Rebuilding the Temple

Modern "end times" scenarios suggest that the temple in Jerusalem must be rebuilt and will be one of the definitive signs that Jesus' return is near.

Premillennial dispensationalists (or "Left Behinders") argue that "the abomination that causes desolation" mentioned in both Daniel 9:27 and Matthew 24:15 is the antichrist setting himself up as God in a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, a direct reference to how the gentiles will trample the temple in Revelation 11.

However, while Revelation certainly pulls upon imagery from Daniel, Johannine literature's overarching understanding of "the temple" suggests the "temple" may represent something other than a brick and mortar structure.

Gospel of John and the Temple

Temple imagery for John begins in 1:14 of the Gospel, when he states: "And the Word became flesh and lived among us." Literally in Greek, the word for "lived" (eskenosen, 3rd person aorist of skenoo) actually means "to spread a tent" or "tabernacled."

Thus a more apt translation would be the Word "tabernacled among us." The tabernacle was the precursor to the temple. It was the portable tent the Israelites used in the wilderness as the dwelling place of God among the people of Israel. The "structure" where God dwelt has now shifted from tent/building to person.

John continues this shift in temple imagery from structure to person in chapter two when Jesus drives out the money changers in the temple and states that if they tear the temple down, he will rebuild it in three days. John then clarifies what Jesus meant by this by stating "he was speaking of the temple of his body." John's understanding of the incarnation is that the Jerusalem temple has ceased to be the location of worship, but that God is now among His people in a more corporeal sense.

Revelation and the Temple

In Revelation 11, John is told to measure the "temple." However, earlier in Revelation 3:12, the church in Philadelphia is told, "If you conquer, I will make you a pillar in the temple of my God." Becoming a pillar in the temple of God means that the temple is made out of people, not brick and mortar. Thus, when John begins to speak of the temple being trampled later on, it is reasonable to conclude that it is the people of God who are being attacked and trampled.

The inner court of a temple is representative of an inner sanctuary, or a community where true worship continues. When the outer court is given over to the nations, it is a warning that God will allow a part of the community to come under the sway of the pagan world (as the seven churches being addressed have become well aware of).

Further evidence that the temple is made up of people is that the "lampstands" that are mentioned are items that are found within the temple of God in the Old Testament. John informs readers that these lampstands represent the two witnesses. If the lampstands are not literal lampstands, then it stands to reason that the temple they reside within is also not a literal "temple" but encompasses the larger body of God's people.

Additonally, Revelation 1:6 and 5:10 remind readers that anyone who has been cleansed by the blood of the lamb is a priest - and priests serve within the "temple." A Christian understanding of this "temple" imagery is that the "priests" serve among the people of God - not in a structure.

Paul also picks up on this "bodily temple" idea in 1 Corinthians 6:19 when he states: "do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you..."

Daniel 9:27 and Matthew 24:15

So how should one deal with Daniel 9:27 and Matthew 24:15 and their references to the "desolating sacrilige standing in the holy place"? If one reads the Daniel reference in light of the Matthew reference, one simply needs to go back a few verses and listen to Jesus' statement that all these signs are but "birth pangs."

Birth pangs, as any woman who has had a child knows, are not constant, but rather a series of painful "pangs" that steadily increase in their intensity as the actual birth draws near. But there are long periods in between the "birth pangs" until the very end when the pangs become more rapid, intense, and constant. At what point within the "birth pangs" the desolation occurs is not clear.

However, most scholars have concluded the "abomination" occurred when the temple was destroyed in 70 AD by the Roman General Titus (who would later become Emperor of the Roman Empire), and placed an idol on the site of the burned down temple. Jesus' description of what would happen to those left in Judea also aptly describes what occurred in Jerusalem during the Roman siege according to the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus.

Additionally, the reference to the "holy place," while traditionally understood as the "temple" takes on new significance in the New Testament as the temple image shifts from structure to person. Bodies have now become "holy places" or temples of God's spirit. The "desolation" if applied to Johannine understandings of the "temple" suggests that it is a community or people who will be made desolate and will embody the "abomination" that forces the Spirit of God to be replaced by something else.

Why Does it Matter?

Some may think it doesn't matter how one interprets this temple imagery. Unfortunately, in this day and age, it has become a matter of life and death in the Middle East. Furthering the belief that a brick and mortar temple must be rebuilt in order for it to be desecrated in Jerusalem provokes only further violence and bloodshed between Israelis and Palestinians.

Attempts by American Christians to help bring this literal temple about have caused many of their fellow Palestinian Christians to be uprooted and killed in this "holy battle" to regain the Old Testament understanding of the Promised Land.