Based on the research I've done this weekend, I don't see construction on the third temple beginning anytime in the near future. There are way too many heated and controversial issues to resolve, and I don't see the Palestinians, Muslims as a whole, and much of the international community supporting the Temple Mount becoming Jewish property again. That site is sacred to Muslims as well.
Construction on a new temple, perhaps the one detailed in the Book of Ezekiel, may not begin until Christ returns. I do not see a strong Biblically-based argument supporting the idea that another temple needs to be built for the tribulation and Second Coming to occur.
Construction on a new temple, perhaps the one detailed in the Book of Ezekiel, may not begin until Christ returns. I do not see a strong Biblically-based argument supporting the idea that another temple needs to be built for the tribulation and Second Coming to occur.
4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
The conservative Biblical scholar Henry Halley states, "In our own day, after 2000 years of church history, there is still wide difference of opinion as to the identity of the "man of lawlessness" and the form the apostasy will take."
Again, as much as I enjoy discussing and theorizing about prophecy, there are a lot of missing pieces, and God has not clearly revealed how all the details are going to unfold once we enter that tribulation/Second Coming phase of His plan. I don't think it's important for us to know that at this time. God will make everything clear as the need arises.
How can we know for certain that Paul's reference to "...he sets himself up in God’s temple..." requires another physical Jewish temple to be in place when Jesus returns? That is a theological stretch at best to use this short reference from Paul as concrete proof that God needs another temple to be established in Jerusalem for this scripture to be fulfilled.
For example, Paul also references the word temple related to our bodies being temples of the Holy Spirit:
1 Corinthians 6:19
New International Version
19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
God's temple is a place where He dwells whether it was the Holy of Holies in the original two temples of the Old Covenant or our lives as His Children. The temple and all of the rituals and worship that took place there foreshadowed Jesus and the New Covenant.
As Christians, we don't have to travel to a physical temple to be in God's presence. Through Jesus, we have access to the Holy of Holies always.