The Appointment Of The Cohen Gadol

The newly reconstituted Sanhedrin‎, the council of 70 elders that governed Israel in ancient times has appointed a Cohen Gadol or High Priest, from the house of Aaron. He is Rabbi Baruch Kahane. This revelation was made by Rabbi Hillel Weiss, the spokesperson for the nascent Sanhedrin. Rabbi Baruch Kahane is part of the Halacha Berurah Institute established by Rabbi Avraham Isaac Hacohen Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of Israel. The Temple Institute has established a registry of kohanim, and a school for the training of the priests in the details of the Temple service. Thisis a landmark development; inasmuch as there has not been any temple or High Priest since the destruction of the Temple on Mount Moriah, Jerusalem, in 70 AD by the Roman General Titus.

With political will on the part of the Israeli government, temple worship, and animal sacrifice, grain and drink offerings could resume at any moment. A full temple need not be erected, though everything required for the building of the third temple based on the plan drawn from Ezekiel 40-43 has been procured. Over $100 million dollars has been raised in cash for the rebuilding of the third Temple. The red heifer has been identified. Through crowd funding money is being raised for cloning and breeding of the red heifer. The golden altar of incense that stands in the holy place has been reconstructed

However, the plan of the temple in Ezekiel 40-43 refers to the fourth and Millennial temple to be erected by The Messiah Himself after the War of Armageddon(Ezek.39,39; Rev.16:16, 19:11-21), and the subsequent renovation of the Temple Mount, the land of Israel, and the whole Earth(Ezek.44-48), during the 45-day Restoration Period(Dan.12:12). It is not likely an elaborate temple like the one described by the prophet Ezekiel could be built in this age. For a temple of this size to be built, the whole Temple Mount most be reclaimed. The situation on the ground in Israel at this time does not permit that. However, the situation may change.

There is no record of the plan of the Third Temple anywhere in the whole of the Scripture‎s, though a Third temple must exist on the Temple Mount for the events of the 70th Seven of Daniel to be fulfilled(Dan.9:27; Matt.24:15; Mk.13:14; 2 Thessalonians.2:3,4; Rev.11:1,2). The Third Temple may not be a full temple like the First built by Solomon which was destroyed in 586 BC by the Neobabylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar II, or like the Second Temple built by the returning exiles following the decree of Cyrus of Medopersia, in 538. This temple completed in 515 BC, was extensively refurbished and embellished by Herod the Great. It was this temple that was in existence during the ministry of Jesus. This temple was destroyed in 70 AD by the Roman General Titus.

The Third Temple may be a tabernacle like structure hurriedly fabricated. With modern technology, and considering the development in architecture and civil engineering in Israel, such a structure may be erected within a week or even overnight. The politics in the Holy Land and the situation on the ground on the Temple Mount may not permit the erection of an elaborate temple like the one described in Ezekiel 40-43. What will happen to the Done of the Rock, and the Musque of Omer? Admittedly, any attempt to forcibly  remove these two‎ structures in order to erect a Jewish temple on the Temple Mount, will raise a lot of dust, and may in fact spark a global religious war.

In Rev.11:1,2, John the revelator was instructed by the angel of God to measure the Third Temple and those who worship in it, and to leave out the outer court to the Gentiles who shall tread it under foot for forty and two months. This period is of the same length as the ministry of the Two Witnesses who shall prophesy for a thousand three hundred and sixty day(Rev.11:3). Biblical scholars are agreed that this periods corresponds with the Second half of the 70th Seven of Daniel which is the time allotted to the antiChrist to reign.

Israel is the clock. It is God’s time piece for the End Times. It is NOT the Church. With the Church, there is no way we can objectively identify our locus in the eschatological timeline. With Israel we can monitor the times and the seasons. This is not Judaism. It is biblical eschatology of which we do well to be aware.

Avraham Shallom.