“They shall make Me a Sanctuary and I shall dwell among them.”

Location

We know from the writings of Ezekiel (Yechezkel in Hebrew), who lived as a Hebrew prophet some twenty-five-hundred years ago when God’s First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, that the city of Jerusalem will be rebuilt to the south of its present location. The Third Temple like its two predecessors, the First and Second Temples, will lie on a piece of land known as the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount will be approximately 25 miles north of the city of Jerusalem, which will acquire a new name, God-is-there.

As stated by the prophet Isaiah 2:2-4, “And it shall come to pass at the End of Days [Messianic Times] that the Mountain of God’s house shall be set over all other mountains and lifted high above the hills and all the nations shall come streaming to it. And many people shall come and say, come let us go to the mountain of God to the house of Jacob.” It is not clear from Isaiah’s words whether God’s mountain, which will house the Temple, will be high above all other mountains in a physical sense, spiritual sense or both physically and spiritually. However, Isaiah’s prophecy does bring up the possibility that God will move Mount Moriah, where the First and Second Temples were built, to a site north of present Jerusalem, so that in Messianic Days, both the city and the Temple will be relocated, the city to the south and the Temple to the north with a distance of about 25 miles between them.

There is no definitive indication for a relocation of the Third Temple in Scriptures, only the city of Jerusalem is to move. As far as we know, the Third Temple will be built exactly on the identical site where the First and Second Temples were originally built in biblical times. Of course, this creates an impasse because standing on this exact spot in Jerusalem today, where the Third Temple shall be built, is the golden Dome of the Rock where the prophet Muhammad is said to have ascended on his horse to heaven. Noteworthy, there is a story of Jacob’s dream of a ladder reaching heaven in the Book of Genesis, which suggests an alternate location for a Temple site. Jacob has left his father Isaac’s home in Beer Sheba to travel many miles north to where his grandfather Abraham’s family still lives. Jacob leaves to escape the wrath of his brother Esau and to seek a wife from Abraham’s lineage. During his journey, Jacob realizes that he has traveled too far and has forgotten to pray at the site where his father and grandfather had prayed. This site of prayer is also where Abraham’s loyalty was tested (known as the Akeidah trial) as God requests Abraham kill his only son, Isaac. At the last moment, Abraham is stopped by God from killing Isaac, and a ram caught in the thicket is killed in Isaac’s place. This very site of the Akeidah in Jewish tradition is the same site where the First and Second Temples were built on Mount Moriah. Before Jacob has a chance to return, to pray at this site, God brings Mount Moriah to Jacob. That night Jacob has a dream of a ladder of angels where he meets God. In Genesis 28:13, we read “And behold God was standing over him.” When Jacob awakens next morning, he exclaims in Genesis 28:17, “And this is none other than the abode of God and this is the Gate of Heavens.” It is the gate through which prayers ascend to heaven and the Divine meets earth. As written in Genesis 28:19, “And he named the place Bethel.” Jacob names this holy place where he encountered God, Bethel.

Indeed, the city of Bethel, which in Hebrew means house of God, can be located on the biblical maps lying some ten to twelve miles north of Jerusalem. Bethel’s original name was Luz which means almond. We know Luz to be a famous place since this is where the threads (fringes) or Tsitsis of the Hebrew prayer shawl known as the Talit werecolored blue. From Numbers 15:38, “Let them attach a cord of blue to each corner of the garment.” As a sign of God’s miracles this blue color was extracted from a now extinct small reptile called the chilazon. Some commentators of the Scriptures believe that it was really Jerusalem, at the Akeidah site, where Jacob prayed and that Mount Moriah was not moved by God. Rather, the earth contracted and the reverse was true. Jacob and Bethel were brought to Jerusalem miraculously so that when Jacob names the place Bethel, he is at Mount Moriah at the original Akeidah site. Even if the latter is the true explanation, there is yet another difficulty with building the Third Temple at the original site of the First and Second Temples. According to the Book of Ezekiel, the Temple Mount of the Third Temple is to be thirty-six times the size of the Temple Mount of the Second Temple. Modern day Jerusalem geography would not accommodate such a large expansion. Of course, we know that God is omnipotent and can overcome all physical world obstacles. However, the Dome of the Rock and its adjacent Islamic mosque will not disappear unless through violent apocalyptic events predicted at the End of Days by both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament.

Our organization, the Shechinah Third Temple, Inc. is dedicated to a peaceful building of the Third Temple, for the Temple itself symbolizes all that it is right both in our world and in the miraculous world ahead during Messianic times. The house of Jacob spoken about in Isaiah’s prophecy (which we began this section with) in Isaiah 2:2-4, “And many people shall come and say, come let us go to the mountain of God and the house of Jacob.” suggests to usthat God will make all things possible like he did for Jacob at Bethel. It makes perfectly good sense to us that what’s more important at this time is to begin to plan for a Third Temple, because this is what we believe will bring our Creator out of the shadows back into the world for all to know Him and to honor Him for all that He has given us. Unless we begin now, and walk hand and hand together as human beings into the Glory of God, we may find ourselves at an End of Days which is more horrific than we could ever imagine. In Exodus 25:8, God tells Moses, “They shall make me a Sanctuary and I shall dwell among them.” God spoke these words more than thirty-three-hundred years ago when God freed the Jews from slavery in the land of Egypt and they agreed to accept His Ten Commandments. Yet these words apply more than ever today because we need our Creator to help us set the world on a straight and true course. The human race can’t seem to do it alone. We may have to wait to build His Temple at a future time but by planning for it, we hope to bring God into our midst today. We ask that you join us in supporting our cause. Aside from living our lives as spiritual human beings by following His Commandments and walking in His Image with mercy, kindness, and justice in our hearts, it seems only right and just for us to honor God with the building of His Third Temple? God has given us the universe, our world and life itself. Imagine the wonders of having the sHecHinaH or Divine Presence so close by as part of our everyday life. Life will be incredible or as God Himself states to the Prophet Zecharia (Zecharia 8:6), “it will also seem incredible to Me.”