Christian: What Will You Think When a Third Temple is Built?

There's obviously been a lot of talk in the wake of recent clashes between the United States, Israel and Iran in the past week. A lot of what I'm seeing is people asking if there is prophetic significance to any of these events and well, I'm not just interested in any of that. Too many people have tried to read prophetic significance into current events, and been wrong, for me to dare go down those rabbit holes again. Could all of this have prophetic significance? Sure, but it's too early to tell. To me, the more interesting conversations have been around a Third Temple. I'm not quite why this subject has come up now - it might have something to do with a theoretical; something having to do with the temple mount being bombed and destroyed..."and then what would happen" kind of thing. Nevertheless - it has got me thinking...because a MAJOR sign that end times events are in play would be the construction of a third temple. Why? Because that is one of the predictions of Scripture, particularly within passages that speak of the End and Jesus' return.

Prooftexts:

Ezekiel 40-48 (a must read, but too long to put here)

Daniel 9:24-27

"Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of the anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be build again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one [other translations read "the messiah"] shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator."

2 Thessalonians 2:1-7

"Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion come first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?"

The Sacrificial System and Why it Matters

A couple of years ago, I listened to a series of four teachings by Dan Lancaster (from the organization First Fruits of Zion, FFOZ) entitled, "What About the Sacrifices?" It is a deep dive into the sacrificial system from Leviticus, looking at all of the various elements of it, and attempting to help us 21st century folks understand it better. I would bet that most of us, myself included, have heard very little about the sacrificial system from our pulpits, and that our understanding of it is shallow at best. About a year ago, I came across a book entitled "Jesus and the Forces of Death" and again, it dealt heavily with the sacrificial system, with an emphasis on the ancient Israelite understandings of clean/unclean and pure/impure. Very recently I have found myself in conversations about this topic again and so as I am prone to do, I want to write out what I've learned so that I am clear in my own mind about the details of the system as well as the importance I feel there is in understanding the sacrificial system as a modern Gentile.

First - there are a few different types of sacrifices:

• The 'Old Offerings' - 'Old' here is meant to denote those offerings which were happening before the construction of the tabernacle/temple. These offerings were typically made at individual altars (for example Exodus 20:22-24) prior to the building of the tabernacle/temple:
  
  
• Burnt Offering (Korban Olah) - this is a voluntary (typically) sacrifice brought on the part of the worshipper who wishes to show complete devotion to God; it could also be an appeal for forgiveness or favor; it is the equivalent of presenting a gift to God. No part of the animal was reserved for consumption as in other sacrifices.
  
  
• Grain Offering - this is sometimes referred to as the 'cereal' offering or even the 'meat' offering, even though meat doesn't mean the same thing as we mean it today, it just referred to the 'meat' of the grain, which was the best part. This is a remembrance offering, or a memorial offering if you will. It is to remember the covenant made at Mount Sinai between God and Israel. Some of it was to be dedicated to God, but some of it is to be consumed by the worshipper, and some part of it was to be for the priests. It is a ceremonial meal offering of sorts, a literal communion with God. Read about all of the stipulations in Leviticus 2.