clearly understood.
“Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, 45 which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David, 46 who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built Him a house. 48 “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says: 49 ‘Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the LORD, Or what is the place of My rest? 50 Has My hand not made all these things?’ 51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.” Acts 7:44–53 (NKJV)
God used the tent in the wilderness and the physical temple building as pictures of the heavenly reality of his presence and throne. Nevertheless, it was never the Lord’s intention that physical structures of any kind would be his ultimate dwelling place. From the beginning, his plan was to tabernacle among men. (Revelation 21:3) This was accomplished when Jesus died, rose again, and ascended to God’s right hand.
Our Lord sent his Holy Spirit to indwell those who believe in him.
Paul wrote:
Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. 1 Corinthians 3:16–17 (NKJV)
Peter agreed:
Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 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. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” 7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,” 1 Peter 2:4–7 (NKJV)
Knowing that the nation of Israel as a whole would utterly reject and murder him, Jesus mysteriously told those unbelievers that, if they destroyed his body, the true temple of God, he would raise it again in three days.
So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?” 19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said. John 2:18–22 (NKJV)
Putting this together, it is clear that Jesus is himself God’s final temple. Those who are included in his body, the church, share in the glorious privilege of “housing” God.
And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. 19 “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. John 14:16–20 (NKJV)
Jesus is the fulfillment of all that God spoke beforehand. To go back to the Old Covenant picture after the New Covenant fulfillment has arrived would be a blasphemous transgression.
Paul wrote:
For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.” Galatians 2:19–21 (NKJV)
It is understandable why Jewish people who reject Christ would want to rebuild the temple and re-institute animal sacrifices, but it is inconceivable that anyone who understands the New Covenant would support such a move!
New Covenant Worship Is Not Connected to Any Physical Location
Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well that New Covenant worship would not be connected to any building or place.
The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” John 4:19–26 (NKJV)
Our Lord openly admitted to this woman that he is the Messiah, something that had been reserved to a precious few people. He also told her that the temple was, as of that moment, obsolete – “the hour is coming, and now is…”
There will never again be a time when true worship will revert to a temple built with human hands.
But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. Revelation 21:22–23 (NKJV)
A Reconstruction of a Physical Temple Is Part of an Antichrist Agenda
The Jewish people, except for that remnant who confesses Christ, remain adamant in their repudiation of their Messiah. This, by definition, makes them “antichrist.”
Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. 1 John 2:22–23 (NKJV)
Israel’s leaders insist, however, that they are God’s chosen people, using misguided Christians indoctrinated into Dispensationalism to affirm that claim, but that cannot possibly be the case. There is only one New Covenant chosen people, those who are chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. This group includes Jews and Gentiles.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:3–6 (NKJV)
A third physical temple would be a further repudiation of Christ and the New Covenant. If such is ever constructed, it will not be to honor the one true God, but it will be for antichrist.
I suppose that some will label me antisemitic for what I have written, but that would mean that the Bible is antisemitic, as were Jesus, John, Stephen, and Paul. None of them were, and neither am I. I do not hate the Jewish people or Israel, but I will not affirm them in their rebellion against God. Neither should you. The most loving thing we can do for anyone who is alienated from God is to call him or her to repent and to affirm that only through faith in and allegiance to Christ can anyone be saved. May our Lord draw many more people of Jewish descent into his kingdom. Amen.
