Diary of My Trip to Israel: Part Twenty-One

The Third Temple Tour in Jerusalem is run by a small society of Israelis. They believe that since God allowed Israel to become a nation for the third time, a third temple will certainly follow and they anxiously await the day.

Right now, the Dome of the Rock is on the mountain top where the temple of Solomon (rebuilt by Ezra and enhanced by Herod) once stood. Although some in Israel would be just delighted to tear down a Muslim shrine that does not belong on their holy mountain, the current Israeli government will never allow it. They are less interested in prophecy and more interested in political realities. They know the dismantling of the Dome would mean nothing less than World War Three.

But The Third Temple Society is not the government. Neither are they a group of underground activists working against the powers that be.  TTS has no plan to ignite any kind of revolution in Israel or war with the Muslims. They are merely a group of citizens who believe in Bible prophecy and who have decided to take pro-active steps to be ready. That’s all.

The lamp stand has been reconstructed out of solid gold, as commanded in the Torah. Other types of metals, morphed into tools for the slaying of animal sacrifices and the basins for various offerings are also part of the exhibition. Even a new High Priest robe is on display! All items were made with the precise specifications set forth in the book of Leviticus. The tour climaxed with a model (to scale) of what the third temple will look like. They plan to design it partially like Herod’s beautified temple and partially like Solomon’s original temple.

Sitting through this fascinating lecture/demonstration, listening to a young Israeli woman talk with enthusiasm as she points to modern reconstructions of antiquity, a rush of excitement comes over me: It’s starting to happen!

Many Evangelical Christians believe we are living in the last generation of history prior to the Second Coming of the Messiah. Similarly, a good number of Orthodox Jews see themselves as the final wave of people to witness the original appearance of the Messiah.

One reason for such eager anticipation is the return of God’s people to their homeland for the second time as predicted in Isaiah 11. How do I personally assimilate these ideas? Israel’s rebirth in 1948 is a fascinating fulfillment of prophecy, to be sure, but God already brought the Jews back to the Holy Land once before after a Babylonian exile of 70 years. It was 400 years later when Jesus came. With this in mind, we really don’t know how long this third nation of Israel will exist before the Second Coming. Neither can we be certain that the long corridors of history might not weave another dispersion followed by a fourth Israel. Not that I expect this. I’m just listing honest possibilities right now. For what it’s worth,  I do  believe this third Israel is the "final edition" before Messiah comes, but I also believe God’s people must be humble and careful not to add predictions beyond what the Bible actually promises.

Jesus said “No man knows the day or the hour. He also said, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father as set by his own authority.” (Matt 24, Acts 1)

The term day in the ancient Jewish world did not necessarily mean a literal 24-hour day. Often times, day referred to an event. There are entire wars (years in length) recorded in the Bible, that were referred to in the singular as “the Day of the Lord.”  This will also be true for the ultimate Day of the Lord. This “day” is really a series of final, eschatological events that will usher in the Second Coming. A man known as the Anti-Christ (1 John) or Man of Lawlessness (2 Thess) will rise through fame as a powerful ruler. He will lead many sincere people astray and possibly broker some major peace deal in the Middle East to the point where Jew and Gentile alike will admire him. Some will undoubtedly view this new Roman type emperor as the Messiah himself. That is what the term “Anti-Christ” suggests. This is also why Jesus warned us about false Christs and false prophets (Matt 24).

The apostle Paul, in accordance with a prediction in Daniel 9, tells us that Christ cannot return until a great apostasy first occurs and this riveting event of history will involve the Jewish temple!

2 Thess 2:1-12

¹Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, ²not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. ³Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness^F3 is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. ⁴He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
⁵Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? ⁶And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. ⁷For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. ⁸And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. ⁹The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, ¹⁰and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¹¹For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie ¹²and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

As you see, even though Israel is now a nation once again, the real Christ will not appear until the Anti-Christ is revealed. This smiley, charismatic demagogue may very well remain in authority long before we know for sure who he truly is, but we will certainly be able to make an identification without any shred of doubt after he sets up his throne in the Holy of Holies. To say that this is an abomination to Jews, is the understatement of the century, a mere man sitting on a throne, calling himself God! That he does so in the inner temple chamber only adds to the utter horror! Indeed, Daniel called this future event "The Abomination of Desolation."

As for a third temple, the holy structure may be rebuilt and may stand for a long period of time before the coming of the Anti-Christ, possibly years, possibly even centuries. We do not know. But we do know that the Anti-Christ will not be discovered until he profanes the temple and if there is no temple in Jerusalem today, it means the Anti-Christ is not going to be identified today, thus delaying the appearance of the real Christ.

“How do we know Paul wasn’t talking about some other temple?  Many religions have temples.”

Paul was a Jew. At the time he wrote his letter to the Thessalonians, the second temple still stood and this was the only temple people would have thought of. What the Bible meant to its original audience must be the correct meaning for us today as well. Early Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians were not thinking about the temple of Aphrodite when Paul wrote those words. Neither were they picturing Salt Lake City. There was one temple, on the mount in Jerusalem. Since this temple was destroyed a few years later by Prince Titus and the Roman Legion, and since Paul’s prediction about the Anti-Christ was never fulfilled in the period of the second temple, we conclude that there must be a third temple someday!

“But for the Jews to rebuild their temple, they would first have to take down the Dome of the Rock. Wouldn’t that bring about World War Three?”

Yes, probably, but such a world war is also prophesied in connection with the coming of the Messiah. On the other hand, we should not hastily assume that the Dome will be removed by Jews. Supposing God sent an earthquake? Supposing Ahamadinnejad, or some other evil maniac, fired a missile upon Israel that accidentally destroyed the Muslim shrine? This could happen quite easily, although people would still find a way to blame Israel for the destruction.

“OK.  For Christ to return, the Anti-Christ must first rise to power and profane the new temple, which means there must someday be a new temple. Even though we do not know for sure if this will happen in our lifetime, do you at least have an opinion about the time table?”

I always have an opinion. Two things make me wonder if the final chapter may indeed be on the horizon.

1) Technology and communication have made the world smaller than it used to be. No one country can any longer be disconnected from the good or bad events of neighbor nations. Humans now have the ability to destroy the entire planet through nuclear or biological warfare, something previous generations of history never had to deal with. One must ponder how long this can go on. Does the Bible speak of a time when humans will be capable of annihilating themselves?  It most certainly does:

Matt. 24:22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.”

But there is another reason, a very intriguing reason:

2) The relationship between Christians and Jews has never been better!

I am not talking about Liberal Christianity. The World Council of Churches (by an amazing coincidence) happens to accept any newly fashioned, Politically Correct idea, no matter how much it contradicts the Bible. This is why we will hear about the “Israeli conquest of the poor disenfranchised Palestinians” in these kinds of churches.

But Evangelical Christians, who take the Bible seriously, rather than changing their opinions with the wind, have been friends to Israel for many years and this has grown in the last few decades.  When I first became a Christian in the early 1970’s, the Jews I spoke with were very suspicious when Christians extended a hand of friendship. This should be easy to understand, as church history is tragically stained with pogroms and other disgraceful Anti-Semitic conduct by people who called themselves Christians and never truly obeyed the teachings of Jesus or the rest of the New Testament.

Anti-Semitism is on the rise today all over the world.  Even in America, our college campuses are becoming increasingly anti-Jewish, although they use the term "anti-Zionist" instead. It is not Politically Correct to be Anti-Semitic in America today but it is very Politically Correct to be anti-Zionist. And yet, since a Zionist is merely one who believes that Jews have a right to their own homeland, the difference between being anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist is microscopic, if there is even a difference at all.

Although Liberal Jews tend to buy into the lies that the world teaches about Zionism, Conservative Jews are waking up and realizing that Evangelical Christians are just about the only friends they have left.

We have never seen such a close alliance between Jews and Christians before unless we want to maybe draw a comparison with first century Christianity.  Radio talk show hosts like Dennis Prager and Michael Medved, defend Christianity better than Christians do! Pastors such as John Haggai speak out for Israel and take flack for doing so. And this is not merely about Bible prophecy or anticipation of Christ’s Second Coming. Many Christians defend the Jews for human rights reasons alone! One would think such an obvious bond would have been going on a long time, but it hasn’t been. The trend is relatively recent when contrasted to the 2000 years of church history. Even more recent is the trust that Jews are starting to develope for this “new breed of Christian.” I find the whole thing to be an intriguing phenomenon and unprecedented alliances do make me wonder about whether we are the last generation.  I still don’t know, but one thing I can promise: There are Jews in Israel preparing for the third temple. It’s starting to happen and we may not have to wait much longer.