In general, a temple is a holy meeting place for religious activity.
In the Bible, there are several temples. The first is Solomon’s temple, which was later pillaged and destroyed. It was grand and extravagant.
The temple was reconstructed by Zerubbabel and sometimes referred to as the temple of Zerubbabel; it was more basic and simpler, akin to Moses’ tabernacle.
Later, King Herod greatly expanded Zerubbabel’s temple. However, his motives were selfish and not God-honoring.
Herod’s goal was to call attention to himself and garner the favor of the Jewish people. This temple was later destroyed by Roman soldiers, just as Jesus predicted (Luke 19:41-44).
In other uses, Jesus’ body is called a temple (John 2:19-21), the bodies of Jesus’ followers are temples (1 Corinthians 6:19), and heaven itself is God’s temple (Revelation 7:15).
Key verse about Temple: Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem. The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the Lord. Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the instructions given him by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places. (1 Kings 3:1-3, NIV)
A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.
