The Temples of God: Their Historical and Future Significance to Jews and Christians and All of Humanity

By Toni C. Clark

The temples of God are of profound historical and future significance to Jews, Christians, and all of humanity.

The original temple was in the Garden of Eden, created not by man’s hands, but by God. After sin came to the Garden, Adam and Eve began the lineage of mankind and from their roots came Jacob’s twelve sons and the Hebrew tribes. King David was a descendant of the tribe of Judah, and his son, Solomon, built an amazing temple in Jerusalem. It was where God’s presence and glory would reside. God told Solomon he would reject the temple if he or his descendants did not live with righteousness. Solomon’s temple was ultimately destroyed.

Following a tumultuous period of wars, the second temple was built in Jerusalem by the Jewish exiles returning from Babylon. It was not as ornate as the first, but its magnificence was prophesied—and then came the temple rebuild by Herod the Great. His role in mankind’s history, including his violent kingship and the Massacre of the Innocents, fulfilled prophecy.

The birth of Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection also fulfilled prophecy. His activities in the second temple were profound—including his prediction of the destruction of Herod’s temple and all of Jerusalem. The obliteration occurred in AD 70.

Mankind’s history then passes through eras of wars and conquest, leading to the hope for a third temple. It will be built in Jerusalem just prior to the Tribulation. Like all the temples of the past, it is prophesied to be defiled and destroyed.

At the end of mankind’s earthly history, the final temple will be built by God, after Jesus Christ’s second coming—it will be glorious beyond imagination. Jesus will reside there, with his chosen people. Who is among the chosen?

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: May 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685176433

Book preview

Chapter 1

The Creation of the Beginning

All stories have a beginning. To understand where we are going, we need to know where we came from. Modern man cannot agree just when our beginning was, indeed, the beginning. The debate about creation is long-standing and never ending—there seems to be constant argument between science and creationism. Science relies on rules of logic and the order of nature and proposes that the beginning was the result of a cosmic explosion and spans of evolution. On the other hand, Creationism offers that logic and natural law rise out of the consciousness that God gave mankind, and God created the universe and all within it. The proof of creation is attainable only by belief in what was and in what is to come.

Scientific Theory

Many scientists dismiss the history of creation found in the Bible, as told in the book of Genesis. Instead, they subscribe to the big bang theory which is that the universe was born about fourteen billion years ago when an explosion of energy created a minuscule mass, and within a fraction of a second, it swelled into the current universe as we know it. Their theory continues with earth forming about nine billion years later, and mankind making an appearance about 300,000 years ago.

Underlying the big bang theory are several theoretical answers to the question of what was there before the big bang happened? There is the initial singularity prediction, in which the single point of beginning is ambiguous but thought to have contained all the energy and space-time of the universe. Space-time is explained as being four-dimensional, made by combining the three dimensions of space, which we are all familiar with, and adding the dimension of time. There are also other models that suggest what existed before the big bang, such as one using loop quantum gravity to explain the beginnings. There is also a cyclical model that says there were big branes (membranes) that collided to trigger creation…very complicated suppositions. There is also a procreation model based on M-theory unifying all versions of superstring theories, which in themselves are used to explain particles and fundamental forces of nature. As a summary, these scientific theories assume that the general physical substance called matter has always existed. Not all scientists agree with the big bang theory, but their oppositions seem to be about the details rather that the process.

Regarding the creation of earth, ancient thinkers had several ideas. One Greek poet and thinker named Hesoid said earth was born out of Chaos, an eternally nothingness that became something. Norse mythology called the eternal nothingness Ginnungagap. Japanese mythology upheld that earth came out of a dark void.

In ancient times, it was believed that our planet was flat and it was the center of the universe. It wasn’t until 500 BC that a Greek philosopher and mathematician by the name of Pythagoras suggested the earth was round. A few hundred years later, a Greek mathematician named Eratosthenes agreed and made the first estimate of the planet’s circumference.

An astronomer by the name of Nicolaus Copernicus, born in 1473, theorized earth was not the center of the universe, as had been believed, but he didn’t have the tools to prove his concept. A little under two hundred years later, in 1610, the famed astronomer Galileo published his telescopic research to prove earth was not the center of the universe.

Scientific theory evolves whenever new ideas and new observations take place. The earth was flat, and then it was not; it was the center of the universe and all things revolved around it, then it was not the center but is among those things that rotate and revolve around the sun. At this point, it is necessary to remember that a theory is a supposition not yet tangibly proved, and because it is not proven, a theory is subject to change. Theories are suppositions of what has been or is likely to be observed, and scientific theories can eventually be disproved since they are derived from explanations of ever-changing observations.

There are several scientists who dismiss evolution and the big bang theory, considering both to be highly unlikely or simply impossible. They are called creation scientists, because they believe in creationism, God’s hand in creation. The creation scientist will maintain that with regards to the creation of mankind, evolution is not observable. Henry Morris wrote, The story of evolution does not have the scientific evidence to support its assertions. It does possess, however, an unyielding resolve to erase God’s authority over creation (Morris III 2009).

Creationism

It is often argued by scientific minds that the story in the book of Genesis leads to a creation-by-faith ideal regarding the universe and mankind. The theistic answer to how the universe was created is creatio ex nihilo, a Latin verse for creation out of nothing and a belief that matter is not eternal but was a divine creation by God. The biblical facts of creation were told by God to Moses, who recited the words as written in chapter 1 of Genesis—the first book of the Bible. God, who was and is, and always will be, created the universe in six days.

Many Christians believe the account in Genesis cannot be shared with the big bang theory or any other scientific supposition. The fundamentalists’ view is that Genesis is true in every aspect. On the other hand, some Christians, including many creation scientists, believe that the geology, biology, anthropology, and astronomy that science uses to prove the creation of the universe all point to God’s hand in creation.

Jews and Christians believe the Bible to be the word of God. Mankind cannot put words in God’s mouth or take away from His meaning.a Theology (the study of the nature of God and religious belief) supports the belief that the design of the book of Genesis is a revelation, in which God first revealed to the Hebrew race who He was and how the Hebrews would serve as His witnesses to the rest of the world—then, now, and in the future. The book of Genesis and the story of creation contain historical accounts and are to be interpreted relative to process and time.

The evolution theory proposed by science is that the universe was created about fourteen billion years ago. The creationist account from the book of Genesis does not fix the age of the earth. Some will argue that the genealogy recorded in the Bible cannot be traced with the assumption that each year lived was exactly 365.25 days long or that a creation day written in Genesis was exactly twenty-four hours in duration. God’s calendar does not change, but mankind’s certainly does—the history of the calendar and timekeeping is intricate enough to be the topic for another book. It may seem like time is a man-made measurement, yet the sun rises and sets in a predictable pattern, just as the Creator meant it to be.

Christians believe that Genesis is a historical account of God’s creation. It is not an evolving story; it is written as the word of God, not to be altered and not to be eliminated. Faith simply means believing in something that is true and then committing our lives to it. The late Dr. Alvin L. Barry wrote, Faith is as miraculous an event in our life as is God’s work of Creation in the world. He also concluded, Christians have no need to fear the findings of science, nor do they have any reason to give ‘science’ more credence than they give the Word of God (Barry 2003).

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a Deuteronomy 4:2

Chapter 2

The History of Religion

Abrief summary of the history of religion helps us understand how humans incorporated their beliefs and ideals into their daily lives and how and where they worshipped. History teaches us that religion has been a part of the human experience for untold ages—written and unwritten. Written history is only five thousand years old, and unwritten history has been discovered through archaeology, oral lore, traditions, and suppositions.

Mankind’s Belief and Ideals

There has not been any archaeological evidence to support the existence of religion by humans during the Middle Paleolithic period of 200,000–50,000 BC. Of course, archaeological evidence is provided only if artifacts survived and of those that did survive, if they are discovered and how they are interpreted.

Archaeological discoveries do provide evidence of human burials in the Middle East about 100,000 years ago, as discussed in British Archaeology. (Pettitt 2002) Then and across the periods of history, findings of burial sites show similarities in practices, such as being interred with shells or ivory jewelry. Some bones were found with ochre, an earthly pigment containing ferric oxide and appearing light yellow to red in color. There are various opinions as to why these items were buried with the remains, including that they were for religious motives. One would assume that burials were connected to some type of religious or ritual belief.

As to if and how early mankind worshipped, the discovery of a figure believed to be the likeness of a deity was unearthed in 1939. The Löwenmensch figurine called the Lion-man of the Hohlenstein-Stadel (a German cave) was found shortly before the onset of World War II. (Lowenmensch 2021) The lion-headed figurine is the oldest known animal-human sculpture in the world. Carbon dating of the layer in which it was discovered determined the sculpture was between 35,000 to 40,000 years old, associating it with the Upper Paleolithic period. It was carved out of mammoth ivory using a flint stone knife. The Lion-man is considered by some to be evidence that deity worship has been around for a very long time.

Where people practiced their worship or spiritual rituals has always been of historical interest. Evidence of human-made sites of worship was discovered by German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt in Turkey, dating back to 9130–7370 BC (Scham 2008). It is considered a spiritual center of a nomadic people.

Taking a jump forward, the ancient era started around the year 3000 BC, when the earliest known actual writing began in cuneiform and hieroglyphs. Cuneiform was a system of writing used in the ancient Middle East and was composed of wedge-shaped characters on flat tablets of clay or stone. Hieroglyphs were pictures or symbols that read as objects or sounds. Through early writing, a great deal of various religious and spiritual practices has been documented—it would take more than just a few books to shed light on all of the discoveries.

The areas that are most rich in archaeological findings related to ancient civilizations are no surprise—the Near East and Middle East. Historians would agree that the earliest Egyptian culture began about 7,500 years ago. Egypt has offered up a great deal of evidence of various god-like figures worshiped by the people. Ancient Egypt practiced polytheism or idolatry or both. Belief in more than one god is called polytheism and belief in one god is monotheism. Idolatry is the worship of idols. As early as 3000 BC, Egyptians used hieroglyphs that involved thousands of symbols to record their religious history.

There were several organized religions in ancient times. Formed in 1500–500 BC were Hinduism and Zoroastrianism. Atheism, the disbelief in God, is part of Hinduism. The basic doctrine of Zoroastrianism was that the universe is a battlefield between good and evil. Zoroastrianism is a belief in Ahuramazda, the supreme, omniscient, and omnipotent god who symbolizes truth, radiance, and purity. He is the creator as well as sustainer.

A few centuries later came Jainism, which teaches salvation by perfection through successive lives. Confucianism, which stresses the importance of a good moral character because it will affect the world around the believer, was developed in early China. Buddhism, Taoism, and Shintoism also arose during that time.

Judaism originated around 2000 BC when God revealed Himself to Abraham, a Hebrew chosen to start a new nation. Christianity, rooted from Judaism, formed in first century AD, when Jesus died and was resurrected.

The History of Judaism and Christianity

It is common consensus that Christianity is rooted in Judaism, and the two religions grew distinctly different in the first centuries of the Christian era. Two words can serve to describe the basis of the two faiths: orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Christianity emphasizes correct belief (orthodoxy), focusing on the New Covenant as mediated through Jesus Christb whereas Judaism places emphasis on correct conduct (orthopraxy), focusing on the Mosaic covenant as recorded in the Torah and Talmud. The Torah is the first five books of the Old Testament, and the Talmud is a primary source of Jewish religious law and theology, consisting of several volumes.

Both the Mosaic Covenant and the New Covenant are anchored in the Law of God, namely the Ten Commandments. The Mosaic Covenant was an agreement God made with the Israelites at Mount Sinai.c It is sometimes called the Sinai Covenant but commonly referred to as the Mosaic Covenant since Moses was God’s chosen leader of the Israelites at that time. The New Covenant is the agreement God made with all who became followers of Christ.

The Jewish religion started in the Middle East nearly four thousand years ago. According to the sacred text, God first revealed himself to a Hebrew man named Abraham, who later became identified as the founder of Judaism. This was a revelation of the covenant of grace and God’s purpose to reach into humanity and choose people for Himself. God promised that He would make Abraham a great nation, giving Abraham’s descendants all the land from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates. This became known as the Promised Land and would be called Israel.

The Hebrew nation was led to the Promised Land nearly three thousand years ago and the hilltop city that would be named Jerusalem was conquered from the Jebusites, a Canaanite tribe. Jerusalem became Israel’s capital city and throughout history has been besieged at least twenty-three times, attacked more than fifty times, and capture and recaptured forty-four times (Bishton 2008).

The history of ancient Jerusalem is complex and has been revealed in several archaeological finds. One find was the Nimrud Tablet,d an ancient relic made around 733 BC during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III, and it shows the earliest known record of Jerusalem’s name. Excavations in Jerusalem have found burned artifacts dating back 2,600 years and the charred wood, bones, and pottery provide proof that Jerusalem was set afire by the Babylonians in 586 BC, as described in the Bible’s book of Jeremiah and by Jewish and Roman historians. Other archaeological findings include underground chambers unearthed near the western wall, dating to the time of ancient Judean kings Hezekiah and Menashe, around 700 BC. (Rogers 2020)

From Judaism arose Christianity. The history of Christianity essentially began with prophecies found in the Old Testament. Over three hundred prophecies spanning one thousand years are recorded in the Old Testament concerning the coming of a Jewish messiah. It can be said that messianic belief is what separates Judaism and Christianity.

Christianity is the faith that focuses on the belief that Jesus of Nazareth, who is Jesus Christ, is the Messiah. He was born, was crucified and died, and rose on the third day to appear to His disciples before ascending into heaven. This happened in fulfillment of ancient prophecies. The initial followers of Jesus were taught by His apostles and disciples. They began calling themselves Christians in a church group in Antioch, Greece, about fifty years after Jesus had ascended.e

When Jesus was born, He was a Jew. He observed the Jewish faith and knew the Jewish Law. He was called Rabbi (a Hebrew word meaning my teacher or my master) and preached in many Jewish synagogues. His teachings are the foundation of Christian faith.

Some people of Jewish faith converted to Christianity while others refused to believe that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah. The first members of the Christian faith were Jewish converts who continued to worship in the synagogue until they were forced to separate themselves from the unbelieving Jews by the introduction into the Synagogue liturgy of Birkat-ha-minim which pronounced a curse against heretics. Marvin Wilson wrote that the curse was applied to several kinds of people or groups: Jews who converted to Christianity, Christians themselves, the enemies of the Jews, and to the governing authorities of the Christian world (Wilson 1989).

Apostle Paul, before he became a disciple of Christ, was himself a zealous persecutor of the new faith, even approving of the murder of Apostle Stephen.f Paul had been one of the many Jews who were in violent opposition and condemnation of fellow Jews who followed The Way, but then Paul became a follower of Jesus Christ.

It is essential to mention that Apostle Paul’s story is astounding. Jesus appeared to Paul, who was then known as Saul of Tarsus, while he was traveling on a road to Damascus to arrest followers of Jesus. During his journey, Jesus appeared to Paul and chose him as an apostle to preach the news of redemption, which is a major teaching of Christianity, specifically to the Gentiles. A Gentile is any person who was not a Jew, and in ancient days, many of the Christian Gentiles were from Greece. Paul was later labeled by the Christian churches as the Gentile’s apostle. Of the twenty-seven books in the New Testament, thirteen are attributed to Apostle Paul’s writing.

Christians believe in individual salvation from sin through receiving Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. This salvation is earned through faith and not by deed. On the other hand, Jews believe in participation in an eternal dialogue with God through tradition, rituals, prayers, and ethics—in other words, salvation earned by good deeds.

The history of Christianity will be discussed in subsequent chapters relating to the development of the Christian church.

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b Hebrews 8:6

c Exodus Chapters 19–24

d The Nimrud Tablet K.3751, also known as Kalhu Palace Summary Inscription 7 is an inscription on a clay tablet dated c.733 BC from the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III (745 to 727 BC), discovered by George Smith in 1873 in Nimrud.

e Acts 11:26

f Acts 7:57–60

Chapter 3

The Sacred Texts

Sacred texts are writings that venerate a deity. In Christianity, the sacred texts are the books of the Bible; in Judaism, the sacred texts are the Tanach, Mishnah, Talmud, and Midrash. For Hinduism, they are the Vedas. In Islam, they are the Quran and Hadith. The Rigveda, a scripture of Hinduism, is so far one of the oldest known complete religious texts, dating to 1500–1200 BC.

The Jewish Talmud

The Talmud is a sacred text of the Jewish faith. It is the primary source of Jewish civil and ceremonial law and theology. Talmud, or Talmud Torah, means study of the Torah in Hebrew and it is considered the most important text in Judaism. The Talmud is the basis of all Jewish culture and guides the faithful in their daily lives. It was written by ancient rabbis, teachers of faith, as discussion and interpretations of the Tanakh (the Old Testament). The Talmud was not and does not claim to be inspired writing, thus is not considered by Christians to be authoritative. The Talmud contains 613 mitzvahs, of which 248 are mandatory and 365 are prohibitive.

The Talmud has two components: the Mishnah and the Gemara. The Mishnah is a collection of material representing the oral tradition of Jewish law, called the Oral Torah. The Mishnah includes laws that do not come directly from the Torah, whether expressed, implied, or deduced, and laws that were enacted by rabbis. The Mishnah teaches by example, presenting actual cases brought to judgment, usually along with the debate on the matter and the judgment