Now let’s turn to the book of Ezra and let’s see some more about the dedication of the temple that they were building. Let’s come to Ezra 3:8. “Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the remnant of their brethren the priests and Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem; and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to set forth the work of the house of the LORD.” But then they left off on it for several months, then they came back to again.

Now, verse 9, “Then stood Jeshua with his sons and his brethren,…” and so forth, “…together, to set forward the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brethren the Levites. And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the LORD, after the ordinance of David king of Israel.” So they had another small ceremony similar to what it was when God put His presence into the Temple of Solomon. “And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the LORD; because He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.” So they had a foundation party there. “But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy” (vs. 9-12). And of course, we saw there in Haggai that it was a small temple compared to the first one.

Now, let’s come over here to chapter 6 and verse 15. “And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.” So they started in the second, so you have second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth year, you have five years in which they were building. And they finished it. “And the children of Israel, the priests, the and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy” (Ezra 6:15-16). And then it tells all the things that they offered and so forth. Now, the month of Adar, according to the Hebrew calendar, is the last month of winter, Nisan being the first month of spring.

Now just as an aside, you can put in your notes there John 10, where it says that Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Feast of Dedication. Now many people today read that and say, that that had to be the dedication of the one during the days of the Maccabees, when they restored it after the abomination of desolation by Antiochus Epihpanes. And where they had only enough oil for running the lamps for one day, but the lamp burned for seven days. And so they have what they call Hanukkah, which is the Feast of Lights. And people say that there in John 10 that proves that Jesus was keeping Hanukkah, so therefore we ought to keep Hanukkah. Well remember, the original dedication of the temple was in Adar, see. It was in Adar, which was in winter. So it doesn’t tell us which dedication it was, does it? So it seems to me, it would probably be the one of the dedication of the house, when the second house was built, rather than with Hanukkah. Because Hanukkah, when you really understand it, is a very pagan feast. You see there’s a form of paganism with Judaism that we don’t comprehend, because it’s not like the form of paganism of Catholicism and Protestantism. It’s a different form.

And by the way, when Hanukkah comes up this year, count the candles. In the temple, there were the seven, Ok? Seven little cups which held the oil, and they put the wick in, and they would light the wick, and the oil would keep the lamp burning. So it was a lamp stand, not at candlestick, as we would think with a wax candle. But you look at the Hanukkah candles and they have nine. Why do they have nine instead of seven? And why is the middle candle of the middle three raised above all the rest?

Well, the esoteric knowledge of pagan Judaism is, the raised candle is to the Queen of Heaven. And the three candles, the three candles and three candles, are their Trinity. Because mystic Kabbalist Judaism believes in a trinity. Now most people don’t even know that. So if you look at that, and I think we can say that Jesus certainly didn’t keep that feast of dedication, if it were at that point at that time. Ok.

Now we’re going to get into some things which are going to be very interesting. Now what I would like you to do is - you may even draw this in your notes if you like, I would like you to think on the right hand, this is the north. On the left hand is the south. On the north side is the highest part of the ridge that comes on down to the Valley of Kidron. And the other valley that goes up on the other side of the ridge, which is the Tyropean Valley. The Tyropean Valley goes up, but when it gets up toward the high end on the north side, it diminishes to where it just blends into the landscape. The Kidron Valley runs very deep on the other side. And the tallest point on the north side - and that’s where the Western Wailing Wall is, at the highest point - to the bottom of Kidron Valley is over 600 feet, and it rises rather sharply and steeply.

Now I’m going to bring you some information on a book that Ernest Martin wrote called, The Temple of Jerusalem, and this is going to be a summary of some of the things. Now, Ernest Martin I know personally. And when he does very good, he does very good; and when he does very bad, he does very bad. He even put at one book before and said, “Well the Jews were going to build the temple on the Mount of Olives, because when they faced the Western Wailing Wall, they're looking over to where the Mount of Olives is.” And all of his proof that he had to prove that, disproved his point. So he sent me the copy - this was years ago before it went to press - and I marked it all up and wrote on it and said, “You disproved your own point. It’s not going to be built on the Mount of Olives. It will be built on the same spot that it was the other time. Because you said everything goes in threes: 3 this, 3 that, 3 that. And the temple, we have the first temple, the second temple; both were destroyed, and the third temple then, according to the threes that you have, must be built on the same place.” So now he’s got a book showing that it has to be built on the same place.

Now he says - and this is the summary. These are not direct quotes from his book, which is quite a few hundred pages long, and Ernest Martin repeats himself a lot. So you get a lot of repetition. “At the time of David the location of Mount Zion was on the southeast ridge of the East hill.” So on the southeast ridge, City of David, Mount Zion. “The lowest southern end of this ridge extends from the intersection of the beginning of the ridges of the Tyropean Valley on the west side and the Kidron Valley on the east side. And they run together at the lower end at the south. The crescent of this southeast ridge extends up the Kidron Valley to the north; further up this ridge, overlapping the southeast corner of what would become Fort Antonia...” That’s the top highest part, Fort Antonia, “…being the upper end of the crest. This is approximately 600 yards from the lower end of the Kidron Valley to the southeast corner of Fort Antonia.” Now Fort Antonia was 36 acres. A large area. I’ll have a little more to say about that.

“In the center of this crescent…” because the ridge came like this, “…was the temple site of the Ophel mound. And the lower third of this crescent was Mount Zion.” So you have where Fort Antonia is the highest place, you come down to Ophel, which is the temple site. And then you come down to Mount Zion. “The two mounds together…” that is, Mount Zion and Ophel, “…were about 400 yards in length from north to south,” that is, each of them. “From the top of Mount Zion to the top of Ophel was over 200 yards.” So just picture a hill coming down with a bump here and a flat area, and that’s where the threshing floor was. It had to be flat. And then you come down, and then here is Mount Zion, or the City of David.

“This hill continued to ascend northward from Ophel Mound to where there was an outcropping of rock protruding.” Now this outcropping of rocks is now centered in the Mosque of Omar. And this is supposedly the sacred place where Mohammed ascended to God. And this was supposedly the place where Abraham sought to offer Ishmael. Now you see… no. The Arabs say Ishmael. Now you know why they fight. Because Abraham did not offer Ishmael. Ishmael was long gone. He came to offer Isaac, not on the protruding rock where Mohammed later ascended into heaven, allegedly. But it was on the Ophel Mound, Ok? So you see, have to get our Hebrew and Arabic theology straightened around, don’t we? [Laughs]

“The Temple Mount was built over the subterranean Gihon spring, and had numerous subsurface caves. All the temples were built [or that is, the two temples] on Ophel, the humped mound…” Mountain - it came up like this, then it was flat and went down, “…and the water of life for the temple services was immediately available, for it was renowned for its purity [or that is, sweet water] over that of any other spring in the entire region.” So they had to have a lot of water so they could take care of the sacrifices and everything. “At the time of the eyewitness of Ichantius 500 B.C., he stated that the temple was located near the center of Jerusalem, as it existed in his day, shortly after the construction of the second temple.” We just read about that. “For they had returned from exile after the Babylonian captivity and had rebuilt the temple from 520 to 515 B.C…” And we counted to five years from year two to year six of Darius.

“This would indicate that Zion, the City of David, was within the lower part of the crescent, and the Temple Mount was in the center, with the residents of Jerusalem being extended also on the upper crest at that time, because Fort Antonia did not come until the captivity by the Romans. But most likely did not reach to the south east edge of what would later become Fort Antonia. This upper edge of the crescent would be around 200 yards from the rock outcropping, the Dome of the Rock, that today is claimed to be the location of the original temple. During the days of Josephus, he says, ‘Now on the north side of the temple was built a Citadel…’ that is, Fort Antonia, ‘…whose walls were square and strong, and of an extraordinary firmness.’ The kings of the Hasmonean Dynasty, who are also high priests before the time of Herod, called it the Tower where the citadel was built.”

“The vestments of the high priests were kept in the Tower…” And this is the way that the Romans had of controlling the Jews: “You be nice, or you don’t get the robes.” He went on to say that, “…Fort Antonia dominated the temple area as it looked down upon the temple. This fortress guarded the security of the temple, the city of Jerusalem, and the fortress itself. We are informed that Fort Antonia obscured the view of the temple from those viewing Jerusalem from the north looking south. The hill on which the Tower of Antonia stood was the highest of these three locations.” So it was up, way high in the air. I think one hundred and five feet in the air. “The Dome of the Rock was, and is, offset southwest from the center within Fort Antonia.” So you view kind of a square, and it’s just a little off center. “There are no caves nor springs within the vicinity of the Dome of the Rock. Rather, an aqueduct coming from Bethlehem supplied Fort Antonia with water, and was stored in 37 cisterns maintaining a water supply for the 10th Legion, which numbered 10,000 troops.”

So in Fort Antonia, they had walls that were 46 feet high. They had apartments for everything in there. They had a training area, they had their pagan worship system; and remember all of hogs that went streaming down, you know, that had the demons cast into them and went down into the sea? You’ve often wondered why pigs were there in the area of the Holy Land? For Roman occupying soldiers’ consumption. That’s why they were there. So they had to eat something else. They had to eat, you know, “Hebrew Nationals” that week. [Laughs]

“There is no historic reference in the Holy Scriptures, or any secular sources, that describe a natural outcropping of rock.” And it raised quite high before they laid the foundation for Fort Antonia. “And this outcropping was located on the highest point of the ridge or hill that was associated with the Temple Mount. This includes…it was higher than the sites for the temple floor, the Holy of Holies, and the altar of burnt offerings. The altar of burnt offerings was formerly used as a threshing floor…” as we saw there in 1 Chronicles 21. “’Salem’ was Jerusalem, called the City of David, which is Zion. Melchizedek was king of Salem, Priest of the Most High. ‘In Salem is also His tabernacle…’ Psalm 76:2, ‘…and His dwelling in Zion.’” Now, Mount Zion was the City of David. Where was the Ark during the days of David? In David’s house. And the ark was the dwelling of God, correct? Yes. So there is.

“In Salem is His tabernacle, His dwelling in Zion, and in 1 Kings 8:1, ‘…The ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion.’ This indicates that the threshing floor was flat, not associated with an outcropping of rock, such as that with the Dome of the Rock. Josephus states that the temple built by Solomon was on a strong hill, “For it was a steep area on the ridge, and the area on top was not large, it was barely enough area for the Holy of Holies and the altar of burnt offerings.”

 So what Solomon did was this: He built an east wall of the temple reaching upwards from the very base of the East hill, at the bottom of the Kidron Valley. For 300 cubits, or 450 feet he built this wall. Going straight up. And then they filled in as they went up. It also shows that, and 350 cubits is 450 feet. So this was a major project. Now you know why it took so long to build the temple.

And so what they did, they filled in in the back of it and so forth. Now, “On the north, west, and south sides Solomon built no walls.” But what that did with the temple area, it extended it out to the east. And it came up like this. Now can you imagine that wall, 450 feet high? So here you have the disciples over on the Mount of Olives telling Jesus, “Look at all the stones in the beautiful temple.” And Jesus said, “I tell you there shall not be one stone left upon another which shall not be torn down.” Now you know that was a huge job. And we’ll talk about how that was done a little bit later.

So then, this made enough room so that they could build the temple. So what we have is the area were Fort Antonia was later built when the Romans came and conquered the area. Here is the temple area. When they went into the Babylonian captivity, the stones that Solomon built and the place where the temple was had not been destroyed. Just the temple itself. So when they came back and built the second temple during the days that we read of there and Haggai and Zechariah, it was in the same location.

Now then, when the Romans came and they built Fort Antonia, what they did, they took massive stones, which were - and I talked to someone who was there on part of the trip, where I covered this, I think it was down in San Antonio. Yes - down in San Antonio. And he said that the stones where the Western Wailing Wall is located are not uniform stones. There are stones of different kinds and different sizes. But they are huge, and that shows that the Romans used that to fill in and elevate Fort Antonia when they built it so it would be higher. Because, see, the Romans believed in force and power and psychological warfare, so they had Fort Antonia as the highest location.

Now then, they also built colonnades. You’ve seen pictures of the temple area with these colonnades and the flat roof? There was a purpose for that. Because that went from the temple area, those colonnades went all around the temple area, and then up along the ridge. “And the colonnade had a roadway underneath, but on top was also a runway, and it was only 600 yards from Fort Antonia to the furthest side of the temple area. The Roman soldiers would use the top of that as a highway, being 45 feet wide.”

Now this is how they controlled the Jews. They had it there so they could quickly disperse the troops out of Fort Antonia and come down to the temple, because you know every time there was a revolt, it began where? At the temple. Now, there is an account of one time where the Jews tore down part of the colonnade so the Romans couldn’t get down there to come after them. So they said, “Ok, we’re going to kill you all unless you put it back.” So they made them rebuild it. They built it back.

Now they always had available 6,000 troops to patrol the temple area. And everything that the Jews did, there were Roman guards standing up on the top of this colonnade highway, watching them and guarding everything that they did. Now you know why Jesus said that they were in captivity and slaves to sin. And the Jews said, “No, we’ve been in captivity to no one.”

Now, Josephus describes Herod’s Temple. “Herod’s Temple was a type of a four square at the summit of this artificial platform.” They had the platform here, and they had the big wall coming up on the east, which was also put down a hundred cubits below the surface of the creek bed of the Kidron Valley there. “Four colonnades with a roadways surrounded the temple.” So all around, and its grounds. “The outer courts to the east, and the inner courts, being the area of the priests and the Holy of Holies was on the west, facing east toward the gate of Eden, the first residence of Almighty God at His creation. Josephus states that the eastern wall rose 300 cubits, or 400 feet, from above the floor of the Kidron Valley. Its foundational stones, however, went below the surface another 100 cubits, for a total of 600 feet of stone work, making the east wall.”

Now you see what the theory of evolution has done, even to our thinking in the Church. And the theory of modern thinking of how great we are, and what we build, and how marvelous we are, to build a 600 foot wall? Of course they were barbarians. I say that very cynically. No. They were men of skill. Men who understood mathematics and engineering. And the temple was a sight to behold. “This artificial platform on which the temple was placed was 400 cubits, or 600 feet square.” So you have 600 x 600 x 600 - a perfect cube. The Holy of Holies was a perfect cube. Now Fort Antonia was much more extensive than the temple area. The temple area was eight acres; Fort Antonia was 36 acres. And of course, I mentioned in there about the troops and so forth.

Now let’s come to a Micah 3, because here’s the prophecy that Jesus was referring to. Micah 3, there we go… Hosea, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah - there we go. Micah 3:10, “They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money:…” No different than today, is it? “…Yet will they lean upon the LORD,…” Interesting phraseology: “Lean.” They won’t worship the Lord, but they’ll lean upon the Lord. Just like it is today. We mouth the words that, you know, “God is our God.” We say, “Well, we need to repent,” and then we just go on our business and nobody repents, or tells anybody what to repent of. So they did the same there. They leaned upon the Lord. “…And say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us.” Don't we have the same thing today? Yes. “We’re God’s people. Nothing will happen to us. We’re strong.” The Jews actually defied God in this. They said, “God, You are obligated to us, in spite of us.” It sounds a little bit like Protestantism, doesn’t it? No, God is obligated to no man. So here is their sentence. “Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field [that was the City of David], and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house [that is, the house of God] as the high places of the forest” (Micah 3:10-12).

Now when the rebellion finally came, and Titus came with his armies to Jerusalem - now you can read all of this in the book of Josephus if you would like to. He didn’t want to destroy the temple. He wanted to go in and plunder the gold, because it had lots and lots and lots of gold. Now, we don’t know exactly who set the fires. It is claimed that the Zealots have set some of the fires, and that’s why the temple burned. Now you figures cedar, hundreds of years old, how quickly and how hot is that going to burn? Poof. And what’s going to happen to all the gold? It’s going to melt. Where is it going to go? Down into the cracks of the rocks.

Now the Romans wanted the gold. They got the gold. You know how they got it? They had all these Jewish slaves. And with forced labor and whips, they made them tear down the whole mountain from top to bottom. And they got the gold. The way they would get rid of the stones is, they would build huge fires on it, let the stones get real hot, and then they would pour water on it, and it would crack, and then they could start taking it apart. And they took it apart where one stone was not left upon another. And a couple of hundred years later the city of Zion was a garbage dump and a field where farmers plowed, just like the prophecy in Micah 3 said.

Now then, Dr. Martin wrote this book in hopes that he could get it to leading Jews that they might build the temple in the right place. Now we don’t know whether that’s going to happen. But it is possible. Because it offers a great solution for the internationalization of Jerusalem, doesn’t it? You have the Mosque of Omar on where Fort Antonia was. You have the El Asqa Mosque right next to it, just a little bit further south. South of there, let the Jews build their temple, and it won’t interfere.

See, the Jews want to get rid of the Mosque of Omar. And that is a suicidal death sentence. If you think bin Laden was angry, if you have a billion Moslems angry at you, you know the end has come. So it’s entirely possible that they may come to understand that the temple area is down south and away from. Now if they build it, they’re going to have to build the wall again. It’s not going to be like they’ve been attempting to do, remember you heard reports, they found the red heifer? How many heard those reports? “Red heifer! We’re ready to, you know, start the whole thing.” What happened to the red heifer? They found white hair, so its hamburger. [Laughs] Without the hair, of course.

And all of that shows that - and how many have heard the Jews who have the cornerstone, that they’re going to take up on the Temple Mount and put it there? Never happened, did it? Never happened. Why? Because it is not time, and that is the wrong place. Now since the Jews have done so many things wrong, I don’t know if they’re going to get the message and build it where ought to be. But that would be the proper solution. Let’s come to Revelation 11 and we will end here, showing that there is going to be a temple built. And it’s going to be a temple out of which the two witnesses shall come. One being the high priest and the other being the governor of Judea. So let’s not have anyone volunteer to be the two witnesses.

Revelation 11:1, “And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God,…” The only way you could call it the Temple of God, truly, would be if it’s on the location where the other two were. “…And the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for is given into the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months” (Rev. 11:1-2). So there will be a temple built.

But I thought that since there is so much in the news going on about the problems in Jerusalem between the Arabs and Jews, and Palestinians and Jews - and know this, as I’ve said for years, which is true, and the Jews have said, they will sign no peace treaty with anyone, unless they are guaranteed to build their temple. So if they build it where the other two were, then that would solve the problem. So watch where they build the temple, and let’s see if they can find the red heifer without any white hairs.