The Christ in Prophecy Journal

Myths About Israel: There Never Was A Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount

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Was there ever really a Jewish temple on the Temple Mount?

Dr. Reagan: Let’s turn our attention now to some of the myths concerning the city of Jerusalem. The Muslims claim Jerusalem as the third most holy site in Islam after Mecca and Medina. They claim there was never a Jewish temple in Jerusalem, and that the Jews have no historical claim to the city.

Nathan Jones: What could Muslims use to substantiate their own claim to Jerusalem? As for the Bible, it contains nearly 800 references to Jerusalem.

Dr. Reagan: Those references incidentally specifically say Jerusalem. There are many more references using allusions and poetic language, such as labeling Jerusalem Ariel, and so forth.

Nathan Jones: Jerusalem is the hub of all of things Israel. The city stands apart as the focus of many of the events recorded in the Bible.

Read the Koran. I have personally read the Koran and nobody ever found one single direct reference to Jerusalem whatsoever throughout the entire text.

Dr. Reagan: Muslims counter that a claim to Jerusalem can be found in the Koran. The Koran says that Mohammad rode his horse to a far off mosque, at which point he ascended into heaven, later to return there one day. Muslims will claim that far off mosque is a reference to Jerusalem.

Nathan Jones: Couldn’t be! Mohammad’s ties were always to the Arabian city of Medina. The entire Islamic calendar centers around the date when Mohammad took his hijra from Mecca to Medina in 622 AD. Medina is the place he would have traveled to, not Jerusalem.

Dr. Reagan: Plus, there is one item Muslim scholars overlook concerning that reference, and that is during Mohammad’s life there never was a mosque located in Jerusalem. It’d be many long years after Mohammad died before a mosque would be built in Jerusalem.

Nathan Jones: Islam hadn’t even conquered that far West before their founder died of a combination of poisoning and pneumonia.

Dr. Reagan: The idea that the third most sacred site in all of Islam is Jerusalem remains a total fabrication, promoted primarily after the 1967 Six Day War. That’s when Islamic leaders suddenly decided they were going to promote Jerusalem as one of their most holy places in Islam. That would keep the Jews from claiming and exerting their control over the Temple Mount and even rebuilding the Jewish Temple.

Nathan Jones: Keeping control over the Temple Mount and the 8th-century Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock that currently sit upon the original Temple’s location exists as a sort of flag. As long as those two Islamic structures stand on the top of Jerusalem, it’s Islam’s way of asserting their dominance over the entire world. It’s like those buildings are Islam’s way of saying, “We own the holiest city in the world. Islam is superior to Christianity. Islam is superior to Judaism.” That’s why Islam claims the most unfathomably expensive piece of land in the entire world, for religious dominance.

Dr. Reagan: Yes, you are absolutely right about that. Talk to a Muslim today and they’ll answer, “What’s on the Temple Mount? Why, the Dome of the Rock, of course.” Remember that the Dome of the Rock is not a mosque itself. The real mosque rests a top the southern end of the Temple Mount. The Dome of the Rock acts more of as a shrine.

The Dome of the Rock sits at a higher elevation than the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It’s built on the widely accepted site of the ancient Jewish Temple. By controlling the Temple location, it’s Islam’s way of proclaiming, “Islam is the supreme religion, because our building is higher than other religious buildings, and we are built on the site of the ancient Jewish temple.”

Ironically today, though, Muslims don’t even say “Jewish temple” much anymore, for they now deny that there was ever was a Jewish temple located on the Temple Mount. Claiming that is their newest deal. Islam’s all into historical denial.

How interesting that back in the 1920’s the Muslims who were in charge of the Temple Mount published a publication about the Temple Mount in which they actually admitted that it was the location of the ancient Jewish temples. A Jewish temple on the Temple Mount was undeniable even by Muslims until recently. This denial of the Mount’s Jewish roots has only come about since Yasser Arafat suddenly decided he was going to deny all Jewish history in Jerusalem. He went so far as denying there had ever been any Jewish temples on the Mount. He denied that the Western Wall held any significance to the Jews. The lie continues, for today you’ll hear the Palestinians even going so far as declaring that Jesus was not a Jew but a Palestinian!

Nathan Jones: And, yet, the Muslims have done two major things that prove they really do know that Israel is connected to the Temple Mount. First, back in the 1500s they sealed up the Eastern Gate upon learning that the prophesied Jewish Messiah would return through that gate.

And, second, the Ministry of Awqaf based in Amman, Jordan, which manages the Temple Mount for the Islamic world, worries so much that people will learn that Jerusalem is tied to the Bible that they do not allow any archaeological excavations to proceed on the Temple Mount. They are terrified of exposure, and for good reason. One only has to dig just a few feet anywhere in Jerusalem and Jewish relics will show up all over the place. Jerusalem is saturated with archaeological proof of ancient and prolonged Jewish habitation.

#Jerusalem is saturated with archaeological proof of ancient and prolonged Jewish habitation. Click To Tweet

Dr. Reagan: There’s something funny about the ban on excavating the Temple Mount. You’re right, the Waqf, meaning Islamic religious trust, will not allow any archaeological excavations up there because they know for a fact that said excavations will only prove that the Jewish temples were truly located up there.

Regardless of the ban, a number of years ago the Waqf decided to construct a mosque underground, under the Temple Mount. They did so without Israel’s permission. They were supposed to get the permission of the Israeli government, but they didn’t. So, the construction crew went below down and started excavating tons of dirt. Incidentally, that caused a bulge in the retaining wall, the outer wall, which of course they blamed on Israel. Everything is Israel’s fault when it comes to Islam. The excavators took all the dirt and dumped it down into the Kidron Valley.

One day a Jewish archaeologist got the idea — “Let’s go over and sift through all that dirt.” And, so they did, and have been doing so ever since then. Ton and tons of dirt that was pulled out of the Temple Mount is being sifting every day. Biblical archaeologists are finding all kinds of artifacts from the Second Temple, and even the First Temple, periods that prove beyond a shadow of the doubt that both Temples sat upon that very Temple Mount.

Heart of the Lie

Nathan Jones: The heart of Islam’s denial that Jerusalem is tied to the Jews can only be satanic. Satan knows that Jesus Christ will return to Jerusalem one day. He’ll blow through that closed up Eastern Gate. Jesus will then set up His kingdom in Jerusalem, and He will rule over the whole world from His capital city. Knowing the Messiah is coming, that’s why the entire fallen world is inadvertently fulfilling the prophecies of Zechariah 12 and 14 which prophesy the world will stand against the Jewish people controlling Jerusalem.

One of the greatest indicators that we are living in days of the fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecies that the whole world will stand against Israel came when President Trump moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv into Jerusalem. In response, all but a smattering of tiny little countries were dead set against the move. For the first time our allies in the United Nations condemned America over the move. Nearly the whole world stands against the Jewish people controlling Jerusalem. That’s Bible prophecy coming alive!

Dr. Reagan: You better believe it! We are seeing Bible prophecy fulfilled right before our very eyes today, and that is why I just get up in the morning and I’m so excited. This is the most exciting time to live, except for the time when the First Coming occurred. But, Zechariah 12 says that in the end times all the nations of the world will come together against Jerusalem and against the Jews (Zechariah 12:2). The Bible prophesied that would happen point blank, and that’s exactly what we are seeing today. The whole world is banding together against the nation of Israel and Jewish control over the city of Jerusalem.

Nathan Jones: While the world doesn’t consciously understand just why they hate Israel and the Jewish people so much, if they’d read the Bible they’d learn about the Davidic Covenant. The promise given by God to King David in 2 Samuel states that one day a descendant from the line of David will reign over the entire world. We know this to be Jesus the Messiah. And, on top of that promise, a remnant of the Jewish people will become saved and go on to take their place as the prime nation of the world. Jewish believers during Christ’s Millennial Kingdom will serve as Christ’s priesthood. The heart of the matter is this — all the satanic hatred directed at the Jews through the satanically controlled nations is merely his failed attempt to thwart Christ’s coming kingdom.

All the satanic hatred directed at the Jews through the satanically controlled nations is merely his failed attempt to thwart Christ's coming kingdom. Click To Tweet

Dr. Reagan: You’d think that all UNESCO does is sit around dreaming about what resolution they can come up with next to condemn Israel for this or that supposed aggression. What people must understand is that all of these United Nations agencies are dominated by Arab countries. The UN ignores all kinds of atrocities occurring all over the world, and instead seek solely to pass resolutions against Israel for the “crimes” of building apartment complexes, and even existing. Crazy!

In response to the UN passing an appalling resolution stating that Israel holds no ties to Jerusalem and the Western Wall, I love the way Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by saying, “That’s like passing a resolution that says that China has no ties to the Great Wall of China, and that Egypt has no ties to the pyramids.” It’s just theater of the absurd!

I praise God for our nation’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, because it’s just such an insult to the Jewish people for the nations to say to them, “You don’t have a right to select your capital.” What if somebody came over to the U.S. and said they didn’t recognize Washington D.C. as our capital? What if they placed their embassy in Chicago?

Nathan Jones: “Theater of the absurd” truly is the perfect description for the spiritual warfare being waged against Christ, Christians, and Israel right now. We rarely witness the world dealing with genuine problems or real suffering, such as what’s taking place within North Korea, for instance. It’s terrible how their leader, Kim Jong-un, treats Christians living there, sentencing them to work in what’s basically concentration camps. But, for some unfathomable reason, Israel cannot build an apartment complex without the entire world going bananas.

That misplaced aggression can only derive from a spiritual source. Such inane behavior inadvertently becomes one of the best proofs in Bible prophecy that the Bible is the Word of God.

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Dr. Nathan E. Jones

As the Internet Evangelist at Lamb & Lion Ministries, Nathan reaches out to the over 4.5 billion people accessible over the Internet with the Good News of Jesus Christ. He also co-hosts the ministry's television program Christ in Prophecy and podcast The Truth Will Set You Free.

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