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With
the new millennium upon us, speculation abounds
that the Messiah is coming again soon. At times like this, people
look for signs, and lately, not long ago a rumor was circulating
that the spring prophesied in Ezekiel 47 has started
bubbling under the Temple Mount; and then there are the August 2002 reports
that the Wailing Wall
(Temple Mount retaining wall) is bulging and may
collapse - from what?
Water intrusion and/or hydraulic pressure? The wailing wall
certainly has enough "weep holes"! No pun
intended. So is it being wrecked from beneath?
Before
examining the validity of this “sign,” we should look
at the prophecies of Ezekiel regarding the restoration of
Israel. Were they chronological, or were they a series of
disjointed visions and dreams? Most Jewish and Christian
scholars hold to the chronological theory. According to
this interpretation, the restoration of Israel unfolds step
by step, beginning with the famous “dry bones” vision
in Ezekiel 37. The reattachment of the bones represents the
return of the Jews to the Land of Israel. In the second
phase, sinews, muscles and skin grow on the bones,
symbolizing the Jews becoming a national body, an
independent state. The third phase, the outpouring of the
Holy Spirit, is yet to come.
The
War of Gog and Magog, described in Ezekiel 38 and 39,
is next among Ezekiel’s visions, followed by a detailed
description of the new Temple and the Messianic Era in
Chapters 40 through 46. Only then, in Chapter 47, is the
miracle of the Temple Spring foretold. If we are to
interpret Ezekiel’s visions chronologically, the bursting
forth of the Temple Spring will happen only after the War
of Gog and Magog and the building of the Third Temple.
Nevertheless,
signs do appear in advance of natural — and prophetic —
events. Light appears on the earth well before the sun
rises. The wise men saw the Star in the East weeks, if not
months, before Jesus was born.
So is it possible that the Temple spring has shown signs
of beginning to
flow ahead of the building of the Third Temple? Where
is the water coming from that is causing the Wailing Wall
to buckle?
PRO:
One group that believes in this “sign” is the Temple
Mount Faithful, an ultra-nationalist Jewish religious
organization that wants to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.
The group, led by Gershon Salomon, would like to tear down
the Dome of the Rock, the imposing golden-dome mosque that
occupies the Temple Mount, and rebuild the Third Temple in
its place. The Temple Mount Faithful are convinced from
eyewitness accounts, that the spring prophesied by Ezekiel
has begun to flow from under the Even Shetiya, the
foundation stone of the Temple. The group claims that the
Waqf (the Moslem Trust in charge of the Mount) has secretly
installed special pumps to stem the flow of the spring, but
without success. The Temple Mount Faithful see the spring
as a sign that the End of Days — the ingathering of all
the Jewish people to the Land of Israel, the rebuilding of
the Temple and the appearance of the Messiah Son of David
— is at hand.
CON:
Rabbi Joseph Elbaum, one of Jerusalem’s leading
rabbis, is skeptical about this story. In an interview on
the Jewish settlers’ radio station Arutz 7, Elbaum said
no credible witnesses have come forth saying they have seen
the foundation stone of the Temple, much less the spring
that is supposed to flow from beneath it. The rabbi holds
to the chronological view, and said that according to
Ezekiel, the spring begins to flow after the building of
the Third Temple.
An Israeli police spokesman also cast doubt on the story,
saying no new water sources have been discovered on the
Temple Mount; and he added that since Jews are not allowed
to pray there anyway, it’s highly unlikely that any of
the so-called “eyewitnesses” would have seen the
spring. Geologists say that water may indeed be dripping
from stones under the Temple Mount, but it is no different
than the water that’s been trickling through subterranean
caves in Jerusalem for millennia.
WILL
THE DOME OF THE ROCK BE DESTROYED TO REBUILD THE TEMPLE?
For
many, it is almost axiomatic that the Dome of the Rock, the
imposing golden mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem,
must be destroyed in order to rebuild the Third Temple. But
according to the latest archeological research, the Holy of
Holies of the First and Second Temples was not located
where the Dome of the Rock now stands, but rather, about 70
yards to the north. A new Temple built precisely on the
site of the previous ones could, then, be constructed
alongside the revered mosque. In Israel's history the
Ark of the Covenant has been covered by a "Tent of
David". See more on the whereabouts of the Ark
of the Covenant here.
That
is, of course, theoretical, because the Moslems would never
allow it to happen. For them the Temple Mount is Moslem,
period. Therefore, many evangelical Christians speculate
that the Dome of the Rock, the third holiest site in Islam,
will be destroyed in an earthquake or a war. They base this
theory on Paul’s prophesy of the antichrist, which
indicates that the Temple must be rebuilt before the Lord
Jesus returns: “...so that he [the antichrist] takes his
seat in the Temple of God, displaying himself as being
God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4).
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