Bible Studies
The Temple Mount In Biblical History
Series: Additional StudiesIntroduction:
1. The photos that you are seeing are of the temple mount in Jerusalem as it appears today. 2. The most notable feature is the Dome of the Rock.a. It is a Muslim Shrine built in A.D. 691.
b. It is constructed on the site where Muhammad supposedly ascended into heaven.
3. This elevated area is also geographically significant to Jewish religion as the place where Solomon’s temple was constructed, where Zerubbabel’s temple was constructed and where the temple of Herod was constructed. It was the temple of Herod that was known by Jesus and His disciples of the first century. 4. So, this spot has special significance to Jews, Muslims and Christians. 5. Today it is controlled by the Palestinians, but the government of Israel operates the security.a. Muslim—is the term used to describe the people, cf. Jews, Christians.
b. Islam—is the term used to describe the religion, cf. Judaism, Christianity.
c. Palestinian—the term used to describe the national government, cf. Israel, United States.
6. In this lesson the focus will be on the biblical history of this site. Recognize that there is a large portion of history that we will not address from the A.D. 70 (the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple) until now. In addition to rehearsing the biblical history we will try to say some things about the N.T. focus on the temple as the people of God.Discussion:
I. We first come into contact with this site in Gen. 22:1-8.A. God told Abraham to take his son, Isaac, to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that would be shown him by God.
B. This is the site known as Mount Moriah.
C. It was here that God provided the sacrifice for himself and where He reiterated the promise of multiplying Abraham’s descendants as the sand of the seashore.
II. The second biblical reference to this site is in association with King David (2 Sam. 24:1; 1 Chron. 21, 22).A. David had been appointed king and was in the process of subjugating his enemies.
B. 1 Chron. 21:1 says that Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel. Perhaps David is attempting to determine the strength of his military prowess, but God was the source of his strength and so what he was doing was considered sin—a lack of his confidence in God.
C. A pestilence resulted in which 70,000 men in Israel fell (1 Chron. 21:14ff). David was instructed to build an altar on the threshing floor of Ornan (Araunnah). He offered a burnt offering there and the pestilence was stopped. 2 Chron. 3:1 identifies that this occurred “in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.”
D. Was this a place that Jebusites had used as a high place for worship?
III. This was the same site upon which Solomon built the temple (2 Chron. 3:1).A. He began building in 967(6) B.C. and finished in 953 B.C.
B. This is the temple that we have recently studied about in association with the early history of the kings.
C. This temple replaced the tabernacle that had been constructed during the days of Moses.
1. The tabernacle was a tent-like structure.
2. Solomon’s temple had foundations reflective of the stabilization of the nation of Israel in the land of Canaan.
3. The temple was similar to the tabernacle in that it followed the same pattern with an outer room, the Holy Place, and an inner room, the Most Holy Place.
D. With the division of the kingdom and Jeroboam setting up idols in Dan and Bethel the northern kingdom had diminished interest in the temple of Solomon. But the southern kingdom of Judah was not all that different. They neglected the worship of God and turned toward idolatry. While the temple was regarded as a religious place the idolatry proliferated. During Hezekiah’s day there was a move to restore temple worship, but it was too little too late. Although Josiah made repairs to the temple and the Book of the Law was found in the temple, the fact that the Book of the Law had been lost probably suggests that little attention was given to the worship of God at the temple. The Babylonians ransacked it and destroyed it when they captured Jerusalem and took Judah captive (586 B.C.).
IV. Ezekiel, writing from Babylonian captivity, saw a vision of the temple.A. In chapter 10 he describes how he saw the glory of the Lord departing from the temple (v. 18-19).
1. This predicted the Babylonian captivity.
2. With the departure of God’s presence they were vulnerable.
B. And yet, Ezekiel promises a restoration (39:25-29).
C. In chapters 40-43 he sees a vision of the temple.
1. In this vision the glory of the Lord returned to the temple (43:1-5).
2. While we might expect that their return from captivity would result in the rebuilding of the temple and the glory of the Lord returning there it did not happen.
V. The temple was rebuilt during the days of Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah.A. It was rebuilt in 515 B.C.
B. King Cyrus had allowed them to return.
C. He had even helped them to rebuild.
D. They completed the building in the six year of King Darius.
E. They dedicated it, observed the Passover, and the silver and gold utensils used in the house of God that had been taken to Babylon were restored.
F. But the glory of the Lord never returned to the temple leaving us to wonder about Ezekiel’s
VI. In 30 B.C. Herod instituted a rebuilding program (renovation) of the temple.A. This was the temple of the days of the first century.
B. During a Passover observance in Jesus’ days the Jews observed that it had been under construction for 46 years (Jn. 2:20).
C. It was an elaborate process. Note photos of the model from Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
1. It was of these stones that Jesus said, “Not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down” (Matt. 24:1ff).
2. This was the temple in which Jesus taught (Jn. 10:22).
3. This was the place where it was said of the disciples that they “day by day were continuing with one mind” (Acts 2:46).
4. This was the temple where Peter’s second sermon occurred (Acts 3:11ff).
5. Seems to have been a place of worship for the early disciples (Acts 5:12).
6. It was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70.
7. The Jews today are still awaiting the coming of the Messiah and the reconstruction of the temple. Note photo of Menorah prepared to go in the rebuilt future temple.
VII. But N.T. writers take a different view. They see the people of God, those believers who accept Jesus as the Christ, as the temple of God.A. Paul refers to believers as built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone. He says, “In Him the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit” (Eph. 2:20-22).
B. The same imagery is used by Peter in 1 Pet. 2:5. Cf. Heb. 3:6.
C. Is the coming of the Spirit in Acts 2 the return of the glory of God (or at least a down payment on that return—to be experienced in the new Jersuaelm) in Ezekiel’s vision?
D. Are we to connect these concepts with those of Rev. 21 and the New Jerusalem that has the glory of God? (v. 11). In these images John says, “I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb” (v. 22).
E. Cf. Heb. 12:22-24.
Conclusion:
1. Are these ancient historical structures associated with Jerusalem, Mount Moriah, and the temple mere models of the true house of God? 2. Is this what Hebrews is trying to get across when it speaks of the tabernacle and its sacrifices and puts Christ our sacrifice in heaven and identifies heaven as “the more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands?” (Heb. 9:11ff). Note Heb. 9:23. 3. If this is what the N.T. writers are communicating let us not expect a rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. Let us not expect the glory of the Lord to return there. Let us not build lampstands for an earthly temple, nor pray for the rebuilding of an earthly temple. 4. Instead let us be the temple of God. Let us prepare for entrance into heaven itself.
