End Times
On the Mount of Olives the disciples asked Jesus about the sign of his return to this world and the end of the age. In his reply, Jesus referred them to the prophecy of Daniel regarding the desecration of the Jewish temple “Holy Place” (Matt 24:15). In the last days, a rebuilt Jewish temple will once again be in existence upon the Temple Mount.
The Future Third Temple
Today, the Dome of the Rock occupies the centre of the Temple Mount. The future third temple could be rebuilt to the north of the Dome. It would be on the same site as the former temple. There would be room to provide an acceptable easement between the two buildings. There would, in fact, be a clearance of 150 feet. This would allow the Dome to actually co-exist with the Third Jewish Temple provided the temple is rebuilt straight across from the Eastern Gate. According to scholars such as Prof. Asher Kauffman this is in fact the archaeologically correct position. This is also consistent with the words the Jesus gave the apostle John in the Book of Revelation:
Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out and measure it not, for it is given unto the Gentiles. (Rev. 11:1-2)
To the current international political players this peaceful coexistence of an Islamic Dome and a Jewish Temple would be quite acceptable as well. It would not be the architecture of the ultimate Messianic dominion in holiness expected by the Jews who are waiting for the rebuilding of their temple and the Christians who are conversant with the endtimes. But the powers who rule in this present world would probably favour it. Such an arrangement would be “politically correct”.
The good news in all this, from the perspective of world peace, is that to build a third temple there would be no necessity to destroy the Islamic shrine, the Dome of the Rock. It could be constructed right next door to the Dome of the Rock.
Eschatology of the End -Times
