2 Thessalonians 2:4 says that the man of sin/lawlessness will take his seat in God’s temple and declare himself God. So what does it mean that he will sit in “the temple of God?” Baptistic Dispensationalists take this to be a physical temple in Jerusalem. For one example, John MacArthur says in the future the man of sin will go into the physical [rebuilt] Jerusalem temple half-way through the seven-year period of tribulation, which will inaugurate the last half of the tribulation called the Great Tribulation.
I believe a Reformed interpretation on this phrase (the temple of God) is more biblical than a dispensational one. For example, Anthony Hoekema explains it like this:
“The expression ‘take his seat in the temple of God’ should not be understood as implying that there will once again be a literal Jewish temple at the time of Christ’s return…. The expression is…
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