by Irvin Baxter
Upon reaching the top of the Mount of Olives, the attending priests formed two lines, creating a pathway leading up to the place of sacrifice that had been chosen. Just in front of the red heifer walked Israel’s two chief rabbis.
When all was in place, Chief Rabbi Cohen, recently named High Priest Cohen, stepped forward to pray. A silent hush descended upon the crowd. “Lord God, blessed be Your name. We thank You for providing at this time the required sacrifice for the cleansing of Your people from spiritual uncleanness. Lord, You have brought us from the north, the south, the east, and the west as You promised, and You have placed us in this land, this Holy Land. For this we praise You. Now, Lord, accept this sacrifice and use it for the full redemption of Your people to Yourself and for the construction of Your house, Your temple, where You promised our father David that You would place Your name. Amen.”
Moshe looked down over the city of Jerusalem, tears in his eyes. What a beautiful and breathtaking sight it was! There was no scene in the entire world that could compare to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. In the foreground, on the slopes of the Mount, were thousands of graves. Those buried there believed that they would be the first to rise from the dead at the prophesied coming of the Messiah to the Mount of Olives.
Then, just across the Kidron Valley, were the majestic walls of the Temple Mount and the Old City of Jerusalem. Immediately between Moshe and the place where the new temple would stand was the sealed Eastern Gate with all the mystery that surrounded it. Jews and Christians alike believed that the Messiah would enter through that gate when He came. Knowing that the Jews believed this, the Turkish leader Suleiman the Magnificent, in 1517, had his masons seal the gate shut in an attempt to ensure that the Messiah would not enter there. Little did he know that he had inadvertently fulfilled the prophecy of Ezekiel 44, which stated that the gate would be shut because the Messiah had entered in by it, and that it would remain shut until Messiah entered through it the second time.
In the 1967 War, when Israel was planning its attack on the Old City of Jerusalem, one of the soldiers suggested surprising the Arabs by blasting the Eastern Gate open and entering that way. The commander vetoed that plan, stating flatly that the Eastern Gate was to be opened only when the Messiah came.
Moshe’s eyes scanned the beautiful city of Jerusalem behind and to the north of the Temple Mount. Churches, mosques, hotels, homes, and business all seemed to be nestled around the Temple Mount—the center of the city and of the world. And now, the house of God would again be built on the hill where God had chosen to place His name!
He tried to visualize what the Temple Mount would look like once the Third Temple was completed. The Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque stood imposingly on the Temple Mount, ruining his mental vision. It’s just not going to be right with them there, he thought. Maybe God will supernaturally move them before the beginning of construction next week.
The priests were now positioning the heifer to face toward the temple site, as they had been instructed. When everything was prepared, the appointed Levite stepped forward in his priestly garments, which the Temple Institute had carefully designed according to the Mosaic instructions. Moshe thought, It’s a good thing the Temple Institute, by faith, recreated all of these things in advance, or else we wouldn’t have been prepared for this momentous time.
The knife swept downward swiftly into the neck of the young heifer, cleanly severing the jugular vein. She quivered, jerked violently, then dropped to the ground. The younger priests dragged her onto the altar where she was to be burnt and where the precious ashes would be carefully collected and placed in the proper container.
Once the burning was over and the ashes collected, High Priest Cohen made the important announcement. “Tomorrow the process of purification will begin. All those who are involved in the construction of the Third Temple will go first. As you know, the purification process takes seven days.”
Early the next morning, Moshe was near the front of the line for the purification ceremony. He watched as the priests took a small amount of the ashes from yesterday’s sacrifice and mixed it into quite a large amount of water. Then the announcement came: “All of you to be purified must not have come into contact with a dead body in any way for the past three days. If you have contacted a dead body, including visiting a cemetery, you must wait until three days have expired.”
Moshe thought carefully. When was the last funeral I attended? Have I been too close to a cemetery? No. I think I’m all right.
When his time came, the priest smiled. “Is that cornerstone ready to go, Moshe?”
“It certainly is. We’ve already arranged for the crane to move it and set it in place,” Moshe replied happily.
“Praise be unto God!” the priest exulted.
Moshe washed himself carefully in the sacred mixture. He couldn’t really say that he felt any different after the ceremony, but he certainly started watching where he went after that. He wouldn’t be able to visit his father’s grave from now on—unless he wanted to go through the purification process all over again. He wouldn’t be able to take that shortcut through the cemetery on the way home from prayer at the Western Wall anymore. And if he visited friends in the hospital, he’d have to make sure that no dead bodies were nearby. Hmm…this was going to be a little tricky.
Chapter 11
At last, the day had finally arrived! It was a miracle! After two thousand years of wistfully intoning around Passover Seders, “Next year in Jerusalem,” the dream was about to come true. After two thousand years of pogroms, inquisitions, and, worst of all, Hitler’s gas chambers, the temple would be built.
The architects had marked the construction site, and the foundation had been laid. News services from all over the world had gathered into Jerusalem to report on this momentous and historic occasion. AP, Reuters, NBC, CBS, BBC, and, of course, WNN were there. TV cameras jockeyed for position from every angle..
Surging emotion welled up in Moshe’s heart. He had experienced some incredible things in his life, but nothing like this. It had been an awesome experience when he had been privileged to accompany the troops to the Temple Mount at the time of its capture in the 1967 Six-Day War. He had watched soldiers fighting and killing one minute, and then, when the Arabs fled, those same soldiers weeping profusely because two thousand years of exile from the Temple Mount had just ended. Moshe himself had wept until he thought his heart would burst.
The crane slowly lowered the stone toward its designated position. With just a few inches to go, Moshe reached out to personally guide the cornerstone of the Third Temple carefully into place. At that moment he felt like he was fulfilling the single purpose for which he had been born. The feeling superseded anything he had ever known! Even his hair seemed to stand on end.
Once the cornerstone was properly placed, the young rabbis broke into spontaneous singing and dancing. It was an unprecedented moment. As the limelight passed from Moshe to the celebrations, his eyes lifted once again to the Dome of the Rock. The dreaded nagging doubts returned. Had he done the right thing? Or had he just participated in the ultimate compromise? God help us all, he thought. Throughout the peace process, the people of Israel had gotten used to the art of compromise. Had it finally gotten to him as well? Instead of the exhilaration that he knew he should be experiencing, Moshe returned home that evening with a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.
The construction of the Third Temple moved very rapidly. The huge cranes that had been erected just outside the Temple Mount walls swung back and forth constantly, lifting the large amount of stone needed for the construction onto the building site.
Herod’s Second Temple had been a huge structure. Some historians stated that it was 17 stories high. Such a building would have dwarfed the Dome of the Rock and would not really have been in keeping with the spirit of sharing the Temple Mount. Besides, there wasn’t enough room for that size of structure in the area north of the Dome of the Rock.
The decision was
made to design the Third Temple according to the dimensions of Solomon’s First Temple. The Scriptures described Solomon’s Temple itself as being 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high. Added to this were the ornate walls surrounding the outer court, together with a number of large porticoes.
The finest white marble available on the face of the earth was chosen for the temple’s exterior. The quality of the marble was so exquisite that it almost took on the appearance of translucent alabaster. Moshe had never seen anything quite like it.
The Temple’s windows were tall and narrow, accentuating the height of the Temple. The stained glass windows were created to portray the history of the nation of Israel. The first window depicted Abraham on Mount Moriah with his knife raised over his son Isaac. After that was Jacob wrestling with the angel the night his name was changed to Israel. Then came Moses with the Ten Commandments in his hands. Many other pivotal historic scenes followed: Samson killing one thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass; Elijah confronting the prophets of Baal; David killing Goliath with a sling; Ezekiel prophesying to the valley of dry bones; the Nazi holocaust; and the rebirth of Israel in 1948. The last scene was of Shlomo Goren sounding the blast on the shofar at the Wailing Wall when Jerusalem was reunited in the 1967 War.
The finest builders in the world were enlisted to build the Third Temple. The result was the most stunningly beautiful building on the face of the earth.
Moshe Ben-Eliezer visited the temple construction site often—almost daily. But always, when he left the site, nagging doubts clamored in his head. Many days he would return home in a dark mood. What had he done?
The construction of the temple was the talk of the world. WNN carried on-site daily reports of the progress. In the meantime, plans were being made in anticipation of the new temple’s dedication. Young rabbis went through elaborate training so that they would be qualified to minister in the temple once construction was completed. All of the necessary utensils and instruments for the offering of the daily sacrifice and oblation were now prepared.
Finally, after many months, the last stone was laid and the final touches added to the most famous building project the world had witnessed in two thousand years. Dignitaries from all over the globe were arriving almost daily to take place in the dedication festivities. Tourism was at an all-time high. Everyone who was anyone wanted to be in Jerusalem for this momentous occasion. Even the Pope had announced his intention to attend.
Chapter 12
Things were never the same for the Freemans after they attended the teaching service conducted by Roger Cornell that night a year or so ago. Following that night, David just couldn’t learn enough about the prophecies of the Bible! In his studies, he discovered that Roger had only scratched the surface in his presentation that evening.
David and Sharon began reading the books Roger had written and listened to the many tapes he had produced. They learned about the one-world government prophesied in the Bible, and they found out that the words New World Order were actually written in Latin on the back of the U.S. one-dollar bill. Boy, was that a wake-up call! They also learned about the World Court system that was being set up even then.
When Sharon first read the prophecy that a Jewish temple would be built during the endtimes, she was amazed. There had not been a Jewish temple since 70 A.D.; yet, she was daily witnessing the building of the prophesied temple by television! To personally experience the fulfillment of these ancient prophecies was simply astounding. It also created a level of faith in God’s Word that she had previously known nothing about.
David and Sharon now discovered from the prophecies of the Bible that many of the trends of their modern society, which they had thought were good, actually would lead to horrible consequences. For example, Sharon originally had been very excited about all the religions forsaking their doctrinal differences and coming together as one. “It would be so nice for everyone to just get along,” she had said. But she had no idea that the Bible prophesied that very development for the endtimes. When she realized that this global spirituality movement would be headed by the satanically inspired False Prophet, she was appalled. Because of her ignorance of God’s Word, she had been duped into supporting something that was inspired by satan himself! By God’s help, she decided, she would never let that happen again!
As a result of the global steps toward disarmament, the United States was rapidly downsizing its military. In due course, David received a letter from his division that made his heart leap.
“Because of recent advances toward global peace and security, the U.S. Military Forces will be reducing its size by one-half. In order to facilitate this development, we are offering early retirement to those of you who might be interested. Your pension will be less than if you served full term, but it will become effective immediately upon termination of active duty.”
David couldn’t place the call to Sharon fast enough. He had been praying that God would somehow make a way for him to get out of military service. Since he had come to understand what was really going on in the world, all of his priorities had changed. But he wasn’t sure how Sharon would feel about this new possibility.
“Hello,” Sharon answered.
“Hi, sweetheart. How are you doing?” David asked.
Sharon was surprised that he was calling during daytime hours. “What are you doing calling at this time of the day?” she inquired, hoping nothing was wrong.
“Well, something special has developed that I just couldn’t wait to talk to you about. I received a letter today informing me that the military is going to be reducing its size by fifty percent due to Arachev’s global disarmament program,” David explained tentatively, hoping she would not be upset.
“Oh, David! That’s wonderful!” Sharon exclaimed. “I’ve been praying that God would make a way for you to get out of the military!”
“You have?” David questioned excitedly. “I’ve been praying for the exact same thing! So you don’t mind if I file the paperwork to leave immediately?” David asked. “I was a little concerned that you might be upset that the pension won’t be as large as if I stayed in for my full term.”
“David, that doesn’t matter to me anymore. We are in the endtimes. We’ve both been praying, and now God has answered our prayer. You don’t think He would lead us into His will and not provide for our needs, do you?” Sharon asked bravely.
“No, of course not,” David agreed, a little ashamed that he had been so lacking in faith.
“Do you have any idea what you want to do when you get out?” Sharon inquired.
“Actually, I have been praying about something that I think God may want us to do. But you’ll have to wait till I get home for me to tell you about it,” David explained.
“Well, okay,” Sharon agreed. “If I have to wait, I guess I won’t die. When will you be home?”
“According to these forms, if my discharge is approved, I could be home in thirty days,” David replied.
“Oh, David, I just know your discharge will be accepted! I know it because I believe God has a special plan for our lives. Darling, don’t let me keep you on this phone. Go get those papers filed!” Sharon said excitedly. “I’ll be praying.”
Two weeks later, David’s commander called him into his office. “Officer Freeman, I have something for you.” He handed David an official-looking envelope. “Officer, it looks like you’ll be leaving us. I’m sorry to lose you. You’ve performed notably for your country.”
“Thank you, sir,” David replied. “It’s been an honor to serve in your unit. I appreciate everything you have done for me and for my family. It’s just that my priorities have changed over the last year or so. Spiritual things have become much more important in my life.”
“Yes, I’ve noticed that. Perhaps I, too, need to give a little more attention to that area of life,” Commander Tims replied. “Good luck to you.”
“And God bless you, Commander,” David said sincerely.
As soon a
s he stepped outside Commander Tim’s office, David ripped open the envelope. He already knew what it said, but he didn’t know his actual release date. His eyes quickly scanned the paper. “One week from today!” David whooped. “Wow!” He walked—well, actually he ran—to the nearest telephone. He had to call Sharon! When she answered, David shouted in her ear, “One week from today, baby! One week from today!”
“You got your release?” Sharon asked.
“I got my release, and I’ll be home one week from today!” David just couldn’t contain his joy.
“Oh, that’s wonderful. That’s so wonderful!” David could hear that Sharon was weeping for joy on the other end of the line.
When Sharon and the kids picked David up at the Cincinnati Airport, the reunion was so sweet. Little Misty said, “Daddy, how long do you get to stay home this time?”
“Darling, I get to stay home from now on. I don’t ever have to leave again,” he replied. He could hardly believe his own words.
Misty hugged him tightly. “Yea!” she cheered. “I’ve been praying that I could have a full-time dad like the other kids. God answered!”
David spent the day playing with the children. That evening Sharon’s mother showed up at the door. “Well hello, Mom,” David greeted her. “I didn’t know you were coming over.”
“I’m here to take care of the children while you and Sharon go out for dinner. I understand that you have something very important to tell her,” she explained.
David turned to see Sharon standing in the doorway with that mischievous grin on her face. It was very obvious that she would not be waiting till tomorrow to hear the plans that he had promised to share with her. He chuckled.
