The time draws near. The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His church gets closer every day. Although God alone knows the exact time of Christ’s return and the culmination of all things thereafter, He does give us road signs along this journey in the form of historic events which are prophesied in His Word. This feature article revisits sections of the "Twenty-One Signs of Doomsday" series that pertain to the rebuilding of the Jewish temple and the reporting of some dramatic news. As God speaks to Israel through the prophet Amos, He also speaks to the world today: "prepare to meet thy God," Are you prepared to meet your God? Are you prepared for your personal end of the world? Have you made your peace with God? Are you born-again? Do it today while you still have time. Click on to "Further With Jesus" for immediate entry into the Kingdom of God. NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, I Thessalonians 4:13-18:

13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

GOD SAID, II Thessalonians 2:1-12:

1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,

2 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.

3 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;

4 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, showing himself that he is God.

5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

MAN SAID: these foolish doomsday prophets make me laugh. There is no end to this world, and certainly no Judgment Day!

Now THE RECORD. The Word of God clearly prophesies of the physical second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His church. The born-again saints of God will be transformed into immortal form in the "twinkling of an eye" and will be evacuated from this earth to meet Christ in the clouds. This truth is ridiculed by the foolish, and so it was in the days of Noah. See "Noah’s Ark — Fact or Fiction?" and "Noah II" on this website.

The Word of God declares in II Thessalonians 2:3-4:

3 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;

4 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, showing himself that he is God.

The man of sin will go into the Jewish temple and confess himself to be God. At this juncture the Holy Ghost, "he who now letteth," or "alloweth," will be taken away and so will the church of Christ.

Something is presently missing from the equation described in II Thessalonians and it is the third Jewish temple. The first one was destroyed by the Babylonians; the second by Titus and the Romans in 70 AD. The following excerpt is from "Twenty-One Signs of Doomsday — Part One:"

One of the two key signs of the great taking up of the church as declared in II Thessalonians, which precedes the end of the world as we know it by just a few years, is when the son of perdition, the son of eternal ruin, the son of Hell, goes into the temple of the Jews and shows that he is God. At the present time, the Jewish temple does not exist. In its place are the Muslim Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosques. Given the combustible condition of Israel, a scenario could easily be imagined where the Muslim mosques that now occupy Jerusalem’s Temple Mount could vanish in a moment from an errant or orchestrated explosion or even a natural disaster such as an earthquake, etc. There is a group known as the Temple Mount Faithful Movement dedicated to this very real possibility. A handful of members in their organization was arrested and convicted in the 1980s for plotting to blow up the two mosques. It is said that the materials needed to rebuild the temple have been set aside, awaiting the demolition of the Muslim mosques.

TIME Magazine reported, "Jerusalem’s Temple Mount is potentially the most volatile 35 acres on earth. . . ." [End of quote] The rebuilding of the final Jewish temple could be imminent. It’s beginning to rain. [End of quotes]

The utensils, pots, pans, and so forth, to be used in the daily ministry of the long-anticipated temple have and are being produced. Not only are temple utensils at the ready, but the Jewish people have demanded the return of the articles pilfered from the second temple. The following information is from "Twenty-One Signs of Doomsday (Updated):"

Breaking events add to the mountain of information that predicts a soon-coming rebuilding of the Jewish temple. In January of 2004, a letter was drafted by Gershon Salomon, Chairman of the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement. The letter was sent to the late Pope John Paul II. Part of this letter follows:

Sir,

A call from the G-d and people of Israel:

Immediately return the Temple menorah, vessels and treasures to Yerushalaim!

In the Name of the G-d of Israel, you are requested to immediately return the Jewish Temple Menorah and other Temple vessels and treasures to Jerusalem, to the soon-to-be-rebuilt Temple.

As you well know, in 70 CE the Romans occupied the City of G-d, Yerushalaim, and the Land of Israel and destroyed the Holy Temple of the G-d of Israel in Yerushalaim. They took away with them to Rome the holy Seven-Branch Menorah from the Temple and many other holy Temple vessels and treasures used by the Jews in the worship in the Temple. The evil emperor, Titus, who destroyed the Temple and burned it, built his Triumphal Arch in Rome on which is depicted the Menorah and other vessels carried by Jewish captives. Since this terrible event in the history of Israel and mankind, we know very well that the Menorah, the vessels and the treasures that were taken to Rome have remained in the vaults of the Vatican. Travelers and visitors to the Vatican throughout history have reported seeing them.

This is the time to return these articles to Israel. Today, Israel is the most exciting fulfilment of G-d’s endtime prophecies and promises. The climax of this prophetic time will be the soon rebuilding of the Temple exactly as the prophets of Israel prophesied. [End of quote]

The temple menorah, which was the seven-branch golden candlestick in the Solomonic temple, and the temple’s holy vessels are historically believed to be in the possession of the Vatican. In 1996, Israel’s Minister of Affairs, Shimon Shetreet met with Pope John Paul II. The Jerusalem Post reported that, "he had asked for Vatican cooperation in locating the gold menorah from the Second Temple that was brought to Rome by Titus in 70 C.E. (A.D.)." [End of quote] Israel’s faithful want the menorah and the temple’s holy vessels back. They are preparing to rebuild the temple. [End of qutoes]

We not only need a temple to fulfil Biblical prophecies, we also need priests who can establish their pedigree to preside. The following excerpt is Sign #4 in "Twenty-One Signs of Doomsday — Part One:"

Remember, the great catching up of the church to meet Christ in the clouds is just a few years from Armageddon, and the end of the world as we know it. One of these two signs mentioned above, taken from II Thessalonians, is the son of perdition going into the Jewish Temple and confessing himself to be God. In order for this to happen we need a Jewish Temple, we need a red heifer, and we also need Levitical priests and workers to perform temple duties.

The tribe of Levi, one of the 12 tribes of Israel, was designated by God to conduct all temple duties. Down through history, Israel, through defeat in battle (a result of their disobedience), has been dispersed to the four corners of the earth. In 70 AD, the second temple was utterly destroyed with its records. The destruction of genealogical records and over two millennia of dispersion have made Jewish tribe identification nearly impossible, but not as much so for the Cohens and the Levis. In the Jewish effort to preserve the identity of the Levite tribe, it was forbidden for a Cohen or a Levi to alter his name. The name Cohen is a Jewish surname derived from Kohein (meaning a Jewish priest). Cohens are direct descendants of Aaron, the brother of Moses, who was also of the tribe of Levi. Aaron and his sons performed all priestly duties. The name Levi, on the other hand, is derived from the father of one of Israel’s 12 tribes, Levi. The entire tribe was set aside to perform the many tasks in connection with the temple and to support the needs of the priests. Years back, TIME Magazine reported the following: "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. . . ." [End of quote]

The ability to detect a Levitical priest has now risen to the level of DNA science. Variations in the Y-chromosome unique to the sons of Aaron can now be ascertained through DNA testing, which establishes with certainty a true Levite priest. It’s beginning to rain. [End of quotes]

Concerning the red heifer mentioned above, the apostle Paul wrote in Hebrews 9:13-14:

13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:

14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

The red heifer is pivotal to Israel in general and to the temple ministry. The following is from "Twenty-One Signs of Doomsday — Part One:"

In 1997, the Middle East and the religious world were shook with the message of the birth of a red heifer. It was major news the world over. A red heifer, qualified to cleanse the unclean, had not been seen in Israel for nearly 2,000 years. The story of this heifer, known today as Melody, was reported in Newsweek under the title, "The Strange Case of Israel’s Red Heifer." It follows in part:

But to observant Jews, there is nothing ordinary about her. A couple of millenniums ago, in the era of the first and second Jewish Kingdoms, the ashes of a red heifer, butchered in her third year, were mixed with water and used to purify Jews before they could approach the Holy Temple on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Not since the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in A.D. 70, however, has a red heifer been born in Israel, Judaica scholars say. Some Israelis have greeted Melody’s arrival as a wondrous portent for the new millennium; others view her as an ominous threat to Middle East peace.

The furor springs from the fact that some devout Jews see Melody’s birth as a sign from God that the coming of the Messiah is nigh. Many Muslims, and some less observant Jews, are concerned that extremists might take the red heifer as a signal to destroy the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosques, which now occupy Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. That would clear the way for the construction of a third Jewish temple — and possibly provoke a war. "The potential harm from this heifer is far greater than the destructive properties of a regular terrorist bomb," wrote journalist David Landau in the influential Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz. Landau has suggested the heifer’s rapid, unceremonious, dispatch.

He may be overreacting, but there is precedent. In the early ’80s, a handful of Jewish militants were arrested and convicted of plotting to blow up the two mosques. And sentiment still runs strong. Gershon Solomon founded the Temple Mount Faithful Movement 30 years ago to press for the hill’s liberation from what he calls "Muslim imperialist occupation." His followers periodically challenge the Israeli government’s longstanding stricture against Jewish prayer anywhere on the Temple Mount, apart from the Western Wall. Solomon sees Melody’s advent as an omen, "another sign that we are very close to the rebuilding of the temple," he says. This will [allow] big crowds of Orthodox Jews to join us in our campaign to liberate the Temple Mount." [End of quote]

Maimonides, an ancient Jewish sage, noted that from Moses to the destruction of the second temple, only nine red heifers had been sacrificed. According to Maimonides, the tenth red heifer will be prepared by the Messiah. It is said amongst the Jews that the red heifer is the deepest secret of the Bible, one that King Solomon, the world’s wisest man, could not fathom. The answer, of course, is revealed in Christ Jesus. An organization known as Canaan Land Restoration of Israel, Inc., has as its ministry the shipping of red heifers to Israel to be raised and bred on their own land. Israel now imports about 80% of its beef. It is likely these Israeli beef farms will quickly become self-sustaining. For nearly 2,000 years, there was no red heifer to sanctify the people, now there is an abundance. It’s beginning to rain. [End of quotes]

Another astounding sign of the soon-coming temple is the newly-established Sanhedrin which has not existed for over 1,600 years. The following paragraphs are from "Twenty-One Signs of Doomsday (Updated):"

The information concerning the coming third temple continues to surface. In October of 2004, the Sanhedrin, the newly reestablished group of 71 Jewish sages, met for the first time in 1,600 years at Tiberias, the site of the Sanhedrin’s last meeting centuries ago. The Sanhedrin presided over the Jewish judgment of Jesus Christ.

In a December 8, 2004 news release at www.israelnationalnews.com under the headline, "Members of Reestablished Sanhedrin Ascend Temple Mount," the following paragraphs were found:

In a dramatic but unpublicized move, members of the newly established Sanhedrin ascended the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, this past Monday.

Close to 50 recently ordained s’muchim, members of the Sanhedrin, lined up at the foot of the Temple Mount Monday morning. [The word s’muchim comes from the same root as s’michah, rabbinic ordination.] The men, many ascending the Temple Mount for the first time, had immersed in mikvaot (ritual baths) that morning, and planned to ascend as a group. Despite prior approval from the Israeli police who oversee entry to the Mount, the officers barred the group from entering the Mount all together, and allowed them to visit only in groups of ten.

Given the newly-mandated restrictive conditions, many of the s’muchim refused to ascend at all, especially as a group of over 100 non-Jewish tourists filed past the waiting rabbis and up towards the holy site. "It is unconscionable that on the eve of Chanukah, which celebrates the rededication of the Holy Temple, we should once again be barred from worshipping—by our own people," Rabbi Chaim Richman of Jerusalem’s Temple Institute told IsraelNN’s Ezra HaLevi.

The Sanhedrin, a religious-legal assembly of 71 sages that convened during the Holy Temple period and for several centuries afterwards, was the highest Jewish judicial tribunal in the Land of Israel. The great court used to convene in one of the Temple’s chambers in Jerusalem.

A tradition is recorded in the Talmud (Tractate Megillah 17b, Rashi) that the Sanhedrin will be restored after a partial ingathering of the Jewish exiles, but before Jerusalem is completely rebuilt and restored. Another Talmudic tradition (Eruvin 43b; Maharatz Chajas ad loc; Rashash to Sanhedrin 13b) states that Elijah the Prophet will present himself before a duly-ordained Sanhedrin when he announces the coming of the Messiah. This indicates that despite common misconceptions, a Sanhedrin is a pre-, not post-messianic institution.

The headline on www.solomonstemple.com reads, "Sanhedrin Discuss Restoring Temple Mount Passover Sacrifice." Another headline reads, "Sanhedrin Will Debate: Will Animal Sacrifice Be Allowed In the Next Temple?"

The following partial preprint is from a June 6, 2005 article in The Jerusalem Post under the heading, "Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz New Head of ’Sanhedrin.’" It reads:

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz was elected the temporary president of a rabbinical body Monday that aspires to renew the Sanhedrin, Judaism’s highest-ranking legal-religious tribunal.

The group of rabbis involved with reestablishing the Sanhedrin, a 71-man assembly of rabbis that convened adjacent to the Holy Temple before its destruction in 70 CE and outside Jerusalem until about 400 CE, also decided to take steps toward the rebuilding of the Holy Temple. [End of quotes]

The following was published by Arutz-7 at www.israelnationalnews.com and was reprinted in the March/April issue of IMG. It follows in full:

After much hard work and research, the techelet (azure blue) robe of the high priest has been completed by the Temple Institute and is ready to be worn in a Third Temple.

The blue coat, or me’il techelet as it is called in the Torah, sports 72 golden bells alternating with 72 pomegranates attached around its hem, woven of blue, purple, and scarlet wool. It will join the already completed  ephod and choshen (breastplate), featuring the 12 precious stones associated with the 12 tribes of Israel. The commandment to make such a robe appears in Exodus 28:31-35.

"This is the first robe woven entirely out of techelet in nearly 2,000 years," Rabbi Chaim Richman of the Temple Institute told Arutz-7. The Institute plans to embark on another major project: the production and supplying of the Torah-specified white garments of the ordinary priests for every male, Jewish descendant of Aaron. "Every kohayn from all over the world will be given the opportunity to register and order his own uniform so that he can be ready to serve in the rebuilt holy Temple," Richman said. [End of quote]

The Jewish people are preparing to rebuild the third temple, a necessary element for the second coming of Jesus Christ and a soon after Armageddon—doomsday for the world as we know it. The skeptics laugh but the believers watch. In the days of Noah, they laughed at the doomsday prophets warning of global, catastrophic destruction, but one day it began to rain. It’s beginning to rain. Doom’s day approaches.

GOD SAID, I Thessalonians 4:13-18:

13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

GOD SAID, II Thessalonians 2:1-12:

1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,

2 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.

3 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;

4 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, showing himself that he is God.

5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

MAN SAID: These foolish doomsday prophets make me laugh. There is no end to this world, and certainly no Judgment Day!

Now you have THE RECORD.


Continue Reading

References:

Authorized King James Version

Godsaidmansaid.com, "Twenty-One Signs of Doomsday" series

"High Priest’s Robe Completed," Arutz-7 at www.israelnationalnews.com

Israel My Glory, March/April 2006