Why Some Christians Want a Third Temple in Jerusalem

Some Bible-only Christians see the building of a third temple in Jerusalem as key to triggering the return of Jesus.

They interpret scripture based on the principle of sola scriptura which means that the Bible is the sole authority. The problem is that those who operate under that principle do not have one single interpretation because the Bible cannot interpret itself. Therefore they become splintered into various groups ranging from Young Earth Creationists to Evangelicals to Born Again to Baptist to Biblical Fundamentalism etc..

Most of the Bible only groups interpret scripture literally, without regard for context or intent of the author and they reject the spiritual sense of scripture allegorical. Furthermore, they see the Bible as a secret code written for our times. They are driven by their attempts to decode hidden biblical prophecies about the world we live in now including the geo-politics of our day. Hence they make no distinction between the modern nation of Israel and the Jewish people of the Old Testament. 

They support the building of a third temple in Jerusalem based on these two citations, one taken from the Old Testament book of Daniel and one from the New Testament letter of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians.

• Daniel 9:27 says that the antichrist will defile Israel’s Temple by an evil act. In order for this to happen, there must be a third Temple in Jerusalem.
• 2 Thess 2: 1-4 says that Jesus will not return until after a great apostasy the antichrist will seat himself in the temple claiming that he is god.  In order for this to happen, there must be a third Temple in Jerusalem.

The Catechism explains simply that there will be a “supreme religious deception” before the second coming of Christ and that the supreme form of this deception is that of the Antichrist, who will bring “a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh” (CCC 675).No mention of the literal temple.

For Catholics, the Third Temple is already built - it's the Catholic Church of the Apostles, Christ's body. Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”  

Some Catholics are indifferent, others would see the support of another temple as an act of heresy and blasphemy. To re-create a Jewish Temple with the sacrificial system again would signal that you don't believe the Church is the Temple which offers the pure sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist. 

All Christians believe the perfect sacrifice of Christ fulfilled the temple animal sacrificial system 2000 years ago rendering it obsolete. The bible Christians are not interested in re-establishing ancient Jewish rituals. They just want the temple so that the antichrist can defile it and set the stage for the Second Coming. 

For this reason, some American Christians are a significant source of donations and support for the Temple Institute (TI). It’s kind of a weird alliance. The Orthodox Jewish goal in constructing the third temple is similar to the bible Christians. It is to fulfill prophecy and to trigger the coming of the Messiah. The Temple Institue people see it as a mitzvah (obligation) to build it. 

Since they didn’t recognize Jesus they are still waiting for the first coming of someone else. Whereas the Christians are expecting the Second Coming of Christ. 

The stated goal of the TI is to build a third temple on the temple mount in Jerusalem. The problem is that there are two very old Islamic mosques sitting on the site of the planned third temple. The Muslims who currently control the site are in denial of the historical record that shows the site was originally the place of the biblical temple.

The dispute over this mountain actually goes back to the book of Genesis chapter 22. If you recall, that's the story of Abraham offering his son as a sacrifice on a rock located on a mountain. For Jews and Christians it's about the 'binding of Isaac' the son of Abraham and Sarah but for Muslims it was the sacrifice of Ishmael, the elder son of Abraham and the servant Hagar. The reason this matters is because the location of that event was considered holy. The Jews built their temple on that site and the rock became part of the foundation of the Holy of Holies on which rested the Ark of the Covenant.

After Islam spread to the region, Muslims built the Dome of the Rock over that very spot to commemorate the sacrifice of Ishmael. To this day there is political tension rooted in two versions of the story in Genesis 22. 

When it comes to the Genesis 22 dispute, Christians side with the Jews since we accept the Old Testament account in Genesis as being true, we too believe it was Isaac who was offered. We also believe that the temple was originally built on that site since we have many examples of Jesus and his followers at the temple.

Inspite of these obstacles, the Temple Institute has proceeded withpreparations. They have acquired the necessary red heifer (actually five from Texas) to sacrifice on the altar for the sake of purifying the priests with the ashes mixed with water. For more on Red Heifers seehere.

As a rehearsal for the real deal, they recently carried out a burnt offering of one of the heifers which was disqualified due to having more than one hair which was not red. They are training Jewish men who trace their lineage to the tribe of Levi to become priests. They are practicing temple lliturgy with a temple choir and silver trumpets. They have already built the altar, the seven branched candlestick, the altar of incense, the table of shewbread and priestly vestments. They are just waiting on political powers to have the Islamic mosques deconstructed and then for permission to proceed with laying the first stone.

According to the Institute for Middle East Understanding, the Iraeli government has expressed support of the TI and has provided funding. 

Israel has sovereign over the temple mount site but it is still under Muslim management. The muslim country Jordan, which controlled the Temple Mount before 1967, continues to have a special guardianship role, formalized in the 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty.

What sounds like faulty biblical interpretations about the Messuah might actually dictate risky government policy. Seizing the temple mount and dismantling the mosques would obviously create more war.