Editor’s note: This post originally appeared on David’s Tent, a ministry of Israeli believers Avner and Rachel Boskey. The Boskey’s have ministered at Tabernacle of David, and we consider them trustworthy and Biblically sound.
This is part four of a five-part newsletter.
- Part one looked at the recent 13 minute ‘walk around’ the Temple Mount by Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir and the immediate international explosion. Then it examined the histories of Roman, Byzantine and Islamic laws forbidding Jews to walk on or pray on the Temple Mount.
- Part two looked at attitudes and policies concerning the Jews/Temple Mount during the Early Islamic times, the Crusader period, the Ottoman Turkish occupation, the British Mandate, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, as well as Israeli Minister of Defense General Moshe Dayan’s decisions regarding the ‘status quo’ in the aftermath of the June 1967 Six-Day War.
- Part three looked at Temple Mount developments between 1967-2022
- This fourth newsletter focuses on what the Bible teaches about the Temple Mount and the Last Days
- Part five will look at the central place of the Temple Mount in the Last Battle, the Messianic kingdom and the location of Messiah Yeshua’s throne
In 1762 Charles Wesley published an outstanding hymn “Almighty God of Love” which speaks of the Temple Mount in future prophecy:
We know, it must be done, for God hath spoke the word,
All Israel shall their Savior own, to their first state restor’d
Re-built by his command, Jerusalem shall rise
Her Temple on Moriah stand again, and touch the skies
Moriah
In King Solomon’s day Mount Moriah was known as having once been the location of the threshing floor of Araunah/Ornan the Jebusite (2 Samuel 24). ‘Araunah’ was most probably a Hittite or Hurrian title meaning ‘honored lord/municipal leader.’ The Jebusites were one of Jerusalem’s earlier settlers and the city was once known as Jebus. Araunah’s Jebusite ancestors had probably been living in Jerusalem/Jebus for some time, perhaps going back to days before Joshua.
- Then Solomon began to build the House of YHVH in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where YHVH had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite (2 Chronicles 3:1)
The word ‘Moriah’ is found in only one other place in Scripture, in Genesis 22:2,14, where ‘one of the mountains’ in ‘the land of Moriah’ (eretz Moriah) is referenced. This site was identified in Abraham’s day as ‘the Mountain of YHVH:’
- Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” And Abraham named that place ‘YHVH Will Provide,’ as it is said to this day, ‘On the mountain of YHVH (הַ֥ר יְהוָ֖ה) it will be provided.’”
Considering that Isaiah 2:3 uses the same Hebrew phrase to describe the Temple Mount (וְנַעֲלֶ֣ה אֶל־הַר־יְהוָ֗ה אֶל־בֵּית֙ אֱלֹהֵ֣י יַעֲקֹ֔ב), there is reliable historical and linguistic support for assuming that the same location is being referred to.
There are more than 144 references in Scriptures specific to the Temple Mount, and 58 of these are prophetic in nature. The Temple Mount is a significant theme in the Scriptures, as well as an important focus in biblical prophecy.
A place with a chosen destiny
The God of Israel explained to Ezekiel the unique nature of the Temple Mount – it is His throne and footstool:
- “And He said to me, ‘Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever’” (Ezekiel 43:7).
The God of Jacob explains to King Solomon that there is an eternal and abiding divine connection to the Temple Mount: it is where YHVH’s name, eyes and heart abide forever:
- Now it came about when Solomon had finished building the House of YHVH and the king’s house, and all that Solomon desired to do, and YHVH said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea which you have offered before Me; I have consecrated this House which you have built, by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there always” (1 Kings 9:3)
The Temple Mount is where the Shekinah (the Glory of YHVH) came to abide. The Glory departed from there in Ezekiel’s day. The Holy Spirit will return to the same location – a rebuilt Temple – in days yet future:
- Then the priests brought the Ark of the Covenant of YHVH to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the House, to the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim . . . And it happened that when the priests came from the Holy Place, the Cloud filled the House of YHVH, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the Cloud, for the Glory of YHVH filled the House of YHVH (1 Kings 8:10-11)
- Then the Glory of the God of Israel ascended from the cherub on which it had been, to the threshold of the Temple . . . Then the Glory of YHVH went up from the cherub to the threshold of the Temple, and the Temple was filled with the Cloud, and the courtyard was filled with the brightness of the Glory of YHVH . . . The Glory of YHVH went up from the midst of the city and stood over the Mountain which is east of the city (Ezekiel 9:3; 10:4; 11:23)
- Then He brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the House. And I looked, and behold, the Glory of YHVH filled the House of YHVH, and I fell on my face. And YHVH said to me, “Son of man, pay attention, see with your eyes and hear with your ears everything that I say to you” (Ezekiel 44:4-5)
King David tells us that the Temple was built on the Temple Mount in God’s honor, and because He had a special heart-connection to that hill:
- Then King David said to the entire assembly, “My son Solomon, whom alone God has chosen, is still young and inexperienced, and the work is great; for the Temple is not for mankind, but for YHVH God” (1 Chronicles 29:1)
- Why do you look with envy, you mountains of many peaks, at the Mountain God has desired as His dwelling? Indeed, YHVH will dwell there forever (Psalm 68:16)
Though most followers of Messiah Yeshua are unaware of the present spiritual status and future destiny of the Temple Mount, the Scriptures have much to teach on this matter.
Location, location, location
The exact location of where the House of YHVH was to be built on the Temple Mount was communicated by divine revelation to Gad the prophet-seer (see 2 Samuel 24:11):
- So YHVH sent a plague on Israel; seventy thousand men of Israel fell. And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it; but as he was about to destroy it, YHVH saw and was sorry about the catastrophe, and said to the destroying angel, “It is enough; now relax your hand.” And the angel of YHVH was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. Then David raised his eyes and saw the angel of YHVH standing between earth and heaven, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces . . . Then the angel of YHVH commanded Gad to say to David, that David was to go up and build an altar to YHVH on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. So David went up at the word of Gad, which he spoke in the name of YHVH. Now Ornan turned back and saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. And Ornan was threshing wheat. As David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out from the threshing floor and prostrated himself to David with his face to the ground (1 Chronicles 21:14-21)
The revelation of the exact location of the House of YHVH came in the context of King David’s prideful national census, a portentous deed about which Moses had warned the kings of Israel:
- When you enter the land which YHVH your God is giving you, and you take possession of it and live in it, and you say, “I will appoint a king over me like all the nations who are around me” – you shall in fact appoint a king over you whom YHVH your God chooses. One from among your countrymen you shall appoint as king over yourselves. You may not put a foreigner over yourselves, anyone who is not your countryman. In any case, he is not to acquire many horses for himself, nor shall he make the people return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since YHVH has said to you, “You shall never again return that way.” And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, so that his heart does not turn away. Nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself (Deuteronomy 17:14-17)
When God established the Temple on the Temple Mount, He was authorizing a spot on the map where Israel would receive atonement and forgiveness for her sins – a place which the whole planet would see, recognize and eventually make pilgrimage to:
- Then David said, “This is the House of YHVH God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel” (1 Chronicles 22:1)
- “Because of Your Temple at Jerusalem kings will bring gifts to You” (Psalm 68:29)
Supreme Court at the House of YHVH
King David waxed eloquent about one of the functions of the compound where the House of YHVH was located: it is not only a center of worship, but also the location of the Davidic Supreme Court. This court will one day be international in scope:
- A Song of Ascents, of David. I was glad when they said to me, “Let’s go to the House of YHVH.” Our feet are standing within your gates, Jerusalem – Jerusalem that has been built as a city that is firmly joined together, to which the tribes go up, the tribes of YHVH – an ordinance for Israel – to give thanks to the name of YHVH. For thrones were set there for judgment, the thrones of the House of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you. May peace be within your walls, and prosperity within your palaces.” For the sake of my brothers and my friends, I will now say, “May peace be within you.” For the sake of the House of YHVH our God, I will seek your good (Psalm 122)
- Now it will come about that in the last days the Mountain of the House of YHVH will be established as the chief of the mountains and will be raised above the hills. And all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say, “Come, let’s go up to the Mountain of YHVH, to the House of the God of Jacob – so that He may teach us about His ways, and that we may walk in His paths.” For the Teaching [Hebrew, Torah] will go out from Zion and the word of YHVH from Jerusalem. And He will judge between the nations, and will mediate for many peoples. And they will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning knives. Nation will not lift up a sword against nation, and never again will they learn war (Isaiah 2:2-4; see also Micah 4:2)
A Jewish priority for the House and compound
The Holy Spirit shares His intercessory heart with His followers throughout the earth. This company of day-and-night prayer people cry out to YHVH that He would bring the Jewish people into their international destiny. Israel’s salvation will bear physical fruit, and that fruit of the vine will be drunk by Jewish people, fearless and secure in the courts of the Temple Mount compound:
- On your walls, Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen. All day and all night they will never keep silent. You who profess YHVH, take no rest for yourselves, and give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem an object of praise on the earth. YHVH has sworn by His right hand and by His mighty arm: “I will never again give your grain as food for your enemies, nor will foreigners drink your new wine for which you have labored.” But those who harvest it will eat it and praise YHVH, and those who gather it will drink it in the courtyards of My Sanctuary (Isaiah 62:6-9)
Jewish ingathering and worship on the Temple Mount
Isaiah’s prophecy describes a massive worldwide aliyah (Jewish return to Israel) which will be accompanied by a divine shofar (ram’s horn). This shofar blast will catalyze the return of the scattered Jewish people, and will culminate in holy Jewish worship on the Temple Mount:
- It will come about also on that day that a great shofar will be blown, and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship YHVH on the Holy Mountain in Jerusalem (Isaiah 27:13)
- For on My Holy Mountain, on the high mountain of Israel, declares YHVH God, there the entire house of Israel, all of them, will serve Me in the land. There I will accept them and there I will demand your contributions and the choicest of your gifts, with all your holy things. As a soothing aroma I will accept you when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered; and I will show Myself to be holy among you in the sight of the nations (Ezekiel 20:40-41)
- Look at Zion, the city of our appointed feasts (Isaiah 33:20-24)
A full Jewish restoration on the Temple Mount
The Temple Mount can be considered the future ground-zero for Jewish restoration – both physically and spiritually:
- This is what YHVH says: ‘Yet again there will be heard in this place, of which you say, “It is a waste, without man and without animal,” that is, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted, without man and without inhabitant and without animal, the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, “Give thanks to YHVH of armies, for YHVH is good, for His mercy is everlasting,” as they bring a thanksgiving offering into the House of YHVH. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were at first,’ says YHVH (Jeremiah 33:10-11)
A holy Jewish nation on a Holy Mountain
The nation of Israel will not only dwell and worship on a Holy Mountain. The entire Jewish people will also be made holy, and this holiness will be internationally recognized:
- Then you will know that I am YHVH your God, dwelling on Zion, My holy mountain. So Jerusalem will be holy, and strangers will no longer pass through it (Joel 3:17)
- YHVH says this: ‘I will return to Zion and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the Mountain of YHVH of armies will be called the Holy Mountain’. . . YHVH of armies says this: ‘Behold, I am going to save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west; and I will bring them back and they will live in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness.’ Then the word of YHVH of armies came to me, saying, “YHVH of armies says this: ‘The fast of the fourth, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth months will become joy, jubilation, and cheerful festivals for the house of Judah. So love truth and peace.’ YHVH of armies says this: ‘Peoples will come, that is, the inhabitants of many cities. The inhabitants of one city will go to another, saying, “Let’s go at once to plead for the favor of YHVH, and to seek YHVH of armies; I also will go.” So many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the Lord of armies in Jerusalem, and to plead for the favor of YHVH.’ YHVH of armies says this: “In those days ten people from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you’” (Zechariah 8:3-23)
Gentile participation in Temple Mount celebration, worship and sacrifice
The prophet Isaiah has much to say about the future Temple and events surrounding it. Some beautiful prophetic passages show that believers from the nations will be involved and participating in these events:
- Now YHVH of armies will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this Mountain, a banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, and refined, aged wine (Isaiah 25:6)
- Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to YHVH say, “YHVH will certainly separate me from His people.” Nor let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” For this is what YHVH says: “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold firmly to My covenant – to them I will give in My House and within My walls a memorial, and a name better than that of sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name which will not be eliminated. Also the foreigners who join themselves to YHVH, to attend to His service and to love the name of YHVH, to be His servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath so as not to profane it, and holds firmly to My covenant – even those I will bring to My Holy Mountain, and make them joyful in My House of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar. For My House will be called a House of Prayer for all the peoples.” YHVH God, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares, “I will yet gather others to them, to those already gathered” (Isaiah 56:3-8; also see Isaiah 2:2-3)
Gentile participation will extend to helping in the construction of the House of YHVH:
- Foreigners will build up your walls, and their kings will serve you. For in My wrath I struck you, and in My favor I have had compassion on you. Your gates will be open continually; they will not be closed day or night, so that people may bring you the wealth of the nations, with their kings led in procession. For the nation and the kingdom which will not serve you will perish, and the nations will be utterly ruined. The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the juniper, the elm tree and the cedar together, to beautify the place of My Sanctuary. And I will make the Place of My feet glorious. The sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you, and all those who despised you will bow down at the soles of your feet. And they will call you the ‘City of YHVH,’ ‘Zion of the Holy One of Israel’ (Isaiah 60:10-14)
The nations will also help the scattered Jewish people to return to Jerusalem and to the House of YHVH:
- Then they shall bring all your countrymen from all the nations as a grain offering to YHVH, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules, and on camels, to My holy Mountain Jerusalem, says YHVH, just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the House of YHVH (Isaiah 66:20)
The Temple Mount – a worldwide teaching center
The Temple Mount will be the site of a planet-wide conference center involving both teaching and training (“that we may walk in His paths”). This Temple Mount ministry will have worldwide influence and impact:
- Now it will come about that in the last days the Mountain of the House of YHVH will be established as the chief of the mountains and will be raised above the hills. And all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say, “Come, let’s go up to the Mountain of YHVH, to the House of the God of Jacob – so that He may teach us about His ways, and that we may walk in His paths.” For the Teaching [Hebrew, Torah] will go out from Zion and the word of YHVH from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:2-3; see also Micah 4:1-2)
YHVH will dwell on the Temple Mount
God who defines Himself as omnipresent (see Psalm 139:7-12; Jeremiah 23:24) will do something nearly inconceivable for mankind: He will localize Himself in Jerusalem and on the Temple Mount:
- And behold, the angel who had been speaking with me was going out . . . and he said to him, “Run, speak to that young man there, saying . . . ‘But I, declares YHVH, will be a wall of fire to her on all sides, and I will be the glory in her midst . . . Shout for joy and rejoice, daughter of Zion! For behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst, declares YHVH.And many nations will join themselves to YHVH on that day and will become My people. Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that YHVH of armies has sent Me to you. And YHVH will possess Judah as His portion in the Holy Land, and will again choose Jerusalem” (Zechariah 2:1-12)
Spiritual activities on the Temple Mount
The Hebrew Scriptures describe many different facets of worship that have occurred on the Temple Mount in times past. Many of these activities will be repeated in the future. Here is a partial list:
- The offering to YHVH of yearly sacrifices and the paying of vow s (1 Samuel 1:21)
“I will pay my vows to YHVH. May it be in the presence of all His people, in the courtyards of YHVH’s House, in the midst of you, Jerusalem! Praise YAH!” (Psalm 116:18-19)
- Worship, as King David did: “And David went into the House of YHVH and worshiped” (2 Samuel 12:20)
- Musical worship:
“Now these are the ones whom David appointed over the ministry of song in the House of YHVH” (1 Chronicles 6:31)
“All of these were under the direction of their father to sing in the House of YHVH, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, for the service of the House of God” (1 Chronicles 25:6)
“You will have songs as in the night when you keep the festival, and gladness of heart as when one marches to the sound of the flute, to go to the Mountain of YHVH, to the Rock of Israel” (Isaiah 30:29)
“YHVH is certain to save me! So we will play my songs on stringed instruments all the days of our life at the House of YHVH” (Isaiah 38:20)
“They have made a noise in the House of YHVH as on the day of an appointed feast” (Lamentations 2:7)
- Bowing in worship: “At Your Holy Temple I will bow in reverence for You” (Psalm 5:7)
- Bowing in the direction of the Temple Mount: “I will bow down toward Your Holy Temple” (Psalm 138:2)
- Presentation of national and international burnt offerings: “This is the House of YHVH God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel” (1 Chronicles 22:1)
Messianic Jews on the Temple Mount
The New Covenant describes Messianic Jews at home on the Temple Mount. They fasted and prayed there, praised God there and gathered for fellowship, preached the Good News of Yeshua, fell into divine trances there, and did not do anything wrong against the Temple. They saw the Temple as part of their spiritual inheritance:
- And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years and had lived with her husband for seven years after her marriage,and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She did not leave the Temple grounds, serving night and day with fasts and prayers. And at that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak about Him to all those who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem (Luke 2:36-38)
- And they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy,and were continually in the Temple praising God (Luke 24:52-53)
- Day by day continuing with one mind in the Temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart (Acts 2:46)
- But during the night an angel of YHVH opened the gates of the prison, and leading them out, he said, “Go, stand and speak to the people in the Temple the whole message of this Life.” Upon hearing this, they entered into the Temple about daybreak and began to teach (Acts 5:19-21)
- And every day, in the Temple and from house to house, they did not stop teaching and preaching the good news of Yeshua the Messiah (Acts 5:42)
- Then Paul took along the men, and the next day, after purifying himself together with them, he went into the Temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them (Acts 21:26)
- “It happened when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the Temple, that I fell into a trance,and I saw Him saying to me . . . ” (Acts 22:17-18)
- Paul said in his own defense, “I have not done anything wrong either against the Law of the Jews, or against the Temple, or against Caesar” (Acts 25:8)
- [They] are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons and daughters, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the [Temple] service, and the promises (Romans 9:4)
How should we then pray?
- Pray for God to grant clear vision to believers worldwide, to the Jewish people and to Israeli leaders regarding God’s heart and perspectives concerning the Temple Mount
- Pray for YHVH to grant intercessory prayer strategies to His saints regarding the Temple Mount, both present and future
- Pray for the raising up of Ezekiel’s prophetic Jewish army throughout the earth
Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.
In Messiah Yeshua,
Avner Boskey
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