ISRAEL AND THE END TIMES--THE THIRD TEMPLE

 

 

As Christians we are looking for the soon appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The many prophetic signs of His return for the most part have been fulfilled.  Those of us that believe in a pre-tribulation rapture of the church believe that the remaining unfulfilled prophecies do not have to take place before the Rapture.  There is, however, according to the dispensationalist position, one prophecy that must be fulfilled either before the Rapture, or very soon thereafter.  It concerns the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem.  Reliable sources (Christian teachers such as Grant Jefferies and Hal Lindsay, and fundamentalist Jews, such as Chaim Richman, Head of the Temple Institute International) state that preparations have already been set in place for the reinstitution of temple worship.  Utensils, altars, blue prints, and building materials; as well as fully trained Levites, have been prepared for the temple worship to resume in our generation.  Several prophecies from both the Old and the New Testaments attest to the building of a third temple.

Around twenty six hundred years ago Daniel recorded a vision that he was given concerning the future of his nation:  Daniel 9:24-27, “²⁴ Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. ²⁵ Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. ²⁶ And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. ²⁷ And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”  The beginning of the vision indicates that it will culminate with the end of sin.  We know that this will not be realized until the very end time.  Thus, the fulfillment of the vision will not be fully realized until Jesus returns.  Here is the essence of his vision.  There are three divisions of time mentioned in the vision:  7 weeks, 62 weeks, and one week.  Understanding that each week is actually a week of years, or 7 years; we can calculate that the first division is actually 49 years, the second; 434 years, and the last; 7 years.  From the decree to rebuild the city of Jerusalem by Artaxerxes in 452 B.C. until the Messiah was “cut off” was 483 years:  Christ being crucified about 31 to 33 A.D.  From that time the church age commenced, and the vision concerning Daniel’s “people and city” (verse 24) experienced a pause.  Not until the church age ends at the Rapture will the seventieth week of Daniel begin to run its course.  This final seven years will be the period commonly known as the Great Tribulation, though the Great Tribulation, or the time of Jacob’s trouble; Jer. 30, will not actually commence until the middle of the final period of seven years.  What is noteworthy about the final week of Daniel’s vision is that in the middle of the week “the prince that shall come”, the Antichrist, will “cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.”  What this means is that the Temple in Jerusalem must be rebuilt for sacrifices and oblations to once again be offered. 

It was in reference to this event to which Jesus referred in Matthew 24:15-24: “¹⁵ When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) ¹⁶ then let them which be in Judæa flee into the mountains: ¹⁷ let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: ¹⁸ neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. ¹⁹ And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! ²⁰ But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: ²¹ for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. ²² And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”  The context of Jesus’ warning is in reference to the Jews only.  Daniel appointed a seven year period in which the Antichrist would confirm a covenant (Middle East peace?) for seven years; in the midst of which he will violate the covenant.  According to 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12 the Antichrist will become the abomination of desolation when he sits in the temple of God purporting to be God:   “³ Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; ⁴ who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. ⁵ Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? ⁶ And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. ⁷ For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. ⁸ And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: ⁹ even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, ¹⁰ and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹ And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: ¹² that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”  Jesus’ warning in Mt. 24 will fall on many deaf ears in Israel; however, it seems that many others will take flight (Re. 12), fleeing into Moab (modern Jordan) to perhaps the ancient city of Petra/Bozrah (more about this in the next study).  What is important to note is that religion will once again flourish in Jerusalem, leading to the rebuilding of the Temple, and the reinstitution of the sacrificial system. 

The problem with rebuilding the Temple since the nation of Israel was reborn in 1948 has been the presence of the Dome of the Rock, which has sat on the Temple Mount since 691 A.D.  Recent revelations have revealed that the Dome of the Rock does not actually sit on the site of the Temple, but on the site of the court of the Gentiles.  It is possible that the Temple may be rebuilt right next to the Dome under a treaty agreement brokered by the Antichrist (Da. 9:27).  Perhaps the War of Gog and Magog may be the motivation for such a treaty, and the willingness of the Islamic world to accept it.  Revelation 11:1-2 suggests that the court of the Gentiles will not be a part of the Third Temple; hence the probability that the Dome will stand along side the Temple:  “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. ² 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.”

Interest in building the third temple is mounting in Israel.  According to the Jerusalem Post, 8/4/2013, the government of Israel has given tax money to groups that advocate the building of the Third Temple.  If this is discreet government support for this project, the reality of the Third Temple may not be far off.  What this could mean for Christians is that our meeting with Jesus in the air may be very close indeed!