Herod the Great's most enduring physical legacy was his massive rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, a project that stands as the centerpiece of his broader campaign to transform Judea into a showcase of Roman and Greek splendor. Having secured the throne through Roman patronage and ruthless political maneuvering, Herod entered the second period of his reign (25 to 13 BC), widely regarded as the acme of his rule, during which he undertook massive building projects throughout Jerusalem and beyond. It was in 20 BC that he decided the existing Temple, originally built by Zerubbabel, no longer matched the grandeur of the architecture surrounding it, and he launched a rebuilding effort so extensive that the structure was not truly completed until AD 64, only six years before its destruction. The Temple's beauty became proverbial throughout the Roman world, memorialized in the saying that he who has not seen Herod's building has never seen anything beautiful. Herod made efforts to honor certain biblical criteria in its construction, avoiding graven images, restricting work on the Temple proper to priests alone, and never entering its inner rooms himself. Yet this apparent piety was undermined late in the project when he provoked Jewish outrage by placing the image of an eagle on the entrance gates, a clear violation of Jewish sensibilities regarding idolatry. The Jewish population viewed Herod's claims of religious devotion with deep suspicion, particularly given his simultaneous construction of temples to other gods throughout the Roman world, including shrines to Apollo and even Baal. This hypocrisy, compounded by the fact that Herod was only half-Jewish, fueled resentment even as the Temple project proceeded alongside his aggressive promotion of Hellenistic culture, Greek theater, Olympic-style games, and the installation of Greek advisors and officials in place of traditional leadership. The Temple's construction thus exemplifies the tension that defined Herod's entire reign: an appearance of grandeur and religious observance masking deeper motives of political ingratiation with Rome and personal aggrandizement. His building projects, including the Temple, secured his standing with Caesar Augustus and expanded Judean territory and wealth, but they came at the cost of increased taxation, suppressed public assembly, and the imprisonment of critics. The splendor of this period, epitomized by the Temple, ultimately gave way to the tragic final years of Herod's reign, marked by family betrayal, paranoia, and bloodshed, including the massacre of Bethlehem's infants. Herod's Temple, therefore, stands not merely as an architectural achievement but as a symbol of the complex, often contradictory legacy of a ruler who shaped the political, cultural, and religious world into which Jesus Christ was born.

Herod the Great reconstructed the temple that Jesus came to. According to Josephus, Herod died in about 4 BC before Passover of that year. There was a lunar eclipse before his death, which was likely the one on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles in 5 BC. Herod died about 4 or 5 months later in February, followed by a long period of mourning. He was buried in the midst of the Days of Unleavened Bread in the year 4 BC.

Herod's temple replaced the temple Zerubbabel built. The Jews still considered it the Second Temple, as it was a rebuilding of that Second Temple. The glory that Jesus brought into Herod's temple was greater than the glory of the Temple Solomon built, being Himself and the Kingdom of God. However, even Herod's ornate temple was destroyed by the Romans.

In the span of approximately 75 days between Lazarus' resurrection and Pentecost, significant events unfolded, including the ripping of the veil in the Temple during Christ's death. This incident, briefly mentioned in Matthew 27:51, would have been profoundly unsettling to Jews of that time, akin to witnessing a sacred national symbol being destroyed inexplicably. Additionally, in the mid-60s, the Pharisees, having gained political dominance, evicted the church from the Temple, severing the Jerusalem congregation's connection to the central place of worship. This disconnection facilitated their eventual flight from Jerusalem as Roman armies approached. The Temple's destruction by the Romans about five years later further stripped the Jews of their central place of sacrifice and worship, a loss less impactful to Christians who recognized a heavenly Temple and altar.