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+Israel © MEA 20180110 (JS244)-Historical Sites in Israel -Golden Gate
Historical Sites in Israel: The Golden Gate
The Old City of Jerusalem is surrounded by a wall containing eight major gates. The Eastern Gate, facing the Mount of Olives across the Kidron Valley, is unique in that it was sealed shut by the Ottoman Empire under Suleiman the Magnificent in 1540-41 A.D. who believed that sealing up the Golden Gate would prevent the coming Jewish Messiah from gaining entrance to Jerusalem to rule and reign.
The Eastern Gate of Jerusalem is also called the Golden Gate or the Beautiful Gate (Acts 3:2). In Hebrew, it is Sha’ar Harahamim, the “Gate of Mercy.” It is currently the oldest gate in the Old City, (6th or 7th century A.D.) built on top of the original ancient Golden Gate which may date back to the time of Nehemiah.
When Yeshua used this gate when entering Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. It’s the sealing of Jerusalem’s Eastern Gate that has caused many students of prophecy to sit up and take notice. The book of Ezekiel contains several references to a gate that faces east. In Ezekiel 10:18-19, the prophet sees the glory of the Lord leave the Temple through:
“They paused at the entrance to the east gate of Adonai’s house”; “Next, the glory of Adonai rose from within the city and stood over the mountain which is on the east side of the city” (Ezekiel 11:23). Later, Ezekiel sees the glory of the Lord return to the temple via “the gate facing east” (Ezekiel 43:1-5). Some interpret these passages in Ezekiel as references to the Messiah. The glory of the Lord coming into the temple is the triumphal entry (Ezekiel 43:2; Matthew 21:1–11).
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Israel © MEA 20180103 (N220) Historical Sites in Israel -Mount of Olives
Historical Sites in Israel -Mount of Olives
The Mount of Olives above is one of three hills on a long ridge to the east of Jerusalem. Rising to more than 800 metres, it offers an unrivalled vista of the Old City and the Temple Mount. The Mount of Olives is historically famous as it was once covered with olive trees, notwithstanding that there are some still alive and well today that are purported to be 2000 years old. Many an olive tree on this hill have born witness to well-known events recorded in the Bible.
King David fled over the Mount of Olives to escape when his son Absalom rebelled. After King Solomon turned away from God, he built pagan temples there for the gods of his foreign wives (2 Samuel 15:30 and 1 Kings 11:7-8). Ezekiel had a vision of “the glory of the Lord” ascending from the city and stopping on the Mount of Olives (Ezekiel 11:23). Zechariah prophesied that in the final victory of the forces of good over evil, that the Lord of Hosts would “stand on the Mount of Olives” and the mount would be “split in two from East to West”, (Zech 14:3-4).
Yeshua went often to the Mount of Olives, a 40-minute walk from the Temple to Bethany; there He rested and prayed. He went down from this Mount on His triumphal entry to Jerusalem on what is affectionately known as Palm Sunday. Here he wept over the city’s imminent destruction, (Luke 19:29-44). In a major address to His disciples on the mount, he foretold his second coming. (Matthew 24:27-31). He prayed there on that fateful night before he was arrested and subsequently killed, (Matthew 26:30-56). And, He ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives (Acts 1:1-12).
Until the destruction of the Temple, the Mount of Olives was a place where many Jews, during times of pilgrimage, would sleep out under the olive trees. Also, during the Siege of Jerusalem which led to the destruction of the City in AD 70, Roman soldiers from the 10th Legion camped on the mount.
In Jewish tradition, the Messiah will descend the Mount of Olives on Judgement Day and enter Jerusalem through the Golden Gate (the blocked-up double gate in the centre of the eastern wall of the Temple Mount), also known as the Gate of Mercy, or the Beautiful Gate. For this reason, Jews have always sought to be buried on the slopes of the mount. The area serves as one of Jerusalem’s main cemeteries, with an estimated 150,000 graves.
Among them are complex catacombs called the Tombs of the Prophets. It is said these catacombs contain the graves of the prophets Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi who lived in the 6th and 5th centuries BC. From Byzantine times the mount became a place of church-building, and by the 6th century it had 24 churches surrounded by monasteries inhabited by large numbers of monks and nuns.
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+Israel © MEA 20171227 (N243) Historical Sites in Israel -Temple Institute
Historical Sites in Israel -Temple Institute
The Temple Institute (Machon HaMikdash), founded in 1987, is a non-profit educational and religious organization located in Jerusalem’s Jewish quarter within the walls of Old City. It is making preparations for the building and furnishing of the ‘Third Temple’, complete with priests and sacrifices. Historically, the Jewish people, on returning to the ‘Promised Land’ in their own right, have always rebuilt Jerusalem first, followed by the rebuilding of the Temple.
Such was the case when Solomon’s Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C.E. and they began to rebuild it after their 70-year exile. Also, when the Jewish resistance won back their land and rededicated the Temple after the Greek ruler Antiochus IV devastated Jerusalem and defiled the Temple in 167 B.C. The last Temple, built by Herod was destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Romans. Interestingly, Jerusalem has been captured at least 40 times and besieged about 23 times by invading forces who wanted to control the city, not destroy it. And, even today the struggle for control of Jerusalem continues.
The Temple Institute’s short-term goal is to rekindle the flame in the hearts of people by raising public awareness of the Holy Temple, which was central and sacred to their religious life. The Institute has begun to restore and construct the sacred vessels for service in the Holy Temple, made according to the exact specifications of the Bible, and constructed from original source materials, e.g. gold, copper, silver and wood. These are authentic, accurate vessels, not merely replicas or models, including the three most important items: the seven-branched Menorah or candelabra, made from pure gold, the golden Incense Altar, and the golden Table of the Showbread.
Visitors can see these restored sacred vessels and original paintings at The Temple Institute’s Visitors’ Centre in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.
“Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the Lord. (Haggai 1:8)
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