(Hebrews 10:4b) “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
Last week a headline appeared in an online Christian website; “Red Heifers Arrive in Israel: Is it a Signal of the 3rd Temple, End Times?” Part of the article went on to say; “The delivery of five red heifers to Israel has sparked a worldwide debate about its significance in biblical prophecy, particularly among Christians who believe a third temple will be built during the End Times… Many Christians believe a third temple will be built in Jerusalem during the End Times…” The pro-Israel Christian website TheIsraelGuys.com also labelled the heifers’ arrival significant. “It’s incredible that several red heifers have been brought to Israel and could potentially be used in the reinstatement of the Temple services in the near future… At the same time, as believers in the Bible and God’s prophetic plan for Jerusalem, we first have to care about, and advocate for the place where God chose to place His Name, and where He said a House would one day be restored as a House of Prayer for all nations” (Isaiah 56:7). I would suggest, based on scripture, that the final temple, which will indeed be a house of prayer for all nations, will not be the one the Jewish people are planning to build, but the Millennial temple which will be built in the age to come after this present age has come to a close.
Today within wider Christendom, especially in many evangelical and charismatic churches, there are many believers who are getting really excited at the prospect of a rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem and believe that Christians should do everything they can to support the Jewish people in this project. However, is this acceptable to the Lord?
The rebuilding of the Temple structure and the re-establishment of the temple sacrifices will happen again at the end of this present age according to the prophet Daniel which our Lord Jesus affirmed in the Olivet discourse in Matthew Chapter 24, Luke Chapter 21 and in Mark Chapter 13 where He spoke about the abomination of desolation foretold by Daniel that would not only occur in 70AD forty years after the Lord Jesus had prophesied this event but would re-occur at the very end of this present age. A careful reading of Matthew Chapter 24 telescopes to 70AD but also to the end of this age where the final abomination of desolation will occur.
Should New Covenant believers be somewhat enamoured and excited about the rebuilding of the third Temple? Most certainly we should be anticipating and looking forward to the Second Coming of the Messiah our Lord Jesus, and this is our blessed hope as New Covenant believers, and the rebuilding of the Temple is prophetically significant in relation to His Second Coming. However, there is only One Second Coming and it will not be a secret one, but a public one that every eye will see and the scriptures attest to this (Matthew 24:27) (Revelation 1:7; 6:15-17). When a Temple structure is built and the sacrifices re-instated will God be pleased with this?
When the Lord Jesus was hanging on the cross, the moment He died the curtain in the temple separating the Holy place from the Holy of Holies was torn from top to bottom opening up the way for any repentant sinner, whether Jew of Gentile, to come boldly with reverence into the very presence of God Himself made possible by the atoning sacrifice made once and for all time through the shed blood of the Messiah our Lord Jesus (Hebrews 10: 19-20). He was that sacrificial Lamb of God that took away the sin of the world, and by His shed blood made a perfect and complete sacrifice once and for all time that was never to be repeated (Hebrews 7:27; 27-28; 10:10-12). It’s all laid out clearly in the Book of Hebrews in the New Testament.
Sacrifices and offerings to atone for sin prescribed in the Law of Moses are no longer necessary. In fact to keep offering up sacrifices to atone for sin is a rejection of the once and for all sacrifice made by the Lord Jesus. The blood of bulls and goats could only cover for Israel’s sins temporarily, not remove them (Hebrews 10:4). However, only the blood of the Messiah can remove sin and cleanse a repentant sinner from its power and penalty whether they are Jew or Gentile (John 1:29) (1 John 1:7-9). In 70AD the temple was destroyed because those offering up the sacrifices had rejected the Messiah and His atoning sacrifice made with His own pure and untainted blood, a perfect and pure sacrifice that was acceptable to God (Psalm 40:6-7) (Hebrews 10:5-7).
The Jewish religious leaders in Israel today by and large reject the Lord Jesus as their Messiah and curse those who confess Him as the Son of God and as their Passover Lamb who has been sacrificed (1 Corinthians 5:7). The blood of bulls and goats did not protect Israel or the Temple from what happened when the temple was destroyed and Jerusalem sacked by the Romans in 70AD. When you look at the unbiblical doctrines of the perpetual sacrifice of the Mass in Roman Catholicism and their doctrine of transubstantiation you have in effect a doctrine not supported in scripture, a misinterpretation of what the Passover meal is really about in its Jewish context. Any sacrifice made to atone for sin is a rejection of the Messiah and His perfect and everlasting atonement for sin through His shed blood.
The third temple will not be the final one but will be defiled and desecrated by the Antichrist. The final Temple will be the Millennial Temple built on the original site of Mt Zion where the Messiah will have His residence on earth. The Mountain (kingdom) of the Lord’s House will be raised higher than all of the other mountains (kingdoms) that have survived the Second Coming of the Messiah (Isaiah 2:1-5) (Micah 4:1-5). In the Millennium there will be sacrifices and offerings made in the Millennial Temple at Jerusalem, not to atone for sin, but as memorials to what the Messiah did in the previous age because the New Covenant cut in His blood is the everlasting covenant which stands firm for all of eternity. The generation born in the Millennium will need to know about what the Messiah did in the previous age when He cut the everlasting covenant by His own blood to atone for sin. These memorial sacrifices and offerings in the Millennium are described in Ezekiel and Zechariah (Ezekiel 45:13-25) (Zechariah 14:21).
Because Israel by and large have rejected the Messiah and are labouring under the burden of a works based righteousness while rejecting their Messiah they are still under the curse of the Law. At the cross the curse was removed through the Messiah’s atoning blood and it is only when a Jewish man, woman or child repent and receive Him as their saviour and Lord that the curse over their life is broken (Galatians 3:13). When they receive the Holy Spirit the moral, ethical and spiritual requirements of the Law are written deep down on the inside of them on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Romans 2:28-29). They discover that God’s righteousness is bestowed upon them through placing their full trust in the Messiah to save them and to cleanse them from their sin with His blood. After this, it is the blood of the Messiah applied to their hearts by the Holy Spirit, that will empower them to walk in the commandments of God, to be justified by faith and not by the works of the Law, for by the works of the law no one can be justified before God (Romans 3:19-31).
Right now there may be a lot of Euphoria in Israel and in wider Christendom over the Red Heifers and the rebuilding of the Temple but there is already a living Temple and He is the only one who, by His perfect and pure untainted blood, has provided redemption, forgiveness of and cleansing from all sin (Ephesians 1:7). God is at work in Israel and He is going to allow them to pass through the Time of Jacob’s Trouble in order to turn them back to the Messiah, but at the end a surviving remnant of Jews will be saved out of it (Jeremiah 30:1-7) (Revelation 12:6, 13-16).
On that day God will pour out on the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a Spirit of grace and supplication. They will look upon their Messiah, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son. On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great (Zechariah 12:10-11a). In that day God will open that fountain of the Messiah’s blood for the House of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity! (Zechariah 13:1).
