There are five temples mentioned in Scripture.
The FIRST is the Temple of Solomon, built on Mount Moriah, connected with
Israel in the land, a type of all the redeemed who have part in the first
resurrection - not alone the saints of the present dispensation, but including
all from Adam and Eve and Abel, on to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
our gathering together to Him, the true King of kings. The Temple of Solomon,
because of the transgression of the children of Israel, was given over into the
hands of their enemies. It was destroyed by the Chaldeans because Israel had
defiled it, and the holy vessels were carried away to Babylon.
The SECOND is the Temple of Ezra. When Israel had completed the seventy years
of captivity, God in fulfilment of His promise, stirred up Cyrus to give
commandment for the rebuilding of the Temple on its ancient site (Ezra 1. 6),
God using His prophets Haggai and Zechariah to strengthen the hands of the
children of Israel who returned from the Babylonish captivity. Though this
temple was inferior to that of Solomon, it was built on the same site, and God
was pleased to own it with the manifestations of His presence.
The THIRD Temple was that of Herod the Great, the Idumean king, which was
forty-six years in building; and whilst, no doubt, it retained some portions of
the original structure, it differed from both Solomon's and Ezra's, especially
in the arrangement of the courts. From the account given by Josephus, it seems
to have been larger than Solomon's, and was built according to his own taste,
much being added. There were added the Court of the Gentiles and the Court of
the Women, of which the Word of God says nothing. This is the Temple which was
in existence when our Lord was upon earth. There is much confusion in the minds
of some as to the place where our Lord and His disciples worshipped. They could
not enter the Courts of the Priests or draw near to the altar. When we read of
the Lord and His disciples going up to the Temple, we are not to suppose that
they entered beyond the exterior courts. The Holy Ghost has employed two
distinct words in the original Greek of the New Testament in speaking of the
Temple : one is Hieron (from hieros, sacred or priestly), which
refers to the whole Temple, its courts and other buildings - the external
structure. The other word, Naos (from nais, to dwell) signifies
the inner building, embracing the porch, the holy and most holy places - the
sanctuary. It was into the external courts our Lord went, for, not being of the
tribe of Levi, He could not enter the inner Temple. "Christ is not entered
into holy places made with hands" (Heb. 9. 24). Into the holy place the
priests entered to trim the lamps in the morning and light them in the evening;
to burn incense, morning and evening, on the golden altar; and to arrange, once
a week, the shewbread on the tables. Consequently, Zacharias (Luke 1. 8 - 10)
was alone in the Temple, while the people prayed without, at time of
incense.
This Temple of Herod was destroyed by the Roman army under Titus, Anno Domini
70. The destruction was foretold by our Lord Himself when He said to His
disciples that not one stone should be left upon another (Matt. 24. 1, 2). It
had also been foretold by the Spirit of God through the prophet Daniel in that
wondrous vision of the seventy weeks of years (Dan. 9. 24 - 27). The Jews
reckoned years by periods of weeks (from shebang, seven) as well as
days. In Dan. 10. 2 it is weeks of days. The angel Gabriel informed Daniel,
"Seventy weeks (of years) are determined (cut out) upon thy people and
upon thy holy city." These seventy weeks commenced "from the going
forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem" (Neh. 2.) - from
the date of that commandment from Artaxerxes "unto Messiah the
Prince" (not the Sacrifice, thus taking in the whole period) "shall
be seven weeks" (that is, forty - nine years), during which the wall and
the street shall be built "in troublous times." After the
"threescore and two weeks" (making up, with the previous seven weeks,
sixty-nine weeks - four hundred and eighty-three years) "shall Messiah be
cut off," mark "but not for Himself " - literally, "and
nothing to Him," or, as some render it "He shall have nothing."
Thus sixty-nine weeks are accounted for. The seventieth week is in abeyance.
The present dispensation fills up the gap - that period during which Israel is
in rejection because she rejected the Messiah - a time of mercy to the
Gentiles, for God is taking out of them a people for His name, and a remnant of
Israel according to the election of grace. As Daniel foretold, after the
cutting off of Messiah, "the people of the prince that shall come shall
destroy the city and the sanctuary." The "prince that shall
come" is Antichrist, the Lawless One, the Man of Sin, the head of the
Roman Empire in its final form. The Romans were "the people of the
prince." The cutting off of Messiah was to be a preliminary fact to the
destruction of the city and Temple. All this has come to pass as God had
said.
Now we come to the FOURTH Temple mentioned in the Sacred Scriptures. Read
Daniel 9.26,27; 12, 11; Matt. 24. 15 - 22; 2 Thess. 2. 1 - 8; Rev. 11. 1, 2.
Our Lord says Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles till the times of
the Gentiles are fulfilled (Luke 21. 24). Israel has been carried away and
scattered among the nations. There is no temple of God, no earthly house in
which He has placed His name now, but, in order that the Word of God may be
fulfilled, there will be a temple on earth called by His name in which the
Antichrist will appear. At the time of the end the prince shall come, of whom
our Lord foretells, "Another shall come in his own name; him ye will
receive." When he comes he will make a covenant with the Jews of "one
week" (seven years). Here we get the missing week of years, thus
completing the seventy. The prince, the head of the Roman Empire, in the midst
of the week, according to another prophecy, breaks the covenant, and takes away
the daily sacrifice. The "abomination of desolation" is to be set up
in the Holy Place, as we read in 2 Thessalonians 2. 4, "He as God sitteth
in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." The moment that
sign appears, the Lord warns His people to flee, and in His tender grace to
pray that their flight may not be in the winter nor on the Sabbath Day. There
must be a temple of God (Rev. 11.) in which Antichrist is to show himself thus,
an altar recognised as an "altar of God," a daily sacrifice which can
be taken away, a Sabbath Day observed. Thus we have the last week of Daniel
divided into two portions, three and a half years from the time the covenant
begins until the taking away of the daily sacrifice. Then comes the time of
great tribulation (Matt. 24. 21).
The Mosque of Omar or "Dome of the Rock" stands on that marble
platform which was the firm foundation of the former temples, on the spot which
David bought of Araunah the Jebusite, and where Abraham offered up his son
Isaac. For centuries it has been kept sacred in the hands of the Mohammedans,
and thus preserved from the idolatries of the Romish and the Greek Church.
The FIFTH will be the Millennial Temple, as fully described in the last nine
chapters of the Prophet Ezekiel. It will be built in the land of Israel during
the millennial period, and will be the centre of worship for Israel and all the
inhabitants of the earth. According to Isaiah 66. 23, and 56. 7, "My house
shall be called a house of prayer for all nations." "All nations
shall flow into it" (Isaiah 2. 2). This temple will be erected in the
midst of the priests' portion of the holy oblation (Ezekiel 14. 1 - 5).