Doomsday in Jerusalem? Christian Messianic Groups and the Rebuilding of the Temple

Abstract

The rebuilding of the Temple has played an important part in Christian pre-millenialist Messianic expectations. Such an event would for them signify the imminent arrival of the messianic age. Following the Six-Day War in 1967 and the Israeli conquest of the historical parts of Jerusalem, many pre-millenialist Christians have expected the Jews to build the Temple and reinstate the sacrifices prescribed in the Bible. The rise in the 1970s of Jewish groups that have advocated, and at times made preparations for, the rebuilding of the Temple has encouraged Christian pre-millenialists. Evangelical leaders and organizations, which represent millions of conservative Christians, have lent their support to the state of Israel as the nation that prepares the ground for the arrival of the Messiah. Some Christian pre-millenialists have taken steps to help hasten the rebuilding of the Temple and consequently the coming of the Messiah. They have helped finance Jewish groups that have called for the rebuilding of the Temple. They have also searched for the Lost Ark, helped breed red heifers whose ashes are needed in order to enable Jews to enter the Temple Mount, and researched the exact location of the Temple. In rare isolated cases, extremists have tried to burn or blow up the mosques on the Temple Mount in order to secure the ground for the building of the temple. Towards the year 2000, Israeli and American officials became particularly concerned that Christian believers in the imminent arrival of Jesus would try to hasten the messianic clock by helping Jewish extremists blow up the Temple Mount mosques. The prospect of a successful Jewish-Christian collaboration in such a scheme could let all hell loose and bring about a Middle Eastern apocalypse.