Page 65 - Satan in the Sanctuary

Step by Step—A Plan of Action 67

So, who shall undertake to build the third Temple of God?
Who shall be considered fit to do this most sacred work?
Who, then, is worthy?
We can see that even if the mount were clear and there
were no international tensions involved with the rebuilding,
the Jews would still hesitate before undertaking so monu-
mental a task. How shall it be accomplished, and who will
be called to do this?

THUS SAITH THE LORD
It may surprise people who do not appreciate the depth of
faith to be found among the religious Israeli Jews that the
rabbis look mainly to supernatural solutions to this problem.
They hold various views about how the Temple may be re-
built, assuming the site to be clear and the tensions relaxed,
but all of their views reflect a serious consideration of God
and the Messiah. They give the work its fitting respect.
The majority view is that it would be blasphemy for ordi-
nary Jews simply to rebuild the Temple as they would any
other structure. Instead, God Himself should reconsecrate
the work, or provide the Messiah or a great prophet to under-
take it.
Rabbi Mordechai HaCohen, a Jerusalem-born scholar and
the author of various books on rabbinics, Jewish history, and
the holy places, has gathered together the major views on
the coming of the third Temple. He finds seven different
positions on this question:
1. God will send down a perfect Temple of Fire from
heaven, which, since it is built by God, will endure
forever.
2. The Messiah will come and miraculously rebuild the
Temple.
3. A non-miraculous king of Israel will demonstrate that