Wednesday Evening Services 7 PM - The Jews, their Temple, and the Tribulation Period - Rick Hawkins

I think it's chapter 2, it talks about how God's glory is going to fill that, because Christ walks into that temple, you know, it's actually Herod's temple when Christ gets there, but all Herod did was modify it and rebuild a bunch of stuff, but anyway, on the next one, Herod's,

to rebuild their temple, and in 135 A.D., it was called the Bar Kakaba Jewish Revolt, and in 135 A.D., the Romans smashed that attempt of them trying to rebuild their temple, and the Romans changed the name of Israel to Palestine, and they changed the name of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina, and the whole purpose of changing the name of Israel to Palestine and changing the name of Jerusalem was to wipe out the memory of Israel so that Israel would no longer be remembered, but it didn't happen that way. In 691 A.D., the Dome of the Rock was built, and it should be the next picture coming up here, yeah. That's the Dome of the Rock. The Muslims built that.

They believe that Muhammad ascended into the heaven from the same place where Abraham is believed to have almost offered up Isaac. Then the next event took place

to the Temple Mount, and then in 1033 A.D., another earthquake damaged the Alaska Mosque after they rebuilt it, and in 1917, the British captured Jerusalem from the Turks, and non-Muslim Europeans were allowed to ascend the Temple Mount. Up to this time, only Muslims could get up on the Temple Mount. In 1967, Israel gained political control of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, but day-to-day administration of the Temple Mount was left to the Jordanian Muslims with the agreement that people from all religions

talked about how the disciples were all talking to Jesus about the Temple, how great it was, and the Temple Mount, and Jesus said, there's going to come a time when not one stone will be left upon another and be all tossed down. Well, in 70 A.D., when the Temple was destroyed and everything, one of the things that happened was this rock got thrown down from off the top, and it cracked the ground beneath it where it landed, and it's been there since 70 A.D., and in 1968, he discovered it had Hebrew writing on it, and it turned out it was the trumpeting stone. And on the writing, where the blue is at, Hebrew reads backwards to what we read, but it says, to the place, and then in yellow of the trumpeting, and to, and the rest of it was left out.

It's to declare, something like that, but that's what was written on that trumpeting stone, and this next picture kind of shows you what it looked like when it was done. And so there's no doubt that the Temple Mount is where the Jewish temple was. A lot of people said Jews never had their temple there. It was someplace else, but there's enough evidence to point that it's there, and when that rock landed, it cracked the ground, and it's been there since 70 A.D., and nobody's ever touched it.

It's just laying there with that crack underneath it. It's pretty law-proof right there. In 1969, an Australian tourist, Dennis Rohan, set fire to an antique pulpit in the Alaska Mosque, believing that God had called him to destroy the mosque so the Jewish temple could be rebuilt, and this next temple is a picture of, that's what that pulpit thing that he set fire to inside the Alaska Mosque, and this is what it looked like after he burned it in this next picture. It just completely destroyed the inside of the Alaska Mosque, and this next picture is a picture of the guy that did it.

And to me, I don't know why, but he reminds me of James Bond, kind of 007, kind of a, you know, he's got that look about him. The next picture

of the occupied territories to Arafat and the PLO. This included the day-to-day administration of the Temple Mount, so Jordan, who had custodianship of the Temple Mount, just handed it over to the PLO to take care of. In 1996, Muslims rejected Israel's sovereignty over the Temple Mount and began doing construction work to make more room for Muslim worshipers. They did digging underneath where Solomon's stables were at.

They turned it into

to the top part of the Temple Mount. And the grass was right there, and you could see that. Well, those steps were all gone. The Muslims had taken all those steps out that showed where the Temple Mount was. They removed all those steps. So they just made a big pile of rubble with them. The Western Hula Gate passageway was turned into an underground worship space

for Muslims. In 1999 through 2001, more digging and construction of the Temple Mount was done by the Muslims. In 2000, non-Muslims no longer allowed on the Temple Mount. And so I was excited in 1988 that I got to go up on the Temple Mount, when I did, because after 2000, you couldn't for a while. In 2001, a bulge in the southern wall began to appear as a result of the destruction

taking place on the Temple Mount, and repairs had to be made by the Jordanian Muslims. And in 2002, 53% of Jews in Israel wanted to see the Temple rebuilt. That was the first time that the number of Jews who wanted to see the Temple rebuilt crossed the 50% mark. That was the first time the majority of the Jews had a desire to see the Temple rebuilt. In 2003,

non-Muslims' right to visit the Temple Mount was restored by Israeli police for two hours each morning. Ritual baths offered to Jews wanting to go to the Temple Mount were given, and they were given instructions on what to do up there. But Jews got to start going back up there for just two hours in the morning. In 2004, the day-to-day administration of the Temple Mount reverted back to Jordan in August.

The PLO no longer had control of it. Also, that same year, the Sanhedrin was reestablished for the first time in over 1,600 years. The last time they met was in 425 A.D. When Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D., they moved to Tiberias, and in 2004, 71 rabbis got together in Tiberias to reestablish the Sanhedrin again. So it's been reestablished since 2004. They haven't met

for almost 1,600 years. In 2005, the Temple Institute announced on January 24th that most of the temple vessels were completed. Also by the end of 2005, the blue robe for the high priest was also completed. So the fact that most of the temple vessels were done by 2005, from now on after 2005, most of the focus isn't on building the temple so much as it is getting the priest ready to start doing something.

In 2007, on October 21st, the priestly blessing that's found in Numbers chapter 6 verse 24 through 26 was recited on the temple mount for the first time possibly since the temple was restored in 70 AD. Also by the end of 2007, the gold crown that the high priest wears was completed. So a little gold thing that says holy unto the Lord that the priest, and that was remade in 2007. In 2008, the Jewish priests were fitted for holy garments and the temple vessel for worshipping the priest, worshipping the priest was completed.

In 2009, the Mitzvah Yeroko field school for training priests was started. In 2010, uncut stones were collected from the Dead Sea for construction of a temple altar. In 2013, the third temple academy in Mitzvah Yeroko was finished that included a replica of a temple to give priestly students a hands-on experience. So they built a mock temple area so these young priests could practice inside the school area.

In 2015, the priests in training completed an accurate reenactment of the Passover offering for the first time that was witnessed since before the temple was destroyed. In 2017, on December 20th, the seventh night of Hanukkah, a new $50 million synagogue in the Western Wall Tunnel was inaugurated to be used by the Sanhedrin once the temple is

And that's 6,000 pounds worth of stuff they're going to move up onto the Temple Mount to start doing sacrifices with. On 2020, in 2020, on January 28th, President Trump had what's called a Peace to Prosperity document was released that planted the seeds to have Israel replace Jordan as a custodian of the Temple Mount and allow prayers for everyone on the Temple Mount. On page 16 of the document it states, the State of Israel is to be commended for safeguarding the religious sites of all and maintaining the religious status quo. Then it also says, people of every faith should be permitted to pray on the Temple Mount, Haram al-Sharif, what the Muslims refer to it as, in a manner that is respectful for each person's religion.

So here, even though he's saying Israel maintains the status quo, he's at the same time saying he wants to make it where anybody can worship however they want to on top of the Temple Mount. You don't have to be just a Muslim to worship there. Now this is where it starts getting more exciting. In 2025, Republican Representative Claudie Tenney introduced House Resolution 852 in October.

Now a resolution is just, it's a formal statement that the House takes, but it doesn't, it's not legally binding or anything like this, it's just the House of Representatives' formal opinion. And what the resolution adopted that they stated was that Israel maintains sovereignty over the Temple Mount and recognizes the importance of religious freedom for all on the Temple Mount. So that was an important statement there. But also, Claudie Tenney also laid the groundwork for an amendment that was set in place in May of 2020, excuse me, we'll look at it in a minute.

Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, and the UAE have all been briefed on this proposal. Saudi Arabia was against the proposal, and the U.S. has officially denied that it was trying to get rid of Jordan's custodianship, even though it came out because they consulted these Arab countries to see what they thought about the idea. And it came out in the news that they were actually thinking about taking the custodianship away from Jordan and giving it to Israel.

On July 15, the House passed Kennedy's amendment that I just mentioned a minute ago, and that was based off the stand-alone resolution, House Resolution 852. The amendment encouraged the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom to emphasize the importance of ensuring religious freedom and equal access for all with respect to the Temple Mount. So the U.S. is putting money into this organization to start pushing and promoting freedom of

worship for everybody on the Temple Mount. On February 28, the same day that the U.S. and Israel launched their joint military campaign against Iran, Israel closed the Laska Mosque, the Western Wall, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for 40 days. Here's the Laska Mosque. They shut that down. They shut the Western Wall right here down, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is back

over this way a little bit. But they shut all of those religious places down for 40 days. And in this next chart, you can see a chart where all these religions had major holidays in that 40-day period. In this next slide, let's see, there it is. The Muslims started Ramadan on February 18th. It ended on the 18th of March, but the shutdown started on the 28th, and then they also had

a feast on the 19th after the fast period was over with. The Christians had Easter on the 5th, and the Jews had Passover from the 1st to the 8th. And so they shut it down for the 29th, and they didn't open it up again until the 9th after all the holiday stuff was over with, because a lot of people would be in Jerusalem.

they wanted to do, three times before they guided them off of the Temple Mount. So that was the first time that these trumpets had been blown on the Temple Mount since before the Temple was destroyed back in 70 A.D. And the police stood there and allowed it to happen. Now although the Alaska Mosque reopened after the ceasefire in April, many of the restrictions

Then on June 1st of this year, Israel revoked entry permits for Alaska Mosque staff from the West Bank. The move barred over 30 long-serving wharf employees, including the senior treasurer. So now not only were they restricted where they couldn't do anything, the main people that ran the custodianship aren't even allowed to get on the Temple Mount anymore. They blocked them.

They can't get on the Temple Mount to do their job. On August 5th, to show disappointment of what Israel's doing, 10 of the 22 member states of the Arab League, plus the Secretary General of the Arab League, and officials from Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Turkey all went to Jordan to condemn what Israel was doing with Jordan's custodianship. Because if Israel ends up taking control of the custodianship away from Jordan, that will be a religious war. It will break out in war.

And anyway, they showed their protest. Now this is the only verse I've got to read to you, and that's the only part I feel bad about this. I'm telling you all this history stuff, I've only got one verse to read to you. In Revelations 11, verses 1-2, in the NIV it says, and John's talking, he says, I was given a reed like a measuring rod, and I was told, go and measure the Temple of God

All right, now you can go to the next one. This is the Dome of the Rock, and in 1988 when I was over there, we got to go inside this thing and check it out, but you're not allowed to wear shoes, because it's considered holy ground, and I want you to understand that there have been people walking barefooted in this building for some 1,300 years, and that place stinks. It smells really bad inside the building, you can't hardly breathe from everybody walking barefoot in that place all these years. But you go in and there's that rock in the middle, and in this next picture, it shows this rock, and you can see there's like a hole, there's a light coming out of the middle

of that rock, I don't know if you can see that or not down here at the bottom, there's a hole that goes through this rock right here, okay, and then the next picture, and the reason that light's there is because it's actually a cave, and we went down underneath the rock, we went down into this cave and checked it out, and when they do a sacrifice, the blood would go down through that hole, come down into this cave area, and there was cracks down in the bottom, and the blood would flow down into the Kidron Valley from those cracks in that deal. But on top of that, go to the next one, there's the rock again, there's that hole, but I want you to notice over here, there's a little square area here, that little square area

down here in the corner, that little thing that's sitting there, nothing's ever happened on this side over here, but that little deal is called the Dome of the Tablets of the Dome of the Spirits, and the Jews didn't name it that, the Muslims named it that, and I think that could very well be where the Holy of Holy Place was with the Temple Mount. I think they named it that because that was probably the actual spot where the Temple was there. They called it the Dome of the Tablets, the Dome of the Rock, and it sits exactly straight across from the East Gates, and in the next picture, you can see how that lines up, and there's the Dome of the Tablets, the Dome of the Spirits, lines up with the East Gate,

and in this next picture, there's a picture of what it would look like if the Temple was built on that side of the Dome of the Rock, and the Dome of the Rock would just be right up there against, next to it. Now, I personally believe that Israel's custodianship, if they take the custodianship away from Jordan, I believe that will be what triggers the War of Ezekiel 38 and 39, and it's getting very close to that happening. Russia, Iran, Turkey, Libya, Sudan, those countries are already in place, pretty much, for attacking Israel. Russia has some heavy bases in Libya now, Iran and Russia both have bases in Sudan.

They're all pretty much lined up with each other where they could attack Israel. The only one that's kind of missing out right now is Gomer, and Gomer is, some people believe it's a part of Turkey, some people believe it's Armenia, some people believe it's part of East Europe, but there's a few of us, like myself, who believe it's a reference to Germany, and right now, Germany has a strong relationship with Israel. People just sold Germany their Arrow 3 missile defense system, they've made a bunch of contracts to work together on a bunch of military stuff, they've got a real close relationship. But if you look at the people inside Germany, 67% of them are opposed to Israel and they're opposed to Jews, 67% of them.

And they started having elections this year. From this year till the 29th, year 2029, there's 16 states inside Germany, and those 16 states all have elections between now and the next three or four years, and they've had three elections so far, and the parties that are winning are the parties that want to have a stronger relationship with Russia, and the parties that are anti-Israel and anti-Jew. Those are the parties that are winning. In fact, today in the news, it was just announced that one of them won the president of the parliament in their state, that's the first time that they've won that since World War

But in Bible prophecy, a prophetic year has 360 days in it. There's 12 months with 30 days in each month, and they add up to 360 days in a year. This is a prophetic year. You have to take it and convert it into, like if you're doing the 70-week prophecy, you have to convert it into our calendar year to figure out all the dates, and Ezekiel chapter 4 is the same thing with that prophecy.

When you're applying this prophetic year to the seven-year tribulation period, there are seven years times 360 days equals 2,520 days. In Daniel chapter 8, verse 13 through 14, and verse 26, it says that Christ will restore the sacrifices properly 2,300 days from the time he comes back from when the sacrifices first started. So if you subtract 2,300 days from the end of the tribulation period at the 200,520 mark

had at least seven days to get cleansed so they can start having sacrifices. The reason all this is important is because they've already got all the plans for the temple are ready, the cornerstone's been cut, they've got all the vessels ready, the priesthood's ready. They've got this Sanhedrin's sanctuary built. Everything is ready for the temple, but it can't be built until after the war of Zekiel 38 and 39.

But everything's ready. And we're not going to be here to see it. We get raptured out before that happens. We're not here to see that. So I wanted to encourage you, it's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day life and forget about the things that are eternal and not get caught up in just numbed from all the news stuff. But I want you to realize that Christ is coming back soon.

He really is. The scriptures back it up. And what's going on in the news backs up what the scripture says. And it's really important that you guys realize from day to day that the time that you have here is a time for God to use you. He wants to use you to touch somebody else. And he says, I think it's in Peter, I would say, where he says he is not slow. Some people say he's slow.

I think it's in Peter. But he is patient towards you because he wants to use you to bring somebody to Christ. And I'll tell you right now, as far as evangelism, I can't name a single church in Cali County that has an evangelistic program reaching the lost. Not a single church. And I think it's that way across the United States. We gather together. We study God's word.

We go home and do our thing. But there's not a single church that I can name that is doing anything to reach out to the people that are lost and tell them about Jesus. And that needs to change. So anyway, that's all I got to say. I'll go ahead and pray. And you guys can have some fellowship. Oh, and by the way, Joe Burkle's standing there walking there. It looks like he's getting ready to leave, but he's not.

I think he's moving closer to the door. He's got my outlines, if you want an outline of what I just shared. He'll pass them out. He'll give them to you before you leave if you want a copy of what I shared so you can check it out yourself.

God, I just thank you that you're an awesome God. Thank you that you love us as much as you do, Lord, because we all know that we don't deserve any of the stuff that you've blessed us with, God. And yet you sent your son to die on the cross for our sins because you loved us, even though you knew we were a bunch of screw-ups. And you want to use us. You want us just to surrender ourselves to you.

You want us just to glorify your name. And I just pray that you help us to die to self on a daily basis, to pick up our cross, and just follow you wherever it leads. And knowing that you have our destiny in your hands, and that you love us, and that you're coming.