After visiting the Western Wall (we had about 30 min there), our guide took the group to Temple Mount, then the Southern excavations. Since we’d visited those places last week, the 4 of us decided to go to the Temple Institute Museum instead. It was up in the area above and west of the Western Wall Plaza. We were really glad we went.   We had the museum to ourselves.   We took the 50 minute tour that moved us through 4 different rooms with an audio explanation of the artwork and temple history and an explanation of the temple items in each of the rooms.  I was sad no photos were allowed, or I would have photographed Everything.

The artwork was incredible, depicting every aspect of every historical temple.  I took these 3 photos before realizing that photos were not allowed:

There is a group of Jews here who are preparing for the rebuilding of the Temple. They don’t know when it will happen, but they know it Needs to happen, so they’ve been studying and researching all the parts and pieces of the ancient temple to know what they needed to have ready when the temple returns. It was fascinating.

Artisans here have recreated (for eventual use) all the things needed for a functioning Jewish Temple. Since they didn’t allow photos, I bought a $40 book that has all of the information and beautiful artwork and photos of all of the items we saw. We were all enthralled. There were all the gold and silver and brass instruments for sacrifice, the lavers, the shewbread stands, the priestly robes with caps and sashes, the ephod for the High Priest, the oil containers, instruments (horns and harps) and the grand gold Menorah. Every part and piece has been prepared for use.

We learned there is even kosher building where stone can’t touch iron. I am looking forward to reading and learning more about it. A lot of research and money has gone into this preparation–they know all the things that need to go into the temple, but they don’t know all the reasons why. They just know what the Bible says and what historians have recorded. They have no idea about covenants or how Christ is the center of Temple Worship. It was really fascinating to us.

The golden menorah for the future temple is displayed in a special case outside the museum in the plaza.

Here is the cover of the book I bought and a few pages from inside to give you a small idea of what what displayed in this fascinating museum:

You can order the book here if you’re interested:

I was really glad we had a chance to visit this museum and see the beautiful items that have been prepared based on Old Testament instructions.  I am even more grateful that we have been given modern-day instructions for our temples today.  In some future day, I hope and pray our worlds will come together to see a beautiful temple built on Mount Zion here in Jerusalem.

Here is the rest of our group without us: