“Our Lord was speaking very literally. His body was the temple of God the Holy Spirit.”
Apparently, there’s a misunderstanding here.
When I said they took him literally, I was referring to the fact that the Pharisees thought Jesus was talking about literally rebuilding the physical temple when He was, obviously, speaking about His body.
Which, BTW, there is no rebuilt temple (or third temple) mentioned in the NT because Christ is the Temple.
It is interesting, and unexplainable, that the NT writers did not mention so central a notion as a rebuilt temple at the end of time in order to justify the futurist understanding of prophecy. After all, Jesus made it quite clear in Matt 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, that the physical temple would be utterly destroyed within a generation of His ascension to the Father. But the apostles never explained that the temple would be rebuilt and the Roman empire revived in order to once again satisfy these prophecies.
Not one mention and so many opportunities, such as the book of Hebrews where the priesthood and sacrifices are discussed extensively. They consistently turn away from the expectation of the old physical nation, and concentrate on the spiritual nation, the Church, the true temple of God. In fact Hebrews explains that the physical was temporary, passing away, and merely served as a pattern of the eternal in heaven (chapter 8).
Curious. You get the impression that the apostles and NT writers had an entirely different view of God’s salvation program that modern day futurists.