The professors and preachers from the Pre-Trib Research Center say as there co-founder and Executive Director Thomas Ice (co-founded the Center with the late Tim LaHaye – ‘Left Behind’ series author) that “the Temple does not have to be built before the rapture. Nothing needs to take place before the rapture. The Temple only has to be there by the middle of the seven-year tribulation… (which) if it were to happen today, would result in wild jihad from the Muslim world… (2017; http://www.pre-trib.org/articles/view/the-tribulation-temple).” TheTruthSource.org has written over a thousand pages in several articles showing the history and Error of the ‘any moment’ Pre-Tribulation Rapture Theory and that there are things that “need to take place” before the coming of the Lord.
For hundreds of pages of history of the EARLY CHURCH Teaching of the Post-Tribulation Return of Jesus Christ as well as the modern teachings from John Darby: Pre-Tribulation Rapture Theory to the ‘Left Behind’ Series of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture see:
Pre-Tribulation Rapture Theory
Pretribulation Rapture Theory 2
Our Lord Jesus Christ, answered when asked by “the disciples… ’What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age (Matthew 24:3)?’” After saying, ‘let no one deceive you.’ The Lord Jesus listed numerous things that had to occur before His return. And throughout the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and in the Letters of Paul and Peter and John’s Revelation, many prophetic events were foretold that had to or must occur before Christ return and His “gathering together of His elect (Matt. 24:31).”
Christ says, “Immediately AFTER the TRIBULATION (great tribulation – because the Lord and Daniel says ‘such as never was since there was a nation’ – Dan. 12:1; ‘shall be Great Tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world, nor shall ever be again – Matt. 24:21) of those days the sun will be darkened… then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in Heaven, and then ALL the Tribes of the Earth will mourn; AND they will see the SON of Man (Jesus) coming on the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory. AND He will SEND His angels with a Great Sound of a Trumpet (the Last Trumpet – after Tribulation); and the will (then) gather together His elect… (Matthew 24:29-31).”
In our series of articles on the SIGNS OF THE TIMES it is revealed that nearly everything has been fulfilled that needs to be before the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. However, the three (3) most significant things that MUST HAPPEN before Jesus’ return are: the building of the Temple, the appearance of the Antichrist, and the Great Tribulation.
They are listed in this order because the Antichrist will walk into the Temple in Jerusalem; and the Antichrist will persecute the Church and slay a myriad of Christians (unlike ever before in history) during the Great Tribulation. As to those “slain for their testimony and because of the word of God (Rev. 6:9; 12:9-11), Revelation says “these are those who came out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:14).” The Antichrist will persecute the Church and the world for 42 months (Rev. 12:14; 13:5; Daniel 7:25; 9:27).
One of the articles under the End Times TRIBULATION WATCH is the TEMPLE WATCH. In this article is a ‘history of the Temples and their Destruction’ – that is the Tabernacle of Moses, Solomon’s Temple and Herod’s Temple. But more so it a timeline watch from October 2004 to significant current information concerning the rebuilding of the Temple.
October 2004, the Sanhedrin Council of the priests (which dissolved in 425 AD with the execution of nasi Gamaliel VI under the Roman Emperor Flavius Theodosius II) was reestablished after 1,579 years (Tishrei 5765 – or October 13, 2004).
TempleInstitute.org states: “The TEMPLE INSTITUTE considers it of PRIMARY IMPORTANCE to educate about the great significance of Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the only site in the world that is considered holy by the Jewish people, and the only site in the world which G-d chose to rest His presence through the establishment of the Holy Temple.”
April 2013 (Iyyar 5773): The Jerusalem Post wrote an article, Jews Should be Able to Pray on Temple Mount, which reported that “MK Miri Regev, appointed to chair the Knesset Interior… said, ‘Jews can pray at the Temple Mount… I don’t understand why a Jew is not allowed to pray in the most sacred place – the Temple Mount… I intend to soon tour there, with an emphasis on freedom of Jewish prayer.” The Post noted that MK Roisin warned these words could start a ‘third intifada’ (First Intifada – Palestinian Uprising was from December 1987 to September 1993; and the Second Intifada – September 2000 to February 2005)
December 2015, during Hanukkah/Chanukah 5775, the Temple Institute conducted a practice ceremony in which the kohanim performed the Hatavah (Menorah lamp preparation); they also blew the silver trumpets after reciting the Birkat Kohanim (the Priestly Blessing).
October 2016 the United Nations, UNESCO voted 24 yes to 6 no (with 26 abstentions) to a resolution that excluded Jewish connection to the TEMPLE MOUNT.
“The Temple Mount is mentioned in the resolution as ‘Al-Aqsa Haram Al-Sharif’ and described as a place of Muslim worship. The words ‘Temple Mount’ and the fact that the Temple Mount is a holy place for Jews are not mentioned.” UNESCO Executive Board Draft link: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002462/246215e.pdf
March 30, 2017, www.israeltoday.com did an article ‘Where’s the Temple?’ which stated, “If there’s one thing most Christians and Jews agree on is that Israel’s restoration cannot be complete without the third temple. “For I shall return to Jerusalem with compassion; and My house shall be built in it, declares the Lord” (Zech. 1:16). Well, if the coming of Messiah is as near as many of us believe, then you have to ask – where’s the temple?”
May 5, 2017: Uri Ariel, Israel Minister of Housing and Construction stated he desired to see the construction of a “Third Temple” in place of the Al-Aqsa Mosque that is currently occupying the Temple Mount. Ariel said “The first Temple was destroyed in 586 BCE, the second Temple in 70 CE, and ever since, the Jewish People have been mourning its loss… Al-Aqsa Mosque is currently in the place of the temple, despite the temple being much holier than it. Al-Aqsa Mosque is only the third most holy mosque in Islam… Now that Israel has once again become a Jewish sovereign state, the desire to rebuild the Temple is growing stronger and stronger.”
The Temple of God and the 42 months of persecution are also spoken of by John who tells us about the ‘two witnesses’ at “the temple of God… (Rev. 11:1).” But before this time, the antichrist will desecrate the Temple (Dan. 11:31-; Matt. 24:15).
The Apostle Paul tells us, “Dear brothers and sisters, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we will be gathered to meet Him. Don’t be so easily shaken… Don’t be fooled by what some say. For That DAY will not come until there is Great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness (Antichrist) is revealed – the one who brings destruction (Great Tribulation). He will exalt himself… and do the work of Satan… he will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God… but the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of His mouth and destroy him by the brightness of His coming (2 Thessalonians 2).”
May 1948 Israel again became a nation; and June 1967 the Israeli Brigade Commander Col. Motta Gur exclaimed, “The Temple Mount is in our hands!” However, it is more in the hands of the United Nations than Israel’s Knesset or people. Nevertheless, Rabbi Glick, who was once nearly assassinated by a Muslim Arab, said the CBN in May 2017, that “we have 20 Knesset members who are interested in ascending Temple Mount… and bringing the Temple Mount back into the center of the next step in the redemption process.” There are 120 Knesset (Parilament/Congress/MKs) members – thus, 100 fear a Third Intifada with the Muslim Arabs more than they desire to worship God; and this is also the case with the United Nations.
Yet, these things are happening now after being dormant for 1600 years and soon the Temple will be rebuilt! In 2009, according to an YNet survey, 64% of Israelis wanted to see the Temple rebuilt. As Israel is becoming more secular and as the power of Islam Terrorism grows, less care about the Temple. July 2013, Haaretz news reported on a Joint Forum of Temple Mount Organizations – poll of 523 Jews and stated ‘43% of religious Jews supported the construction of a Temple, compared to 20% among the ultra-Orthodox and the national ultra-Orthodox and 31% among the secular Jews.”
However, 59% of Jews ‘favor the demand to change the status quo on the Mount.” That is from it being under Islamic and UN control. The Western Wall is still considered the Most Holy site of the Jews – and this was on the Temple Mount and indirectly connected to the Holy Temple.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (9th PM, 2009-current 2017), has stated for UNESCO (UN’s world heritage organization) and the world, Jerusalem is “the heart of the people, the place to which everyone turned to and went to and prayed toward.” UNESCO is still (end of 2017) examining how to make recommendation concerning “the importance of the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls for the three monotheistic religions” – Jewish, Christian and Muslim (Islam). So far UNESCO and the Knesset have not change their positions; but “when the fullness of time comes (Gal. 4:4),” the Lord will move upon certain people to cause events which will lead to the construction of the Third and Final Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
The TRUTH SOURCE 