In a time of universal deceit, the truth is
a revolutionary act” – George Orwell
®™©
The Rebuilding of The Temple
Temple alter has been constructed
for the Jewish Temple
By de Andréa Opinion Editorialist
THE BOTTOM LINE: March 20, 2015
THE BOTTOM LINE: March 20, 2015
Shalom!
“And the altar of
burnt-offering he set at the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and
offered upon it the burnt-offering and the meal-offering; as the LORD commanded
Moses.” (Exodus 40:29)
This announcement is considered
another major step in Bible prophecy
End-times prophecy
watchers are marveling over a news report out of Jerusalem this week that the
Altar of the Lord has been reconstructed by the Temple
Institute.
It was approximately 5 meters (16 feet) tall and 16 meters (52.5
feet) wide, with four “horns” or raised corners, and a ramp.
The Institute, based in the Old City of Jerusalem, announced it
has finished building an altar that is essentially “ready for use” in sacrificial
services.
The altar is the most
ambitious project to date toward the goal of rebuilding the Jewish Temple. The
massive outdoor altar, which took several years to build, can be operational at
little more than a moment’s notice, reported the Israeli magazine Matzav Haruach.
The altar is the last major component needed for the
long-obstructed sacrifices to resume in a future Jewish temple.
The rebuilding of the
ancient temple is predicted throughout scripture, starting with Daniel’s vision
in Daniel 9:27. Jesus echoed Daniel’s warning about an abomination standing in
“the holy place” in the last days in Matthew 24:15, followed by the Apostle
John’s vision of the Temple in Revelation 11:1-2. Paul mentioned it in 2
Thessalonians 2:3-4. The present abomination
of course is the infamous Islamic “Dome Of The Rock” Mosque.
The temple had two altars — the altar of burnt offering and the
altar of incense. The largest was the altar of burnt offering, placed in the
outer court of the priests. Designing and building it to exact biblical
specifications required quite an undertaking.
The altar is the central focus of the sacrificial services that
were halted with the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 A.D.
The Temple Institute has
prepared all the priestly garments and sacred vessels for the rebuilt temple,
which can
be viewed on its website. It even trains members of
the priestly family to be ready to serve as soon as the Temple is constructed.
This announcement will surely excite prophecy watchers around
the world, regardless of one’s eschatological leanings, every sincere student
of the Word of God knows there are at least hints, if not clear declarations,
of something happening just before the return of the Lord that involves altar
sacrifices and the distinct possibility of a rebuilt temple on the Temple
Mount.
“We know that end-time prophecy cannot be fulfilled without the
rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem,” Jonathan Cahn, a Messianic Jewish rabbi in New
Jersey, said. “The abomination desolation prophesied in Daniel and in the Gospels,
must take place within the Temple precincts. So, too, the apostle Paul speaks
of the ‘man of sin,’ or the Antichrist, sitting in the Temple of God. What many
people don’t realize is that along with the Holy of Holies, the altar of the
Temple is the most central and critical part of the Temple.”
Cahn said it is the altar that is the center of the abomination
causing desolation.
“It was specifically the altar of the Temple that was desecrated
by Antiochus Epiphanes in the days of the Maccabees that comprised the first
abomination desolation and the foreshadowing of what will take place in the
end-times,” he said. “So any progress made toward the rebuilding
of the altar is worthy of our attention.”
Mark Biltz, author of “Blood
Moons: Decoding the Imminent Heavenly Signs” and pastor of El Shaddai
Ministries, says prophecy watchers should not forget, however, that the Temple
Mount is under the control of the Muslims for a reason.
In previous years, there have been attempts to sacrifice a goat
on the Temple Mount at Passover, something that enrages Muslims who consider
the hilltop the third most sacred spot in Islam.
“They could actually do sacrifices without a temple, some
sacrifices. And Passover is one of them. There’s always been a drive to
sacrifice a lamb on the Temple Mount,” Biltz said. “They would do it in a heartbeat. But it’s
just like here in America where the ACLU wants nothing to do with religion or
religious groups. So it’s the same there. The Israeli government doesn’t want
to cause any uproar among the various religious factions, especially with
elections coming up.”
The Temple Institute represents the views of the Ultra-Orthodox
community, which makes up a small percentage of Israel’s population, about 4
percent.
“They would love a temple but the broader population wants to
keep church and state separate, and there is a lot of animosity toward the Ultra
Orthodox,” Biltz said. “But they don’t need some big elaborate
temple, they could start to do the sacrifices with a tent or some sort of
makeshift tabernacle. It’s all very interesting and it’s all coming to a head.
I believe you’re going to see a major war first, which would redraw alignments
and allegiances.”
This explains the reaction of former Israeli Defense Minister
Moshe Dayan as he observed rabbis rushing to pray at the Temple Mount following
the Israeli Army’s reclaiming of the landmark in the 1967 Six-Day War.
“One of the first things
he did was give it back to the Muslims,” Biltz said. “They didn’t want the
religious right telling the government what to do. They would rather have the
Muslims have it. So there is a bigger fight among the Jews, an even bigger
fight over whether to build a temple, than the fight with the Muslims. There
are two huge fights going on. ”
There is an interesting foreshadowing of this end-time
rebuilding event in the book of Ezra, who gave an account of the Jewish exiles
returning from captivity in Persia.
“In rebuilding the temple destroyed under the Babylonian
occupation, the first act of those returnees was to rebuild an altar and offer
sacrifices upon it to the Lord,” Gallups said.
They did this at the site of the ruined temple. The altar was
constructed under the leadership of a high priest named, of all things,
Yehoshua (Joshua, or Jesus in the New Testament Greek).
The returning Jews, according to Ezra, rebuilt this holy altar
despite fears of attack from surrounding enemies. After the altar was rebuilt,
and regular sacrifices reinstated, the returnees celebrated their first
festival — the Feast of Tabernacles.
That feast occurs in
autumn. This year it will occur during the season of the rare tetrad of four
blood moons and the seven-year Shemitah cycle described in Cahn’s book.
Ezra, chapter three, says that after the altar was rebuilt and
sacrifices resumed, and when the temple had been rebuilt – the people shouted
with joy, praised the Lord and wept aloud. “And the sound [of the celebration] was
heard far away.”
“Now, in 2015, we have the news that once again the altar of
sacrifice has been rebuilt and is ready for use,” Gallups said. “We
also know of a very serious plan to rebuild the ancient temple of God upon the
Temple Mount. The days of Ezra and Yehoshua appear to be upon us again. In the
midst of the celebration of these facts, the sound of that celebration is once
again ‘being heard far away.’ And through the modern technology of the Internet
the sound is being heard around the world. These are certainly prophetic times in
which we are living.”
Biltz sees the timing of the altar announcement as
prophetic.
“Tomorrow, (Saturday) every Jew in synagogues around the world
is reading the Torah portion from Exodus about the construction of the
tabernacle,” he said. “It’s the last chapter of Exodus about the
glory falling, Moses coming out and blessing the people and the glory falling
on the tabernacle.”
“Not only that but this next week, historically, is the very day
the dedication of the tabernacle happened, on Nisan 1, that is read in the
Torah portion. This year, being Saturday, March 21. It actually begins at
sundown on Friday, March 20.”
As an expert in the Hebrew roots of the Christian faith, Biltz
is always looking at current events in light of the times and the seasons according
to the Hebrew calendar. And there is something else special this year about
Nisan 1, which arrives at sundown March 20.
“Amazingly, there is also a total solar eclipse occurring at the
beginning of the religious calendar on March 20. A total solar eclipse speaks
of judgment coming on the nations. This is followed two weeks later by a total
lunar eclipse or blood moon on Passover.”
“So the fact that a remnant of Jews has prepared an altar and
the sacred vessels for temple services, even if the politics are still such
that constructing the temple is currently impossible, is exciting”, Biltz said.
“They even have the high priest’s crown. They have everything
ready to go,” Biltz said. “They’ve even had the Levites come in and be
fitted for the priestly garments, everything is ready.”
“The purpose of the Temple was to make atonement for Israel and
atonement for the nations of the world before the Creator, whom all mankind
should desire to draw near”, Biltz said.
“If the nations had only understood this back then, they would
have never destroyed the temple but placed their armies around it to protect
it,” he
said.
“If the nations understood that today, they would realize rather than dividing
Jerusalem it should be united with a Temple to Hashem bringing His presence
back into our world. This is the only true path to world peace.”
Thanks for listening – de Andréa
If you agree please pass this article on to everyone on your
email list. It may be the only chance
for them to hear the truth.
Copyright © 2014 by
Bottom Line Publishing, All Rights Reserved - Permission to reprint in
whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.
Disclaimer: The
writer of this blog is not responsible for the language used in links to
referenced articles as source materials. Thank you – de Andréa
No comments:
Post a Comment