This word in Scripture, though generally made use of to express one and the same thing, namely, the house of God, hath various references in relation to the divine glory. There was no building in the church of God called the temple, until the one built by Solomon. Before those days the house appropriated for the worship of the Lord was called the tabernacle, or sanctuary. But when the Lord bad instructed his people by his servant Nathan the prophet, (see 2 Samuel 7:1-29) concerning the temple, we find Solomon, by the Lord's appointment, building this first temple on Mount Moriah. And independent of every other consideration, how blessedly did the very spot typify Christ, the true temple for the glory of JEHOVAH to be manifested in. This temple was begun somewhat about a thousand years before Christ, and took nine years in building. The desolation of Jerusalem by the king of Babylon at the captivity, brought on the desolation also of the temple, until it was totally destroyed in the eleventh year of Zedikiah, after it had stood amidst many ravages and injuries, from the plunder of the enemies of Israel, somewhat more than four hundred years.
During the captivity of Babylon the temple remained in ruins; but in the first year of Cyrus at Babylon, the Jews were permitted to return to Jerusalem, and to rebuild the temple of the Lord. And amidst much persecution and many interruptions, the people accomplished the purpose, and the second temple was completed at a period of somewhat more than five hundred years before the coming of Christ. I refer the reader to the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah, and to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, for the Scriptural account of this great event.
This second temple continued until the manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ in substance of our flesh, thereby confirming and fulfilling the prophecy of Haggai 2:9 "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts." And this was literally the case from the presence of Jesus, notwithstanding it had none of the five signs which Solomon's temple had, namely—1. The Urim and Thummim; 2. the ark of the covenant; 3. the fire upon the altar, which never went out; 4. the Shechinah, or manifestation of the Lord's presence: 5. the spirit of prophecy. When Jesus entered the temple, his presence became the sum and substance which all these signs did but faintly resemble and minister unto; and therefore confirmed JEHOVAH'S promise of the greater glory of the second, than of the first temple.
But the great object, the temple itself in both, and indeed in all other instances represented, was the person of Christ in his human nature; "for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the GODHEAD bodily." (Colossians 2:9) Hence, therefore, as in the tabernacle in the wilderness, and in the temple at Jerusalem, the glory of the Lord was graciously manifested to the people to intimate the divine presence, so in the person of Christ Jesus, all that is visible it JEHOVAH did appear. See those sweet Scriptures in confirmation. (John 2:19-21; Ephesians 2:20-22) See Tabernacle.