Huge Step Forward on Jerusalem's Temple Mount Takes Us 1 Step Closer to Jesus' Return
An interesting development on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount could be a sign that the return of Jesus Christ may be sooner than later.
Shlomo Vile of Jewish News Syndicate recounted in an article last week that for most of the years since the Israeli Defense Force took Jerusalem and the Temple Mount during the Six-Day War in 1967, Jewish people had not been allowed to go there and pray.
It is the location where Abraham was prepared to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice, foreshadowing when God actually did so with the death of his Son, Jesus Christ, for the sins of the world.
It is also the site of the first and second Jewish temples. The First Temple housed the Ark of the Covenant, containing the stone-hewn Ten Commandments of God, dating back to Moses. The Babylonians destroyed it in 586 B.C.
The Romans sacked the Second Temple in A.D. 70. Among other claims to fame, it was the place where Jesus Christ often taught.
Today, the Temple Mount is the location of the Muslim-controlled Dome of the Rock, where the Prophet Muhammad is said to have been taken to heaven for an encounter with Allah, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Vile shared in his JNS story that until recent years, Muslims and the Israeli government did not allow Jewish people to pray on the Temple Mount.
“Members of the Muslim guard, the Islamic Waqf, would accompany the groups of Jewish pilgrims and would watch our lips to make sure that we weren’t praying. The Israeli policemen also watched our lips and diligently enforced the prayer ban,” he wrote.
But the situation began to change following the murder of two Israeli police officers on the Mount in July 2017.
“Immediately afterwards, the Israeli police expelled the people who screamed and cursed at the Jews. They also became less diligent about watching our lips, and we were allowed to pray openly, as long as we prayed modestly and responded to police instructions,” Vile said.
He explained that after that, a small group of Jewish worshippers began going daily to the Temple Mount to pray, eventually communally, as the police continued to lessen restrictions.
“The latest and most dramatic step forward was this last Tisha B’Av, Aug. 12, 2024, when Jews were for the first time allowed to prostrate fully, face down, arms and legs extended,” Vile wrote.
“You can feel your heart pulsing against the earth, and as you pray, your lips are almost touching the pavement,” he added. “This is a whole new and fully embodied avenue of soul expression that has been closed to our Jewish souls for two thousand years. Prayer is called the service of the heart. Hishtachavaya (full prostration) is a service of the whole self.”
Vile concluded, “We are privileged to live in a generation that can once again serve God on the Temple Mount. Those who ‘go up’ to serve God there are especially privileged to play a central role in the biblical drama of restoring God’s Presence to Zion.”
Knesset Member Tzvi Sukkot recently raised the Israeli flag on the Temple Mount, and he also prayed there during a visit, according to Israel’s i24 News.
BREAKING:
MK Tzvi Sukkot from Otzma Yehudit raises the Israeli flag on the Temple Mount. pic.twitter.com/Q0Dh6yiVtT— daniel 📟✌️ (@LionsOfZion_ORG) May 26, 2025
In a video posted on social media, according to a translation, he says, “When all security branches said, ‘If even one Jew prays (on Temple Mount) the Middle East will burn.’ And today, thousands of Jews prayed there, danced, sang, bowed, members of the Knesset bowed, we waved Israeli flags and nothing happened.”
⚡️🇮🇱JUST IN: Israeli MK Zvi Sukkot:
“When all security branches said “If even one Jew prays (on Temple Mount) the Middle East will burn.& today, 1000s of Jews prayed there, danced, sang, bowed, MKs bowed, we waved Israeli flags & nothing happened”pic.twitter.com/Mn4Tn4nbKl
— Suppressed News. (@SuppressedNws) May 27, 2025
All this could indicate that the political, and undoubtedly spiritual, climate is changing enough to allow the building of a Third Temple.
David Herzog — co-founder of The Glory Zone Ministries in Phoenix, Arizona, and who conducts regular outreaches in Israel — posted a video earlier this year in which he discussed how the decisions President Donald Trump is making regarding the Middle East could be paving the way for the rebuilding of the Third Temple.
There are certain rabbinic movements, including the one that runs the Temple Institute in Jerusalem, that want to see the Third Temple built on the Temple Mount.
Herzog shared that he recently spoke with a friend who has connections in the Knesset, as well as the Temple Institute, who confirmed that there are plans to start building the Third Temple by the end of 2025, with a completion date of somewhere between 2030 and 2032.
The Christian leader pointed out that many believers see Trump as a Persian King Cyrus-like leader, who famously helped the Jewish people return to their land after their Babylonian captivity and rebuild their temple. Peace reigned for a period of time, allowing this to happen. In 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu likened Trump to King Cyrus.
Herzog argued that Trump’s agenda is peace and prosperity, with a desire to build on the Abraham Accords of his first term in the Middle East.
“It looks like a short time of peace and prosperity — couple years — under the Trump administration, for Israel to fulfill end-time prophecy. That’s what looks like is happening,” he asserted.
And that will include rebuilding the temple, he believes.
Herzog pointed to Ezekiel 42:20, which suggests to him that the Third Temple could be built next to the Dome of the Rock without disturbing it, with a wall around it separating “the holy and the common” as the passage says. Jews being allowed to pray there now may indicate an opening for such a project.
The Bible teacher then pointed out the Temple must be in place before Christ’s return, because it is specifically mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, as well as Matthew 24:15-22, and Daniel 9:25-27 as a place the Antichrist will enter and desecrate.
“Things are happening fast,” Herzog said with respect to potential end-times events. “The temple, possibly this year – I don’t doubt anything, especially with this administration – by the end of this year it could be announced that they’re going to start building a Third Temple.”
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