I lived in Jerusalem, Israel for six months in 1997 about 15 minutes walk from the Damascus Gate of the Old City. In those days like many other Christians before me and since I went to the Kotel (the Western Wall of the Temple) to pray, touching and facing the stones of the old Temple in Jerusalem.
Let me be blunt….there is absolutely no point in praying there at the Kotel. None whatsoever! To do so is to buy into something that is opposed to God. It does not mean you should not pray there, you can pray wherever you are or wherever you want to. God is everywhere equally present in all places and dimensions. To believe that God is especially to be found in a so called “Holy Land” is error. Then to go further and believe that God is more present and ready to hear your prayers in Jerusalem at the Kotel is something He has moved on from.
I have as witnesses two very sincere Jewish men who testified in the face of great opposition, one even lost his life for saying such things.
Act 7:48 “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says: (Stephen the first martyr)
Act 17:24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. (Paul the ex Temple worshiping Pharisee)
These two defining words testify against the whole Third Temple debacle. Why build a Temple when the word of God says God DOES NOT DWELL in man-made temples anymore?
Act 7:49 ‘HEAVEN IS MY THRONE, AND EARTH IS MY FOOTSTOOL. WHAT HOUSE WILL YOU BUILD FOR ME? SAYS THE LORD, OR WHAT IS THE PLACE OF MY REST?
Act 7:50 HAS MY HAND NOT MADE ALL THESE THINGS?’
Act 7:51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you
Where is the place of His rest?
Psa 132:13 For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place:
Psa 132:14 “This is My resting place forever(olam olam literally for an Age/eon); Here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
Psa 132:15 I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor with bread.
Psa 132:16 I will also clothe her priests with salvation, And her saints shall shout aloud for joy.
Psa 132:17 There I will make the horn of David grow; I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed.
Psa 132:18 His enemies I will clothe with shame, But upon Himself His crown shall flourish.”
The dwelling place of God is in His Temple which His hands have made–What Temple is that?All those Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus Christ His Son –The Messiah of Israel and Savior of all the World.
We, His Church are a holy temple made so by God’s indwelling presence. We are His dwelling place which He has chosen and has put His name there upon our foreheads.
Any man made Temple that is to be erected will only be for a Usurper to sit in. No doubt that Temple shall come to the same end as the last ones.
But the Temple He has made Himself, which all may become a lively stone in, shall go on from age to age.
The day will come soon when they shall no longer say The Temple of the Lord, The Temple of the Lord, The Temple of the Lord.
If you wish to know what shall befall the so called Holy City read Jeremiah 7-all of it. It is a sad, sad, word which is still hanging over that place until their house is left to them desolate and men are few in the land—then the blindness shall be taken away and repentance granted to them.
So do not pray for them or cry out for them for God is dealing with them in order to bring them finally to Jesus. Then they shall also be a part of the Temple God has built.
First though, they must have their own efforts thwarted and defeated.
