If We Build It, He Will Come!

Those are the famous words from Kevin Costner’s character in “Field of Dreams.” They are also apparently the words of a Jewish Sanhedrin leader this week referring to the building of the Temple and the coming of the Messiah! Folks, something BIG is about to happen in Jerusalem! Next Monday evening, March 29th, several lambs will be sacrificed on the temple mount upon a specially built altar made of undressed stones. The ritual, known as the “Korban Pesach,” or “Passover sacrifice” which by Jewish law requires both a sanctified altar and an Officiating Priest, has not happened for nearly 2000 years! Think about that for a moment! Although the “daily sacrifice” was stopped in AD 70 when the Syrian regiment of the Roman army destroyed the temple, the annual Passover sacrifice on the ruins of the temple mount continued for almost another 100 years until it disappeared as the last remaining Jews were dispersed into the nations of the world. The Jewish ruling council known as the “Sanhedrin” went underground but they continued to meet for a while “in exile,” finally coming to an end in AD 425 with the last meeting taking place in the city of Tiberius on the shores of Galilee. From that day forward until 1948, Israel had no national, political, or religious infrastructure. But then Israel was reborn! In 1967 Jerusalem was recaptured, and in October of 2004, the Sanhedrin was re-constituted at a special meeting of over 100 representative rabbis in Tiberius, the very place where the original Sanhedrin had disbanded. Before the excited eyes of prophecy-watchers around the world, the Sanhedrin rose to life again with the election of its traditional 71 members - a major milestone on the road to the re-building of the temple!
The goals of the Sanhedrin are clear-cut: the reestablishment of the priesthood, including the office of High Priest, the re-building of the temple on the temple mount and the re-establishment of the Levitical sacrifices. This, of course, is highly controversial - even within the Jewish community where many secular Jews view these activities as unnecessary and provocative - not to mention extreme and even violent opposition coming from groups as diverse as the Arab Waaf, (the Islamic clergy who control the Mosque of Omar and the Al Aqsa Mosque located on the temple mount) to so-called “animal rights” groups who last year sued the Sanhedrin to block animal sacrifices. But the Sanhedrin has doggedly pushed forward, winning legal battles and obtaining all the necessary permits and permissions to carry out the “Korban Pesach” sacrifice, even sanctifying a “Kohen” (priest), a kosher butcher who will perform the ceremony. After fasting and prayer, they assembled on the shores of the Dead Sea to gather stones, unhewn and untouched by human hands. They carefully wrapped them in plastic to keep them ceremonially “clean” and moved them to an assembly site 12 miles northeast of the temple mount where they have been meticulously fabricated according to Jewish law into an altar which will be transported to Jerusalem for the ceremony next Monday at sundown. This Korban Pesach, the first in almost 2000 years, will include much ritual sanctification of the temple mount area. It might even include a public call for the re-building of the temple and could even hold a “surprise” ordination of the High Priest! If it happens, it will undoubtedly be watched with joy by devout Jews and with vitriolic anger by equally devout Muslims. It will certainly be watched with anxious anticipation by Bible-believing Christians who see prophecy coming to pass!

What does it all mean? No one can see all the implications and “fall-out” from an event like this. It could spark violence and even war- or maybe nothing at all on the “visible” front. But one thing is clear: we should all take note and realize just how close we are to the end of the age of grace, the era of the church, and to the beginning of the Great and Awesome Day of the Lord