End-times prophecy watchers are marveling over a news report out of Jerusalem this week that the Altar of the Lord has been reconstructed by the Temple Institute.
The Institute, based in the Old City of Jerusalem, announced it has finished building an altar that is essentially “ready for use” in sacrificial services.
The altar is the most ambitious project to date toward the goal of rebuilding the Jewish Temple. The massive outdoor altar, which took several years to build, can be operational at little more than a moment’s notice.
The altar is the last major component needed for the long-obstructed sacrifices to resume in a future Jewish temple.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews pray daily for its reconstruction atop the holy hill known as Mount Moriah or the Temple Mount.
Bible scholars say the rebuilding of the ancient temple is predicted throughout scripture, starting with Daniel’s vision in Daniel 9:27. Jesus echoed Daniel’s warning about an abomination standing in “the holy place” in the last days in Matthew 24:15, followed by the Apostle John’s vision of the Temple in Revelation 11:1-2. Paul mentioned it in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4.
Most people don’t realize the temple had two altars — the altar of burnt offering and the altar of incense. The largest was the altar of burnt offering, placed in the outer court of the priests. Designing and building it to exact biblical specifications required quite an undertaking.
It was approximately 5 meters (16 feet) tall and 16 meters (52.5 feet) wide, with four “horns” or raised corners, and a ramp.
The sacrificial services were halted with the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 A.D.
The Temple Institute has prepared all the priestly garments and sacred vessels for the rebuilt temple, which can be viewed on its website. It even trains members of the priestly family to be ready to serve as soon as the Temple is constructed.
Carl Gallups, a Baptist pastor in Florida, Bible prophecy expert and author of “Final Warning: Understanding the Trumpet Days of Revelation,” said the announcement about the altar will be seen by many Christians as a huge step toward fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
“This announcement will surely excite prophecy watchers around the world,” he said. “Regardless of one’s eschatological leanings, every sincere student of the Word of God knows there are at least hints, if not clear declarations, of something happening just before the return of the Lord that involves altar sacrifices and the distinct possibility of a rebuilt temple on the Temple Mount.”
Jonathan Cahn, author of “The Harbinger” and “The Mystery of the Shemitah” also sees the announcement as significant. Cahn is a Messianic Jewish rabbi in New Jersey.
Cahn said “We know that end-time prophecy cannot be fulfilled without the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. The abomination desolation prophesied in Daniel and in the Gospels, must take place within the Temple precincts. So, too, the apostle Paul speaks of the ‘man of sin,’ or the Antichrist, sitting in the Temple of God. What many people don’t realize is that along with the Holy of Holies, the altar of the Temple is the most central and critical part of the Temple.” Cahn said it is the altar that is the center of the abomination causing desolation.
“It was specifically the altar of the Temple that was desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanes in the days of the Maccabees that comprised the first abomination desolation and the foreshadowing of what will take place in the end-times,” Cahn said. “So any progress made toward the rebuilding of the altar is worthy of our attention.”
Mark Biltz, author of “Blood Moons: Decoding the Imminent Heavenly Signs” and pastor of El Shaddai Ministries, says prophecy watchers should not forget, however, that the Temple Mount is under the control of the Muslims for a reason. “Religiously, you have the Temple Institute and they are ready to rebuilt it,” he said.
In previous years, there have been attempts to sacrifice a goat on the Temple Mount at Passover, something that enrages Muslims who consider the hilltop the third most sacred spot in Islam. “They could actually do sacrifices without a temple, some sacrifices. And Passover is one of them. There’s always been a drive to sacrifice a lamb on the Temple Mount,” Biltz said. “They would do it in a heartbeat. But it’s just like here in America where the ACLU wants nothing to do with religion or religious groups. So it’s the same there. The Israeli government doesn’t want to cause any uproar among the various religious factions, especially with elections coming up.”
The Temple Institute represents the views of the Ultra-Orthodox community, which makes up a small percentage of Israel’s population, about 4 percent.
“They would love a temple but the broader population wants to keep church and state separate, and there is a lot of animosity toward the Ultra Orthodox,” Biltz said. “But they don’t need some big elaborate temple, they could start to do the sacrifices with a tent or some sort of makeshift tabernacle. It’s all very interesting and it’s all coming to a head. I believe you’re going to see a major war first, which would redraw alignments and allegiances.”
This explains the reaction of former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan as he observed rabbis rushing to pray at the Temple Mount following the Israeli Army’s reclaiming of the landmark in the 1967 Six-Day War. “What is this?” Dayan, a secular Jew, reportedly mused. “The Vatican?”
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