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4.16 - Temple of God

1. The Problem - Man has fallen irretrievably into sin and is unable to abide in the presence of a Holy God. His communion with God is severed.
2. The Solution - The Perfect Man, the God-man Jesus Christ, did what no other man could. He paid the penalty of imperfect men to restore communion between man and God. When sinful men rely upon His sacrifice of atonement on their behalf, they now appear before God clothed in His righteousness. Communion with God is reestablished and, eventually, consummated.

4.16.1 - Hide and Seek

4.16.2 - The Abiding Presence of God

the Shechinah Glory is the visible manifestation of the presence of God. It is the majestic presence or manifestation of God in which He descends to dwell among men. Whenever the invisible God becomes visible, and whenever the omnipresence of God is localized, this is the Shechinah Glory. The usual title found in Scriptures for the Shechinah Glory is the glory of Jehovah, or the glory of the Lord. The Hebrew form is Kvod Adonai, which means ‘the glory of Jehovah’ and describes what the Shechinah Glory is. The Greek title, Doxa Kurion, is translated as ‘the glory of the Lord.’ Doxa means ‘brightness,’ ‘brilliance,’ or ‘splendor,’ and it depicts how the Shechinah Glory appears. Other titles give it the sense of ‘dwelling,’ which portrays what the Shechinah Glory does. The Hebrew word Shechinah, from the root shachan, means ‘to dwell.’ The Greek word skeinei, which is similar in sound as the Hebrew Shechinah (Greek has no ‘sh’ sound), means ‘to tabernacle.’. . . In the Old Testament, most of these visible manifestations took the form of light, fire, or cloud, or a combination of these. A new form appears in the New Testament: the Incarnate Word [John 1:14]. ⁷

Σκηνή [Skēnē] was the word used by the translators of the Septuagint for the Hebrew מִשְׁכָּן [mishkkān] , “tabernacle” (Ex. 25:9). During Israel’s pilgrimage from Egypt to Canaan the tabernacle was the place of worship for the people. The tabernacle or tent in the wilderness was the “tent of Jehovah,” Himself a pilgrim among His pilgrim people. In sound and meaning σκηνόω [skēnoō] recalls the Hebrew verb שָׁכַּן [shākkan] meaning “to dwell,” which is sometimes used of God’s dwelling with Israel (Ex. 25:8; 29:46). In postbiblical Hebrew the Jews used the term שְׁכִינָה [sh^ekînāh] (“Shekinah,” literally, “presence”) of the bright cloud of the presence of God that settled on the tabernacle. The Shekinah glory was nothing less than the visible manifestation of God.⁸

• Illuminated the earth prior to the creation of the sun and moon (Gen. 1:3, 14).
• Walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden (Gen. 3:8).
• Ratified the Abrahamic covenant while Abraham slept (Gen. 15:17).
• Descended upon Mount Sinai at the giving of the law (Ex. 19:18; 24:15-16; 33:18-23; 34:5-6).
• Filled the Tabernacle in the wilderness (Ex. 40:34).
• Filled Solomon’s Temple upon its dedication (1K. 8:10-11; 2Chr. 7:1).
• Left Solomon’s Temple due to Israel’s sin (Eze. 8:4-6; 9:3; 10:4, 18-19; 11:22-23). The Temple is left unprotected.
• Returned to the Second Temple in the form of the incarnation of Messiah Jesus (Mtt. 12:6; 21:12; John 1:14; 2:15).
• Left the Second Temple desolate upon the departure of Jesus (Mtt. 23:38; 24:2; Luke 13:35; 21:6). The Temple is left unprotected.
• Appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mtt. 17:2; Mark 9:2; Luke 9:29).
• Appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3; 22:11; 26:13; 1Ti. 6:16).
• Will return to the Millennial Temple (Isa. 60:3; Eze. 43:2-4).
• Illuminates the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:23+; 22:5+).

The mountain which is so clearly defined and located in this prophecy [Zec. 14:4] is already associated with many events and crises in Israel‘s history. . . it was from this mountain, which is before Jerusalem on the east, that the prophet Ezekiel saw the glory of Jehovah finally taking its departure. It was from this mountain also that He, who was not only the symbol, but the living personal revelation of the glory of Jehovah, finally took His departure from the land, after He had been rejected by the nation. He led His handful of disciples out as far as Bethany (on the Mount of Olives), and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. ’And it came to pass while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up to heaven’ [Luke 24:50-51; Acts 1;9]; since then a still darker era in the long Ichabod period of Israel‘s history commenced. . . . And what is this but a prophecy in symbolic language of the same event which the heavenly messengers announced to the men of Galilee [Acts 1:9-11]. We love to think that this same mountain on which He once shed tears of sorrow over Jerusalem, the slope of which witnessed His agony and bloody sweat, shall be the first also to witness His manifestation in glory; and that His blessed feet, which in the days of His flesh walked wearily over this mountain on the way to Bethany shall, ’in that day,’ be planted here in triumph and majesty.¹²

4.16.3 - The Temple Mount

Temple Mount with Dome of the Rock

¹³

1. Abraham Offers Isaac - It was here where Abraham’s faith was tested when God instructed him to offer up his son Isaac in sacrifice (Gen. 22). See Abraham Offers Isaac.
2. Site of Solomon’s Temple - In 990 B.C., King David was instructed by God to erect an altar on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite which occupied this site. David purchased the land which later became the site of Solomon’s Temple (2S. 24:18-25; 1Chr. 21:18-26; 2Chr. 3:1).
3. The Crucifixion of Jesus - On the very mountain where Abraham was asked to sacrifice his “only son” (Gen. 22:2, 12), God sacrificed His only Son.¹⁵

Therefore [the sacrifice of Isaac took] place nowhere else than on “Moriah,” the mount where “God is seen” (Gen. 22:14), where later the Temple stood (2Chr. 3:1), where upon the altar of burnt offering all the sacrifices which pointed to Christ would be brought, and where in the death hour on Golgotha the veil between the holy and all-holy places would be rent (Mark 15:38).¹⁷

4.16.3.1 - Abraham Offers Isaac

4.16.4 - A Heavenly Pattern

4.16.5 - The Temples of History

4.16.5.1 - Garden of Eden

• Eastern Entry - To return back into God’s Holy presence in the Garden, Adam and Eve would have had to return from the east toward the west. And this is exactly what we see in the pattern of the Tabernacle and Temple, both of which are entered on the east and which have the holiest place at the western extremity where the very presence of God abides.
• Guarding Cherubim - In the same way that cherubim separated man from the tree of life in the Garden, so too the veils on the east end of the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies contain depictions of cherubim (Ex. 26:31; 36:8, 35; 2Chr. 3:14). The Ark of God within the Holy of Holies, above which God’s Shekinah glory dwelt, was overspread by cherubim (Ex. 25:22; Num. 7:89; 2Chr. 5:7).
• Flames - The cherubim guarded the way back to the tree of life, but also to the divine presence, with a “flaming sword” (Gen. 3:24). Just outside each veil of separation in the Temple is found an altar upon which fire is found. The priest must pass by the bronze altar of sacrifice before entering the Holy Place, whereas the altar of incense stood before the veil into the Holy of Holies. The fire speaks of purification and judgment of sin.
• River - A river flowed from the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:10). The Temple contained a bronze laver with water for cleansing. The Millennial Temple is the source of a river of life (Eze. 47:1). So too the New Jerusalem has a river of life (Rev. 22:1+).
• Mountain - Since a river originated in Eden and flowed outward from there, we may safely assume that the Garden was elevated above the surrounding countryside. As we have seen, the Temple stood on a mountain (Mount Moriah). The Millennial Temple will stand upon the “mountain of the LORD’S house” (Isa. 2:2; 27:13; 30:29; 56:7; Eze. 17:24; 20:40; 40:2; Mic. 4:1) as will the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:10+).
• Tree of Life - When man fell in the Garden, he lost access to the tree of life by which he would obtain eternal life (Gen. 2:9; 3:22). The testimony of the law of Moses was stored with the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies within the Temple. When Moses reviewed the law to the new generation about to cross the Jordan, he said “Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today . . . observe-all the words of this law. . . . because it is your life, and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land” (Deu. 32:46). Thus, the words of the law within the Holy of Holies represent the way of life. This is what Stephen referred to as “the living oracles” (Acts 7:38). John recognized the life-giving power of God’s word when he said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” [emphasis added] (John 6:68). Thus, the Tree of Life in the Garden is represented by God’s word recorded in the Holy of Holies of the Temple.²⁵ The Tree of Life in our own age, when no recognized Temple stands on the Temple Mount, is the cross of Christ. Those who embrace it regain access to eternal life.

The arrangement of the Garden of Eden’s landscape corresponds to that of the Tabernacle and the Temple with its furniture. Eastward movement (out of the Garden) is away from God’s presence; westward movement (through the Sanctuary) is a return [to] God. On the Day of Atonement the high priest reverses the peoples spiritual exile from God and restores them to a relationship with God (through blood sacrifice for sin). [emphasis added]²⁶

4.16.5.2 - Tabernacle in the Wilderness

4.16.5.3 - Solomon’s Temple

Five events of national tragedy have been associated with this date. The first of these national tragedies, and the supposed cause of all that followed, was the failure of the Israelites to enter the Promised Land under Moses [Num. 14:23]. . . oral tradition recounts that this lamentation took place on the Ninth of Av. . . The next four events occurring on the Ninth of Av all relate to the Temple. The second and third disasters involve Solomon’s first Temple and Herod’s second Temple, which were both destroyed on the same day 656 years apart. The last two disasters occurred 65 years later on the same day (A.D. 135). The first of these was the defeat of the army of Bar Kokhba at Betar. The second followed as a consequence of the first. It was the plowing of the site of the Temple Mount by the Roman governor of Judea, Tineius Rufus.³⁰

4.16.5.4 - Second Temple

(1) In the first year of the reign of Cyrus, which was the seventieth from the day that our people were removed out of their own land into Babylon, God commiserated the captivity and calamity of these poor people, according as he had foretold to them by Jeremiah the prophet, before the destruction of the city, (2) that after they has served Nebuchadnezzar and his posterity, and after they had undergone that servitude seventy years, he would restore them again to the land of their fathers, and they should build their temple, and enjoy their ancient prosperity; and these things God did afford them; (3) for he stirred up the mind of Cyrus, and made him write this throughout all Asia: “Thus saith Cyrus the King:—Since God Almighty hath appointed me to be king of the habitable earth, I believe that he is that God which the nation of the Israelites worship; (4) for indeed he foretold my name by the prophets; and that I should build him a house at Jerusalem, in the country of Judea.” 2. (5) This was known to Cyrus by his reading the book which Isaiah left behind him of his prophecies; for this prophet said that God had spoken thus to him in a secret vision: “My will is, that Cyrus, whom I have appointed to be king over many and great nations, send back my people to their own land, and build my temple.” (6) This was foretold by Isaiah one hundred and forty years before the temple was demolished. Accordingly, when Cyrus read this, and admired the divine power, an earnest desire and ambition seized upon him to fulfill what was so written; so he called for the most eminent Jews that were in Babylon, and said to them, that he gave them leave to go back to their own country, and to rebuild their city Jerusalem, and the temple of God, (7) for that he would be their assistant, and that he would write to the rulers and governors that were in the neighborhood of their country of Judea, that they should contribute to them gold and silver for the building of the temple, and, beside that, beasts for their sacrifices. 3. (8) When Cyrus had said this to the Israelites, the rulers of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with the Levites and priests, went in haste to Jerusalem, yet did many of them stay at Babylon, as not willing to leave their possessions; (9) and when they were come thither, all the king’s friends assisted them, and brought in, for the building of the temple, some gold, and some silver, and some a great many cattle and horses. So they performed their vows to God, and offered the sacrifices that had been accustomed of old time; I mean this upon the rebuilding of their city, and the revival of the ancient practices relating to their worship. (10) Cyrus also sent back to them the vessels of God which king Nebuchadnezzar had pillaged out of the temple, and carried to Babylon.³¹

Temple sacrifices were renewed on the first day of the month of Tishri 538 B.C.E. at a festival known as the Feast of Trumpets. . . Seven months later, work began on building the Second Temple itself, using cedarwood ordered from Lebanon.} . . . The king’s treasury even helped to finance the cost of the rebuilding of the ruined Temple, which was finally completed on the 3rd of Adar (February-March) 515 B.C.E.³³

Since these verses [Eze. 43:1-7] on the return and restoration of God‘s glory to the new Temple are one of the strongest evidences for the eschatological interpretation of chapters 40-48, it is important to give closer attention to this event. Nowhere in Scripture nor in extrabiblical Jewish literature is it stated that the divine presence filled the Second Temple as it did the Tabernacle (Ex. 40:34-35) and the First Temple (1K. 8:10-11; 2Chr. 5:13-14; 2Chr. 7:13). Rather, Jewish sources made a point of its absence (see Tosefta Yom Tov) and relegated such a hope to the eschatological period known as ’the period of the restoration of all things’ (Acts 3:21).³⁴

Antiochus further desecrated the Temple by sacrificing an unclean animal (a pig) on the Temple altar and by erecting a statue of Zeus Olympians in the Holy of Holies in 168 B.C. This action had been predicted by the prophet Daniel (Dan. 8:23-25; Dan. 11:21-35) and served as a partial fulfillment of the type of desecration the Temple would one day suffer under the Antichrist (Dan. 7:24-26; Dan. 9:24-27; Dan. 11:36-45).³⁵

Not only did [Pompey] enter the Holy Place, but he also tore away its veil of separation and marched into the Holy of Holies itself. A record of the event was preserved by the Roman historian Tacitus: ‘By right of conquest he entered their Temple. It is a fact well known, that he found no image, no statue, no symbolical representation of the Deity: the whole presented a naked dome; the sanctuary was unadorned and simple.’³⁸

Josephus (Jewish Wars 6:293-96) noted that at the time of the Passover c. A.D. 66, as the Roman siege was about to begin, the huge Nicanor gate that secured the inner court of the Eastern (Shushan) Gate was observed at the sixth hour to open of its own accord. This event was ultimately interpreted negatively as evidence of divine displeasure. . .This interpretation is also given in a story told in the Babylonian Talmud (Yoma 39b), along with another concerning the Temple service, which reflected the problem of divine favor: “Our Rabbis taught: During the last forty years before the destruction of the Temple the lot ‘for the Lord’ did not come up in the right hand; nor did the crimson-colored string [suspended in the Temple to show the acceptance of the pascal sacrifice] become white; nor did the western-most light shine; and the doors of the Temple would open by themselves, until R. Yohanon b. [ben] Zakkai rebuked them, saying: ‘Temple, Temple why will you yourself be the alarmer? I know about you that you will be destroyed, for Zechariah b. [ben] Ido has already prophesied concerning you: “Open your door, O” Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars’ ”⁴²

4.16.5.5 - Temple of the Believer

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Heb. 10:19-22) [emphasis added]

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb. 4:16) [emphasis added]

To the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. (Eph. 3:10-12) [emphasis added]

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:37-39) [emphasis added]

And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. (John 14:16-18) [emphasis added]

Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. (John 16:7) [emphasis added]

1. The Holy Spirit would not just be with the disciples, but permanently in them.
2. The Holy Spirit could not come in the way Jesus promised until Jesus was glorified.
3. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. With the indwelling Spirit would be the indwelling Christ.
4. The Holy Spirit would reside within each believer in much the same way as the Shekinah glory dwelt within the Tabernacle and Temple. (See The Abiding Presence of God.)

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? (1Cor. 6:19) [emphasis added]

And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “ I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” (2Cor. 6:16) [emphasis added]

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit . (Eph 2:19-22) [emphasis added]

4.16.5.5.1 - What about the Physical Temple?

1. The Early Church and the Temple - The early church did not abandon the Temple, but continued to treat it as an important institution associated with God. This is seen immediately after Jesus‘ascension: “Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen” [emphasis added] (Luke 24:51-53). This pattern continued far beyond the coming of the Spirit on Pentecost and is especially evident in the life of Paul who: (1) observed feasts regulated by the Temple (Acts 20:6); 2) fulfilled a religious Nazirite vow (Acts 18:18); 3) participated in purification rites, even sponsoring four proselytes (Acts 21:22-26; Acts 24:16); 4) offered sacrifices at the Temple (Acts 21:26; Acts 24:17); 5) prayed and worshiped at the Temple (Acts 22:17; Acts 24:11); 6) respected the Temple priesthood (Acts 23:5); 7) paid the Temple tax (Acts 24:17); (8) professed ceremonial purity (Acts 24:18); (9) and was careful not to violate customs of “our fathers” (Acts 28:17). These would be strange activities indeed if the Temple had lost all significance after the Day of Pentecost. When Paul discusses the desecration of the Temple by the Antichrist, how could he consider this act by the man of sin to be blasphemous and describe its location as “the temple of God” (2Th. 2:3-4) if all interest by God in the Temple disappeared with the Day of Pentecost?⁴⁸ It would seem that this early Christian rabbi understood something beyond the simplistic view that, with the cross of Jesus, God had forever made an end to the concept of “God’s House” on Mount Moriah.
2. The Millennial Temple - Ezekiel was given a highly detailed vision of a Temple unlike any which have ever existed in history. The details of this Temple go far beyond anything which can be explained as mere symbolism. It can only be a literal Temple of the future. Ezekiel and several other prophets indicate there will be sacrifices for atonement offered at this Temple. See Millennial Temple and Millennial Sacrifices.

The “Branch,” as set forth by the prophet in [Zec. 6], Messiah, the true Son of David, shall not only be the real builder of the future literal Temple, which through the millennial period shall be the centre of the true worship of Jehovah on this earth, and the House of Prayer for all nations; but also of the much more glorious mystical Building, which through eternity shall be for the habitation of God through the Spirit. Of this spiritual Temple He is Himself the “sure Foundation,” the previous Corner-stone and Head-stone of the Corner, as well as the Master Builder. Nineteen centuries ago, in His life and suffering, death of atonement, and glorious resurrection, the foundation of that Temple was laid.⁴⁹

4.16.5.6 - Bar Kochba’s Temple

1. A passage in the Sibylline Oracles (5:414-417, 420-422) may suggest this possibility.
2. A Midrash (Exodus Rabbah 51:5) indicates that Hadrian entered the Holy of Holies which would not have been possible without a rebuilt temple.
3. The seventh-century Byzantine historian known as Chronicum Paschale records that “Hadrian tore down the Temple of the Jews in Jerusalem” in his History of the Jews.
4. A fourth-century Roman emperor Julian in his Fragment of a Letter to a Priest, in A.D. 362 records: “What have they [the Jews] to say about their own temple, which was overthrown three times and even now is not being raised up again?” [emphasis added]
5. Coins minted by Bar Kokhba bear an image of the Holy Temple—an unusual practice for Jews if the Temple had not existed.
6. Evidence of the resumption of the sacrificial system (Sanhedrin 11b) following the Second Temple’s destruction.
7. Archaeological measurements of the elevated platform upon which the Dome of the Rock are said to indicate dimensions commensurate with the Messianic Temple of Ezekiel rather than the dimensions of the second Temple. Since Bar Kokhba was proclaimed as Messiah and Messiah was expected to build Ezekiel’s Temple, then perhaps the platform is the remains of the Temple of Bar Kokhba.

4.16.5.7 - Julian’s Temple