The Temple was of central importance in Jewish worship in the Tanakh ( Old Testament ) . In the New Testament , Herod 's Temple was the site of several events in the life of Jesus , and Christian loyalty to the site as a focal point remained long after his death . After the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE , which came to be regarded by early Christians , as it was by Josephus and the sages of the Jerusalem Talmud , to be a divine act of punishment for the sins of the Jewish people , the Temple Mount lost its significance for Christian worship with the Christians considering it a fulfillment of Christ 's prophecy at , for example , and . It was to this end , proof of a biblical prophecy fulfilled and of Christianity 's victory over Judaism with the New Covenant , that early Christian pilgrims also visited the site . Byzantine Christians , despite some signs of constructive work on the esplanade , generally neglected the Temple Mount , especially when a Jewish attempt to rebuild the Temple was destroyed by the earthquake in 363 . and it became a desolate local rubbish dump , perhaps outside the city limits , as Christian worship in Jerusalem shifted to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre , and Jerusalem 's centrality was replaced by Rome
earthquake in 363
Galilee earthquake of 363
Temple Mount