God's plan for man is written in The Holy Bible, and this plan is drawing to its conclusion as proven by daily news reports.

David bought the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite to raise an altar to God (2 Samuel 24:18-25). Araunah offered to give the site to David, but David refused the gift and bought it for fifty shekels of silver because he would not offer anything to God unless he sacrificed for it. This threshing floor would later become the site of the First Temple— Solomon's Temple. David built a tabernacle at this site, but was not allowed to build the Temple. Although the Temple was magnificent, its most important feature was a small, simple inner room with little furniture— the Holy of Holies (Kodesh Kodashim). On the holiest day of the year for the Jews, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), the High Priest entered this room to pray for the sins of the people.

Faithful Jews worshiped in Solomon's Temple until it was destroyed by Babylon (King Nebuchadnezzar), and the Jews were carried into captivity— the second exile. (There have been three exiles: in Egypt, in Babylon, and throughout the world). The Jewish nation was defeated by Babylon in several waves, beginning in 608 BC.

The Jews remained captives in Babylon for seventy years, as prophesied by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 25:8-14). This captivity was in response to the Jews' disobedience to God.

Daniel, one of the captives living in Babylon, understood Jeremiah's prophecy. As the end of the seventy years of captivity neared, Daniel prayed to God, asking what would happen to his people after the seventy years of captivity.

Amazing prophecies: At least four prophecies truly from God were proclaimed during this time frame. These prophecies alone should prove the authenticity of prophecy and God's sovereignty. I plan to write a future newsletter about these prophecies, but you may wish to read more about them now:

1. Isaiah prophesied that a King Cyrus would permit return of God's people from Babylonian exile, which actually happened. Isaiah's prophecy was written more than one-hundred years before it happened. (See Isaiah, chapters 44 and 45.)
2. Jeremiah prophesied his people would be in captivity for seventy years for disobeying God, which they were. (See Jeremiah, chapters 9 and 25.)
3. God's seemingly strange instruction for Ezekiel to sleep 390 nights on his left side, then, 40 nights on his right side (Ezekiel, chapter 4) prophesied to the very day the rebirth of the nation of Israel on May 15, 1948.
4. Daniel was given a vision of seventy shavuot (shavuot is Hebrew for "weeks," or a collection of sevens— in this case, seven Jewish years, or 7 x 360 = 2,520 days). After the sixty-ninth shabua (shabua is the singular form of the plural shavuot), Daniel was told that the Anointed One (the Messiah, the Christ) would be "cut off and have nothing." Mathematical computation from the start date of this vision gives the day the Anointed One was "cut off," which was the day that we now call Palm Sunday. On this day, Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem to present Himself for crucifixion. (See Daniel, chapter 9.) Incidentally, the seventieth shabua of Daniel's vision is the future seven-year Tribulation.

King Cyrus of Persia permitted the Jews to return to Jerusalem in 538 BC to rebuild their Temple, seventy years after they were taken into captivity, as prophesied by Jeremiah and Isaiah.

The Second Temple was built on the site of the First Temple, which had been destroyed by the Babylonians. The rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple presented difficult tasks for poor, former slaves. Ezra and Nehemiah led the rebuilding efforts. The first project was to rebuild Jerusalem's walls to fortify the city against hostile neighboring tribes.

Jerusalem was captured by Alexander the Great in 333 BC. Alexander died shortly thereafter. Being a young man and probably a homosexual, he left neither wife nor heirs. His Grecian Empire was divided into four kingdoms. Each kingdom was ruled by one of his four generals— Lysimachus, Cassander, Seleucus, and Ptolemy. At first, Jerusalem was ruled by Ptolemaic Egypt, but later by Seleucid Syrians. From the Seleucid dynasty came an evil and cruel ruler, Antiochus IV, Epiphanes (175-163 BC). Antiochus declared Jerusalem a Greek polis (polis is Greek for "city"), and renamed it Antiochia of Jerusalem.

Antiochus tried to extinguish the Jewish religion. Among other things, he defiled the Second Temple by erecting a statue of Zeus, the chief god of Greek mythology, and sacrificing a sow on the altar. Such acts created an "abomination that causes desolation" (sins so egregious that worship of Jehovah was no longer possible in that place).

Note: Antiochus was a type or foreshadow of the future Antichrist. The Antichrist will call himself god and require all persons to worship him, or be executed; and an image of him will be placed in the future Third Temple.

Antiochus' sinful disrespect of the Jews and their God caused a revolt in 165 BC, led by Judas Maccabeus, a member of the priestly ruling family, the Hasmoneans. The revolt was successful. The Jews expelled Antiochus and regained control of their city. During the cleansing and re-dedication of the Temple, only a one day supply of oil was found to burn in the menorah. It was decided to burn this oil one day, while more was being prepared. Miraculously, this one day oil supply kept the menorah burning for eight days. This event became the origin of Hanukkah. In a later newsletter, I will explain the prophetic significance of Hanukkah.

Although the Syrian Greeks were expelled, peace did not follow. There were decades of internal fighting, as Jewish independence was established. Still, the faithful made regular pilgrimages to Jerusalem, as certain religious observances could be made only in the Temple. All sacred and secular law came from Jerusalem.

The Romans, under General Pompey, defeated the Jews and occupied the Jews' Covenant Land in 63 BC. Herod the Great was installed as King of Judea in 37 BC. During Herod's reign (various dates of his reign are suggested by different scholars), he repaired and refurbished the Second Temple, which was then called Herod's Temple. He also fortified Jerusalem and made other improvements. One of these improvements was construction of the retaining wall for the Temple Mount, now known as the Western Wall ("Wailing Wall"). The Temple Mount, 35 acres in size sitting atop Mount Moriah, is sacred for the world's three monotheistic (one god) religions— Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Islamic Arabs, commonly called "Palestinians," have controlled the Temple Mount since the year 2000, forbidding any Jew or Christian to enter "their" holy site. The Bible alludes to this control in such passages as Revelation 11:2, in which John was told that part of the holy site would be given over to Gentiles for a while.

After Herod's death, Rome installed a series of governors to rule the country. Pontius Pilate was governor from AD 26-36, the time period of Jesus' ministry, and it was he who officiated at Jesus' trial and pronounced the sentence of death by crucifixion.

Roman rule became increasingly harsh, until the Jews revolted in AD 66. The Jews managed to hold Jerusalem until AD 70, when the Roman general Titus— son of the emperor, Vespatian— laid siege to and defeated Jerusalem. Roman legions slaughtered the Jews in Jerusalem and burned the city, including the Temple. The Temple served as the nation's bank. (Where safer to store wealth than in the Temple?) The Temple fire melted the gold and silver. Molten metal flowed into the crevices of the building's stones. To recover the precious metal after the fire, Roman soldiers dismantled and destroyed the Temple, fulfilling Jesus' prophecy (Matthew 24:2b): ..."not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down."