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The miraculous rebirth of Israel in 1948 shows that the construction of the Third Temple is not too far away. Israel's rebirth also shows that the Bible is the word of God. Only the God of Israel has the ability to predict future events, and His word alone contains prophecies that are always fulfilled. This is an important point. It is God's challenge to the false “Holy Writings” of other religions that are in fact, nothing more than words dreamed up and penned by human authors. This is God's challenge to the adherents of false religions:
Isaiah 41:21 Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. 41:22 Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. 41:23 Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that what shall happen may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.
We fully trust the yet-to-be-fulfilled Bible prophecies because we note the long string of already fulfilled prophecies. And (in recent times) the rebirth of Israel is a very prominent fulfilment that captures our attention. Israel’s 1948 rebirth fulfils this prophecy:
Ezekiel 38:8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
Prophecies such as Ezekiel 38:8 together with Israel's 1948 rebirth ought to be enough to convince sceptics that the God of the Hebrew Bible is the one and only God, and that He has gathered Israel back to their ancient land. But instead, those who oppose Israel attempt to use the nation's rebirth as evidence against God's word. Their flawed logic appears to be: “Given” (a deeply flawed given) that Israel has no right to be in the land, and given that the Bible predicts Israel's rebirth, the Bible itself ought to be ignored! Rather than recognise that Israel's rebirth proves that the Bible is the word of God, their deep hatred of Israel results in them rejecting God's word. And now on to the Third Temple: Wikipedia provides the following information:
The Third Temple is used in reference to a hypothetical rebuilt third Temple in Jerusalem, which would succeed both the original Solomon's Temple (built under Solomon of the United Kingdom of Israel and destroyed in 587 BCE by the Neo-Babylonian Empire) as well as the Second Temple (built under the Achaemenid Persian Empire and destroyed in 70 CE by the Roman Empire). Although it remains unbuilt, the notion of and desire for a Third Temple in Jerusalem is sacred in Judaism, particularly Orthodox Judaism, and is anticipated as the most sacred place of worship for Jews. The prophets in the Hebrew Bible called for its construction to be fulfilled prior to, or in tandem with, the Messianic Age. The rebuilding of a Third Temple also plays a major role in some interpretations of Christian eschatology. The notion of rebuilding a Third Temple at the Temple Mount in the Old City has been espoused by many Israeli Jews, and remains a key subject of tension between Muslims and Jews due to the existence of the Dome of the Rock, an Islamic sanctuary that was built on top of the site of the first and second Jewish temples during Umayyad rule in the late-7th century CE; the issue at the Temple Mount has been a major flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its peace process. While Jerusalem in its entirety has been controlled by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967, it is to a large extent internationally recognized as disputed territory between Israel and the Palestinian Authority due to both entities proclaiming the city as their capital.
Note in the quote above that Israel is awaiting the Messianic Age. So do Bible believing Christians. It is useful on occasions, to focus on the points that we are able to agree upon. The article above suggests that some believe that the Third Temple needs to be built before the Messiah appears. Our appeal at this point to our Jewish friends, is to recognise that the Third Temple is built after the Messiah appears. We base this on 2 Samuel 7:13 and our belief that it applies to Israel's Messiah more than Solomon: 2 Samuel 7:13 He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. Given that "He shall build an house" the Third Temple cannot be in existence when the Messiah appears! And again, consider that the construction of the Third Temple is described after the divine intervention described in Ezekiel chapters 38 & 39. It is for these reasons that we expect Israel's Messiah to appear before the Third Temple is built.
Recognising Israel's long list of successes since its rebirth, the challenge might be to keep a strong focus on the promised Future Israel rather than on the Israel that now exists. The future Israel with its greatly expanded borders will dwarf the Israel that we now know. The following promise describes future Israel:
Genesis 15:18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: