The Temple in Jerusalem

A third Jewish Temple is mentioned in last day prophecy in the Bible. In the book of Revelation John, during one of the prophetical visions given to him by the Lord, is told to measure the Temple. There will be a new, rebuilt Temple in the very last days before Christ's second coming. It is this Temple that the future Anti-Christ himself will occupy and desecrate not long before Jesus Christ returns to earth. Many eyes are looking to Jerusalem for the "rebuilding" of the Jewish Temple. There is talk that there are already blueprints, and a board of planners and rabbis who are involved and ready to build. How close is it? When will the third Temple be built? The time is drawing very near. Here are some interesting facts about the Temple history of Jerusalem...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Temple in Jerusalem or the Holy Temple (Beit HaMikdash בית המקדש in
Hebrew) was built in ancient Jerusalem and was the center of Israelite and Jewish worship, primarily for the offering of sacrifices known as the korbanot. It was located on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. It was the center of ancient Judaism and has remained as a focal point for Jewish services over the millenia.

According to the Hebrew Bible, the First Temple was built by Solomon. It replaced the Tabernacle of Moses. Solomon's Temple was destroyed 420 years later by the Babylonians. The Second Temple was rebuilt 70 years later at the same location. It too was eventually destroyed 410 years later, this time by the Romans.

The dual destruction of the two temples, five hundred years apart, marks two central eras in Jewish history: the first marks the beginning of the Babylonian Exile; the second marks the beginning of the Jewish diaspora.

Rebuilding the Temple today

The traditional view has held that the Temple site is located where the Muslim Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque (which is the third holiest site in Islam) are located.

Any attempt to tear down and replace these Muslim shrines with a Jewish temple is probably impossible in today's political and religious climate. The very idea of doing so at any point in the future constitutes a seemingly unresolvable problem. Nonetheless, the idea of rebuilding the Temple somewhere else is unacceptable for the vast majority of Jews. On the other hand, if the views expressed by Ory Mazar become accepted, then such a rebuilding would become possible since the Muslim structures would not be interfered with.

Modern controversy over location of Temple site

In 1999 Dr. Ernest L. Martin published a controversial book called The Temples that Jerusalem Forgot based upon the idea of Ory Mazar, son of Professor Benjamin Mazar of Hebrew University. In 1995 Dr. Martin wrote a draft report to support this theory. He wrote: "I was then under the impression that Simon the Hasmonean (along with Herod a century later) moved the Temple from the Ophel mound to the Dome of the Rock area."

However, after studying the words of Josephus concerning the Temple of Herod, which was reported to be in the same general area of the former Temples, he then read the account of Eleazar who led the final contingent of Jewish resistance to the Romans at Masada which stated that the Roman fortress was the only structure left by 73 C.E. "With this key in mind, I came to the conclusion in 1997 that all the Temples were indeed located on the Ophel mound over the area of the Gihon Spring". This theory implied that Judaism was fighting to preserve the wrong location, which in turn sparked reactions from Moslems.

See also
Western Wall
Al-Aqsa Mosque
Dome of the Rock