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Jim and Pat Banks
I know that many of you are not remotely interested in looking into “End Times,” Christian eschatology topics. For many of you, the idea that you might even be around for the End Times seems to be a stretch, so why bother to stop and consider it? Nevertheless, for those of you who are interested, I have included a very interesting article which looks at one of the key elements of what we have traditionally been taught to be part of the last days, the Third Temple.
As you may recall Solomon’s Temple and its reconstructed version (The Second Temple) were both destroyed by foreign invaders. The Second Temple being destroyed in 79AD. The idea stated in the included article however, flies in the face of what is now actually being prepared in Jerusalem.
The Temple Institute is an organization currently planning for the physical construction of the Third Temple. They are also preparing a perfect 10th Red Heifer, who’s ashes would be used in the reinstituted ceremonial purification acts. It was born in Israel in late 2019 and is being raised by members of The Temple Institute. Numerous implements to be used in the new temple have already been fashioned and are awaiting their new home. These followers of Orthodox Judaism are busy preparing for the dawn of the “Messianic Age,” or the Third Temple era. In June of 1999, a local committee for the re-establishment of the Third Temple was given permission to offer a sacrifice on the old Temple grounds in Jerusalem. The ceremony was first performed on Passover in 2000 and has been practiced each year since then by a cadre of Priests in Training.
Orthodox Jews are given to believe that the Third Temple will be a physical structure. Which would have to be constructed upon the foundation of the current structure, Islam’s Dome of The Rock, built in 687 AD upon the foundation of the old 2nd Temple. As of this writing it is still standing, but presumably the destruction of the existing Dome of The Rock will precede the physical return of the Messiah. Which confuses the whole timeline and their understanding of the Messianic Era thing. It appears that what they are assuming is that the Messiah will return and set up a kingdom. It very much replicates the same presumption that the disciples had when Jesus walked the earth the first time.
That being said, there is another possibility for interpretation of the Scriptures that should be given due consideration by believers. The article below tells me that these two ideas are not mutually exclusive.
Will There Be A Third Temple In Jerusalem? By Dr. Nicholas J. Schaser
“Second Thessalonians describes a “man of lawlessness” who “sits in the Temple of God” (2 Thess 2:4). Since Jerusalem’s second Temple has been destroyed for nearly two thousand years and this mysterious man is yet to appear, many readers assume that a third Temple will be built in the future so that Paul’s prognostication can come to pass. However, based on the language in other Pauline literature, it is better to understand the “Temple of God” not as a physical building, but as a reference to the collective of those who follow Jesus.
The so-called “man of lawlessness” (ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἀνομίας; anthropos tes anomías) will be someone who “exalts himself against all that are called a god or object of worship so that he sits in the Temple of God (ναὸν τοῦ θεοῦ; naòn tou theou), proclaiming himself to be a god” (2 Thess 2:4). At first glance, this verse seems to imply the necessity for a third Temple in Jerusalem; after all, so the argument goes, if the yet-to-be-revealed man of lawlessness is to take a seat in the Temple, then there must be a structure in which he can sit. Yet, a closer look at the language can offer a way to understand Second Thessalonians that is more faithful to the broader context of the Pauline corpus.
The phrase “Temple of God” also appears in Second Corinthians: “What agreement is there between the Temple of God (ναῷ θεοῦ; nao theou) and idols? For we are the Temple of the living God, as God has said, ‘I will dwell among them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they will be my people’” (2 Cor 6:16). Based on this other use of “Temple of God” in Paul’s epistles, it is more likely that the apostle envisions the man of lawlessness exalting himself among the collective human assemblies that make up the “Temple of the living God.”
Thus, a third Temple is not a prerequisite for the man of lawlessness or for Jesus’ subsequent Parousia (advent). Instead of directing our attention to the thought of Temple construction at the end of days, Paul tells Jesus-followers to direct their “hearts into God’s love and Messiah’s perseverance” (2 Thess 3:5).”
So, there you have it. Two interpretations of the application of a single Biblical phrase. One quite literal and the other figurative. Yet, we see it is entirely possible that we will see these two interpretations being walked out side-by-side simultaneously.
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