At the mid-point of the tribulation period, the Antichrist will set himself up as god in the holy temple of the Jews and will cause them to discontinue temple sacrifice (Daniel 9:27; II Thessalonians 2:3-4; Matthew 24:15; Daniel 11:31). This is spoken of as the abomination of desolation. For this event to occur, a third temple will have to be built in Jerusalem. The first temple was built by Solomon and was destroyed by the Babylonians during 586 BC. The second temple, which was built in 516 BC after the Babylonian captivity, was destroyed by the Romans during 70 AD.1, 2 There had been no attempt to rebuild the temple since that time until the end of the 20th century. In fact, the Jewish people were not in the land for nearly 2000 years following their expulsion by Rome. At present, the “third temple institute” has drafted blueprints for such a temple, they have reportedly constructed all of the implements to be used in the temple,3-5 and they are attempting to develop a red heifer, whose ashes are to be used for a purification ceremony for the new temple according to the OT book of Numbers (Numbers 19:2-10).6 Nearly 40% of Jewish Israelis have voiced support for building the 3rd Temple by 2015.7 Prophecy experts disagree over whether a physical temple must be rebuilt, with some holding that there will simply be a return of sacrifice.
Some in the current church age, usually called “preterists,” believe that the 70 weeks of Daniel has already been fulfilled.8 Therefore, many do not look for a return of the Temple at all. These individuals point to either the temple desecration of Antiochus Epiphanes that occurred in 167 BC or they will conclude that this referred to the destruction of the 2nd temple by the Roman leader Titus during 70 AD. Both events were a type of abomination of desolation, but to conclude that these events have no future reference is inconsistent with the text in our opinion. Jesus in Matthew 24 is clearly talking about a future event that has not occurred; meaning that the desecration of Antiochus could not be the event to which he was referring. Moreover, He is letting the disciples know the signs that precede His return at the end of the age. Many of the related events have still not occurred (including his return, the revealing of the man of perdition, etc.), and we hold that these are future events. Others have pointed out that the events surrounding the destruction of the second Temple did not comport with the entire prophecies of Daniel and Revelation (add link to a subsection here – The subsection is labeled Appendix A below).
Early church fathers Irenaeus and Hippolytus held to a future interpretation as well, and both tied this event to an eventual antichrist who was to come.9, 10 These same views are seen in the writings from the fourth century by Cyril of Jerusalem as well as the desert fathers:
“….there are many antichrists to come at this time from earth. For already, as you have seen, many have begun to say, I am the Christ: and the abomination of desolation is yet to come, assuming himself the false title of Christ.”11 (Cyril of Jerusalem – 4th century AD)
Pictures and Artist Renderings of the Temple of Jerusalem
(all public domain, primarily from publicdomainpictures.net & FreeBibleImages.org)
These are images of the Dome of the Rock in the 21st century, which is a Islamic mosque built over the presumed site of the Jerusalem Temple of the Jews. There is clearly controversy over claims to land in Israel and access/rights to Holy sites.
Renderings of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem (1st Temple)
Model of Herod’s Temple (second temple period)
References
- Lundquist JM. The Temple of Jerusalem: Past, present, and future. Westport, CN: Praeger, 2008.
- Fine S, ed. The Temple of Jerusalem: From Moses to the Messiah. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2011.
- Omer-Man MS. Israel’s chief rabi urges building Jewish temple of Temple Mount Haram al-sharif. +972 Magazine 2016.
- Chen S. Soon in our days: The Temple Mount and national religious society. Beer Sheva: Ben Gurion University Press, 2018.
- Berkowitz AE. Israel’s top rabbi: “I’m curently in discussions with Messiah himself Israel365News 2020.
- Fox M. Holy cow! Can one hheifer herald the Third Temple – and the end of the world as we know it? Forward:, Jewish Independent 2023.
- Verter Y. Temple Mount extremists making inroads in both Knesset and Israeli government Ha-aretz 2015.
- Graham D. Early Christian understandings of the ‘Abomination that causes desolation’. Reformed Theological Review 2015;74:162-175.
- Irenaeus. Against heresies.
- Hippolytus. Scholia on Daniel. 1342.
- Jerusalem Co. Catechetical Lectures. 4.15.