Christian Zionism - New Life Tabernacle of Chattanooga

5.2 Searching for the Temple Site
It is critical to religious Zionists that any future Temple is built on the same
site as the Temples of Solomon, Zerubbabel and Herod. There appears to
have been continuity between them with each enclosing the protrusion of
Mount Moriah, also known as the Foundation Stone, within the Holy of Holies.
There are three main theories advocated by historians and archaeologists as
to the exact site of the earlier temples. 1266 The most commonly held, with both
traditional support as well as a consensus among Israeli archaeologists
today, is that the Temple stood on the site of the Dome of the Rock.
In the 1970s, Lindsey insisted the Jewish Temple would have to be
built in place of the Dome of the Rock. ‘There is one major problem barring
the construction of a third Temple. That obstacle is the second holiest place
of the Muslim faith, the Dome of the Rock. This is believed to be built squarely
in the middle of the old Temple site. Obstacle or no obstacle, it is certain that
the Temple will be rebuilt. Prophecy demands it.’ 1267 Lindsey appeared to
know the exact location of the Temple structure. ‘Imagine my emotions as I
stood under a sign at the Wall which read in Hebrew: ‘Holy of Holies, 10
Metres’, with an arrow pointing towards a spot thirty feet behind the existing
Wall in the direction of the Dome of the Rock!’ 1268 By 1983, Lindsey had
changed his mind however. Now favouring the Northern Theory, Lindsey
believed this discovery, ‘has accelerated the countdown to the events that will
bring the Messiah Jesus back to earth.’ This was because, ‘the predicted
Third Temple can now be built without disturbing the Dome of the Rock ... the
Temple and its immediate guard wall could be rebuilt and still be twenty-six
meters away from the Dome of the Rock.’ 1269 Having discovered the true site
of the Herodian Temple, Lindsey proceeded to find scriptural verification for
1266 These are the Northern Theory, the Southern Theory and the Central Theory. See
discussion in Price, Coming, op.cit., pp337-342; Tuvia Sagiv, The Hidden Secrets of the
Temple Mount, (Tel Aviv, 1993); http://www.Templemount.org/tempmt.html; Asher
Kaufmann, ‘Where the Ancient Temple of Jerusalem Stood’, Biblical Archaeology Review 9,
2 (1983) pp40-59; Leen Ritmeyer, The Temple of Herod, (Harrogate, England, Ritmeyer
Architectural Design, 1993); The Temple and the Rock, (Harrogate, England, Ritmeyer
Architectural Design, 1996), pp38-48.
1267 Lindsey, Late, op.cit., pp56-58. Lindsey is in error on this point. The Dome of the Rock is
the third most holy shrine of Islam after Mecca and Medina.
1268 Lindsey, There’s, op.cit., p163.
1269 Lindsey, Israel, op.cit., p29.
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