Tomorrow’s Headlines about Russia, Israel and the Jewish Temple – Program 1

By: Dr. Jimmy DeYoung; ©2002

The Bible talks about a Temple that will be standing in Jerusalem during the Tribulation Period. How close are we to seeing that Temple become a reality?

Contents

Rebuilding the Temple

Introduction

Announcer: The Israeli-Arab conflict has been raging for 58 years. Suicide bombers, brutal attacks and reprisals are causing many people to wonder, is peace possible in the Middle East?

Jimmy DeYoung: I believe that we’re at a spot in history when there is no way there is going to be peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis. They want war.

Hal Lindsey: There are 1.2 billion Muslims in the world and there’s only one thing that unifies them. They disagree over many things but they all agree that they must liberate Jerusalem and destroy Israel.

Announcer: Today, Dr. John Ankerberg looks at world events in light of biblical prophecy.

Dr. John Ankerberg: Everywhere that I’ve gone in the last months of time, people are saying, How do the events that are taking place in the Middle East, how do they square with what the Bible is saying?

Lindsey: This is the first time in history that all of the prophetic scenario the prophets predicted would come together just before the return of Christ is actually in view.

Dr. David Breese: Jesus, when He delineated these things said, And when you see these things begin not end but begin to come to pass, then lift up your heads and look up because your redemption draws nigh.

DeYoung: Now, the Bible says all of that. I’m telling you what current events are in reality, but God’s Word prophesied over 2,500 years ago that’s the situation we’d be in the end times when all these nations, when all these people want to go against Israel and wipe them off the face of the earth.

Lindsey: I believe that the Bible is very clear that the last war of the world will start with a war over Jerusalem.

Ankerberg: My guests today are journalist Dr. Jimmy DeYoung who has lived in Jerusalem for the last 15 years and has known and personally interviewed many of the international leaders in the Middle East including every Prime Minister of Israel since 1991, as well as the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the late King Hussein of Jordan, his son King Abdullah II, and many others. And second, author and professor of Biblical prophecy Dr. Renald Showers.

Announcer: What does the God of the Bible say will happen in the future? We invite you to join us for this very special program.

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Dr. John Ankerberg: Welcome to our program. We are talking about the crisis in the Middle East and we are talking with news correspondent, Dr. Jimmy DeYoung, who has lived in Israel since 1991 and has interviewed the major players that we all see on the news. He knows them personally, he has talked with them, he has interviewed them. And then Dr. Renald Showers, professor of biblical prophecy.

And, Jimmy, when we look at the crisis and we look in terms of how does the crisis that we are seeing between Israel and Lebanon and possibly Syria and Iran in the future here. The thing is, one of the things that we haven’t talked a lot about is that the Bible talks about the Jews not only coming into their land, which is a miracle all by itself, but it also talks about the fact that they are going to rebuild their Temple. It’s in the Scripture. Jesus talked about it; the Apostle Paul talked about it; the prophets talked about it. And what’s more, the Jews in the Holy Land are making big plans. And most people don’t know about these plans. Set the stage for us.

Dr. Jimmy DeYoung: A couple of weeks back on Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av, it was the commemoration of the First Temple being destroyed. On the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av in 586 BC the Temple was destroyed, the first one. The Second Temple destroyed in 70AD, on that same day in history. And as I said a couple of weeks ago, many of the Jews gathered around the seven gates on the Temple Mount, they read the book of Lamentations, they were sorrowful because the Temple had been destroyed. But their prayer was, Rebuild the Temple, Lord, and let it be there next year on Tisha B’Av. That’s how urgent it is.

These Jewish people believe there is going to be a Temple on the Temple Mount. I have had the privilege of being able to know these personalities and actually having held some Bible studies together, because they are looking basically at the pattern that the ancient Jewish Sayd Maimonides put together. And it was simply a replication of the Temple there, Herod’s Temple, at the time of Jesus Christ. The Bible, in the book of Ezekiel in chapters 40-46, gives 202 verses minutely detailed information about Messiah’s Temple, a Temple that Jesus Christ, Zechariah 6:12, will actually build Himself on the Temple Mount in the city of Jerusalem. But as we have had other conversations, on this broadcast, we have talked about a Temple standing on the Temple Mount at the midway point of that seven year tribulation period. Now what’s going on?

Well, I was visiting with a Rabbi named Nachman Kahana. His brother was the late Meir Kahana who was assassinated in New York City. One day Meir Kahana sat in my office in New York City when I was vice president of a broadcasting company there. He said to me he had one driving desire. And I said, what is that, Rabbi? He says to rebuild the next temple. He was assassinated but his brother has carried that on.

And as I sat in his Yasheba, Yasheba a place of learning for Jewish young men, one day he was on his computer. And I said, Rabbi, do you use that computer for something else other than studying the Torah? And he said, I do. And I said, What? And he said, I have a database on this computer of every Jew around the world that’s qualified to be a priest. I know by my study of the Temple that you need 28,000 priests. I said, Do you need 28,000 priests to be on that computer? And he said, I have them, and they are here in Jerusalem studying their priestly duties.

He continued by telling me they had made every priestly garment. It has to be made out of one piece of cloth. All of them were in storage. He talked to me about the implements. Now, at that time when I talked to him they didn’t have the seven-branch candelabra, the menorah. If I could take you to Jerusalem right this minute, in the Cardo, the Roman road right through the middle of the old city of Jerusalem there is a seven-branch candelabra under tight security. It’s the one made out of 100 pounds of pure gold, not 100 ounces, we are talking about 100 pounds of very expensive gold, and they have gone that far to prepare this. So every implement is made.

What’s interesting is that just about a year and a half ago on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, there at Tiberius, after 1400 years, 70 Jewish scholars in jurisprudence and biblical experts came together. They reformed the Sanhedrin. They have come to Jerusalem. I talked with the Rabbi who is the spokesman for the group, Hillel Weiss. He told me they have put together a forum of architects and engineers and they are ready to build the Temple.

I asked him about the High Priest. The Sanhedrin is to elect a high priest. He said, Well, first of all, let me tell you we have found the rare snail in the Mediterranean which gives us the blue dye for the garment of the High Priest. That has been made, it’s in storage. It’s on display, actually, at the Temple Institute in the city of Jerusalem. But he said, We are ready to elect the High Priest. Last time I was in Jerusalem I sat with the man who is going to be elected, according to this group the Sanhedrin as we speak, to be the High Priest, and I met with about three other members of the Sanhedrin.

I mean everything is prepared, I didn’t even mention the harps; this is an unbelievable story. Mick and Shoshanna Harrari moved from Vermont, they are a Jewish couple who moved to Israel. He was a carpenter, a finish carpenter. He could make anything with a hammer and a saw. One day his wife asked him to make her a harp for her birthday. Well, after some discussion, he finally did make a harp. The Jerusalem Post showed up and did a feature article on it, and two days later an old Rabbi came in and said, Do you have a 10 string harp in here? He said, I do. Can I see it? He said, You may. The old Rabbi held the harp in his arms and he started to weep. Shoshanna said, Rabbi, why are you crying? He said, The Talmud (extra biblical Jewish writing) the Talmud says when a 10 string harp shows up in Jerusalem, it’s time for the coming of the Messiah. All the preparations are made, that Temple could go up at any moment. There is one slight problem. That gold domed building, the Dome of the Rock, is in the way.

Ankerberg: Rennie, the fact is, we are talking about the Temple and the Jews are making plans to rebuild it and they have got all of these implements already going. The fact is now, tie this to the Bible. Why is this important that the Temple would go up?

Dr. Renald Showers: Well, John, let me carry it further. The October issue 1999 of National Geographic, they had an excellent article of DNA genetic code research. It indicated that now world class genetic code researchers have discovered that Jewish men, whose biology says they are of the first high priest, have a unique marking on the Y chromosome of their genetic code and no other men on the face of the earth have that. So now scientifically they know exactly which Jewish men are qualified to be in the priesthood. All they have to do is take a cotton swab, rub it against the inside of their cheek, and it gives their whole genetic code.

On top of that for many, many years in Paris, France, there was an orthodox Jewess, Suzanne Haik-Vantoura was her name, professional musician. That dear woman for years of painstaking research, going through ancient documents, was trying to rediscover the Temple music to which they would sing the Hebrew text of the Psalms, not only portions of the Old Testament but Solomon’s Temple the Second Temple. And she has rediscovered it. And she has written the results of her work in the English language edition, it’s a large book entitled, The Music of the Bible Revealed. Other professional musicians around the world have studied her work and they are absolutely convinced that she has re-discovered that true Temple music. Before she died she had already set the Hebrew text of many of the Psalms to that Temple music, the entire Hebrew text of the Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, and large portions of the Hebrew text of the prophet Isaiah.

So now they know with precise DNA genetic code research which Jewish men are qualified to be priests, they are biological sons of Aaron. They have the Temple music. They have got the harps with which they can play the temple music. All of this, again, preparation toward the new Temple being built.

But the significance of that is, again, that the Bible reveals they will have a new Temple functioning at least by the middle of the tribulation period. With the Old Testament priesthood restored, the sacrificial system restored and all the rest. And that’s when Antichrist then in the middle of that tribulation period will take control of that, announce that he is God. And again just fulfilling what the Scriptures have foretold. Daniel 9:27 Jesus referred to it. Matthew 24:15 Paul referred to it; 2 Thessalonians 2; the book of Revelation refers to it as well. So it has incredible biblical significance. God said this is what is going to happen. It is going to be there by the middle of the tribulation period. And here all the things moving in that direction toward that being fulfilled.

Ankerberg: Alright, we are going to take a break and when we come back we are going to answer this question finally: Does the Bible talk about the United States? Does the Bible talk about the United Nation, Europe and so on, Russia? Are they in the Scriptures in the future, alright? We are going to talk about that when we come right back.

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Ankerberg: Alright we are back and we are talking with news correspondent, Dr Jimmy DeYoung and also Professor Dr. Renald Showers. We are talking about the crisis in the Middle East. And we are trying to tie these things to biblical prophecy. We are not trying, we are just simply saying, in light of the Word of God, how do we look at the world? And the world is talking to us and Bible prophecy is talking to us. We have talked about the Temple and how that relates to what we are seeing today as well as what it talks about in Scripture. But the lay people always have the question, where is America? I mean, if we are the greatest power in the world right now, what happens to America, where are we at in terms of biblical prophecy?

DeYoung: The only reference that I can find in the entire Word of God in all the prophetic truth that America would be there is the book of Zechariah 14:2 where it says, All the nations of the world will gather at Jerusalem. So indeed, America is referred to there, they will be at Jerusalem.

This is a sanctified speculation, but I would say what has made America great: we are the launch pad for world evangelization, number one; and number two, we have been the only restraint to all of the nation that we have been talking about who want to come and destroy the Jewish state of Israel. You take the backbone of this nation, the body of Christ out at the Rapture of the Church, and the superpower of the world drops down to the third or fourth or fifth rate power. It will be a nebulous entity, as far as I am concerned. You know any nation that kills babies and lets sodomites play, God is going to have to deal with. And when the body of Christ is gone, I believe that America drops from the scene.

Ankerberg: Professor, how do you answer the question, Is America in prophecy?

Showers: I do not see America, you know, in prophecy specifically stated. But going along with what Jimmy is saying, when you consider the freedom we have had in all of North America, here and in Canada as well, to preach the Gospel over the years and as a result a significant proportion of the total population of North America is born again, heavily involved in the economy, business people and all the rest. When the Rapture takes place and that significant proportion of North America’s population is removed, it seems to me that one event alone has the potential, if not totally destroying the economy of North America, at least so seriously crippling it that it could plunge North America into no significance in world events whatsoever. But if we are still in existence as a nation after the Rapture, then what Jimmy says is true, we will be there, our armies will be there with all the other nations coming against Israel by the end of the tribulation period.

Ankerberg: You can see there is a sentiment in our own country to back away from Israel. I have seen articles; I have heard newscasters that are saying why are we so concerned about this little hunk of territory because we are dealing with 1.4 billion people? And so there is a sentiment, even in our own country right now, that if the Christian population were taken out, the fact is, we could become one of those countries that joins the rest in going against Israel.

DeYoung: Well, I am not trying to attack Mel Gibson, but in that recent incident that took place, this man who produced that Passion of the Christ movie, who everybody claimed was an anti-Semite, in a drunken state make some very anti-Semitic statements. And it hit a nerve in America. And I think he is just the surface of what many people believe. Soon after that the Jewish community said anti-Semitism is on the rise here in America and around the world. And that being the case, what we are talking about is simply the end result of this anti-Semitism.

You know they just opened up, for example, in Germany, the archives to the holocaust and it made it once again very vivid in our minds what had happened. But the truth is that’s not the worst holocaust that is ever going to happen. There were only 6 million Jews, one third of the Jews, were killed at that time. The same prophet we have been talking about, Zechariah says in chapter 13 and verse 8, during this terrible time of trouble to come, the time of Jacob’s trouble, two out of every three Jews are going to be killed. And at the present population, you are talking about 8 million plus Jews are going to die in this terrible time of trouble coming.

Ankerberg: Dr. Showers do you see any place where the United Nations is mentioned?

Showers: I can’t say that I really do. I mean, when I look at all the blocks of influence and everything foretold in Scriptures, I don’t see any reference to the United Nations whatsoever. You know, I see the revived Roman Empire but that’s not controlling all the other nations, at least when it first comes to power and Antichrist first comes to power.

Ankerberg: By the way where do we get this word Revived Roman Empire in the Bible?

Showers: You don’t have the words as such, but the concept is there. When you go to Daniel 7, where God was foretelling the whole future course of Gentile world dominion from Daniel’s day when Babylon was a world power, right up to the second coming of Christ. First there would be Babylon, represented by the lion. Then Medo-Persia, represented by the bear. Then Greece, represented by the leopard. And then this non-descript beast that comes rising up to power with overwhelming destructive power. It can crush everything that gets in its way. That was referring to the next Gentile world-power that would conquer the Grecian kingdom.

Well, in ancient times Rome was that power that conquered the Grecian kingdom. But it’s portrayed there in three stages. Number one, the overwhelming destructive one. That was certainly true of the ancient Roman Empire. You know, it was so powerful that the western half of that Empire lasted for about 1000 years. The eastern half which became known as the Byzantine Empire lasted almost another additional 1000 years up until the Muslims crushed it in 1473.

So that, anyhow, the ancient Roman Empire is the first stage there. Then, as Daniel is watching that unique beast, nondescript beast, after a while he sees 10 horns on its head. An interpreting angel talks about those are 10 kings that will come to power. And it’s the idea of a revision, kind of a re-birth of the Ancient Roman Empire again, that will initially consist of 10 divisions federated together for power in the world but co-ruled at the same time by 10 equal co-rulers.

But then there is a third stage of it portrayed there, that while those 10 rulers are co-ruling, after a while this 11^th ruler, called the little horn, will rise to power from within that 10-division federated revived Roman Empire. And as he does he will subdue and overthrow three of the original 10 rulers, and thereby gaining control of that. And then he, in that phase of his empire, will still be the dominate world power when Christ comes back to the earth at His glorious second coming. And that’s when he will be crushed and his revived Roman Empire will be brought to an end there at the gates of Jerusalem.

Ankerberg: One last thing, Russia.

DeYoung: Russia is going to be a major player. They are the Magog in the book of Ezekiel chapter 38. I mean, I don’t think there is any question. Every Bible prophecy expert that I know would say Russia, which in the time when Ezekiel wrote the book would have been in the area of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, and than all the other information that we have points to that geographical location.

Vladimir Putin is not going away. He said he is not going to run for re-election as President, but he has been a major player with Iran threatening the world like they are with the development of a nuclear weapon of mass destruction. Russia has continued to drag their feet saying. We’ve got to let them continue.

Well, I guess so. He sent all those technicians, those nuclear technicians over there with their technology. They have supplied everything as far as that’s concerned. They have refurbished the armament for Egypt and Syria in the Middle East, the first two players to come against Israel. I mean, they are, as has been said, the Sugar Daddies for all of these enemies of the Jewish state. And they are going to control even those six republics which used to be in the former Soviet Union, which are basically Islamic now. And they are going to play a key role. Russia is going to be a major player in the last days and we are seeing this happen.

Ankerberg: Alright we are out of time. I would like to come back to that in the next program if you guys would allow me to. And there’s reasons why the Bible says God’s going to put a hook into that nations jaw and bring them down. Why would Russia want to come down into Israel? You’ve got a great many illustrations from living there as to why that’s so. We haven’t got time, we will cover that next week. I hope you will join us.

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