All Bible verses are from the King James Bible, although I have changed some of the old English. Any similarity to any modern version is only by coincidence. Bible verses other than the King James have been foot-noted properly.
Copyright @ Dennis M. Edwards (photos used from Google images for educational purposes only) [To go to the previous chapters click here]
Chapter 10: The God of Daniel - The Revealer of Secrets
Chapter 11: Daniel's Mentor Joseph - The Imhotep Connection
Chapter 12: The Daniel - Isaac Newton Connection
Chapter 13: Jesus, the Book of Daniel and the Temple Institute
Chapter 10: The God of Daniel - The Revealer of Secrets
Chapter 11: Daniel's Mentor Joseph - The Imhotep Connection
Chapter 12: The Daniel - Isaac Newton Connection
Chapter 13: Jesus, the Book of Daniel and the Temple Institute
Chapter 10
In the book of Daniel in the Old Testament we find Daniel and his friends living in captivity in Babylon during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. Since they were sons of noblemen they had been chosen to be trained in the sciences of the Babylonians. However, when they go to the Babylonian school for training, they are presented with foods which they are not used to eating, foods that were forbidden in the laws of Moses.
They decide to keep to their convictions and refuse to eat the Babylonian foods, preferring the basically vegetarian diet of their culture. As a result, God blesses them. In the end, they pass their exams in the Babylonian sciences so well that the Bible says,
Those that meditate on God’s Word and follow His precepts are accorded wisdom from on High.
It is at this point that Daniel tells the captain of the guard to give him time and he will find out the dream and its meaning. Daniel and his friends get down in desperate prayer and pray that God in His mercies will reveal the dream unto them. Daniel in a vision in the night sees the King’s dream and learns the interpretation of it. And Daniel thanks God:
Daniel goes on to explain the dream and its interpretation. The king bows down before him and worships him and says,
I put this section about Daniel in to reiterate the point that God is a revealer of the future. In fact, the book of Daniel is one of the most important prophecy books in the Bible. A little book with only twelve chapters, it has nearly eight whole chapters given to prophecy and two other chapters given to prayer. One prophecy that Daniel received predicted the year of the Messiah’s death and much of the other prophecy is specifically for the “latter days.”
Notes:
[1] Daniel 1:20
[2] Psalm 119:98-100
[3] Daniel 2:12-13 For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain.
[4] Daniel 2:20-23
[5] Daniel 2:27-28
[6] Daniel 2:30
[7] Daniel 2:47
Chapter 11
Could Imhotep, the Egyptian Scientist and Architect, have been the Biblical Joseph?
Interesting enough, the prophet Daniel of the time of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon was not the first Israelite to interpret dreams and end up as chief counsel to the head of an important country. Let us review the history of Joseph and his influence in Egypt. As you may well remember, Joseph, a child of Jacob, was sold into slavery out of his brother’s jealousy of him and his special relationship with their father. Joseph was the first son of Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel, for whom he had worked fourteen years as her dowry. Genesis tells us:
In other words, Jacob wondered what all those dreams Joseph was having really meant. Could there be something to them? As a young adult, he himself had had a dream from God.
Interesting enough, Mary the mother of Jesus had a similar reaction as Jacob to the events surrounding Jesus’ birth. When the shepherds come and proclaim they have seen angels announcing Jesus’ birth, Mary also becomes pensive wondering what it all can mean. We can read from Luke:
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
Parents have been wondering for thousands of years what the future will hold for their children. Even so, both Jacob and Mary had similar reactions to the obvious unusual events of their child’s childhood.
Getting back to our history in Canaan, you may remember that out of hatred and jealousy, Joseph’s brothers sell him to merchants traveling down to Egypt. It’s a beautiful story which you can read in the book of Genesis in the Old Testament. Eventually, Joseph ends up in prison on a false accusation.
So Joseph even prospered in his situation in prison in so much that the prison warden put Joseph in charge of the prisoners. In the process of time, two men, the Pharaoh’s chief butler and chief baker, offend him and are thrown into prison. An investigation is made. During the time they are in prison, both men dream a dream which Joseph accurately interprets. On their release, one man is found guilty and killed and the other is restored to his place of service, just as Joseph had predicted. Joseph had pleaded with the man who was to be released to remember him to Pharaoh.
Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgot him.[6]
So Joseph remains in prison. But after two years, Pharaoh dreams a dream.
Finally, the chief butler reminds the Pharaoh of Joseph in prison and his ability to accurately interpret dreams. Pharaoh calls for him.
Various scholars have researched secular history for confirmation of the Bible’s accuracy. If the Biblical account is true, surely we should be able to find a mention of Joseph in Egyptian history. Making careful and reasonable studies some scholars have concluded that the famous Imhotep of Egypt may in fact have been none other than Joseph.[10]
We will continue from the Bible.
Isn't the Bible a fascinating book? Joseph even got to marry the daughter of the most important religious personality, the Priest of On. Now he was not only the Prime Minister, but probably would also have influence on the religious institution through his marriage to the High Priest’s daughter. He may even have been next in-line to inherit the High Priest position himself. We don’t know for sure that the position could be inherited, but Joseph would be a natural candidate, especially with his spiritual background and ability of interpreting dreams and hearing from God. From Egyptian history we know that Imhotep did become the High Priest of Heliopolis, the Greek name for On. Could Imhotep have been Joseph?[12]
Wikipedia notes that the following:
However, Wikipedia makes the following comment:
If the seven-year famine was in fact a historical event, we would expect to find similar records of it throughout the Near East, especially if it was as severe as the Bible denotes. Modern historians and scientists often reject off-hand any scientific or historical evidence which confirms what the Bible records. That's why we see the words "legend" and "myth" in the above Wikipedia comment.
Since the time of Scottish geologist James Hutton in 1788 and Charles Lyell in 1830, whose published works aimed at removing Moses from science, scientists have increasingly had a naturalistic interpretation of the scientific data. They start with the precept that all of science and history can only be explained by natural causes without the need to suppose the hand of a Divine Creator. As one evolutionist Professor of Genetics, Richard Lewontin (photo at left) has said,
Earlier scientist, like Galileo, Kepler, and Newton, among many others, considered they were thinking God’s thoughts after Him. They did not see the need for science to have an atheistic or purely naturalistic framework; in fact, they believed that true scientific study only certified the existence of a Divine Creator. At the time of the first translating of the Famine Stela, scientists were people of faith; therefore, they saw the obvious similarities of the stela to the Biblical narrative. As scientists became more atheistic and skeptical, their world view or belief system caused them to reinterpret the data through the lens of atheism or naturalism. Because of the naturalistic lenses, scientists and historians needed to find another answer which would not confirm the Biblical record and give it credence.
I spent more than 25 years digging into the Table of Nations (found in Genesis 10-11 and showing the descendants of the sons of Noah after the flood) looking for fault, an error, a false statement, or a historical inaccuracy. I found none.[15]
It is interesting to note that the word papyrus actually means “belonging to the house,” or government. Under Joseph, the Pharaoh became the sole property owner in Egypt outside of the priesthood. So we would expect papyrus documents to be either government or religious documents. Since Egyptian history says that Imhotep was also High Priest, there would be no conflict. The question we need to ask is, could Joseph have become High Priest on the death of his father-in-law? To me, it seems there is too much coincidence and similarity to the Biblical record to deny its viability off-hand.
Joseph’s Sumerian name could have been a mispronunciation of his name by the Egyptians resulting in the name Imhotep. Joseph told Pharaoh that God had given him a message of peace. Since Imhotep means, “comes in peace,” maybe it was the name the Pharaoh gave him referring to his prophetic message of “peace.”[16]
Joseph’s quick rise to power is similar to Imhotep's own rapid rise. Again from Egyptian history, nothing is really known about Imhotep before his rise to power. If Imhotep was Joseph, it would be expected that his past would be a mystery. In the Bible, we see Joseph acting alone as a single Chancellor. In later Middle and New Kingdoms, Egypt would not be managed by a single Chancellor, but the Pharaoh would need a whole team of men.[17] Here is an inscription found on a stone which once comprised the base for a statue of Djoser referring to Imhotep. Is it describing our very own Joseph?
Back in the Biblical account, we see that Pharaoh’s dream was a warning about the famine which would come upon the land in seven years time. With knowledge of the future, Joseph begins to store corn for those times.
And the seven years of plenteousness, that was in the land of Egypt, were ended. And the seven years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph; what he says to you, do. And the famine was over all the face of the earth: and Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.[20]
Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing (plowing) nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.[21]
The famine in Egypt continues. Because Joseph knows the future he is able to invest in future markets. He buys up all the extra grain during the years of plenty, probably at a cheap price as there was great abundance. Later, as the famine continues, he is able to sell the grain at a higher price and literally buys up all the property in the land of Egypt and may have initiated the first income tax. Let’s read from the Bible.
And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for the money fails. And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail. And they brought their cattle unto Joseph: and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses: and he fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year.
When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him, We will not hide it from my lord, how that our money is spent; my lord also hath our herds of cattle; there is not ought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands: Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate.
And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants. And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part, except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh's.[22]
Let’s compare the Biblical account of Joseph and the Famine Stela account of Imhotep. In the Bible, Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dream and saves Egypt from a seven-year famine. In the Famine Stela, Imhotep saves Egypt from a seven year famine by advising the Pharaoh. From the Famine Stela, we read that after the Pharaoh is informed by Imhotep, the Pharaoh has a dream about a solution and imposes a 10% tax. The Bible doesn’t record anything of a dream by Pharaoh, but Joseph implements a 20% tax. One historical fact that we know for sure is that it was in the reign of Djoser when the Pharaohs first become financially capable to begin to build pyramids.[23]
Joseph’s brethren and father and their wives go down into Egypt and Pharaoh gives them the best land to live on, the land of Goshen. Israel, Joseph’s father, even gets to meet Pharaoh and prays a blessing over him. The Bible tells us,
Is it possible that Abraham had in his possession a clay copy of the original pre-Flood and post-Flood records of Genesis given to him from Shem, who was still alive during Abraham’s lifetime? If there were some written clay copies Joseph could have learned to “read” before going to Egypt. Or perhaps Joseph, using the oral tradition, had memorized the Genesis record up until his time. Because of his learning and position in Egypt, he was able to record the Genesis record that Moses would later edit under God’s guidance. Another possibility is that Abraham could have learned “reading” during his time living with Noah and Shem in the area of Sumer and passed on this ability to his descendants Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.
According to the Bible, Joseph was thirty years[26] of age when he was made Prime Minister of Egypt and lived until he was one hundred and ten.[27] That means, Joseph could have been acting as political and religious leader under four different Pharaohs.[28]
If Imhotep was Joseph then he would have been ruling from the time he was thirty until let’s say nearly eighty-five years old. We have modern day business magnets and religious leaders like the Pope who keep their position of power even until that age. So again, the correlation is possible. The fact that Imhotep’s tomb has never been found, although other architects’ tombs have been found, fits in nicely with the Biblical story.[29] If Imhotep was indeed Joseph, we would not expect to find his tomb, or at least not a big elaborate one in traditional Egyptian fashion. Why? Because when Joseph died, he asked his descendants when in the future they would leave Egypt to take his body back to Canaan and bury him with his parents. The Bible records that when the children of Israel some four hundred years later depart from Egypt, they take Joseph’s body.
Why do we not hear about the Joseph-Imhotep connection or its possibility in modern history books? Some scholars believe that the powers that be within today’s American educational, historical and scientific community are not interested in this sort of information becoming public knowledge, as it gives credence to the Biblical narrative. Like I quoted earlier, they "cannot allow a divine foot in the door.”
As for the Famine Stela, scientists consider it a forgery from some three hundred years later after the famous famine. But forgeries usually are pretty close to the truth so that they pass as the real thing. It seems the priesthood, some three hundred years after Imhotep, did not want the Pharaohs to forget history. They wanted the Pharaohs to remember that it was Imhotep, a High Priest, who was responsible for the seven-year miracle that saved Egypt from famine.
Whether the Famine Stela is a forgery or not is really beside the question. The fact is that it is an ancient hieroglyphic inscription and should be given as equal consideration as any other ancient artifact and not dismissed off-hand because of its content gives historicity to the Biblical narrative. One thing we know for sure is that during the reign of Djoser, the Pharaoh suddenly had enough wealth and power to begin the building of gigantic public work projects to himself.
If Imhotep was indeed Joseph, this could account for his extraordinary abilities above and beyond those of the normal or upper-class Egyptians. The Bible shows Lot, Abraham's nephew, as a magistrate in Sodom, and Abraham, Joseph's great-grandfather, as an important tribal and military leader. Moreover, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob could have known Shem. The book of Jasher has Abraham living with Noah and Shem for 39 years.[32]
During those years Abraham could have learned much of the pre-Flood world including technology and medicine. He could have later passed his learning on to Isaac and Jacob, who eventually passed it on to Joseph. Besides the spiritual advantages from having learned from his forefathers the importance of maintaining the true God in his understanding and life, Joseph could also have acquired knowledge of Sumerian writing from his fore-fathers. They had dwelt in Sumer before migrating to Canaan and later into Egypt.
The reason Egypt was able to store information may have been because Egypt adopted a new system of writing that was very similar to the system used by the Sumerians. At the same time that they were adopting this imported writing method from Sumer, they were also adopting the Sumerian idea of step pyramids. All this was happening under the guidance of one man: Imhotep.
The ancient Sumerians had a history of experimental medicine; Imhotep was later deified for his contributions to medicine. It is left as an exercise for the reader to discover in what other ways this match might help explain Egypt's sudden and historic rise to power.[33]
The Joseph-Imhotep connection is quite an amazing possibility and leaves me wondering if the famous Imhotep of Egyptian history was in fact our very own Joseph.
As you remember, Joseph’s father Jacob or Israel finally went down into Egypt during the famous seven-year famine. Like other patriarchs before him, he prays a blessing over his children before his death. Amazingly, Jacob gives a remarkable prophecy about his son Judah. Remember, the Bible is no ordinary book because it is a book of accurate prophecy. Here’s what Jacob prophesied about Judah, from whose name we get the term “Jews,” as his tribe became the most dominant and the one from whom Israel’s most famous kings descend from.
The Kings of Judah were all descendants of David, as was Jesus of Nazareth. The reference to Shiloh in the verse above is referring to the Messiah. Jesus’ genealogy is traced back to David in both Matthew and Luke.
We have seen that Daniel was a good student while in Babylon. No doubt he was also a good student before going into captivity. As a worthy Bible student, he would have been familiar with Joseph’s history and how God used him to influence the Pharaoh for good and to save lives. Knowing Joseph’s history would have given Daniel and his mates the faith they needed to know that God was with them. They, too, could influence the King for good and to save lives, just like Joseph had done before them.
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.[35]
In other words, Paul is telling us that the histories in the Bible are written to give us knowledge of the past so that we can learn from them and therefore have patience and find comfort through them. The histories in the Bible show us God’s care for those that love Him. They give us faith and faith in turn gives us hope for the present and hope for the future. Daniel and his friends received faith through the Biblical histories they had put to heart as Jewish youths. Those histories gave them faith which then translated in their time of trial and testing into hope for the present and hope for the future.
The Bible histories and truths can do the same for us today. That is one of the reason I am putting so much Bible in the text. Because reading and hearing God’s Word can help you to find faith. Faith can in turn give you hope for your present situation and hope for the future. Even if things are looking bleak at the moment and they may become worse in the future, remember,
Are you low in faith? Maybe you need to rekindle your faith by spending time reading the ‘Book of Books,’ the Bible. Many a great men of the past have spent time reading the Bible. Let us list some:
The first and almost only book deserving of universal attention is the Bible. I speak as a man of the world. So great is my veneration for the Bible, that the earlier my children begin to read it, the confident will be my hope that they will prove useful citizens of their country and respectable members of society. I have for many years made it a practice to read through the Bible once every year.[37]
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President who lived from 1858-1919, had similar thoughts.
A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education. Almost every man who has by his lifework added to the sum of human achievement … has based his lifework largely upon the teachings of the Bible.[38]
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President and who lived from 1809-1865, said the following:
In regards to this great book (the Bible), I have but to say it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man’s welfare, here, and hereafter, are found portrayed in it.[40]
In the next chapter we will read of another famous man who also was an avid Bible student.
Notes:
[1] Genesis 37:3-11
[2] Genesis 28:12-15
[3] Luke 2:7-19
[4] Genesis 39:20-23
[5] Genesis 40:14-15
[6] Genesis 40:23
[7] Genesis 41:7-8
[8] Genesis 41:14-16
[9] Genesis 41: 41-44
[10] https://josephandisraelinegypt.wordpress.com/feature-article-imhotep-and-joseph-are-the-same-person/ (accessed 03/2016) [See also: https://josephandisraelinegypt.wordpress.com/tag/amenemhet-iii/]
[11] Genesis 41:45-46
[12] http://creationwiki.org/Joseph_and_Imhotep (03/2016)
[13] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_Stela (03/2016)
[14] Richard Lewontin. “Billions and Billions of Demons,” New York Review, January 9, 1997, p. 31. http://creation.com/amazing-admission-lewontin-quote
[15] Bill Cooper, After the Flood, New Wine Press, UK, 1995, p.75. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/433064.After_The_Flood
[16] http://www.dstoner.net/Genesis_Context/Context.html (03/16)
[17] Ibid
[18] Ibid
[19] Genesis 41:47-49
[20] Genesis 41:53-57
[21] Genesis 45:5-8
[22] Genesis 47:11-26
[23] http://www.dstoner.net/Genesis_Context/Context.html (03/2016)
[24] Genesis 47:27-28
[25] http://www.dstoner.net/Genesis_Context/Context.html (03/2016)
[26] Genesis 41:46 And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh King of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.
[27] Genesis 50:22,26 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years. So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
[28] http://www.dstoner.net/Genesis_Context/Context.html (03/2016)[29] https://josephandisraelinegypt.wordpress.com/2014/01/23/the-tomb-of-imhotep-found-the-coffin-was-empty-and-orientated-to-the-north/ (03/2016)
[30] Exodus 13:19
[31] http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/djoser.html (accessed 03/2016)
[32] http://weareisrael.org/2012/05/08/noah-and-abraham/ and http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/112063/jewish/Abrahams-Early-Life.htm (accessed 03/2016)
[33] http://www.dstoner.net/Genesis_Context/Context.html (03/2016)
[34] Genesis 49:8-10
[35] Romans 15:4
[36] Romans 10:17
[37] http://www.tonycooke.org/stories-and-illustrations/great_statements/ (accessed 03/2016)
[38] http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/125345-list-of-20th-century-us-presidential-quotes-about-the-bible-1901-20/ (accessed 03/2016)
[39] http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/131220-i-can-see-how-it-might-be-possible-for-a. (accessed 03/2016)
[40] http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/392563-in-regards-to-this-great-book-the-bible-i-have (accessed 03/2016)
Chapter 12
Isaac Newton, who lived from 1642-1727, is known as one of the world’s greatest scientists. But not many people know he was fascinated with the book of Daniel. He was a devout Christian, and Bible scholar who studied the Old Testament in the original Hebrew.
At the end of his days he spent more time studying and writing about the prophecies in the book of Daniel than he did in charting the heavens.[1]
But prophecy is not something we can figure out with our own understanding; it is something that God reveals or opens up to our understanding.
The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of the law.[2]
Daniel, himself, was even puzzled by some of the prophecies he received. In fact, in the last chapter of Daniel, after having had a vision and having received a prophecy, Daniel says,
If we go back earlier in the chapter we find a similar declaration from the Lord:
But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased.[4]
Try as they might, neither Daniel nor Isaac Newton could properly understand the Daniel prophecies. I believe we today have better understanding of the Daniel prophecies than Daniel and Isaac Newton had, because we are closer in time to the fulfillment of those end-time events.
Now look at that mighty mind of Newton who studied gravitation. When he became an old man and got into his second childhood, he began to study the book that is called the Bible. And it seems in order to credit its fabulous nonsense we must believe that the knowledge of mankind will be so increased that he will be able to travel at the rate of 50 miles an hour. The poor dullard! No man can travel at the rate of 30 miles an hour and get his breath![5]
The fact that the average person has access to an innumerable amount of knowledge through today’s computerized world is surely a fulfillment of “knowledge shall be increased.” It behooves us, therefore, to study the Scriptures diligently like Isaac Newton, and like those in the city of Berea of whom Paul spoke,
These were nobler than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.[6]
Notes:
[1] Garraty, John Arthur and Gray, Peter; The Columbia History of the World, Harper and Row, 1972.
[2] Deuteronomy 29:29
[3] Daniel 12:8-9
[4] Daniel 12:4
[5] http://www.theinformedservant.com/newton-voltaire-and-the-privilege-of-hindsight/ (accessed 03/2016)
[6] Acts 17:11
[7] Psalm 119:18
Chapter 13
The book of Daniel not only contains many specific prophecies about the latter days, but also one that even Jesus Himself mentions to His disciples when talking about the end of the world:
When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso reads, let him understand) then let them which be in Judah flee into the mountains: … For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.[1]
The fact that Jesus quotes from Daniel should motivate us to do a bit of study on the subject. Some eschatologists believe “the holy place” that Jesus was talking about could be a rebuilt Jewish temple on the Temple Mount. Presently in Jerusalem there exists an organization called the Temple Institute which is preparing for the eventual rebuilding of a Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where today stands the Muslim’s Mosque of Omar. Read the following introduction to their site:
SHALOM AND WELCOME to the official website of the TEMPLE INSTITUTE in Jerusalem, Israel. The Temple Institute is dedicated to every aspect of the Holy Temple of Jerusalem, and the central role it fulfilled, and will once again fulfill, in the spiritual well being of both Israel and all the nations of the world. The Institute's work touches upon the history of the Holy Temple's past, an understanding of the present day, and the Divine promise of Israel's future. The Institute's activities include education, research, and development. The Temple Institute's ultimate goal is to see Israel rebuild the Holy Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, in accord with the Biblical commandments.[2]
Following the Six-Day War of 1967, Christianity Today published an article saying,
Israeli government representatives have ordered 60,000 tons of the finest Bedford stone from Bedford, Indiana to be used in the erection of the Jerusalem Temple….The cornerstones for the Third Temple are already in Israel. Materials for this Temple have been secretly in preparations for seven years.[3]
In a recent news article The Temple Institute has announced the opening of a training school for Levitical priests necessary to the services in the new Temple.[5] Another news article, "Preparing for the Third Temple," reinforces the ideas of the Temple Institute.
The author of the article, Daniel Ben Simon, goes on a visit to the Jewish Quarter of Old Jerusalem to see what preparations are being made for the building of the new Temple. For many Israelis the building of the Third Temple has become an all-consuming passion and work. They believe that the time may be just right for its establishment and want to do all they can to hasten the day when it will stand where the First and Second Temples once stood.
tour guide to foreign visitors.
To Glick, there is no greater sensation in life than walking on the ground of the Temple Mount where Abraham offered sacrifice to God. Glick believes that the state of Israel is a Divine move, and the culminating manifestation of that Divine move will be the construction of the Third Temple on the Temple Mount.[6]
In similar fashion, the Jewish community of Shiloh, where the original Tabernacle stood before the building of the First Temple, is carefully sewing the veil of the Temple. The veil will be needed to enclose the “Holy of Holies.” The “Holy of Holies” is the area of the Temple where only the High Priest is able to enter, and only on one specific day of the year. Here’s a section of an article from May 2014 found in the magazine Israel Today called "Jewish Women Recreating Temple Veil."
The Orthodox Jews who are preparing for the Temple’s reconstruction obviously take prophecy seriously. Many Christian Bible scholars agree that the reconstruction of the Third Temple is one of the main end-time events which ushers in the last three and half year period of world history known as the Great Tribulation. Are you aware of the prophecies concerning the rebuilding of the Temple and the beginning of animal sacrifices by the Jews on the Temple Mount? Are you aware of the Holy Covenant which seems to bring about the peace agreement in the Middle East? Do you know what the breaking of the covenant signifies, or in other words, who will break the covenant and what will happen afterwards? If you took Bible prophecy seriously, you would not be answer-less and empty-headed when asked these questions.
[To go to the next chapters 14 - 19 click on link.]
To go to the index of the individual chapters for the book click HERE
To go to chapter 14, the next chapter, click HERE
[1] Matthew 24:15,16 & 21
[2] https://www.templeinstitute.org/ (accessed 03/2016)
[3] http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/temple.htm (accessed 03/2016)
[4] http://www.templemount.org/tempprep.html (accessed 03/2016)
[5] http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/215910 (08/2016)
[6] Daniel Ben Simon, "Preparing For The Third Temple," Al-Monitor Israel Pulse, June 7, 2013 (accessed 03/2016)
[7] Israel Today, "Jewish Woman Recreating Temple Veil," May 28, 2014.
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