Revelation Chapter 11:1 Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. 2 “But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.
This is a truly amazing chapter in the Book of Revelation. Remember that this was written about 90 A.D., more than 1,900 years ago, and yet it speaks clearly of the temple in Jerusalem being measured. At the time John is writing this, their own temple had already been destroyed in 70 A.D. by Titus and his Roman army. John sees a temple that is future for him, the Third temple that will exist on this site, will not be built until the beginning of the 7 year Tribulation period.
You see, we have a bit of a problem right now, in that the Islamic Religious site, the “Dome of the Rock”, occupies the Temple mount site in Jerusalem.
How is it that John knew 1900 years ago, that a gentile religious building would occupy the temple mount site, other than the temple itself? If you think about it, this is an outrageous thought to any Fundamentalist Jew. That a gentile religious site would share the temple mount site with their temple. And yet 1900 years ago, John sees that there is just such a structure there in the outer court of the temple, amazing!
John is told to take a “Reed”, a device used during that time for measuring things. He is to go and measure the temple. He is told to not measure the “outer court” because it “Has been given to the Gentiles.”
Ezekiel 40:5 Ezekiel saw “A Wall around the Temple. There was a wall all around the outside of the temple. In the man’s hand was a measuring rod six cubits long, each being a cubit and a handbreadth; and he measured the width of the wall structure, one rod; and the height, one rod
The temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem in the last days, just before Jesus returns. Most likely the construction and completion will not start until the beginning of the 7 year tribulation period. As the antichrist is introduced during the opening of the first “seal”, he brings peace with him that appears to last 3 1/2 years. We believe part of this peace plan will be a treaty between Israel and the Arab nations. This is the very thing that those in the middle east are clamoring for right now, someone to make peace between the Arab people and the Jewish people.
To make peace with the Arab peopl Israel will be forced to give up something in exchange for permission to rebuild their temple. The Palestinians are insisting on being given their own land. The problem is that God gave this land to the Jewish people when He called Abraham, back in the 12th chapter of the Book of Genesis. God said that the land would belong to Israel forever, it is for certain that He is not going to allow them to give away their land.
There is currently a very active movement in Israel to rebuild the temple. Various groups such as “The Temple Mount Faithful” are actively pursuing the rebuilding of the third temple. From this verse here in Revelation chapter 11 and other verses, we also know that the sacrifices are to be re-instituted. We know that the antichrist will stop the “daily sacrifices” 3 1/2 years into the tribulation as he brings a statue of himself into the temple and commands that it should be worshipped. There are some very zealous groups today that are trying to bring the rebuilding of the temple by peaceful means. There are also radical sects that are seeking to plan an attack on the temple mount to blow up the dome of the rock.
Dr. Asher Kaufman has studied the temple site and the ancient documents for many years. He is convinced that the original temple stood 322 feet north of the Arab “dome of the rock”.
If you look at the current temple mount site, there is a little flat rock outcropping called the “Dome of the Spirits” or the “Dome of the tablets”. Dr. Kaufman believes this is where the “Holy of Holies” was located in Solomon’s temple.
The following illustrations show the Temple mount area today, with the “Dome of the Rock” and the Temple that will be rebuilt right next to it.
The next 2 illustrations show an aerial shot of the Temple Mount area. You can see an open area just north of the Gold topped “Dome of the Rock”, the Islamic site.
The Blue line shows the wall that will be built between the newly built Temple and the Dome of the Rock, separating the two, just as John is told here in Revelation 11, not to measure that area outside the temple, because it has been given to the Gentiles.
Another amazing fact: If the temple were to be built in this open part of the Temple Mount, The east-west axis of the Dome of the Tablets would line up exactly with the Ancient Eastern Gate located underneath the Southern side of the present day East Gate!. We know that the original Temple, was aligned directly with the East Gate.
This photo taken from the Mount of Olives, looking straight across the valley to the East Gate, with the temple mount in the background. The “Dome of the Spirits is where Holy of Holies stood in the original temple, (red arrow in the background).
Originally, When the original Temple existed, if you were standing on the Mount of Olives you could look directly over the valley and see the Eastern Gate (also called Shushan or HaKohan gate) into the huge area (presently north of the Dome of the Rock) and see all the gates (at different levels) in a perfect line.
This next picture is a shot of the Temple Mount, with the Islamic Dome of the Rock, and superimposed into the picture, a illustration of the new Temple that will be built, what it will look like.
Notice that the entrance to the Temple is in perfect alignment with the eastern gate.
All of the walls around Jerusalem were high, except the wall in the east, so that the priest who burned the heifer standing on the top of the Mount of Olives, could look through the gateway of the sanctuary while he sprinkled the blood during the day of atonement [Mishnah, Middot 2:4]
Dr. Kaufman concluded that the original site of the Temple was at the northwest corner of the Temple Mount north of the Dome of the Rock. He has determined that the east-west line aligning the Mount of Olives with the Eastern Gate and the Temple bisects on a small shrine called the Dome of the Spirits.
The Holy of Holies is thought to have been located on the bedrock covered by this small area today where the little Dome of the Spirits is located. Dr. Kaufman noted that the bedrock inside this little domed area is the only such bedrock appearing on the Temple Mount –it sticks up from the surface.
The rest of the area around the Dome of the Rock has been paved. This is the “Eben Shetiyyah” (Foundation stone) that was the floor in the ancient Holy of Holies. [Dr. Asher Kaufman, Biblical Archeology Review, Vol IX No.2, Mar./Apr. 1983, Where the Ancient Temple of Jerusalem Stood, Extant "Foundation Stone" for the Ark of the Covenant Is Identified]
According to Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (Maimonides) in referring to Talmudic writings from the times before the destruction of Herod’s refurbished Temple in 70 A.C.E., the Temple was not built in the center of the Temple Mount (in the Dome of the Rock location [Encyclopedia Judaica CD, "Temple Mount"]).
He states that the Temple Courtyard was not situated directly in the center of the Temple Mount. Rather, it was set off farther from the southern wall of the Temple Mount than from the wall of any other direction. [Mishnah, Middot 2:1] This explains why the entire inner court fits perfectly in the area north of the Dome of the Rock and west of the present day East Gate!
Rabbi Moses: “Ever since first being built by Solomon, the Temple stood at the top of a hill that came to be known as the Temple Mount.” This open area next to the existing Islamic Dome of the Rock, is the only location that permits you to see the “East Gate” and the mount of olives, this would confirm the position of this location.
There is a very interesting statement in the Book of Ezekiel, regarding this Eastern Gate:
Ezekiel 44:1 Then He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary which faces toward the east, but it was shut.
The Eastern Gate is the most important and most impressive gate in Jerusalem, and the only visible entrance to the city of Jerusalem from the East. This oldest of all the gates to the city was the only gate not rebuilt by the Islamic leader Suleiman the Magnificent in AD 1539-42. Suleiman understood from the Bible, that the Messiah was prophesied to come through this Eastern Gate upon His return to the earth. Suleiman apparently believed the Bible so he sealed it shut in the year 810. It has remained closed now for nearly 1,2oo years.
The Bible says that when Jesus returns, He will descend out of Heaven (Revelation 19), and descend upon the Mount of Olives to the same place that He departed the earth from, back to heaven.
Acts 1:11… “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven
Zechariah 14:4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east
700 years before Jesus was born, the prophet Malachi said that when Jesus comes, it will be to His temple, and suddenly.
Malachi 3:1 “Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple…
This was true at Jesus first coming, as He was brought to the temple as a baby, and it appears that He will come first to His temple again as Malachi predicted, when Jesus returns the second time.
Matthew 24:27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
When Jesus returns He will touchdown on the Mount of Olives and then travel through the East Gate.
Zechariah 14:1-4: 1 Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, And your spoil will be divided in your midst. 2 For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; The city shall be taken, The houses rifled, And the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then the LORD will go forth And fight against those nations, As He fights in the day of battle. 4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the south.
At the moment that Jesus feet touch the Mount of Olives, there will be a tremendous Earthquake, causing the Mount to split in two.
The surface of the earth is cracked and broken and is in a constant state of movement, that we call earthquakes. Whenever two different plates on the earths surface move against each other, pressure is built up until the pressure is released by an earthquake.
The following map shows the major cracks in the surface of the earth.The Jordan River and Jordan Valley exists because of a great Tectonic Plate fault that runs strait up the Red Sea, through the entire land of Israel, under the Jordan River.
This next map shown by the black line, the fault lines in the tectonic plates of the earth, in the area of Israel and Saudi Arabia.
The red circle shows the area that the Mount of Olives is in: Notice that there is a major fault line right where the Mount of Olives is at:
When Jesus ascended back to heaven, it was from the Mount of Olives…
Acts 1:9-12: 9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, Jesus was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” 12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey.
In other words, the Mount of Olives was Jesus point of departure and it will be the point of entry when He returns
Revelation Chapter 11: 1(John Says) Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. 2″But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they (the Gentiles) will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.
Jerusalem will be “Tread under foot for 42 months” (3 1/2 years).
This outer court is where the “dome of the rock” is, the Arab mosque. During the last 3 ½ years of the Great Tribulation, the new Temple will co-exist with the Islamic dome of the rock. Even as we speak, there are preparations under way for this new temple that is soon to be built.
There is currently a school to train the young men in the priesthood right now in the “Yasheva’s” in Israel. They are training young men on how to sacrifice the animals in the temple and carry out the different sacrifices required in the Bible.
The red heifer needed for the purification of all of the articles in the temple, has recently been discovered. If the Red Heifer stays completely red it will be able to be used to purify the temple.
According to Jewish sources no flawless red heifer has been born in Israel since the fall of Jerusalem in A. D. 70. One Jewish activist said “We have been waiting 2,000 years for a sign from God, and now He has provided us with a red heifer.”
The birth of the red heifer is viewed as a sign of the imminent coming of the Messiah and reestablishment of the Temple with its sacrificial system.
Such an animal is necessary for purification of the temple site according to Numbers 19:2-7. Red heifers are rarely born in Israel; perhaps only one time per generation. It was a miracle when one was born. Even though they are rare, just a single animal was sufficient because it takes only a small amount of red heifer ash to mix with pure water for purification.
There were nine red heifers born while the Tabernacle and two Temples existed. The tenth red heifer is predicted to be born in the end-times for the Third Temple.
The Red Heifer By vfzadmin Apr 10, 2002, 15:02
Israel National News reports: It can now be revealed that less than one month ago, a “Red Heifer” was born in Israel. After the heifer’s owner contacted the Temple Institute, on Friday, April 5th, 2001. The rabbis found her to be kosher and were satisfied that this heifer could indeed be a candidate to be used in the process of purification of the Temple priests described in the book of Numbers, chapter 19.
According to Numbers 19, no priest can go into the Temple who has not washed himself with the ashes of the “Red Heifer.” So having a red heifer is one of the most important Biblical signposts that the time is approaching when the third Jewish temple will be rebuilt.
When the verse say, “no defect,” it means there cannot be a single white hair found anywhere on the heifer’s body. The red heifer must be 3 years old before it can be sacrificed. This is Biblically significant because it is the first “Red Heifer,” born in Israel in 2,500 years.
The red heifer must meet 3 criteria: The heifer must be entirely red, have no blemish, and be one upon whom a yoke has never been placed.
This article was taken from Rob Robinson’s In-Depth study in the Book of Revelation, chapter 11. You can listen to the entire study on the Book of Revelation by CLICKING HERE
Buy:Ventolin.Aricept.Lasix.Zetia.Lipitor.Cozaar.SleepWell.Acomplia.Nymphomax.Prozac.Amoxicillin.Benicar.Seroquel.Female Cialis.Zocor.Buspar.Wellbutrin SR.Advair.Lipothin.Female Pink Viagra….