Now it will come about that in the last days, the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways, and that we may walk in His paths. For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Isaiah 2:2-3
Both the prophets Isaiah and Micah shared these words in their days. Today these words are on the lips of many Jews but they are not accepted by many. First, the nations led by Palestinian terrorists are adamantly opposed to anyone other than Muslims being on the Temple Mount of Jerusalem (the mountain of the Lord) or any form of worship with an altar to the God of Israel (the house of the God of Jacob). Sadly, they are joined by the government of Israel, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the ultra-orthodox Haredim. Those Jews, Messianic Jews, and Christians who believe that Israel has an inherent right to the Temple Mount are branded as “right wing extremists” and too “messianic.” Even the idea of sharing the Mount is abhorrent, despite the ideas of sharing the land of Israel and dividing the city of Jerusalem are not.
In the latest action of this travesty, the Jerusalem Police have now banned all “right wing Temple Mount advocates” from entering the city of Jerusalem for six months!
I understand the volatility of the violence in Israel with the Palestinians. I understand the hatred they express and the despicable lies they have told, such as “there never was a Jewish temple there before” and “Jews are descendants of monkeys and pigs.” I understand that the world thinks appeasement will somehow lessen the violence and everyone should cater to the Palestinians so they will calm down.
However, there is a problem with this belief and approach. It solves nothing; it perpetuates the problem. But there is still another problem that the leadership of Israel and the world just don’t believe.
The city of Jerusalem is the “City of the King” and the Temple Mount belongs to the God of Israel. This has been well documented historically by the purchase of the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite by King David and the construction of the Temple by King Solomon. This is the place where God has placed His Name on the earth.
Those who venerate the God of Israel hold the ground of the Temple Mount to be Holy. The prophet Isaiah has spoken of the days yet to come when all of the world will recognize this so we can safely say today, “Anyone obstructing the worship of the God of Israel at that place is outside of the will of God and He will remove all obstacles to perform His will.”
It should be on the minds of all believers that there will be an altar there soon and when it is shut down consistent with the world opinion we see today, that great tribulation will come to earth on all peoples, tribes, and tongues when the God of Israel proves that He is the One True God of the Universe and that He is the Lord over all the Earth and everything in it.
Then we will go up to the mountain…
