“The LORD said to Moses, ‘Tell the Israelites to bring Me an offering. You are to receive the offering for Me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give…Then have them make a sanctuary for Me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you’” (Exodus 25:1-10).
The Lord was the Originator and Architect of the first temple. It was the Lord’s plan, and it was His design, and it was to be made as a sanctuary for Him, a visible place for Him to dwell among His chosen people. And it was to be constructed exactly like the pattern He would give them. The Lord’s presence was actually located in a room in the tent where the Ark of the Covenant represented His presence; the room was designated as the holy of holies; only the high priest could enter into it, and only then, once a year.
The temple was beautiful in appearance, but it was a tent: portable and temporary. It was the pattern of something God had planned that would be permanent and eternal, but at the time was a mystery. It signified the state of Israel: they were in a state of transition, moving from slavery to freedom; moving from a furnace of affliction to a land of freedom and blessing. And it was all God’s doing, and He was moving with them.
The second temple is a different story. The Bible tells us the originator of the second temple was King David. The Lord had settled David in as King over Israel and had given him rest from all his enemies. One day, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.” Nathan answered David: “Go and do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.”
But the Lord nixed David’s plan, saying basically that he had not dwelt in a house from the time the Israelites had left Egypt, but had moved about with them in a tent as His dwelling place. He said that in all of their journeys, He had never asked why they hadn’t built Him a house of cedar. The Lord said much more to David, but the key statement the Lord made concerning David building Him a house (a second temple) is this:
“‘The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever’” (2 Samuel 7:11-13).
After David died, and his son Solomon’s rule over Israel was firmly established, King Solomon said, “…The LORD my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or crisis. So behold, I plan to build a house for the Name of the LORD my God, according to what the LORD said to my father David: ‘I will put your son on your throne in your place, and he will build the house for My Name’” (1 Kings 5:4-5).
“Now during the building of the second temple, the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying: ‘As for this temple you are building, if you walk in my statutes, carry out my ordinances, and keep all of my commandments by walking in them, I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David. I will dwell among the Israelites and will not abandon My people Israel’” (1 Kings 6:11-13).
Solomon built the temple in seven years. He had the priests bring the ark of the covenant up from where it was, and they placed it in the temple, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. Solomon prayed, dedicated the temple to the LORD, and offered much animal sacrifice to the LORD. But the blessing of the presence of the LORD in the temple was strictly conditional on the faithful obedience of Solomon and the people.
In the years that followed, Solomon, the wisest man on earth, disobeyed the Lord, took to himself wives from the heathen nations, and they turned his heart away from the LORD. All of this resulted in the kingdom of Israel being split into two kingdoms: the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah. Idolatry caused both kingdoms to be removed from the land, and the temple was greatly damaged. In the latter years, it was repaired somewhat, and later, King Herod improved on it.
During Jesus’ time, concerning the appearance of the temple, one of Jesus’ disciples said to Him, “’Teacher, look at the magnificent stones and buildings!’ To which Jesus replied, ‘Do you see all these great buildings…not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down’” (Mark 13:1-2).
The moment Jesus died on the cross, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. God tore it in two to signify that the days of an earthly temple in His name were over. In 70 A.D., the armies of Titus leveled the temple to the ground. A historian records that someone later came and plowed up the very foundation stones so that no one would ever know exactly where the temple was located. That was the end of the second temple.
Today, in fulfillment of His promises to Israel, God has gathered the Jews from the four corners of the earth, back to their homeland. All of the prophets agree that there would be a restoration of Israel back to God; and it would take place in two steps: first, the LORD would physically gather them back to their land in unbelief, and then, He would bring them to belief and give them a new heart.
“…I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart” (Jeremiah 24:6-7).
On that day, the remnant Jews will be born again; they will see Jesus as their Messiah, Savior and Lord. On that day, the Jews will for the first time see Jesus as the true temple of the living God: the full glory of God abiding in Him.
Presently, the most important item on the Jews’ agenda is to build a third temple. Much preparation is in the making for the temple to be rebuilt, and all the necessary things for temple worship are in the making. However, they are doing this in unbelief, and they have a time of great tribulation ahead of them before the Lord intervenes and gives them a new heart according to His promises.
Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the LORD’s prophecy to David: “I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”
The seemingly obvious and immediate fulfillment to David and the prophet was Solomon; but that was as far as they could see. We know that Jesus was the offspring the LORD was speaking of, coming in the flesh through Mary, God being His Father. We don’t have to look far to see that Jesus is the temple of God.
“Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with Us” (Matthew 1:23).
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1-14).
And this:
“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:17).
And this:
“Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father…I am in the Father and the Father is in Me” (John 14:9-10).
And this:
“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation…God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him…In Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form” (Colossians 1:15-19, 2:9).
And finally, in Revelation, John, speaking of New Jerusalem, said this:
“…I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Revelation 21:22).
The Apostle Paul, in his letters, frequently refers to the church, individually and corporately, as the temple of God. However, Jesus revealed the complete plan of God concerning the Jews and the Gentiles: speaking to the Jews, He said:
“I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd” (John 10:16).
To the Gentile believers, Paul wrote this:
“…Through Jesus we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord…” (Ephesians 2:19-21).
To those whose bodies are temples of God, Paul exhorts:
“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God.
“As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.’ Therefore, ‘Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.’ And, ‘I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.’ Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God” (2 Corinthians 6:14—7:2).
Brother Bill Oldham
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