- Aug 14, 2024
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- 476
Apart from analyzing the individual passages concerning the temple, there are theological reasons to reject any notion of a future temple. I personally have to analyze the passages together with theological understanding.
And that's because OT typology made no effort to explain its NT counterpart. OT Prophets were speaking to people under the Law, and made no effort to speak outside of this context.
1) The OT temple was a symbol God applied under the Law to represent God's heavenly temple, consisting of His own justice, as opposed to justice being worked out in the partnership between God and OT Israel. The book of Hebrews argues that a flawed priesthood could not operate in terms of eternal redemption, but only in a temporary sense until God's heavenly justice was worked out by Christ alone.
Heb 8.4 ...there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. 5 They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain"...
9.8 The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still functioning. 9 This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper...
23 It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence...
10.1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered?...
2) The Law was given to Israel "for all your generations." But the context for this statement was the Law, indicating that people not yet redeemed by Christ had an ongoing need for spiritual cleansing, at least until legal cleansing had been fully accomplished. The Law was given in perpetuity, but not eternally. Its truth was eternal, but its function was to lead to a new covenant.
3) Jesus said the Law was as enduring, in all of its requirements, as the universe itself in Matt 5. The context, again, was the Law of Moses, which continued to be in effect before Jesus' Cross. The universe firmly required that Israel's sins be constantly dealt with until Jesus could ultimately fulfill the need to fully redeem Israel. Even the universe will pass away in its temporal nature. But redemption would provide for a new creation.
4) When we read in Zech 6 of the restored temple, the context is two-fold. One, it is involved with the then-current restoration of the temple under the Persians. And two, it is a dualistic, typological prophecy of the heavenly reality Christ will bring beyond the temple worship of the Law. Joshua, the High Priest at the time, was not both a king and priest, as the portrait shows. So, the fulfillment was intended to picture Christ as both king and priest, with the temple restoration referring to the temple he would build, which I believe to be the Church, built upon himself as a new temple.
1 Cor 3.16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
5) When we read in Eze 40-48 of a temple, it is a picture of a future temple in the language of the then-current Law. Since it is quite different from the temple under the Law, again it must refer to a different kind of temple built by Christ. Its symbolism is evident in the account given in Revelation 21 of the New Jerusalem. When the temple is spoken of as being high or exalted, the sense seems to be of a different, heavenly temple (Eze 40.2; Isa 2.2; Rev 21.10).
6) When we read in Isa 2 of nations streaming to the temple in Jerusalem, again we are speaking symbolically of a new reality transcending the Law. The nations were not given to gather 3 times per year in Jerusalem to worship God at the temple. That was the domain of the Jewish People in Israel, and certainly would not require a gathering of nations to that geographical spot. What it does hearken back to is Abraham's Promise that he would spiritually father many nations. So in their symbolically gathering to Jerusalem at the temple it is indicated that the nations will come to the faith of Abraham in the future, in the Messianic era.
7) I do see as symbolic the language of temple worship and the Law given in the OT Prophets. They did not intend to speak outside of the legal context of their own times, and expected that the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Promise would transcend the limitations imposed by the Law of Moses. Justice would come from God, since the history of Israel revealed a constant failure to achieve final deliverance from their enemies and relief from the punishment of God.
1 Pet 1.10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
8) Paul's depiction of the Antichrist seated in the temple of God is Paul's continued use of OT symbolic language of the temple. Rulers do not "sit" in God's temple. So, his depiction of Antichrist sitting there indicates he is trying to take God's place in the center of worship, both from Israel and from all the nations. The context concerns Antichrist taking God's place--not the reinstitution of temple worship.
9) In my opinion, God's temple is being built today by Christ, and that heavenly temple is both the Christian Church and the heavenly justice that God is applying to those who have yet to be delivered, both nations and individuals. Israel will as yet be brought back into the community of Christian nations by God's justice because Israel's flaws, apart from Christ's redemption, could not achieve final redemption. The Law could not achieve that, representing human self-efforts to achieve Eternal Salvation. Final Salvation comes only through Christ by God's mercy alone. The Law depicted Christ's Salvation, and not just its own temporary connection to God.
10) Finally, the use of symbolic language in OT Prophecy, with no apparent effort to "modernize" its fulfillment, might make a translator and interpreter of these temple passages go crazy! But it's all we have, I'm afraid. It's left to make sense of what God was doing in transitioning from a temporal form to an eternal form by necessity, since redemption must come not from us mortals but only from heaven itself.
1 Cor 13.8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And that's because OT typology made no effort to explain its NT counterpart. OT Prophets were speaking to people under the Law, and made no effort to speak outside of this context.
1) The OT temple was a symbol God applied under the Law to represent God's heavenly temple, consisting of His own justice, as opposed to justice being worked out in the partnership between God and OT Israel. The book of Hebrews argues that a flawed priesthood could not operate in terms of eternal redemption, but only in a temporary sense until God's heavenly justice was worked out by Christ alone.
Heb 8.4 ...there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. 5 They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain"...
9.8 The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still functioning. 9 This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper...
23 It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence...
10.1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered?...
2) The Law was given to Israel "for all your generations." But the context for this statement was the Law, indicating that people not yet redeemed by Christ had an ongoing need for spiritual cleansing, at least until legal cleansing had been fully accomplished. The Law was given in perpetuity, but not eternally. Its truth was eternal, but its function was to lead to a new covenant.
3) Jesus said the Law was as enduring, in all of its requirements, as the universe itself in Matt 5. The context, again, was the Law of Moses, which continued to be in effect before Jesus' Cross. The universe firmly required that Israel's sins be constantly dealt with until Jesus could ultimately fulfill the need to fully redeem Israel. Even the universe will pass away in its temporal nature. But redemption would provide for a new creation.
4) When we read in Zech 6 of the restored temple, the context is two-fold. One, it is involved with the then-current restoration of the temple under the Persians. And two, it is a dualistic, typological prophecy of the heavenly reality Christ will bring beyond the temple worship of the Law. Joshua, the High Priest at the time, was not both a king and priest, as the portrait shows. So, the fulfillment was intended to picture Christ as both king and priest, with the temple restoration referring to the temple he would build, which I believe to be the Church, built upon himself as a new temple.
1 Cor 3.16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
5) When we read in Eze 40-48 of a temple, it is a picture of a future temple in the language of the then-current Law. Since it is quite different from the temple under the Law, again it must refer to a different kind of temple built by Christ. Its symbolism is evident in the account given in Revelation 21 of the New Jerusalem. When the temple is spoken of as being high or exalted, the sense seems to be of a different, heavenly temple (Eze 40.2; Isa 2.2; Rev 21.10).
6) When we read in Isa 2 of nations streaming to the temple in Jerusalem, again we are speaking symbolically of a new reality transcending the Law. The nations were not given to gather 3 times per year in Jerusalem to worship God at the temple. That was the domain of the Jewish People in Israel, and certainly would not require a gathering of nations to that geographical spot. What it does hearken back to is Abraham's Promise that he would spiritually father many nations. So in their symbolically gathering to Jerusalem at the temple it is indicated that the nations will come to the faith of Abraham in the future, in the Messianic era.
7) I do see as symbolic the language of temple worship and the Law given in the OT Prophets. They did not intend to speak outside of the legal context of their own times, and expected that the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Promise would transcend the limitations imposed by the Law of Moses. Justice would come from God, since the history of Israel revealed a constant failure to achieve final deliverance from their enemies and relief from the punishment of God.
1 Pet 1.10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
8) Paul's depiction of the Antichrist seated in the temple of God is Paul's continued use of OT symbolic language of the temple. Rulers do not "sit" in God's temple. So, his depiction of Antichrist sitting there indicates he is trying to take God's place in the center of worship, both from Israel and from all the nations. The context concerns Antichrist taking God's place--not the reinstitution of temple worship.
9) In my opinion, God's temple is being built today by Christ, and that heavenly temple is both the Christian Church and the heavenly justice that God is applying to those who have yet to be delivered, both nations and individuals. Israel will as yet be brought back into the community of Christian nations by God's justice because Israel's flaws, apart from Christ's redemption, could not achieve final redemption. The Law could not achieve that, representing human self-efforts to achieve Eternal Salvation. Final Salvation comes only through Christ by God's mercy alone. The Law depicted Christ's Salvation, and not just its own temporary connection to God.
10) Finally, the use of symbolic language in OT Prophecy, with no apparent effort to "modernize" its fulfillment, might make a translator and interpreter of these temple passages go crazy! But it's all we have, I'm afraid. It's left to make sense of what God was doing in transitioning from a temporal form to an eternal form by necessity, since redemption must come not from us mortals but only from heaven itself.
1 Cor 13.8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
