THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TEMPLE
Continued from Part I

In Part I of our discussion about the Temple we examined what the Bible teaches about the word “temple” and we mentioned five usages of it. Now we come to two more usages that we hope will be a blessing to all of our readers!

6. The MESSIANIC TEMPLE (The Third Temple) is the one which Ezekiel saw in his vision recorded in chapters 40-48 – Ezekiel 41:1 begins: “Afterward he brought me to the temple…”
Ezekiel 43:4 – “And the glory of the LORD
came into the house…” It is the same house to which Isaiah referred in Isaiah 2:3: “Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob…”
Micah 4:2 predicts: “But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow into it.”

It is called “The Temple of the Messiah”
for Zechariah 6:12-13 prophesies “Behold, the Man whose name is The Branch and He shall grow up out of His place, and He shall build the temple of the LORD; Even He shall build the temple of the LORD; and He shall bear the glory; and shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a priest upon His throne…”

7. The CHURCH AS A TEMPLE
The New Testament also refers to the physical body of the Messiah as being the temple – John 2:19-21. In I Corinthians 6:19-20 the physical bodies of believers are called the “temple of the Holy Spirit.” The church is described in Ephesians 2:19-22 as an “holy temple in the Lord.” An interesting fact about the heavenly city called “the new Jerusalem” is what Revelation 21:3 says: “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them…” But, in verse 22 we read: “And I saw no temple therein for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.”

There are numerous Bible teachers and scholars who do not believe that a literal Third Temple is going to be built by the Messiah. They believe that the Church is that temple. The preparations and plans of the nation of Israel to build the temple are considered by certain scholars as insignificant and unrelated to the issue. The desires of the Jewish people around the world mean nothing to them for in their view the Church has replaced Israel as the people of God and as the true temple of God.

The Jerusalem Talmud (Yoma 1:1) says: “Each generation in which the Temple is not rebuilt is considered as if they destroyed the Temple.”

Elwood McQuaid said in an article in the magazine “Israel My Glory”: “I believe that the preparations for the rebuilding of the Temple today are extremely significant….I think we’re seeing a time when in the hearts of people they’re saying the time has come.”

When Israel captured the Temple Mount in June of 1967, Defense Forces Chief Rabbi General Shlomo Goren said on that day:
“We have taken the city of God; we are entering the Messianic era for the Jewish people. We took an oath today, while capturing the city –on our blood we took an oath that we will never give it up –
we will never leave this place. The Wailing Wall belongs to us. The holy place (Temple Mount) was our place first, and our God’s place. From here we do not move – Never – NEVER!”

Rabbi Chaim Richman of the Temple Mount Faithful has said:
“The Holy Temple was not just some magnificent building or synagogue rooted in Jerusalem’s ancient Biblical past; it was an arena of cosmic themes, a place where man could meet with his Creator; it is the reality of the living memory of that relationship as it once was, and the dream of its renewal, as promised by God Himself, that keeps the first of the Temple altar burning within the collective heart of the nation of Israel, and the hearts of all those who cherish Israel’s God and His message for humanity.”

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