We have seen great calamity upon the earth ever since the beginning of Chapter 6 and the time of the Great Tribulation.  Horrific scenes such as the four horsemen we saw at the beginning of Chapter 6 and with them came a false peace upon the earth of sorts, where one man would come onto the scene and assume power and have an answer…

And answer to what?  Well poverty, currency, economy, politics, foreign relations…and answer to why millions of people just vanished…but his answer will involve evil…as the red horse will bring war, or as John puts it…it will be acceptable for people to just simply kill people…

The black horse rides in bringing desperation, if you recall, but not for everyone…John tells us that the black horse doesn’t harm the oil and the wine…giving us a hint that there is an elite group, or nation, or peoples that are just fine during this…in other words…at peace.  And its humanistic in that regard, because peace is relative isn’t it?  Haven’t there been so many on the scene through the years touting and protesting for “world peace?”  Well what if two argue over a parking space somewhere?  What if two fight on the screen and we herald it as sport?  What if two nations, two small nations, continue with aggression while the rest of the nations just chill.  Would all of those situations be called “world peace?”  Wouldn’t the entire world have to be peaceful and resting for the term “world peace” to be correct?

The obvious answer is “yes.”  And so “world peace” is a fassade, it is a trick you see…so that those in luxury and comfort can stand in judgment over the rest of the world crowning themselves “progressive” and superior in intellect and thought because they are out there parading on the platform of “world peace” that is not possible in a world that contains sin!

And so too, this time, this tribulation, although there is death, there is desperation, there are even horrid signs and wonders such as the locusts that have come out of the abyss there in Chapter 9 that are grotesque and given power to wage a 5 month long zombie apocalypse upon the earth…even as the earth itself is struck by fire in the form of hail eating up the vegetation and even the sun is struck there in Chapter 8…even so, there will be a pseudo peace upon the earth. 

Because there will be one operating under the power and the influence of Lucifer himself that will seemingly have all of the answers.  He will have direction that seems rational, plausible and although it entails the rejection and killing of people, that will be completely acceptable to the decrepid and deceived folks that are left upon the earth.  You don’t thing that is possible?  That an entire people will approve of mass killings?  Have you studied history?  But remember, the oil and the wine will not be harmed…and a false peace, an elite peace of sorts will reign…what will that look like?

We don’t have time for a complete, in-depth study on eschatology but we have time for a little one.  During this period of time, the Great Tribulation, the 7 year period right before the end of all things, the Antichrist will head a confederacy, an elite group, and according to Daniel Chapter this confederacy will consist of 10 nations.  At first, he will pretend to be Israel’s deliverer, he will have the answers to the ethnic tensions between the Jew and the Arab that have existed ever since Issac and Ishmael, the brothers…one the father of the Jews, the other the father of the Arabs, both sons of Abraham.

According to Daniel Chapter 9, the Antichrist will make an alliance with the Jew and after he has conquered the nations from the south, north and east, with the popular support of the entire world…at that moment, as detailed for us in Daniel Chapter 11, he will reveal his true evil character and his hatred for Israel and for God.  How will he do it?  Just as Jesus said he would in Matthew Chapter 24.

Under the guise of Israel’s protector and deliverer, he will enter into the rebuilt temple and will commit the abomination of desolation, and this will occur at the midpoint of the Great Tribulation.  Jesus said in Matthew 24, “therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of thought Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand)…run.”

And all those listening to Him would have looked puzzled…the abomination that causes desolation?  That already happened.  Antiochus IV, the Syrian King…who named himself, took the title “Theos Epiphanes,” which literally means, “manifest god,” was written of by Daniel…this Syrian king ruled between 175 and 165 BC and Daniel tells us in Daniel Chapter 11 that Antiochus Epiphanes gained his throne by “coming in peaceably and seizing the kingdom by intrigue.”  Wow, sounds familiar.

Daniel continues in Chapter 11 of his book to tell us of the excursions of Antiochus into the adversarial nations surrounding Israel under some sort of agreement or covenant with the nation of Israel but then in verse 28 of Daniel Chapter 11 we read how Antiochus broke that treaty and turned against his previously established holy covenant which concluded with him desecrating the temple which we read about in verse 31 of Daniel Chapter 11.   

So what was Jesus saying?  Precisely what Daniel would go on to say after laying out the story of Antiochus in Chapter 11…that Antiochus was just a type…a type of one to come.  And the one coming, would do the same thing!  And so Jesus said, “when you see,” referring to a future event and then what did Matthew add?  “Let the reader understand.”  The reader?  Oh yes, so in other words this revelation from Jesus given during this conversation in Matthew 24 was not for them that heard it but rather for us who would read it and unpack it how?  Revelationally…by studying the Revelation of Jesus Christ!  By having the Word of God, open on our laps, our minds aware and awake to the times in which we live and our spirits alive by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.  We are the readers.  This is the revelation!

But that’s only half the story…

As we get into Chapter 11 and onward through Chapter 19, we will see the second half of the Great Tribulation.  We know that we are at the halfway point by the clues given to us here in Chapter 11, the number of days and such…and in that we know that the antichrist is making his way right now, into the temple to betray the nation of Israel, proclaim himself to be god and commit the abomination of desolation within the Holy of Holies…

But meanwhile, in heaven is John and the rest of the church and John is about to interact with yet another angel…

Revelation Chapter 11 Verse 1

• So John is told by the angel to measure the temple of God, the altar and even those who worship there.  This presupposes, or implies, that there indeed, at this point in the Great Tribulation a functioning temple!  Precisely aligned with the prophecy of Daniel, the teachings of Jesus, the writings of Paul…
• And its interesting today, right now…on the scene…we can look it up online and see the pictures, watch the videos…there are institutes in Israel that are supporting by folks all around the world that are making preparations for the fourth temple.  And guess what, they’re about done…
• The garments of the priests, complete and hanging on hangars…just waiting…the breastplate of the High Priest, the golden grown that he is to wear…all ready.  The Holy Temple Visitors Center…can you believe this…opened just a few weeks ago!  March 27^th!   Ready to go!  We got the garments, we got the crowns, we got the procedures, we got the animals for the sacrifices, we got the applause of world as money is flowing in, we even have the Visitors Center!!!  What else?  What about the priests?  Yep, got them too!  Two Yeshivas, or schools, have been open for years training young men with the last name “Cohen” and what does “Cohen” mean in Hebrew?  “Priest!”  Check out templeinstitute.org when you get a chance.  You’ll see all of this and it’s amazing!
• Why rebuild the temple we might ask of the nation Israel?  I mean the people have lived without a temple for nearly 2,000 years, and seem to be doing fine without one.  Well here’s why.  Out of the 613 divine commandments that you find in the Torah, one-third of them or 202 are totally dependent on the existence of the temple and the Orthodox Jewish community believes that the current state of Judaism is what it is, and they use the term spiritually bankrupt, because of their lack of a temple.  They have instituted “remembrances” in place of the missing commandments and believe that in order to restore Judaism to its magnificence and fully restore the Jews as a nation to God, the temple must be rebuilt.
• Does this mean that we will see the temple rebuilt before the rapture of the church?  Is this what we are to look for?  Not necessarily, why?  Because there is a rather large obstacle in the way; A mosque known as the Dome of the Rock.  But, huge but here, just in recent history a discovery and a conclusion has been made that unpacks the end times scenario with clarity…look at verse 2…

Revelation Chapter 11 Verse 2

• How long is 42 months?  You got it, 3 and a half years.  Mid-way point in the Great Tribulation.
• What is meant here by “leave out the court which is outside the temple, because it has been given over to the gentiles, or the heathen?”  Until only a few years ago, no one really knew.
• You see in the late 600s, a man named Omar built a mosque on the 35 acre platform over the rock believed to be the site where Abraham nearly sacrificed his son.  However right about that time, a man named Mohammad emerged on the scene proclaiming that an angel had appeared to him and dictated to him new revelation and he presented the Quran, exalting himself to the position of God’s only prophet…and what does the Quran say of Abraham?  That it was Ishmael that was the chosen son of Abraham who was nearly sacrificed at that site…
• When was Genesis written?  Who wrote the Book of Genesis?  Moses right?  When did Moses die?  Around 1400BC.  So 2000 years later, what has been written from antiquity and is fact regarding Abraham, Issac and Jacob…is now Abraham, Ishmael and Esau?  And it was an angel that did all this…you got it, a fallen angel.  Paul warned us about this in Galatians Chapter 1, well before it happened in the year 600 AD. 
• But now this site, which was believed to be the original site of the Jewish temple, had been claimed by this new religion, Islam as their most holy place which renders a rebuilding of the Jewish temple impossible because the Muslims would immediately invade Israel if anything happened to that mosque, what we know as the Dome of the Rock.
• Ah, but about thirty years ago, after spending 16 years studying the temple mount area, a physicist and archeologist at Hebrew University named Dr. Asher Kaufman came to some remarkable conclusions.  In 1983 he released the results of his findings within the March/April issue of Biblical Archaeological Review.  In that he declared with sound evidence and conclusive analysis that while the Mosque of Omar has been assumed for years to be built directly over the site of the Jewish temple, the actual location of the Jewish temple foundation is one hundred meters to the north!
• What is one hundred meters to the north of the Dome of the Rock?  A small gazebo like structure, below which was found, and is now exposed, bedrock of the original temple!  Now why is bedrock important?  Because the rock upon which the Mosque of Omar is built is very jagged and uneven…it doesn’t even make sense to build upon it…but one hundred meters to the north…flat, leveled…perfect for a structure you see…
• And not only more logical, Kaufman’s conclusion reveals other answers to mysteries that have been set aside for centuries…You see according to the Mishna, the highly esteemed book of Jewish oral traditions, when the priest stood in the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, he could look through the veil, through the door, and see the Eastern Gate directly before him. 
• In 1970 it was concluded once and for all that the original Eastern Gate is directly below the present Eastern Gate…now guess what you cannot see directly from the Dome of the Rock?  You got it…however go 100 meters to the north…the Eastern Gate is in plain view!
• What does all of this mean!  It means that the Orthodox Jews are very active and excited!  Why?  Because the temple can indeed be rebuilt and the Dome of the Rock can certainly remain right where it's at!  And you know what that would make the mosque location?  The outer courtyard of the temple or more traditionally stated, the Court of the Gentiles! 
• Now can you believe that there’s even more…one last knockout punch that absolutely assures us that God’s Word is on point?!  The angel says there to John in verse 2 that the court has been “given” to the Gentiles.  Notice he doesn’t say that they took it…its that word didomi in the Greek literally meaning “given with permission” kinda like a gift…
• Here’s the mind blower!  During the Six-Day War of 1967, the Israelis launched a preemptive strike against the Arabs and recaptured the city of Jerusalem.  General Moshe Dayan could have easily booted the Muslims off the perceived temple mount at this time saying, “you lost, too bad, get out…”  I mean it was a war!  The Jewish nation had won…they had overcome the Arabs entirely!  But he didn’t do that!
• In a gesture that he himself never explained, he let them retain control of the 35 acre parcel.  Thus, the outer court of the temple remains today, check it, “given” to the gentiles. 
• Amazing isn’t it!  How history catches up the Bible.  How succinctly true and on point the scripture is?  I’m so encouraged by the details of the Bible man and how they are all so perfectly on point!  One further detail and then we’ll close…and get into the two witnesses next week…
• Who will rebuild this temple?  Who will be the one to declare the peaceful, world-peace solution of coexistence there with the Jewish temple right next to the Muslim temple…you guessed it…the AntiChrist man…that will most likely be a huge part of his peace plan but they will not live happily every after…only 42 months says the angel…and then the AntiChrist will betray everyone except himself, just as Lucifer did in heaven…and the second half of the Great Tribulation will commence which we are at the very cusp of in our study through this wonderful book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.