The End Time Church: From the Cathedrals to the Catacombs

By Dan L. White

Copyright 2020 by Dan L. White, all rights reserved.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB) which is in the public domain.

Chapter 83

Four Temples in Jerusalem?

David wanted to build his Father a new house.

Now that’s not too unusual. News stories appear every so often about someone who became rich, then built his parents a house. David was the long time king of Israel and before he passed on, he wanted to build his Father a house – a Temple to Yahweh.

The place where the Temple would be built was a special place, Mt. Moriah or Moriyah, the spot where Abraham had offered to sacrifice Isaac, his only son by his wife Sarah.

Gen 22:2
2) He said, “Now take your son, your only son, whom you love, even Isaac, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him there for a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of.”

Moriyah means “seen” or “provided by Yah”. That was a special place picked by Yahweh, where He provided a sacrifice to replace Isaac.

About a thousand years later –

Satan led David to show how powerful the king was by vainly taking a census of his army. Seventy thousand Hebrews were then killed in a plague sent by Yahweh. The plague stopped at that same special spot.

1Chr 21:15
15) God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was about to destroy, Yahweh saw, and he relented of the disaster, and said to the destroying angel, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” The angel of Yahweh was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

God then told David to build an altar at that spot, Mount Moriyah.

1Chr 21
18) Then the angel of Yahweh commanded Gad to tell David that David should go up, and raise an altar to Yahweh in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

David paid Ornan 600 pieces of gold for his threshing area, and that was where the Temple was to be built.

Temple 1

2Chr 3
1) Then Solomon began to build the house of Yahweh at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where Yahweh appeared to David his father, which he prepared in the place that David had appointed, in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

Unlike human parents who never refuse a new house from their kid, Yahweh would not let David build His house.

1Chr 28
2) Then David the king stood up on his feet, and said, “Hear me, my brothers, and my people! As for me, it was in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and for the footstool of our God; and I had prepared for the building.
3) But God said to me, ‘You shall not build a house for my name, because you are a man of war, and have shed blood.’

But, Yahweh would allow David’s son to build the Temple.

1Chr 28
5) Of all my sons (for Yahweh has given me many sons), he has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of Yahweh’s kingdom over Israel.
6) He said to me, ‘Solomon, your son, shall build my house and my courts; for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.

God also personally gave David the plans for His house.

1Chr 28
11) Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch of the temple, and of its houses, and of its treasuries, and of the upper rooms of it, and of the inner rooms of it, and of the place of the mercy seat;
12) and the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit, for the courts of the house of Yahweh, and for all the surrounding rooms, for the treasuries of the house of God, and for the treasuries of the dedicated things;

So for the building of the first Temple, God communicated directly with David; and supernaturally gave him the plans for the building that was to be built in that one certain spot, Mount Moriyah.

Temple 2

Nearly five centuries later, at the building of the second Temple, Yahweh was again directly and personally involved.

First, He told the Persian king to get the construction going.

Ezra 1
1) Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
2) “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘Yahweh, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he has commanded me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
3) Whoever there is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of Yahweh, the God of Israel (he is God), which is in Jerusalem.

So Cyrus sent the Jews back from captivity to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple.

Next, Yahweh picked two Israelites, Zerubbabel the governor and Yeshua the high priest, often rendered in Bible translations as Joshua, to oversee the work.

Ezra 3:8
8) Now in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all those who were come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to have the oversight of the work of the house of Yahweh.

This Temple was built in the same spot as the first. The construction was stopped, though, when a later Persian king after Cyrus ordered the Jews to stop. Then, two decades from the time they first returned to Jerusalem, Yahweh sent two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, to tell the Jews to get on the stick and stick His house up.

Haggai 1
1) In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, the Word of Yahweh came by Haggai, the prophet, to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,
2) “This is what Yahweh of Armies says: These people say, ‘The time hasn’t yet come, the time for Yahweh’s house to be built.’”
3) Then the Word of Yahweh came by Haggai, the prophet, saying,
4) “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies waste?

7) This is what Yahweh of Armies says: “Consider your ways.
8) Go up to the mountain, bring wood, and build the house. I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified,” says Yahweh.

Zechariah 1
16) Therefore thus says Yahweh: “I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy. My house shall be built in it,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and a line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem.”’

The Jews did get on the stick and under Zerubbabel and Yeshua, they did get the second Temple finished.

In the construction of both Temples, God was directly involved in the building of His house. His Temples were not just the ideas of men.

After those two Temples, though, there were a couple that were just the ideas of men, and God was not directly involved in building them.

Temple 3

Less than a century after the Romans destroyed the second Temple in 70 CE, a third temple was built on Mount Moriyah, in the same spot that Ornan tossed his wheat into the wind. Roman emperor Hadrian built that temple.

He led the Jews to believe that he was rebuilding their Temple, the house of Yahweh, as the Jewish Virtual Library says.

When Hadrian first became the Roman emperor in 118 C.E., he was sympathetic to the Jews. He allowed them to return to Jerusalem and granted permission for the rebuilding of their Holy Temple. The Jews’ expectations rose as they made organizational and financial preparations to rebuild the temple. (article, “The Bar Kokhba Revolt”)

The Roman Emperor Hadrian (117-138 CE) visited many of the Roman provinces, including Judaea in 130 CE. Immediately, the rumor spread among the Jewish inhabitants that the Emperor, one of the great ancient builders, intended to rebuild the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. He did intend to build a temple on this holy site … however it was to be a pagan Roman temple dedicated to the god Jupiter (Zeus). (article. “Coins from Hadrian’s Trip to Judea”.)

So who was Jupiter?

The New World Encyclopedia says:
Jupiter … was the supreme God in the Roman mythology pantheon. Like many of the figures of Roman mythology, Jupiter was appropriated from the Greeks, and is virtually identical to the supreme God Zeus in Greek mythology.

Jupiter was known as the Roman god of the heavens and the sky. He was considered to be the patron deity of the Roman state, in charge of laws and social order. Along with Juno and Minerva, Jupiter was the chief member of the Capitoline Triad, a group of the three foremost deities in Roman religion.

Hadrian, instead of rebuilding the Temple to Yahweh, built the Jupiter world headquarters temple.

…Hadrian deceived the Jews to believe that he was peacefully rebuilding the Jewish Temple, when in fact he was constructing the world headquarters “Temple of Jupiter”. As construction began, the Jews probably even helped in thankfulness and praise to Hadrian. But when the Jews finally learned of Hadrian’s true intent…they rebelled and a huge war broke out in 132 AD… The Temple of Jupiter was completed on the temple mount in 135 AD and was the most important (Jupiter Capitolinus) “Temple to Jupiter” in the world.
bible.ca/archeology/bible-archeology-jerusalem-temple-mount-threshing-floor.htm

Temples to Jupiter were scattered throughout the Roman Empire, including one in Rome itself from early in the republic that was destroyed and rebuilt several times. Hadrian himself built more than just the one in Jerusalem. The ruins of a temple to Jupiter that Hadrian built in Baalbek, Lebanon still exist today.

Encyclopedia Britannica says that Baalbeck is:

… an ancient Roman town in eastern Lebanon…

One of the principal structures on the site is the Temple of Jupiter (completed 2nd century CE), only portions of which remain. It was a massive building…  https://www.britannica.com/place/Baalbeck#ref127742

Even after nearly nineteen centuries, the columns of that temple still stand among the ruins. The remains of the Jupiter temple in Jerusalem have not been found, but the assumption is that it was similar to the Jupiter temple in Lebanon.

1921 drawing of Baalbek with this caption in German.
The temples of Heliopolis – Baalbek according to the results of the German excavations in 1900-1904; reconstructed and shown from a bird’s eye view (Translated from the original German description)

Pillars of the Temple of Jupiter in Baalbek, Created: 13 July 1876

Hadrian built a similar temple in Jerusalem, except perhaps even more impressive, for the world headquarters of Jupiter/Zeus worship. And according to Roman historian Cassio Dio, Hadrian built it on the spot where Abraham offered Isaac, and where the census plague stopped at Ornan’s threshing floor, and where the first and second Temples to Yahweh were built.

Surprise, surprise! The Jews thought Hadrian was going to rebuild a third temple to Yahweh. Instead, the third temple in Jerusalem was to Jupiter-Zeus.

Temple 4

Constantine, the new Christian, had the Jerusalem Jupiter temple destroyed about 324 CE. Not long after that, Constantine’s nephew did decide to rebuild the Temple to Yahweh at Jerusalem.

Julian the Apostate became emperor in 361 CE. His father and relatives had been killed by Constantine’s “Christian” heirs. When Julian became emperor, he reverted back to paganism. He hated the Roman Church so much that he discriminated against Christians and supported everything that wasn’t Christian, such as paganism and the Jews. In line with that anti-Christian thinking, he proposed to the Jews that he would rebuild the Yahweh Temple. In his edict of tolerance in 362, he also reopened pagan temples that had been closed, so rebuilding the Jerusalem Temple was in line with his policies.

In a letter to the Community of the Jews, in early 363, Julian laid out his intentions.

1906, Jewish Encyclopedia, article “Promise to Restore the Temple”.Julian wrote: “Desiring to extend yet further favors to you, I have exhorted my brother, the venerable Patriarch Julos [i.e., Hillel II.], to put a stop to the collection of the so-called Apostolé [see Jew. Encyc. ii. 20, s.v.] among you; and henceforward no one will be able to oppress your people by the collection of such imposts, so that everywhere throughout my kingdom you may be free from care:”

That is, Julian reversed some taxes levied specifically on Jews.

Julian continued:
“…. and thus enjoying freedom, you may address still more fervent prayers for my empire to the Almighty Creator of the Universe, who has deigned to crown me with his own undefiled right hand. . . . Thus should you do, in order that when I return safely from the Persian war, I may restore the Holy City of Jerusalem, and rebuild it at my own expense, even as you have for so many years desired it to be restored; and therein will I unite with you in giving praise to the Almighty.”

And, of course, in the rebuilding of Jerusalem, it was assumed that would include the temple.

Jewish Encyclopedia, not Julian, then says:
…”Many eminent writers upon Jewish and Church history, however, believe that the work of rebuilding the Temple was commenced immediately after the above-mentioned letter was written, but that, owing to certain strange causes which are explained in different ways, it was unexpectedly interrupted. Grätz, Gibbon, and Milman accept this view; but a careful inquiry into the evidence for the opinion results in tracing its origin to a fanciful legend first narrated by a bitter Christian enemy of Julian, Gregory Nazienzus. This fable is the source of the account given by the heathen historian Ammianus Marcellinus, and of the various versions detailed by the Church chroniclers. The only references in Jewish writings to the project of the emperor are to be met with in works of the sixteenth century, which references are without independent value.”
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/9078-julian-the-apostate-flavius-claudius-julianus

In their article on “Julian”, the modern Britannica says that “The plan [to rebuild the temple] was dropped when it was reported (as it was on both an earlier and a later occasion) that “balls of fire” had issued from the old foundations and scared away the workmen.” There is also speculation that an earthquake in Galilee caused the rebuilding to stop.

Whether or not temple construction was affected by great balls of fire or an earthquake in the north of Israel, this temple was actually stopped by another event.

Julian and his Roman army attacked Persia. In his letter to the Jews, he mentioned his intention to do that and he was very confident he would make it through the battle. In reality, he was killed by a spear in the gut in the early summer of 363.

Julian only ruled for two years, and the fourth temple on the Temple Mount never got off the ground. Julian the Apostate did not rebuild the Temple.

The 21^st century Temple?

Solomon’s Temple was a magnificent building. The second Temple was less spectacular but was enhanced by Herod. The third temple by Hadrian was to another god. The fourth temple by Julian wasn’t a temple, because he never made it back from his Persian war. The building of the first two Temples were directed by Yahweh God Himself. The last two weren’t.

Now we have again come to a time when people are seriously considering rebuilding the Temple to Yahweh. No one has received direct communication from Yahweh about this, and no Yahweh prophets today have given God’s command to “Go up to the mountain, bring wood, and build the house.” The first two Temples were destroyed because of the Jews’ conduct, and God did not look favorably on Hadrian’s and Julian’s efforts.

The timing of Julian’s temple contradicted God’s timing, because He had dispersed the Jews into far parts of the earth. But now, He has brought the Jews back to the Holy Land, and they now possess that special spot on Mount Moriyah, where Abraham offered Isaac but Yahweh provided a sheep instead; where the messenger of Yahweh stopped the plague at Ornan’s threshing floor, where Solomon’s Temple was built and where Zerubbabel laid the foundation for the second Temple, causing the old people to cry because it was so small.

Is it time to build another Temple to Yahweh, on Mount Moriyah? Mount Moriyah means seen or provided by Yah. Will He provide for the building of this temple and bless it?

The Jews fully intend to build this Temple. Will they be like Solomon or like Julian?