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Is it Crazy to Believe a Third Temple Will be Built?
I had the opportunity recently to engage with a wonderful pastor who is out each week sharing the gospel. He loves God, loves the Word, but is convinced that most of the prophecies of the New Testament concerning the 2nd coming of Jesus were fulfilled in AD 70. This view is known as partial preterism and has been refuted quite often through the years. Nevertheless, because of the internet, it is growing in popularity again. Jesus told us in Mark 13:37 to “Watch!” and unfortunately many of His followers today believe there isn’t much to watch for. Yet we know there are many things to watch for and one of them is quite evident and easy to evaluate.
I am referring to the prophetic marker of the current preparations to build the third temple in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount. Is this just fanciful make believe or is there a solid reason we should be anticipating the building of a third temple? This might not be new to many of you, but I want to give the rationale for why we anticipate the future temple to be constructed and also answer some objections from those who reject this idea.
The Bible does not always give us the absolute complete picture or details of how prophecy is to be fulfilled. For example, consider the prophecy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem of Judea, “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days” (Micah 5:2). All it reveals is the location of where the Messiah would come from. It does not reveal the how or the when. As we come to the gospels, we learn how God moved a pagan Roman emperor (Proverbs 21:1) to issue a census to get Joseph and Mary to travel to their ancestral home from Nazareth (80 miles away) in order to be registered. It was at this time that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, as we learn in Matthew 2. Thus, Micah 5:2 was fulfilled in a literal, but unexpected way.
Prophecy is most often a “snapshot” of the circumstances in a particular time and place. The prophet is given a word or a dream or a vision of this time period. When it comes to understanding why prophecy watchers expect a third Temple, we see a snapshot into the future by several different prophets. Each one of them gives us an insight concerning the final “day of the Lord” which includes what is called the “tribulation period” or the “70th week of Daniel.”
The Biblical Evidence
Let’s begin in the Old Testament with the prophet Daniel. We do not have space to cover the entire 70 weeks of Daniel, but what concerns us is the last verse of chapter 9, which describes the events of the last week that are yet to be fulfilled. Daniel writes, “And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator” (Daniel 9:27).
From this passage, we learn that at the “half” point of the week (the 3.5-year mark out of the 7 years), the antichrist will put an end to sacrifices and offerings. Which sacrifices? Which offerings? The Temple was destroyed in AD 70, and there have not been sacrifices in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount for over 1900 years. Let’s go back to the concept that Daniel is getting a snapshot of a future time period. What he sees in this future end-time scenario are sacrifices and offerings taking place. This can seem very confusing because there is no temple today for those sacrifices and offerings to take place. So, what should we conclude? We could say that Daniel was possibly speaking figuratively or symbolically (some people take this position). It does not make much sense, because as soon as you begin to spiritualize interpretations, there is no solid or consistent conclusion. It is almost completely subjective to the reader. Secondly, we could say that it was already fulfilled as other Bible teachers claim. This does not make much sense either because the purposes of the 70-week prophecy as found in Daniel 9:24-27 are clearly not completely fulfilled. The third alternative is that even though we do not see a temple today, in order for this prophecy to be fulfilled, a temple must be built sometime in the future. The third temple will at least be built and in operation for sacrifices by the midpoint of the tribulation period. It could be finished one day before the midpoint, or years prior, but we know that at the specific midpoint, the sacrifices and offerings which were happening are stopped.
The interpretation that a temple will be rebuilt in the future is based on a logical deduction from the text itself and is grounded on the conviction that when God gives a prophecy, it absolutely must come to pass – or else God is a liar. Even though we might not understand the how nor think it is possible, God cannot fail. Notice what God says about prophecy in Isaiah 46:9-11, “Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.” God will bring His words to pass regardless of whether we can perceive how He will see it done.
We must always take Scripture in a straightforward way when we interpret it. It is especially true when it comes to prophetic passages. Many Bible teachers in the past doubted that Israel would ever become a nation again. Instead of reading prophecy in a straightforward way, they chose to spiritualize, symbolize, or outright ignore the prophetic passages. However, those that did take it in a literal way, ended up becoming vindicated. I gave a presentation and wrote an article on this methodology that helps defend why we should approach prophecy in a literal/normal way. Since it was true of the prophecies concerning the first coming of Jesus, why not His second coming? You can find this article and presentation here: https://prophecywatchers.com/watching-israel. Or you can simply go to our Prophecy Watchers website and look under the “Articles” tab.
Before continuing the topic of the coming third temple, let me give you one more example of using logical deductions in order to understand end time prophecy. For the last 50 years, prophecy teachers have made the claim that they believed a cashless society would be coming in the end times. Why would they make such a claim? The Bible never explicitly says a cashless society is coming. Yet we have these two well-known verses, “Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name” (Revelation 13:16-17). Bible teachers deduce that in order for this to be implemented, most likely it would require a cashless or digital type currency in order to track or prevent people from buying or selling.
When this was first discussed back in the 70s, computer technology was in its infancy. Most people did not own a personal computer. Today, they are ubiquitous around the world. We call them smartphones. They are minicomputers far more advanced and sophisticated than the government computers of the 70s and 80s. Most Americans might not realize this, but there are already dozens of cashless communities in China. These are 100% cashless and digital communities. If you do not have the proper app, you cannot buy or sell in these cities. You can read more about how extensive and advanced the Chinese government is in these areas in two excellent books. One book, written in 2018 by Kai Fu Lee, is called, Ai Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order. The other, published in October 2022 by Martin Chorzempa, is entitled, The Cashless Revolution. Most of what is coming as cashless will come through business endeavors and not necessarily government legislation. Some Starbucks and other stores have gone completely cashless across many of their stores. This change is just the beginning for those living in America and the rest of the Western world. All this digital technology will help make Revelation 13:16-17 come true. Bible teachers understood this over 50 years ago because they made a logical deduction from the straightforward reading of the text of Revelation. This is also true for the third temple and the red heifer.
We already saw that Daniel 9:27 gives us proof that a third temple will be in existence in the time of the end. A second passage is given by Jesus, Himself, in the Olivet Discourse. In two places, He says something similar. Here is the Matthew version, “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand)” (Matthew 24:15; also Mark 13:14). The underlined phrase has two similar occurrences in the Greek New Testament (Acts 6:13; 21:28). Both of these references in the book of Acts refer to the physical temple on the Temple Mount platform expanded by Herod the Great. Therefore, Jesus, as a prophet, is giving us a snapshot of a future time period when an abomination will occur in the temple. Even though there is no temple today, we know that one will be built in a future time in which the abomination of desolation will occur. The “abomination of desolation” phraseology appears in Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11 and in the apocryphal book of 1 Maccabees 1:41-59. The Daniel 11:31 and Maccabees passages refer to an event that can only be interpreted as a real physical event that happened in the 2nd century BC. The Seleucid king Antiochus IV entered the sanctuary in 167 B.C. and desecrated it by putting an idol on the altar mixed with pig’s blood (Josephus, Antiquities 12:253; 1 Maccabees 1). Both Daniel 9:27 and 12:11 are prophecies which will be fulfilled at the end of the age. Jesus intimates that what happened during the Maccabean period was a prototype of what will happen again at the end of age during the 7-year tribulation period. In order for the words of Jesus to be fulfilled, a third temple must be rebuilt. This is a logical deduction from the text of Scripture.
The third passage which gives solid reasoning for the future building of a third temple is found in 2 Thessalonians 2. Paul taught the Thessalonians extensively about the coming 7-year period (“day of the Lord”) and the events leading up to its arrival. They were confused and most likely had read a false letter, allegedly from Paul, trying to convince them that the day of the Lord had arrived. Paul writes to them his 2nd letter in order to remind them of the order of events that he previously had taught them while he was with them, “Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not be present, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things?” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-5). He reminds them that the day of the Lord (the 7-year tribulation period) will start with the rebellion (apostasy) and the man of lawlessness (antichrist) being revealed. What is evident from the text is that Paul is teaching is that the apostasy and the revealing of the man of lawlessness is what actually starts the day of the Lord (cf. John 5:43; Isaiah 28:15). For the Thessalonians, neither of those events had happened, so they could not be inside the day of the Lord.
Paul continues to give descriptions of what the antichrist will do once the day of the Lord starts. He will take his seat in the temple of God proclaiming himself to be God. This desecration by the antichrist is often considered to be synonymous with the abomination of desolation.
This prophetic snapshot was given to Paul at a time when the temple was still standing. Yet it was destroyed in AD 70. Many people probably wondered what to make of Paul’s prophecy since it was not fulfilled in the 1st century and becoming unable to be fulfilled without a temple standing. We have been waiting 1900 years, but again, we must let the text mean what it says in a normal, straightforward, literal way. Now, at the end of the age we are watching the situation in Israel change right in front of our eyes. Jerusalem is now under the sovereign control of Israel. The embassy of the United States was moved to Jerusalem on May 14, 2018. The religious and political attitudes have changed dramatically in the last 15 years. We are seeing a convergence of various factors applicable to the building of the Third Temple which were not present even 20 years ago.
The final passage giving reason to believe that a physical third temple will be rebuilt in the last days is found in Revelation 11:1-2, “Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.” John is catapulted in the Spirit (Revelation 1:10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10) to see the future. He was given several visions of the day of the Lord (7-year tribulation) which the Lord Jesus instructed him to write down and send to the seven churches of Asia minor (Revelation 1:11).
The snapshot that John saw in this section was of a physically rebuilt temple. The angel also is a witness that there is a temple, altar, and outer court in the city of Jerusalem which is existing during the future day of the Lord. John was told to measure the temple of God and altar. This same Greek word (for measuring) is used in other portions of the book of Revelation to measure something real and physical (Revelation 21:15, 16, 17). Since the temple of God exists in the future day of the Lord, we deduce that it must be built prior to that time. It is quite reasonable to expect to see preparations to rebuild the coming temple as we see the end of the age approaching quickly.
We have the privilege of seeing it come to fruition and to strengthen our faith. But as Jesus said, “Blessed are those who do not see and believe” (John 20:29). I think of William Blackstone who, in 1878, wrote his book, Jesus is Coming. You can find it free online. He had tremendous faith and believed that the prophecies concerning the return of the Jews to the land and the rebuilding of the third temple should be taken in a normal and literal way.
Addressing Objections to a Physical Third Temple
The prophetic teaching that a third temple will be rebuilt is rejected far more than you might think. The typical objection is based on a narrow selection of New Testament verses which use “temple” verbiage in a metaphorical way. Let’s examine our options and allow the context and common sense to influence what the proper interpretation should be for each of these alleged interpretations.
The first thing we should do is simply examine the data. There are two main Greek words used for “temple” in the New Testament. The first is the Greek word hieron and the second is naos. The Greek word hieron is a general word for the physical temple building and refers to the entire complex including the outer courts. However, the Greek word naos is specific and refers to the temple building itself which contains the holy place and the holy of holies.
The texts that were covered above (2 Thessalonians 2:4; Revelation 11:1-2) both use the Greek naos. The Daniel 9:27 passage is an inference to a temple being in existence due to the mention of sacrifices and offerings. The use by Jesus in which He speaks concerning the abominatio of desolation, “standing in the holy place” refers to the Greek naos (temple).
The Greek word naos is used around 40 times total in the New Testament. There are only few places in the New Testament where the Greek word naos is used in a metaphorical way. Let’s address those.
- John writes, “Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body” (John 2:19-21). It is crystal clear here that Jesus uses the term in a metaphorical way as John clarifies for us in verse 21.
- Paul writes, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). The Greek word for “you” here is plural and is referring to the entire church at Corinth. In this case the local church functions as a temple of God in which the Holy Spirit dwells in a special way.
- Once again, Paul writes, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). This use by Paul is consistent with the use by Jesus. In a metaphorical way, the Greek word naos can be used to refer to the human body. This is rare as it only occurs twice in all of the New Testament.
- We read, “What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (2 Corinthians 6:16). This is another instance where the word is used to refer to the church of God.
- The last use is by Paul, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord” (Ephesians 2:19-21).
If we summarize all the various nuances of the 40 times it appears, we see that the Greek word naos is used 3 ways in the New Testament. The first (#1) is a literal/normal use and is referring to the physical temple building. The second (#2) is metaphorical and refers three times to the church as the people of God and the figurative temple of God. The third (#3) is also metaphorical and refers twice to the human physical body. These are all of our options.
When it comes to the four passages referring to a future third temple as spoken of by Daniel, Jesus, Paul, and John, we need to ask the question of how is the Greek word naos used in these contexts? Actually, we only have two. Daniel is in the Old Testament and does not use the word. Jesus speaks about the abomination of desolation “standing in the holy place” which is clearly a reference to the physical temple. That should be enough to settle the issue, but for the sake of being thorough let’s address the final two uses by Paul and John.
Paul says that during the day of the Lord the man of lawlessness will “take his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4). We have three options based on the Greek word naos. This could be read straightforward and literal in reference to a newly rebuilt physical third temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in the future (use #1). This makes great sense based on the context and most common use of the word. But, let’s plug in the metaphorical use #2 here in which it means the church. I am not sure exactly how the antichrist figure will take his seat “in the church.” Which seat? Which church? How will he declare himself to be god in the church? This use is very convoluted and you have to be quite creative to find a way to make this fit. When we compare the sitting of the antichrist in a physical third temple with what Jesus said as an abomination in the holy place, these two line up quite nicely. The abomination of desolation that Jesus refers to could very well be the arrival of the antichrist sitting in the holy place of a newly rebuilt third temple declaring himself to be god. If we try and plug in use #3 which is referring to the human physical body, this gets even more ludicrous. How could the antichrist figure sit in the “temple of the human body” and declare himself to be god? This would require some very fanciful speculation and interpretation. It seems quite obvious that the use #1 is the most straightforward. The antichrist will sit in the physical rebuilt temple of God in Jerusalem and commit an abomination by declaring himself to be god.
What about the use in Revelation 11 by John? He writes, “Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months” (Revelation 11:1-2). Use #1 of a physical temple makes perfect sense here. Especially, since we are given other physical elements like the physical altar, and the physical court outside the physical temple. He also brings up another physical description that this newly rebuilt temple is in the holy city which we know is Jerusalem (see Daniel 9:24-27). Was John asked to measure the local church (use #2) or the human body (use #3)? Clearly, these metaphorical uses are quite foolish.
In conclusion, the Bible teaches that truth should be established by two or three witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15; Matthew 18:16; 2 Corinthians 13:1; Hebrews 10:28). God has given us four separate prophets (Daniel, Jesus, Paul, and John) to teach us that a future physical temple will be in existence at the time of the day of the Lord. But it will not be built in one day. We should not be surprised that it will be a process that involves many layers, people, money, steps, etc. to see it all accomplished. The era of the Lord’s return has arrived. Each area of prophecy is converging as we watch. I expand more on this in my book, The Red Heifer Ritual- the Last Piece of the Third Temple Puzzle.
You can find that here.
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