The
Third Temple
By Dr. Ken
Matto
12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh
the LORD of hosts, saying, 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:
13 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: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. (Zechariah 6:12-13)
Another prophetic focus today especially among the
pre-tribulationalists is that modern Israel is going to build a third temple in
Jerusalem for the purpose of reinstating animal sacrifices.
This is taught as part of a package when in the millennium the temple
will be the place that the Antichrist declares himself ruler of the world.
This belief is built on the following three premises:
1) That there is a millennium but the Bible knows nothing of a millennium
therefore it is false, 2) That the Antichrist is going to be a physical man of
which the Bible knows nothing about because only Satan fits the category of
Antichrist, and 3) that there is going to be a physical third temple built in
Jerusalem of which the Bible knows nothing about which means it is false.
It must be realized that the Jews in modern Israel are
not ancestrally connected to ancient Israel because no one knows who they are
since Rome killed many and took the living ones as slaves and dispersed them
throughout the Roman Empire in 70 A.D.
The unsaved people in Israel are members of a false cult called Judaism
which is not Bible based but based on the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds.
Therefore as a Christ-rejecting cult, anything they do has no spiritual
significance whatsoever. When
Christ went to the cross, he fulfilled perfectly the demands of God’s law and
became the final sacrifice for sin.
All the animal sacrifices, feasts, and ceremonies affiliated with the Temple in
Jerusalem were looking forward to the Lord Jesus Christ.
In other words, they prefigured him.
If a third temple was built and animal sacrifices were reinstated, what
would that accomplish in the lives of the partakers?
The animal sacrifices of the Old Testament did not stand alone but had
spiritual significance as they looked forward to the coming Messiah.
What would the animal sacrifices in a third temple signify?
Nothing in the Old Testament stood alone as it all had meaning but now
that Christ went to the cross and fulfilled all those sacrifices and ceremonies,
what would those animal sacrifices accomplish when it states in Hebrews 10:4
states the following.
For
it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. (Hebrews 10:4)
Those who would be partakers of those false sacrifices
would be just as unsaved when they leave the temple as when they entered the
temple. Another horrendous aspect
of the third temple focus is Christians who are willing to give credence to such
a thing. To accept and anticipate
the reinstating of animal sacrifices is a slap in the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ. If you are a true
Christian, then you have no business whatsoever endorsing or looking forward to
a third temple. It is nothing more
than violating the Scriptures by going back under the law from which Christ
freed you.
But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are
known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye
desire again to be in bondage? (Galatians 4:9)
The Apostle Paul gave a grave warning to the Galatians
that they were placing themselves back under the law and putting themselves back
into bondage. This is exactly what
the Christian is doing, as they go from grace to law.
Even if modern Israel builds a temple and reinstates animal sacrifices,
it is just showing their continued rank hatred for the Lord Jesus Christ by
which you have been saved eternally.
To join with that type of cult is to do exactly what ancient Israel did,
they forsook the true God and went after false gods.
Third Temple
is being Built
According to the scriptures, the third temple has been
under construction for the last two thousand years.
First Temple – Solomon’s Temple
Second Temple – Zerubbabel’s Temple (repaired and
expanded during time of Herod calling it Herod’s temple.)
Third Temple – The body of believers according to the
Scriptures:
21 In whom all the building fitly framed
together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22 In whom ye also
are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians
2:21-22)
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that
the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16)
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the
Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your
own? (1 Corinthians 6:19)
In these four verses we can plainly see that the third
temple is the body of believers. In
the Corinthians passages we see that both the individual body of the believer
and the corporate body of believers are called the temple.
It is not going to be a physical temple like Solomon’s or Zerubbabel’s
but is the temple which the Lord himself will build as it states plainly in
Zechariah 6:12-13 above.
One of the passages of Scripture that many like to use
for their third temple teaching is Ezekiel 40-48 but when one dissects some of
the dimensions within those chapters, we would have to come to the conclusion
that Ezekiel was describing the body of believers by the description of the
temple.
2 Of this there shall be for the sanctuary
five hundred in length, with five hundred in breadth, square round
about; and fifty cubits round about for the suburbs thereof. 3 And of
this measure shalt thou measure the length of five and twenty thousand, and the
breadth of ten thousand: and in it shall be the sanctuary and the most
holy place. (Ezekiel 45:2-3)
The reed is about 6 cubits which would be 9 feet.
This would mean that the sanctuary would be 4500 feet and 4500 feet would
be .85 of a mile. Then the suburbs
where normally the priests live would be 25000 reeds or 42.6 miles (68.55 KM).
The breadth is 10000 reeds or 17 miles (27 KM).
That would be an extremely large sanctuary and holy place.
This means the sanctuary would extend to the west to the cities of Ekron
and Timnah and to the east to the Dead Sea.
So as you can see just by these two passages that something else is in
view other than a third physical temple.
Summary
So the idea of
a physical third temple in Jerusalem is nothing more than poor understanding of
the Scriptures mixed with false teachings.
As the scriptures so easily show us that that the third temple is the
body of believers and not a physical edifice.
To seek anything else is to fall prey to false teaching and will lead you
astray by placing your biblical understanding back under the law from which we
were delivered by Christ. Christian
Zionism is an evil and dangerous teaching and must be avoided at all costs by
believers. It does not matter what
happens in modern Israel, a false gospel is never a time clue for the return of
Christ.
The Old Timers
Back before
1830 when Dispensationalism was introduced and took over most of the churches,
there were many commentators who commented on Ezekiel 40-48 and none of them
ever speak of a millennial temple
Albert Barnes – 1832-1872
The subject of the closing
chapters of Ezekiel Ezek. 40-48 is the restitution of the kingdom of God. This
is expressed by a vision, in which are displayed not only a rebuilt temple, but
also a reformed priesthood, reorganized services, a restored monarchy, a
reapportioned territory, a renewed people, and, as a consequence, the diffusion
of fertility and plenty over the whole earth. The return from Babylon was indeed
the beginning of this work, but only a beginning, introductory to the future
kingdom of Christ, first upon earth, finally in heaven. The vision must
therefore be viewed as strictly "symbolical;" the symbols employed being the
Mosaic ordinances. These ordinances had indeed in themselves a hidden meaning.
Adam Clarke - 1826
And we, who live under the
Gospel dispensation, have apostolical authority for the assertion that the
temple and temple worship were emblematic of Christ's Church, frequently
represented in the New Testament under the metaphor of a temple, in allusion to
the symmetry, beauty, and firmness of that of Solomon; to its orderly worship;
and to the manifestations it held of the Divine Presence.
Matthew Henry – 1706-1721
To direct them to look further than all this, and to expect the coming of the
Messiah, who had before been prophesied of under the name of David because he
was the man that projected the building of the temple and that should set up a
spiritual temple, even the gospel-church, the glory of which should far exceed
that of Solomon's temple, and which should continue to the end of time. The
dimensions of these visionary buildings being so large (the new temple more
spacious than all the old Jerusalem and the new Jerusalem of greater extent than
all the land of Canaan) plainly intimates, as Dr. Lightfoot observes, that these
things cannot be literally, but must spiritually, understood.
Joseph Sutcliffe - 1835
In the five and twentieth
year of our captivity. When the pious Jews
were dispirited, the Lord revived them with the hopes of a better temple than
that which Solomon had built. This which Ezekiel now saw, in the visions of God,
was of larger dimensions than the whole of old Jerusalem, and the city which he
saw was larger than the whole land of Canaan. Consequently, it must be
understood of the New Jerusalem, mentioned in the Revelation, a spiritual city
and temple, which shall be the future abode of the church; and all the nations,
washed and sanctified, shall enter her gates and her courts with songs. God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and sorrow and sighing shall flee
away.
John Trapp - 1654
After the defeat of Gog and Magog cometh, in these last nine chapters, a new prophecy, aptly depending upon the former, concerning the Christian Church, and the spiritual state and constitution thereof; which is here prefigured by types of rebuilding the temple, restoring the Levitical rites, and repossessing the promised land.