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You can find a lot of discussion on the Internet, espousing various theories about the need for a future Temple. Some say it is a literal Temple while others insist that, once Yeshua died, our bodies became the Temple and there is no longer a need for a physical temple.
While it's true that Yeshua was our Final Sin Sacrifice, the Scriptures tell us that there WILL however, be a Third Temple because sacrifices will be taking place prior to the second coming (and therefore during the last part of the "Tribulation") and even during the thousand year reign. For this to occur, there MUST be an altar and some sort of structure - be it a stone temple or a tent similar to Moses' or David's tabernacle.
In the Scriptures below, we see that Ezekiel clearly describes a future physical temple because, how else could we explain the fact that Levites and descendents of Aaron will be ministering there? In light of Yeshua being the complete sacrifice, the Great High Priest, and a revelation of a new order of priesthood after the order of Melchizadek, why revert back to a priesthood based on the descendents of Aaron? It seems the ONLY way to interpret the verses that describe the Levitical priesthood ministering in the temple that is described by Ezekiel and Zechariah (verses included below) would be to admit that this is a PHYSICAL temple located in Jerusalem during the last days.
Ezek 40:45-46: 45 And he said to me, "This is the chamber which faces toward the south, intended for the priests who keep charge of the temple; 46 but the chamber which faces toward the north is for the priests who keep charge of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, who from the sons of Levi come near to the LORD to minister to Him."
Ezek 43:18-44:1 - 18 And He said to me, "Son of man, thus says the Lord GOD, 'These are the statutes for the altar on the day it is built, to offer burnt offerings on it and to sprinkle blood on it. 19 'And you shall give to the Levitical priests who are from the offspring of Zadok, who draw near to Me to minister to Me,' declares the Lord GOD,' a young bull for a sin offering. (This sin offering, given in what I believe to be a temple built during the last days or during the one thousand year reign of Messiah in Jerusalem, would be likened to a memorial sacrifice pointing to Yeshua's sacrificial death.) 20 'And you shall take some of its blood, and put it on its four horns, and on the four corners of the ledge, and on the border round about; thus you shall cleanse it and make atonement for it. 21 'You shall also take the bull for the sin offering; and it shall be burned in the appointed place of the house, outside the sanctuary. 22 'And on the second day (If this is the temple in heaven where there is no sun and moon, how could you calculate a "day"?) you shall offer a male goat without blemish for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, (If this is the temple in heaven, how could the altar need cleansing? Cleansing from what?) as they cleansed it with the bull. 23 'When you have finished cleansing it, you shall present a young bull without blemish and a ram without blemish from the flock. 24 'And you shall present them before the LORD, and the priests shall throw salt on them, and they shall offer them up as a burnt offering to the LORD. 25 'For seven days you shall prepare daily a goat for a sin offering; also a young bull and a ram from the flock, without blemish, shall be prepared. 26 'For seven days they shall make atonement for the altar and purify it; so shall they consecrate it. 27 'And when they have completed the days, it shall be that on the eighth day and onward, the priests shall offer your burnt offerings on the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you,' declares the Lord GOD. " (Again, there are no days and nights in heaven. This could NOT refer to a heavenly temple.)
Ezek 44:9-31: 9 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the sons of Israel, shall enter My sanctuary. 10 "But the Levites who went far from Me, when Israel went astray, who went astray from Me after their idols, shall bear the punishment for their iniquity. 11 "Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, (If this is the temple in heaven, how could you have the Levites "bear the punishment for their iniquity" in heaven?) having oversight at the gates of the house and ministering in the house; they shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them. 15 "But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from Me, shall come near to Me to minister to Me; and they shall stand before Me to offer Me the fat and the blood," declares the Lord GOD. 16 "They shall enter My sanctuary; they shall come near to My table to minister to Me and keep My charge. 17 "And it shall be that when they enter at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and wool shall not be on them while they are ministering in the gates of the inner court and in the house. 18 "Linen turbans shall be on their heads, and linen undergarments shall be on their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything which makes them sweat. 19 "And when they go out into the outer court, into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers; then they shall put on other garments that they may not transmit holiness to the people with their garments. 20 "Also they shall not shave their heads, yet they shall not let their locks grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads. 21 "Nor shall any of the priests drink wine when they enter the inner court. 22 "And they shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman but shall take virgins from the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest. (Marrying in heaven??? Not according to Yeshua! This is NOT a temple in heaven. This is a temple, not yet built, on earth.) 23 "Moreover, they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. (If this is in heaven, wouldn't we already know the difference between holy and profane???) 24 "And in a dispute they shall take their stand to judge; they shall judge it according to My ordinances. (A dispute in heaven between people?? And the priests are the ones who will stand judge??) They shall also keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed feasts, and sanctify My sabbaths. 25 "And they shall not go to a dead person to defile themselves; however, for father, for mother, for son, for daughter, for brother, or for a sister who has not had a husband, they may defile themselves. (A dead person or a corpse in heaven??? I think not!) 26 "And after he is cleansed, seven days shall elapse for him. 27 "And on the day that he goes into the sanctuary, into the inner court to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering," declares the Lord GOD.
Zech 14:16-21: 16 Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. 17 If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain. 18 If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The LORD will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. 19 This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. 20 On that day HOLY TO THE LORD will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in the LORD's house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar. 21 Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the LORD Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD Almighty.
The following, which further helps to explain the fact that there will be a literal Third Temple, was borrowed from International Christian Zionest Center, entitled, The Ezekiel Temple:
But does it follow that there can thus never be a time when the sacrifices will again be part and parcel of the service of worship to God in the new temple? This is the question we need to ask ourselves. And on this point the Bible does give a clear and unequivocal answer:
There will come a time, during the new temple period, when sacrifices will be offered again. It says so in Ezekiel, and it is also mentioned by Daniel, when he speaks of the evil ruler - "the little horn" - to come, by whom the daily sacrifices will be taken away, and the place of His sanctuary will be cast down (Daniel 8:11). This surely implies not only a rebuilt temple towards the end of time, but also a reinstitution of the daily sacrifices!
This fact of the reinstitution of the sacrifices, even sin sacrifices - albeit for awhile - does not mean a cancellation of the finality of Jesus' sacrifice for sins, just as the continuation of those sacrifices in the temple until AD 70 never pointed to a cancellation of the finality of that sacrifice. These were sacrifices that even the Apostle Paul participated in, as is seen from the account in Acts 21:23-26!
If God could live with this fact of continued sacrifices and sin offerings in the as yet un-destroyed second temple after the sacrificial death of His Son, can we not live with such renewed sacrifices during the period of the third temple?
And just as the sacrifices in the days of Moses' tabernacle and the two temples were a mere foreshadowing of the sacrifice God would make of His Son - can the sacrifices that will be held in Ezekiel's temple not equally be pointers back to that wonderful gift that He gave?
In the same way: If Jesus was not loathe to come to His Father's house in the days of His flesh - even though it had been defiled by a forerunner of the man of sin - why should He not come suddenly to the temple that is to be built on His holy hill?
God came in His shekinah glory and visitation to Solomon's temple after it was built. Through Christ He came to the second temple built by Zerubbabel. Why, then, should He not come to the third temple once it has been built, as stated in Ezekiel 43?
"...And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming," says the LORD of hosts. "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like launderer's soap. … He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the LORD an offering in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to the LORD, AS IN THE DAYS OF OLD, AS IN FORMER YEARS." (Malachi 3: 1-4)
What an amazing Scripture! And in Ezekiel we read a nearly identical passage:
And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory....And the glory of the LORD came into the temple by way of the gate which faces toward the east. The Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the temple....
And He said to me, "Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever....
"Son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern....Write it down in their sight, so that they may keep its whole design and all its ordinances, and perform them.
"This is the law of the temple: The whole area surrounding the mountaintop shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple." (Ezekiel 43: 2, 4-5, 7, 10, 11, 12)
With these beautiful and forceful words the words of the Psalms agree:
Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed … "Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion." (Psalm 2:1,2,6)
And:
Let us go into His tabernacle; let us worship at His footstool. Arise, O LORD, to Your resting place, you and the ark of Your strength. Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let Your saints shout for joy.
For the LORD has chosen Zion; he has desired it for His dwelling place: "This is My resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it." (Psalm 132: 7,8,13,14)
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