The Jewish Temple, Its Past, Present and Future
Posted on Nov 29, 2011 in David L Cooper | 0 comments
By David L. Cooper
God has a Plan of the Ages. He is developing that Plan, and is consistently carrying it out. At the same time, God allows men a freedom of choice, never forcing anyone against his will.
The Temple in Heaven
“Thus said Jehovah, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool…” (Isaiah 66:1). Oh, that we could have our spiritual eyes opened to enable us to look into the very Heaven of heavens; located northward from this earth (Isaiah
God, in His holiness and majesty reigns from His Temple in Heaven of which, the Tabernacle in the Wilderness—given to Israel—was but a replica. Gleams of scintillating light, emanating from that Temple in Heaven, may be seen intermittently in the Scriptures. In Revelation 11:19; 15:5-8, one is given a glimpse of that Temple in Heaven. Its reality is clear. God is there. Christ is there, seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty on high. Seraphim and Cherubim are there. The seven angels who stand before the throne of God are there. A host of innumerable angels is there in His presence.
The Tabernacle
God gave Moses positive instructions and all the specifications concerning the construction of the tabernacle (Exodus chapters 24-30). Moses, being faithful in executing these instructions and heeding the warnings, built it exactly as God had specified. God stated it was to be a replica of the real Temple in Heaven.
Solomon’s Temple
When God chose Jerusalem as His designated place of earthly residence, King Solomon was instructed to build a temple on Mount Moriah. David wanted to build it, but God would not allow him to do so. He was a man of blood and of warfare. Only a man of peace was to build that temple, therefore, David’s son, Solomon was given the commission (I Chronicles 28 and 29). Israel’s mind was perpetually directed to the fact that God’s Temple is in the Heaven of heavens. Following Israel’s apostasy and flagrant sins, God allowed the Babylonians to attack Jerusalem and destroy Solomon’s Temple. Leaders, and others of the Jews, were taken into captivity and Jerusalem was left to become a deterioration and desolation.
Zerubbabel’s Temple
At the end of the seventy-year Babylonian captivity, Zerubbabel, a prince of the house of David, and Joshua, a descendant of Aaron the high priest, rebuilt the Temple. It was called Zerubbabel’s Temple. That structure seemed insignificant when compared with the magnificent one Solomon had built. In their ancient writings, the Jews recorded that the Shekinah – the visible symbol of God’s presence – which was in the first temple and reluctantly departed (as seen in Ezekiel, chapters 9-12), never returned to Zerubbabel’sTemple. There was a void without the symbol of God’s presence. My friend, unless God, Christ and the Holy Spirit dwell in your heart, there is also a void: an empty place that nothing else can fill or satisfy. Anyone may receive Him by faith: “But as many as received him; to them gave He the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on His name.” (John 1:12)
Herod’s Temple
Zerubbabel’s Temple remained until the days of Herod the Great. Herod, possessing a great desire to build, adorned the country with magnificent structures. He razed Zerubbabel’s Temple and rebuilt it gradually. “The Jews therefore said, forty and six years was this temple in building…” (John 2:20) The temple was not completed until A.D. 64—six years before its destruction by the Romans. That was the temple which stood in the days of Jesus. Titus, the Roman general, destroyed it when he capturedJerusalem in A.D. 70
The Believer—A Temple
The Holy Spirit was sent at Pentecost; since then He indwells every child of God (Romans 8:9). The Apostle Paul makes this clear: “Or know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have from God? And ye are not your own; for ye were bought with a price: glorify God therefore in your body.” (I Corinthians 6:19-20)
The TribulationTemple
Jerusalem has laid waste from that year A.D. 70 to the present time. A Moslem shrine, known as The Dome of the Rock—often erroneously called the Mosque of Omar—is the site of Solomon’s Temple, but it will not remain there indefinitely. God, the One Who has the Plan of the Ages—in His own good time—will have that Dome of the Rock removed. Allah (the Arabic name for God) will do that. The Jews will then build the temple that is foretold in the Scriptures.
(The Six-Day War gave the Israeli forces the old city of Jerusalem. They shattered Egyptian resistance in Sinai, resulting in securing strategic positions all along the Suez Canal. However, we must keep in mind that there remains Islamic control over the old Temple site. This is quite significant. There have been conjectural remarks, made by certain Christian leaders, to the effect that stones for the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple have been taken from quarries here in theUnited States. WE have no corroborating evidence that such is the case. – Contributing Editor’s note: Rev. Oliver J. Siemens)
Will God come in and dwell in that temple? He did not come in visible form in the Shekinah and dwell in the temple that Zerubbabel built. I know He will not dwell in the temple our Jewish friends—in their great desire for the building up of their national home and culture—will erect. What source informs me that God will not recognize that proposed temple? Isaiah 66:1-4. Other passages, which describe the rebuilding of a temple during the Great Tribulation are: Daniel 9:27; Daniel 12:11; Matthew 24:15; II Thessalonians 2:4; Revelation 11:lff.
The Millennial Temple
This place for oblations—which will be a little south of a central position in the land—is known as the Mountain of Jehovah’s House. Isaiah, in most glowing and marvelous terms, describes this mountain in the following language: “And it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of Jehovah’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say,
Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 2:2-3) The same mountain is described in Micah 3:9-4:5. In two Psalms, special reference is made to this mountain. The question is asked, “Who shall ascend into the mountain of Jehovah, and who shall stand in his holy place?”
Read carefully, on this point, Psalm 15 and Psalm 24:1-6.
Ezekiel 48:8-20 provides us with the fullest description: the dimensions of this mountain are given in terms of reeds; five hundred of which—as is generally conceded—constitute an English mile. Since the length is twenty-five thousand reeds and the breadth is the same, we—by simple division—understand that this mountain will be fifty miles in length, from north to south; fifty miles in breadth, from east to west.
This mountain is divided into three sections. The dividing lines run east and west. The section in the northern portion is fifty miles from east to west, but twenty miles deep from north to south. In the center of this plot will be one square mile, where will be located the Temple of God—the house of prayer for all nations. The priests will occupy the northern section. The middle part is of the same dimensions: fifty by twenty miles. This will be allotted to the Levites, who will assist the priests in their daily ministrations in this house of prayer for all the nations.
The southern section will be fifty miles in breadth, from east to west; ten miles in depth, from north to south. In the central part of this southern division will be located the city of Jerusalem, with its suburbs (Ezekiel 40-48).
