Holy Monday: Where is the Temple Now?

Eight Days that Changed the World

Where is the Temple Now?

“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”
—1 Corinthians 3:16

Jerusalem was not a city with a Temple.
It was a Temple with a city around it.

At the Israeli Museum in Jerusalem, there is a scale model of the ancient city the Jews built after World War Two. They reasoned (rightly) that they should have something to show their children and their children, something that could teach them the history of their presence in Israel. It is impressive. It’s the size of a large house lot.

This is also a great teaching tool for Christians because Jerusalem at that time, with its massive Temple, was also the city Jesus knew, loved, and wept for. When I lead groups to the Holy Land, we always stop and walk around it. We see the city for what it was.

Scale Model of Jerusalem 1:50 Scale. Photo by D. Roseberry. Located at The Israeli Museum, Jerusalem

What Went Up, Came Down

The model is stunning.

Stone by stone, it reconstructs the Second Temple period—the city as it stood when Jesus walked its streets—at a scale of 1:50.

And from every angle, you…