Temple Mount Flares Up Again

“The chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday hit back at Jordan’s allegations of Israeli misconduct at the Temple Mount, saying Jerusalem will not allow the holy site to become exclusive to Muslims like the Saudi Arabian cities of Mecca and Medina” (Times of Israel, August 15, 2016). “Earlier Monday, King Abdullah II said his country would continue to defend the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem from what he called ‘repeated stormings’ by ‘extremist’ Jews, and by opposing attempts ‘to divide the al-Aqsa Mosque temporally or spatially.’ Hours later, a Jordanian minister denounced the ‘vicious’ visits to the site by some 200 Jews on Sunday, who were commemorating the Tisha B’Av day of mourning for the destruction of the two Temples at the compound” (ibid.).

Bible prophecy reveals that at the time of the end Jerusalem will be “surrounded by armies” during the “times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:20, 24, 28). The prophet Isaiah tells us that the king of Assyria (modern Germany) will “pass through Judah” and “fill the breadth of [God’s] land”—Jerusalem (Isaiah 8:7-8). The Vatican has also desired a greater presence in Jerusalem. The strife on the Temple Mount could bring both the Vatican and a European beast power into Jerusalem under the guise of preserving the peace. For more insights into this important topic, be sure to read or listen to The Middle East in Prophecy.