What is the Temple Mount?
"Mount Zion is high and beautiful. It brings joy to everyone on earth. Mount Zion is like the highest parts of Mount Zaphon. It is the city of the Great King" (Psalm 48:2).
"Then Solomon began to build the temple of the LORD. He built it on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. That’s where the Lord had appeared to Solomon’s father David. The LORD had appeared at the threshing floor of Araunah. Araunah was from Jebus. David had provided the threshing floor" (2 Chronicles 3:1).
"Then the angel of the Lord ordered Gad to tell David to go up to the threshing floor of Araunah, the Jebusite. He wanted David to build an altar there to honor the LORD. So David went up and did it. He obeyed the message that Gad had spoken in the LORD’s name" (1 Chronicles 21:18-19).
The Temple Mount is known as Mount Zion (or Mount Moriah) in the Bible. Several important events happened at this location.The Temple Mount is important to Christians, Jews, and Muslims because of the events that took place there. First, it was on Mount Moriah that Abraham was willing to offer his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice. God stopped Abraham and told him to offer a ram instead.
At this same location, nearly 1000 years later, God led Solomon to build the First Temple (2 Chronicles 3:1). David had previously identified this location as a place to worship God and he purchased the land to build an altar for the Lord (1 Chronicles 21:18–26). The First Temple that Solomon gave orders to build was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC Zerubbabel made efforts to rebuild the Temple, which is now known as the Second Temple.
The Second Temple was completed in 516 BC and Herod the Great made additions to it in 12 BC. The Second Temple was also destroyed in AD 70 by the Romans. Jesus had already told the people this would happen (Mark 13:1-2). Even though there is not a Temple today, there is still the Temple Mount. It reminds us of God and His work in the world.
What remains of the Mount is still there today and you can visit. It is a holy site located in Jerusalem and it is currently under control of Muslims.
