The purpose of the second temple was the same as the first temple and the tabernacle before that; all three of which had two primary functions:
1 - As a teaching Device for the Plan of Salvation by Grace
In the Old Testament, the primary function of the Sanctuary was to teach the people about the plan of salvation as explained in:
- Heb 9:11-14 - But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come, He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made by hands and is not a part of this creation. He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that their bodies are clean, 14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!
- Heb 10:1, 3 - For the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves. It can never, by the same sacrifices offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. ... Instead, those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins
Therefore, it became the center of Israel’s spirituality. (Unfortunately, it also became highly ritualized devoid of meaning because the people did not remind themselves of what it meant. Thus, God had to condemn the very sacrificial system He had instigated – see Isa 1:10-17, Ps 40:6-8, 51:16, 17, 1 Sam 15:22, Hos 6:6, Prov 15:8, 21:3, Jer 6:20, Micah 6:6-8, etc.)
The New Testament makes much use of Sanctuary imagery as a teaching device of Jesus and the plan of salvation (as in the Old Testament). Specifically, many of the elements of the sanctuary are explained.
- The sacrificial lamb represented Jesus for all sins (John 1:29, Rom 8:3, 1 Cor 5:7, 1 Peter 1:19, Heb 9:12)
- Jesus’ teaching is closely associated with water (in the laver), John 4:13, 14.
- Jesus was the bread of life as symbolized by the shew bread (John 6:35-51)
- The light of the Menorah represented Jesus (John 1:4, 9, 8:12, 9:5)
- Jesus was the door/gate to the temple and its salvation (John 10:7-9)
- Jesus opened the curtain to the Most Holy Place (2 Cor 3:13-16, Heb 6:19, 9:3, 10:20)
- The smoke from the altar of incense represents the prayers of the saints (Rev 5:8, 8:3, 4)
- The Ark of the covenant, especially the “mercy seat” represented the throne of God and its implied mercy (Ex 25:17-22, Heb 9:5, 4:16, Rom 3:23-25)
- Jesus is represented as our great High Priest and intercessor in heaven (Heb 4:16, 7:25, 10:22, Rom 8:26, 34, 1 John 2:1, 2, 1 Tim 2:5, John 14:6)
2 - To Permit the Levites and Priests to Fulfill their Covenantal Duties
The Levites and priests were divinely chosen and appointed by God to officiate at the temple. Indeed, many of their tasks were impossible without the temple/tabernacle.
The Levitical covenant is stated in Lev 1-9, 16, 21-27 , Num 3, 4, 8, 18, 25:10-13, Deut 33:8-11, Neh 13:29, Mal 2:4-8. This is an eternal covenant (Num 25:12, 13, Ps 106:30, Jer 33:18, 21, 22) of salt, Num 18:19.
The Levitical covenant is stated in Num 3:11-13, 25:12 where God takes the Levites (especially the line of Phineas as High Priest) instead of the all the firstborn of each family, thus changing the (informal) priesthood from the firstborn of each family to the (formal) priesthood of tribe of Levi. Several Bible writers refer to this Levitical Covenant including:
- Neh 13:29 – “the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites”
- Jer 33:18, 21 – “covenant with the Levitical priests.”
- Mal 2:4-8 – “the covenant with Levi”
- Num 25:10-13 – the eternal covenant of priesthood was also a covenant of peace and a covenant of “salt” (Num 18:19), ie, very solemn and eternal.
- Isa 54:10 & Eze 34:25 also describes the covenant of peace with the Levites
From other Bible passages we can see what the Levitical covenant was.
- The purpose of the Levitical covenant was to teach and inculcate the plan of salvation (Deut 33:9, 10, Heb 9:8, 9, 11-14, 10:1-3, Col 2:16, 17). That is, it symbolically taught about salvation by grace through the coming Messiah via His substitutionary death in the place of the sinner. Thus, the sacrifices, Levites, priests and High Priest became a type of Jesus in various ways.
- A promise by God to set them apart, ie, make them “holy” (Num 3:12, 13), to be a substitute for the first born in Israel, and to have the primary responsibility for caring for the sanctuary, its ritual services and sacrifices, maintaining and transporting its equipment. Ex 32:25-29. In this way, they became the priests of Israel. All these regulations were contained in Lev 1-9, 16, 21-27.
- Thus, the Levites enjoyed a “blessed” (and privileged) status. Ex 32:29, Mal 2:5.
- The book of Leviticus (and Num 1 & 18) sets out the responsibilities of the Levites in operating the ceremonial rites and sanctuary services and caring for the sanctuary equipment. See also Num 1:53, 18:2, Deut 10:8, 31:9, 25, Josh 3:3, 2 Sam 15:24, 1 Chron 15:26.
- The token/sign (Heb: “oth”) of the Levitical covenant appears to have been the unleavened bread at the annual festival (Ex 13:6, 9, 16, Lev 24:8).
As stated above, all this became meaningless and redundant when Jesus died and rose again as the true lamb of God and thus provided the propitiation for sins. He now ministers in the heavenly sanctuary - "the true sanctuary which God pitched and not man".
Second vs First Temple
It is true that the first temple was not demanded by God but was the idea of kind David. The second temple was ordered by king Cyrus (who financed many temples/shrines in many countries apart from the Jews) as a replacement for the first temple. It was financed by the royal court of Persia.
However, both temples remained a simple permanent version of the tabernacle-tent that God did specify in Exodus. The fact that the second temple did not have an Ark of the Covenant was somewhat beside the point - it all pointed forward to Jesus as Messiah.
