Israel GOD’s Stopwatch!
Israel is GOD’s stopwatch for everything that happens to
every nation, including America, from now until the Rapture of the Church and
beyond.
Israel belongs to
the Jewish people, as predestined by GOD.
And, Jerusalem is
the undivided Biblical capital of the re-born State of Israel.
It has nothing to do
with what the Palestinians think, what the Russians think, what the UK has the
opinion of; it belongs to the Jewish people. And Israel is the gateway to GOD’s
blessing in the Bible.
Genesis 12: ‘I will bless those who bless you.’”
World history can be
summed up in one sentence. The nations that blessed Israel were blessed of God,
and the nations that cursed Israel were cursed of GOD.
The capture of Jerusalem's Temple Mount
50 years ago sent shockwaves throughout the Jewish world. It also raised hopes
for the building of the third temple.
On June 7, 1967, Israeli Brigade
Commander Col. Motta Gur made an announcement that Jews had waited to hear for
some 2,000 years.
"The Temple Mount is in our
hands! The Temple Mount is in our hands!" he declared.
Retaking this ground was important
for a number of reasons. For one, it's where King Solomon built the first
Jewish temple. After the Babylonians destroyed it, Zerubbabel (the head of the
tribe of Judah when the Israelites returned from the Babylonian exile) laid the
foundation stone for a second temple that was later expanded by King Herod.
That temple fell in 70 AD at the hands of the Romans.
When Commander Gur declared the Temple
Mount was back in Jewish hands, it rekindled hope for a long-awaited Third
Temple.
“The Six-Day War” was a miracle of
biblical proportions and was a cataclysmic opening of a new era for Israel and
the whole world" – Rabbi Richman
Rabbi Richman, director of the
International Department at The Temple Institute, is dedicated to rebuilding
the Jewish temple. He sees the time since the Six-Day War as a prophetic shift.
"It would be hard, I think, not
to see what's happened in the past 50 years as a tremendous – not just
fulfillment of prophecy – but a tremendous jump start, a tremendous fast
forward," Richman said. "It's more than prophetic. It's like a kiss
from Heaven. It's like a divine kiss. It's like an intimate brush with the
reality of God's compassion and love. He keeps His promises."
The Institute shares a key
connection to the battle for Jerusalem. Its founder, Rabbi Yisrael Ariel,
served with the 55th Paratroopers Brigade that captured the Temple Mount. After
the victory, a Jordanian guide gave them a remarkable tour.
"His job was to carry the
company machine gun," Richman explained. "There's a very beautiful
photograph of that. He actually – the first night of the liberation of
Jerusalem – he was given the task of guarding over the spot of the Dome of the
Rock, which of course is where is the Holy of Holies.
"The soldiers were on the
Temple Mount and it was just like the first hour or so. And they were
approached by a Jordanian fellow in Western dress who explained that he was the
official tour guide for the Jordanian parliament and he offered to take the
soldiers and to show them the sites on the Temple Mount.
"He takes the soldiers, you
know, and the rabbi there and he says, 'well this is exactly where the
sanctuary stood. This is where the altar stood and then this is where the
Menorah stood.'
"He tells them all these things
about the history of the Holy Temple … Finally, the rabbi asked him, 'why are
you telling us all this?' And he said,
'well, we have tradition from our fathers [and] they from their fathers that
one day the Jews would wage a war and conquer this mountain and rebuild the
Holy Temple, and I assume that you're starting tomorrow. I want this to be my
part, my part in helping you,'" he said, according to Rabbi Richman.
Now, 50 years later, that's changed
with the Temple Institute preparing blueprints and gathering official temple
elements such as the priestly garments. Richman is also dispelling myths about
the temple on today's digital loudspeaker:
"Today there's a lobby in the
Knesset of how many members of Knesset that are constantly speaking about
Jewish rights to pray on the Temple Mount." "There are members of
Knesset that actually talk about the rebuilding of the Holy Temple. One of
those Knesset members is Rabbi Yehuda Glick.
"So a few years ago this was
considered fringe – zealots, lunatics, peculiar. Today it's mainstream. Ten years ago, there was not a single member
of Knesset who ascended the Temple Mount."
"Today we have 20 Knesset
members who are interested in ascending Temple Mount, praying on Temple Mount
and are part of the redemption of the Temple Mount and bringing the Temple
Mount back into the center of the next step in the redemption
process."
Richman sees the temple through the
eyes of the prophet Isaiah who wrote 3,000 years ago that God's house would be
called a house of prayer for all nations
"Even
them I will bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of
prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar;
For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations." (Isaiah
66:7)
"If you believe in the God of
Israel and you see His hand on His people and you understand the tremendous
changes that have gone on over the years, you see that the One who brought us
this far isn't finished and will keep His promises."