Part 8 The Millennium New Heaven & New Earth
The Fourth (Millennial) Temple
As we can see, the fourth temple described at great length along several chapters in Ezekiel will be massive compared to any other. The fourth temple described in Ezekiel is disputed. We could spend a good deal of time arguing the point and regurgitating the well-mustered case presented so well by many. My question is simple, but an answer to dispute Ezekiel's Temple would not be. In my experience, answers that run contrary to a literal translation typically run in several convoluted directions at once to explain away the passages in question and typically, again, land on Symbolism.
Symbolism is the magic wand of the lazy.
Like a bad fantasy story, the hero or heroine gets into trouble, they just pick up the magic wand and wave it. Problem solved. But that's fantasy. In our real world I have to ask what examples do we have in Scripture where the Lord describes a thing for several chapters in excruciating detail that somehow becomes nullified later on. If one can think of such an example we'd love to hear it.
The Third Temple is supposed to be placed on the same spot of ground as the First and Second Temples because of the Jewish concept of zones of holiness on the Lord's sacred mountain. Jesus spoke of the Third Temple building in Jerusalem when discussing with his disciples the chain of events that would bring the close of the present age and his return. He spoke of an event yet future predicted by Daniel the prophet when the temple in Jerusalem would suffer ultimate defilement by a false Messiah who claimed to be God:
“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. 18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. 19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.” − Matthew 24:15-21
Since only a properly consecrated temple can be defiled, this passage implies a functioning, dedicated Third Temple and priesthood in existence in the end time, at the time Jesus said he would return. The apostle Paul, writing a few years later, describes this same event:
Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
−2 Thessalonians 2:1-4
The coming false Jewish messiah, a type, resembling his predecessor Antiochus Epiphanes (~175 BC), is the "worthless shepherd" spoken of by the prophet Zechariah - and the man Jesus spoke of when he said to the Jews, "I have come in my Father's name and you would not receive me. Another will come in his own name, him you will receive." (John 5:43) (See also Daniel 9:27, Revelation 13:18) Finally, the existence of the Third Temple in Jerusalem at the close of the age is confirmed by the aged apostle John when he recorded the Book of the Revelation:
Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. 2 But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.” −Revelation 11:1-2
In contrast to the earthly city, the Book of the Revelation, the last book of the New Testament, describes the heavenly city New Jerusalem, descending from space, as a massive cube city which contains no temple at all:
But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. –Revelation 21:22, 23
Evidently the Third Temple during the tribulation has a limited life time and use towards the close of the present age. Probably it will be destroyed in the "great earthquake" which is described by Ezekiel and in the Revelation as shaking Jerusalem just prior to the second coming of Jesus Christ. In fact, at the time all "the cities of the nations will fall." (Rev. 16:19).
Most Bible scholars agree that the end time tribulation period, Daniel's Seventieth Week, encompasses just seven years. So it seems safe to say that the Third Temple may be built and destroyed quickly. First, the man of perdition we call Antichrist will be the one to enforce the covenant to build the temple. He wastes little time after its construction to prop himself up in it, for Revelation 11-13 marks the mid-point of this Time of Jacob’s (Israel’s) Trouble. So it will be standing less than 3.5 years before it is desecrated.
A rabbinical school (or yeshiva) for the training of the priests for this temple is presently in existence in the Old City. Sacred vessels and priestly garments have been prepared. Cedar from Lebanon captured in the north during the war there in 1982 has been placed in storage for the next temple. Thus there has been considerable preparation for the Third Temple by the religious Jews of modern Jerusalem. Both the Askenazi and Sephardic Chief Rabbis of Jerusalem agree that such a temple will be built as soon as circumstances permit.
The original location of Solomon's Temple is in dispute. There is a favored northern location, and a popular location more southerly over the El Kaz fountain, which would leave the Dome of the Rock in place that is low enough to account for Biblical descriptions of an aqueduct. Of late are discussions under way to open the Temple Mount Fridays for the Muslims, Saturday for the Jews, then Sunday for the Christians.
Still more recent, and fascinating, is research compiled by Bob Cornuke (2014) in his book, Temple, that places Solomon's Temple completely off the so-called Temple Mount entirely and a quarter mile to the south of it in the City of David where the original land was purchased and the location of the Threshing Floor. Among several other attractive reasons include that Jesus said the temple of his day would be destroyed leaving no stone on top of the other. So where does this wailing wall come from? Good point.
Regardless, this next temple will not be a temple recognized by the Lord. It is to be built for all the wrong reasons. The Jews are still looking for the Messiah they missed. The sacrifice is complete in Jesus Christ. He was the Lamb without spot. Therefore, the location of the tribulation era temple is not critical. It is said that Ezekiel's Temple, however, will be built as a memorial to our Savior and his sacrifice for us. Massive in size, it will be a place of remembrance and honor of the King.
Let's look at the potential for this fourth Temple built in Israel. The prophet Zechariah (ca. 500 BC) says that Messiah, whom he calls the "Branch" will yet build a temple in Israel:
“Behold, the Man whose name is the BRANCH! From His place He shall branch out, And He shall build the temple of the Lord; 13 Yes, He shall build the temple of the Lord. He shall bear the glory, And shall sit and rule on His throne; So He shall be a priest on His throne, And the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”’ –Zechariah 6:13
Notice it does not say, “He might build the temple.” Since orthodox Christians hold to a literal, physical return of Jesus, the construction of the Fourth Temple, they believe, would thus be the responsibility of their Lord, whom they believe to be Yeshua Ha Maschiah (Jesus the Messiah). This temple may well be that seen by Ezekiel (ca. 570 BC) in a vision. A temple that matches his description has never yet been built. Moreover, the Fourth Temple will evidently not be built at Jerusalem but some say possibly at Shiloh to the North. As previously noted, recent evidence indicates Zion, the City of David, is where the historic Threshing Floor was, about a quarter mile south of the so-called Temple Mount.
1 “Moreover, when you divide the land by lot into inheritance, you shall set apart a district for the Lord, a holy section of the land; its length shall be twenty-five thousand cubits, and the width ten thousand. It shall be holy throughout its territory all around. 2 Of this there shall be a square plot for the sanctuary, five hundred by five hundred rods, with fifty cubits around it for an open space. 3 So this is the district you shall measure: twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide; in it shall be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. 4 It shall be a holy section of the land, belonging to the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to minister to the Lord; it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. 5 An area twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide shall belong to the Levites, the ministers of the temple; they shall have twenty chambers as a possession. 6 “You shall appoint as the property of the city an area five thousand cubits wide and twenty-five thousand long, adjacent to the district of the holy section; it shall belong to the whole house of Israel. 7 “The prince shall have a section on one side and the other of the holy district and the city’s property; and bordering on the holy district and the city’s property, extending westward on the west side and eastward on the east side, the length shall be side by side with one of the tribal portions, from the west border to the east border. 8 The land shall be his possession in Israel; and My princes shall no more oppress My people, but they shall give the rest of the land to the house of Israel, according to their tribes.” –Ezekiel 45:1-8
And also,
Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar. 2 He brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me around on the outside to the outer gateway that faces east; and there was water, running out on the right side. –Ezekiel 47:1, 2
According to many Bible scholars, the fourth or "millennial temple" (Ezekiel 40-48), will be for a memorial, a teaching center to instruct men about the holiness of God and proper worship. As sinful men and women continue to be born into the world in the Millennium, the temple is supposed to remind everyone of the substitionary death of Jesus on the cross, as the "Lamb of God," some two thousand years and more, earlier. Further, according to the dimension provided in Ezekiel, this fourth temple will easily be able to accommodate two million people!
But we digress. The point of all this is to show that at best, the 3rd Temple becomes desecrated by the abomination of Antichrist and thus unusable. At worst, it will be leveled during the great earthquake or perhaps through war. Jesus himself, the Branch, will see to Ezekiel’s (fourth) Temple. That this will be part of the rebuilding process for the millennium from the outset is clear. However, it is to the nature of this temple I wish to draw attention:
6 Then I heard Him speaking to me from the temple, while a man stood beside me. 7 And He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. No more shall the house of Israel defile My holy name, they nor their kings, by their harlotry or with the carcasses of their kings on their high places. − Ezekiel 43:6,7
Thus this leads to the question: If this in not part of the New Earth construction process and the Lord is going to nuke all this at the end of the Millennium, how can this be the place of the soles of the Lord’s feet where He will dwell forever?
The prophet Zechariah has much to say about this time right before the new temple. Chapter eight:
3 “Thus says the Lord: ‘I will return to Zion, And dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, The Mountain of the Lord of hosts, The Holy Mountain.’ 4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Old men and old women shall again sit In the streets of Jerusalem, Each one with his staff in his hand Because of great age. 5 The streets of the city Shall be full of boys and girls Playing in its streets.’ 6 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘If it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, Will it also be marvelous in My eyes?’ Says the Lord of hosts. 7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Behold, I will save My people from the land of the east And from the land of the west; 8 I will bring them back, And they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. They shall be My people And I will be their God, In truth and righteousness.’ -Zechariah 8:3-8
We know this is just before because the next verse says:
9 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Let your hands be strong, You who have been hearing in these days These words by the mouth of the prophets, Who spoke in the day the foundation was laid For the house of the Lord of hosts, That the temple might be built. [Future] − Zech 8:9
It boggles this mind to imagine the idyllic setting of the former verses as right at the beginning of the millennium considering how Jerusalem, even the entire planet, was just laid waste—unless our Lord has been in the process of re-creation and restoration up till this setting that takes place even before the new temple is built. Let alone if that new heaven and new earth does not occur for another thousand years. In my mind it seems inconceivable. People who are described are mortal elderly and child believers are ushered into the Millennial Period. These are not folk with glorified bodies.
With the creation of a new heaven and new earth as more of a process beginning with the end of God’s judgment on the earth, now might be a favorable time to revisit famous Zechariah 14. Beginning in verse 3 we read:
Then the Lord will go forth And fight against those nations, As He fights in the day of battle. 4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the south. -Zech. 14:3, 4
The narrative of this divine pronouncement continues in verse 6:
6 It shall come to pass in that day That there will be no light; The lights will diminish. 7 It shall be one day Which is known to the Lord— Neither day nor night. But at evening time it shall happen That it will be light. 8 And in that day it shall be That living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, Half of them toward the eastern sea And half of them toward the western sea; In both summer and winter it shall occur. 9 And the Lord shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be— “The Lord is one,” And His name one. -Zech. 14:6-9
And He is not yet finished with descriptors that may indicate Jesus’ renewal. Verse 10:
10 All the land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be raised up and inhabited in her place from Benjamin’s Gate to the place of the First Gate and the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses.
Then Zechariah goes on to describe the other side of that coin with the fate of those who fought Jerusalem. By the way, lest we forget, a traditional perspective of Revelation 21 as post millennial does support this scenario:
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."
And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son...” -Rev. 21:1-7
Notice the same with Zechariah 14 the living waters are Millennial, not reserved solely for Post Millennial eternity. Notice the future tense of Revelation 21 beginning verse 3 “will.” So if Jesus tabernacles with his people, etc during the Millennium, why is a passage (ostensibly Post Millennial according to the traditional dispensational view) presented as a future event?
Why the wording in present tense as a process, “I am making all things new”? We find Jesus also addressing Renewal in the gospels.
Jesus said to them, "Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first. -Matthew 19:28-30
And Peter in Acts:
that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. -Acts 3:20,21
Paul writes in Romans:
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. -Romans 8:18-25
Strong's (2001) addresses these passages regarding renewal with the following:
paliggenesía ("renewal, rebirth") is used twice in the NT referring to: a) the re-birth of physical creation at Christ's return (Advent), which inaugurates His millennial kingdom (Mt 19:28; cf. Ro 8:18-25); and b) the re-birth all believers experience at conversion (Tit 3:5).
Titus 3:5 says, “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,”
At this point it bears repeating Wuest (1980), “new.” καινον (‘kainos’) esp. with respect to “freshness.”
Does this always mean obliteration of the old in favor of the new (as many would have us read 2 Peter 3)? Consider some examples for the word kainos:
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. − Gal. 6:15
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. − Eph. 4:24
And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. − Rev. 21:5
Revelation 21:5 reads like a renewal process. So clearly in order for there to be a new heaven and new earth, we need not see the complete and total obliteration of the old for there to be a remake ‘kainos’ or refreshing. Just as we become new creatures (creations) in Christ and are not annihilated first. It is a process.
Next time, we we examine The Nature of the Kingdom on Earth.