I’ve received a lot of questions about the article at this link claiming the sacrifices on the Temple Mount could resume very soon, now that the so-called “Sanhedrin” has selected a high priest.
Another circulating news story tries to tie a supposed visit to Jerusalem by Pope Francis in with this story, as if there’s a conspiracy to complete the animal sacrifices at the same time the Pope holds mass in the city, uniting the two religions (Judaism and Christianity) in Jerusalem.
I don’t have much more to say on this than what I’ve already said in my previous short Bible study titled “Animal Sacrifice on the Temple Mount,” which you can download and read at this link:
The bottom line is that any animal sacrifice is a slap in the face to God, and more importantly, a purposeful denigration of His Savior Who became the once and for all times sacrifice for our sins, replacing all other sacrifices, when He gave His life for us on that cross at Calvary (Hebrews 10:7-12).
Heb 10:7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
Heb 10:8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
Heb 10:9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
Heb 10:10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Heb 10:11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
Heb 10:12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
Heb 10:13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
Heb 10:14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
It was God’s will that animal sacrifices be done away with. They merely pointed toward Christ Jesus, whose shed blood would provide the payment for the sins of “whomsoever will” accept Him as the Father’s appointed Savior. So any animal sacrifice to God is sacrilegious and has been for the past 2,000 years. If a sacrifice is made, it’s made to Satan and not to God.
I’ve been following and reporting on the Temple Institute activities for 15 years or so, ever since they re-formed the so-called Sanhedrin. But there’s been a lot of attention-getting sensationalism involved in the things they’ve done. And a lot of it appears to have been designed to try to influence Israeli politics.
And this story seems to be more of the same. (More on that in a moment.)
Of course, we should all watch, and keep our eyes and ears open. But let’s not allow ourselves to get carried away by “Jewish” play-acting.
What’s weird to me is that the Temple Institute brags that their new “high priest” is a world renowned expert on the Biblical requirements for sacrificial service. Yet the completed sacrificial altar the Temple Institute pictures on their internet site is clearly made of brick, which of course, violates God’s command that purely natural stones from the earth are supposed to be used, rather than anything man-made (Exodus 20:24-26).
Ex 20:24-26 — “An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.”
Here’s an example where the prophet Elijah built a sacrificial altar correctly:
1Ki 18:30-32 — And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name: And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.”
So it’s pretty clear this so-called “new high priest” is not doing things Biblically, but instead, according to some tare tradition.
At any rate, that doesn’t really matter. There’s lots of weird stuff going on right now — both here in the U.S., in Europe and in the Middle East — that we need to keep our eyes and ears open to, as watchmen of the Lord. Yes, I believe many of these things are signs that the time of the antichrist is growing nearer.
But at this point, the “sacrifices on the Temple Mount” story above, combined with the “Pope in Jerusalem” story, appears to be nothing more than tare play-acting designed to try to force political hands in Israel into changing laws so that Jews can eventually worship on the Temple Mount where the Muslim Dome of the Rock Mosque is situated. This of course, would ignite massive and violent protest from the Muslim community. And probably war.
So if you want something concrete to watch for, watch for the Israeli government to publicly change the laws that currently prohibit Jews from holding worship services and sacrifices on the Temple Mount. Such a change in laws would be a key sign the deadly wound is near, as that wound will no doubt take place at some point on that Temple Mount between the two opposing factions (i.e., Judaism and Islam).
Of course, the Temple Institute spokespeople are cryptically claiming that between September 4th and the end of September something amazing is going to happen, and that as a result of this amazing happenstance the Temple Mount sacrifices could begin at “any time now” — even in time for the Jewish Yom Kippur (October 11-12, 2016).
This kind of sensationalism seems to happen every September. For example, if you remember, last September everybody got all excited when a tare pretending to have converted to Christianity was publishing sensationalistic books and making dramatic television appearances on Christian TV shows, claiming that a major “Shemitah” event was about to occur that would usher in years of famine resulting in millions of deaths and great destruction.
Of course, as I warned at that time in my Bible study titled Shemitah-Shemitah, it was fake; it all turned out to be a bunch of play-acting nonsense. So yes, keep your eyes and ears open to what’s happening in Jerusalem.
As Pastor Arnold Murray of Shepherd’s Chapel always said, Jerusalem (and what takes place there) is the barometer of the end times. But…don’t forget that the tares are play-actors first and foremost, and they love the attention they can generate from their sensationalism. Above all things they love getting Christians all worked up over nothing. And the internet gives them the ability to do so at record speed.
As late night TV comedian Craig Ferguson used to joke, sarcastically, with his head cocked to one side and one eyebrow raised to his hairline, “If it’s on the internet, you know it must be true.”
Knowing the modus operandi of the enemy allows us to more effectively teachagainst, and take a firm stand against, the “wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11).
Regards in Christ,
Steve Barwick
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