A Disturbing Discovery.....   (The Impossibly Wonderful becomes the Unthinkably Horrible)

As one studies the Scriptures it becomes more and more apparent that not only will Israel be restored (Romans 11:25-33, Jeremiah 31:35-37 and countless others), but also that the Temple will be rebuilt.
This seemingly impossible event will have an unspeakably powerful effect on Christian and Jew alike, it will be mesmerizing. And be viewed as a bellwether event, and the harbinger of the coming of Christ and his Kingdom.

And you'd think it would be.

But some pieces didn't seem to fit a completely happy event, and a funny feeling began to nag. And the euphoria that should have accompanied the anticipation of that happy event began to become a queasy feeling instead.

Here are a few of those pieces that didn't seem to fit:
In 2 Thessalonians 2:3,4, it speaks of the "Man of Lawlessness" sitting in that rebuilt Temple. Wouldn't that make it unholy ?
Repeatedly in Daniel, it speaks of the "Daily Sacrifice" being removed (Daniel 8:11,-13, 11:31, 12:11).

But much more disturbing, is that other Scriptures seemed to indicate even worse things.
For instance, Daniel 8:11 says: "The place of his sanctuary was thrown down" (NAS).
Daniel 11:31 says "forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice."

Compare with this Scripture in Psalms 74: 3-8 "3 Turn Your footsteps toward the perpetual ruins; The enemy has damaged everything within the sanctuary. 4 Your adversaries have roared in the midst of Your meeting place; They have set up their own standards for signs. 5 It seems as if one had lifted up His axe in a forest of trees. 6 And now all its carved work They smash with hatchet and hammers. 7 They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground: They have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name. 8 They said in their heart, "Let us completely subdue them." They have burned all the meeting places of God in the land." (NAS) (please see note at bottom of page on Psalm 74)

O.K., (gulp) here it is: The Temple will be rebuilt, destroyed and rebuilt again. Yeah,  I know, pretty "out there". But before you write this off as total lunacy consider these clues:

In Revelation 11:1,2 the Temple mentioned there is measured, but it's courtyard is not measured. Note too; this takes place in the Second Woe, Before the final 3 1/2 years of the "reign of terror" of the AntiChrist (Third Woe).
In what at first seems to be a parallel account at Ezekiel chapter 40, the Temple of Ezekiel is measured and it's courtyard is measured*. Note too, that "Gog", The AntiChrist, has completed the last 3 1/2 years of his reign of terror and has already been destroyed back in Ezekiel chapter 39, Before this Temple is built.
Also, in Daniel 8:13,14, the 2300 days begin when the "Daily Sacrifice" is removed, and it takes until the end of the 2300 days to get the Temple back into it's "right condition". That's fully 1040 days beyond the end of the Beast's/Man of Lawlessness/The AntiChrist/King of the North's, "reign of terror". I don't think it will take almost three years just to get his smell out of the Temple. The Next Temple will be rebuilt during this 1040 day period.
The fact that the "Man of Lawlessness" even sits in the first rebuilt Temple and declares himself to be God, defiles it (2 Thess 2:3,4). And by virtue of this fact it becomes unholy. And frankly, the Scriptures make it clear that it is burned to the ground sometime after that defiling event anyway.

The timing of this event is not stated directly in the Scriptures, however if it parallels the first century event, it will be 1335 days from beginning of the third woe ("Man of Lawlessness" sits it Temple) bringing it to the 1335th day of Dan 12:11-12. This would correspond to the siege of Titus (see Timeline point 16). 

Thus, the last 3 1/2 years will be truly devastating. And so, Daniel 12:7 begins to take on its true depth of meaning when it says, "As soon as there will have been a finishing of the dashing of the power of the Holy people to pieces, [Christian and Jew] all these things will come to their finish".

It just makes me feel sick. This is going to be horrible.

To recap:
The Temple will be rebuilt Twice. (This is being written in January 2009)
The first time, will be before the removing of the "Daily Sacrifice" (obviously), this first rebuild will be in the time of the Second Woe. (Two Witnesses)
It will be destroyed after the end of the Third Woe, on Tisha B'Av of 2029.(I think)
It will be rebuilt again, after the casting of the "Beast" a.k.a. AntiChrist, etc. etc., into the Lake of Fire (Rev 19:20). And logically, after the Great Earthquake that will happen in Jerusalem (Rev 16:18). But, oddly enough, before the cleansing of the Earth described by Peter (2 Peter chapter 3). As the book of Joel shows that that area of earth remains protected (Joel 2: 30-32)

(just a note to keep in mind: The first Temple was destroyed on Av 9, and the rebuilt Temple (Herod's) was destroyed in 70 c.e., on the exact anniversary day of that event, i.e. Av 9, 70 c.e. Just thought you should know. You can Google "Tish'a B'av", just something to keep in mind.)**

*In the case of this second-to-be-rebuilt-Temple, not only is the Temple, the inner, and the outer courtyard measured, (see all of Ezekiel chapter 40) but, the adjacent area for up to approximately 1 mile minimum , and worth noting, it covers a much larger area than the currently existing Temple area would allow for, thus there will be a geological "reshuffling" of the land by the Great Earthquake of Rev 16: 18 ( see Ezekiel 42: 15-20. Actually, chapter 47 verses 2-5 also supplement/support that the measuring process extends for many thousands of cubits beyond the Temple/Courtyard area, but in a different context). This Temple "re-rebuild" is truly different from the first rebuild of Revelation 11:1,2. And it cannot be defiled by the "Man of Lawlessness".

**The Jewish month Av corresponds to approximately from mid-July to mid-August. Give or take.

(note: A Temple cubit is longer than a standard cubit. See Ezk 45:13, it could be as much as 20 inches, appx 1/2 meter)

(footnote for Psalm 74:)
That the Seventy-fourth Psalm is an end-time prophecy, seems to be indicated by four interesting passages in that Psalm. The first being verse 3 where it says, "Turn Your footsteps toward the perpetual ruins". The Temple mound area would not have been considered "perpetual ruins" at the time of either the first or second destruction of the Temple, as the Temple area had been occupied for hundreds of years before each of those destructions. In fact, from the time of the first destruction, during the time they were taken into Babylonian captivity, until the laying of the foundation for next Temple, there were men that had seen the first Temple who were still alive to see the foundation laid for the Second Temple (Ezra 3:12,13), by some calculations it was as little as a 50 year interval. In any case, it could not be considered "perpetual" even in reference to one human lifetime. But from the Jewish standpoint, the Temple area currently (January 2009) could certainly be considered "perpetual ruins", and if the  Temple were rebuilt, and shortly thereafter destroyed, the term "perpetual ruins" would still seem applicable.

The fourth passage is verse 22 where it says "Do arise o God, do conduct your own case at law". Which could indicate the time of Judgement Day, could.

However in fairness it should be said that the last two verses cited here (19,22) are not nearly as convincing and solid as verse 3, or 9, but, they could be end-time indicators.

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