The Temple Institute in Jerusalem has spent $27 million preparing for the coming of the Messiah. They have manufactured utensils including silver trumpets, golden candlesticks, harps, and garments for the High Priest woven from golden thread. When asked when the Messiah will come, Temple Institute director Yehuda Glick replies, “All that we know is that we are now living in the age of miracles and all of those miracles are predicted in the Book as happening on the eve of the end of days. It could well be tomorrow, but it might be another 100 years, or even 400 years” (“Jews Raise Millions to Be Ready for Coming of the Messiah,” Sydney Morning Herald, Nov. 14, 2009).

The Institute has engaged two architects to design the Third Temple, “a modern building, with car parks and elevators, but which will look like the Second Temple.” Many “evangelicals” have contributed to the Temple Institute, but it is a donation to the cause of the Antichrist more than to the cause of Christ. It is the Antichrist that will use the temple built by Christ-rejecting Jews. The modern state of Israel is a fulfillment of the first half of the prophecy of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37. They have returned to the land, but there is “no breath in them” (Ezek. 37:8). They are still in rebellion to God’s Law. During the Great Tribulation, the Jews will be deceived by the Antichrist’s promise of peace and will make a covenant with him. The temple will be rebuilt, but it will become the Antichrist’s sanctuary when he presents himself as God (Dan. 9:27; Mat. 24:15; 2 Thess. 2:3-4).

(Friday Church News Notes, November 27, 2009, www.wayoflife.org)