Friday, June 9, 2023
We true Christians who know and believe the testimony of Christ for the end-times are not alone in discerning that truth. Many religious unbelievers also know the end is near. Satan and his evil spirits know the end is near. For, absent the blood covering of Christ, non-believers are without the Holy Spirit, and as such are vessels of habitation for evil spirits. In this context, unbelieving, religious, Orthodox Jews are able to signal the nearness of the end, for evil spirits in them know that their time has come. And they are now fervently preparing to receive their false messiah.
Demonic spirits have taken up residence in unbelievers from the time that Eve, being deceived, led her husband Adam to rebel against God. The Bible gives many examples of that truth as evil spirits are constantly trying to thwart God’s plan of redemption of humanity and to bring this age to an end. Evil spirits in unbelievers know the end of this age is near, and they’re still trying to destroy God’s plan. The seven-year tribulation will be their last effort to overthrow God’s plan.
An important end-time event that occurs in Jerusalem, Israel, is the rebuilding of unbelieving Jews’ third temple, in which they will again offer animal sacrifices by priests trained for that practice according to Old Testament specifications and practices. In this regard, CBN News published a May 22, 2023 article entitled “Prophetic Anticipation Builds: Unblemished Red Heifers for Temple Ceremony Soon Come of Age”. In part the article states, “Last September, five red heifers arrived in Israel amid great fanfare, because some Jews and Gentiles believe red heifers are a key element leading to the building of the Third Jewish Temple… The heifers are now in a secure, undisclosed location in Israel. Plans include moving them, sometime soon, to a visitor’s center in Shiloh, where the tabernacle of the Lord once stood for nearly 400 years.”
CBN’s article also said “These red heifers are now between 1 ½ and 2 years old. To replicate the ceremony mentioned in the Bible, they need to be at least 3 years old. And within that time span, they cannot have a blemish or anything that would disqualify them for the ceremony, even one white or black hair… According to those working on the project, the ceremony of the red heifer needs to be performed on the Mount of Olives, and in a place that would have looked directly into where the Temple stood. The land directly east of the Temple Mount, purchased 12 years ago, meets both of those standards.” In a little over one year those heifers will be eligible, and I believe it probable that by the fall of 2023 or 2024 the Dan. 9:27 “covenant” will go into effect.
Unbelieving Orthodox Jews expect the soon arrival of their messiah, but will be the Antichrist. And Antichrist will allow them to again sacrifice animals for the forgiveness of sins. Of course, in light of God having sent His Son Jesus Christ to die a sinner’s death, but be raised to life on the third day, makes Old Testament animal sacrifices for sins an abomination to God. But at the middle of the seven-year tribulation, Antichrist breaks his covenant with Israel and many others, disallows Jews from sacrificing animals, and mandates that the world worship him as God. Then the mark of the beast goes global, when “He [Antichrist] causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name” (Rev. 13:16–17). The red heifers excite Orthodox Jews who also know the end is near.
Marlin J. Yoder
