Does Bible prophecy require that the Dome of the Rock be destroyed?
It is very likely that the Dome of the Rock will still be standing in Jerusalem when the Tribulation Temple is built. One of the biggest obstacles to a Jewish Temple is the unlikelihood that the Muslims would surrender their claim to the area where the Dome of the Rock now stands. Even if by some remote chance the Dome is destroyed, Islamic law requires that all damaged mosques be rebuilt.
According to some leading archaeologists, the Holy of Holies of the First and Second Temples was not located on the spot where the Dome of the Rock now stands. They believe it once stood about 70 yards to the north at a location called the Dome of the Spirits.
Paul's prophecy of the Antichrist sitting in the Temple and claiming to be God proves that there will be a rebuilt Temple: "...so that he [the antichrist] takes his seat in the Temple of God, displaying himself as being God" (2 Thessalonians 2:4).
There is a strong indication that some sort of compromise will be reached between the Arabs and Jews. In Revelation 11, John the Revelator is given a rod and told to measure the Temple of God. He is told not include the outer court because it is given to the Gentiles.
"And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months" (Rev. 11:1-2).
