No matter what people call it, the land never was and never will be ‘Palestine’

On February 13, 2026February 13, 2026 By learnbiblicalIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Today, the Bible & You

Today’s Front Page

The Nation’s Christian Newspaper

November 2025

No matter what people call it,

the land never was and never will be ‘Palestine’

HarbingersDaily.com | By Oliver Melnick | September 25, 2025

Had Hitler not committed suicide in his bunker and survived the war, would he have been a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize? Of course not, so why in the world is Palestine being recognized as a state two years after the bloody murders of October 7, 2023, by Hamas, and with still hostages kept in Gaza? Are we rewarding terrorism, rape, murder, and hostage taking? By saying yes to the Palestinian Authority demanding full recognition, we absolutely are, and that is more problematic than people realize. These people have no history, no borders, no money, and they only have people. The land they want was given to Israel by the Creator God, who gave it to them perpetually. They have a 4,000-year history in that land.

This year marks the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, and while many parts of the world could benefit from a genuine global organization that claims to be “the one place on Earth where all the world’s nations can gather together, discuss common problems, and find shared solutions that benefit all of humanity” the United Nations are obsessed with demonizing and delegitimizing Israel. So much so, that since 2015, it has passed 301 resolutions against Israel and 192 against the rest of the world, including some countries such as North Korea, Iran, Sudan, Russia, China, Syria, and others. The double standards are so obvious, but nobody seems to care. The bias and one-sidedness are sickening!

Officially, the Palestinian Liberation Organization declared the establishment of the State of Palestine in 1988. This happened under the leadership of Yasser Arafat, who incidentally, was born in 1929 in Cairo, Egypt, not “Palestine.” Ever since, more countries have officially recognized Palestine as a bonafide state. 151 out of the 193 nations part of the United Nations have now taken sides against Israel by recognizing Palestine. This year, UK, France, Belgium, Portugal, Australia, Malta, and Canada will join ranks.

It would be difficult to accept such recognition even if it had conditions to it, knowing full well that these pre-requisites to a two-state solution would be broken within days. How do I know that? Simply look at the Gaza Strip. That area was under Israeli control until 2005. Under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israel dismantled their military operations and evacuated all Israeli citizens from the Strip, leaving behind an infrastructure that could have been picked up and utilized to grow the Arab economy in the Gaza Strip. Buildings were destroyed, greenhouses leveled, along with any remnant of an Israeli economy and infrastructure. Twenty years later, the Gaza Strip includes 300 miles of tunnels dedicated to only one thing: killing Jews!

Let me get this straight. Israel has not been inside Gaza officially since 2005, so there is no occupation of that strip of land by Jewish settlers, period. The strip was given unilaterally to the Arabs to settle and grow their economy and society. Instead, they expanded their terrorism year after year, right in front of the world and with the financial help and political support of many nations, in the name of peace in the Middle East, and then…October 7, 2023, happened. Now, several major nations from within the West are recognizing Palestine unilaterally and without any conditions. What could possibly go wrong?

Since 2015, the United States has voted 93% in favor of Israel at the UN. Let’s pray that trend continues. Yet, with the likely election of Zohran Mamdani as the next mayor or New York and the slow by steady growth of Islam within our walls, America could turn on Israel as well. After all, the Bible does prophesy that in the End Times, the whole world — including America — will turn on Jerusalem, as spoken by Zechariah.

“But it will be in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who heave it up will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.”

As “Palestine” is on the cusp of being unilaterally recognized and terrorism rewarded, Israel increasingly finds itself pushed into a corner. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might not have any other option but to annex Judea and Samaria (wrongly labelled as the West Bank) as a response to the Palestinian recognition.

The land never was and never will be Palestine, no matter what people call it. It is God’s land, and He was the very first Zionist! Coming to the rescue of Israel and speaking up against the lies spewed by the Red / Green axis is not only unpopular, but it is slowly becoming lethal. In light of Charlie Kirk’s assassination for speaking biblical truth and being a friend of Israel, we must not remain silent. As the days of being pro-Israel continue, even if her friends are dwindling, those of us in that camp need to move it up a notch and get skin in the game. As we continue to be pro-Israel, we now need to become proactive for Israel.

Printed with permission of Today, the Bible & You located at P.O. Box 1722, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma 74013, Phone Number (918) 279-1136 the name of the original article in the November 2025 issue of Today’s Front Page was “No matter what people call it, the land never was and never will be ‘Palestine'” www.JohnBarela.com

Has God Replaced His Chosen People, Israel? Are God’s promises to Israel still in effect?

On January 16, 2026January 16, 2026 By learnbiblicalIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Today, The Bible & You

Today’s Front Page

The Nation’s Christian Newspaper

September 2025

Has God Replaced His Chosen People,

Israel?

Are God’s promises to Israel

still in effect?

Does God have a plan for the nation of Israel in the end days?

Of course. We are told in Numbers 24:14, “Now, behold, I go unto my people: come therefore, and I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days.”

The apostle Paul brings us this same question in the New Testament book of Romans 11:1-2, 25-27 “I say then, Has God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people, which he foreknew. Know you not what the scripture says of Elias? How he makes intercession to God against Israel saying … For I would not, brethren that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so, all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, “There shall come out of Scion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.“

Israel was blinded to the two comings of our Lord Jesus to earth. The two comings of the Messiah serve as a framework for understanding divine intervention in human history, emphasizing hope and the promise of salvation. Israel failed to see their Messiah come as a suffering servant, as is pictured in a very graphic way in Isaiah 53, where the Messiah was to become the Lamb of God who would die for the sins of the people. Being under the rule of Rome, the Jews wanted a Deliverer like Moses, not someone who would die on a Cross.

Regarding the time of the Second Coming of the Messiah Jesus, we read in Hosea 5:15-6:3, “I will go and return to My place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek My face: in their affliction they will seek Me early. (They shall say) Come and let us return unto the Lord; for He has torn, and He will heal us; He has smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us; in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight…”.

Some understand this verse to say that the phrase after two days, refers to two thousand years of the dispensation of the mystery mentioned in Romans 11:25, when Israel will be revived, after being in exile for this period since Titus destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD.

Does the Scripture give credence to those who believe a timeframe may be calculated for prophetic events such as the Rapture of the Church or the Rebirth and Restoration of Israel to true faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?

The prophet Daniel calculated the length of the Babylonian Captivity from Jeremiah’s prophecy. “In the first year of his reign, I Daniel, understood by books the number of the years, whereof the Word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem” (Daniel 9:2). Most Bible centered teachers believe that such evidence has been available to the Church, through the prophecies of Hosea, to give us a credible time frame for the momentous events of prophecy that will close out this Church Age. “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your Redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:28).

The Bible is about two-thirds prophecy, and God certainly wants us to have an understanding of prophecy. It is written, “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter” (Proverbs 25:2). As Daniel wrote in Daniel 12:4, “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.“ Many passages of prophecy would be sealed until the time of the end, which time we believe we are now living in.

It is only the Blessed Paraklete Himself (the Holy Spirit) that can remove the scales from our eyes to make plain the meaning He intended when He inspired the writing of the prophecies. “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all Truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you Things To Come” (John 16:13). Much of what the Old Testament prophets composed by the Spirit’s inspiration, was not understood by the prophets themselves, though they faithfully recorded Jehovah’s message. “Of which Salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the Gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven; which things the angels desire to look into” (1st Peter 1:10-12).

God gives us a huge view into the future of the chosen nation, Israel, and its restoration in the latter days. God spoke through his prophet Hosea in 808 BC. “After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight” (Hosea 6:2). Hosea’s prophecy occurred during the days of Northern Israel, before the successive invasions of the Assyrians as we read in “And the LORD said unto him. Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel” (Hosea 1:4-5). Though much of prophesy has a dual meaning, a “contemporary-to-them-but-historic-to-us” significance, some passages were difficult to interpret under any contemporary, historic, future, or prophetic scenario. “Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: HIs going forth is prepared as the morning: and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the Earth” (Hosea 6:1-3).

In John Gill’s commentary, “An Exposition of the Old and New Testament” (1809), he offers this short explanation of the cryptic second verse of Hosea’s sixth chapter — “After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in HIs sight” (Hosea 6:2) — Gill comments:

“But the Targum comes nearer the truth, which paraphrases the words thus, ‘he will quicken us in the days of consolation which as to come, and in the day of the resurrection of the dead he will raise us up; where by days of consolation are meant the days of the Messiah, with which the Jews generally connect the resurrection of the dead; and if we understand them of the last days of the Messiah, it is not much amiss; for the words of respect the quickening and raising up of the Jews in the latter days, the times of Christ’s spiritual coming and reign: and these two and three days may be expressive of a long and short time, as interpreters differently explain them; of a long time, as the third day is a long time for a man to lie dead, when there can be little or no hope of his reviving — ‘But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done’ (Luke 24:21) — or of a short time, for which two or three days is a common phrase; and both true in this case: it is a long time Israel and Judah have been in captivity, and there may seem little hope of their restoration;

But it will be a short time with the Lord, with whom a thousand years are as one day, and one day as a thousand years [‘But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the LORD as a thousand years as one day’ (2nd Peter 3:8)]: and this I take to be the sense of the words, that after the second Millennium, or the Lord’s two days, and at the beginning of the third, will be the time of their conversion and restoration, reckoning from the last destruction of them by the Romans [70 AD]; for not till then were Israel and Judah wholly in a state of death: many of Israel were mixed among those of Judah before the Babylonish captivity, and many returned with them from it; but, when destroyed by the Romans, there was an end of their civil and church state; which will both be revived on a better foundation at this period of time; but if this conjecture agreeable (for I only propose it as such), the sense may be taken thus, that in a short time after the repentance of Israel, and their conversion to the Lord, they will be brought into a very comfortable and happy state and condition, both with respect to things temporal and spiritual.”

Mr. Gill wrote this in 1809, many years before the Jews began their return to their promised land at the beginning of the 1900’s, which resulted in the declaration of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948.

Certainly, John Gill was not attempting to predict the timing of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture, but many students of prophecy are certainly encouraged that their “Redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:28), in light of Hosea’s ancient writings, fits Hosea’s prophecy. Why?

First, Daniel’s prophecy indicates a time of Tribulation (often called the Tribulation or the Seventieth Week of Daniel). “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy Holy City… and in the midst of the week [the Seventieth Week] he [the Antichrist] shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he [the Antichrist] shall make it desolate” (Daniel 9:24, 27).

Second, the departure of the watching and waiting Church before the beginning of the Tribulation week is held out to the saints as an inducement to remain faithful. “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).

Third, the restoration of the Nation of Israel to true faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will occur suddenly in one day after the seven-year Tribulation Week, when Messiah Jesus returns “Shall the Earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children” (Isaiah 66:8). Israel was born in one day on May 14, 1948.

Fourth, the destruction of Jerusalem by the legions of Rome occurred in 70 AD. When did Rome burn the Temple? The Romanized Jewish historian, Josephus, witnessed the actual event. He recorded that it was burned on ‘exactly the same day it was burned by the Babylonians’. Jeremiah the Prophet gives the exact date of Nebuchadnezzar’s burning of the Jerusalem Temple. ‘Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem. And burned the house of the LORD, and the king’s house; and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire’ (Jeremiah 52:12-13). It was destroyed by the Babylonians on the 10th day of the 5th month or Av 10. John Zachary in his book, ‘Scientific Evidence for the Second Coming of Christ’ on page 8, establishes Sunday, August 5, 70 AD (Julian) — also Av 10 as the correct date for the destruction of the 2nd Temple.

And finally, if we interpret Hosea’s “two days” (Hosea 6:2) as 2,000 years — “one day is with the LORD as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2nd Peter 3:8) — and since the Old Testament Jewish calendar is based upon a 360 day year, then “two days” (Hosea 6:2) — 2,000 years times 360 days equals 720,000 days — “after” (Hosea 6:2) the Av 10 Roman destruction of the Jewish Temple would be the period August 5th 70 AD (Julian) to November 17th 2041 AD (Gregorian).

What did Hosea’s prophecy say would occur after “two days” (Hosea 6:2)? “He will heal us… and He will bind us up” (Hosea 6:1). The future Conversion and Restoration of Israel would occur “after two days” (Hosea 6:2).

SOME THINK — (not John Barela) that based on some of their calculations, Israel could be (not WILL be) -restored for the Millennial Reign of the Messiah soon after November 17, 2041 AD (Gregorian). “In the third day [the thousand year Millennium] He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight” (Hosea 6:2). But, since the Restoration of Israel occurs at the the Second Coming of Christ, which follows the end of the Seventieth Week of Daniel, then about seven years prior, the Pre-Tribulation Rapture would take place. “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36). This additional calculation would mean that the Tribulation would begin on December 25th 2034 AD (Gregorian), which is 2,520 days or seven prophetic years before the end of the Tribulation Week.

Does this mean that December 25th, 2034 AD (Gregorian) is the date of the Pre-Tribulational Rapture? NO, NO, because it would be much more agreeable to be raptured now, instead of years later! “For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better” (Philippians 1:23).

Our Lord Jesus Can Come At Any Time: God himself knows the exact time when he will return, even though he wants us to live with the expectation that he can return at any time. That allows the Judge of All the Earth, as he is referred to in Genesis 18:25, to work his work of judgment at any time. “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of All Flesh: is there any thing too hard for Me?” (Jeremiah 32:27).

God gave us a wonderful story in the Bible when Hezekiah asked for and received a sign from the LORD that he would recover from his illness. Our Creator caused the “space-time continuum” to go back in time, i.e., God reversed the rotation of the Earth temporarily. “And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that He hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees? And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees. And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz” (2nd Kings 20:9-11). The ability of the Alpha and Omega to touch the improbable is underappreciated. “With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27). He is able to affect the timing of prophetic events, such that what things man calculated as impossible, God will bring to pass, for the honor of His prophetic Word. “So shall My Word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).

Why would the Almighty cause this prophecy to seemingly falter from the fulfillment of His end time prophetic goals? It is possible that the “falter” and confusion are for the benefit of:

(1) Satan, to keep him from unnecessarily understanding or interfering with Jehovah’s prophetic plans, i.e., “And his [Satan’s] tail drew the third part of the stars of Heaven, and did cast them to the Earth: and the dragon stood before the woman [Israel] which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her Child [Jesus] as soon as It was born. And she brought forth a Man Child, Who was to rule all nations with a Rod of Iron: and her Child was caught up unto God, and to His Throne” (Revelation 12:4-5),

(2) the scoffers, to harden them for ultimate judgment, i.e., “For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that He might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favor, but that He might destroy them, as the LORD commanded Moses” (Joshua 11:20), and

(3) the Saints, to cause them to develop faith, hope and love, even when our limited resources cannot fathom the sheer perfection of timing of the Father’s prophetic program, “As for God, His way is perfect: the Word of the LORD is tried: He is a Buckler to all those that trust in Him” (Psalm 18:30). “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our LORD” (Romans 8:37-39).

The impending deliverance through the Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church, the subsequent Re-Birth and Restoration of the Nation of Israel to true faith in Jehovah, the Second Coming of the LORD Jesus Christ, and the Millennial Reign of the Messiah, are events of the greatest hope for our world, but all can be manipulated by the Almighty, with greater ease than a child plays with a toy, or than a potter forms his clay. “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear My Words. Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the Word of the LORD came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand so are ye in Mine hand, O house of Israel. At what instant shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; If it do evil in My sight, that it obey not My voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them” (Jeremiah 18:2-10).

Our prayer is: may the “LORD direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ” (2nd Thessalonians 3:5), that when He sovereignly chooses to execute His prophetic plans, we “may be found of Him in peace, without spot and blameless” (2nd Peter 3:14), with our “hand to the plough” (Luke 9:62).

Printed with permission of Today, the Bible & You located at P.O. Box 1722, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma 74013, Phone Number (918) 279-1136 the name of the original article in the September 2025 issue of Today’s Front Page was “Has God Replaced His Chosen People, Israel? Are God’s promises to Israel still in effect? Does God have a plan for the nation of Israel in the end days?” www.JohnBarela.com

Preparations for the land invasion of Israel by Iran are being made

On October 26, 2025 By learnbiblicalIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Today, The Bible & You

Today’s Front Page

The Nation’s Christian Newspaper

October 2025

Preparations for the land invasion

of Israel by Iran are being made!

“And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:”

“And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armor, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:”

“Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:”

“Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.”

“Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.”

“After many days thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.” (Ezekiel 38:3-8)

Analysis: Will Iran Advance a Ground

Invasion into Israel from Syria?

It appears Tehran is weighing the strategic option of mobilizing forces to attack Israel from the north — Dr. Yossi Mansharof breaks down how Israel should respond.

A month after the unprecedented Israeli attack on twenty different targets across Iran, the scope of which is slowly becoming clearer, Iran is still waiting to respond due to forced circumstances. Iran’s air defense systems were significantly damaged in the attack, and the US elections also contributed to the postponement of the attack, due to Tehran’s desire not to promote Trump’s chances of winning. Various senior Iranian officials are again declaring Tehran’s desire to respond to Israel with a third direct attack after the attacks in April and October. As part of the media debate in Iran surrounding the issue, the daily Khorasan, affiliated with the Conservative camp, called on the Iranians regime in its November 21, 2024 article to launch a ground invasion of Israel from the Syrian Golan Heights.

The daily explained that pro-Iranian Shiite militias have already been deployed in this area, and that Syria is expected to approve such an action since it has the right to take military action to liberate the Golan Heights. The daily estimated that such an attack is already in the planning stages; this is backed by the fact that this outline was discussed in recent meetings held in Damascus and Tehran, between Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh and Iranian leader Ali Khamenei’s aide, Ali Larijani, with Assad, and Syrian Foreign Minister and senior officials in Tehran. Khorasan also expressed concern for the Syrian President’s life if the outline were to be implemented, and called on Tehran to devote significant attention to protecting him from Israel.

Iran’s “toolbox” in Syria is rich and diverse, and includes the Imam Hussein Division, established back in 2016 under the command of the then-Quds Force commander, Qassem Soleimani. The division consists of thousands of operatives of various nationalities from across the Middle East. The pro-Iranian militias of the Afghan Fatemiyoun, the Pakistani Zainabiyoun, and of course, Lebanese Hezbollah are also operating in Syria. Alongside these, in recent months, it was reported that dozens of Houthi operatives have taken the initiative to invade Israel by land via the Syrian border with the assistance of the Quds Force; Tehran may choose to use them if it does indeed wish to advance a ground invasion of Israel.

It is worth noting that the Khorasan article also claimed that senior Hezbollah figures led by top commander Ibrahim Aqeel, killed by the IDF on September 20, 2024 had already been planning a ground invasion of Israel from the Golan Heights as a response to the July assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

However, according to the Daily, the planned attack was thwarted by the preemptive strike carried out by Israel. The daily explained that the goal of the ground invasion could not be to “liberate” the Golan Heights, but rather to pressure Israel to end the war in accordance with Hamas and Hezbollah’s terms. As Khorasan admitted, Iran’s missile attacks against Israel have limited success in this regard and cannot serve the purpose of halting the war and forcing Israel to accept a ceasefire under the terms of the Axis of Resistance.

How should Israel respond?

As a lesson of the October 7, 2023 massacre, Israel cannot ignore that Tehran is again toying with the idea of planning a ground invasion of Israel. Alongside the continued the continued IDF initiative on the Syrian side of the border, Israel must prepare diplomatically and militarily to make it clear to both Iran and Syria that they will bear all consequences if the plan is implemented. Despite the ongoing attack on senior members of the “Golan File” — the Hezbollah force responsible for establishing a terrorist infrastructure in the Syrian Golan — Iran’s motivation to operate on the ground through Syria still exists. Therefore, alongside the continued fortifications on the border of the Golan Heights, Israel must make clear to Iranian leaders that Israel will continue to attack Iran directly, including sensitive targets throughout the country and senior members of the Quds Force operating in the area.

Israel must also make it clear to Syria that their regime will pay a heavy price for carrying out this potential attack, to pressure them into refusing the Iranian request to operate from his territory. Israel can also work with Russia to restrain Syria and make it difficult to allow Iran to advance a ground invasion plan and to explain that the consequences of such an attack would lead to chaos in Syria, resulting in its losing its grip on the country. Another possible level for Israel is the United Arab Emirates, which maintains close ties with Syria. According to reports, the UAE has already conveyed a message to Syria immediately after the outbreak of the Swords of Iron war: don’t intervene in the war in Gaza. It seems that Israel has a lot of room to maneuver against Syria, especially since the Syrian front is the least active of the seven areas fighting Israel in the current war.

Printed with permission of Today, the Bible & You located at P.O. Box 1722, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma 74013, Phone Number (918) 279-1136 the name of the original article in the October 2025 issue of Today’s Front Page was “Preparations for the land invasion of Israel by Iran are being made.” www.JohnBarela.com

Judgement Day Approaching!

On April 4, 2024 By learnbiblicalIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Today, The Bible & You

Today’s Front Page

The Nation’s Christian Newspaper

December 2023

Judgment Day Approaching!

Israel: The Cup of Trembling

By Dave Hunt

The word “Israel” occurs 2,565 times in 2,293 verses. More than enough prophecies have already been fulfilled in Israel’s unique history to prove that “the God of Israel” (203 times) is the true God. In Zechariah 12:2-3, God declares: “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”

3.) A.) Bible Hub -- Zechariah 12 verse 2, Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples

This is an amazing prophecy that Jerusalem would become a burden to the whole world and that all of Israel’s neighbors would be united against her. They have fought one another in the past. Yet today, for the first time in history, “all the people round about” are united by Islam to destroy Israel. For more than 50 years, Israel’s neighbors have launched surprise attacks against her and she has proved too strong militarily, even though they outnumber her forty to one. Soundly defeated every time, her Muslim neighbors feign a desire for peace, hoping to deceive and ultimately destroy her.

4.) B.) God vs Satan -- The battle between Good and Evil

The real battle is not between Arabs and Jews but between the God of Heaven and the god of this world. There is no question of the outcome, but it will be costly for both sides: Israel will be severely punished for rebellion, and her enemies will be destroyed.

5.) A.) U.S. Embassy in Israel -- President Trump Gives an Address to the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly

Exactly as foretold, Jerusalem is a burden to all people of the world. More than 60,000 individual votes have been cast in the UN against Israel. This tiny nation with one 1,000th of the world’s population has occupied one-third of the United Nation’s time, a burden indeed!

6.) A.) The Heidelblog -- John Owen Was Not A Baptist 34.) A.) Sydney Anglicans -- Martin Luther's most important impact

John Owen Martin Luther

John Owen, a leading theologian, wrote in the 17th century: “The Jews shall be gathered…into their homeland.” This was also the opinion of the poet John Milton, of John Bunyan, Roger Williams, Oliver Cromwell, and many others. Martin Luther wrote: “If the Jews are Abraham’s descendants...[they should be] back in their own land [with] a state of their own. But...[they are] scattered and despised.” He therefore wrote off the Jews as God’s chosen people and persecuted them.

9.) A.) Calvary Chapel Elk Grove -- The Resurrection of a Nation -- The Miracle of the Modern State of Israel

But today the Jews are back in their own land after 2,500 years of being scattered worldwide, speaking Hebrew just as King David did 3,000 years ago. No other people have returned to reestablish their own nation and language after being cast out of their land for such a period of time.

32.) A.) www.history.com -- How Golda Meir Rose to Become the Iron Lady of Israel

Late Prime Minister Golda Meir of Israel

Some prophecies applicable only to our day are frightening, foretelling God’s judgment. The language is often graphic: “If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies…my sword shall devour flesh.” (Deuteronomy 32:41, 42).

“For, behold, the LORD will come…to render his anger with fury…by his sword…” (Isaiah 66:15, 16).

“And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other … they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried…” (Jeremiah 25:33).

10.) B.) NeverThirsty -- What is the Battle of Armageddon -- Which Nations will be there

The question often asked is whether the United States (or Canada, Australia, et all.) is in Bible prophecy. Of course! Scripture declares that every nation in the world will join together to invade Israel in the last days and be destroyed in the battle of Armageddon: “I will gather all nations [surely all includes America] against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken….Then shall the LORD go forth and fight against those nations…” (Zechariah 12:9; Zechariah 14:2-4).

11.) C.) Dailyo -- 1973 - 2023 -- Why the Israel-Hamas War resonates with the Yom Kippur War of 1973

But wouldn’t the United States be spared for being Israel’s friend? In fact, the U.S. State Department has often been against Israel. This was true in the Yom Kippur War. In a sneak attack (October 1973), 80,000 Egyptians overwhelmed 500 Israeli defenders along the Suez and 1,400 Syrian tanks swept down the Golan with only one Israeli tank in service to oppose them. Israel was taken by surprise. Most of her armed forces were on holiday. The initial success of the attackers so electrified the Arab world that nine other Arab states rushed to get in on the slaughter.

12.) A.) WJON -- David A. Rausch, 79, Cold Spring

Historian David A. Rausch

Historian David A. Rausch writes: “Jordan’s King Hussein sent two of his best armored brigades to Syria. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait financially underwrote the huge cost while sending thousands of troops to fight the Israelis… Kuwait lent her British-made Lightening jets to Egypt. Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi turned ove forty French-made Mirage III fighters and 100 tanks. Iraqi MiG fighter jets as well as tank and infantry divisions fought on the Golan Heights, while a squadron of Iraqi Hunter jets were utilized by Egypt. Arabs predicted the extermination of the Jewish state and the ‘liberation’ of Palestine….”

13.) B.) Wikipedia -- Yom Kippur War -- Maps No 2

The Soviet Union blocked any UN attempt at a cease-fire and refortified the Arab forces with armaments and supplies by sea and air. It was the closest Israel ever came to being defeated. But when the war ended, the Israeli tank columns were on the outskirts of Damascus and Cairo and could have taken those cities had they not turned back. Tragically, Israel suffered about 3.000 dead, which would be comparable to the U.S. losing 150,000. Except for a series of miracles from God, Israel would not have survived.

14.) C.) Richard Nixon Foundation -- America's Airlift in the 1973 Yom Kippur War 14.) A.) U.S. Naval Institute -- The U.S. Navy in the Yom Kippur War

Where was her friend, the United States? Dozens of notices were sent to the Nixon White House by America’s National Security Administration (NSA) that an Arab Pearl Harbor was about to be launched against Israel. Nixon sat on them. Kissinger hid at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York the day of the attack and waited another three days before convening the UN Security Council. Declining to rush desperately needed military supplies to Israel, the White House said it had to be careful not to upset the Arabs and cause an oil crisis.

15.) A.) Washington Report on Middle East Affair -- No Explanation Disproves Israels Guilt in 1967 Attack on USS Liberty -- June - July 2016

Six years earlier, on June 8, 1967, the fourth morning of the “Six-day War,” the USS Liberty, an electronics eavesdropping vessel, arrived off the Sinai coast and began to suck in every Israeli military communication, relaying it all to the British Secret Service’s giant computer installation on Cyprus. From there, complete maps of every Israeli military move were transmitted in advance to the Arab armed forces. With that help, the Arabs might have been able to use their overwhelming numerical superiority to turn the tide of the war. Israel had no choice except to sink the Liberty. Of course, the media screamed about this “cold-blooded attack.” No one believed Israel’s public excuse that the Liberty had been mistaken for a hostile Egyptian ship, and neither the U.S. nor Israel has publicly told the truth.

16.) G.) Living Waters -- These Are the Nations That Will Attack Israel -- Air Force Squadron with Tactical Nuclear Weapon Blasts and Missles

Yes, the United States, too, will attack Israel and will be punished at Armageddon. God declares plainly that He will bring all nations against Israel to destroy them: “In the latter days…I will bring thee against my land…my fury shall come up in my face…there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel…the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things [on] the earth, and all the men [on] the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence…[all nations] shall know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 38:16-23).

This is terrifying language! What causes this “great shaking” of the entire planet and every living creature upon it? God is personally coming to earth as He did at Mount Sinai when He gave the Law and He is going to take vengeance upon the enemies of Israel!

18.) C.) True Bible Teaching -- Jerusalem Future Capital of the World

There are two specific reasons for God’s judgment: “I will also gather all nations …into the valley of Jehoshaphat [between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, where God miraculously destroyed invading nations without Israel lifting a finger (2nd Chronicles 21:10-25)], and will plead with [punish] them there for my people and for my heritage Israel whom they have [1] scattered among the nations, and [2] parted my land” (Joel 3:2).

19.) C.) Quora -- How did the Romans disperse the Jews after Titus victory and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. -- Map

Of course, all nations have participated in persecuting and scattering the Jews from country to country for 2,500 years. The second reason for God’s judgment falling on all nations, however, is something that has only occurred within our generation:

19.) I.) E-International Relations -- The United Nations building in New York City, New York

“They have…parted [divided] my land.”

Israel has been overrun by invaders many times–but never did any conqueror divide the land. The victor does not share its spoils with others. Since World War I, however, all nations have joined to divide the land of Israel.

20.) F.) These Bones Shall Live PowerPoint

The 1917 Balfour Declaration, the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, and the 1922 Declaration of Principles by the League of Nations all recognized that the land that had become known as “Palestine” (since the Romans renamed Israel in A.D. 135) belonged to the Jews. It was set aside to become the national homeland of the Jewish people “internationally guaranteed, and… formally recognized to rest upon the ancient historic connection.” Of course, history ties Israel to all of “Palestine.”

21.) A.) The Israel Forever Foundation -- Legal Rights and Title of Sovereignty of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and Palestine

Britain was given the mandate to see that the Jews were safely settled there. The discovery of huge reservoirs of oil under Arab lands caused Britain to keep Jewish inhabitants out and let in tens of thousands of Arabs. Just when millions of Jews desperately needed a haven to which they could flee from Nazi Germany, Britain’s 1939 White Paper limited Jewish immigrants to 10,000 per year for a maximum of five years, plus an additional 25,000 “refugees” during that period, then the door to Palestine would be shut entirely to the Jews. Since the Nazis had marked for extinction 11 million Jews in Europe Jews in Europe, the quota of 25,000 defied God and conscience.

22.) A.) The Holocaust 22.) B.) The National WWII Museum -- New Orleans -- The Holocaust

A year earlier, President Roosevelt had gathered delegates from 32 countries to Evian, France, to discuss the worsening plight of the Jews. Roosevelt made it clear that the United States would do nothing. Britain said there was no room in Palestine and it was not to be discussed. Professing their great sympathy for Europe’s Jews whom everyone knew to be exterminated, the nations offered various excuses why they could do nothing to intervene.

24.) A.) The New York Times -- Hitler and the Holocaust

Hitler shrewdly declared, “We…are to put all these criminals at the disposal of these countries…even on luxury ships.” When the conference ended with the Jews completely abandoned, Hitler mocked the participants: “It was recently regarded as wholly incomprehensible why Germany did not wish to preserve in its population…the Jews…[yet these] countries seem in no way anxious to [receive them] now that the opportunity offers.”

25.) A.) Cambridge University Press & Assessment -- World War II (Part II) -- The Cambridge World History of Genocide

The entire world was Hitler’s partner in destroying the Jews!

In 1944, Hitler offered to sell to the Allies 500,000 Hungarian Jews for $2 each, and no one would take them! England said there was “no room” in Palestine for them! In 1943, Britain and America had agreed to say and do nothing about the Holocaust, fearful that if pressed, Hitler would dump the Jews on his critics. The Allies steadfastly refused the repeated urgent appeals from Jewish organizations to bomb the rail lines going in and out of the extermination camps. God will judge all nations!

26.) C.) Wikipedia -- British Empire in World WarII -- Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen water color picture 26.) D.) Britannica -- British Empire -- History, Countries, Map, Size & Facts 26.) E.) Quora -- The British Empire in the 1920's Map -- Why did the British Empire decline so quickly after WW2

After the war, a trickle of emaciated survivors of Hitler’s death machines sought ot reach “Palestine” in half-sinking ships. Some who got within sight of the land God had given to them as an everlasting inheritance (1st Chronicles 16:15-18) were driven back by the British navy and put into internment camps on Cyprus. Many who did manage to find shelter within what would become the new Jewish State of Israel were rounded up by the British and removed to those camps. Britain created Jordan out of most of Promised Land. The demise of British Empire upon which “the sun never sank,” can be counted from the time Britain betrayed the Jews, one more fulfilment of the prophecy, “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee…” (Genesis 12:3).

27.) D.) m.knesset.gov.il -- November 29, 1947 (Kaf Tet B'November) -- Best picture for 27.) and Map of Israel on November 29, 1947

When the UN finally voted to partition Palestine on November 29, 1947 (UN Resolution 181), God’s “chosen people” received about 13 percent of the land that had once belonged to them! Thus, Joel’s prophecy remaining to be fulfilled is the judgment on the nations for having “parted” God’s land: “The land shall not be sold [partitioned] forever; for the land is mine” (Leviticus 25:23).

10.) I.) Amos 9 verse 15 -- I will plant Israel in Their Own Land -- Never Again to be Uprooted From The Land I Have Given Them 17.) A.) Tov Rose -- The only country in the world That bears the same name, Speaks the same language,

God’s anger is growing hotter against the nations of this world for robbing Israel of what He gave to her. Yet in continued defiance of God, every peace proposal that the West has imposed upon Israel has involved further dividing of God’s land. President Bush, a professing Christian, originated the so-called “road map to peace,” which calls for a further division of the land of Israel.

29.) A.) Quora -- Has Israel ever given up land for peace

On her part, has been willing to give away more and more land in exchange for promises of “peace” from the PLO in spite of the fact that its charter calls for the destruction of Israel and that its maps and those of the entire Arab world do not even acknowledge Israel’s existence. The fact that Israel has been forced to do so by the West is no excuse. For this she will be punished severly in what is called “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7). Yes, God will deliver her, but only after two-thirds of all Jews on earth have been killed (Zechariah 13:8, 9).

30.) A.) Bible Hub -- Zachariah 12 verse 9 --So on that day i will set out to destroy al the nations that come against Jerusalem

There is no more appropriate place and way to destroy the nations that have abused Israel than when they, in the spirit of Satan, come to effect once and for all what Hitler called the “final solution to the Jewish problem.” Believers are to meet together to encourage and exhort one another from Scripture, “so much the more, as ye see the day [of judgment] approaching” (Hebrews 10:25). Fulfilled prophecies are heralding that day as never before.

Printed with permission of Today, The Bible & You located at P.O. Box 1722, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma 74013, Phone No. (918) 279-1136. The name of the original article in the December 2023 issue of Today’s Front Page was “Judgment Day Approaching — Israel: The Cup of Trembling” www.JohnBarela.com.

Will the Dome of the Rock Mosque on the Temple Mount Soon be Destroyed?

On January 27, 2024January 27, 2024 By learnbiblicalIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Today, The Bible & You

Today’s Front Page

The Nation’s Christian Newspaper

December 2023

Will the Dome of the Rock Mosque

on the Temple Mount Soon be Destroyed?

Is it time for the Third Temple to be built?

Prophesy is at Hand!

1.) A.) DreamsTime -- Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, Israel

If they do, it will fulfill the Biblical prophecy in Matthew 24:15….“When ye therefore shall see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ [Anti-Christ] spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place [Jewish Temple]…”

(In other words, the Jewish Temple MUST be built for it to be desecrated.)

2.) D.) Temple Institute -- The Temple Mount -- Temple Institute

The word, “holy place,” used in this Scripture above, is referencing the New Jewish Temple that will be rebuilt in Jerusalem in the near future. Today there is an institution that is devoted specifically to this cause, it is called, “The Temple Institute.” On my many visits to Israel, we have visited this Institute several times. They were founded in 1987 and are currently planning and developing the construction of the New Temple, which they claim that everything is ready and prepared. All they need is the go-ahead.

3.) A.) Free Grace International -- A New Temple in Jerusalem -- Bringing The Holy Temple to Life Every Day

In fact, the Temple Institute has currently restored over 60 different sacred temple vessels including the Priest’s breastplate, the crown of the priest, the shofar, musical instruments, the laver, the mizrak, and more. Even some of the most important vessels: the Menorah, the Incense Alter, the Golden Table of Showbread, and a mock-up of the “Ark of the Covenant.”

It is only a matter of time before this Temple gets built and fulfills the prophecy in Matthew! Be Ready! If a major earthquake destroys the Al-Aqsa Mosque, what should happen to the holy site?

4.) A.) NBC News -- Jerusalem's Old City at risk in Earthquake

NBC, in 2004, predicted that a major earthquake would hit the old city before 2054: https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna3980139

5.) A.) The Jerusalem Post -- When a major earthquake rippled through Jerusalem -- Israel News

Given that the infrastructure is old and crumbling due to excavations underneath the mosque, it is conceivable that the entire structure, if not the entire Mount, could collapse. The last major earthquake was in 1927 and caused extensive but reparable damage, next time that may not be the case. Such a collapse would be viewed with religious fervor by Jews and Christians as a possible sign of the arrival of the Messiah.

6.) D.) Israel's Prophesied Annihilation of the Palestinians by David Bay

We have a DVD, “Israel’s Prophesied Annihilation of the Palestinians” that tells the following possibility regarding the possible fulfillment of clearing Mt. Moriah to build the third Temple. Obadiah 15-18 — Set in End Times because verse 15 begins with the prophetic words, “For the Day of the Lord …”. God consistently uses these words to denote the End of the Age prophecies, and this is time is no exception.

“For the Day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your dealings will return upon your own head. For as you have drunk upon the mountain of My holiness [desecrating it in the wild revelry of the destroyers] so shall all the nations drink continually [in turn, of My wrath]; yes, they shall drink, talk foolishly, and swallow down [the full measure of punishment] and they shall be [destroyed] as though they had not been.” [Verses 15-16]

“But on Mount Zion [in Jerusalem] there shall be deliverance [for those who escape], and it shall be holy, and the house of Jacob shall possess its [own former] possessions. The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, but the house Esau shall be stubble; they shall kindle and burn them and consume them, and there shall be no survivor of the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken it.” [Verses 17-18; Emphasis added].

7.) A.) Reddit -- Greater Israel -- The land Jews were promised in the Bible and the Torah

The remaining three verses [19-21] tell in great detail how completely Israel will expand out to possess the land God had promised to Israel. This land includes Lebanon, part of Syria, two-thirds of Jordan [Moab and Edom provinces], and the Negev Desert. When Israel expands her borders following this war with the Palestinians, Egyptians, and Jordanians, she will not only win but will send her armed forces out to occupy all the land God had promised them.

8.) A.) But on Mount Zion there will be deliverance, and the house of Jacob will reclaim their possession -- A colorful Sunset picture and Scripture

But God will also bring about the purification of Mount Zion through this war. Notice in verse 17 that God says: “But on Mount Zion [in Jerusalem] there shall be deliverance [for those who escape], and it shall be holy.” The only way that Mount Zion [the Temple Mount] could be made holy in God’s sight is for the Muslim Dome of the Rock to be removed!

This is a very interesting concept, because the New World Order Plan to produce Antichrist calls for just such a destruction of the Dome of the Rock.

Since the most important pagan edifice on Mount Zion [Temple Mount] is the Muslim Dome of the Rock, then the question immediately coming to mind is, “Could the Arabs be planning to blow up the Dome and blame the Jews, to instantly unite all one billion Muslims in the world, in a Holy War against Israel?” When I read this CNN report, I immediately reached back to my bookcase to pull down the most important New World Order book that details how the Antichrist is going to deceive the world. In a matter of seconds, I had located the place in which the Dome of the Rock is mentioned.

9.) A.) Robert Clifton Robinson -- On the Foal of a Donkey is your Messiah

Note: “If the Messiah is to appear, then he must be produced. And producing the Messiah … is just as much a function of humanity as of Divinity … There are doubtless many Jews … who will be willing to regard him as their long-awaited Messiah. Some Muslims may take a similar view … it may be possible for the New David to ride into Jerusalem in all resplendent majesty. Note the word ‘ride’ … on a donkey as predicted in Zechariah 9:9 … it would seem advisable for the new Messiah to repeat it, donkey and all … The processional route will, of course, lie directly across the Kidron ravine, as close as possible to the Temple Mount … he must be duly enthroned and anointed with oil (in token of Psalm 45:5-7) amid the rubble of the Dome of the Rock …” [The Armageddon Script, page 233-335]

10.) A.) Yahweh's Restoration Ministry -- The Lost Temple Mount illustration

Antichrist will receive the recognition of being the Jewish Messiah as he is standing “amid the rubble of the Dome of the Rock!” Most interestingly, our search amongst the proganda of the Palestinians and Hamas [the terrorist organization supporting Arafat], turned up an unbelievable fact: Palestinian propagandists are already preparing their people for rhe blowing up of the Dome of the Rock! Time and time again, militant Palestinian organizations have warned that Israel is planning to blow up their beloved Aqsa (Dome of the Rock).

Therefore, the deed is not only prophesied in Obadiah, but it is now verified twice from Palestinians sources — Arafat on CNN on September 7, 2000, and now by the Palestinian propagandists. The Arabs will be God’s human agent by which God will fulfill His prophecy in Obadiah 17, that “On Mount Zion, there shall be deliverance … and it shall be holy“. The Arabs do not realize they are going to purge Mount Zion of the pagan Dome to make it holy; they think they are doing it because such an act would instantly unite all one billion Muslims in the world into such a frenzy that Israel cannot possibly survive the ensuring furious onslaught.

11.) A,) Studying Bible Prophecy -- WordPress.com Progress of The Third Temple -- Part One 31.) B.) Kehila News, Israel -- The Millennial Temple -- Literal or Allegorial (Part 4 of 4)

ISRAEL’S FUTURE THIRD

AND FOURTH TEMPLES

The Old Testament devotes considerable attention to describing the portable tent, or tabernacle, of the Jewish people built under the leadership of Moses. After the conquest of Canaan, the tabernacle and its contents remained at Shiloh throughout the time of Judges. After Shiloh was destroyed (about 1050 BC), the Ark traveled through various Philistine cities and finally was brought to David’s palace south of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and then into the holy of holies of the First Temple dedicated by Solomon about 952 BC.

13.) B.) Templar Cross -- The Solomon's Temple -- First Temple of Jerusalem illustration

The First Temple geometrically resembled the Tabernacle through it was twice as large and built of immense quantities of stone, cedar wood, and lined with gold. [See Exodus 25-31; Exodus 35-40, Numbers 3:25 ff, Numbers 4: ff, also Philo (2nd Mos. 91) and Josephus (Ant. 3:122 ff). Moses built everything according to a pattern revealed to him on Mt. Sinai, Hebrews 8:5.]

After the First Temple was completed (1st Kings 5-8), the Tabernacle of Moses was dismantled. It may have been stored in a room under the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. There is some evidence that it may still lie there to this day.

14.) A.) HistoryVille -- How King Nebuchadnezzar Destroyed Jerusalem in 587 B.C. illustration

Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and the First Temple on the 9th of Av 586 BC, the Jews were then taken captive to Babylon and the city had no center of worship until Zerubbabel and the returning exiles built the Second Temple, completing it in 516 BC.

15.) C.) SlideShare -- Facts on the Second Temple -- Haggai the 10th prophet PowerPoint

The Second Temple, modest in comparison with its predecessor, was rebuilt and enlarged by Herod the Great beginning in 20 BC, Herod recruited 10,000 workmen and set them to the task commencing in the 17th year of this reign. Josephus gives vivid descriptions of the Second Temple and its environs and also records the terrible destruction by the Roman general Titus in 70 AD.

16.) C.) Quora -- Remodel of Herod the Great's Second Temple and surrounding City of Jerusalem illustration

1st Kings 6 ff, 1st Chronicles 22 ff. 3, Ezra, Nehemiah and Haggai describe the rebuilding of the temple after the Babylonian captivity. This is the so-called “Second Temple” which Herod the Great later greatly enlarged. Jesus was dedicated in the Second Temple, He cast out money changers there on two occasions, and He taught frequently in the temple courts.

17.) A.) The Spirit of Truth -- Jesus told His Disciples that Jerusalem and the Second Temple would be Destroyed illustration

During the 70-year captivity of the Jews in Babylon and again in the diaspora, just ending in the last century, the Jewish people have centered their worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in synagogues around the world. Since the terrible destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in AD 70, temple sacrifices, offerings, instruction, and worship have ceased in accordance with an Old Testament prophecy of Hosea (about 746 BC):

“For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. Afterward, the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days.” (Hosea 3:4, 5)

18.) F.) Amazon.com -- When The Third Temple is Built The Rapture Play Will Begin

The regathering of the Jewish people to their homeland in our time (as predicted in Ezekiel 37) is being accompanied by a rapidly accelerating religious consciousness in Israel, the awakening of ancient longings and aspirations, and the rediscovery of many immutable promises God has made to the chosen seed of Abraham. The fact that a Third Temple is to be built can be shown from the Tanach. But three passages in the New Testament also refer to such a building not now in existence as of this writing in 1996 AD. Many Christians have thus speculated in recent years about when the Third Temple would be built. This is considered by many to be an important milestone pointing to the end of the age. Plus, since the Third Temple will be used by the Antichrist to declare he is God, those followers of the new world order are in full agreement with this plan.

19.) C.) The Israel Forever Foundation -- Six-Day War -- 67_borders_peace 19.) B.) The Meaningful Life Center -- 50th Anniversary of the Six-Day War -- It's Impact Today

The entire Temple Mount contains cisterns and passages most of which have been inaccessible since 70 AD. The Temple Mount proper was liberated from Jordanian control in the Six-Day War of 1967 but then returned by Israel to the custody of the Muslim Waqf (Jordan). The site is some 34 acres in extent with the prominent “Dome of the Rock” near the center and Al Aqsa mosque at the South end. Jews pray night and day at the Western Wall which is below the Temple Mount, along a section of the great retaining wall of the Mount, in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. The Western Wall is as close as Jews can get these days to the site of their ancient temples.

Dr. Asher Kaufman of Keough School of Global Affairs

Dr. Asher Kaufman formerly of the Racah Institute of Physics, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, for many years made careful studies on Mount Moriah leading him to believe the Temples of Solomon and Zerubbabel were both located just north of the Dome of the Rock on the paved platform area. The Holy of Holies is believed to have been approximately on the bedrock covered by a small shrine, the Dome of the Spirits. The Muslim stewards of the site have systematically destroyed or covered over all evidence that the site was once important to the Jews or Christians.

21.) A.) Archaeology and Jerusalem with Dr. Dan Bahat

Others, including Dan Bahat the Dean of Jerusalem archaeologists today, have argued persuasively that the First and Second Temples were most certainly located where the present Dome of the Rock shrine now stands. A third view is that of Architect Tuvia Sagiv who presents striking evidence that the Temple locaton was South of the Dome of the Rock, but North of Al Aqsa Mosque, under the present Muslim El Kas fountain.

22.) A.) You Tube -- Dialogue at the Temple Mount with Architect Tuvia Sagiv

The Temple Mount area is also the location of the birth of the Christian church at the feast of Pentecost which followed seven sabbaths plus one day after the death of Messiah. Neither Christians nor Jews are presently allowed to pray or worship on the site despite its historic importance to all of Abraham’s children.

23.) A.) Flickr -- Peter Paul Rubens -- The Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek

To go back even further in time the Temple Mount has great historical importance to the Jews. Abraham met a priest of the true God named Melchidezek at Mount Moriah about 4000 years ago (Genesis 14, Hebrews 5-7). A few years later, Abraham offered his son as a sacrifice there (Genesis 22), and King David purchased the site from a local resident named Ornan (1st Chronicles 21), in about 1015 BC.

Muslim claims to the Temple Mount date only from 638 AD. The Crusaders turned the Muslim buidlings of the Mount into churches in 1099 until Saladin restored the Arab rule of Jerusalem in 1187 AD.

34.) B.) Reddit -- Paul's Speech on Mar's Hill in Athens -- A Bridge Between Faith and Philosophy illustration

The New Testament makes only brief references to temples, in fact, the Apostle Paul speaking to a crowd in Athens from Mars HIll said:

“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of Heaven and Earth, does not live in shrines made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life, and breadth, and everything…” (Acts 17:24-25).

24.) G.) Knowing Jesus -- 82 Bible versese about Faith -- So Faith Comes from Hearing and Hearing by the Word of Christ

Instead, the emphasis of the New Covenant is the personal presence of Jesus as Messiah, Immanuel (which means “God with us”) dwelling within and in the midst of his people whenever and wherever they gather in his name.

25.) A.) Knowing Jesus -- The Disciples were first called Christians in Antioch -- Acts 11 verse 26

The New Testament opens with the four-gospel revelation of God’s Son, Jesus. John in his gospel says that God in Christ “tabernacled” among men. Later in the First Century, both Paul and Peter call the true church “living temple.” Individual believers are “living stones” and Christ is Himself the foundation stone or the “chief cornerstone.” For two thousand years of Biblical history the emphasis has been on assemblies or congregations of Christians or Jews, not on sacred buildings.

26.) B.) You Tube -- The Third Temple Coming Soon!

Yet there are at least three references in the New Testament to a temple building existing in Jerusalem in the future. From the context, these references appear to refer to a new, or “Third Temple” yet to be built in the city. There has been growing interest since the rebirth of Israel in 1948 among the Jews for a central place of worship in their capital city. Although synagogues have served admirably as centers of worship and community for the Jews in their dispersion, a temple in Jerusalem on the exact site of the Second Temple is required by the Jews as a central house of prayer and focal point of the faith until Messiah comes.

Our Lord Jesus spoke of the Third Temple building in Jerusalem when discussing with His disciples the chain of events that would bring the close of the present age and His return. He spoke of an event yet future predicted by Daniel the prophet when the temple in Jerusalem would suffer ultimate defilement by a false Messiah who claimed to be God:

27.) B.) The Messianic Prophecy Bible Project -- A man representing the Antichrist standing at a balcony looking out

“When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth, let him understand), Let them which be in Judea flee to the mountains; let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house; Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! Pray that your flight be not in winter or on a sabbath. For then there shall be great tribulation, such as was since the beginning of the world to this time, no, and nor ever shall be.” (Matthew 24:15-21)

26.) C.) Israel Today -- Third Temple Preparation are in Full Swing

Since only properly consecrated temple can be defiled, this passage implies a functioning, dedicated Third Temple and priesthood in existence in the end time at the time Jesus said He would return. The apostle Paul, writing a few years later, describes this same event:

27.) E.) Compelling Truth -- What Is The Meaning of The Abomination of Desolation

“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 the Lord is at hand. Let no one 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 opposes and exalts himself against all that is called god, showing himself that he is God.,” (2nd Thessalonians 2:1-4).

Emmanuel Macron has Roman Ancestry 28.) A.) Carl Joseph Ministries -- Antiochus IV Epiphanes -- Daniel Chapter 8

The coming false Jewish messiah, resembling his predecessor Antiochus Epiphanes (~175 BC), is the “worthless shepherd” spoken of by the prophet Zechariah — and the man Jesus spoke of when he said to the Jews, “I have come in my Father’s name and you would not receive me. Another will come in his own name, him you will receive.” (John 5:43) (See also Daniel 9:27, Revelation 13:18).

29.) A.) Spiritual Meditations -- John the Apostle of Love

Finally, the existence of the Third Temple in Jerusalem at the close of the age is confirmed by the aged apostle John when he recorded the Book of the Revelation:

“And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.” (Revelation 11:1-2).

In contrast to the earthly city the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament, describes the heavenly city of New Jerusalem, descending from space, as a city that contains no temple at all:

“And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.” (Revelation 21:22, 23).

31.) C.) Kehila News, Israel -- The Millennial Temple -- Literal or Allegorical (Part 1 of 4) -- 3D view of a model from above 31.) B.) Kehila News, Israel -- The Millennial Temple -- Literal or Allegorial (Part 4 of 4)

There may yet be a fourth Temple bullt in Israel. The prophet Zechariah (c. 550 BC) says that Messiah, whom he calls the “Branch” will yet build a temple in Israel, that would be during the Millennium.

31.) F.) From the Heart of A Shepherd by Pastor Travis D. Smith -- The Temple of the Millennial Kingdom (Ezekiel 40)

Since all orthodox born again believers hold to a literal, physical return of our Lord Jesus, the construction of the Fourth Temple, would be the responsibility of their Lord, Yeshua Hamashiach. This temple may well be that seen by Ezekiel (ca. 570 BC) in a vision. A temple that matches his description has never yet been built.

32.) B.) Jesus ~ Amazing Grace -- Are You Ready to go Home with Jesus -- Any Day Now -- At the Trump of God

Time to keep looking up.

Printed with permission of Today, The Bible & You located at P.O. Box 1722, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma 74013, Phone No. (918) 279-1136. The name of the original article in the December 2023 issue of Today’s Front Page was “Will the Dome of the Rock Mosque on the Temple Mount Soon be Destroyed?” www.JohnBarela.com