THERE HAVE been two Temples already built; the first by King Solomon and the second by Zerubbabel after the Jews returned from the 70-year captivity in Babylon. The second Temple failed to come up to the standard of the first Temple but King Herod began to upgrade it about 19BC and the finishing touches were still being added when the Lord came 46 years later (John2:20)
The second Temple was destroyed by the Romans on 14th September AD70. The date of the destruction of the first and second temples coincided and is etched on the mind of every orthodox Jew.
According to Jewish traditions, both temples were destroyed on the 9th of Av on the Jewish calendar. Every year, those destructions are marked by the day of mourning called Tisha B’av.
In AD70 the Temple site was ploughed over by the Romans and another temple constructed for the Roman god Jupiter. Then at the end of the 7th century AD the Muslim Dome of the Rock was built on the Temple Mount.
In June 1967 during the Six-Day-War the Jews captured the Temple Mount but they allowed the Muslim Waqf to administer it on condition that Jews could pray on the Mount.
In 1987 the Jews formed the Temple Institute for the purpose of preparing the instruments and furniture for the 3rd Temple when it was built. The Holy Half-Shekel began annual mintings in 1997 and in September 2022 five red heifers arrived in Israel from the United States to be kept to produce the consecration water.
Each year on Tisha B’av (the month Av) the destruction of both Temples and other tragedies that occurred are remembered with great sorrow. On this date in the yearly calendar the destruction of the city of Beitar marked the end of the Bar Kokhba revolt against Rome in AD133 and Jews were expelled from Britain on this date in the year 1290. Jews were expelled from Spain in the year 1492 on the same day that Colombus sailed the ocean blue.
For hundreds of years Jews have wailed in remembrance of these tragedies. They have lived in the hope that one day the 3rd Temple would be built. They have noted the messianic promise that
“the LORD, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple” (Mal.3:1),
The Messianic hope has been linked to the reconstruction of the 3rd Temple and Orthodox Jews are expecting Messiah to come soon. Some believe the Temple must be built before Messiah returns and others believe Messiah will build the 3rd Temple.
What Does the Bible Teach?
There will be a 3rd Temple built on the Temple Mount in the first half of the Tribulation. Two Jewish prophets will arise immediately after the Rapture of the Church and in the similitude of Haggai and Zechariah who urged the Jews to build the second Temple, these two prophets will urge the Jews to build the 3rd Temple.
Of course there will be opposition just as there was opposition from the Samaritans when the second Temple was built.
The Third temple will be built where the 1st Temple stood which is in the northern court of the Temple Mount. A British army survey of the Temple Mount in the 19th century identified the drains from the first Temple that ran from the altar standing in front of the Temple and they were in the north court. Hal Lindsay and a Jewish professor stepped out the area and concluded there was adequate space for the 3rd Temple in the northerrn court.
When the Muslims built the Dome of the Rock a Jew deceived them so that it would not be built on the Temple site.
In the Tribulation the two Jewish Prophets will do amazing works. Like Elijah they will have power to “shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophecy … and smite the earth with all plagues.” (Rev.11:6).
These two prophets will probably be two of the 144,000 Jewish men who will be converted immediately after the Rapture and will proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom in all the world (Matt.24:14).
It will be during the first half of the 7-year Tribulation that these two prophets will minister and at the mid-point, when Russia and Islam are destroyed, Asia in ashes and the “Isles of the Gentiles” (USA) burned, that Antichrist will break his 7-year covenant with the Jews who will now be a believing remnant. Antichrist will move into the Temple at Jerusalem and set up his idol there with the demand that “all the world should wonder after the beast” (Rev.13:3).
The two Jewish prophets will be overcome and slain as will the 144,000 Jewish preachers and the last three and a half dark years of the Tribulation will run its course until Christ returns to cast the Beast into the Lake of Fire together with all who followed him.
Jerusalem will be shaken with a mighty earthquake that will flatten everything and prepare the site for a Millennial Temple that Christ will build to the specifications given in Ezekiel chapters 40 to 46.
The moves by Jews today to prepare the instruments and furniture for the 3rd Temple is a clear sign that the Rapture is near because the Church must be caught up before the Tribulation begins!
BY
John Ecob
