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| Overview of Temple Mount / Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem |
Column for North Huron Citizen, "From the Minister's Study" - May 8 2026 edition
The temple mount in Jerusalem is a key location for three major world religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These days it can tend to become a flashpoint when religious tensions erupt. But did you know it used to be a plain threshing floor? And that it ought to epitomize, not human conflict, but God’s mercy? The story of how it came to be a key religious site reflects the mercy of the Lord revealed most keenly in the cross of Jesus, by which we sinners can be spared.
The Bible (2 Samuel 24; 1Chronicles 21) tells how King David was tempted to take a census of Israel, perhaps motivated by pride in the size of his empire and/or by reliance for his security on the amount of armed force he could muster in an emergency. Afterwards, David was conscience-stricken and admitted he had sinned greatly. A prophet gave him three options for consequences: famine, fleeing from enemies, or plague. David responded, “Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great…” Consequently the Lord sent a plague which killed tens of thousands, but God became grieved because of the calamity and halted the destroying angel, who was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. (Threshing floors were typically at elevated locations that would catch the breeze to help blow the chaff away from the kernels.) The prophet instructed David to build an altar at the threshing floor, so David purchased the land, built an altar, and sacrificed offerings – and the plague was stopped. David then pronounced that was the site where the house of the Lord was to be built, along with the altar for burnt offering. His son Solomon subsequently carried out the building of the first Jewish Temple (replacing the movable tabernacle from Exodus times), which was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C., rebuilt in the times of Ezra and Nehemiah, enhanced by King Herod, then again finally destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. Today the “Western Wall” (Wailing Wall) is all that remains of these temple structures, while the later Muslim “Dome of the Rock” perches at the top of the mount.
So the very location of the Temple was a reminder that God spared His people punishment for sin. By his great mercy, He was grieved at our (deserved) calamity and intervened to spare more lives being lost.
What are some instances of being “spared” in everyday life? At school or university we enjoyed a “spare” in our class timetable, we didn’t have to attend lectures or necessarily do any work. Our vehicles are equipped with a “spare” tire which normally sits unused in the trunk while the other four tires do the work. We eagerly treasure “spare” time in which we have freedom and discretion to pursue a favourite pastime or hobby. In one vehicle I kept a “spare” key secreted in a magnetic holder attached to the inside of the wheelwell in case I unwittingly locked myself out! So a ‘spare’ is associated with a surplus, a benefit or welcome bonus.
In a test of faith and obedience, Abraham was instructed by God to sacrifice his son Isaac at a place God would show him, but when Abraham was about to plunge the knife, God intervened and provided a substitute (a ram caught by its horns in a thicket), and Isaac’s life was spared. At Jerusalem centuries later, Jesus God’s only Son went through with the sacrifice of Himself at the hands of sinners (both Jew and Gentile) in order that we might be spared the consequences of our own sins, and be blessed with new birth, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and eternal life in the Lord’s company forever!
As the Apostle Paul put it, “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!” and, “...Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.” (Romans 5:9; 1Thess. 1:10) What a blessing it is to be spared from the consequences of our sin through God’s great mercy, intervening lest we be destroyed, loving us so much as to offer His own beloved Son as our substitute – then raising us to new life along with Him.
When we look at the Temple mount; when we look at the cross – these are visual reminders a loving yet just God has spared us in great mercy. Such wonderful grace that spares us is celebrated in a hymn by Georg Klee (aka Georg Thymus; 1520-1561), a student of the German Lutheran reformer Philipp Melanchthon, who was the closest collaborator with Martin Luther.
“Turn, Lord, Thy wrath away, in mercy spare us! / Lay down Thy rod and let Thy love upbear us!
Hear us poor sinners, lo, sin hath undone us, Have mercy on us! …
Therefore, O Father, through Thy dear Son's merit, Spare us and let us grace through Him inherit,
That we in heaven with Thee, of life the giver, May live forever.”
