The Temple Mount; Why It took So long…

But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them:  Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people: And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and to this house? And they shall answer, Because they forsook the Lordtheir God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the Lordbrought upon them all this evil.( I Kings 9:6-9)

Those of us who have eyes to see have witnessed an unprecedented event in the past week.  The world rushes by, oblivious to the significance of the event but for those waiting the arrival of King Messiah, a mixture of Joy, Dread and Awe accompany the events of recent history.

Let me be direct and succinct; for the first time in two thousand years, the Jews themselves have control of their Holiest site, the temple Mount in Jerusalem, and have been gathering there to pray openly.     

This article is an exploration of the implications of this event.

When three ‘Palestinian Terrorists  attacked two Druze policemen last week, and engaged in a fatal shootout on the Temple Mount, The Police Department of Jerusalem took control of the Holy Mountain, and installed metal detectors at it’s entrances. Muslims have been boycotting the temple Mount, ever since, and predictably, staging deadly riots and demonstrations.

This change of hands of custody of the Temple Mount, would mark the first time in two thousand years, Jews have been in control of it.

Solomon warned  Israel by the Holy Spirit that if she were ever to turn from serving God, Israel would be cut off from the Land, and God himself would cast the temple, the visible symbol of Israel’s relationship with God, out of His sight!

He also warned that the site of the temple, would be a public testimony to all of the world, of the Holiness and Righteous Judgment of God, who wouldn’t even spare his covenant people the consequences of their sin and hardness of heart.

Daniel predicted that an “Abomination which makes desolate” the holy Mountain, would be erected. Something which occurred in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, as well as in the Roman Period, and eventually which stands today in the form of the “Mosque of Omar”, and “The Dome of the Rock” desecrating the Holy Place. The blasphemous statement, “God has no Son” , is inscribed on Mosque which was erected on the Holiest site to the Jews, in the seventh century and which stands prominently today on that Mountain.

Interestingly enough, Solomon’s prediction of the destruction of the Temple was fulfilled twice, once in the year 587 bc , and then a second time in 70 Ad. Ironically both of those occurred on the same calendar date, Tisha B’Av, the ninth of the month of Av , roughly corresponding to late July or early August.

The three weeks preceding the destruction of the Temple in 70 Ad, are considered a period of mourning by Israel, They commemorate the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem by the Romans, which would lead to the utter destruction of the the Second Temple, commencing on the 17th of Tammuz. (It was on the 20th of Tammuz, 2017, that the shootout occurred which led to the new status of custody, which we now see in Jerusalem).

It was fifty years ago, in  June of 1967, when the newly reborn nation of Israel retook Jerusalem for the first time in centuries. We all saw battle hardened jewish paratroopers weeping at the wailing wall, and fulfilling partially the wistful prayers of Jews worldwide and for centuries through their long night of exile,”Next year in Jerusalem!”.

But we stand dismayed at what happened next, because it didn’t seem to fit our narrative. We thought Israel would fully occupy Jerusalem, and possibly sanctify the Temple grounds, and perhaps re-instate Temple worship and thus fulfill the prophecies of events of the last days.

Instead General Moshe Dayan turned the custody of the Temple Mount over to the Jordanian Waqf, (Waqf, in Arabic means’ Cease’!).The Waqf would determine who would “ascend the Holy Hill”, and who could pray or not pray (Muslims only), they would be in control of what went on , at the Holiest site of the Jews. The Waqf would be allowed to hollow out the Holy mountain, to destroy priceless artifacts from Jewish antiquity, including the first Temple,and even to desecrate the Holy site at will.

Muslims have been seen urinating on the platform which once housed the temple, and ancient , petrified Cedar beams, possibly from Solomon’s original temple, have been removed from beneath the site and burned as firewood!

Why has it taken so long for Jews to retake the temple Mount ? Since it is the Holiest site to all of Judaism, why didn’t it immediately become Jewish controlled since 1967? How could even secular Jewish leaders turn such a sacred site over to Muslim control?

The only sense I can make of it, is found in the Words of Jesus himself, in Luke 21.

…Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.(Luke 21:24b) 

Jesus warned that Jerusalem would be ceremonially defiled…“Trodden underfoot of the Gentiles”, is a ritualistic technical term, which of necessity refers to the Temple Mount itself. For How Long would Jerusalem endure this defilement by Gentile occupation of it’s most sacred spot?  Until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled…

Perhaps in our next article we should explain that phrase, ‘the time of the Gentiles…”.