The Third Temple

“They are to rebuild it on its former site.” Ezra 6:7

The history of the Jewish Temple is full of drama. The whole city of Jerusalem along with the first Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar II and the people were exiled to Babylon in 587 or 586 BC. Then King Cyrus of Persia allowed the captive Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. This is the story in the Book of Ezra, about how the work on the Temple began and was finished. Herod the Great remodelled and expanded the Temple area. This is the same Temple where Jesus preached at twelve years old, and later drove out the money lenders and vendors, overturning their tables in anger. 

Jesus also prophesied in Matthew 24:1-2, “You see all of these things, do you not? Truly I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” In A.D.70, the Romans sacked the city of Jerusalem, but traditionally, the Jews believe that the Wailing Wall that still stands near the Temple Mount was part of Herod’s Temple. They pray there, and consider it the holiest site in the Jewish faith. 

After listening to many videos of archaeologists and Biblical scholars who cite not only the Bible but ancient historians, I know there is a possibility that the Temple Mount where the Dome of the Rock is, may not be where Solomon’s and Herod’s Temple were originally built. Instead it may be the location of the Antonia Fortress for the Roman forces protecting Jerusalem. The real location of the Jewish Temple may be near the Gihon Spring, in the City of David. The implications of this is immense. Hopefully, more archaeological discoveries will come to light and prove this so the Third Temple can be built by the Jews. 

For us Christians, we do not need to wait for the third Temple because St. Paul revealed, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?”