Yoni's Visit to Temple Mount

Student/interns in Israel December 12, 2013

As I sit in my apartment on our kibbutz and enjoy a morning off of work due to rain - that is the first rains of this season that the Land is so thirsty for - I am reflecting upon our recent journey to the “Navel of the World”, Jerusalem. It is accurately named the “Navel” or center of the World, because the City of Jerusalem literally resides where Europe, Asia and Africa meet. Historically, the Land of Israel had ancient roads such as the “Kings Highway”, running North and South along the eastern side of Israel and the “Via Maris” or “Way of the Sea”, running north and South along the Mediterranean Sea. These ancient highways connected the known world together and at their crossroads?

Jerusalem!

I still remember my very first site of the Old City, we drove up under the Mount of Olives and emerged to see what many say is the most Beautiful City on earth. I saw the ancient walls, that had been breached and rebuilt so many times because of conflict between the people of the world and God’s people and resting at the peak of the City, impossible to escape your eyes stands the Temple Mount. The very location where Abraham, the first Patriarch of Israel, called by God to Father a nation who would serve the Lord and be holy, set apart from the rest of the world so that they may know who God is, ascended to make a sacrifice unto God with the life of his only begotten son Isaac, given by God and then commanded to be given back to God upon an altar. We know God spared Isaac because of the faith of Abraham and it is a beautiful picture of how God provided a “Ram for Himself” not only physically but also through Yeshua, His only Begotten Son, for all the sins of mankind.

The Temple Mount today is held by Arab Authorities and gaining access to the Mount itself is tightly controlled, but possible. So my fellow students Caleb, Lauren, and I (Jonathan) all took a tour of the modern complex where the Temple once stood, but has [since] been replaced by the Dome of the Rock. There has been controversy over the exact location of the original Temple but the issue is really centered on an attempt to disprove that Israel has any right or ever had any right to the Temple Mount. 2 Samuel 24:13-24 details the account of King David legally purchasing the property on the top of Mount Moriah. However, [I'm] not sure how that one would stick in a court of law today.

To be honest, I never saw the Temple of Solomon but as I walked about the Mount and saw the Dome rising from the barren platform I couldn’t help but remember the returned exiles from Babylon who were grieved to see what had replaced the Temple. (Ezra 3:12)

However, I am also reminded of what will become of the Temple Mount in the Future when Yeshua HaMessiach returns in glory and rules on His Holy Mountain as King of Kings and Lord of Lords over all the World.

by Yoni (Jonathan), BII student/intern

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