Things shaping up in terms of prophetic stage-setting, particularly regarding Israel, should strike us as crucial. By this, I mean things prophesied for the time just before Christ’s Second Advent are in precise configuration for the very dénouement of the Church Age.

Nothing could be more crucial now than preparation in the Jewish mind and spiritual heart for constructing the Third Temple.

Increasing noise of constructing that end-times edifice is coming from that nation’s leadership.

Consider the following excerpt from an article that originated in that prophetic nation.

Israel’s defense minister and head of the New Right party, Naftali Bennett, spoke to a Yeshiva (male seminary) in northern Israel on Wednesday criticizing a political rival who Bennett claims doesn’t treat Israel’s state institutions as playing an integral role in the Redemption process.

Bennett then lamented what he sees as a current attitude of lawlessness in Israel saying that the reason that the Second Temple was destroyed was because everyone “followed their own rules.”

“We need to understand the big picture” Bennett said, adding “today we are in (the era of) the Third Temple.”

Bennett then reminded the captive audience about the history of the Kingdom of Israel, saying “we have had a state twice where we ruled as a united people. The first time it only lasted 80 years—King David 40, then King Solomon 40. After that, we separated.”

“The second time, we were sovereign for only 74 years during the Hasmonean dynasty” he added. 

Bennett, then [touched] on the present, saying “Now we are at 72 years. The Jewish nation has never been able to maintain a united rule for more than 80 years.”

The Defense Minister concluded saying that he will not let “anyone tear apart the state of Israel.” (David Sidman, “Israel’s Defense Minister: We Are Now in Era of Third Temple,” Breaking Israel News, February 13, 2020)

The defense minister’s assessment is one I hadn’t considered. Israel has never gone more than eighty years with a united leadership—that is, with a connected government. They are but eight years from a record in that regard.

What does it mean? I haven’t a clue. But the timing of all things is a fascinating exercise in considering Heaven’s timeline for bringing a close to this Age of Grace.

One of the great Hebrew eschatological scholars of our time wrote a compelling piece on the coming Third Temple some years ago.

The significance of Israel’s reinstituting the Sanhedrin may be another event that leaves in place the possibility of how the Lord will work out His will with His people. Almost sixty years after a 1900-year absence, the nation of Israel came into existence. Jewish people from the four corners of the world have made aliyah to live in the Land. The Temple Institute in Jerusalem has reconstructed the instruments for Jewish Temple worship; Jewish men determined to be descendants of Aaron, known as the Kohanim, are being trained in ritual practices to serve as Temple priests; and now we have the establishment of an authoritative body to speak to the nation of Israel on matters of Jewish religion. This is significant in light of such passages as Zechariah 12:10 and Hosea 5:15, which speak of a time when the people of Israel will be led into the acceptance of Jesus as their Messiah. The existence of a religious authority for the entire nation will facilitate the multitudes coming to faith. (Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Ariel Ministries Newsletter, Fall 2004/Winter 2005, p. 4)

One of today’s foremost scholars in end-times prophecy, Dr. Thomas Ice, concludes the following about the timing of rebuilding the Temple atop Mount Moriah:

In spite of contemporary turmoil, Israel’s Third Temple will one day be rebuilt.… Daniel 9:24-27; Matthew 24:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:4; Revelation 11:1-2; 13:14-15. Few observers of world events ever thought Israel would become a nation again, but it did occur in 1948. Yet, there will be a rebuilt temple by the middle of the seven-year tribulation in order to facilitate the fulfillment of Bible prophecy.

I have often taught that the long-awaited permission for the Jews to rebuild their Temple will likely be part of the covenant between Antichrist and Israel that starts the seven-year tribulation after the rapture. It appears to me that the Temple will be rebuilt and supervised supernaturally by the two witnesses during the first half of the tribulation. Since one of the two witnesses will most likely be Elijah, this would mean that the ministry of Elijah should tell us more about the ministry of the two witnesses. Malachi 4:4-5 says, “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. An he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse.” Perhaps the ministry of Elijah, where he will help the Jewish people “get right with God,” before the return of the Lord will involve their Third Temple, until commandeered by Antichrist.

Regardless of how the Lord works out the details, His plan will be brought to pass. In the meantime, many of the current events now taking place in and around Jerusalem and the Temple Mount are setting the stage for what will be a string of events that will usher in the second coming of Christ. Meanwhile, the church is looking for the rapture, where Christ will take us in an instant to be with Himself for all eternity. (Dr. Thomas Ice, “Is It Time for The Temple?” Rapture Ready archives)

The building of the Third Temple is as good as done. God has pronounced its rebuilding, and nothing can stop or inhibit its construction. It’s all within His perfect timing.

In the days to come, The Mount of Hashem‘s House Shall stand firm above the mountains And tower above the hills; And all the nations Shall gaze on it with joy. (Isaiah 2: 2)

When witnessing things going on in the American political world over the past months, one can but come to one conclusion: The Lord is at work directing all things into eschatological channels of His own design.

Those who adamantly oppose godliness are mostly on the side of one political party. They are for everything the Lord in Heaven says He is against. God is making that opposition clear by confusing them for all the world to see.

This opposition party to God’s desires for human conduct adheres to going against the Lord’s key principles of life: They are for murder of the unborn and even those just born—i.e., they are for abortion under the guise of giving the woman the right to choose. They are champions of men having sexual relations with other men and women having sexual relations with other women.

This is happening even under the auspices of the so-called clergy who approve of this unbiblical activity. They define marriage as being, basically, anything one wants it to be—a man can marry another man or a woman another woman. Even more insanely, some have been given the go-ahead by these anti-God adherents to marry their animals or even inanimate objects of their affection.

In earlier times, reports of things going on under this “progressive” mindset would have defied logic. But now, the abnormal—even abhorrent—activity is seen by these anti-God forces as not only okay, but as more mainstream in propriety than the formerly truly normal human activity.

I refer, for example, to the views that have been developing regarding pedophilia. Even courses in academia at the university level now hold that including children in sexual activity with adults is to be “normed”—not considered psychological dysfunction or criminal activity, but just an alternate way of looking at things.

As we’ve looked at before in these commentaries, people are now perfectly “normal” if they consider themselves to be a gender other than what their birth certificate shows. By this, they’re saying that the Creator didn’t know what He was doing. He has no right to declare who is man, who is woman, or whatsoever else they want to be, I guess.

Grade-school children and even younger are being subjected to transvestites who try to lure them into becoming such as themselves. Parents are considered by the “progressive” mindset as being the haters and evil holdouts to human advancement if they oppose having their children inculcated in such a manner.

The party of choice among these anti-God forces applauds and holds up as icons of the new wave of society and culture a presidential candidate who kisses his “husband” on stage at political rallies. The mainstream news and entertainment media embrace this as normal and even preferable. By this, they applaud shaking off the bonds of godly restraint as put forth in God’s Holy Word.

Democrat candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg, an avowed homosexual married to another male, has voiced the “progressive” thinking in wishing to throw off godly restraints as America moves forward in history.

He said recently that he condemned Vice President Mike Pence’s view of morality and Christianity. He declared that America must change from its narrow definition of morality by saying it’s time to move on from that old mode, to something that is more “inclusive” and “humane.”

By this it means he is unhappy with those who are against the lifestyle of the LGBTQ (and P for pedophile) community because of narrow-minded belief in biblical precepts for godly living.

That he is in favor of throwing off all these moralistic bands that inhibit people from doing what is right in their own eyes is the message.

Mayor Buttigieg is but one of many within today’s Democrat Party who expresses opposition to God’s way of conducting life. We remember recent comments by one of the campaign planners for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. He declared, in a video secretively obtained by the Veritas organization, that if Sanders and associates are elected, he will immediately and summarily kill some who oppose them. He will then make sure, he said, that others are sent to retraining camps to get their minds right. Still others would be locked away in labor camp gulags, never again to interfere with progressive movement.

Make no mistake, the evil that inspired the Nazi thugs of Hitler’s time continues to interact with the would-be diabolists of these troubled times. If given the chance, they would do exactly what this campaign associate of one of the leading Democrat candidates promises. This is not to say that all who are in that political party are of the same mindset as this campaign worker. But, neither were many in 1930s Germany of the same mindset as the Nazis and their Fuhrer.

The mindset just described as growing in our time is a reminder of just where this generation stands on God’s prophetic timeline. The Lord had something to say about the ultimate outcome of such rebellion.

His Word begins with a question, then gives a devastating answer to all who would throw off the moral restraints He has prescribed.

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

(Psalms 2:1–7)

The one who will judge this rebellious world is none other than the person God declares to be His Son in this prophecy.

We have watched God have the opposition political party in almost complete derision this past week and even in earlier times. It is but a foretaste of things to come when, at the end of this age, the Lord Jesus Christ will judge all whom He calls “earth dwellers”—those who are in rebellion against Him.