Why Another Temple?
If you travel to Jerusalem you can see implements built to Yahweh's exact specifications that are being prepared for the next Temple. There are exciting new developments. Only in the past decade have all of the gemstones on the High Priest's breastplate been positively identified. been identified and procured. Another difficulty was that the names of the 12 tribes had to be engraved on them without metal tools. In the past they had used an acid solution including an unidentified enzyme. The solution? Since the Bible doesn't forbid it, they are engraving them with laser! The blue thread for the corners of the garments (Numbers 15:38) had to be a particular shade of blue (represented in the Israeli flag). The dye came from a certain kind of snail that had not been seen for 2,000 years. But in only the past century, it has turned up again on Israel's shores!
Red heifers are being bred in the U.S., and by 1995 they succeeded in breeding the first one that would be acceptable if it did not have to be shipped to Israel. But it showed exactly what was needed. Many more have been bred since. We only await the right timing.
Children are being raised in a ritually pure environment so there will be someone to purify the high priest with the heifer's ashes when it is old enough to be slain on the Mt. of Olives. Of course, Israel needs to have the Temple Mount back in order to build the Temple, but there are some theories as to the former Temple's location that might allow for it to be built alongside the present Muslim shrines. Revelation 11 suggests that this might be the case, since the angel told John that the outer courts would be "trodden down by the nations" until the Great Tribulation ended. The sacrificial altar could be in use before the sanctuary is completed, as it was in Ezra 3:6. (In Jewish eschatological interpretation, Ecclesiastes 1:9, "What has been will be", is a key principle.)
But didn't Yahshua's finished work on the cross replace animal sacrifice? Aren't our bodies now the only Temple of Yahweh? And isn't the Church the Plan-B spiritual heir of His promises to Israel? Jesus did fulfill what the sacrifices pictured. But the blood of bulls and goats never did take away sin (Heb. 10:4). It was only a picture, yet by no means was it insignificant. When Moses struck the rock that represented Christ, he was barred from entering the Promised Land. Why was it that serious? Because he misrepresented something that pictured Christ, who was only to be smitten once (1 Cor. 10:4). He distorted a pure revelation about God. (Compare this with 1 Cor. 11:10; Eph. 3:10)
The Temple rituals are analogous. Hebrews 8:5 says that in some way the Temple was an exact replica of heaven. YahwehHimself gave Moses the pattern, so we must keep that in mind when we read passages like "I hate, I despise your festivals and sacrifices." He didn't mean they shouldn't be doing them! What was at issue was that their heart attitude didn't match their outward actions.
Strangely, many Scriptures that are used to denigrate the Temple services actually explain their value! Colossians 2 says to let no one judge us for celebrating holy days (those actually given by Yahweh), because they "are a shadow of things to come", and their substance belongs to the Messiah. Some translations interpolate "which were a shadow of things which were to come." That's not what the Greek says! Some of those festivals are yet to be fulfilled. A shadow shows the shape of something accurately; it's just that some people were trusting the shadows instead of the real thing for their salvation.
This is where Yahshua took issue with the Pharisees. It was their self-righteousness that He reprimanded. He actually agreed with most of what they taught. (Many of His teachings line up with the Pharisaical School of Hillel; the ideas He fought were usually those of Shammai, who put more fences around the Law than Yahweh intended.)
In fact, the historian Josephus records that Jesus' brother James, who believed in Him, at least after His resurrection, remained a leader of the Pharisees until his death. (When the high priest had him executed, it infuriated many Pharisees so much that they impeached him!) When some Jews accused Paul of slandering their traditions, he proved he'd never done anything against them (Acts 21:22ff). 29 years after Yahshua's resurrection, Paul still called himself a Pharisee (23:6). His actions here and in 24:17 are those of one who's taken a Nazirite vow (Numbers 6), including animal offerings. Ananias was "devout according to the law" in the eyes of all his Jewish neighbors (Acts 22:12).
So there was clearly no conflict between being a Torah-observant rabbi and a believer in Yahshua! The biggest dispute in the early Church was over whether non-Jews had to convert to Judaism in order to become followers of the Messiah. (Acts 15) Today it seems to go the other way as Jews are told to give up Jewish customs! But over and over Yahweh says He gave them these statutes "for all generations and forever" (Ex. 12; 27:21; Lev. 23; Num. 15, etc.). No wonder Jews see conversion to Christianity as treason. It is believers in Messiah who instead are grafted into Israel. (Romans 9-11).
Yahweh said that only if we could measure the heavens and the depths of the earth would He ever reject Israel. (Jer. 31:37) Not one stroke of a pen will be abolished from the Torah and prophets until all is fulfilled. (Matt. 5:17). Jesus accomplished all it took to guarantee that all would be fulfilled, but He has not yet fleshed it all out. The limited fulfillment that we do indeed enjoy today is hardly the fullness of His kingdom!
The "abomination of desolations" requires a Temple to be in place soon. (Rev. 12; Matt. 24:15.) Ezekiel 43ff describes how it'll be completed after Jesus returns, complete with animal sacrifices! All nations will be required to come worship there (Is. 2, 66; Zech. 14). It won't be done away with till there's a new earth (Rev. 21:22).
But why is a Temple needed with Yahshua Himself present? It seems odd, but it's in Scripture, so it must not be contradictory. It may be because children born to those who come to believe during the Great Tribulation (still having natural bodies, though the new environment will make things much easier) will still need to be taught about redemption. The Temple service was God's first way to instruct us about that need. Though it's already accomplished, it's natural that He'd use the same illustration again.
We live in a unique parenthetical time described in Yahshua's parable of the weeds and the wheat (Matt. 13:24-30). Judgment waits for the Lord to pronounce the grace period over. But end it will, and maybe very soon.
Since Jerusalem was regained in 1967, we seem to be in a reversal of the transitional period between the cross and the Temple's destruction in A.D. 70. The services went on, but the scarlet cord on the scapegoat's horn stopped miraculously turning white (Isa. 1:18), and the Temple doors stopped opening of their own accord "40 years before the Temple was destroyed".
Yahweh may have a few finishing touches to put on the "times of the Gentiles", but the many abuses of His patience today should warn us that the Age of Grace has all but run its course. The miracles that have occurred to facilitate preparations for the Temple, the quantum leap in Jews responding to the Gospel since 1967, and the many Gentile believers returning to an understanding of Jewish ways (Zech. 8:23), harbinger the age when the Messiah will rule all nations from Jerusalem. Will you feel at home with that? Start now to learn how!