During my research for this article I learned that for Jews the non-restoration of the physical Temple by Jesus is a major reason to reject Christianity and Jesus as the messiah. 

Let’s start with the prophecy. We read the following:

“My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. Then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.”

Ezekiel 37:24-28

Given that the historic Temple in Jerusalem is currently under Muslim control (as the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque), and God’s tangible presence is not visibly dwelling among Israel in the way described, how can Jesus be the fulfillment of this prophecy?

Jesus’s prophecy about the temple

During Jesus’ lifetime, the Temple in Jerusalem was still standing and fully functional. Therefore, He had no need to rebuild it physically. However, Jesus made a striking prophecy about its future:

“Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, ‘As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.’”

Luke 21:5-6

This prophecy was fulfilled in the year 70 after Christ, thus around 37 years after the death of Jesus when the Romans destroyed the Temple. Until this very day, the Temple was never again under full Jewish control. 

The physical Temple was the main and central point for the Jewish religion. For me personally this sounds like a potential punishment by God for the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus. 

The fact that the Temple has not been rebuilt for over 2’000 years also raises a critical question: Is God’s presence truly dependent on a physical structure, or did Jesus introduce a new paradigm?

The spiritual temple

Jesus was Jewish and as we read in the Bible he prayed and preached in the Temple many times. He definitely cared about the Temple as he saw it as the house of his father. At the same time, Jesus emphasized that His kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36) and that true worship is spiritual, not confined to a physical location (John 4:21-24). This shift is dramatically illustrated in His cleansing of the Temple:

“When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.”

John 2:13-22

Through this we understand that Jesus identified Himself and his church as the true spiritual temple – the dwelling place of God – which is much more powerful than anything physical, any stone walls who are not more than that without a holy spirit living in it. 

In the New Testament, Paul expands on this:

“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.”

1. Corinthians 3:16-17

This means God’s presence is no longer restricted to a building but resides in His people through the Holy Spirit. Through our soul, God is within each and every one of us, and with our good will and if through our good deeds and following the commandments, we are close to God, we ourselves are part of the Temple. Jesus also promised:

“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Matthew 18:20

We can count on this word, no matter where we gather in his name. Be it a cave, in the open fields or virtually these days, Jesus is in our midst. Temples, churches, anything physical are of no importance to God. As we read in the Bible, God is spirit (John 4:24) and only our spirit, not any physical building or establishment, counts for him. 

Looking at all the pompous Christian churches around the world, they are a beautiful testament of craftsmanship and art. However, I am very sure that God does not care much about all the Gold and earthly beauty. All God cares about is if we live Christianity and its principles in our daily life and if we hold its essence in our heart. We could tear down all churches, I am sure God wouldn’t mind as long as it would help get souls and spirits back to him and get together in his name.

Thus, the essence of Ezekiel’s prophecy is fulfilled spiritually in Christ and the Church.

The future temple and conclusion

While the spiritual fulfillment is present, the Bible also points to a future, physical fulfillment in the New Jerusalem:

“I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Revelation 21:1-4

Jesus did not rebuild the physical Temple, but He fulfilled Ezekiel’s prophecy in a deeper, spiritual way:

  • He Himself is the true Temple (John 2:21).
  • Believers are now God’s dwelling place (1 Cor. 3:16).
  • The ultimate fulfillment—God dwelling with humanity—will be realized in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:3).

For Jews awaiting a physical Temple, this remains a stumbling block. But for Christians, Jesus’ fulfillment is both present (spiritually) and future (physically in eternity).

Let us strive to be living temples of God’s Spirit as we await the glorious New Jerusalem!

Jesus and the Temple in Maria Valtorta’s visions

A few noteworthy quotes that are temple-related and that I find quite interesting in this context.

Jesus states the following while preaching at the temple:

“They say that there is no blood or love superior to the Temple, and they thus teach people not to love their neighbour. I tell you that above the Temple there is love. The law of God is love and he, who does not take pity on his neighbour, does not love.”

Maria Valtorta, The Poem of the ManGod, chapter 594.The Wednesday before Passover. From the Discussions with Scribes and Pharisees to the Eschatological Discourse. The Widow’s Mite.

Jesus responds to Samuel who says that he want to go to worship God in the Temple:

“I am the first, in My double Nature, to long for that altar and I would like to see it surrounded by holiness, as befits it. As the Son of God, everything that honours Him is a sweet voice to Me, and as the Son of man, as an Israelite, and therefore a Son of the Law, I see the Temple and the altar as the most sacred place in Israel, in which our humanity can approach Divinity and become scented with the air surrounding the throne of God. I do not abolish the Law, Samuel. It is sacred to Me because it was given by My Father. I perfect it and complete it with new parts. As the Son of God I can do that. My Father sent Me for that. I have come to establish the spiritual Temple of My Church, against which Temple neither men nor demons shall prevail. And the tables of the Law will have a place of honour in it, because they are eternal, perfect, untouchable. The commandment “do not commit this or that sin” contained in those tables, which in their lapidary conciseness comprise what is necessary to be just in the eyes of God, is not cancelled by My word. On the contrary! I also give those ten commandments to you. I only tell you to keep them with perfection, that is, not for fear of the wrath of God on you, but out of love for your God Who is your Father. I have come to put your hands of sons into the hands of your Father. For how many ages those hands have been divided! Punishment divided them. Sin divided them. Now that the Redeemer has come, sin is about to be cancelled. Barriers are falling. You are once again the sons of God.”

Maria Valtorta, The Poem of the ManGod, chapter 563. Samuel, Judas of Kerioth and John. Parable of the Bees.

Jesus, after being captured shortly before his death, is brought to various trials and the following Temple related passage is described in the visions:

“«Let the witnesses speak» shouts Caiaphas.

«Yes, He was making use of the… the… We knew… What is the name of that thing?»

«The tetragram, perhaps?»

«That’s it! You have said it! He evoked the dead. He taught people to rebel against the Sabbath and to desecrate the altar. We swear it. He said that He wanted to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days with the assistance of demons.»

«No. He said: it will not be built by man.»

Caiaphas comes down from his seat and approaches Jesus. Small, excessively fat, ugly, he looks like a huge toad close to a flower. Because Jesus, although wounded, bruised, dirty and unkempt, is still so handsome and solemn. «Are You not replying? What horrible charges they are bringing against You! Speak, to clear Yourself of such shame.»

But Jesus is silent. He looks at him but does not speak.

«Reply to me, then. I am Your Pontiff. I adjure You by the living God. Tell me: are You the Christ, the Son of God?»

«You have said it. I am. And you will see the Son of man, sitting on the right hand of the power of the Father, come on the clouds of the sky. Moreover, why do you ask Me? I have spoken in public for three years. I have not said anything secretly. Ask those who have heard Me. They will tell you what I have said and what I have done.»

One of the soldiers who is holding Him, strikes His mouth, making it bleed once again, and he shouts: «Is that how you reply, O satan, to the High Pontiff?»

And Jesus replies meekly to this one as He had replied to the previous one: «If I have spoken the truth, why do you strike Me? If I have said something wrong, why do you not tell Me where I am wrong? I tell you once again: I am the Christ, the Son of God. I cannot lie. I am the High Priest, the Eternal Priest. And I alone wear the true Rational, on which it is written: Doctrine and Truth. And I am faithful to both, even to death, ignominious in the eyes of the world, holy in the eyes of God, and until the blissful Resurrection. I am the Anointed One. Pontiff and King I am. And I am about to take My sceptre and with it, as with a winnowing-fan, I will clear the threshing-floor. This Temple will be destroyed and it will rise again, new and holy. Because this one is corrupt and God has abandoned it to its destiny.»

«Blasphemer!» they all shout in chorus.

«Will You do that in three days, You silly possessed man?»

«Not this one. But Mine will rise again, the Temple of the true, living, holy, three times holy God.»

«Anathema!» they howl again in chorus.

Caiaphas raises his clucking voice, he tears his linen garments with affected horror, and he says: «What else have we to hear from witnesses? He has blasphemed. So what shall we do?»

And all in chorus: «He deserves to die.» And with disdainful scandalised gestures they go out of the hall, leaving Jesus to the mercy of the bravoes and of the mob of false witnesses, who with slaps, blows, spitting, blinding His eyes with a rag and then pulling”.

Maria Valtorta, The Poem of the ManGod, chapter 600. The Various Trials.