THIRD TEMPLE UPDATE: Perfect Red Heifer Approved.
Friday, July 25, 2025
Thursday, February 20, 2025
Jesus, the Book of Daniel and the Temple Institute - Chapter 13
Jesus, the Book of Daniel and the Temple Institute
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]
The Temple Institute argues that the above report is false. They say that the abundance of stones available in Israel makes the report highly unlikely. However, they do not deny the possibility of the stones having been already cut and prepared. If true, the stones necessary for the rebuilding of the Temple could be present in Israel at this very moment and could be assembled in a short period of time. All the various Temple ornaments have been carefully created in conformity with the instructions given by Moses for the original items.[4]
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.
One of the elite soldiers of the Temple who has dedicated his life to the Third Temple’s construction is Yehuda Glick. Since moving from New York to Israel, Glick has been preparing for the great day when the building will be constructed. The Temple will be the Jewish people’s most holy place on earth. Until then, he spends his time as a Temple Mount activist and serves as a
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."
If the Jewish Temple is ever to be rebuilt in Jerusalem, the massive curtain—66 feet high by 33 feet wide and 2 inches thick—that once hung in the Second Temple and was consumed by fire in A.D. 70, will need to be recreated. That task is already underway in the Jewish community of Shiloh, located in Biblical Samaria about 40 minutes north of Jerusalem, reports Israel Today. For more than two years women from the community have been working to assemble the materials and learn the techniques needed to weave the veil that will hang between, and separate, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.[7]
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.
Here is an update from June 2020. The Temple Institute announced that two red heifers have been produced that could serve as a sacrifice in the Temple according to Levitical laws. Watch the two minute video.
[To go to the chapters 14-19 inclusive click on link.]
To go to the next chapter click HERE
Notes: First published in August 2020 online. Written in 2016.[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.
Monday, November 18, 2024
Thursday, November 14, 2024
Tuesday, December 15, 2020
On the Temple Mount: Ascending the Temple Mount on the 855th Anniversary...
Dennis Edwards:
An interesting walk around the Temple Mount which shows that the Jewish people still have the aspiration to build their Third Temple on the Temple Mount.
Wednesday, March 4, 2020
Are we there yet?
March 2, 2020
By Mark McMillion
Are we there yet? Are we now actually in the very final events just before the second coming of Christ? Some utterly mock that whole concept. But many millions know what Jesus said would happen before His return. I’ve studied these things all my adult life and looked almost daily at “the signs of the times” to try to find where exactly we are in relation to what Godly prophecy reveals of the final signs before the end of this age.
They were made fools of while the truths of Bible prophecy were made to look false
But I’ve often shied away from getting into “the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:3) when it comes to current events and daily occurrences. So many teachers have gone out on a limb about something, only to find that they’ve prematurely predicting some specific final event in the Word of God which didn’t happen as they’d come to think it would. And they were made fools of while the truths of Bible prophecy were made to look false because of their misguided pronouncements. I made a video about some things like this called “Famous Failures of Prophetic Interpretation.”
However, common sense will tell you that simply because someone has falsely called “Wolf, Wolf!” and been proven wrong, certainly that doesn’t mean there are no such things as wolves. And if you know the end of that little story, eventually there did turn up a wolf when the people had come to no longer believe because of the false cries of “Wolf!” that they’d heard for so long. And the wolf had his way because the people, calloused and hardened in unbelief, didn’t take heed when the real wolf appeared among them.
Are we there yet? Where are we?
In the videos I’ve done on this subject, mainly based around the prophecies of Daniel, I’ve tried to keep to the most explicit, definite things that Scripture points out will happen in the last years of this age.
One of the things that I watch most closely is the possible rebuilding of a Jewish temple in Jerusalem
Personally, one of the things that I watch most closely is the possible rebuilding of a Jewish temple in Jerusalem , “the third temple” as it’s called. I believe that a temple like that, and subsequent animal sacrifices there, will be one of the most significant and definite signs that the final months and years before the second coming of Christ will have definitely started.
And you ask, “How’s it going with that?” Well, it’s surprisingly very far along.
And you ask, “How’s it going with that?” Well, it’s surprisingly very far along. You could do a Google search on “The third temple” or “The Temple Institute” to discover how much work has already been done towards this in modern Israel. There are even reports of some who’ve begun to offer animal sacrifices again there. However, I don’t think that it’s yet fulfilled what is spoken about this in Scripture.
But now there are also many other things. Jesus told His disciples, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations. Then shall the end come.” (Matthew 24:14) Certainly for 18 or 19 centuries that verse had not been fulfilled. Just as certainly, now in the last 30 to 100 years it has been.
It’s very easy for skeptics to just say, “Yes, but that has always been happening”. And of course in some ways they’re right.
And other verses about the final days are also becoming more and more relevant. Jesus said, “There shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places” (Mathew 24:7). The problem I’ve always had with these verses is that it’s very easy for skeptics to just say, “Yes, but that has always been happening”. And of course in some ways they’re right.
It’s just that in our times, right now, there really are a lot of things going on. It remains to be seen how this current crisis with the Corona virus will go. Some say it will all just blow over and we’ll go back to business as usual. But many in the scientific community are saying that it’s just about time to call it a worldwide pandemic and to prepare accordingly. Already, at the time of the writing of this, substantial changes are happening daily in the economies of nations around the world in response to the Corona virus.
It was just a few weeks or months ago that Australia experienced the worst fires they’ve ever had. At the same time, the unprecedented melting of the permafrost in the Arctic religions is releasing huge amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, contributing to the climate change that is already a major concern of much of the world.
This gets almost no news coverage but it is pervasive everywhere and ongoing.
As you know, I could go on. It is common knowledge that here in America the country is as politically and socially divided as it has been since the Civil War over 160 years ago. Another concern that many parents are only now coming to realize is that there are agendas being relentlessly pursued in most Western nations now to make mandatory indoctrination of elementary school children in the most explicate elements of the “gay” perception of sexuality to be something that parents’ of these children have no legal rights to oppose. This gets almost no news coverage but it is pervasive everywhere and ongoing.
This would also tend to fulfill another of the things that Jesus pointed out would be a sign of His imminent return, “As the days of Lot, so shall also the coming of the son of Man be. But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.” (Luke 17:28 & 29) So it would seem that elements of Sodom and Gomorrah are also predicted by the Lord to be a part of the spirit of the times, just before His return.
Recent events have caused me to look again at how I’ve been viewing these things.
And to go back to my original question, “Are we there yet?” Recent events have caused me to look again at how I’ve been viewing these things. I’ve always expected that there would need to be some kind of major international economic/social crash or war to bring on conditions that would be ripe for the final days of the endtime. But there are just many increasing earmarks on every side that certainly look like the things I was expecting to see many years ago. It all very much bears watching closely, as well as being prepared for, both spiritually as well as physically.
By Mark McMillion
Are we there yet? Are we now actually in the very final events just before the second coming of Christ? Some utterly mock that whole concept. But many millions know what Jesus said would happen before His return. I’ve studied these things all my adult life and looked almost daily at “the signs of the times” to try to find where exactly we are in relation to what Godly prophecy reveals of the final signs before the end of this age.They were made fools of while the truths of Bible prophecy were made to look false
But I’ve often shied away from getting into “the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:3) when it comes to current events and daily occurrences. So many teachers have gone out on a limb about something, only to find that they’ve prematurely predicting some specific final event in the Word of God which didn’t happen as they’d come to think it would. And they were made fools of while the truths of Bible prophecy were made to look false because of their misguided pronouncements. I made a video about some things like this called “Famous Failures of Prophetic Interpretation.”
However, common sense will tell you that simply because someone has falsely called “Wolf, Wolf!” and been proven wrong, certainly that doesn’t mean there are no such things as wolves. And if you know the end of that little story, eventually there did turn up a wolf when the people had come to no longer believe because of the false cries of “Wolf!” that they’d heard for so long. And the wolf had his way because the people, calloused and hardened in unbelief, didn’t take heed when the real wolf appeared among them.Are we there yet? Where are we?
In the videos I’ve done on this subject, mainly based around the prophecies of Daniel, I’ve tried to keep to the most explicit, definite things that Scripture points out will happen in the last years of this age.One of the things that I watch most closely is the possible rebuilding of a Jewish temple in Jerusalem
Personally, one of the things that I watch most closely is the possible rebuilding of a Jewish temple in Jerusalem , “the third temple” as it’s called. I believe that a temple like that, and subsequent animal sacrifices there, will be one of the most significant and definite signs that the final months and years before the second coming of Christ will have definitely started.
And you ask, “How’s it going with that?” Well, it’s surprisingly very far along.
And you ask, “How’s it going with that?” Well, it’s surprisingly very far along. You could do a Google search on “The third temple” or “The Temple Institute” to discover how much work has already been done towards this in modern Israel. There are even reports of some who’ve begun to offer animal sacrifices again there. However, I don’t think that it’s yet fulfilled what is spoken about this in Scripture.
But now there are also many other things. Jesus told His disciples, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations. Then shall the end come.” (Matthew 24:14) Certainly for 18 or 19 centuries that verse had not been fulfilled. Just as certainly, now in the last 30 to 100 years it has been.
It’s very easy for skeptics to just say, “Yes, but that has always been happening”. And of course in some ways they’re right.
And other verses about the final days are also becoming more and more relevant. Jesus said, “There shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places” (Mathew 24:7). The problem I’ve always had with these verses is that it’s very easy for skeptics to just say, “Yes, but that has always been happening”. And of course in some ways they’re right.
It’s just that in our times, right now, there really are a lot of things going on. It remains to be seen how this current crisis with the Corona virus will go. Some say it will all just blow over and we’ll go back to business as usual. But many in the scientific community are saying that it’s just about time to call it a worldwide pandemic and to prepare accordingly. Already, at the time of the writing of this, substantial changes are happening daily in the economies of nations around the world in response to the Corona virus.
It was just a few weeks or months ago that Australia experienced the worst fires they’ve ever had. At the same time, the unprecedented melting of the permafrost in the Arctic religions is releasing huge amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, contributing to the climate change that is already a major concern of much of the world.This gets almost no news coverage but it is pervasive everywhere and ongoing.
As you know, I could go on. It is common knowledge that here in America the country is as politically and socially divided as it has been since the Civil War over 160 years ago. Another concern that many parents are only now coming to realize is that there are agendas being relentlessly pursued in most Western nations now to make mandatory indoctrination of elementary school children in the most explicate elements of the “gay” perception of sexuality to be something that parents’ of these children have no legal rights to oppose. This gets almost no news coverage but it is pervasive everywhere and ongoing.
This would also tend to fulfill another of the things that Jesus pointed out would be a sign of His imminent return, “As the days of Lot, so shall also the coming of the son of Man be. But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.” (Luke 17:28 & 29) So it would seem that elements of Sodom and Gomorrah are also predicted by the Lord to be a part of the spirit of the times, just before His return.
Recent events have caused me to look again at how I’ve been viewing these things.
And to go back to my original question, “Are we there yet?” Recent events have caused me to look again at how I’ve been viewing these things. I’ve always expected that there would need to be some kind of major international economic/social crash or war to bring on conditions that would be ripe for the final days of the endtime. But there are just many increasing earmarks on every side that certainly look like the things I was expecting to see many years ago. It all very much bears watching closely, as well as being prepared for, both spiritually as well as physically.
Monday, February 10, 2020
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
Monday, October 31, 2016
Thursday, October 13, 2016
Meet the Israeli lawmaker who wants to see a Jewish temple at Jerusalem’s holy Islamic site
JERUSALEM–Yehuda Glick’s flaming red hair isn’t the only thing that makes him stand out. The Brooklyn-born rabbi, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, is also one of Israel’s newest members of parliament.
But he is best known as an activist who is demanding that Jews be allowed to pray at one of Islam’s holiest sites.
Muslims call the ancient site Haram al-Sharif or the Noble Sanctuary, the raised esplanade in Jerusalem’s Old City that harbors the opulent Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina.
Jews call it the Temple Mount, believed to be where the first and second temples once stood. They say the place was sanctified by God. It is considered the holiest site in Judaism.
Under a status quo agreement, Jews are allowed to visit but not visibly pray there. Jews in religious garb–as opposed to tourists–are accompanied by armed Israeli troops, who are assigned to protect them but also stop them from praying.
Muslims consider the presence of Jewish worshipers a provocation.
Glick and his supporters see it as their right.
We sat down with Glick on the eve of the Jewish high holy days, a time when tensions between Jews and Muslims over the plaza often intensify.
This interview has been edited and condensed for space and clarity:
You travel with a security detail. You get death threats. You survived an assassination attempt by a member of the Islamic Jihad movement who attacked you at meeting of Temple Mount activists in 2014. How is your health? How did this change you?
Of course, I am very happy that I survived it, not just because I am still alive but because it would be very sad in a democratic country that people are shot because of their legal legitimate activities.
When you live in a democracy you need to understand that everyone can think differently and respect each other. When someone expresses his views violently then it is very scary. But here I am and I am happy that I am alive and happy that he is dead.
You are the most prominent Temple activist. Are you hoping to build a third Jewish temple? And if you are, how would that be built, without destroying what is there already, the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque?
I am a Temple Mount activist, not a temple activist. I strongly believe that the Temple Mount, which was sanctified by God, is seen by billions of people around the world, Jews and non-Jews, as the holiest place, according to the Bible.
A holy place is supposed to be a center for world peace, tolerance and respect for one another. It should be a world power of light for all people who believe that God is not exclusive but inclusive.
Unfortunately, today there is a strong power of exclusiveness on the Temple Mount. It is being used by people who, in the name of God, believe they have a right to kill others who they don’t agree with.
Do you think there will be a third Jewish Temple there one day?
What will be in the future I don’t know. I try to be active in the present. I think that the word of God materialized and became a reality, against all rationality, the Jewish people came back to their homeland. The same thing will happen here. God said you will have a temple on the Temple Mount and that prophecy will also be fulfilled.
The temple is not another piece of real estate. It cannot be built by a private person or organization. The temple will be built when the people of different nations and the people of Israel understand that is what has to be done. I think that it can be done peacefully when the people of the world understand that they will benefit from it.
Let’s talk about now. What do you want to change about the current status quo?
I am for giving rights to anyone who wants to worship God–Jews, Muslims, anyone.
The Temple Mount is 144,000 square meters (about 37 acres). There is enough room for millions of people. I don’t see any reason in the world why people can’t all pray there together. There is no reason why it can’t be shared. We can all pray together, I can stand there with an Evangelical pastor, a Catholic priest and a Muslim sheik. Once we can agree that it can be done, how to do it is a minor issue.
Muslims are fearful that allowing Jews in to pray is the first step to them taking over the holy site. They say if you continue to push, it could cause a holy war.
I feel those are all excuses. There is not going to be World War III over this. The Israeli Arab Muslim population is living under some kind of illusions that the Muslim world cares about them. I’ve got a surprise for them: They should go ask the 100,000 Syrians who are being killed every day to find about the solidarity of the Muslim world.
Comment by Dennis Edwards: The Bible predicts there will indeed be a Third Temple on the Temple Mount. Many Bible scholars believe the Holy Covenant spoken of by Daniel the Prophet in a prophecy reguarding the last days concerns the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount. Sacrificial worship will begin some 8 months later, but after 2 years and 10 months the Antichrist forces will stop the sacrificial worship at the Temple. The breaking of the covenant and the stopping of the sacrificial worship in the Temple was the sign that Jesus gave for the beginning of the worst period in world history, the 3 and 1/2 year Great Tribulation. Do you need some Bible prophecy classes? Message me at dennismedwards@gmail.com
Monday, August 1, 2016
Jesus, the Book of Daniel and the Temple Institute
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]
The Temple Institute argues that the above report is false. They say that the abundance of stones available in Israel makes the report highly unlikely. However, they do not deny the possibility of the stones having been already cut and prepared. If true, the stones necessary for the rebuilding of the Temple could be present in Israel at this very moment and could be assembled in a short period of time. All the various Temple ornaments have been carefully created in conformity with the instructions given by Moses for the original items.[4]
The news article Preparing for the Third Temple by Daniel Ben Simon reinforces the ideas of the Temple Institute.
The author of the article 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.
One of the elite soldiers of the Temple who has dedicated his life to the Third Temple’s construction is Yehuda Glick. Since moving from New York to Israel, Glick has been preparing for the great day when the building will be constructed. The Temple will be the Jewish people’s most holy place on earth. Until then, he spends his time as a Temple Mount activist and serves as a
tourist 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.[5]
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.
If the Jewish Temple is ever to be rebuilt in Jerusalem, the massive curtain—66 feet high by 33 feet wide and 2 inches thick—that once hung in the Second Temple and was consumed by fire in A.D. 70, will need to be recreated. That task is already underway in the Jewish community of Shiloh, located in biblical Samaria about 40 minutes north of Jerusalem, reports Israel Today. For more than two years women from the community have been working to assemble the materials and learn the techniques needed to weave the veil that will hang between, and separate, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.[6]
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 answerless and empty-headed when asked these questions.
[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] Daniel Ben Simon, "Preparing For The Third Temple," Al-Monitor Israel Pulse, June 7, 2013 (accessed 03/2016)
[6] Israel Today, "Jewish Woman Recreating Temple Veil," May 28, 2014.
Monday, July 27, 2015
Saturday, June 6, 2015
Prayers Inflame Tensions Over Jerusalem Holy Site
Reuters, June 4, 2015
JERUSALEM–Every morning at 7.30, Murad Hamad sets up a flimsy plastic chair in the shade of the Moroccans’ Gate entrance to Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem and waits for the tourists to arrive.
Hamad’s job is to help keep the peace at one of the world’s holiest places, a site sacred to both Muslims, who call the compound the Noble Sanctuary, and to Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because of the building that once stood there. The guard is not much concerned with the sun-creamed tourists. But he pays close attention to the groups of devout Jews and Israeli nationalists who try most days to enter the site and pray.
Those groups are at the centre of a creeping shift in Jerusalem: After 900 years, Jews are chipping away at Muslims’ exclusive control of the site, the third holiest in Islam. The shift, which has provoked violence in the past, threatens to open a dangerous new front in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, adding religious enmity to a political struggle in the very heart of the disputed city.
Al-Aqsa has banned non-Muslim prayer since 1187. Like Muslims across the region, Hamad and the other 70 or so guards employed by the Waqf, the Islamic trust that oversees the mosque, see Jews praying there as a serious insult.
The risk of confrontation remained small as long as the groups pushing for the right to pray remained at the fringes of Judaism. A decade or so ago, a handful of Jewish faithful would enter the compound each day. Attempts at prayer were rare. The Chief Rabbinate of Israel declared in 2007 that Jews should not visit the site because it was too holy.
But in recent years the radical fringe has become increasingly mainstream, drawing in nationalist, secular supporters and backing from high-profile politicians. A hundred or more Jews can arrive at the mosque some days, in large, organised groups. Last year Yossi Farenti, then Jerusalem District Police Chief, told the Israeli parliament’s Internal Affairs committee that the number of Jews visiting the site had increased 27 percent in the first half of 2014. “There is indeed a worsening in the past few years as to what happens at Temple Mount,” he said. “This is a fact. No one disagrees. You can see it in the numbers.”
A growing number of rabbis have contradicted the Chief Rabbinate, saying visits should be encouraged precisely because the Temple Mount is divine. Jewish visitors mumble prayers under their breath and walk barefoot on the ancient stones in a sign of obeisance.
A range of groups, some of them well financed by the Jewish diaspora, are campaigning for open access to Temple Mount, which Jews believe is the point from where God created the world and was the site of the second Jewish temple until 70 AD. They want the right for Jews to pray alongside Muslims. Some even want to build a new temple and have crafted sacred gold-and-silver vessels and hand-stitched priestly vestments ready for the day it is sanctified. Other supporters are breeding red heifers, hoping for one without a white blemish that can be sacrificially slaughtered at the temple, as described in the Book of Numbers.
Palestinian Muslims and others across the region fear their control is slipping.
“They want to change the rules,” said Hamad, the Waqf guard.
Perched on an esplanade at the eastern edge of Jerusalem’s Old City–the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane behind–there are few patches of land more contested than this 35 acres.
The critical moment in the modern era was Israel’s capture of the Old City in the six-day war of 1967. For Israeli Jews, control of the Old City tied together politics, religion and nationhood. Following the victory, tens of thousands flocked to the Western Wall, believed to have been a retaining support for the second Jewish temple built 2,500 years ago. It was the first mass Jewish pilgrimage to the site since the temple’s destruction.
But days later, with the approval of the prime minister, Defence Minister Moshe Dayan went to see the imams of the Islamic Waqf and handed them back the keys to the mosque.
“I said that Israeli troops would be removed from the site and stationed outside the compound,” Dayan wrote in his autobiography. “The Israeli authorities were responsible for overall security, but we would not interfere in the private affairs of the Muslims responsible for their own sanctuaries.
“We had no intention of controlling Muslim holy places or of interfering in their religious life.”
Over time, a status quo evolved under which Jews have been allowed to enter and tour the area but forbidden to pray. Israeli police and some military help provide security, but the Waqf administers the compound.
There were some early attempts to change that. In the 1980s, a messianic terrorist group called the Jewish Underground plotted to blow up the Dome of the Rock and replace it with a temple. That plan was foiled by the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency.
In 1990, another group calling itself the Temple Mount Faithful tried to lay a cornerstone for a new Jewish temple, provoking riots that killed 22 Palestinians.
The Waqf says things really began to shift from September 2000, when Ariel Sharon, then Israel’s opposition leader, visited Temple Mount with a large delegation just before an election. Many Palestinians saw the move as a provocation. It led to a violent uprising called the Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, which continued for five years and left about 3,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis dead. Access to Al-Aqsa for both Muslims and non-Muslims was greatly restricted.
In recent years the groups committed to overturning the status quo have shifted strategy, becoming more organised and gaining donors and influence.
While there are still radical elements, and frequent verbal and physical confrontations with Muslims at Al-Aqsa, the groups try to cast the issue as one of religious freedom, arguing that Jews should enjoy the same prayer rights as Muslims.
The most visible proponent of the new approach is Yehuda Glick, a red-bearded, American-born rabbi who set up the Temple Mount Heritage Foundation in 2007 and now acts as a spokesman for several Temple Mount organisations.
A 49-year-old father of eight, Glick has become a rallying figure for the movement, frequently photographed with supporters such as an outspoken politician from Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party, or studying pictures of a possible new temple.
In 2013 and again in 2014 he was arrested by police after confrontations at Al-Aqsa and banned from visiting. He sued and won a court ruling allowing him to return once a month under tight supervision.
Last October, as Muslim anger at the presence of Jewish worshippers triggered clashes, Glick was shot four times by a Palestinian when he left a conference in central Jerusalem. After 10 days in a coma, and life-saving operations by a Muslim surgeon, Glick came around.
“I respect the Muslims’ right to pray,” he told Reuters as he recovered from his injuries. “But there is no reason in the world that at the only holy place for the Jewish people, a Jew should not have the right to pray.
“The Temple Mount is the holiest place in the world according to the Bible and there should be freedom to pray for all believers–Jews, Christians and Muslims.”
That is not how Mohammad Ahmed Hussein, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the head of the Waqf, sees it.
As the inheritor of a job handed down almost without break since the 12th century, Hussein is the overriding religious authority at Al-Aqsa and holds the keys to the mosque. He believes the precedent created by more than 800 years of religious practice is incontrovertible.
“No one but Muslims are allowed to perform any kind of prayers at Al-Aqsa,” he told Reuters, referring to the compound rather than just the mosque itself.
“Jewish prayer at Al-Aqsa is not so much an insult as it is an aggression. If Jews try to pray at Al-Aqsa, it will only create more tensions in the region.”
For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that is potentially a big problem.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said the arrangement that has governed Al-Aqsa since 1967 should not change. But after Glick was shot, Israeli authorities temporarily shut all access, including for Muslims. In protest, Jordan withdrew its ambassador to Tel Aviv, the first time it had taken such a step since signing a peace deal with Israel in 1994. Jordan has had special responsibility for Al-Aqsa since the 1967 war. The Hashemite Kingdom has financed the Waqf and paid for renovations to the mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Its anger was echoed in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and beyond, leaving Netanyahu worried about regional stability.
He beefed up Israeli security around the Old City, a move that many Palestinians saw as proof that change was coming.
Six months on, the situation appears calmer, though tensions remain.
Five days a week–there is no access on Fridays or Saturdays–religious-nationalist Jews join foreign tourists to walk up the covered wooden ramp, through the Moroccans’ Gate, the only one of the 11 ancient gates non-Muslims can use, and into the holy compound.
Israeli guards assemble the Jews into groups of 10, confiscate their religious and prayer accoutrements for the length of the visit, and then assign them Israeli police escorts.
At the top of the ramp, where Israeli forces keep dozens of riot shields and other security equipment, Waqf guards join the Jewish groups. The Israeli police lead the visitors around, while the Waqf guards maintain more distance.
On one recent visit, a pious Jewish teenager, yarmulke on his head and long curls hanging either side of his face, fell to the ground in the act of prayer. Police quickly hoisted him to his feet and warned that he would be thrown out if he tried to pray again.
As the group passed in front of Al-Aqsa mosque, the police urged them not to get too close. Several ignored the warnings and stepped towards the portico, where Muslim men and women enter via separate doorways.
A group of women in headscarves and veils began shouting “Allahu Akbar” (“God is Greatest”) at the top of their voices, protesting the group’s presence.
As the Jewish group moved away from the mosque into a grove of trees on the eastern edge of the plaza, it was left alone, allowing surreptitious prayer to begin.
Efrem Goldberg, an American rabbi, wrote an account of a visit he made to the Temple Mount last year, in which he described feeling intimidated by Muslims there. “In a small gesture of defiance,” he wrote, “we continuously prayed in our hearts and when we paused opposite the Kodesh Ha’ Kadashim”–the Holy of Holies, where Jews believe the Ark of the Convenant once stood–“we even had Daniel Katz,” a rabbi, “give us the priestly blessing.”
Netanyahu said in a speech that “only under Israeli rule will there be freedom of worship for all religions in Jerusalem. Believers pray at their holy sites not in spite of our rule in the city, but precisely because of it.”
Some Palestinians think it is a matter of time before Temple Mount supporters in the Israeli government propose dividing up prayer times, giving Muslims certain hours to worship and Jews others.
Glick said the momentum is all in one direction.
“The Third Temple, which will be a house of prayer for all nations, will be built very soon,” he said, repeating a mantra of the Temple Mount faithful.
Hamad, who said he has seen a steady change during his 10 years as a Waqf guard, is convinced a crisis is coming.
“It’s going to blow up,” said the 36-year-old. “It’s certain.”
JERUSALEM–Every morning at 7.30, Murad Hamad sets up a flimsy plastic chair in the shade of the Moroccans’ Gate entrance to Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem and waits for the tourists to arrive.
Hamad’s job is to help keep the peace at one of the world’s holiest places, a site sacred to both Muslims, who call the compound the Noble Sanctuary, and to Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because of the building that once stood there. The guard is not much concerned with the sun-creamed tourists. But he pays close attention to the groups of devout Jews and Israeli nationalists who try most days to enter the site and pray.
Those groups are at the centre of a creeping shift in Jerusalem: After 900 years, Jews are chipping away at Muslims’ exclusive control of the site, the third holiest in Islam. The shift, which has provoked violence in the past, threatens to open a dangerous new front in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, adding religious enmity to a political struggle in the very heart of the disputed city.
Al-Aqsa has banned non-Muslim prayer since 1187. Like Muslims across the region, Hamad and the other 70 or so guards employed by the Waqf, the Islamic trust that oversees the mosque, see Jews praying there as a serious insult.
The risk of confrontation remained small as long as the groups pushing for the right to pray remained at the fringes of Judaism. A decade or so ago, a handful of Jewish faithful would enter the compound each day. Attempts at prayer were rare. The Chief Rabbinate of Israel declared in 2007 that Jews should not visit the site because it was too holy.
But in recent years the radical fringe has become increasingly mainstream, drawing in nationalist, secular supporters and backing from high-profile politicians. A hundred or more Jews can arrive at the mosque some days, in large, organised groups. Last year Yossi Farenti, then Jerusalem District Police Chief, told the Israeli parliament’s Internal Affairs committee that the number of Jews visiting the site had increased 27 percent in the first half of 2014. “There is indeed a worsening in the past few years as to what happens at Temple Mount,” he said. “This is a fact. No one disagrees. You can see it in the numbers.”
A growing number of rabbis have contradicted the Chief Rabbinate, saying visits should be encouraged precisely because the Temple Mount is divine. Jewish visitors mumble prayers under their breath and walk barefoot on the ancient stones in a sign of obeisance.
A range of groups, some of them well financed by the Jewish diaspora, are campaigning for open access to Temple Mount, which Jews believe is the point from where God created the world and was the site of the second Jewish temple until 70 AD. They want the right for Jews to pray alongside Muslims. Some even want to build a new temple and have crafted sacred gold-and-silver vessels and hand-stitched priestly vestments ready for the day it is sanctified. Other supporters are breeding red heifers, hoping for one without a white blemish that can be sacrificially slaughtered at the temple, as described in the Book of Numbers.
Palestinian Muslims and others across the region fear their control is slipping.
“They want to change the rules,” said Hamad, the Waqf guard.
Perched on an esplanade at the eastern edge of Jerusalem’s Old City–the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane behind–there are few patches of land more contested than this 35 acres.
The critical moment in the modern era was Israel’s capture of the Old City in the six-day war of 1967. For Israeli Jews, control of the Old City tied together politics, religion and nationhood. Following the victory, tens of thousands flocked to the Western Wall, believed to have been a retaining support for the second Jewish temple built 2,500 years ago. It was the first mass Jewish pilgrimage to the site since the temple’s destruction.
But days later, with the approval of the prime minister, Defence Minister Moshe Dayan went to see the imams of the Islamic Waqf and handed them back the keys to the mosque.
“I said that Israeli troops would be removed from the site and stationed outside the compound,” Dayan wrote in his autobiography. “The Israeli authorities were responsible for overall security, but we would not interfere in the private affairs of the Muslims responsible for their own sanctuaries.
“We had no intention of controlling Muslim holy places or of interfering in their religious life.”
Over time, a status quo evolved under which Jews have been allowed to enter and tour the area but forbidden to pray. Israeli police and some military help provide security, but the Waqf administers the compound.
There were some early attempts to change that. In the 1980s, a messianic terrorist group called the Jewish Underground plotted to blow up the Dome of the Rock and replace it with a temple. That plan was foiled by the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency.
In 1990, another group calling itself the Temple Mount Faithful tried to lay a cornerstone for a new Jewish temple, provoking riots that killed 22 Palestinians.
The Waqf says things really began to shift from September 2000, when Ariel Sharon, then Israel’s opposition leader, visited Temple Mount with a large delegation just before an election. Many Palestinians saw the move as a provocation. It led to a violent uprising called the Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, which continued for five years and left about 3,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis dead. Access to Al-Aqsa for both Muslims and non-Muslims was greatly restricted.
In recent years the groups committed to overturning the status quo have shifted strategy, becoming more organised and gaining donors and influence.
While there are still radical elements, and frequent verbal and physical confrontations with Muslims at Al-Aqsa, the groups try to cast the issue as one of religious freedom, arguing that Jews should enjoy the same prayer rights as Muslims.
The most visible proponent of the new approach is Yehuda Glick, a red-bearded, American-born rabbi who set up the Temple Mount Heritage Foundation in 2007 and now acts as a spokesman for several Temple Mount organisations.
A 49-year-old father of eight, Glick has become a rallying figure for the movement, frequently photographed with supporters such as an outspoken politician from Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party, or studying pictures of a possible new temple.
In 2013 and again in 2014 he was arrested by police after confrontations at Al-Aqsa and banned from visiting. He sued and won a court ruling allowing him to return once a month under tight supervision.
Last October, as Muslim anger at the presence of Jewish worshippers triggered clashes, Glick was shot four times by a Palestinian when he left a conference in central Jerusalem. After 10 days in a coma, and life-saving operations by a Muslim surgeon, Glick came around.
“I respect the Muslims’ right to pray,” he told Reuters as he recovered from his injuries. “But there is no reason in the world that at the only holy place for the Jewish people, a Jew should not have the right to pray.
“The Temple Mount is the holiest place in the world according to the Bible and there should be freedom to pray for all believers–Jews, Christians and Muslims.”
That is not how Mohammad Ahmed Hussein, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the head of the Waqf, sees it.
As the inheritor of a job handed down almost without break since the 12th century, Hussein is the overriding religious authority at Al-Aqsa and holds the keys to the mosque. He believes the precedent created by more than 800 years of religious practice is incontrovertible.
“No one but Muslims are allowed to perform any kind of prayers at Al-Aqsa,” he told Reuters, referring to the compound rather than just the mosque itself.
“Jewish prayer at Al-Aqsa is not so much an insult as it is an aggression. If Jews try to pray at Al-Aqsa, it will only create more tensions in the region.”
For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that is potentially a big problem.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said the arrangement that has governed Al-Aqsa since 1967 should not change. But after Glick was shot, Israeli authorities temporarily shut all access, including for Muslims. In protest, Jordan withdrew its ambassador to Tel Aviv, the first time it had taken such a step since signing a peace deal with Israel in 1994. Jordan has had special responsibility for Al-Aqsa since the 1967 war. The Hashemite Kingdom has financed the Waqf and paid for renovations to the mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Its anger was echoed in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and beyond, leaving Netanyahu worried about regional stability.
He beefed up Israeli security around the Old City, a move that many Palestinians saw as proof that change was coming.
Six months on, the situation appears calmer, though tensions remain.
Five days a week–there is no access on Fridays or Saturdays–religious-nationalist Jews join foreign tourists to walk up the covered wooden ramp, through the Moroccans’ Gate, the only one of the 11 ancient gates non-Muslims can use, and into the holy compound.
Israeli guards assemble the Jews into groups of 10, confiscate their religious and prayer accoutrements for the length of the visit, and then assign them Israeli police escorts.
At the top of the ramp, where Israeli forces keep dozens of riot shields and other security equipment, Waqf guards join the Jewish groups. The Israeli police lead the visitors around, while the Waqf guards maintain more distance.
On one recent visit, a pious Jewish teenager, yarmulke on his head and long curls hanging either side of his face, fell to the ground in the act of prayer. Police quickly hoisted him to his feet and warned that he would be thrown out if he tried to pray again.
As the group passed in front of Al-Aqsa mosque, the police urged them not to get too close. Several ignored the warnings and stepped towards the portico, where Muslim men and women enter via separate doorways.
A group of women in headscarves and veils began shouting “Allahu Akbar” (“God is Greatest”) at the top of their voices, protesting the group’s presence.
As the Jewish group moved away from the mosque into a grove of trees on the eastern edge of the plaza, it was left alone, allowing surreptitious prayer to begin.
Efrem Goldberg, an American rabbi, wrote an account of a visit he made to the Temple Mount last year, in which he described feeling intimidated by Muslims there. “In a small gesture of defiance,” he wrote, “we continuously prayed in our hearts and when we paused opposite the Kodesh Ha’ Kadashim”–the Holy of Holies, where Jews believe the Ark of the Convenant once stood–“we even had Daniel Katz,” a rabbi, “give us the priestly blessing.”
Netanyahu said in a speech that “only under Israeli rule will there be freedom of worship for all religions in Jerusalem. Believers pray at their holy sites not in spite of our rule in the city, but precisely because of it.”
Some Palestinians think it is a matter of time before Temple Mount supporters in the Israeli government propose dividing up prayer times, giving Muslims certain hours to worship and Jews others.
Glick said the momentum is all in one direction.
“The Third Temple, which will be a house of prayer for all nations, will be built very soon,” he said, repeating a mantra of the Temple Mount faithful.
Hamad, who said he has seen a steady change during his 10 years as a Waqf guard, is convinced a crisis is coming.
“It’s going to blow up,” said the 36-year-old. “It’s certain.”
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
A passover sign from God? -- Could this be the beginning of the "Last Days"?
Simcha Jacobovici, Times of Israel, April 2, 2015
A fully red cow on a small farm outside Lakewood, New Jersey is attracting worldwide attention in orthodox Jewish circles and various movements with a Messianic or “End of Days” bent. Let me explain why.
In the Biblical Book of Numbers (19:2-13) it stipulates that the only way to purify oneself after contact with the dead is to be sprinkled with water that is a mixture of hyssop, cedar-wood, scarlet and the ashes of a red heifer or cow–in Hebrew, “Parah Adumah”–sacrificed on the altar of the Holy Tabernacle. Put differently, according to Biblical law, to overcome the impurity of death, one needs a kosher red heifer for a sacrifice in the Temple. For a red cow to be “kosher” it must be totally red. A mere two black or white hairs, in close proximity to each other, disqualifies it. After the Biblical Exodus, the Tabernacle that Moses built served the Israelites for 40 years in the Sinai desert. Then there were two Temples that stood in Jerusalem for about a thousand years, from the 10th century BCE until the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Since then, there has been no Temple and, as far as we know, no kosher red cow–until now.
Many believe that kosher red cows will once again appear when the Temple in Jerusalem–the House of God–is about to be rebuilt. The ingathering of the Jewish people and the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 has been seen by believers as signs of the impending arrival of the Messiah, the rebuilding of the Temple and the inauguration of the “Kingdom of God”–a qualitatively new phase in human history. For believers, the sudden appearance of a red heifer could be interpreted as a sign of the impending Messianic age.
And now it seems that such a red heifer–two years old and unblemished–has appeared in Howell, New Jersey. The red cow was born to two black bovines on the farm of Herb Celler, the son of Auschwitz survivors. Rabbis are presently arriving from various locations around the world and, so far, the cow has passed the kosher test with flying colors–so to speak. Mr. Celler said he was offered one million dollars for the cow. He turned down the offer, however, and plans to send the red heifer as a gift to Israel.
Friday, January 9, 2015
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
What do Jesus, the Book of Daniel and the Temple Institute Have in Common?
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:
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 Judaea flee into the mountains:...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.[1]
The fact that Jesus quotes from Daniel when talking about the sign of the “End of the World” and the “Great Tribulation,” 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. The Institute is preparing for the eventual rebuilding of a Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Today the Muslim’s Mosque of Omar stands in that place. 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]
The preparations of temple are already made and waiting to be constructed. All the various temple ornaments are also being carefully created in conformity with the instructions given by Moses for the original items.
A news article Preparing For The Third Temple by Daniel Ben Simon, of the Al-Monitor Israel Pulse, from June 7, 2013 reinforces the ideas of the Temple Institute.
The article states that Sr. Ben Simon visited the Jewish Quarter in Old Jerusalem to observe how the preparations for the establishment of the new temple were getting on. Many Jews believe it is about time to reconstruct the Third Temple in its proper place on the Temple Mount just where the First and Second Temples stood.
Simon is given a tour of the Temple Mount by a man named Yehuda one of the “elite soldiers of the temple.” Since moving to Israel, Yehuda has dedicated his life to the mission of the reconstruction of the Temple. For Yehuda, there is no greater thrill than to walk on the soil on the Temple Mount.
“As far as I see it, an amazing divine move is manifested here," Yehuda explained while we were waiting in line at the gate (to go onto the Temple Mount). “The state of Israel is a part of this divine move, which will culminate in the establishment of the Third Temple.”
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 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 June 2014 found in the World News Digest called Temple Veil Being Recreated.
If the Jewish Temple is ever to be rebuilt in Jerusalem, the massive curtain—66 feet high by 33 feet wide and 2 inches thick—that once hung in the Second Temple and was consumed by fire in A.D. 70, will need to be recreated. That task is already underway in the Jewish community of Shiloh, located in biblical Samaria about 40 minutes north of Jerusalem, reports Israel Today. For more than two years women from the community have been working to assemble the materials and learn the techniques needed to weave the veil that will hang between, and separate, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.[3]
The orthodox Jews who are preparing for the temple’s reconstruction obviously take prophecy seriously.
Footnotes:
[1] Matthew 24:15,16,& 21
[2] https://www.templeinstitute.org/
[3] http://www.israeltoday.co.il/Default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=24644
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Temple Veil Being Recreated
WND, June 02, 2014
If the Jewish Temple is ever to be rebuilt in Jerusalem, the massive curtain—66 feet high by 33 feet wide and 2 inches thick—that once hung in the Second Temple and was consumed by fire in A.D. 70, will need to be recreated.
That task is already underway in the Jewish community of Shiloh, located in biblical Samaria about 40 minutes north of Jerusalem, reports Israel Today.
For more than two years women from the community have been working to assemble the materials and learn the techniques needed to weave the veil that will hang between, and separate, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.
While the command given to Moses at Sinai—“You shall make a veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen … with an artistic design of cherubim” (Exodus 26:31)—may have been clear to the people of Israel in the mid-15th century B.C., the techniques for weaving the required six-cord threads and the proper way to recreate the needed dyes are unknown today.
The scarlet is believed to have been made out of an oak aphid, reported Israel Today, and the blue from a special sea snail. The purple was also animal-derived, but which animals is unknown.
In some ways Shiloh as the place for “the women of the veil chamber” to pursue their task is a natural one.
Ancient Israel’s Tabernacle—precursor to the First Temple built in Jerusalem by King Solomon—stood in Shiloh for over 300 years. It was to Shiloh that the tribes of Israel came for annual festivals. One of those occasions is the biblical setting for the beginning of the ministry of the Prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 1).
It was from here the Ark of the Covenant was sent into battle against Israel’s arch enemy, the Philistines, and captured (1 Samuel 4). Some 300 years later, in the time of the Prophet Jeremiah, the city was in ruins.
In 2013, archaeologists announced they had found the site at Shiloh where the Tabernacle had stood. Hewn holes that once supported wooden beams, large stoves not meant for home use, structures dating to the period between Joshua and King David and proximity to the city gate led to their identification.
Past findings in the surrounding hills include what researchers say are the bones of sacrificed animals that were eaten during those times when thousands of Israelites would assemble at Shiloh, reported Israel National News. The bones have been dated to the same biblical period.
The veil project mirrors another that has been underway for four years, recreating the priestly garments needed for Temple worship. Some Jews who claim priestly lineage have already purchased the special clothing.
The Gospel of Matthew records that upon Jesus death, the great veil of the Temple “was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split.” (Matthew 27:51)
If the Jewish Temple is ever to be rebuilt in Jerusalem, the massive curtain—66 feet high by 33 feet wide and 2 inches thick—that once hung in the Second Temple and was consumed by fire in A.D. 70, will need to be recreated.
That task is already underway in the Jewish community of Shiloh, located in biblical Samaria about 40 minutes north of Jerusalem, reports Israel Today.
For more than two years women from the community have been working to assemble the materials and learn the techniques needed to weave the veil that will hang between, and separate, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.
While the command given to Moses at Sinai—“You shall make a veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen … with an artistic design of cherubim” (Exodus 26:31)—may have been clear to the people of Israel in the mid-15th century B.C., the techniques for weaving the required six-cord threads and the proper way to recreate the needed dyes are unknown today.
The scarlet is believed to have been made out of an oak aphid, reported Israel Today, and the blue from a special sea snail. The purple was also animal-derived, but which animals is unknown.
In some ways Shiloh as the place for “the women of the veil chamber” to pursue their task is a natural one.
Ancient Israel’s Tabernacle—precursor to the First Temple built in Jerusalem by King Solomon—stood in Shiloh for over 300 years. It was to Shiloh that the tribes of Israel came for annual festivals. One of those occasions is the biblical setting for the beginning of the ministry of the Prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 1).
It was from here the Ark of the Covenant was sent into battle against Israel’s arch enemy, the Philistines, and captured (1 Samuel 4). Some 300 years later, in the time of the Prophet Jeremiah, the city was in ruins.
In 2013, archaeologists announced they had found the site at Shiloh where the Tabernacle had stood. Hewn holes that once supported wooden beams, large stoves not meant for home use, structures dating to the period between Joshua and King David and proximity to the city gate led to their identification.
Past findings in the surrounding hills include what researchers say are the bones of sacrificed animals that were eaten during those times when thousands of Israelites would assemble at Shiloh, reported Israel National News. The bones have been dated to the same biblical period.
The veil project mirrors another that has been underway for four years, recreating the priestly garments needed for Temple worship. Some Jews who claim priestly lineage have already purchased the special clothing.
The Gospel of Matthew records that upon Jesus death, the great veil of the Temple “was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split.” (Matthew 27:51)
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Preparing For The Third Temple
By Daniel Ben Simon, Al-Monitor Israel Pulse, June 7, 2013
I went to visit the Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem to see how the preparations for the establishment of the new temple were getting on. For hundreds of Israelis, the task of renewing the temple has become the job of their lives.
It is about time, so they believe, to establish the Third Temple in its proper place—right on the site where the First Temple and the Second Temple were once standing before being destroyed.
Yehuda Glick is one of the “elite soldiers of the temple" who dedicate their lives to the mission. Since moving to Israel, he has been preparing for the great day, waiting to see the construction of the edifice that is to become the holiest place on earth for the Jewish people. A black skullcap adorning his head, his Hebrew flavored by an Anglo-Saxon accent, Glick spends his time as a tourist guide, escorting visitors to the Temple Mount.
I met Yehuda at the entrance gate to the Temple Mount. There is no greater thrill in his life than to walk on the soil of the Temple Mount. While he has visited the place hundreds or even thousands of times„ his heart still beats with excitement on each visit.
"As far as I see it, an amazing divine move is manifested here," he explained while we were waiting in line at the gate. “The state of Israel is a part of this divine move, which will culminate in the establishment of the Third Temple."
"When I started visiting the Temple Mount 15 years ago, you could hardly gather a minyan—the quorum—for prayer. These days, hundreds of thousands of Jews are coming to pray on the Temple Mount. They expect us to rebuild the temple, and God willing, it will be built."
Hundreds of tourists, most of them Christians, were standing in line under the scorching sun, waiting for the security check that every visitor seeking entry to the Temple Mount is required to pass. Jews are not allowed to bring in scrolls of the Torah, prayer books, copies of the Book of Psalms or any other article of worship that could be used to establish a mystical association between the Temple Mount and the holy Jewish Scriptures.
Under the current arrangements agreed on between Israel and the Kingdom of Jordan, Jews visiting the Temple Mount are banned from openly praying on the premises or swaying in worship. One single event of deviation from the set rules could be enough to spark an international incident.
In fact, precisely such an incident occurred while I was waiting at the entrance gate to the Temple Mount. All of a sudden, shouts were heard from inside the enclosure. The policemen standing on guard at the gate went on alert and hurried to lock it.
It turned out that a Muslim worshipper accused an Israeli policeman of knocking down a Quran she was holding in her hands.
The Temple Mount was closed to visitors right away and the incident was promptly brought to the attention of the top echelons in Israel, the Palestinian leaders in the territories and the Jordanian king’s palace.
The commanding officer in charge of the Temple Mount site told me that incidents of that kind were an everyday matter. “The policeman on duty reported that the worshipper had thrown down the book on purpose, to stir up a provocation and, needless to say, I believe him," he said, adding: “Even a minor event is liable to trigger an international incident."
As the gates to the Temple Mount were closed, Yehuda and I headed for the Jewish Quarter, where the Temple Institute is located. Hundreds of tourists visit the Temple Institute store daily to see at close hand the preparations for the establishment of the temple.
"Fifty percent of the visitors are not Jewish," recounted Reuven Cohen, the store manager, who immigrated to Israel from England 34 years ago. “The Jews are coming here to look for the roots of the temple, whereas the visiting evangelists are deeply involved in the establishment of the temple. They are well aware that their process of redemption is closely interwoven with ours. They actually believe that the path of return of Jesus Christ to this earth passes through our temple."
The articles of worship intended for use in the new temple, once it is erected, are on display in the store. Kits that include guidelines for proper conduct in the holy site are offered for sale alongside a variety of jigsaw puzzles of the temple—some comprising 24 pieces, for 3-year-old children, and others of 100 pieces and even 1,000 pieces—for the older. Hundreds of books, neatly arranged on the shelves, tell the history of the temples—those that were destroyed and the one that is to be built.
There are books on the sacred golden candelabrums, books on the houses that served the Jewish priests who performed their duties at the temple, and others on the ritual sacrifices and prayers, as well as on the way of life that will prevail in Israel after the temple is established.
"Last year we had 50,000 visitors," David Schwartz, who heads the Temple Institute, proudly stated. “The ever-growing interest shown by tourists reflects the feeling that the days of the Messiah are around the corner. You can sense it in the air—in schools, in synagogues, even in the homes of the secular. Everyone feels it coming up."
While we were talking, hundreds of visiting school students were wandering around the Institute, impressed by the sights. “Yes, that’s true," Schwartz added. “As you can see, people are looking for meaning to life. They want to achieve something. We are currently at the stage of preparing people for the construction of the temple."
On display, next to the architectural building plans, are models showing pilgrims getting down from the light rail at the temple gate station. Others are seen parking their cars in an underground garage to be built beneath the temple. Sophisticated elevators would transport the worshippers right into the temple.
Schwartz, Cohen and Glick are all confident that once the Third Temple is erected, the world will become a fundamentally different place. The Lord would then bestow on Earth great abundance and there would no longer be anyone in need of charity.
"Those who do not feel what is going to happen are either blind or stupid, or ungrateful," Glick noted, clearly annoyed with me, having noticed the skeptical expression on my face. “There has never been anything like that in the history of the human race; the return of an exiled people to its homeland is unique in human annals. It is all written in the Torah. And the last, supreme stage will be the construction of the temple."
However, there is one far from marginal factor left out. In all those plans and photographs and illustrations and puzzles and books put forward by the Jewish believers, the Third Temple is seen at the center of the Temple Mount, rising high up above it.
But there is no trace there of the Dome of the Rock, as if the earth had swallowed it up.
I went to visit the Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem to see how the preparations for the establishment of the new temple were getting on. For hundreds of Israelis, the task of renewing the temple has become the job of their lives.
It is about time, so they believe, to establish the Third Temple in its proper place—right on the site where the First Temple and the Second Temple were once standing before being destroyed.
Yehuda Glick is one of the “elite soldiers of the temple" who dedicate their lives to the mission. Since moving to Israel, he has been preparing for the great day, waiting to see the construction of the edifice that is to become the holiest place on earth for the Jewish people. A black skullcap adorning his head, his Hebrew flavored by an Anglo-Saxon accent, Glick spends his time as a tourist guide, escorting visitors to the Temple Mount.
I met Yehuda at the entrance gate to the Temple Mount. There is no greater thrill in his life than to walk on the soil of the Temple Mount. While he has visited the place hundreds or even thousands of times„ his heart still beats with excitement on each visit.
"As far as I see it, an amazing divine move is manifested here," he explained while we were waiting in line at the gate. “The state of Israel is a part of this divine move, which will culminate in the establishment of the Third Temple."
"When I started visiting the Temple Mount 15 years ago, you could hardly gather a minyan—the quorum—for prayer. These days, hundreds of thousands of Jews are coming to pray on the Temple Mount. They expect us to rebuild the temple, and God willing, it will be built."
Hundreds of tourists, most of them Christians, were standing in line under the scorching sun, waiting for the security check that every visitor seeking entry to the Temple Mount is required to pass. Jews are not allowed to bring in scrolls of the Torah, prayer books, copies of the Book of Psalms or any other article of worship that could be used to establish a mystical association between the Temple Mount and the holy Jewish Scriptures.
Under the current arrangements agreed on between Israel and the Kingdom of Jordan, Jews visiting the Temple Mount are banned from openly praying on the premises or swaying in worship. One single event of deviation from the set rules could be enough to spark an international incident.
In fact, precisely such an incident occurred while I was waiting at the entrance gate to the Temple Mount. All of a sudden, shouts were heard from inside the enclosure. The policemen standing on guard at the gate went on alert and hurried to lock it.
It turned out that a Muslim worshipper accused an Israeli policeman of knocking down a Quran she was holding in her hands.
The Temple Mount was closed to visitors right away and the incident was promptly brought to the attention of the top echelons in Israel, the Palestinian leaders in the territories and the Jordanian king’s palace.
The commanding officer in charge of the Temple Mount site told me that incidents of that kind were an everyday matter. “The policeman on duty reported that the worshipper had thrown down the book on purpose, to stir up a provocation and, needless to say, I believe him," he said, adding: “Even a minor event is liable to trigger an international incident."
As the gates to the Temple Mount were closed, Yehuda and I headed for the Jewish Quarter, where the Temple Institute is located. Hundreds of tourists visit the Temple Institute store daily to see at close hand the preparations for the establishment of the temple.
"Fifty percent of the visitors are not Jewish," recounted Reuven Cohen, the store manager, who immigrated to Israel from England 34 years ago. “The Jews are coming here to look for the roots of the temple, whereas the visiting evangelists are deeply involved in the establishment of the temple. They are well aware that their process of redemption is closely interwoven with ours. They actually believe that the path of return of Jesus Christ to this earth passes through our temple."
The articles of worship intended for use in the new temple, once it is erected, are on display in the store. Kits that include guidelines for proper conduct in the holy site are offered for sale alongside a variety of jigsaw puzzles of the temple—some comprising 24 pieces, for 3-year-old children, and others of 100 pieces and even 1,000 pieces—for the older. Hundreds of books, neatly arranged on the shelves, tell the history of the temples—those that were destroyed and the one that is to be built.
There are books on the sacred golden candelabrums, books on the houses that served the Jewish priests who performed their duties at the temple, and others on the ritual sacrifices and prayers, as well as on the way of life that will prevail in Israel after the temple is established.
"Last year we had 50,000 visitors," David Schwartz, who heads the Temple Institute, proudly stated. “The ever-growing interest shown by tourists reflects the feeling that the days of the Messiah are around the corner. You can sense it in the air—in schools, in synagogues, even in the homes of the secular. Everyone feels it coming up."
While we were talking, hundreds of visiting school students were wandering around the Institute, impressed by the sights. “Yes, that’s true," Schwartz added. “As you can see, people are looking for meaning to life. They want to achieve something. We are currently at the stage of preparing people for the construction of the temple."
On display, next to the architectural building plans, are models showing pilgrims getting down from the light rail at the temple gate station. Others are seen parking their cars in an underground garage to be built beneath the temple. Sophisticated elevators would transport the worshippers right into the temple.
Schwartz, Cohen and Glick are all confident that once the Third Temple is erected, the world will become a fundamentally different place. The Lord would then bestow on Earth great abundance and there would no longer be anyone in need of charity.
"Those who do not feel what is going to happen are either blind or stupid, or ungrateful," Glick noted, clearly annoyed with me, having noticed the skeptical expression on my face. “There has never been anything like that in the history of the human race; the return of an exiled people to its homeland is unique in human annals. It is all written in the Torah. And the last, supreme stage will be the construction of the temple."
However, there is one far from marginal factor left out. In all those plans and photographs and illustrations and puzzles and books put forward by the Jewish believers, the Third Temple is seen at the center of the Temple Mount, rising high up above it.
But there is no trace there of the Dome of the Rock, as if the earth had swallowed it up.
