The third temple will be built after the start of the millennium.
The Lord did not let David build the first temple because he was a man of war.
The Lord let David’s son, Solomon, build the temple in a time of peace.
Zerubbabel’s temple, the second temple, was built in a time of conflict.
Ezekiel’s Temple, the third temple, will be built in a time of peace.
What is now the Temple Mount and the Wailing Wall were not part of the second temple built by Zerubbabel.
This Roman facility known as the Haram is now called the Temple Mount. This facility was outside the limits of Jewish Jerusalem.
The Jews in Herod’s time held this Roman edifice in utter contempt.
Dr. Ernest Martin, author of ‘The Temple That Jerusalem Forgot’ wrote that before the 16th century, “There was not a Jew in the world who paid the slightest respect to that western Wailing Wall.”
Jesus told us the temple and all buildings pertaining to it would be thrown down.
Mark 13:1-2
1 “And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!”
2 “And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
Temple- Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance #2411- a sacred place, the entire precincts (whereas 3485 denotes the central sanctuary itself) of the temple (at Jerusalem or elsewhere)
Jesus told us that all Jerusalem would be destroyed.
Luke 19:41-44
41 “And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,”
42 “Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.”
43 “For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,”
44 “And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.”
Josephus wrote that Jerusalem was completely destroyed.
The future temple prophesied by Ezekiel will have water flowing out of the alter.
Ezekiel 47:1-5
1 “Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar.”
2 “Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side.”
3 “And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles.”
4 “Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins.”
5 “Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.”
The Temple Mount does not have a fresh water source.
The third temple will be built near the Gihon Spring not far from the Temple Mount.
The Gihon Spring is the only fresh water source Jerusalem has.
The temple mentioned in II Thessalonians 2:4 is not Ezekiel’s temple.
II Thessalonians 2:4, “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”
This temple is not the Ezekiel temple. It will not have been built at this time.
Jesus Christ Himself will build the Ezekiel temple at the start of the millennium.
God’s Church is His Spiritual temple. God’s Holy Spirit dwells in each true
Christian.
Each person with God’s Holy Spirit is a temple and the Church as a whole is God’s Spiritual temple which will be the Bride of Christ.
The Son of Perdition will sit in God’s Spiritual temple, the Church, not Ezekiel’s physical temple, showing himself that he is God.
The Son of Perdition of II Thessalonians 2:3-4 will sit in God’s Church proclaiming himself to be God.
In Revelation 11:1, the temple of God is God’s Spiritual temple, the Church.
Revelation 11:1, “And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.”
Jesus is telling us that His Spiritual temple, the Church, is complete.
Measure it.
The Church is complete, ready to go to the place of safety.
Revelation 12:14, “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.”
Jesus Christ Himself will build the third temple after His return.
In the days of the kings and after the exile, Judah’s government was ruled by a king over the nation’s political life and a High Priest over the nation’s religious life.
In Zachariah 6:9-15, the Lord tells Zachariah to make a crown and set it upon the head of the High Priest. The Lord was combining the two offices (a priest upon His throne).
Zachariah 6:9-15
9 “And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,”
10 “Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon, and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah;”
11 “Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest;”
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.”
14 “And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of the Lord.”
15 “And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord, and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God.”
God was telling Zachariah that the Branch (Jesus Christ) would come and rule as both King and Priest.
This man, whose name is the Branch, will build the third temple.
Jesus Christ, the Branch, will sit and rule on His throne.
The Ezekiel temple will have tables for animal sacrifices. Why?
The scriptures in Ezekiel about the third temple was for both the Israelite’s of that time and for later Christians.
Without God’s Holy Spirit the Israelite’s would not understand a temple without sin offerings.
Christians know that there will not be animal sacrifices for sin because Jesus died once for all.
Romans 6:10, “For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.”
Hebrews 9:12, “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.”
Hebrews 10:10, “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
Hebrews 10:18, “Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.”
There is no longer any need for animal sacrifices.
After the Great White Thrown Judgement, Holy Jerusalem will descend out of Heaven from God to the earth.
There will not be a temple in the new Jerusalem for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
Revelation 21:22, “And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.”