Where is the Temple

Jesus of Nazareth, God’s Messiah

The classic and primary Jewish objection is that Jesus of Nazareth was not God’s Messiah. We reply to this in many ways. The first is from Jewish history itself.

The Ordinance For Ever

If God has not sent a Messiah, the Temple remains standing and its sacrifices continue today, because God commanded Temple sacrifices that were to last forever. If the Temple is no more, these sacrifices must be continuing in some other form.

In the time of the Babylonian Exile, the last three kings of the southern kingdom of Judah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, committed atrocities and defiled the Temple. Finally, on the 9th of Av (a date in the Jewish calendar) in 586 BC, God allowed Nebuzaradan, captain of Nebuchadnezzar's guard, to burn the Temple to the ground. 2 Kings 25:9 Yet, even with their great profanation of the Temple, God sent Cyrus, king of Persia, to begin rebuilding the Temple in 539 BC, just 47 years later. The reconstruction took 23 years, and in 516 BC it was completed again.

“The sacrifice of the lambs was to take place in the Temple. Ex 12:6 “You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs in the evening.” After Solomon built his Temple, this sacrifice was always done in the Temple area. And it was to continue forever. God Himself had said of the Passover sacrifice in the Temple, Ex 12:14 “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as an ordinance for ever.”

During the past two thousand years God has never allowed the ancient Temple to be rebuilt. So, if the Passover Seder is Ex 12:14 “an ordinance for ever,” it must be continuing in some way. The Passover Seder was a Ex 12:14 “memorial day.” Jesus at the Last Supper said, Lk 22:19 “Do this in remembrance of me.” The Catholic Church teaches that Jesus' Last Supper, a Passover Seder, and His Crucifixion are parts of the same event, His Final Sacrifice, which is re-presented by every Catholic priest whenever he celebrates the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Jews still celebrate the Passover, of course, but not as the Torah requires. Ex 12:6 “… the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs in the evening.” It is no longer a sacrifice.

The Temple Miracles

The Talmud Yoma 39a and 39b quotes from a baraita, a body of laws that Rabbi Judah HaNasi did not include in the Mishna, but were codified shortly after the Mishna. (It does not have the full authority of the Mishna, but because it was quoted in the Talmud it carries great weight.) During the time of Shimon HaTzaddik (high priest when the Temple was rebuilt by King Cyrus).

God consistently performed five miracles. During the ensuing centuries, as the Jewish spiritual level fell, they occurred less and less consistently. But after Jesus' Final Sacrifice about 30 AD they stopped completely! One of the miracles was that the high priest's red ribbon would turn white if God accepted the Yom Kippur sacrifice. But after 30 AD it always remained red, indicating that God was no longer accepting the Yom Kippur sacrifice. God allowed the Jewish nation 40 years to accept His Messiah. Forty years. In ancient Israel, a generation. The same amount of time He gave Acts 13:22 Saul, 2 Sam 5:4 David and 1 Kings 11:42 Solomon to reign over all Israel. Then He allowed the Roman General Titus to burn the Temple to the ground for a second time on the 9th of Av, 70 AD.

The 9th of Av

On the 9th day of the Jewish month of Av Moses had sent spies into the land of Canaan to Num 13:18 “see what the land is.” They had returned and reported, Num 13:27 “We came to the land to which you sent us; it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Yet the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large …” At this report Num 14:1 “All the congregation raised a loud cry; and the people wept that night.” Our Father had promised the Israelites the land, but after all that they had seen they still did not trust Him. The Gemara tells us that our Father had replied, “You wept a weeping without cause. Therefore, I shall establish for you a weeping [on this day the 9th of av] for generations to come.” The First Temple and the Second Temple were both destroyed on the 9th of Av.

Jews sometimes reply that the first Temple was not destroyed on the 9th of Av. Let's take a closer look. 2 Kings 25:8 says that the First Temple was destroyed on the 7th of Av while Jeremiah 52:12 says it was on the 10th of that month. On the 7th day the Temple was overrun by the invaders, who entered the sanctuary and sullied it on the 7th and 8th days. Towards the end of the 9th day the Temple was set on fire. The fire lasted the entire 10th day. The sages agreed that it was more appropriate to fix the commemoration on the day when the hand of man set fire to the Temple, the 9th of Av.

The significance of the 9th of Av as the date the First and Second Temples were destroyed is that both destructions were by God’s will, not by any military coincidence.

The Temple Will Not Be Rebuilt

Foreseeably, it will not be rebuilt until the end of time. God allowed the Muslims to build the Dome of the Rock and the huge Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount. Even modern Israel has not attempted to rebuild it. The Catholic Church teaches that Jesus Himself is the new Temple. Jn 2:19 “Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But he spoke of the temple of his body.”