Third Temple fever is rising surrounding the Temple Mount. It is, I believe, the most burning issue of our time, although simmering just beneath the surface of Middle East madness, just out of sight and mind most of the time.

Upon researching and writing for CAULDRON: Supernatural Implications of the Current Middle East–my book published a few years ago— the Temple again shouldered its way to the top of my thinking.

This is for good reason. The Temple Mount, Mt. Moriah, is the center of the earthly battle in the war Satan has waged against God since being ejected from Heaven with the one-third of the rebel angels that followed him.

Moriah is the spot on the planet where some believe the Garden of Eden was centered. Some hold that the stone under which the Dome of the Rock sits was the place where Adam, then Eve, was created. I don’t necessarily hold to this, but there are serious scholars within Christendom who do. The surface of Mt. Moriah is the place where Isaac was to be offered as sacrifice by his father, Abraham, when God intervened and provided the ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Moriah is the place where the Holy of Holies sat with in the two previous Temples. It is the place where the Ark of the Covenant resided within the Holy of Holies. It is the place where the veil was torn from top to bottom the moment Jesus Christ said, “It is finished,” and gave up His life to death and the grave, to be raised on the third day.

As we have written many times in these commentaries, the signals of this Age of Grace dispensation coming to an end soon are everywhere. It is absolutely mandatory, if that is true, that the most important signal of all be in view at this time. I believe with all that is within me that matters involving the rebuilding of the Temple atop that most centrally important piece of rock must be clearly in view in proving that this generation is near the end of the Church Age.

Some excellent scholars believe and teach that the Tribulation Temple (Third Temple) doesn’t have to be located atop Mt. Moriah. Rather, they believe it will possibly be a synagogue-type structure somewhat north of Jerusalem–Shiloh, to be exact—where the tabernacle stood for 400 years. I respectfully disagree. Satan wants to usurp the throne of God. He cannot do so by taking over the throne of God in Heaven. He has already been banished from that kingdom, except for having the privilege of accusing the brethren.

The devil does want to usurp the earthly throne of God, however, and, in his totally depraved thinking still believes he can do so. That “throne”–which I call God’s touchstone to humanity–is where the Holy of Holies sat, where the Ark of the Covenant resided within Solomon’s Temple. Lucifer the fallen isn’t interested in a second choice for a place to place his “man of sin.” Antichrist must sit right where the Ark, containing God’s Law–the Tablets (Ten Commandments) –rested.

Antichrist will, of course sit in that spot, declaring himself to be God, according to 2 Thessalonians: “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4).

Satan will apparently indwell this “prince that shall come,” thus achieving–in his own demented mind, at least–the usurpation of God’s earthly throne. This, after all, is the place within the Temple Jesus will one day sit as King of Kings during the Millennial Kingdom.

Now, I know the mountain of Moriah will be split in the middle and the Tribulation Temple will likely be completely destroyed. After all, it is the Third Temple built, I believe, by unbelieving Jews; thus, it doesn’t meet with God’s approval. Mt. Zion, as it will be known, will be supernaturally elevated in the tremendous topographical changes that will take place when Christ’s foot touches the Mt. of Olives when He returns. Christ will, Himself, build the Millennial Temple upon Mt. Zion, where He will reign and rule with a rod of iron for 1000 years.

The thing we are considering here is: Do we see signs of the call to rebuild the Temple? The answer is, of course, “Yes!”

Great tensions are currently building around the Temple Mount. Both the Jewish community, which wants to worship on top of Moriah, and the Arab Islamists, who are determined the Jews will never do so, are revving up their emotional engines. The temperature is rising, and the diplomats of the world realize that it is potentially the one place on Earth that is the greatest trigger point to start nuclear Armageddon.

Because we are so near the end of the Church Age (Age of Grace), look for the temperatures of both the Jews and the Islamists to continue to rise as end-times events continue to unfold.