Tribulation Temple Tremors

Planet Earth’s most supernaturally sensitive spot experienced spiritually seismic activity over the last two weeks. The seismic action, however, amounted to little. Time is not yet right for when the earth-rending shaking will take place for real.

Recent talk of things surrounding Mt. Moriah, the "Temple Mount" in Jerusalem, is not yet at the level indicating that a crisis point has been reached. The almost mesmerizing pace of things of prophetic portent shaping up around that sacred plateau, however, should alert all who watch for things to come that the Temple Mount is the central point of the final battle between good and evil, just as God's Word foretells.

"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God" (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4). Antichrist, it is clear, will one day enter a Jewish temple and declare himself to be God. We get a deeper look into that future desecration with the prophecy given through John: "And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months" (Revelation 13:4-5).

There is no sign of a Jewish temple; Antichrist is not on the scene. Why liken Moriah, now dominated by the familiar golden-hued Dome of the Rock, to experiencing tremors such as those that occurred around Mount St. Helens before that volcano blew its top in 1980? There is no violence going on in the area directly surrounding the Temple Mount. Or is there?

The fact is that Mt. Moriah has always been the one place on earth that is the most spiritually seismic. This is the place Abraham took his son Isaac to offer him as a sacrifice, following God's instructions. The Lord then stopped the plunge of the knife toward Isaac's heart and provided the ram caught in the thickets by his horns.

This is the spot David purchased rather than accepting as a gift, and the place the Lord chose David's son, Solomon, rather than King David and his war-bloodied hands to build God's dwelling place on earth--the Temple. God's tablets of Law—the Ten Commandments—resided within the Ark of the Covenant within the Holy of Holies at the Temple's center, a fifteen-foot cubed room behind a thick veil that separated God from His people— the people of the book—the House of Israel.

Now, I know I will receive all manner of emails explaining the difference between the Jews and Israel, between the split among the tribes, etc. So I ask respectfully that we, rather than get into all of that for now, just consider the Temple in terms of God's dealing with all of mankind through the Temple and His fulfillment of that Law through His Son, Jesus the Christ.

Lucifer the fallen one—that old serpent, the devil—has always desired to usurp the throne of God since the time he and one-third of the angelic hosts rebelled in Heaven and were cast out. Satan's goal hasn't changed. He wants to put himself above the throne of god. God chose Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem as the place of His touchstone to humanity. He had His dwelling place constructed there, and when Jesus died on the cross for the sins of man near the Temple Mount, and the Temple veil was torn in two from top to bottom, giving all of mankind who accepts Christ direct access to God, Satan's hatred intensified.

The devil still wants to establish his own throne where God says will reside the future throne of the King of all kings--the Lord Jesus. Satan intends to install his own man God's Word calls the beast on a throne in a rebuilt Temple, as we have just read from 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. This man of sin, the Antichrist, indwelt by Satan, will declare himself to be God, and will demand worship from everyone on earth. It is no wonder, then, that spiritual tremors reverberate from that spot God considers holy, the closer the people of earth come to the time of Christ's return. Such tremors are on the increase, as we might expect, considering all of the many signals of the end of the Church Age manifest today on the prophetic horizon.

The Islamic mosque, the Dome of the Rock, has always been a question mark for those who believe there must be a future Jewish Temple on Moriah. The question made its way into news recently:

"A new Jewish interfaith initiative launched last week argues building the Third Jewish Temple in Jerusalem would not necessitate the destruction of the Dome of the Rock. ‘God's Holy Mountain Vision’ project hopes to defuse religious strife by showing that Jews' end-of-days vision could harmoniously accommodate Islam's present architectural hegemony on the Temple Mount. 'This vision of religious shrines in peaceful proximity can transform the Temple Mount from a place of contention to its original sacred role as a place of worship shared by Jews, Muslims and Christians,' said Yoav Frankel, director of the initiative...Until now Jewish tradition has assumed that destruction of the Dome of the Rock was a precondition for the building of the third and last Temple..." (Matthew Wagner, “Can 3rd Temple be built without destroying Dome of the Rock? Jerusalem Post).

Despite the optimism by the Jewish scholar, the Islamics, the ones in charge of the Temple Mount since 1967 when Israeli General Moshe Dyan gave the Islamic religious leaders authority over Moriah, have a much different—and deadly—view of any such attempt to put a Jewish Temple there.

"As long as there is a Muslim alive, no Jewish Temple will be built on Al-Haram Al-Sharif [the Temple Mount]. The status quo must be maintained, otherwise there will be bloodshed," said Sheikh Abdulla Nimar Darwish, founder of the Islamic Movement in Israel.

Indeed there will be bloodshed. The Tribulation, with the rebuilt Temple atop Moriah, will produce the worst bloodshed in human history, according to Jesus: "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be" (Matthew 24:21).

That same Jesus, however, will burst through the gloom of that desperate hour to put an end to man's self-destruction. He will establish His throne on Mt. Zion, when the topography is supernaturally changed. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.