Recently there was news announcing that the Temple Institute in Jerusalem had finished building an altar suitable for the rebuilt Temple if and when the Temple is ever rebuilt.

The altar referenced is the altar for animal sacrifices and an article written about this made the following statement:

“What makes the altar so unique is that it can be disassembled and reassembled easily, allowing it to be transported quickly and efficiently from its current location, on display at the institute, to the Temple Mount when the time comes.”

Yet according the scriptures, the altar of sacrifice, which foreshadowed the cross of Christ, was to be handled as follows:

And they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth thereon: And they shall put upon it all the vessels thereof, wherewith they minister about it, even the censers, the flesh hooks, and the shovels, and the basons, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread  upon it a covering of badgers’ skins, and put to the staves of it. ~ Numbers 4:13-14

The staves were polls which were inserted through rings on the four corners to lift the brazen altar so that the Levites could carry it on their shoulders. It wasn’t broken down then put back together again.

While many Christians have been taught to anticipate a rebuilt Jewish Temple, they have not been taught to expect that this Temple should be built according to the divine pattern revealed in scripture. Nor have they been taught to understand how this temple could be approved by God when it undermines what God has already accomplished in Christ.

How can God approve of the aforementioned altar when the altar of sacrifice in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple in the Bible was a type and shadow of the cross of Christ?

According to the Bible, the tabernacle constructed under the leadership of Moses, was to be constructed according to the divine pattern (Exodus 25:18; Hebrews8:5). This included everything concerning the tabernacle, its furnishings and decor, the priesthood and their garments, the sacrifices, etc. Everything concerning the tabernacle was to be according to the pattern given to Moses. Later the Temple built by Solomon (its pattern was given to David) was in sync with the pattern of the Tabernacle given by Moses.

The pattern for the tabernacle was given by divine revelation as a foreshadowing of the heavenly reality fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Since Christ has fulfilled all that was foreshadowed in the former tabernacle and Temple, another Temple would be apostate. And not following the divine pattern which foreshadowed Christ would make it “twice apostate” if there is such a thing.