As Jewish people around the world commemorate the double anniversary of the destructions of the First and Second Temples at the hands of the Babylonians and Romans, preparations are being made for the rebuilding of a Third Temple in Jerusalem. Last weekend, as night fell on the ninth of Av, orthodox Jews belonging to the Temple Institute gathered in the Jewish quarter in Jerusalem to construct a miniature model of the Temple. A symbolic gesture perhaps, but one made in anticipation of the reality that some day a Third Temple will stand on the Temple Mount. It follows a similar 'educational' exercise carried out earlier in the year in which a live goat was slaughtered to show how a passover sacrifice would be offered once the sacrificial system recommences. Now an Israeli MK has called for new laws that would pave the way for the construction of the Third Temple.

Zevulun Orlev of the Jewish Home party recently published an article in a Jewish periodical urging political reforms that would ensure there was enough manpower and money to complete the project. He also said a new Basic Law would be required to protect the Third Temple from public prosecution, so as to prevent human or animal rights cases being brought against it, whenever Temple worship and sacrifices are restored. Orlev added that he believed the removal of the Dome of the Rock could trigger a regional war with the Islamic world, but remarked that as has been seen with the 'Arab Spring' uprisings, there is no ironclad guarantee of peace and stability with the Muslim nations anyway.

Quote: “Orlev wrote that the Temple must be rebuilt in Jerusalem and that “fundamental changes” to Israeli society and government were necessary in order to realize the success of the project. Besides spiritual reform and the creation of a cadre of religious experts capable of running the Temple, Orlev argued that the government — “assuming the government will choose to be democratic” — must turn back dissent surrounding the project. “It will be necessary to defeat no-confidence motions, to overcome the hostile, left-wing, secular media, and to ignore eye-rolling economists who will say it’s a waste of public funds,” he wrote.

As Christians, when we think of the rebuilding of the Temple, our minds immediately go to the Antichrist, and how he is to defile it in a coming day (2^nd Thessalonians 2:4). And there is no doubt this will happen, just like the Bible said it would. But it is also important for us to remember that the Bible teaches us that Jerusalem is the city where God has chosen to place His name (1^st Kings 11:36). The Scriptures tell us how that one day, the Messiah will return to reign from the city of Jerusalem (Luke 1:32). So although when we see news concerning the possible rebuilding of the Temple we are sorrowful because according to Biblical prophecy Israel's immediate future is a gloomy one, we can still rejoice in that God's Word is being fulfilled and that it promises Light at the end of the tunnel. Within the past century we have witnessed fantastic prophecies being fulfilled. The Jewish people have been brought back to the land of Israel, just as God said they would (Ezekiel 37). Of course the nation is back in unbelief. The Bible also predicted this would be the case (Ezekiel 36:24-25, 37:4). But praise God that many Jewish people are coming to know their Messiah as Saviour and Lord. And although the nation still rejects the Lord Jesus Christ, as in the story of Joseph and his brethren, God will use these adverse circumstances in order to bring them back to Himself. One day the nation will admit its guilt. They shall confess, “We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear”, Genesis 42:21. And the Lord shall reply, “ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive”, Genesis 50:20. Praise God that through Israel's rejection of Christ, many people have been saved by His sacrifice upon the cross. Have you trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation? Have your sins been forgiven? He waits for you. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved (Acts 16:31).

Zechariah 13:6
And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.

Source Facebook, Times of Israel