“And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.” (Zechariah 12:3)
Those are the words the Creator God & Lord of the Universe put into the mouth of the Prophet Zechariah. It is a passage set around the coming of Messiah. “In that day” refers to the Day of the Lord – a day of salvation for His people and the punishment of rebellious mankind. And Jerusalem will stand at the center of those events. It will be the coveted prize of the End Times rebellion against God. And at the center of that center stands Mount Zion, the Temple Mount. It is the city and the mountain contended for by Jews, Muslims and Christians. Islam and the Vatican seek to control its environs. As the respected scholar Derek Gilbert puts it: “The faith of Abraham, the dynasty of David, and the divinity of Jesus were established there. At the heart of this plateau is the hill on which Yahweh, the Creator of the universe, established His ‘mount of assembly.’ The temples of Solomon and Zerubbabel were built there, and a prophesied Third Temple will someday occupy that place.”[i]
There you have the crux of it. Right now, momentum is gathering for the building of the Third Temple. End Time Ministries reminds us that in November of 2016, the self-styled Sanhedrin of Israel, a 70 member religious ruling council which serves as the redux of the ancient body that condemned Jesus in the 1st century, sent a letter to Presidents Trump and Putin, calling on them “to fulfill their Cyrus-like roles, recognize the importance of Israel and support the Jewish people in rebuilding the Jewish Temple.” American Rabbi Yehuda Glick, the former Executive of the Temple Institute, is calling for the building of a temple that would serve as a “place of prayer for all people.” Then there’s the influence of “Turkey’s most prolific Islamic author and TV personality, Adnan Oktar. He has often used his live broadcasts to express “his desire for Jews and Muslims to build the Jewish Third Temple together on the Temple Mount next to the Dome of the Rock.”[ii]
Temple fever ramped up following President Trump’s announcement that the US would recognize Jerusalem as the de-facto capital of Israel and move our embassy there. The Israeli paper Haaretz ran this headline. “The building of the Third Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.” In the accompanying article they wrote: “For his willingness to confront conventional diplomatic wisdom, shrug off dire warnings of triggering Middle East unrest and declare Jerusalem Israel’s capital, Trump is increasingly being compared by evangelicals – and Jews on the religious right – to Persia’s King Cyrus II, also known as Cyrus the Great. ‘Trump in his generation, as Cyrus in his’, tweeted Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked.”[iii]
Many of Israel’s learned rabbis confirm the belief that President Trump will serve a critical role in the rebuilding process. According to Breaking Israel News, “Rabbi Yosef Berger, the rabbi in charge King David’s Tomb on Mount Zion, revealed to Breaking Israel News a 600-year-old Jewish source stating that the Third Temple will be prepared by descendants of Edom as a ‘reparation’ for destroying the Second Temple.” Berger went on. “Trump’s connection to the Messiah is that he will play a role in one of the major functions of the Messiah. He will pave the way for building the Third Temple. Trump will not personally merit building the Temple. Like Cyrus, he will pave the way for men who will begin the construction.” According to Jewish belief, the Temple will then descend from heaven.[iv]
Tom Horn adds to this list in his new online series available at Skywatchtv.com. [The series is a companion piece and forerunner to the release of his upcoming book, THE RABBIS, DONALD TRUMP AND THE TOP-SECRET PLAN TO BUILD THE THIRD TEMPLE. ] [And a top-secret plan – of sorts – it has been all along, but one that has been hiding in plain sight. For well over a century, Freemasonry has had a deep interest in the rebuilding of the Temple as part of the plan to set in place a New World Order.] Here is some more of what Dr Horn can add to the mix.
- Headlines in Arutz Sheva: “Plans for Third Temple Have Begun,” Israel National News, July 26, 2015
- The Sanhedrin is requesting that Jerusalem’s mayoral candidates create plans for the building of the Third Temple
- “At the close of 2018, the Sanhedrin also invited seventy nations to dedicate the altar for the Third Temple:[iii] The number seventy (70) is connected to the Watchers and the arrival of Antichrist in the final days.”
- At the end of last year, Christians and Jews gathered in Jerusalem whose theme was the rebuilding of the Third Temple and to kick-off the “Messianic Era.”
- Last year a qualified red heifer was certified by a rabbinical board. This heifer is right now eligible to be used for Temple service.
- “Saudi Arabia, Jewish religious leaders, and Donald Trump are negotiating behind the scenes to transfer control of Israel’s holy sites—including the Temple Mount—to the Saudis, to complete a “peace covenant” that could result in, among other things, the building of the Third Temple.”[v]
It is like the world is developing Temple Fever. Jewish groups, some Evangelical Christians and as we see, even some Muslims are catching the bug. But the joy of the Temple will be short-lived as End Times events develop.
This all ties in to a section of scripture found in 2Thessalonians 2 and the first twelve verses. That begins by describing what theologians often call ‘The Great Apostasy.’ “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” (2Thessalonians 2:1-4)
Let’s break that down a little. First of all this is talking about “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him.” The phrase “gathering together to Him,” indicates that the subject here is the rapture of the Church. [And note, as the scripture goes on, we realize that this ‘gathering’ is completed while events are still going on – on the earth. – (And I’m open to hear other views here.)] Secondly, apparently, despite what they were taught by Paul, the Thessalonians had been subsequently misinformed by deceivers or the honestly mistaken. Paul is saying, don’t be shaken – because that “day” – the Day of the Lord – the day of judgement and salvation – cannot come until “the falling away comes first.” The language here indicates a sudden and dramatic event. John MacArthur describes it as the “deliberate abandonment of a formerly professed position, allegiance or commitment.” This is referring to outright rebellion against God and Messiah.[vi] I want to make sure we get this point. The Day of the Lord will not happen until a great apostasy, or falling away from the previously held tenets of the Faith has occurred.
A couple of verses later, Paul continues the thought. “And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, the son of perdition.” (2Thessalonians 2:6-8) Notice that the “falling away” or Great Apostasy is what prepares the way for the appearance of the “lawless one,” or Antichrist.
So jump back to verse 4 where Paul describe the actions of the Antichrist and his supreme act of rebellion against our God. “…who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” This is, if you will, the casus belli for the Great Tribulation that follows. It is the abomination that causes desolation. And it is a person, as demonstrated in Daniel 9:27. “And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.” (ESV)
Now in the verses just quoted, it is “He who restrains” that will be “taken out of the way.” That “He” is a person: It is the Holy Spirit, who lives in every member of God’s true church. Scripture indicates that the Holy Spirit will not be removed from the earth during the Tribulation. In fact His presence is what makes possible the sealing of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists, and the saving of the millions of ‘Tribulation saints’.[vii] But His influence will be greatly diminished when the Church of true believers is taken out. This is what allows the rise of “the man of sin.” To many scholars, this seems the best explanation of this passage in 2Thessalonians 2.
So that’s the set-up for the entre of the man of sin, the Antichrist. And none of this happens without the building of a Temple. And right now that Temple is being planned. Stay tuned!
[i] Derek Gilbert as quoted by Dr Thomas Horn, SHOCKING NEW ONLINE SERIES To Probe Trump Administration, Rabbis, And Top-Secret Plan To Build Third Temple, Skywatch TV – Part 4, February 28, 2019 Taken from: Derek Gilbert, The Great Inception (Crane, MO: Defender Publishing, 2017) 241
[ii] Rick Brinegar & Dave Robbins, The building of the Third Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, End Time Ministries, March 2, 2017
[iii] The building of the Third Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Haaretz, December 16, 2017
[iv] Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, Ancient Jewish Sources Indicate Trump Will Pave Way for Third Temple: Prominent Rabbi,
Breaking Israel News, March 22, 2018
[v] Dr Thomas Horn, SHOCKING NEW ONLINE SERIES To Probe Trump Administration, Rabbis, And Top-Secret Plan To Build Third Temple, Skywatch TV – Part 1, February 3, 2019
[vi] John MacArthur Study Bible, 20th Anniversary Edition, Notes for 2Thessalonians 2, Thomas Nelson, 1997, pg 1854
[vii] Todd Strandberg, The Pre-Tribulation Rapture, Rapture Ready
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