The Second Temple
The Temple: Now and Forever • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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The Temple: Now and Forever
Garden of Eden
Tabernacle after Mt. Sinai
The Temple of Solomon
The Temple in Ezekiel (God leaves, vision of future)
The Temple of Zerubbabel/Ezra
The Temple of Herod
The Temple of Jesus
The Temple of the Holy Spirit
The Temple of God opened (Rev. 11 & 15)
The Temple of God in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21-22)
Phases of the 2nd Temple:
Zerubbabel laid the foundation. 536 BC
Temple completed. 516 BC (20 years later)
Ezra returns and reforms worship. 458 BC (58 years later)
King Herod (ala Jesus’s birth story) announces renovations. 20 BC
Temple’s structure completed. AD 27
Gospel accounts of Jesus in the Temple. AD 27-30
Decorations finished. AD 63
Destroyed by Rome. AD 70
What was the Second Temple?
How was it different from Solomon’s temple?
Why was it empty?
What does it’s failure teach us?
“Look, the days are coming” —this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—my covenant that they broke even though I am their master”—the Lord’s declaration. “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them” —this is the Lord’s declaration. “For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin.
In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah, the Lord roused the spirit of King Cyrus to issue a proclamation throughout his entire kingdom and to put it in writing:
This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: “The Lord, the God of the heavens, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build him a house at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you, may his God be with him, and may he go to Jerusalem in Judah and build the house of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. Let every survivor, wherever he resides, be assisted by the men of that region with silver, gold, goods, and livestock, along with a freewill offering for the house of God in Jerusalem.”
So the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and Levites—everyone whose spirit God had roused—prepared to go up and rebuild the Lord’s house in Jerusalem. All their neighbors supported them with silver articles, gold, goods, livestock, and valuables, in addition to all that was given as a freewill offering. King Cyrus also brought out the articles of the Lord’s house that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and had placed in the house of his gods.
When the seventh month arrived, and the Israelites were in their towns, the people gathered as one in Jerusalem. Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brothers the priests along with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his brothers began to build the altar of Israel’s God in order to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. They set up the altar on its foundation and offered burnt offerings for the morning and evening on it to the Lord even though they feared the surrounding peoples.
When the builders had laid the foundation of the Lord’s temple, the priests, dressed in their robes and holding trumpets, and the Levites descended from Asaph, holding cymbals, took their positions to praise the Lord, as King David of Israel had instructed. They sang with praise and thanksgiving to the Lord: “For he is good; his faithful love to Israel endures forever.” Then all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord because the foundation of the Lord’s house had been laid.
But many of the older priests, Levites, and family heads, who had seen the first temple, wept loudly when they saw the foundation of this temple, but many others shouted joyfully. The people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shouting from that of the weeping, because the people were shouting so loudly. And the sound was heard far away.
When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, they approached Zerubbabel and the family heads and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we also worship your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time King Esar-haddon of Assyria brought us here.”
But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the other heads of Israel’s families answered them, “You may have no part with us in building a house for our God, since we alone will build it for the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us.” Then the people who were already in the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build. They also bribed officials to act against them to frustrate their plans throughout the reign of King Cyrus of Persia and until the reign of King Darius of Persia.
So the Jewish elders continued successfully with the building under the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo. They finished the building according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius, and King Artaxerxes of Persia. This house was completed on the third day of the month of Adar in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.
On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: “Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and to the remnant of the people: ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Doesn’t it seem to you like nothing by comparison? Even so, be strong, Zerubbabel—this is the Lord’s declaration. Be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land—this is the Lord’s declaration. Work! For I am with you—the declaration of the Lord of Armies. This is the promise I made to you when you came out of Egypt, and my Spirit is present among you; don’t be afraid.’ ”
For the Lord of Armies says this: “Once more, in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all the nations so that the treasures of all the nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,” says the Lord of Armies. “The silver and gold belong to me”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. “The final glory of this house will be greater than the first,” says the Lord of Armies. “I will provide peace in this place”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.
On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Haggai:
Herod was an Idumean (Edomite) ruling over a Jewish population that wasn’t always sure he was their rightful leader. To win their trust and boost his standing, he took on the huge task of renovating the Temple. The Temple Zerubbabel rebuilt was small compared to Solomon’s original, so Herod transformed it into one of the grandest buildings in the Roman world, really putting Jerusalem on the map. Like many ancient rulers, Herod wanted to leave a lasting legacy—and as Josephus tells us, he was eager for his name to be remembered alongside this impressive monument.
As he was going out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Teacher, look! What massive stones! What impressive buildings!”
Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another—all will be thrown down.”
The Second Temple:
Lacked God’s presence until Jesus entered it.
Lacked the Ark of the Covenant.
Lack the Bronze Sea.
Started smaller, but then got much larger than Solomon’s Temple.
Emphasized keeping holy rather than becoming holy.
How does the Second Temple relate to the Gospel?
Shows limitations of a physical temple.
Provided a platform for Jesus to teach true worship.
Provided a platform for the church to begin.
It’s destruction closes the Old Covenant.
