On the evening of October 29, a leading activist for Jewish prayer on, and the building of, the altar on the temple mount was shot by a Palestinian man riding a motorcycle in Jerusalem. Police tracked the assassin to another location where he resisted arrest and was killed in a shoot-out. Rabbi Yehuda Glick is a member of the Temple Mount Faithful and has been one the leaders in Israel calling for Jewish sovereignty on the temple mount. In recent days, Palestinian President Abbas called for a fatah (all means) to be used to prevent Jewish prayer on the temple mount.
The tension toward the temple mount and the issue of Jews being able to access it for prayers has been building since this summer. It comes amid Jewish leaders vowing to sacrifice a lamb on the mount this coming Passover. The Palestinians have become enraged to the point of increasing attacks on Jewish cities and in Jerusalem. Statistically, more than 5,000 attacks have been recorded in the month of October alone in Israel. In effect, a third intifada (uprising) is underway.
Prophetically, we know that the sign of the beginning for the Great Tribulation centers on the altar being on the temple mount. Jewish efforts to rebuild the altar and revive prayers on the temple mount are a prerequisite to the prophecy. You must have an altar operating first before you can fulfill the prophecy of shutting it down.
The central act of shutting down the altar requires two groups of people. One group must want to set up the altar and operate it. We now see that very group in the efforts of Rabbi Glick and those with him. The same group has also gathered the stones and other material to construct the altar. The second required group to complete the prophecy of shutting down the altar must be opposed to the Jews and their efforts to rebuild the altar. We now see that very group in the efforts of the Palestinians and their opposition.
The attempt on Rabbi Glick’s life testifies to the tension and defines the landscape for the prophecy to be fulfilled. Furthermore, the prophecy goes on to say that once the altar is stopped, two men will emerge prophesying on either side of the cold altar. They are called the two witnesses in the book of Revelation. They announce to the world each of the judgments that God will put upon the world during the Great Tribulation. Like Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh, the two witnesses will declare the purposes and judgments of God. Interestingly, there will be violent attempts to remove these two witnesses, but the Scripture explains that they will be protected for 1,260 days while they prophesy. The violence prophesied to be against them is now plausible today with the attempt against the life of Yehuda Glick. The tension level has now satisfied that prerequisite for the prophesy.
Are we getting closer to the Great Tribulation? A reasonable person would have to conclude that. Will the Great Tribulation begin this winter? We await the construction of the altar before we can answer that with any certainty. I suggest that we pray for the peace of Jerusalem while we wait.
