Jerusalem in the Crossfire/Program 2

By: Dr. Jimmy DeYoung; ©2007

Scripture indicates there will be a Temple in Jerusalem during the tribulation period. How close are we to making that temple a reality?

Contents

Introduction

Dr. John Ankerberg: Today on the John Ankerberg Show, Why is Jerusalem in the crossfire of world events? Over half of all Europeans think that Israel now presents the biggest threat to world peace. The President of Iran, who has the world’s fourth largest military force, is developing nuclear weapons, and has publicly called for the elimination of the Jewish people and promises to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. In Lebanon, Hezbollahs’ stated goal is to attack Israel until it forces it from its territory and ultimately eliminates it as a nation. Among the Palestinians, the terrorist group Hamas is now officially part of the government and shares the goal of Hezbollah and Iran to retake Jerusalem and eliminate the Jews. What is going to happen to this ancient city that rests on the most controversial piece of land on the planet? My guest today, is news correspondent Dr. Jimmy DeYoung, who has lived in Jerusalem since 1993 and interviewed every Israeli prime minister, as well as Jordan’s King Abdullah, and the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Join us today and learn why Jerusalem is in the crossfire of world events.

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Ankerberg: Welcome to our program. It’s my privilege again to introduce to you Dr. Jimmy DeYoung. He has lived in Israel since 1991; has interviewed all the Prime Ministers of Israel since that time, he knows them personally. He has talked with King Abdullah, he’s talked with the late Yasser Arafat; he knows these people personally. And we are drawing on his experience and all of these things that have gone on in the last, what is it, 13 years, 14,…

DeYoung: 15 years.

Ankerberg: 15 years. And one of the things that we want to talk about is, the current events that are taking place right now are just screaming to be interpreted. And they are being interpreted by the Bible, but most people don’t put these things together. What we have talked about in the past is there are some events that are mentioned in Scripture that we have got to be knowledgeable about.

And, Jimmy, let’s rehash for the folks here. First of all we talked about a coalition of nations coming against Israel. That group of nations are all named in Scripture, and they are in the headlines right now. Let’s rehash that. Second, you have got the EU, the most powerful bloc of nations in the world, and they are getting involved; and the Bible says that a great leader that they are calling for is going to come out of that and do some business in the Middle East. There is going to be a peace treaty in the Middle East.

And then the main thing we want to hit in this program is that the Bible talks about the Messiah’s Temple that is going to be built on the Temple Mount. And people don’t realize the preparations that are being made. And what you have is, you have got a problem: you have got the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount and if that goes down you have got World War III. And the Bible says something is going to happen to it. So let’s give a rehash that these things are in the news but they are also in Scripture. Let’s put them together.

DeYoung: Well, you’ve got to realize, John, there are trends that if people will simply watch these trends they will be able to come to a better understanding of Bible prophecy. Now you can’t go simply to one prophetic book. There are 17 Old Testament prophetic books, the book of Revelation in the New Testament, plus there is prophecy in every single one of the New Testament books, possibly with the exception of Philemon. All of them are talking about these trends.

Go back to Daniel 11. You are referring to the coalition of nations that are coming together. There we see listed Syria and Egypt; Ezekiel 38, we see Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Gomer, Togarmah, Persia, Ethiopia, Libya: well, those are talking about modern day nations like Russia, Turkey. They are talking about Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Libya. You go to the 83^rd chapter of the book of Psalms, it is talking about Tyre and the Ishmaelites. That would be modern day Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.

Every one of these nations that I have just gone quickly through give us the evidence that Bible prophecy knew exactly what it was talking about when it actually pre-wrote history 2,500 years ago, as we see all of these things coming to pass even as we sit here on the program discussing them. You talk about the revival of the Roman Empire. Daniel 2, Daniel 7, refer to either the 10 toes of iron and clay in Daniel 2, or the 10 horns which has the little horn come up out of it, which would be one of the 27 names for this world dictator, the false messiah known as the Antichrist. And when he comes to power in what we believe is at least the infrastructure – now I’m talking about the European Union in their 50^th anniversary, their 50^th birthday of the signing of the treaty at Rome which brought the Common Market, or the European Economic Community, into existence, which is the European Union today, and which is the infrastructure for this revived Roman Empire that Daniel 7 refers to, from which the Antichrist will appear.

He will go to Israel; he will confirm a peace agreement. It doesn’t say he will sign a peace agreement, but he will basically take those pre-existing peace agreements that are not working, that have never been normalized, he will bring them into a capability of establishing some kind of at least co-existence, howbeit short-lived between Israel and it’s neighbors – basically the Islamic world, the Arab world, which are the neighbors of Israel.

Ankerberg: And, oh by the way, right now Chancellor Merkel, who is the temporary president of the EU, is calling for the strongest leader in the world to head up the European Union. And also Merkel, as well as Tony Blair, are in the Middle East and traveling through it calling for this peace arrangement to take place.

DeYoung: It’s unbelievable. If what they are calling for, this strong leader and this international call for a conference to bring peace to the Middle East, is not what the Bible is talking about, it’s missed a very good chance to be. I do not see anything in the future that would be as, I guess, fulfilling as what is taking place right now. The Bible,… A dear friend of both of us, John Walvoord, who now is with the Lord; he knows all the answers for sure now, I asked him one day, I said, “When do you think the rapture is going to take place?” and he said, “Before I die.” Well, we know that is not the case. But I said, “Are there any prophecies that yet need to be fulfilled before that happens?” He said, “Not one prophecy.” He said, “We are at the time of all these things happening to fulfill prophecy.” You know, like no time in history, John, this is what we are living in.

Ankerberg: Okay, but the biggest one that I think is absolutely fascinating to people when they hear this, is this thing about the Jewish temple being built in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount, okay? We all recognize you have got the Dome of the Rock, the most holy spot, or the third most holy spot in Islam. You have got a Mosque sitting right there. And, in fact, the Bible is talking about that spot and saying there is going to be a Jewish temple there. Let’s first talk about the Messiah’s temple that is supposed to be built there in the future.

DeYoung: And that is the location, by the way, that Temple Mount, the most sacred piece of real estate for the Jewish people in all of creation. In Psalm 132 God said, “I have selected that spot to dwell among my people forever and ever.” The ancient prophet Zechariah had a conversation with Jesus Christ, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, as recorded in the first chapter of Zechariah, where he said, “I am jealous,…” I love the flavor of the Hebrew there, “I am aggressively possessive for that piece of real estate, and I am very sore displeased with those who are arrogantly secure, who control it.”

Now that is describing the Temple Mount, because since 691 AD that Dome of the Rock has been sitting on the spot where the first temple stood, and the second temple stood, and where Messiah’s temple, I believe, according to the text, is going to stand in the future.

The Bible, in the book of Ezekiel, and God was so effective when He would select a man who had a priestly background. Ezekiel was one of three of the prophets who were priests, Jeremiah, Zechariah and Ezekiel. And He gives Ezekiel a message to talk about Messiah’s temple that would come, and that is Ezekiel 40-46. That’s 242 verses of minutely detailed information about Messiah’s temple. I have done a pretty extensive study of Ezekiel 40-46, and in fact I have had the opportunity to study with some of the Rabbis and members of the Sanhedrin who are preparing to build the next temple.

The problem is the next temple they are preparing to build is not the one described by Ezekiel the prophet. Messiah will come back and build His temple; that’s Zechariah 6:12. Verse 13 says He will rule and reign from that temple.

There are several things missing – let me just quickly go through this before we get to the tribulation temple – several things missing that were prevalent at the time of the tabernacle, the first temple and the second temple. There is no wall of partition around Messiah’s temple. The reason for that is Jesus Christ said there was a wall of partition between two people, Gentiles and Jews. With his death burial and resurrection He took the wall out and made two people one in Jesus Christ.

You step into the Holy Place, there is no table of show bread. Jesus Christ said in John 6, “I am the bread of life.” You see, John, every single facet of the temple, the first and second temples and the tabernacle, were prophecy basically pointing to Jesus Christ; all the activities, all the sacrificial things that took place; all the Priestly duties, etc.

You look and you see no Menorah, because Jesus said in John 8, 9, and 11, “I am the light of the world.” There is no veil in the temple it was ripped from top to bottom when Christ was crucified, Matthew 27. When you step into the Holy of Holies there is no Ark of the Covenant. The Bible says in Jeremiah 3, one day there will be no need for the Ark of the Covenant. You see, the Ark of the Covenant was a model of Him to come, of Messiah Jesus. Well, when you have the real thing you no longer need the model. Those things are missing from Messiah’s temple. But every one of those things are required for the next temple that both Daniel, Jesus, Paul and John the Revelator talk about.

Ankerberg: Alright, I think what people need to recognize, you mentioned the Sanhedrin; the Sanhedrin was not in existence until a short time ago.

DeYoung: That’s correct.

Ankerberg: The Sanhedrin, let’s explain who they are and the fact that, what they are doing and the plans that they have already formed for the temple that they are intending to build. Let’s talk about who the Sanhedrin are and why it’s important that they exist right now.

DeYoung: They were out of existence for 1400 years. 1400 years ago they were up at Tiberius on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and they basically just disappeared. Nobody knew where they had gone to. Now the Sanhedrin in the time of Jesus Christ and when the temple stood in Jerusalem, were the ruling body. They were basically the Supreme Court of the Jewish people and the Jewish nation. But they were also the administrators of the temple complex, all of the activities that took place at the temple. They were responsible for electing the High Priest. These were 70 scholars, biblical scholars and experts in jurisprudence.

Well, that is exactly what happened about a year and one-half ago on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Seventy very wise Jewish men, experts in jurisprudence, scholars in the Bible, came together and reformed the Sanhedrin. They didn’t stay in Tiberius, they came to Jerusalem. They started realizing that they – you know we’re taking on the entire Jewish world by saying they are the Supreme Court. You have a seating, a Supreme Court in Israel that is there seated as the rulers court wise, legally wise, in the nation of Israel. And so they had to work at it.

There was a gay pride parade that was proposed a couple of months back and the Sanhedrin came together and they put out an edict. They said, “Anybody who gives permission for that parade to proceed will have to stand at the judgment seat of God in the heavens.” That gay pride parade did not take place, and they realized they had some influence. Well, they have been moving along the lines now of the activities at the temple itself. The professor who is the spokesperson, Hillel Weiss, for the Sanhedrin, a member of the Sanhedrin himself, I have talked with him several times recently and he has told me that they have put together a forum, a forum of architects, archaeologists and engineers who are preparing to build that temple.

Ankerberg: Alright, we are going to take a break and when we come back we are going to hear what their plans are. We also want to talk about all the instruments that have already been made. We are going to talk about the fact that the Sanhedrin’s actually bought, purchased, sheep to start the sacrificial system. And they actually intend to do it this Passover if they are allowed to do so on the Temple Mount. And then I want you to talk about the fact is that when Saddam Hussein was raining the SCUDs down on the city around Jerusalem, the Jews went to the Wailing Wall, what they were praying for would happen with those SCUDs, alright? We are going to talk about all that when we come back. Stick with us.

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Ankerberg: Welcome back. We are talking with Dr. Jimmy DeYoung and we are talking about the Sanhedrin that has just been formed. And the fact is, they have now purchased sheep and they want to start up the sacrificial system right on the Temple Mount this Passover. Jimmy, explain this and why this is so significant.

DeYoung: Why it is so significant is that for 2000 years there has been no sacrifices on the Temple Mount. The Jewish people have had to look for another way to cover their sins. They have done that through giving of money, through giving of service, and through their prayers three times a day basically at the Western Wall. But there is a desire among, I would say the majority of the Jewish people, to have a temple restored to the Temple Mount and this sacrificial system re-instituted.

When I was talking with Professor Hillel Weiss, I asked him, “What about the High Priest?” Now the Sanhedrin would elect the High Priest. He said, “We have selected the man.” And the man they are considering to be High Priest, I have had opportunity to be in his home, had tea there with him in his home. I know his family very well. A very interesting man who has at least four doctorates; I mean, he is a brilliant man, not only in the Scriptures, but in the Talmud, the extra-biblical Jewish writings, and responsible for those who are involved in leading the way in preparation for the next temple.

The Sanhedrin has also been able to find that rare snail in the Mediterranean Sea that produces the blue dye, so they have been able to produce the blue robe for the High Priest that he is will wear. That is on display in the state of Israel right now in Jerusalem, there with the Temple Institute. In addition to that, they have now, as you have been referring to, purchased sheep that they want to offer in sacrifice on the Temple Mount. I said to Professor Weiss, I said, “How are you going to do this?” He said, “We will go up and quickly put up the altar. We don’t have to have the temple to proceed with sacrifices. We can go up there, put the altar up and we can perform the sacrifice.” I said, “Are you really, professor, thinking that this is going to happen? What is reality here?” He said, “Jimmy, things change so quickly in the Middle East we don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow. It could be ready; we must be ready, because Messiah wants us to proceed with these events.” And in fact, they believe when the temple is built the Messiah will return.

Ankerberg: Okay. Let’s jump to the fact that we have got a problem. They have the plans to build the temple. And I’ve seen the plans; I have even seen pictures of what it should look like when it is finished. But, oh by the way, we have a problem; because this is the Dome of the Rock that is the Muslim Mosque that is the third holiest place to the Muslims, and that is sitting there. Alright, talk about, first of all, when you started in Israel in 1991, you came in when Saddam Hussein was lobbing the SCUDs all around you, tell what the Jews would do in terms of going to the Wailing Wall. What were they praying?

DeYoung: Well, you know when the alarm would sound that there was an incoming scud, Judy and I, my wife and I, would run to our sealed room, seal up the door behind us, and put our gas masks on to make sure we did not inhale any of the gases that would be released from one of those SCUDs. We thought that would happen. When the Jews in the Jewish Quarter of the old city of Jerusalem heard that siren, they did not go into a sealed room; they didn’t put on any gas mask. They ran immediately to the Western Wall and they started to pray, “Dear God, please let one of these SCUDs hit the Dome of the Rock.” They factiously said, “You know what SCUD stood for? SCUD, Sure Could Use Direction,” because Saddam didn’t know where those SCUDs were actually going when he had them fired. There was one that hit about 17 miles north of Jerusalem, one about 15 miles south. They were mostly aimed over at the coastal plains between Tel Aviv and Haifa, trying to take out the mass majority of the population center over there. But indeed, that did not happen, but there is a desire for that Dome of the Rock to come down. And when I ask…

Ankerberg: Other people have suggested other ways, okay? And it is very interesting to me right now that you have got the Sunni Muslims that actually took out the gold dome in Iraq. Shiite Muslims, they went against them. You had Muslim against Muslim, alright? Craig Parshall, who is the attorney for the National Religious Broadcasters, has written a group of novels. And in the last one he wrote, he suggested the fact that the factions inside of Islam may want to try to blame this on the Jews themselves or on other Islamic factions or on the United States. And the fact is, they are going to destroy the Mosque themselves just like, for example, if the Shiites want to respond to the Sunnis, where would you go? You would go to the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem; and you would destroy that just like they destroyed the golden dome. However it comes down, somehow it is going to come down, because Jesus and the Apostle Paul both talk about there being a temple there that the Antichrist is going to enter. Let’s refresh everybody’s mind what Jesus and Paul said.

DeYoung: Well, now remember we were talking about Messiah’s temple will be standing there during that thousand year millennial kingdom yet in the future after Christ comes back. But the seven years preceding the second coming of Jesus Christ, referred to as the tribulation period, there is going to be a temple in that period of time as well. Daniel first mentioned it in Daniel 9:27, where he says he, the Antichrist, will confirm a covenant, the peace treaty that we have talked about, and in the midst of that week – he does it for one week or a seven year period of time – and in the midst of that week he will cause that sacrifice to cease.”

Now, you don’t have sacrifice going on on the Temple Mount. They said they could put up an altar, but that is only the first stage of putting up the entire temple, because Yom Kippur has to take place in the Holy of Holies. So they’ll have to have the temple to have the sacrifices re-instituted. Jesus Christ, in the Olivet Discourse, He was talking about the second coming, not the rapture in Matthew 24. In the Olivet Discourse, chapter 24:15 says that when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, flee for the wilderness.

And the Apostle Paul mentioned when he was writing the people of Thessaloniki, he said, “the Antichrist,” 2 Thessalonians 2:4, “The Antichrist will come, walk into that temple complex, and claim to be God.” Well, that is exactly what Satan, when he fell, said in Isaiah 14: “I will be worshipped at Jerusalem,” was the statement of Lucifer when he rebelled against God and became the deceiver Satan. And John the Revelator is told, Revelation 11:1, 2, to take your reed, John and measure the area for the temple. So you have four proof texts, Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15, 2 Thessalonians 2:4, and Revelation 11:1-2, that there will be a temple during that seven year tribulation period.

Now, what do you need in that temple that you would not need in Messiah’s temple? Number 1 you are going to need the Menorah. And the Jewish people, when they thought that the Menorah was in the Vatican in Rome, did not see the Pope when he visited the Middle East bring them the Menorah. So they made a form, they took 100 pounds of gold, not 100 ounces, 100 pounds of pure gold and they formed the Menorah. It is on display there in the Cardo right there in the Old City under high security.

You will need the Mizrak, that is the implement that is used in the temple to put the blood in. It is a pitcher shaped item made out of pure gold and pure silver. You need about 4000 of those. They have those all made and in storage.

You have to have 28,000 priests. The man I believe who is going to be the High Priest, I sat in his yeshiva, a place of learning for Jewish young men. He was at his computer. And I said, “Rabbi, what do you have on that computer?” And he told me that day, “I have the name of every Jew that is qualified to be a priest in the entire world.” And I said, “You have 28,000 men’s names on that computer?” You see, you need 28,000 priests to operate the temple. And he said, “I do.” And I said, “Why?” He said, “Because they are here in Jerusalem studying their priestly duties.” When I asked him, “What about their priestly garments? Don’t they have to have special garments?” And he said, “We have them made; they are in storage.”

And then I thought I had caught him. I said, “What about those 4,000 harps that King David called for the Levites to play?” He said go to #10 King David Street (that’s a neat address). And I went over there and there was Micah and Shoshanna Harrari. They had moved, immigrated to Israel, made Alyah as Jews do, from out of the United States. And Micah, a finish carpenter, was asked by Shoshanna one day to make her a 10-string harp for her birthday. Well, he found a drawing on a cave in the Jezsreel Valley, brought it back to Jerusalem, made a 10-string harp. The Jerusalem Post did a feature story on it. In that story the journalist said that is the first harp made in 2,000 years in Jerusalem. The very next day an old rabbi in his 80’s showed up, held the harp in his arms, started to cry. And Shoshanna said, “Rabbi, why are you crying?” And he said, “Because the Talmud”, extra biblical Jewish writing, “says when a 10-string harp shows up in Jerusalem, it is the time for the coming of the Messiah.”

All those preparations for the next temple, the tribulation temple, not Messiah’s temple, the tribulation temple, have been made. Everything’s ready for that temple to go in.

Ankerberg: Alright, we are just getting started in this. We are going to go into next week and we want to talk about the fight for Judea and Samaria. And the fact is, there is a real fight going on, and we are going to talk about that next week. But, folks, again, you have got the nations of Ezekiel 38 mentioned; they are in the news today. You have got the United Nations calling for the strongest leader in the world, and also their leaders right now are going through the Middle East calling for a peace conference. And you have got the temple plans already in place. You have got the Jewish Sanhedrin there, and they are trying to do sacrifices this Passover. What else is going to take place that is happening right now? We are going to talk about it next week, so I hope you will join us.

 

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