The question of Jerusalem and the biblical end of times is back in the news. The end of days, the building of The Third Jewish Temple and the return of Christ to establish his kingdom is seen by many as having started with Americas’ recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. One of my research experts, ‘muthufare’, forwarded me a conversation between Benjamin Netanyahu and the Rabbis who control the Jewish religious heritage. In the conversation, one Rabbi asks Netanyahu when he will begin construction of The Third Temple: Since Jerusalem is now the capital of Israel!
The conversation between Israel’s’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and United States President Donald Trump has also taken many observers by storm. During the conversation, the prime minister compared the action of Donald Trump of declaring Jerusalem the capital city of Israel with those of Cyrus the Great King of Persia (576-530BC). In order to understand why the issue of building The Third Temple is getting a lot of attention from theologians and those who read apocalyptic literature, you must go back to what Cyrus the great did. “Thus says the Lord to Cyrus His anointed, whom I have taken by the right hand, to subdue nations before him and to loose the loins of Kings; To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars. Isaiah 45:1, 2. See also Chronicles 36:22-23, and Ezra 1:1-4.
Cyrus is credited with the return of the Jewish people to their motherland and his edict that saw the reconstruction of Solomon’s Temple (500BC). King Solomon’s Temple was the first Temple. The Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. This historical fact is not disputed and is immortalized by the writing of one of the most respected Jewish historians by the name Josephus. Writing about this edict by Cyrus the great King of Persia, Josephus (1st century AD) writes,
“I have given leave to as many of the Jews that dwell in my country as please to return to their own country, and to rebuild their city, and to build the temple of God at Jerusalem on the same place where it was before. I have also sent my treasurer Mithridates, and Zorobabel, the governor of the Jews, that they may lay the foundations of the temple, and the same order extends to the altar whereon they offer sacrifices to God. I require also that the expenses for these things may be given out of my revenues. Moreover, I have also sent the vessels which king Nebuchadnezzar pillaged out of the temple, . . . The priests shall also offer these sacrifices according to the laws of Moses in Jerusalem; and when they offer them, they shall pray to God for the preservation of the king and of his family that the kingdom of Persia may continue.” (Josephus)
Accordingly, the restoration of the Jews into Jerusalem by Cyrus the great King of Persia from the Babylonian captivity, and the establishment of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is seen by Netanyahu and the priesthood of the house of Jacob in Israel as a precursor to the building of the Third and final Temple. The second temple was built in the 6th century AD. Then it was destroyed through the edict of Emperor Nero, by the Roman legions under the leadership of Titus.
The significance of restoration of Jerusalem and the Construction of the third Temple is marked in the Bible as prophetic actualization of the end times; Daniel 9:24-27, Rev. 11:1, 2, Mathew 24:15, 2 thesolanians2: 3, 4, Daniel 11:31, Isaiah 14:1, 2
According to Yesu Kristo, the Consummator of the end of days (1st Corinthians 15:24), the aftermath of the Building of the Temple and its disrespect by the Anti – Christ will bring about a nightmare, which no one should pray for!
“So when you see standing in the holy place the abomination that causes desolation, spoken of through the prophet Daniel let the reader understand then and let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now, and never to be equaled again.” Yesu Kristo in Mathew, 24:15-19.
These prophetic utterances are the reason why the mention of the building of the Third Temple in Jerusalem, and the evoking of Cyrus the Great King of Persia by Israeli Prime minister stirs stomachs of those who have studied scriptures and understand that, God, the creator of heaven and earth, shall avenge His name and Temple in the last days.
Therefore he calls out, “Behold I stand at the door and Knock. If anyone hears my voice and open the door I will enter in . . .” Revelation 3:20. And again Jesus Said to His disciples, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in Heaven, nor the Son but only the Father.” Mathew 24:36
So then we wait for the revealing of the Son of God at the end of days.
Teddy Njoroge Kamau (Ph.D.)
HTBluff Associates
BBN TV
Diaspora Messenger Senior Columnist
Behold the Apocalypse: Jerusalem Becomes the Capital of Israel
