The Antichrist sits in the Third Temple?
Summary
There is no biblical passage in the New Testament about a future temple on earth before the return of Christ.
2
Thess 2:3-4 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is unveiled, the son of perdition,
4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
According to the doctrine of Pre-Tribulation Rapture, a third temple will be built in Jerusalem, on the same site where the second temple stood, and sacrifices will be reintroduced.
The Antichrist will sit in this temple 3.5 years before the visible return of Christ, set up his idol there (the abomination of desolation) and abolish the sacrificial service.
Answer
There is not a single passage in the New Testament (NT) about a future physical temple on earth. At best, one could cite Revelation 11:1-2, but that is by no means clear.
Temple in the NT:
The word "temple" (Greek "heiron" or "naos") is used in the NT to denote:
- physical second temple in Jerusalem (78x)
- spiritual temple (= church) (14x or 15x)
- temple in heaven (9x)
- physical temple of idols (6x)
- first physical temple (1x)
- no temple (in the future) (1x)
- physical future temple (0x or possibly 1x)
The church as a temple
- The Lord Jesus referred to his own body as a temple (John 2:19-21)
- Paul describes the church, i.e. all believers, as a temple (1
Cor 3:16-19 / 2
Cor 6:16 / Eph 2:19-22).
- Peter also speaks of a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5 and 1 Peter 4:17)
- Revelation even says that there will be no temple in the future because God and the Lamb are the temple (Rev 21:22).
Gospels
There is nothing in the Gospels about a future physical temple. Rather, the Lord says:
Joh 2:18-22 18 Then the Jews answered and said to Him, What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?
19 Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
20 Then the Jews said, It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?
21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body.
22 Therefore, when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the Word which Jesus had said.
Paul speaks of a spiritual temple
In his letters, Paul uses the term "temple" for the entirety of Christians and never for a future physical temple building:
1
Cor 3:16-17 16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which you are.
1
Cor 6:18-19 18 Flee sexual perversion. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
2
Cor 6:16 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
Eph 2:19-22 19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone,
21 in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,
22 iin whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
----> If Paul is talking about a spiritual temple in the passages mentioned above, why would he mean a physical temple in 2
Thess 2:4?
2
Thess 2:3-4 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is unveiled, the son of perdition,
4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Remarkable: If this were about a physical temple in which Jews in particular would worship after the Rapture, why does Paul write this to the church in Thessalonica?
Peter
Also Peter speaks of a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices - but never of a future third temple:
1
Pet 2:5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
1
Pet 4:17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
Revelation
No physical temple is mentioned in the Book of Revelation either (except perhaps in Rev 11:1-2 see below), instead only a spiritual temple is mentioned, and almost at the end of Revelation it is even said that there will be no temple at all in the future holy city of Jerusalem:
Rev 3:12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall never go out any more. And I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of Heaven from My God; and My new name.
Rev 21:21-23 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
22 And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
23 And the city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it; and the Lamb is its light.
Revelation 11
This is the only passage in the NT that could possibly be cited for a future third temple. But can one deduce from these 2 verses that a new physical temple recognized by God will come?
Rev 11:1-2 1 And I was given a reed like a staff. And the angel stood, saying, Arise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who do homage there.
2 But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.
How are we to understand that the worshippers will be measured? A physical measurement is hardly meant. Nor is the result of the measurement reported here - unlike the measurement of the holy city of Jerusalem in Rev 21:14-17, where measurements are given.
This suggests that Rev 11:2 could be understood symbolically.
In addition, "the holy city" is probably also to be interpreted spiritually.
The expression is used twice more in the book of Revelation (in Rev 21:2 and 21:10) and refers to the new heavenly Jerusalem, which is also the church.
Rev 21:9-10 9 And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife.
10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the Holy Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from God,
Why shouldn't the church also be meant here in Rev 11:2? Especially as the earthly Jerusalem is called "the great city" a few verses later, which is anything but holy, because it is called "spiritually Sodom and Egypt":
Rev 11:8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
If the holy city in 11:2 is to be understood spiritually, why not also the temple?
----> A future physical third temple can hardly be deduced from these 2 verses alone.
But if - as is claimed - a physical temple is actually meant, in which bloody sacrifices are again offered, who are the worshippers?
Are they orthodox Jewish "believers" who are still waiting for the Messiah? So why should they be measured? Is the sacrificial service after Jesus' death on the cross, after the curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom, then pleasing to God again?
Or do they believe in Jesus Christ and are therefore in the new covenant? Why then are the bloody animal sacrifices, which are shadow images of Christ, reintroduced? And how is this compatible with the new covenant that the Lord established through his own blood?
Will they take the Lord's Supper or sacrifice animals in remembrance?
And about which age are we talking here? Since - as is claimed - it cannot be the age of the church, it must be a different age.
Is it the continuation of the previous age under the law, the old covenant? How is this possible after the new covenant, the better and everlasting covenant, has been introduced?
Or is it a new age, under the new covenant, but with animal sacrifices? Wouldn't that be a step backwards in the history of salvation?
Conclusion
----> There is no clear biblical passage in the New Testament about a future physical temple on earth. The Antichrist does not sit in the third temple.
Remark
Nor can it be clearly deduced from the Old Testament (OT) that there will be a physical third temple before the visible return of Christ (justifications will follow later).