As we close out the year of 2004, believers in Jesus Christ need to reflect upon God's Word which told us that Jerusalem would once again be in the possession of the Jews in the final years before Christ's return (read Zech. 12 in its entirety).
Just as was prophesied, Israel recaptured Jerusalem from the Arabs in the 1967 6-Day War.
Jerusalem was also prophesied in this same prophetic passage to become a problem on an international scale in these last days consummating with plans for its destruction.
Since 1967, countries from all over the world constantly find themselves being drawn into meetings discussing the necessity for some kind of solution to the unyielding problems over Jerusalem, which have the very real potential to expand into a global war.
Back in April 26, 1997, an article from the Gazette which headlined, "U.N. tells Israel to stop building in disputed area" confirmed in an undisputable manner that what we are told in Zechariah 12:3, that all the nations of the earth will one day be gathered against Jerusalem, is in the very near future.
Quoting from this article we read, "Ignoring an appeal from the United States, the U.N. General Assembly demanded Friday that Israel stop building Jewish housing in a disputed area of Jerusalem. The resolution also recommends an end to "all forms of support" for Israeli settlement activities, the first time there has been anything remotely approaching a threat of collective international action...The vote as was overwhelming - 134-3, with 11 abstentions. Only the Pacific island state of Micronesia joined the United States and Israel in voting against the resolution...The vote...reflects widespread international opposition to the policies of [Israel]...Israel considers Jerusalem its undivided capital."
Men like Yasser Arafat are making sure that the controversy is inescapable. As of Nov. 7, ‘04 the world waits upon the conflicting reports about the state of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's condition in Paris. No where is there more consternation than in Israel where radical Islamic leaders are already jockeying for the leadership position in place of Arafat as Israel makes plans to move out of Gaza in 2005.
Even before Arafat's demise a major problem being brought before Israel for the future once again concerns Jerusalem. With Arafat's request that he be buried on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem Arafat has made sure both during his lifetime and then even after his death that the issue of Jerusalem be kept in perpetual unrest.
During his life he has laid claim to half of Jerusalem for the Palestinians while his militias wear patches displaying the Temple Mount. Now as of Nov. 7, ‘04 while he lays in a bed in Paris he has provoked major dissension between Muslims and Jews by his request that he be buried at Israel's most holy site.
Quoting from the Nov. 6, ‘04 Associated Press article from out of Jerusalem titled, "Israel limits burial sites" we read, "Israel is determined to keep Yasser Arafat out of Jerusalem even in death, with one Cabinet minister saying Friday that the holy city is reserved for the burial of Jewish kings, "not Arab terrorists."
Palestinian officials said publicly that it is inappropriate to talk about funeral arrangements as long as their 75-year-old leader clings to life at a Paris hospital.
One official said Palestinian leaders are hoping to enlist international support for Arafat's burial at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, Islam's third-holiest shrine, which was built on the ruins of the biblical Jewish temples.
Arafat is reviled by many Israelis, and seeing him interred near Judaism's holiest site would draw public outrage. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told his Cabinet last week that he would not permit Arafat, his long-time nemesis, to be buried in Jerusalem. Israeli security officials said Gaza was the only burial option. Even a compromise initially floated by army planners - interment in the west Bank suburb of Abu Dis, which offers a view of Al Aqsa - has since been ruled out by the military.
Palestinian police function better in Gaza, but a funeral there would still pose a security nightmare for visiting heads of state. There has been increasing chaos in recent months in the coastal strip, with groups of gunmen and security chiefs battling for control ahead of a planned Israeli troop withdrawal next year.
Israeli military officials said they would ease travel restrictions on Palestinians for a funeral, but if the burial is in Gaza, only officials - not the public - will be allowed to travel there from the West Bank to attend. If the funeral is in Ramallah, the Palestinian public will be allowed to participate after undergoing rigorous checks at roadblocks. Arafat's clan, the Al-Kidwas, are originally from Gaza, although the Palestinian leader grew up in Jerusalem and Cairo.
The family has a small plot of 25 to 30 graves in the southern Gaza town of Khan Yonis, but it is in the middle of a busy vegetable market and would not be considered appropriate."
In a related Nov. 6, ‘04 Rocky Mountain News article from out of France it was reported that, "Palestinians are adamant that Arafat be interred in Jerusalem, which both Palestinians and Israelis claim as their capital.
Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been determined to ensure that does not happen, suggesting an Arafat family plot in a Gaza Strip cemetery instead.
Other Israeli officials were blunter.
"Jerusalem is a city where Jews bury their kings. It's not a city where we want to bury an Arab terrorist, a mass murderer," Israeli Justice Minister Yosef Lapid told Israeli television."
Then thirdly is the Scripture revelation that it will be a religious issue in Jerusalem which will lead to the granting of far reaching power to an evil prince known to Christians as the "Anti-Christ."
In Chapter 9 verse 27 of the Book of Daniel one can read of how halfway through a seven year covenant that the Anti-Christ will confirm with Israel, he will turn on Israel and her restored religious worship. Unlike the Temple sacrifices which will be accepted by God during the Millennial Reign of Christ as is prophesied in such passages as Isaiah 56:7 & Ezekiel Chapters 40-48, the soon to be reinstituted Tribulation Period sacrifices will be rejected by God.
Although God will use the Mosaic Law as a tutor for salvation in His Son during the final 7 years, the Tribulation Period sacrifices will be found inadequate as they will, in disbelief, demonstrate Israel's continued rejection of Christ's sacrifice upon the cross (see Heb. 10:1-18).
In Matthew 24:15-22 Jesus told His disciples that at the time of the great tribulation at the close of the age, the Anti-Christ and his followers (prophesied of in Dan. 9:27, 11:31 & 12:11) will place an abomination in the Tribulation temple which will bring about expanding desolation.
News reports from out of Israel in the past have stated that the Temple can be rebuilt from already preassembled materials in a year or less once the go ahead is given by the Israeli government.
A little reported fact is that since 1997, two Jews at a time were allowed upon the Temple Mount to pray - a phenomenal occurrence in light of the current Muslim hostilities in Jerusalem. But something even more prenominal took place in 1997.
For the Jewish priests who will be offering the sacrifices to enter the rebuilt Temple requires the purifying ashes of the Red Heifer. In 1989 we shared from a "Time" magazine article which was titled, "Time for a New Temple?" (Oct. 16, ‘89).
Quoting from "Time" we read, "Two Talmudic schools located near the Western (Wailing) Wall are teaching nearly 200 students the elaborate details of Temple service. Other groups are researching the family lines of Jewish priests who alone may conduct sacrifices...Former Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren, who heads another Temple Mount organization, believes his research has fixed the location of the ancient Holy of Holies so that Jews can enter the Mount without sacrilege...One difficulty is the requirement (as in Num. 19:1-10) that priests purify their bodies with the cremated ashes of an unblemished red heifer before they enter the Temple. Following a go-ahead from the chief Rabbinate, institute operatives spent two weeks in August scouting Europe for heifer embryos that will shortly be implanted into cows at an Israeli cattle ranch."
Then from the May, 1997 Southwest Radio Church letter by Noah Hutchings we shared this update, "Has a red heifer been born in Israel? Israeli television and Hebrew newspapers recently reported that a red heifer was born at a village in Kfar Chasidim. The heifer, currently a year and a half old, has been meticulously checked by the local Jewish religious authorities with a magnifying glass in order to see if she is completely red...Ultra-orthodox have accepted this animal as a possible candidate for being the red heifer...A red heifer must be three years old before it can be sacrificed. After another year and a half, the heifer will be rechecked...Orthodox Jews strongly believe the birth of this red heifer is another definite sign that points to the soon coming of the Messiah and the rebuilding of the Temple." Keep in mind that in 2005, Israel will have had 8 years to perfect their stock of red heifers.
Quoting once more from the 2-page "Time" magazine article titled, "Time for a New Temple?" we read, "May it be Thy will that the Temple be speedily rebuilt in our days...That plea to God, recited three times a day in Jewish prayers, expresses a yearning that makes Jerusalem's Temple Mount potentially the most volatile 35 acres on earth...Next week Israel's Ministry of ‘Religious Affairs will sponsor a first ever Conference of Temple Research to discuss whether contemporary Jews are obligated to rebuild...They are zealously making preparations for the new Temple in spite of the doctrinal obstacles and the certainty of provoking Muslim fury...Former Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren...believes..."Our task...is to advance the cause of the Temple and to prepare for its establishment, not just talk about it." "No one can say how, and no one wants to do it by force. But sooner or later in a week or century, it will be done. And we will be ready for it." He adds with quite urgency, "Every day's delay is a stain on the nation."
It is beyond our understanding how any person could look upon these events in light of Bible prophecy and not realize that they are truly living in the day spoken of when God will shake the planet and heaven and earth will be moved (Heb. 12:26).
It is our sincere belief that the Lord will soon be coming to remove every true believer in Him as is prophesied in I Corinthians 15:51-54 & I Thessalonians 4:16-17.
Today is the day to come to God's place of forgiveness through His Son Jesus Christ. Belief in His Holy name assures you of salvation by His blood atonement and the promise of eternal life in glory.