April 29th, 2022

Welcome back to the End Times Berean Watchman Report!

This week I’ve got a sixth installment of prophecies that have been fulfilled regarding Israel.

This prophecy implies that, by the middle of the seven-year tribulation period, sacrifices will again be occurring on the Temple Mount. Otherwise, how could they be halted by the Antichrist at that time? Sacrifices ended with the destruction of the temple in AD 70. The Sanhedrin was abolished another 359 years later, when Emperor Theodosius II passed a law to end the Jewish patriarchate on May 30, 429, after the death of Gamaliel VI, the Sanhedrin’s last president [1]. Over the last five hundred years, there have been five failed attempts to reinstate the Sanhedrin, but in 2004, a nascent Sanhedrin was again formed and has been operating credibly since that time with the support of hundreds of the most scholarly and influential rabbis in Israel [2]. They have called themselves the “Nascent” Sanhedrin, hoping that over time they would gain acceptance within the Jewish community as the fully revived Sanhedrin

The provisional Sanhedrin began petitioning to perform a fully kosher practice sacrifice with a blemish free lamb the day before Passover in 2007. Since about 2011, the new Sanhedrin has been conducting practice sacrifices with blemish-free lambs and petitioning the Israeli Supreme Court to reinitiate sacrifices on the Temple Mount.

Practice sacrifices have been made in cooperation with The Temple Institute, which was founded in 1987. The Institute has been remaking most of the temple artifacts and priestly garments needed to reestablish the priesthood, restore sacrificial offerings, and to rebuild the temple [3]. One of the most striking temple artifacts that has been remade is the golden menorah, but that is not all that has been prepared.

In addition to the priestly garments and vessels for priestly service that have been prepared, there is now even a school in Israel training the first generation of priests. A portable altar, constructed in full compliance with both biblical regulations and the instructions found in the Mishnah, has also been built and made ready for the future temple. 

Finally, there have been concerted efforts for decades to breed completely blemish-free red heifers. Jewish law, halacha, requires that red heifers cannot have worn a yoke or had a calf, must have no physical defects or blemishes, and they can have no more than two hairs that are not red. According to the Mishnah, the heifer must also be at least three years old [4]. As of 2021, the Temple Institute did not yet have a perfect heifer, but they were monitoring multiple candidates to see if they would eventually meet all the requirements of Jewish law. They have even conducted a practice red heifer sacrifice to be ready for the real one. 

Detailed architectural plans have also been made for the entire temple complex, including a building that would house the new Sanhedrin. The Nascent Sanhedrin has even begun to officially call on the Jewish people “to contribute towards the acquisition of materials for the purpose of rebuilding the Holy Temple,” and in the years since, many Jewish people have answered that call [5]. What remains now is just building it, which is waiting on the collective will of the people of Israel to be moved by the Spirit and blessing of God.

This prophecy refers to the sealing up of the eastern gate of the Temple Mount, called the Golden Gate, which faces the Mount of Olives and leads directly into the Temple Mount. In my first book, The Temple Revealed, I go over the extensive history of this gate and its connection with the Temple of Solomon. It is also the gate that I believe Jesus used for his triumphal entry into Jerusalem before he was crucified [6]. The walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt by the Turkish Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, beginning in 1537. After restoring and rebuilding the Golden Gate, he then sealed it in 1541, presumably when he heard about the prophecy that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem through the East Gate. And yet by doing so, he inadvertently helped maintain the truth of God’s Word that this gate would be shut and would remain shut. 

Furthermore, Suleiman also fulfilled a prophecy that foreigners would rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, and, as prophesied, he was a benevolent ruler who “ministered” to God’s people by treating both Jews and Christians equitably during his reign. This likely began with the development of a treaty between Suleiman and the King of France in 1535 to regulate the relations between their two states. The terms dictated “the right to practice their own religion” without being molested, which seems to have promoted fair treatment for both Christians and Jews. During this period under Suleiman’s rule, Jews reported living “in happiness and tranquility, each according to his condition and fortune, for the royal authority is just and great,” and they were allowed to engage in all kinds of trades and even religious studies [7]. 

It is important to remember that God is the one who has declared that the location of the temple is important to him. It is the place where God says that he will place his throne and the soles of his feet and will dwell among the sons of Israel forever. And when talking about the temple, we are immediately directed to the area of the Temple Mount, and to Jerusalem in general. This is the only place on the planet that God has called his own, in writing. And by calling it a “holy” place, it means that it is entirely separate from other places.

That is why it is so strange that we read of the defilement of God’s holy temple “by the corpses of… kings.” It is strange because it would have been such an abomination to have people buried on the Temple Mount, so we don’t expect it to be possible. But are there corpses of kings buried on the Temple Mount? Have there ever been? Or is that a mistranslation of the text? These are important questions when we are determining if a prophetic fulfillment has been observed, or not. 

Well, on June 4, 1931, Hussein ibn al-Hashimi, King of the Hejaz died and was soon buried on the Temple Mount, near the Cotton Merchants’ Gate, close to where the temple should be standing, on the northwest interior of the Temple Mount. Here is a picture of his tomb on the Temple Mount (see photo, below). That’s amazing! The words of Ezekiel, written around 593-571 BC, were fulfilled less than a century ago.

It is incredibly unlikely that a king would be buried in the 36 acres of the Temple Mount by pure happenstance. By my calculations, the odds are at best 1 in 4,361 (or only a 0.02 percent chance). That means it is a very unlikely thing to predict without divine inspiration.

Some might say that a king could be found buried anywhere if you wait long enough. But of the 15.7 billion acres of land on the earth, few have any kings buried on them, and the 36 acres of the Temple Mount are expressly forbidden to have anyone buried there in the first place. Wikipedia lists 287 different monarchies that have existed around the world since the early Bronze Age. Recognizing that kings are often buried together or in proximity for a given monarchy, we could estimate that all the world’s kings from the early Bronze Age until now are entombed in less than 10,000 acres of land. We should also acknowledge that people only inhabit about 10 percent of the land on the planet. Using those numbers, one could estimate that the odds of having a king buried on the 36 acres of the Temple Mount, by pure happenstance, is 1 in 4,361 (36/157,000) or a 0.02% chance.

The other fulfillment that we see from this verse is from the phrase: “…setting their threshold by My threshold and their door post beside My door post, with only the wall between Me and them.” By recognizing that the true location of the former Jewish temple was just north of the Dome of the Rock, we get a very clear view of what God was denouncing in this prophecy. If the Jewish temple were erected today, directly in front of the East Gate, the Dome of the Rock would be sitting right next to God’s temple. (See the image below, which is a composite image with notations to show the exclusion of the outer court to the south, where the Dome of the Rock sits.) This looks like the scene we could envision from the book of Revelation.

I don’t have a lot of international news to discuss today, but there are some things to still be watching regarding Israel, the Temple Mount, and the end of Ramadan that is coming in few days. The pressure against allowing the status quo to remain in place is building. The present “status quo” denies equal access to the Temple Mount for Jews and Christians, which everyone knows is something that should not be allowed and yet it is. Combining the increase of incitement at the Temple Mount by the Palestinians, despite the Jews allowing the unfair status quo to remain in place, and the radicals could get a backlash that finally moves the Israel to exert sovereignty over the Temple Mount and re-establish their worship there.

And I have some personal good news. My first book, The Temple Revealed, just won a Christian Indie Publishing Award in the Theology category! :)

I’ve finished reviewing my first proof copy of the book, and I am planning the official release of the paperback and hardcover versions for May 14th, 2022. [This will be the 74th anniversary of the declaration of the State of Israel and the Second Passover, which conceivably would provide the Jews another opportunity to try and make a Passover sacrifice, and it will be two weeks after the end of Ramadan so they will be again be allowed to visit the site.]

Below is a book promotion trailer that I made up for the book using iMovie. The video is not public yet, I’ll wait to make it public until the official release on May 14th (when the book is actually available for order), but as newsletter subscribers you’re getting the first peek at the unlisted video. I’d love to hear your reactions, good or bad. The main question is does it make you interested in getting the book, or not.

The book makes some bold claims and presents a lot of evidence to back them up, but I really think it needs most if not all of the 400+ pages to fully make the case, so I’m leaving all that for people to read in the book and am just trying to create interest with the trailer.

It’s only three and half minutes long, so I hope you’ll check it out, and let me know your reactions. Thanks!

Next week, we’ll finish up the series on prophecies that have been fulfilled in Israel, and will look at any important developments in the news. Until then…

May God bless you all,

Christian