I remember being a young boy in Jericho when The American Council came from Jerusalem with information on a war about to erupt. They started to evacuate all of the Americans in the area, and since my mother was an American they came to the rescue, my father however refused as he loved his country.
The Six Day War began. The Jews captured old Jerusalem and the rest of Palestine... A great disappointment to Arabs and Muslims worldwide! I remember many things from the war; the thunder of the bombs and chatter of machineguns that went on day and night for six days. Many Arab citizens in Jericho started looting stores and houses as people ran and crossed the Jordan River in fear of the Israelis. The Israeli soldiers announced "Every house with a white flag on its gate will be spared, and whoever does not have the white mark will be broken in by force". The war was called the Six Day war because it was won in six days. It was interesting that on the seventh day, a Rabbi by the name of Goren blew the ram's horn on the wailing wall in Jerusalem declaring the victory. Many Jews claim that this was a parallel to Joshua, when he went around the walls of Jericho six times, then on the seventh day seven times, and on that day the priests blew the trumpets and everyone shouted with one voice and the walls came tumbling down, and the Israelites took the city. To my father in Jericho it did indeed seem that the walls had tumbled down on him. During the war he was always listening to the Jordanian radio station, he used to say that the Arabs were wining the war, but he was listening to the wrong station. The Israeli station was announcing the truth of their soon coming victory, but instead, my father chose to believe the Arabs who claimed that the Israelis were promoting propaganda.
The Arabs have been loosing wars against Israel exactly as the Bible prophesied in the examples I have showed. The Quran teaches "My people inherits the land", which are Muslims, this was also not true in the case here. I lived in Israel during the Six Day War, the P.L.O resistance, the Jordanian Black September civil war, the bloody wars in Lebanon, and the war of Yom Kippur, with more blood spilt among ourselves and with no hope of destroying Israel... All of these losses and we still hoped for that one victory, since that is all what it takes to destroy them.
Muslims claim Israel is God's punishment on them for allowing bad government to rule the Islamic world. That's why we see attempts to topple governments with majority Muslim population. The Islamic world has its heart set on destroying Israel. The best way to prove this is to quote the Syrian president Hafez Asad "There are still one hundred wars to come with Israel. All we need to defeat Israel is One."
The God of Israel promised in this second restoration declaring; "and they shall not be pulled up", yet the Arab and Muslim world will try again.
God in the Bible promised that they will fail. The Psalms of David (Al-Zabur), in chapter 83. Notice in verse 4 "They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more." Which sounds like a speech by Jamal Abdel-Naser and every other Arabic leader who declared war on Israel and lost. This is exactly what the Bible foretold thousands of years ago.
It is fascinating as it names all the nations that opposed Israel in the last 50 years. The nations mentioned are; Edom, Moab, Amalek, Ammon, children of Lot (Jordan), Ishmaelites and Hagarites (The Arabs), Gebal (Beirut), The inhabitants of Tyre (People of Lebanon), Philistines (Palestinians and Syrians), Assyria (Iraq). Notice it said "The inhabitants of Tyre", since God already knew that the city of Tyre itself will be destroyed and totally removed (Ezekiel 26). How did David (Daud) know of this if he wrote the Psalms (Al-Zabur) from his own mind? Why didn't the Quran mention these truths?
Also notice the most important verse "Cover their faces with shame, That they may seek Your name, O Lord." (Psalms 83:16). This is a declaration to the enemies of Israel that the God of the Bible does not hate the Arabs or the Muslims, but is requesting them to repent and turn to him, and believe in his salvation. He is like a loving father to his children; when they go against his will he has to inflict some pain to re-direct them his way.
The same God did the same for the Pharaoh of Egypt, he bid him to let His people go, then started with simple punishments of frogs, hail, and other stuff, he loved the Egyptians, many of whom went along with Moses.
God is like a father to us, he loves us all, we need to not have a hang-up when Christians pray "Our Father", Muslims always understood this to mean a physical father, that accusation is not correct, it is by adoption which is symbolic of his love towards man. In verse 18 of Psalms 83 it says, "That men may know that You, whose name is Jehovah, you alone are the Most High over all the earth."
Here the Lord (Jehovah God) wants to redirect the Arabs and Muslims to himself (the true God), and He Alone is the true God, the God of Israel, and no one else!
God's promises never changes, and He fulfills them to the letter. Muslims think that the God of the Bible that Christians are calling for, is bias towards the Jews, but we cannot avoid the many verses of punishment declared on Israel in the Bible. After rejecting Christ, the great "Diaspora" started and they were scattered into all the earth, separated from their homeland, and far from Jerusalem. As we have already seen, God allowed them to be killed and tormented more than any other people in the world. No other people in history tasted the agony of war and pain more than the Jews; they have been in known in history to be the refugees of the world. The world must drop this ridiculous notion that the Palestinians are the only ones who suffer, when the facts are that the Palestinians suffered more from their brothers than their cousins.
On the Eastern Gate
In the book of Ezekiel 44:1-3, it says; "Then He brought me back to the outer gate which faces toward the east, but it was shut. And the Lord said to me, This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the Lord God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut. "Now see Ezekiel 43:1 "Afterward he brought me to the gate, the gate that faces toward the east. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east". And in chapter 43: verse 4; "And the glory of the Lord came into the temple by the way of the gate which faces toward the east." This is referring to the beautiful Eastern or Golden Gate, located 1,035 feet north of the Southeast corner of Al-Harm or Temple Mount area, on which Muslim Khaleefeh Abdel-Malek bin-Marwanl built the Dome of the rock in A.D 691. The gate had already been sealed. It has been sealed almost a thousand years ago.
According to these verses, this gate is reserved for the coming Messiah. Many attempts have been made to open it. In 1917 Muslim leaders in control of Jerusalem tried and failed to break the prophecy and open the gate. On the exact day the workmen were preparing to demolish the ancient stone, the hand of God intervened and the city of Jerusalem passed out of Muslim control into the hands of the British.
In 1967 it was the same story all over again; Israel took over Jerusalem on the same day. More importantly, these verses are referring to The Lord God of Israel who entered by the Eastern Gate, and who will again enter by it a second time. This prophecy can be speaking about no other than The Messiah (Al-Maseeh). It plainly calls Him the God of Israel. He is declared as "The God". The Bible declares that He is God in the Flesh. Who came to the Temple, left and will come back again.
The Gate he entered by shall be reserved for him just before the Second Coming. Muslims doubt the Bible by accusing the Jews or the Pharisees of corrupting the Old Testament. This would be impossible, since the Jews like the Muslims, do not believe God came or will come in the flesh. The Jews would love to erase anything that speaks of Jesus or God being in the flesh, since this is the Christian claim. The Jews always regarded their sacred texts of the Bible to be Holy. They never changed it, and the existence of these verses just adds to the evidence.
These verses of the eastern gate prophecy also ties to the Book of Zechariah chapter 14 verses 3 to 4; "Then the Lord will go forth And fight against those, nations, As He fights in the day of battle. And on that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall split in two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the south." Now, when did "The Lord" God have feet? The Mount of Olives which faces directly the Eastern Gate, which will be opened by his coming.
These Biblical prophecies are remarkable and astonishing. How did these prophets predict all of this to match with a "sealed Eastern Gate?"
On the Rebuilding of the Third Temple
In Jerusalem (Future), since Christ will enter in the Eastern Gate to go into the temple The Bible clearly promises that Israel will build the Third Temple. (read Amos 9:11, Revelation 11:1-2)
Yet the Muslim Dome of the Rock is on the Temple Mount (Al-Haram Al-Shareef).
Despite all of the problems that are going on in the area concerning the holy sites, a Jewish Temple will be built according to God's promise! Many question the possibility of the Jewish Temple being rebuilt side-by-side with the Muslim Dome of the Rock, since The Tomb of Abraham (Machpela) in Hebron includes worship sites for both Muslims and Jews. The prophet John (Yohanna) was given a vision of the rebuilt Temple during the Tribulation; "Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city under foot for forty-two months" (Revelation 11:1-2).
Since the Dome of the Rock was built in the area called "The Court of the Gentiles", it is possible that the Temple will be side by side with a wall separating the two. When the Messiah comes, (and He will come), he will descend on the Mount of Olives, cross the Kidron Valley, enter the Eastern Gate, and go into the Temple.
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