It is a common belief among some Bible believers that a third physical temple is to be rebuilt in Jerusalem before the day of the coming of the Lord and his judgment upon the earth. Through the efforts of the Temple Institute and the Temple Mount Faithful Movement, the funding, planning, and preparations for the restoration project are already in progress. Red heifers have been exported from Texas, and a rehearsal sacrifice has already been made. All things are currently being prepared, and the building is to begin as soon as circumstances make the construction possible. The goal is not only to rebuild the temple but also to reintroduce the priesthood and animal sacrifices for atonement so that the Levitical law may be reinstituted.

Some Christians support the rebuilding project, while some believe that the rebuilt temple is inside the physical body given to each of us, where the Lord desires to dwell; others hold both views of how the temple is rebuilt without contradiction, seeing the reintroduction of sacrifices as only a memorial to the cross and resurrection of Jesus, the perfect temple and sacrifice.

Whether the third temple is to be physically restored in Jerusalem or not before the return of Christ, any attempt to rebuild what the Lord destroyed and replaced with a more perfect way is an unacceptable sacrifice to God. The return to offering the blood of animals is an affront to God and an offense to the blood sacrifice offered by Jesus Christ—whom God sent and who gave himself as the perfect and final offering for sin, once and for all.

The temple and the laws of service given to Moses were merely representations of things to come. Christ, being the true image and not a shadow of things, fulfilled all the ordinances contained in the law and put them to rest by sacrificing himself. (Hebrews 9:26)

In prophesying the destruction of the temple forty years before, Jesus never said it would be rebuilt again in the same manner as a means of redemption. What he told the Jews was, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews replied to him, saying, “Forty-six years was this temple in building, and will you raise it up in three days?” But Jesus had spoken of the temple of his body, which was resurrected three days after dying on the cross and being buried. (John 2:19-21)

Speaking with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus told her the time was coming when location would no longer be a hindrance in worship. Christ said, “God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

The Lord desires to dwell in the body of each individual and collectively in the body of all believers—both Jews and Gentiles alike—as one body. Anywhere God is worshiped is a holy place. If Christ is in you, the kingdom of God is in you; you are the temple of God.

The final chapter of Isaiah begins by saying, “Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations” (Isaiah 66:1-3).

The law of ordinances to be followed foreshadowed Christ. They offered a show of the will to worship the Lord until the perfect sacrifice was made. There is no power in the blood of the animal sacrifices to remove sin. It was the obedience of keeping the law, not the sacrifices themselves, that evidenced a redemptive faith whereby those who offered the sacrifices were found acceptable before the Lord.

The former sacrifices are now past, having been fulfilled to perfection by the offering up of the Son of God—foreshadowed in a figure by Abraham and Isaac. For by faith, Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son, and Isaac, as Christ, was willing to submit himself to being sacrificed.

In Christ, we are now free from the law of ordinances given to Moses. Both Jews and Gentiles, through faith, are now enjoined to offer up themselves as living sacrifices to do the will of God.

As prophesied by Malachi, “From the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 1:11)

Thus, the former service of the temple in Jerusalem is fulfilled in Christ. Our bodies are to be yielded as a living temple, wherein is the candlestick of the Holy Spirit and the Bread of Life, which is the word of God. 

To the contrary, he who retains his life to serve himself rejects God; he sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. This is the spirit of antichrist, whoever he is, wherever he is. And as John stated, there are many antichrists in the world.

When Christ is in us, the spirit in us seeks His perfection. As Christ is in the Father and the Father is in him, we too are in the Father. We can approach the Father in Christ, who entered the Holiest of Holies, so that we are accepted by Him.

The Apostle John, speaking of the kingdom revealed to him, said, “And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. (Revelation 21:22–24)