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A Place in Scripture · The Old & New Testament World
It was the most sacred place on earth to a Jew, built in rings of increasing holiness that drew you closer and closer to God, and then stopped you at a veil. To understand the gospel, you have to stand in its courts, and see what happened to that veil the day Jesus died.
The Temple at a Glance
The center of Jewish worship in Jerusalem, and the dwelling place of God's presence.
Solomon's temple, destroyed by Babylon; rebuilt after exile; vastly expanded by Herod in Jesus' day.
Court after court, each nearer to God and each with a limit: Gentiles, women, Israel, the priests.
Behind a great veil, entered by the high priest alone, once a year, with blood.
At Jesus' death the veil ripped from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51), opening the way to God.
Jesus is the true temple, and by His Spirit you become the temple of God.
Step Into the Moment
He climbed the great steps with his lamb, into a courtyard so vast it took his breath. This was the house of God, and he had come to draw near. He passed from the outer court, where the nations were allowed, through a gate into a nearer one, and then a nearer one still, each step bringing him closer to the sanctuary at the heart of it all. But at every ring there was a boundary he could not cross, a court for this group only, a court for that group only, and beyond them all, a heavy veil he would never in his life walk through. God was here, closer than anywhere on earth. And still, something stood between them.
That ache, so near to God and yet held back, is the whole story of the temple. It was built to bring people to God, and built to show them they could not yet fully come. To feel what changed at the cross, walk its courts with me.
What It Was
The temple was not a church building where people gathered to sing. It was, to Israel, the place on earth where the living God had put His presence. When Solomon first built it, "the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD" (1 Kings 8:11) so thickly the priests could not stand to minister. It was the heart of the nation, the place of sacrifice, the place God had chosen for His name.
That first temple was destroyed by Babylon, then rebuilt by the exiles who returned. In Jesus' day it stood again in breathtaking grandeur, because Herod the Great had spent decades enlarging and beautifying it, "Forty and six years was this temple in building," the people told Jesus (John 2:20). Its courts were meant to be a house that would "be called of all nations the house of prayer" (Mark 11:17). And into that temple, one day, the God whose glory once filled it would walk in human flesh.
The Layout
The temple was built like rings around a center, each one holier, each one open to fewer people.
The vast outer court, open to anyone, even non-Jews. This is where the money changers set up, and where Jesus overturned their tables (Matthew 21:12). A dividing wall with warning signs kept Gentiles from going any farther.
The next ring inward, as far as Jewish women could come to worship.
Nearer still, for Jewish men.
Where the great altar stood and the daily sacrifices were offered, for the priests alone.
Inside the sanctuary, the priests tended the lampstand, the bread, and the incense. And beyond one more veil lay the Most Holy Place, the very throne room of God on earth.
Notice what that dividing wall meant. Paul had it in mind when he wrote that Christ "hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us" (Ephesians 2:14), the barrier that had kept the nations at a distance. The whole design said one thing over and over: you may come this far, and no farther.
The Barrier at the Center
At the very center, sealing off the Holy of Holies, hung a great, heavy veil. Behind it was the place of God's presence, and the rule was absolute: no one went in. Not the worshiper, not the priest on duty, not even the high priest, except on one day a year:
"But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people."Hebrews 9:7 KJV
Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, one man, carrying blood, passed through that veil into God's presence, and then came out again. The book of Hebrews tells us what the whole arrangement was shouting: "the Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest" (Hebrews 9:8). The veil was God's own "no farther." The way to Him was not yet open.
The Moment Everything Changed
Then Jesus died on the cross. And in that same moment, less than half a mile away inside the temple, something impossible happened:
"And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom."Matthew 27:51 KJV
From the top to the bottom, not torn upward by human hands, but ripped downward, from heaven, by God. The barrier that had said "no farther" for fifteen centuries was split open the instant the true sacrifice was made. Hebrews explains exactly what it meant for us:
"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh."Hebrews 10:19–20 KJV
The torn veil is the torn body of Jesus. Through His broken flesh, the way into God's very presence was thrown wide open, not for a high priest once a year, but for anyone, any day, who comes by the blood of Jesus.
Where It Lands
Early on, Jesus had said something that baffled everyone. Standing in Herod's magnificent temple, He said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." They thought He was mad, forty-six years to build it. But John explains: "he spake of the temple of his body" (John 2:19–21). Jesus was telling them that the real dwelling place of God was no longer a building at all. It was Him. "In this place is one greater than the temple" (Matthew 12:6).
Follow the presence of God through the whole story. It filled a temple of stone. Then it walked among us in the flesh of Jesus, God with us, the true temple, for "in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9). And now, since Pentecost, that same God dwells not in a building but in His people by the Spirit: "know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?" (1 Corinthians 6:19). One God, one presence, moving ever closer, from a house of stone, to flesh, to us. The veil is torn, and by receiving His Spirit you do not merely visit the house of God. You become it.
For You
For fifteen hundred years, the message of the temple was "come this far, and no farther." Today the message is the exact opposite: "come boldly." You do not need a priest, a court, a lamb, or a certain day. The veil is already torn. The way is already open. Every barrier that once stood between you and God was dealt with at the cross.
So draw near. Come in the blood of Jesus, all the way in, to the presence you were made for. And live knowing that His Spirit does not merely meet you at a temple. He makes His temple out of you.
Carry It With You
Hebrews 10:19–20 KJV
"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way... through the veil, that is to say, his flesh."
For the Historical Notes
Scripture is quoted from the KJV. Details of the temple are drawn from the biblical text and standard, well-established sources, including the archaeological remains of the Temple Mount and its inscriptions.
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