Author’s Note: I use some text, to some extent in this article, from my recent book with Tom Horn—ANTICHRIST and the Final Solution.

It is the most contested land in all the world. Diplomats fear it is the one place on earth that could ignite war that couldn’t be stopped. If conflict ever got started over this piece of real estate, nuclear exchanges could ultimately result in and bring about World War III.

God Himself considers this promontory the most important point on the planet. In Heaven’s economy, it is His touchstone to His creation called man.

All of this was fulfillment of prophecy. Daniel the prophet was told centuries earlier that the city, Jerusalem, and the sanctuary, the Jewish Temple, would be completely thrown down, with not one stone left upon another (Daniel 9: 26–27). The Temple Mount remains without a Temple of God until this day.

Muslim structures dot the flattened surface, with the Dome of the Rock, the golden, domed structure so familiar to anyone who has seen Jerusalem’s skyline, the central feature.

Tensions between Jews and Muslims constitute the fuse that makes this landmark the singular most volatile point on earth.

The Jewish Temple will, God’s Word promises, again dominate the promontory. But the next Temple—the Third Temple—will be the center of history’s most horrific era, the Tribulation, also known as “Daniel’s seventieth week.”

The Temple that Solomon built had at its heart the Holy of Holies, a 15-foot cubed inner sanctum wherein sat the Ark of the Covenant, the elaborately prepared container wherein the shekinah glory, the very presence of God, would dwell.

That spot is still somewhere upon the Temple Mount—Mt. Moriah, most scholars believe. Religious Jews still are afraid to walk upon the Temple Mount grounds for fear of accidentally treading upon that one spot on earth where God chose to reside.

The Temple and the Holy of Holies constituted God’s touchstone to humanity—and particularly to the Jews. It is the place where Abraham was to offer Isaac, before God intervened with the ram caught by its horns in a thicket, thus providing the sacrifice Abraham made to the God of Heaven.

Not far from the spot of the Holy of Holies is Golgotha, where the Son of God—Jesus the Christ, the once-and-for-all sacrifice for all the sins of mankind—hung on the cross. When Christ died, the veil in the Temple’s Holy of Holies tore from top to bottom, giving man direct access to God the Father through that sin-sacrifice, God’s only Begotten Son.

There will be a Third Temple built at a future time, Bible prophecy says.

The Third Temple is foretold to be in place during the last seven years of human history prior to Christ’s return.

Exactly when the Third Temple will be built is an unknown factor. The prophetic Word tells only that it will exist during the seven years of Tribulation—specifically, at the three and one-half-year mark of those seven years.

Many who study the Third Temple matter believe that structure must begin well in advance of the Tribulation era. The completion of such an edifice, they believe, will take quite a measure of time. Others hold that the Jews are even now contemplating the building of a tent-like structure like Moses’ tabernacle.

They believe that worship, with sacrifices reinstituted, could be going on in such a place while the more grandiose Temple is constructed around the temporary structure.

With such history and Biblical prophecy that is involved with this place called the Temple Mount, then, it is no wonder that at this late hour we see such tensions developing. Satan and his minions—both supernatural and human—are determined to exert earthly power and authority over this promontory chosen by God to bring salvation to the fallen human race.

And tension there is at this late hour of the age.

The following report chronicles those mounting troubles.

Clashes broke out between Border Police and Palestinian worshipers at the Temple Mount on Friday, Israel Police said in a statement.

Video footage taken at the compound shows Palestinians throwing rocks at a unit of Border Police officers, who in turn responded with firing rubber bullets to quell the unrest.

Nine Palestinians were injured, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Israel Police notes that the clashes began after Friday afternoon prayers, when several hundred worshipers made their way into the compound via the Chain Gate.

At the end of prayers, several dozen youths began to throw stones at the police officers stationed at the entrance to the compound.

The Jerusalem District Commander of the Border Police force ordered officers to locate suspects involved in disturbing the peace.

Police said 16 people were arrested for throwing stones and rioting.

The unrest occurred after the Air Force conducted airstrikes on Hamas targets throughout the Gaza Strip on Thursday night in response to Palestinians continuing to launch arson balloon attacks against Israeli communities near the strip.

Clashes at the Temple Mount were one of the purported reasons that Hamas and its allied terror groups in the Gaza Strip began firing the opening salvos resulting in the IDF’s Operation Guardian of the Walls, and have since warned that Jerusalem is a “red line.”…

Meanwhile, violent confrontations erupted between Palestinians and IDF soldiers near Beita in the West Bank, with at least 47 Palestinians hurt from tear gas inhalation and rubber-tipped bullets, according to the Red Crescent. (“Temple Mount: Clashes Breakout between Israeli Police, Palestinians,” Jerusalem Post, Israel News, June 18, 2021)

Here is an excellent video analyzing the situation:

Israel and in particular the Temple Mount are at the very heart of Bible prophecy yet future. Things developing at a tremendous pace must certainly mean that major fulfillment for the wind-up of the age is at hand.

Again, it is crucial that we alert our family, friends and all within our spheres of influence that they must know Jesus Christ for salvation to avoid the most terrible times of human history just ahead.

That heavenly formula for escape of that coming Tribulation and from Hell for eternity is the following:

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)