Should the Temple be rebuilt?

Some fanatical and outspoken Zionists call for the destruction of The Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque on the Haram Al Sharif (the Sacred Sanctuary). A group of Jews called The Temple Mount Faithful are collecting funds and materials to lay the foundation for a third temple in their place. These threats and schemes are disturbing to Muslims around the world but especially Muslims in Palestine.

Millions of Christians believe that they should support this construction of a third temple. They have been exposed to Holy Land theologies that call on them to stand with the State of Israel in order that Christian eschatological expectations relating to the second coming of Christ can come to fulfilment.

What do the scriptures say about the Temple?

God called on the Hebrew people to build a holy house of worship in Jerusalem that would be the meeting place of God with his people. However, the Israelites often misunderstood the true purpose of the Temple. Jeremiah the prophet, who lived around 600 BC, predicted the destruction of Solomon’s Temple and the exile of the people (Jer. 7:12-15). The clear message of Jeremiah was that since the Temple was not being used according to its divine purpose, it would be destroyed. Sure enough, the Babylonians destroyed Solomon’s Temple and exiled the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea in 586 BC.

To the amazement of his followers and contemporaries, Jesus predicted the destruction of the temple built by King Herod (Matt. 24:1-2; Mark 13:1-2). In Luke, Jesus gave a graphic description of the destruction of both the temple and the nation and attributed it to the spiritual decay of the Jewish nation and Israel’s rejection of her Messiah (Luke 19:41-44). This destruction took place in 70 AD.

While Jesus predicted the destruction of the Temple, he also spoke of a new one that is to come. In John, the Jews asked Jesus to give them a sign to prove his claims. Jesus responded, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” John then added that the temple Jesus referred to was his body (John 2:19-20). In an encounter with the Pharisees, Jesus referred to himself and his ministry saying, “I tell you something greater than the temple is here.” (Matt. 12:6)

Paul and Peter openly told both Jewish and Gentile believers in Christ that they are the temple of God because God dwells in them. (1 Cor. 3:16-17; Eph. 2:19-22; 1 Peter 2:4-5). In 2 Corinthians 6:16, Paul states that believers are the temple and quotes Ezekiel 37:27 and Jerimiah 31:33 as confirmation: “For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.’” This is evidence that the New Testament writers understood that Old Testament prophecies regarding a future temple are fulfilled in Jesus, his body, and those who believe in him and not through a temple built with stones.

No need for sacrifices beyond Jesus

Christian Zionists teach that Jews will be restored to Palestine in the last days and then rebuild a third temple and resume offering animal sacrifices to commemorate the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. These teachings resulted from misinterpretation of some verses in the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Revelation. However, the writer of the book of Hebrews clearly explains that through his sacrificial death on the Cross, Jesus became our permanent and eternal high priest and sacrifice (Heb. 8:6 and 13; 9:23-10:1). There is no need to go back to animal sacrifices and temple rituals when the New Covenant through Jesus deemed them obsolete.

The irony here is that while most Evangelicals consider Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection to be sufficient for salvation, the Christian Zionists among them reduce the sacrifice of Jesus to a mere interim plan. If radical Israelis and Christian Zionists succeed in resuming animal sacrifices at a future temple in Jerusalem, it will grieve the Holy Spirit and quench all joy in heaven.