Re: What If They Had Accepted Him? My question is why would there be a need to build a “new” Temple, when Herod’s Temple had just been completed? During the 70th week the rebuilt Temple is desecrated, but you believe it will be cleansed and used by the Lord. Maybe I’m over thinking this, but if the Lord will cleanse a Temple where the “abomination of desolation” happens and then use it again, then why not use a freshly completed Temple?
The reason I said there would be a new temple is because Ezekiel 40-46 calls for a temple that doesn’t match the description of Herod’s Temple, will not be built where Herod’s Temple was, and hasn’t been built yet. It’s the successor to Herod’s Temple but was described five hundred years before Herod was born. Therefore, if the Jews had accepted their Messiah when He first came, this temple would have been built at that time.
The Lord cleansed and made fit for re-use the temple desecrated by the first abomination of desolation in 165 BC so precedent exists for doing it again. Also, the Bible doesn’t specifically mention any other temples than Solomon’s, Herod’s, and Ezekiel’s; two of which were built and destroyed, leaving the third one for the future.