Global SITREP C8-22: Temple Mount (Tisha b'Av)

Rainbow over the Temple Mount (Moriah) and Mount of Olives

UPDATE 02 August 2022: In keeping with the theme of the SITREP, an item written by Rabbi Hagai Lundin (linked below) appeared in today's edition of Arutz Sheva (7 Israel National News) caught my attention, mostly because I've been expecting something along these lines to appear in Israeli media in conjunction with Tisha B'Av: Will the Temple Be Built This Year?  

The image above heads the Rabbi's article. I find it to be exceptionally appropriate in that its a type of canopy over both the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives; it encompasses a scene of tremendous prophetic importance for both the children of Israel and Christians. If only the Jews were to realize what exactly it is they pray and fast so fervently for. They will, eventually, come to that realization but it will take the tragic events of Israel's 70th Week of Years to bring them, for the most part, to that realization. 

The land under this rainbow will be the prophetic scene of Revelation 11. Long-time readers will recall that we've covered some of this before. Almost exactly six years ago I made a re-post of what had originally appeared on Eschatology Today five years prior to that date in December 2011 regarding the text of that prophecy about The Two Witnesses. The nearness of the fulfillment of Revelation 11 begs for a re-visitation, and what better time than during the days of mourning and fasting in Israel. 

The point to re-emphasize here is that the 3rd Temple, which the word of God makes very explicit, is standing, completed and in use as the Two Witnesses begin their prophetic one thousand two hundred sixty day ministry.

To be continued shortly...

28 July 2022: Today marks the first day of the month of Av. As most know very well, the 9th of Av has historically been a day of mourning, deprivation, prayer and fasting in commemoration of the calamities that have befallen the Israel on Tisha B'Av due to a manifest lack of faith and failure to observe the ordinances of God. 

Tisha B'Av is the culmination of the first nine days of Av, and which extends to the previous three weeks as that is when several Roman legions began their siege of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount in 70 AD. While this date has no real significance of Christians, it marks 3,335 years since the first of several tragic events dating back to the time of the Exodus and the deliverance of Israel from bondage in Egypt.

As Christians we should recognize that these events in Israel's history are a progression, a process that eventually will lead to all Israel being redeemed in the Blood of our Messiah, Jesus Christ. We recall what occurred during the Exodus that caused Moses to break the first set of tablets, inscribed by the Divine finger of God Himself. How utterly priceless were those tablets! No one knows what truly became of them even though oral tradition says that were carried in the Ark of the Covenant. Purely speculative, but the breaking of those tablets when Moses saw the golden calf and Israel worshipping its as their god might seem as the initial in a multiple millennia long series of Tisha B'Av tragedies. 

Today this day Israel remains under the terms of the covenant God told Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab (Deuteronomy 29:4). Read the entire chapter for context, and Paul's reference to this in Romans 11:8.

Further, we're told that the first Tisha B'Av event occurred in 1313 BC when the spies returned from scouting the land and the children of Israel balked at entering the Promised Land due to the bad report and that God's response was for that generation to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, to die there and their children would be the first to enter Eretz Israel.

Then came the destruction of the First and Second Temples on Mount Moriah, by the Babylonians and Romans respectively in 586 BC and 70 AD. This was followed by the revolt against Rome led by Simon Bar Kokhba and which ended with Simon Bar Kokhba and his Jewish Army in the town of Betar being utterly slaughtered by Roman legions on Tisha B'Av 135 AD.

Again, this is all part of an ongoing process, a process which will ultimately culminate with the prophetic verse in Ezekiel 39:29. This is how Eschatology Today thinks of the meaning of Tisha B'Av.