The Temple

The Temple in Jerusalem was the one sanctuary where God's presence dwelt among Israel and sacrifice was offered — foreshadowing both the body of Christ, "the temple" He raises in three days, and the Church.

Overview

  • The Temple was the single central sanctuary of Israel in Jerusalem, the successor to the wilderness Tabernacle, where God's glory dwelt and the sacrifices of the Law were offered.
  • First built by Solomon, destroyed by Babylon, rebuilt after the exile, defiled and rededicated in the Maccabean Revolt, and grandly enlarged by Herod, it was finally destroyed by Rome in AD 70.
  • The New Testament reads the Temple as fulfilled in Christ: His own body is "the temple" He raises up (John 2.19-21), and the Church and the Christian become the dwelling of God's Spirit.

Summary

The Jerusalem Temple was the heart of Israel's worship — the one place where sacrifice could be offered and where the presence (the Shekinah glory) of God dwelt above the Ark in the Holy of Holies. Solomon's Temple stood until the Babylonians burned it in 586 BC; a Second Temple was built by the returning exiles, desecrated by Antiochus IV and cleansed in the Maccabean Revolt, and later rebuilt on a magnificent scale by Herod the Great — the Temple Jesus knew, taught in, and cleansed, and whose coming destruction (AD 70) He foretold. The whole Temple system — priesthood, sacrifice, feasts — the Church reads as a shadow fulfilled in Christ (see Fulfillment of The Law): He calls His own body "this temple" that will rise in three days (John 2.19-21), the veil is torn at His death, and St. Paul calls the Church and the believer the very temple of the Holy Spirit. Cross-link The Tabernacle, Fulfillment of The Law, Tearing of the Veil, Maccabean Revolt.

Sources

[^1]: John 2.19-21 (WEB) — "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. he spoke of the temple of his body.". [^2]: 1 Kings 6–8 (Solomon's Temple), the Maccabean Revolt (its desecration and rededication), and the New Testament's reading of the Temple as fulfilled in Christ and His Church.