Category Archives: Third Temple

Why is the Third Temple so important?

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The southern end of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem

Shalom,
“Then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel holy, when my sanctuary
is among them forever.”  (Ezekiel 37:28)
The Hebrew prophets all proclaimed that in the last days, the exiles of Israel
would return to the Promised Land and that the Temple would be rebuilt.
These phenomenal, end-time events are unfolding today before our very eyes!

Modern-day miracle: the State of Israel was established against all odds,
and even though it’s only 64-years-old, it has managed to not only catch
up with older Western democracies, but in many cases exceed their
accomplishments, despite constant opposition from its Arab neighbors.
The Prophetic Return to Israel and the Third Temple
“I will bring back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities
and live in them.  They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will
make gardens and eat their fruit.  I will plant Israel in their own land, never
again to be uprooted from the land I have given them.”  (Amos 9: 14 –15)
Just as the prophets foretold, the Jewish People are returning to the Holy
Land from the four corners of the earth after 19 centuries of global exile
(Isaiah 43: 5 –6).
Not only are the exiles of Israel returning to the Promised Land, but
preparations to build the Third Temple, which is described in the Book of
Ezekiel (Chapters 40 – 42), are progressing through the efforts of the Temple
Institute and the Temple Mount Faithful Movement.

A depiction of the Temple
Why Build the Third Temple?
“Here am I, and the children the Lord has given me.  We are signs and
symbols in Israel from the Lord Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.”
(Isaiah 8:18)
Gary, you might ask yourself, “If the sanctuary was ‘a copy and a shadow
of what is in Heaven (Hebrews 8:5),’ and Yeshua (Jesus) ‘serves in the
sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord (Hebrews 8: 2),’ why
contemplate the Holy Temple?”
The Holy Temple in Jerusalem was never simply a building or structure,
but an earthly dwelling place for the Divine Presence of God (Psalm 43:3;
2 Samuel 15:25; Psalm 132:7).
According to Ezekiel, the Third Temple is to be an eternal and permanent
dwelling place of God on the Temple Mount in the Holy City of Jerusalem.
“The glory of the Lord entered the temple through the gate facing east.  …  I
heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple.  He said: “Son of man,
this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet.  This is
where I will live among the Israelites forever.”  (Ezekiel 43: 4–7)

The Holy of Holies (Kodesh Kodashim)
was the most important room in the
Temple, and housed the two tablets of
the Ten Commandments inside the Ark
of the Covenant.
The Holy Temple reveals the nature of God and His relationship to Israel.
Rambam (Rabbi Moses Maimonides), a medieval Jewish philosopher and
Torah scholar, said that the Temple has eternal significance.
He wrote in Hilchos Bais HaBechirah (The Laws of God’s Chosen House)
that the Temple had two primary purposes:
1. To reveal to mankind the Divine Presence of God, called the
Shekhinah, which dwelt above the mercy seat of the Ark of the
Covenant.
“There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the Ark
of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands
for the Israelites.”  (Exodus 25:22)
2. To facilitate the offering of the required sacrifices.

The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans Under the
Command of Titus, by David Roberts
Because of the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 68 AD,
the Jewish People can no longer offer these sacrifices.
Without the Temple in Jerusalem, the Jewish people were left with only
the community synagogue and the Torah with which to worship the God
of Israel, and animal sacrifice was replaced by the three T’s:  T’fillah
(prayer), T’shuvah (repentance) and T’zdakah (charity).
Many believe that the physical Temple and animal sacrifice have been done
away with forever, but according to Bible prophecy, this is simply not so.
“Then he said to me, ‘The north and south rooms facing the temple courtyard
are the priests’ rooms, where the priests who approach the Lord will eat the
most holy offerings.  There they will put the most holy offerings—the grain
offerings, the sin offerings and the guilt offerings—for the place is holy.”
(Ezekiel 42: 13)

The Temple Mount is currently occupied by the Dome of the Rock.
The Problem of Building the Third Temple
Considering that both Jews and Arabs claim sovereignty over the Temple
Mount, the plans to rebuild the Temple cause serious concern throughout the
Middle East and even the globe, since the Muslim world has threatened
world war if the Dome of the Rock is destroyed.
Nevertheless, numerous prophecies indicate that the Third Temple must
be built before the anti-Messiah (Antichrist) takes political control of the
nations; for instance, Daniel prophesied that in the end times, the
anti-Messiah will cause the Temple sacrifices to cease (Daniel 9:27).
Since there have been no animal sacrifices in Israel since the Second Temple
was destroyed in 68 AD, this passage reveals that the Levitical sacrificial
system will resume at some point in the future.
“He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’  In the middle of the
‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering.  And on a wing [of the
temple] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end
that is decreed is poured out on him.”  (Daniel 9:27)
Yeshua, the Antichrist, and the Third Temple 
End-Time Prophecy of Yeshua and Daniel:
“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes
desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand
—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”  (Matthew 24: 15–16,
compare with Daniel 9:27, 11:31, and 12:11)
In the Brit Chadashah writings, Yeshua (Jesus) referred to the Antichrist
defiling the Third Temple (Matthew 25: 15–16) as an event that would happen
prior to His return.
This spiritual defilement in the Temple is called, both by Yeshua and the
Prophet Daniel, the abomination of desolation.

Daniel, in his Seventy Weeks Prophecy, correctly prophesied that
Jerusalem and the Temple would be rebuilt, that the Messiah would be
killed (cut off), and that Jerusalem and the Temple would once again
be destroyed.  The above Hebrew verses are Daniel 9, beginning partway
through verse 21 and ending partway through verse 24.
According to the Prophet Daniel in chapter 9, “a prince who is to come”—the
anti-Messiah— will place an abomination or idol in the Third Temple.
The anti-Messiah (Antichrist) will also proclaim Himself God!
“He (the man of lawlessness) 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.”  (2 Thessalonians 2:4)
Before these end-time prophecies can be fulfilled, the Third Temple will
need to be rebuilt.

A model of the Second Temple, located at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem
The Temple Mount: Currently Off Limits to the Jewish People
Prophecy of the Third Temple:
“In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established
as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and
peoples will stream to it.  Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us
go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob.  He
will teach us His ways, so that we may walk in His paths.”  (Micah 4:1–2,
see also Isaiah 2:2)
After Israel’s daring re-capture of the Temple Mount during the Six Day
War in 1967, there have been several attempts to re-establish a Jewish
presence on the Mount.
Towards this end, Rabbi Shlomo Goren, chief rabbi of the Israel Defense
Forces (IDF), helped initiate a prayer group.  Shortly after the Six Day War,
he led 50 Jews to the Temple Mount for a prayer service, despite fierce
opposition from both Muslim guards and Israeli police.
For many years thereafter, Goren continued to call for the establishment
of a Jewish synagogue on the Temple Mount.   

Temple Mount ban: A ban on Jewish entry to the Temple
Mount was posted at the entrance gate by the Chief
Rabbinate of Israel in an attempt to minimize tensions
between Jews and Arabs.
Goren’s brother-in-law, She’ar Yashuv Cohen, Chief Rabbi of Haifa, carries
on his work, despite a rabbinical ruling that Jews are not allowed onto the
Temple Mount for reasons of ritual impurity.  
Both Goren and Cohen disagree with this ruling, saying that Jews are not
only permitted, but commanded to go up to the Mountain of the Lord to
pray and seek God.
Rabbinic consensus, however, maintains that Jews are forbidden from
entering any part of the Temple Mount and a declaration was signed in
January 2005 confirming this decision.
Despite this declaration, however, organizations dedicated to the construction
of the Third Temple continue to operate.
The Temple Institute and the Temple Mount and Eretz Yisrael Faithful
Movement are the two main Jewish organizations responsible for making
preparations for the Third Temple and the reinstatement of sacrificial
worship.

Rabbi Shlomo Goren Square on Independence Street in Petach Tikva:
The shofar on this monument symbolizes Rabbi Shlomo Goren’s shofar
call at the Western Wall during the Six Day War immediately after the IDF
took back Jerusalem.
Many of the items to be used by the priests in the Third Temple have been
reconstructed by The Temple Institute.
Their goal is to see the establishment of the Third Temple on the site where
Solomon built the Lord’s Holy Temple, which is today what we call the
Temple Mount, also known as Mount Moriah.
Many believe the Temple Mount is the place where Abraham bound his son
Isaac in obedience to God’s command to sacrifice him (Genesis 22: 1–24). 
“Then Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount
Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David.”  (2 Chronicles 3:1)

The Temple Institute has completed the sacred garments
of the High Priest (Cohen Gadol), including the High
Priest’s breastplate (Choshen), golden crown (Tzitz) and
the Ephod.
To date, Israeli yeshiva students who had DNA testing that confirms they
descended from the line of Aaron–i.e. the Levitical priesthood–have been
trained for the Third Temple Priesthood!
The Third Temple building plans have been architecturally drafted and
ritual garments and objects have been created.  Even the Golden Menorah
—the seven branched candelabra—has been crafted, along with Levitical musical
instruments, such as silver trumpets, lyres and harps to worship the Lord,
just as King David did 3000 years ago (1 Chronicles 23:5).
Israel was prophetically reborn as a nation in 1948 (Isaiah 66:8), and most of
these organizations and preparations only started in the last 25 years, so we
know that end-time Bible prophecy concerning the Third Temple is about to
be fulfilled.

This Golden Menorah, which was created for use in the Third Temple, is
currently resting in a prominent place in front of the Western (Wailing) Wall
plaza.  At 95 pounds of pure gold, it’s worth an estimated $2 million.
According to Rabbi Nachman Kahane, who trained the men who started the
Temple Institute, everything is ready for the rebuilding of the Third Temple.
Everything, that is, except the land on which to rebuild it.  That area is
occupied by the Islamic shrine called the Dome of the Rock.
Kahane, who is 75, said he believes the Temple will be built in his lifetime.
Today, we stand on the brink of a time unlike any other in human history—a
time of unparalleled evil and brutality—the time of Jacob’s trouble.
“At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise.
There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning
of nations until then.  But at that time your people—everyone whose name is
found written in the book—will be delivered.”  (Daniel 12:1, see also 
Jeremiah 30:7, Matthew 24:21, and Mark 13:19)

For centuries, the Jewish People have streamed to the Western Wall,
which came to be known as the Wailing Wall because people observed the
Jews lamenting the destruction of the Temple.  But even though this is
the last remnant of the Temple left in Jerusalem, it’s not a sad place,
it’s a place of hope, prayer, and repentance.
The Prophet Daniel and Messiah Yeshua’s brethren, the Jewish people in the
Holy Land, are being threatened by their hostile neighbors, particularly Iran,
which has repeatedly threatened Israel’s very existence.
Syria has tens of thousands of missiles pointed at Israel.  If you have been
watching the news, you know that Syria has killed thousands of its own Arab
people.  Imagine what Syria is capable of doing to Israel if given the chance.
However, we can be confident that God is on the throne and in control.  As King
David writes in Psalm 121:4,  “He who watches over Israel will neither slumber
nor sleep.”
Israel figures prominently in God’s timeline for Yeshua’s (Jesus) return to
set up His Kingdom.
We are living in exciting times, and today you can play a part in history and
prophecy fulfilled.
Daniel 12:1–“But at that time your people—everyone whose name is
found written in the book—will be delivered.”