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’s 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 passage 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)
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront a status quo faith and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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