Will there be an end times temple in Jerusalem?

There is clear evidence in the Scriptures that after the rapture of the church the temple will be built again in Jerusalem. It will be the scene of Satanic power and the most fearful idolatry. Instead of displaying God's glory, it will be used for the exaltation of man. Indeed, in it man will claim divine honours. Of the "man of sin" it is said, "Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God" (2 Thess. 2:4).

But what is the meaning of "he sitteth in the temple of God , setting himself forth that he is God?" The temple of God does not mean the Church. It is a Jewish temple. When the true Church is gone the Jewish people, restored once more to their own land, established there as a nation, though still in unbelief, will erect another temple and institute once more the temple worship. (See Isaiah 66:1-4). God will despise their worship. The man of sin will sit in that temple, demanding worship for the image he will set up for himself. This will be during the time of Jacob's trouble, the great tribulation. The man of sin, the Antichrist, will be undoubtedly a Jew. He will be filled with the energy and power of Satan. The nearness of the reestablishment of the Jewish people in Palestine in unbelief is an indication that all these prophecies are about to be fulfilled.

In verses 3-12 we have some of the terrible features of the end of this age. “The falling away first.” However sadly the professing church has departed, yet what will it be when the real Church of God is taken up! The full character of this falling away is described in Rev. 17. One terrible feature is the revelation of the wicked one, “who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he, as God, sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” (Ver. 4.) Some, not observing that this fearful character appears on the closing scene of human wickedness, after the true Church is taken up to be with the Lord, have thought this man of sin is Popery, or the Pope. But do not you see this passage says, the man of sin shall sit in the temple of God. Now God never has, and never will have, a temple built on earth in any place except Mount Zion, or Mount Moriah — the place in which he appeared to Abraham. But that temple is now destroyed. It must, then, be rebuilt, as many scriptures show it will. And the terrible man of sin is evidently one of Daniel’s people, that is, a Jew — who shall come in his own name whom the Jews shall receive. (John 5:43.)

The distinctness of this person is confirmed by the words of 2 Thessalonians 2:4, “That opposeth and exalteth himself against (or, above) all that is called God or object of veneration, so that he should himself sit down in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” The lawless one is to be a sinner beyond sinners, the man of sin, and desiring to be God, claiming the honour of the Supreme on earth, in His temple, not in mere earthly things or personal vain glory like Herod in Acts 12. The Christ who was God, became on earth a bondman to glorify His God and Father at all cost. It is a mere imposture for the Pope to dub himself vicar of Christ and head of the church on earth, while acknowledging formally the Lord in heaven. But for this reason he does not fulfill the arrogant self-exaltation of this future adversary who raises himself above all that is called God or object of religious veneration. The temple of God, literally in Jerusalem before the age ends, will be used to support his blasphemous claim. Many of the Jews will be back there in unbelief and will receive him, while a godly remnant flee as the Lord directed.

Though the apostasy is the starting-point, the man of sin revealed is a great advance of an audacious and unbounded impiety under Satan's power, to which the total abandonment of the Christian revelation leaves the door open. Grace scorned, and Christ the gift of God for sinful men utterly derided, the man of sin follows; man not only without God, but ignoring and spurning all divine restraint. It is atheistic lawlessness, denying sin and wallowing in it without shame or fear. As God was Himself in Christ, the image of Him who abides invisible, the man of sin will be His personal adversary, exalting himself above all that is called God or object of veneration. “Who is the liar, but he who denieth that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, who denieth the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22). Though beginning as a false Christ, at last he will flout the hope of Israel and the Christian testimony. As the culmination of extreme defiance in claiming to be God supreme he seats himself in the temple of God. Thus apostate Judaism amalgamates in that hour with Christian apostasy, and the first temptation for man to become as God in Eden ends in the lie of man ousting God and showing forth himself to be God in His very temple.

If such is the condition of things while the saints of God are here, what will it be when we are all gone? Scripture answers, Apostasy. Arising out of this is the revelation of the Antichrist, the man of sin. Man is a religious being naturally, and must have an object of worship. If God is thrown off, a Satanic substitute is accepted. This we have long seen in heathendom; presently it will be witnessed in Christendom. Satan will bring forward his man when the suited moment arrives, and present him to his dupes. Let it be distinctly understood that the Antichrist is a person. Some have thought the Apostle's remarks in 2 Thess. 2 to refer to the Papacy, but this is a great mistake. It is not a system, nor a succession of men, but an individual. The Popes, however arrogant and evil, have never gone to the lengths described here. The man of sin sets himself up above all that is called God or that is worshipped. He sets aside all objects of worship, true and false, and claims sole Divine honour. His seat will be in Jerusalem. "He sits in the temple of God showing himself that he is God." Only on Mount Moriah has God ever owned a temple of a material character. During the Church period the temple of God is a spiritual thing. The saints themselves form His temple and the Spirit of God inhabits it (1 Cor. 3:16-17, 1 Peter 2:5). But when the saints are removed to heaven, this is necessarily at an end. Then the material temple will come into view again. It will happen thus. A goodly number of the Jews will be found in their own land at the end of the age (indeed, many are returning at the present time). They will set about to re-establish their old system of worship, with its sanctuary, priesthood, and sacrifices. At the appointed moment the man of sin will introduce himself to them, claiming to be the long-expected Messiah. It will happen then as the Lord foretold, "I am come in My Father's Name, and ye receive Me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive" (John 5:43). His pretensions will be admitted by the blinded mass, the godly remnant, on the contrary, saying within themselves, "The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords" (Ps. 55:21). The elect are not deceived; a stranger will they not follow, for they know not his voice.

However, on the gospel of the kingdom being preached in the whole habitable earth, "then shall the end come," and the initial event of that period is given in the succeeding verse: "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth let him understand), then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains" (Matt. 24:15-16). What now is meant by this mysterious expression, "the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place"? Of all iniquities, that which is pre-eminently abominable to God is idolatry, for it is the formal, overt denial of His Godhead, and the substitution of the creature for Himself, the Creator. Hence we find in the Old Testament that the word "abomination" has a special use as signifying an object of false worship. Thus, "Ashtoreth the abomination of the Lidonians; Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites; and Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon." The "holy place," of course, means the temple. The Lord had announced with reference to the temple then standing, "There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down" (ver. 3). Hence it follows that in the interval the temple will have been rebuilt. Take in connection with this, 2 Thess. where the apostle Paul speaks of one who is to be revealed before "the day of the Lord," namely, "That man of sin, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God (vers. 3, 4). Here we have in the apostle's teaching, the two points of Matt. 24:15 — the temple recognised as again in existence; and an exorbitant phase of idolatry, a man setting himself up as God, sitting in the temple of God, and showing himself that he is God. This somewhat illuminates the expression, "abomination of desolation," but it will be more fully explained later on.

Matt. 24. In this chapter we find the plain teaching of Jesus to His little flock of Jewish disciples. It is the same subject as the seven parables, only in plain words, not in parables. In the first few verses Jesus foretells the destruction of the Jewish temple — which, we all know, came literally to pass. He was seated on the Mount of Olives — the very spot where His feet shall stand when He comes to reign. The disciples came and enquired privately, “Tell us, when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world (or age)?” Now read carefully from the fourth to the last verse, and mark, there is not one thought of the world’s conversion. He foretells there will be false Christs — deceivers — wars, and rumours of wars — famines, pestilences, earth quakes — persecutions, sorrows, death — iniquity abounding, and the love of many waxing cold. And instead of the world receiving the gospel, it is preached for a witness; and then the end comes. Much has been fulfilled; and much in this chapter has yet to be fulfilled. Bear in mind, that all these words of Jesus were spoken to His Jewish disciples, and have special reference to what shall befall that nation. In the fifteenth verse He says to them, “When ye, therefore, shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso reads, let him understand,) then let them which be in Judea flee to the mountains,” &c. This evidently proves that the temple at Jerusalem has to be rebuilt; for the abomination of desolation is to stand in the holy place. And if you read Dan. 12:11-13, and compare it with 9:27, you see the fearful act of the head of the Roman power, who causes the sacrifice and oblation to cease in the midst of the week — then mark when the abomination stands in the holy place. Then the words of Jesus will be most valuable to the godly Jews, who believe His testimony in that day. The moment they see this take place, they take it as the signal to escape. They have not even time to go into the house to fetch their clothes. Then takes place “the great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time — no, nor ever shall be.” The remnant who have escaped may count the days that are shortened, 1290 to 1260, or half a week of years. The angel, speaking to Daniel of these days, says, “And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time: and at that time thy people (that is, the Jews) shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” (12:1-2.) Clearly, then, the setting up of the abomination of desolation, and the time of tribulation, are both future. And in proof of this, our blessed Lord says, what will take place immediately after, the tribulation: “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (Ver. 29, 30.) Most certainly, then, all tribes of the earth are not converted; or why do they mourn when Jesus comes? Jesus says, “Verily I say to you, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.” How remarkably this is so before our very eyes! Though scattered among all nations, the generation or race of the Jews still exists, and waits the fulfilment of all these things. The Lord then goes on to state, “As the days of Noah were, so shall the coming of the Son of man be.” Oh, what a solemn thought, that this world is to go on eating and drinking — rejecting Christ, just as the world despised the preaching of Noah, “and knew not until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be!” The most solemn warnings to watch and be ready are then given: “for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man comes.” Terrible will be the doom of that servant who shall say in his heart, My Lord delays his coming. Yes, he calls Him, “My Lord;” but his portion will be with the hypocrites, “where there in weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.” Such are the solemn words of the Son of God. Oh! that my reader may be awakened to the solemn enquiry, Am I ready, and waiting for the Lord?

Then we get something more definite. "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso reads let him understand): then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains" (verses 15, 16). Here we have a very important sign. What is meant by "the abomination of desolation"? "Abomination" is the Scripture title for an idol. Thus we read of "Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites," and "Chemosh the abomination of Moab" (1 Kings 11:5-7). It is, therefore, an idol set up in the holy place at Jerusalem. This has never happened in the past. True, the temple was defiled by Antiochus Epiphanes (Dan. 11:31), but this was long before the Lord's prophecy. The only event of note in connection with the temple since the Lord Jesus spoke was its destruction by the Roman armies under Titus in A.D. 70; consequently the Lord's prediction has yet to be fulfilled.

I am perfectly persuaded that some of the most important parts of Satan's means of bringing about the apostasy are now actively at work. God has been graciously filling many hearts with joy and comfort of the truth. He has given not a few to believe these words, the moral signs of which are becoming daily more and more manifest. The apostasy again must come, and, in contrast with the man of righteousness, the man of sin be revealed, even the final Judas, "the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above every one called God, or an object of veneration; so that he sitteth down in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." How sharply in contrast with the Lord Jesus, who, though really God, in love became man, in order to accomplish the glorious counsels of God and man's salvation by grace! This one is the son of perdition to the ruin of those who trust him. Although he be but a man, and the man of sin, he takes the place of being the true God here on earth, and this too, not in the world, but in the temple of God of that time. Thus he not merely takes the place of God here below, but actually as such enters His temple. I do not doubt that the temple will then be in Jerusalem; so that as Christendom began at Jerusalem, the holy city will be its last scene of sinful pride and of divine judgment, though not its only place of judgment. Jerusalem! Rome! — they are two names of most solemn import as to the subject to which I am briefly alluding. "Remember ye not that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time." It is no absolute restraint, but provision only; for he must be revealed in his own season.

There is no need for the temple to be rebuilt before the Lord comes to rapture the saints to heaven, this can take place at any time, not being part of the time-table of prophecy, but the temple must be rebuilt before the Lord comes to deliver Israel from their enemies, and bring blessing to the earth. Still, it is possible that the temple could be rebuilt before the Lord raptures His own to heaven, and if it was so, it would but show how very near the coming of the Lord is, to take us to heaven, then to fulfil what is spoken of in many of the prophecies of the Old Testament, and in the Book of Revelation.