A biblical history of the tabernacle/ temple of God

Cool stuff rt, new study or one you had tucked away/part of the decade plus Revelation study??

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(I added this part, I had jumped ahead to Solomon's temple)

2. The Wilderness Tabernacle

God wished to dwell among His people Israel and as Exodus 25:22, there He would meet with them and speak with them. The earthly tabernacle was a meeting place for Israel to meet with and hear from their God. It was a tabernacle or tent that they could disassemble and take with them throughout their wilderness wanderings. There were other article created according to the pattern and there were also priests appointed to serve within it.

We also know that the seat of God’s throne is in the heavenly tabernacle, and the earthly tabernacle and temple served as the footstool of His throne


Exodus 25 through 27 gives a detailed account of the way in which Moses was instructed to build the Tabernacle. Moses received these instructions from God on Mount Sinai, after the exodus from Egypt.

See Link for more information

raebear.net/faith/biblestudy/exodus/seg3_sinai/tabernacle_blueprints.php

The Tabernacle that Moses was to build served as a picture of the original heavenly Tabernacle after which it was patterned. As mentioned earlier, this was a portable temple, a tent that could be taken apart and moved easily.




The Tabernacle would remain in use for about 350 years until the time of Eli the High priest in the days of Samuel, when the Ark of the Covenant fell into enemy hands when the Israelites took it into battle (1 Samuel 4). Shiloh where the Tabernacle had stood for most of that time was destroyed and presumably the tabernacle was moved. The Philistines eventually returned the Ark which was then kept in the city Kiriath-jearim (1 Samuel 7:1) into the house of Abinadab where it remained for 20 years. We see throughout these passages that the Lord allowed this to happen because of Israel’s rebellion against Him. Little is known of what became of the Tabernacle and the Ark after this time. We don’t read anything about it again until we read that David had brought the Ark from Kiriath-jearim and pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem:

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4. Zerubbabel’s Temple

For seventy years following the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple, the inhabitants of Judah remained captives in Babylon.


The passage in 2 Chronicles tells us that in addition to their rebellion the land was made desolate and its people taken captive because they had failed to keep the sabbaths. This is speaking of the land sabbath that occurred every 7 years.

The people remained in captivity for 70 years because they had failed to keep the land sabbath for 490 years (70 X 7), one year of captivity for every sabbath they failed to keep. When the 70 years were completed, God orchestrated their release through the Persian king Cyrus who had conquered the Babylonians just one year before. Isaiah the prophet spoke of Cyrus nearly 150 years before he was even born:

Cyrus decreed that the Jews should be released to return to the land of their inheritance and carry out the King’s decree to rebuild their city and the Temple.

Seventy years after the destruction of the First Temple, the Jews began building. The plan followed that of Solomon’s temple but was less elaborate. The Holy of Holies no longer housed the Ark of the Covenant because it had been lost. This temple would mark the beginning of the gentile rule over the nation of Israel and Jerusalem.

It is called Zerubbabel’s Temple because he was one of the primary people involved in the reconstruction effort.

It took Zerubbabel and his fellow builders 2 years to lay the foundation of the temple but the work was halted when their enemies discouraged and frightened them from continuing (Ezra 4: 1-7). This was followed by a decree by King Artaxerses (who was a successor to Cyrus) to stop the construction effort. Construction would not begin again until the second year of the reign of Darius and was completed in the third year of his reign (Ezra 6: 14, 15), most scholars agree that this happened around 515 BC.

There is no mention in scripture that the Glory of the Lord filled the temple as was the case for Solomon’s temple, presumably without the mercy seat and the Ark of the Covenant God’s glory would not reside within the Holy Of Holies, but it was clearly God’s will that the temple be rebuilt:

The Lord gave the reason that the temple should be built: that He might be pleased and glorified, curiously there is no mention of God dwelling there or speaking with them, however later we see the Lord says this through the prophet Haggai:


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6. The Church/ Temple of the Holy Spirit

Christ’s death and resurrection essentially brought the temple era to a close, no longer was a physical structure necessary. This is signified by the tearing of the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the outer Holy place.

The veil in the temple building symbolizes the flesh of Christ according to Hebrews
The veil being torn symbolizes Christ’s death, He inaugurated the New Covenant era, when He entered as the high priest into the heavenly tabernacle as the perfect redemption sacrifice once for all.

Believers have spiritual access through Christ into the original heavenly Tabernacle/Temple, Jesus said:

And Paul tells us in his letter to the church at Ephesus:

Spiritually we have access to the heavenly Temple through Christ, however physically we are not yet there. While believers remain on earth they are now considered the Temple of the Holy Spirit.
In the previous passage Paul quotes the Old Testament, the same promise that was made to Israel extends to those who are now part of the body of Christ also known as the Church. God will dwell in us and walk among us.

Isaiah the prophet tells us that God’s Holy Spirit was placed in the midst of His people Israel. We see evidence of this in the following passages:


The Lord’s Holy Spirit was present in the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud that led Israel out of Egypt, He was present in the cloud that descended on the Tabernacle, It was called the angel of His presence. Some commentaries suggest that this “presence is Christ Himself. The word “presence” in Hebrew means “face”.

The “glory of the Lord” seems to accompany the “presence” of God

This “glory” also presented itself in Solomon’s temple:

Ezekiel also tells us that it left that same temple just as the Babylonians were about to destroy it:

Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in us.
Paul also tells us that the Holy Spirit was given to those who believe in Christ:

On Pentecost following the ascension of Jesus the disciples are gathered together and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit
Peter explains to the crowds gathered that Jesus was fulfilling what was promised by the prophets, that the Lord would pour out His Spirit on all mankind (Joel 2:28-32).

We read later in Acts that the holy Spirit also came to those who believed among the gantiles:

Jesus had told his disciples what role the Holy Spirit would have, He will testify about Christ and enable them to testify about Him also. Through those who believe He will convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment, He will guide them into all truth, He will speak and disclose to them what is to come, He will glorify Christ. This sounds so reminiscent of the earthly Tabernacle; God desires to dwell among His people and to speak with them so that He might disclose Himself to them.

Without a physical temple and now under the New Covenant the Church has become the footstool of God’s throne on earth, having a direct connection through Christ (the veil) to the seat of God’s throne in heaven (we are seated with him in the heavenly places). We act as the earthly Tabernacle, as a portable tent through which God can speak, convict, and spread His truth by His Holy Spirit who dwells in us. Paul talks about what it means to have the Spirit of Christ and how we are to live accordingly:

Verse 14 says that the sons of God are all those who are being led by the Spirit. I would venture to say that this applies also to the saints under the Old Covenant, who walked by faith as fellow heirs of the same promise of salvation that we New Covenant saints share (see Hebrews 11), though they are not considered the body of Christ or the temple of the Holy Spirit, they were led by God’s Spirit to act in faith as they carried out God’s will in their lives.


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7. The Temple of Daniel’s 70th week

There is no scripture that tells us that a temple will be constructed during what is known as the seven year tribulation or Daniel’s 70th week. Daniel was given a prophecy by the angel Gabriel in response to his prayer for his people (the Jews) while he remained in captivity in Babylon after the destruction of Solomon’s temple, the angel came to give Daniel insight with understanding and told Daniel to give heed to his message and gain understanding (Daniel 9: 22-27).

I will not expound on the whole 70 week prophecy, for the purposes of this study, I would like the reader to look primarily at verses 26 and 27. The message from the angel maps out for Daniel how the answer to his prayer for his people would come, in time. The “weeks” represent a week of years, or seven years. Remember Daniel was an old man at this time and was still a captive in Babylon now under the rule of the Persian king Darius. Daniel realized that the 70 years of captivity were coming to an end, he understood that part of the reason for the captivity was because Israel had failed to observe the Sabbath years, which occurred every 7 years or a week of years. This prophecy spoke according to those same terms, weeks of 7 years. In verse 26 we see that after the seven weeks and sixty two weeks (69 in all) or 483 years that Messiah (the prince) will be cut off. This is referring to the death of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, which did in fact occur shortly after 483 years from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem and its temple. After the 69th week we are told that the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary (the temple). This was also fulfilled when the Romans led by Titus burned the temple and killed many Jews in Jerusalem in 70 AD, causing the remainder to flee to be dispersed among the nations. Therefore the first 69 weeks of Daniel’s prophecy have been fulfilled.

Verse 27 says that “he”, the prince that is to come, will make a firm covenant with many for one week. This final week has not yet happened, though some dispute this claim. The gap between the 69th week and the fulfillment of the 70th coincides with the gap in time for the nation of Israel, a gap that Daniel did not see from his place in time. After Christ established the New Covenant and the Church became the Temple of the Holy Spirit, the nation of Israel was cut off because they failed to recognize Jesus as their Savior. Paul Talks about this “partial hardening” of the nation of Israel in his letter to the Romans, here the root of the Olive tree represents God’s plan of salvation through Christ, the natural branches represent the nation of Israel and the wild branches, represent the gentiles:

The gap between the last two weeks of the prophecy represents the Church age, after which the nation of Israel will be grafted back into the tree of salvation, Paul tells us what must happen to facilitate this re-grafting; the fullness of the gentiles has to come in. This fullness refers to the salvation of gentiles, their grafting into the tree of salvation.

Daniel’s 70th week shows that this Roman prince who is to come makes a firm covenant for one week with many. In the Hebrew this actually means that he confirms or makes firm a covenant. The important part that concerns this study is that he does so for “one week”. This week is the final week of Daniel’s prophecy or the 70th week. We are also told that in the middle of that week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offerings, he will bring desolation. Daniel speaks of this later in chapter 11:

For the sacrifices and offering to be stopped, there will have to be a temple erected during the 70th week for them to perform the sacrifices and offer grain offerings in. Some say that only the altar of sacrifice is needed and not the Temple proper, but any doubt can be cast aside when we hear what Jesus Himself says regarding this event.

He goes on to say what will follow this event



Jesus tells the disciples that the event spoken of by Daniel in chapter 11, the “abomination of desolation” is a turning point, according to Daniel’s prophecy it happens in the middle of the week, after 3 ½ years of the 70th week have passed. The last half of the week is when what is called the “great tribulation” occurs. It is during this time that the re-grafting process for the nation of Israel begins.

This is how we know there must be some sort of Temple that will stand in Jerusalem during the 70th week. The “abomination” will stand in the “holy place”, Daniel 11 calls it the “sanctuary fortress”, and these are terms that are used to describe the physical temple complex.

Paul also talks about this “prince who is to come” in his letter to the Thessalonians:


This “Son of destruction” or “lawless one” as Paul calls him, will take his seat in the Temple of God, displaying Himself as God.

Many hold to the idea that the restrainer spoken of in this passage is the Holy Spirit acting through the Church, which I agree with. In order for the lawless one to be revealed, the church has to be removed from restraining lawlessness. Remember what one of the purposes of the Holy Spirit indwelling of believers is? To convict the world, this conviction acts as a restraint for lawlessness.

The removal of the restrainer is what believers call the rapture of the church:

The church acting as God’s footstool on earth will be removed so that this prince can come, to confirm the covenant. With the Temple of the Holy Spirit removed, an earthly Temple will be built to take their place and God’s work of re-grafting Israel into the tree of salvation will commence.

What this temple will look like is unknown; the scriptures do not tell us. It is a fact however that in Israel today there is work underway to prepare for the next temple. The Temple Institute has recreated the implements used in the service of the Temple. The priesthood has been identified through genetic testing and is currently in training to perform their duties within the next temple.

www.templemountfaithful.org/

www.templeinstitute.org/

This temple will not be ordained by God, it will be the temple that the lawless one who we call the Antichrist desecrates, and he will seat himself within it, calling himself God. It may survive the 70th week, but certainly will suffer serious damage if not complete destruction when the following occurs:

The prophet Zechariah also talks about a city being split, this city is Jerusalem at the time of the Lord’s return.

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Hi Mike, 

I think your difficulty lies in the idea that the Mount of Olives is split in two and also in three. The passage in Zechariah specifically calls out the Mount of Olives while the passage in Revelation says that the "great city" was split into three parts. 



If you look at the map you see that the Mount of Olives lies to the east of Jerusalem with the Kiddron Valley in between. The Mount of Olives is approximately 400 yards from the city a short walk away. It is my assumption based on clues in scripture that Jerusalem is the "great city" being spoken of in Revelation 16. It is entirely plausible that the the divide of the Mount of olives extends into the city proper, especially in light of Zechariah's prophecy that the people will flee by the newly created valley. It is also possible that another divide will occur that will split the city a third way, perhaps to the west or south.

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8. The Millennial Temple/ Ezekiel’s Temple


Ezekiel describes in the above passage how the glory of the Lord returns to fill the “house”, this house is the temple of God. He says that what he saw in this vision was like what he saw by the river Chebar, when like the vision he saw of the city of Jerusalem being destroyed. The glory of God will return in a similar fashion to the temple in which it was removed.

Earlier in Ezekiel 40 the Lord spoke to the prophet in another vision:


Ezekiel goes on for two chapters to give great detail concerning the measurements and structure of the temple that is to be built. The prerequisite to this construction effort is that Israel must be ashamed of all they have done.


We see that this Temple will stand when Israel will no longer defile God’s holy name, it will stand as the place of the soles of God’s feet once again. There are some who look at this passage and claim that this temple plan will never be fulfilled because Israel does not repent, they do not and have not shown national shame over their rebellion against God. But scripture is clear that one day they will.

In Ezekiel chapter 16, the Lord tells the prophet to declare all the abominations of Jerusalem. The city is referred to within the chapter as a harlot, and an adulterous wife, as a result of their rebellion against God’s covenant, he would bring against them their lovers, the pagan nations that surround them who they played the harlot with, in this way God will judge them, but the passage goes on to say the following:


The prophet Zechariah talks about how Israel will be saved, they will recognize Jesus as their Savior.

The purpose of the 70 weeks prophecy of Daniel is the restoration of Israel. The prophet Ezekiel speaks of this throughout the book that bears his name.


The prophet Jeremiah speaks of Israel’s restoration


The prerequisite for the construction of Ezekiel’s temple is the national repentance of Israel and their restoration to God. So that they can be filled with His Spirit which enables them to fulfill their covenant with Him, this is why there is a temple during the Millennial reign, this is why the law will be practiced as Ezekiel goes on to describe in chapters 43 and 44. Israel failed to keep their word to God; they failed to Obey Him and did not follow His ordinances. With the Holy Spirit poured out on them to guide them, they will be able to keep the law as Ezekiel 36:27 says above.

This national repentance will be the result of the fulfillment of Daniel’s 70 weeks prophecy. Israel will be restored as they were at first, to their original status before God when He entered into the covenant with them on Mt. Sinai, they will now have His law written on their hearts and be able to keep their promise of obedience to Him.

Because the nation of Israel is under the law (when they are restored) they will be judged by it, but because they will have God’s spirit in them they will be able to do the law which will then be written on their hearts, when they are re-grafted into the Olive tree.

When will this temple be constructed? Well we know what is required, national repentance and Israel’s restoration before God. I would suggest that this will happen as a result of the 70th week, and that this temple may be constructed in the months that follow its conclusion.

They will first have to cleanse the land which according to Ezekiel lasts 7 months:


I believe it is after this that the Temple will be built and then the Glory of the Lord will return to it.

The prophet Isaiah gives us a glimpse at what the Millennial temple mount will look like, which is very similar to how things looked during the days of the initial Tabernacle (Numbers:9:15-23):


My personal thought is that the “canopy” is the New Jerusalem which will be visible and seen hovering above the Temple mount, the word in Hebrew means “chamber” it is the same word חֻפָּה [chuppah ] used to describe the wedding chamber in Joel 2:16 and Psalm 19:6.

It is in Ezekiel’s Temple that the Lord Jesus will reign during the Millennium:


cafn.us/tag/ezekiels-temple/

82.221.105.8/~theshini/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/templecomp.gif



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