Special Report: The Third Temple -- US & World Politics from the Christian Perspective

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"Who opposeth and exalteth himself above
all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the
temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." (2nd Thessalonians 2:4)

In his 2nd Letter to the new church at
Thessolonica, the Apostle Paul was addressing a specific teaching that had been
corrupted by a false teaching that the Rapture had already occurred and the
Thessalonians had been left behind.

"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and by our gathering together unto Him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or
be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that
the day of Christ is at hand."(2nd Thessalonians 2:2-3)

Note something right off the bat. The "Day of Christ" is the
triumphant 2nd Coming at the conclusion of the Tribulation Period and the
national redemption of Israel.

Paul refers to an event that the Thessalonians interpreted as meaning that
Day 'was at hand' and NOT that the "Day of Christ" had come and gone.
Instead, they feared they'd been left behind to go through the Tribulation.

"Our gathering together unto Him", Paul assures the Thessalonians,
is a separate event that, had it occurred, would have meant the countdown to the
"Day of Christ" had started.

Moreover, Paul assures the confused Thessalonians, "Let no man deceive
you by any means: for that Day shall not come, except there come a falling away
first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and
exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he
as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." (2nd
Thessalonians 2:3-4)

The religious Jews of modern Israel believe the restoration of Israel to the
land is evidence of the coming of the Jewish Messiah, and have been planning for
a 3rd Temple to resume the Temple worship system since the British recaptured
Jerusalem from the Ottoman Empire in 1917.

Writing in the London Sunday Illustrated Herald, the British official
eventually responsible for redrawing the maps of the Middle East and carving the
Balfour Declaration Mandate in half observed, "It would almost seem as if
the gospel of Christ and the gospel of Antichrist were destined to originate
from the same people." Winston Churchill, February 8, 1920.

That may sound antisemitic, but only if one fails to understand the Gospel of
Jesus Christ.

While the Jews are not responsible for the death of the Messiah, they did
reject Him. They didn't recognize Who He was, by Divine Plan. That isn't a
condemnation of the Jews, it is a recorded fact of history.

"He came unto His own, and His own received Him not; But as many as
received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on His Name:" (John 1:11)

Jesus Himself confirmed that the antichrist will be received as the Messiah
by Israel during the early part of the Tribulation:

"I am come in my Father's Name, and ye receive Me not: if another shall
come in his own name, him ye will receive." (John 5:42)

Speaking of the salvation of the Cross, the Apostle Paul explains; "What
then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath
obtained it, and the rest were blinded. (According as it is written, God hath
given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that
they should not hear;) unto this day." (Romans 11:7-8)

Paul explains further that; "For I would not, brethren, that ye should
be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that
blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be
come in." (Romans 11:25)

In that single verse, Paul forever dashes any justification for antisemtism,
instead, revealing the enormous debt the Church owes the Jews. Apart from any
Divine judgment against Israel for past sins, the "blindness, in part, is
happened to Israel" so that we, the Gentiles, could be saved.

That being said, there is something else important to note about the Third
Temple of 2nd Thessalonians 2:4: Many Christians teach that the Third Temple is
the Temple of the Antichrist -- it is even so nicknamed. But Paul says -- note
this well -- the antichrist takes his seat "in the temple of God".

This is another evidence that the Church Age concludes at the Rapture, and
that the Rapture takes place before the beginning of the Tribulation Period. The
Tribulation is also called "The time of Jacob's Trouble" (Jeremiah
30:7) or the 70th Week of Daniel. (Daniel 9:24)

The Tribulation Period is the final week of the Age of the Law, which was cut
short at the Cross. (Daniel 9:26)

Also, when examining Daniel's Seventy Weeks, look at God's sixfold purpose to
be accomplished at their conclusion:

For Christians, this was accomplished at the Cross. But national Israel will
be saved, Paul tells us. "And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is
written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away
ungodliness from Jacob." (Romans 11:26)

While some Jews were saved in the 1st century, and some in each century
since, Paul says that in God's Divine Plan, "ALL Israel shall be
saved." There is no misinterpreting the word 'all'.

The purpose of Daniel's 70th Week is to accomplish all that is promised in
order to bring about the Millennial Kingdom. The Church plays no role, which is
why the Church is not mentioned anywhere in Scripture in the context of Daniel's
70th Week.

Because, as Paul told the Thessalonians, "we have not yet been gathered
unto Him" so the Day of Israel's national redemption, the "Day of
Christ" (see Zechariah 12:10) is not "yet at hand".

Why is all this important to the Third Temple? Because the Third Temple is
ritually legitimate during the Tribulation. According to the Temple Mount
Institute, Temple worship could be resumed today, if they could rebuild the
Temple itself.

According to director Chaim Richman, (who told me this personally in 1992),
they know where the Ark of the Covenant is located in a secret chamber inside
the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount Institute makes a similar claim on its
website.

A rabbinical school (or yeshiva) for the training of the priests for this
temple is presently in existence in the Old City. To ensure ritual purity, its
students live on elevated platforms and are not permitted to touch Israeli soil
until the Temple area can be ritually cleansed.

Sacred vessels and priestly garments have been prepared. Cedar from Lebanon
captured in the north during the war there in 1982 has been placed in storage
for the next temple, and so on.

Thus there has been considerable preparation for the Third Temple by the
religious Jews of modern Jerusalem. Both the Askenazi and Sephardic Chief Rabbis
of Jerusalem agree that such a temple will be built as soon as circumstances
permit.

It would not be necessary for the entire Temple to be rebuilt before the
restoration of the Jewish system of Temple worship and animal sacrifice.
(David's first temple was a tent to house the Ark of the Covenant).

But the worship and sacrifice MUST be performed on a ritually cleansed Temple
Mount. The only problem is the al-Aqsa mosque that currently occupies that spot.

Illegal construction underneath the Temple Mount by the Muslim Waqf (who
control the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is causing the ancient
retaining wall that holds it up to crumble.

Using forbidden heavy earth-moving equipment, they are now excavating a
northerly channel on the Temple Plaza heading in the direction of the Dome of
the Rock. Breaking into the bedrock in this area, archeologists warn, would also
harm the gold-topped Dome, which sits on that rock.

It seems more than probable, especially with the announcement by the US and
UK that it will support Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, that another
Arab-Israeli war is on the horizon, particularly if that wall should crumble and
topple the al-Aqsa Mosque.

There is some reason to suspect that the collapse of the Dome is the reason
Arafat has ordered such extensive excavations despite dire warnings of what
might result. A collapse of the Dome would rally the entire Arab world to his
cause, particularly after Arafat blames Israeli sabotage for its destruction.

There is absolutely no reason to doubt that, in the event of any such war,
Israel will recapture the Temple Mount. And there is no reason to believe they
will ever surrender it again.

According to the Mitzvot, it is the obligation of every generation of Jews to
rebuild their holy Temple on Temple Mount. Flush with the victories of 1967, the
Israeli government surrendered the Temple Mount to Arab control to forestall the
inevitable UN demands that Israel surrender ALL the territory it captured.

Over the last decade, Israel's exchange has proved futile, as the Arabs have
managed to reclaim almost all the land Israel gave up sovereignty over the
Temple Mount to keep.

"If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If
I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I
prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." Psalms 137:5-6)