Messianic Viewpoint

Guest (Female): Shalom and welcome to Shalom Ariel and to the fifth part of our series from the book of Joel with Messianic leader Jacques Isaac Gabizon. Just a few weeks ago, my grandson asked me, "Can God change?" And I said, "No, God does not change. He is always the same." And I also said, "God cannot sin." And he said, "Are you sure God can never sin?" And I said, "Yes, that's right. He never sins."

And then the thought of the awesome holiness of God struck me. That brings us to a very special word that we're going to hear in this part of the study in Joel. It's the Hebrew word araphel, and it means thick darkness, like the thick darkness that was present at Sinai when Israel received the law. Do you remember that thick darkness? It was there because the holiness of God was too great to look at.

And then in Joel, we hear about God's wrath poured out during the Day of the Lord. It's a fearful wrath and a terrifying darkness, that same Hebrew word araphel. What might this teach us? As awesome as God's holiness is, so is the wrath that He needs to unleash. It's terrifying. If somebody refuses God's holiness, then God's wrath will fall on them.

Although God's holiness is so awesome, still it is humbling and we can draw near, just like Moses did. We draw near that we might have the darkness of judgment removed from us. Remember, Moses walked into the cloud of darkness. God's holiness is life-giving when we receive it, and we receive that holiness through Yeshua the Messiah. Hear Israel, Shma Israel, there is a terrifying doom ahead according to scripture, but there is an equally awesome holiness and righteousness available that can be ours if we step forward in faith to receive the Holy One of Israel. Hear O Israel, Shma, our mighty God, He is the unchanging, holy one and the only one God of Israel. Be blessed as you listen in to today's message with Messianic leader Jacques Isaac Gabizon and Shalom, Shalom.

Jacques Isaac Gabizon: Let's open our Bibles to the small yet mighty book of Yoel, that is of Joel. Today we are ushered straight into the awesome reality of the Day of the Lord. What ancient rabbis in the Talmud have called the days of the Messiah, the days preceding the Messiah, the birth pangs of the Messiah, and even the footsteps of the Messiah. Joel's description of these days are strikingly vivid. We are spared nothing. One image of destruction gives way to the next, rising into a relentless crescendo of devastation. From Joel chapter 1 verse 6 through 2:18, 32 powerful verses, like fleeting images rush before us with unstoppable force.

There is something very special in this book. As one keeps reading, something remarkable, something even miraculous begins to unfold. As we follow the details of these accounts, a deep sense of comfort and assurance begins to rise within us. How is this possible? How is this possible that such stark descriptions, sometimes of judgment, trial, and upheaval could leave us not fearful but at the end at rest? Because the author, in unveiling the enemy, shows us that He knows him thoroughly. He knows exactly where he is, what he's planning to do, where he's going, and how he operates. He even gives us his path and precise destination. He lays bare his ultimate goal. When all is revealed, we realize that the threat is not as fearful as it first appeared, for nothing escapes the eye and hand of our God.

It's like the story of a little child who once was caught in the middle of a thunderstorm. The lightning flashed, the thunder shook the house, and the wind roared outside. Yet the child slept peacefully in his bed. Why? Because he knew his father was in the next room watching over him.

In the same way, as we read the word, even when it describes storms of judgment or times of trial, we can rest. Not because the storm is small, but because our Father is near, sovereign, and in control. This is what we're going to learn from the book of Joel. Now, what do we discover within these verses?

As we read these verses one after the other, the direction may not seem obvious at first, much like arriving at a scene of an accident where the scattered details must be pieced together. Yet as the picture takes shape, certain truths emerge with unmistakable force. The first striking theme that emerges from Joel's prophecy, and one that speaks powerfully in our time, is the temple. Joel makes more than 15 references to the temple in Jerusalem in his three chapters. This is a major theme in this book.

He mentions the temple by itself five times, calling it the house, the house of the Lord, the house of our God. He also gives details of the inside of the temple in chapter 2:17, where he brings us in between the porch and the altar. This is where they offered the sacrifices. This is where Yeshua said that they killed Zachariah the prophet in Matthew 23. He also mentions my mountain twice and he refers to the solemn assembly two times. These were assemblies associated with the three feasts where the Lord summoned all Israel at the temple. He also twice mentions the priest and the ministers, and the Lord asked them to mourn. He asked them to weep, to lament, to declare a fast, a prayer for Israel. Three times the prophet mentions the grain, the new wine, the oil. These were the portions owing to the priests. Again, three times he mentions the grain offering, that is the Minchah, and the drink offering, the Nesek. He tells us that these offerings were suddenly stopped.

This is important. Before we get there, all of this immediately raises a pressing question. Which temple is Joel describing? To which one is he referring? Was it the first temple that was destroyed in 586 BC? Was it the second temple that was destroyed in 70 AD? Or could it be the third temple, the one that is about to be built in Jerusalem? Joel's prophecy seemed to be pointing to the third temple for these compelling reasons.

The book closes with the return of the Messiah, who appears right there in Jerusalem and opens up the Messianic times. Jesus closes the book of Joel after a cataclysm war and unlike anything the world has ever seen. Concerning this war, the Lord declared never again to the years of many generations, dor vador, that is never and ever will this happen again.

The vision of this temple in Joel aligns with the testimony of other prophets. The details mirror those prophecies given by Moses, by Isaiah, Habakkuk, Daniel, Zachariah, Paul, and John. They all come together and of course with the prophecies of Yeshua Himself that He gives in the gospel.

The very first detail we are given about this temple echoes what both Daniel and Yeshua so strongly emphasized, something that is so timely today. Let's begin with Joel chapter 1 verse 9. Here we are brought right in the midst of the seven-year tribulation. This is what it says: "The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests mourn, the ministers of the Lord, they mourn as well."

The grain offerings, that is the Minchah, and the drink offering, that is the Nesek, were presented twice daily together with the two sacrificial lambs at the temple. This continual offering symbolized Israel's ongoing dedication to God day by day, morning and evening. The rabbis often saw the Tamid, that is the continual offering, as the spiritual heartbeat of the temple service. But see that these offerings were not only stopped, but violently so. We have the word here, cut off, Karat in Hebrew, a word used to describe the cutting of a body part or even to destroy or to kill a person. So we must ask, what events occurred at that time? What events will bring the offering to such a sudden and violent end?

The Bible explains itself. Other prophets describe the same event. The first is Daniel the prophet, who tells us that the very Minchah will be stopped, and he tells us actually who stops it. As the Lord gives the chronology of the coming of the Messiah along with the rise and fall of the Antichrist in Daniel 9:24-27, we read in Daniel 9:27 speaking of the coming world leader whom John calls the Antichrist. He says then he, the coming world leader again, shall confirm a covenant with many for seven years. But in the middle of the seven years, he shall bring an end to the sacrifice and to the Minchah, that is the offering.

It is after the Antichrist's signing of a seven-year peace treaty with Israel right in the middle of that treaty he will stop the sacrifice, same word, Minchah. While Daniel gives us the chronology, Joel tells us that he will do it violently, so much so that the priest will mourn and they will wail, it says.

It is then that they are asked to call a national fast in Israel. This would be the moment that we realize that the world leader, who initially came on a white horse if you remember in Revelation chapter 6, the Antichrist, was never a friend at all. This Israel will realize it in the middle of the tribulation.

There is another prophet who details these events for us and that's Rabbi Shaul, that is Paul himself. He tells us what he will do once he will go inside the temple to stop it. It was at a time, as it is today by the way, when many were teaching that believers in Yeshua will go through the tribulation, something that Paul corrects and in so doing he gives us an important information about this world leader and complements the prophecy of Daniel and Joel.

This is what it says: 2 Thessalonians chapter 2:3-4. "Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God and that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple showing himself that he is God."

The day that Paul speaks about here is the Day of the Lord, the day that Joel describes for us and tells us how it will come about. First, there will be an apostasy, the Greek word, one Greek word for the falling away. This will be characterized by the rise of the last of the seven churches spoken of by Yeshua in Revelation chapter 2 and 3, the Church of Laodicea. You know that the Church of Laodicea will be a church of non-believers that Jesus spewed out of His mouth, for all believers would have been taken out of this earth at the rapture just before that.

Paul tells us that this man will sit as God in the temple showing that he is God. This is when the Antichrist unveils himself. This is the ultimate arrogance, by the way, and it is the very thing that his father, the devil, pretended when he fell, as we read in Isaiah 14:14. He says, "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds and I will be like the Most High."

At the tribulation, when he sits on the temple of God and publicly proclaimed that he's God, it will be his moment of glory. Finally, so he thinks, but this will be his last try. From this point on and according to prophecy, the greatest evil is unleashed on this world so violently it will be.

Yeshua, Jesus, has some very important advice to those who will be at Jerusalem at this time because He speaks of the same moment. His prophecy is found in Matthew 24, and it is in verse 15. He brings us right into the events and this is what He says: "Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet," we just read it, "standing in the holy place, whoever reads this, let him understand."

The abomination of desolation is what Daniel the prophet said will occur in the middle of the seven-year period, right at the time of the cutting off of the Minchah. An event that Paul explains when he said that the Antichrist will sit as God in the temple of God. The abomination of desolation must be the highest point of rebellion, the apex of pride, the pinnacle of arrogance and evil that we have in the scriptures really.

Jesus asks the believers of the time, especially those in Jerusalem, and warns them. For this will be the moment that the final three and a half years of tribulation, the most terrible of all times described by Joel. What does He tell them in verse 16? "Then let those who are in Judea flee where? To the mountains."

But which mountains are these? And why does Yeshua directs them to flee to the mountains? And where would they be heading once they are in the mountain? The mountains must be the Judean Mountains, the closest to Jerusalem. You know when looking at a map, these mountains are not far from the Temple Mount, as you can see in the picture. You can get there quite fast and begin the journey.

But why there and where would they be heading to? This is when the prophets Moses, Isaiah, and especially Habakkuk directs these believers south of Jerusalem to the place called Petra. Habakkuk sees the Messiah coming to Jerusalem from two cities. He says from Teman and Paran. That's in chapter three of Habakkuk.

Teman is another name for Edom, where the city of Bozrah in Hebrew or Petra in Greek is situated. And so we are told that Yeshua comes from there. We see him in Habakkuk as a soldier coming out of a war, a war of Bozrah and Petra, where He delivers His people from their enemies.

So as Daniel tells us that the temple service will be stopped, as Joel tells us how violently it will be done, Yeshua tells the believers then to flee to the mountains and Habakkuk, Moses, and Isaiah directs them to Teman, which is Petra. See that the people of the tribulation will have so many prophecies to direct them to safety because it's going to be very intense.

One thing we learn is that a temple is needed for the end times prophecies to begin, and it may be even built in our days. Even today it may start. Another question we ask is, where would the temple be built? On the Temple Mount. It has to be on the Temple Mount. But where on the Temple Mount?

Right now, there's the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and there is so much opposition, by the way, against those who desire to rebuild the third temple. It seems that it is an impossible task. The scriptures and tradition seem to indicate that it will be built right then and there next to the Dome of the Rock.

The one verse in the Bible which indicates to us that it will be built right next to the Dome of the Rock is found in the book of Revelation chapter 11. As the chapter begins with an account of the two witnesses who seem to be stationed right there in the Temple Mount, John is given a command, a command to measure the temple. But see how what it's being told to do.

Revelation 11 verses 1 and 2: "Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff and someone said, 'Get up and measure the temple and the altar and those who worship in it. Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles, to the nations.'"

They will tread under it the holy city for 42 months, that is three and a half years. John is asked to measure the temple of the tribulation, but he's told to leave out the court that is outside. Why? Because that section is given to the Gentiles, it says.

This fits so well to this Temple Mount, where we find the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Two buildings which are right in the original Court of the Gentiles. These, the Lord says, don't measure it. Just leave it to them. But measure my temple.

Understand how the command is given. When it says leave out the court, leave out the court, the Greek word to leave out for the most part is understood to be so negative. Its primary nuance is a forceful removal, a pushing or driving something or someone out. The word is Ekballo. It is the same word we find used in the gospel for casting out demons, by the way.

The Dome of the Rock and the mosque have no business being there. This is the Lord's place, by the way. However, for the tribulation times, this will still be there and the temple looks like it will be built right next to them.

How can we be sure that these two Muslim buildings are in the court of the Gentiles? The Torah and also tradition gives us a powerful hint. For this, we go to the sacrifice of the Red Heifer. You know at the time of the sacrifice of the Red Heifer, the Mishnah, which is the Jewish oral law, laws which were in effect at the time of Jesus, explains that the priest made their way to the Mount of Olives. And they were to sacrifice the Red Heifer, right?

And this is what the Mishnah says, I'm going to read what it says. It says, "For the priest who burns the red cow stands at the top of the Mount of Olives and takes his direction looking directly at the door of the temple at the time of the tossing of the blood." What we learn is that there was a visual straight path leading from the temple to the Mount of Olives passing through the only gate that leads to the temple, that is the Eastern Gate. This is why he could see the door from the point where he was actually sacrificing the Red Heifer.

Furthermore, the Gemara, which is a commentary of the Mishnah, tells us several times that the Eastern Gate of the temple faced directly toward the Holy of Holies, so that from the Mount of Olives, one could see into the sanctuary when the doors were opened.

To summarize this, we see that the path built by the priest to the Mount of Olives was a straight line through the Eastern Gate, which was straight in front of the Holy of Holies, so that the priest sacrificed the Red Heifer he could see the temple at the same time. So it has to be where it is, as you see it in the picture on the side of these two Muslim buildings.

Putting all this information and all these prophets so far and those of the Messiah Himself, of course, we have here a biblical path to the third temple in prophecy. Daniel reveals the timing, the moment where the sacrifice of the grain offering, the Minchah, will be stopped by the coming world ruler. This is Daniel 9:27. Joel tells us that both the grain offering, Minchah, and the drink offering, Nesek, will be violently stopped.

This act will drive the priest and Levites to proclaim a national fast of time and prayer, Joel chapter 1 to chapter 2. Paul pinpoints the identity of the one who stops the sacrifices. He's called the man of sin. He's called the son of perdition. He would exalt himself in the temple of God and say, "I am God."

John names this figure as the beast in Revelation 13 and earlier as the Antichrist in 1 John 2:18. His vision seems to indicate the location of the third temple on the Temple Mount right next to the court of the Gentiles. And Yeshua warns that when these things occur, His people must flee to the mountains, likely pointing to the mountains of Judea leading to Petra in Jordan. A place foretold by Moses in Deuteronomy 33, in Isaiah by Isaiah 63, and by Habakkuk in Habakkuk chapter 3 as the site of the Messiah's first appearance at His second coming. So we have here seven prophets along with Jesus Himself. The third temple is an important subject of the end time. We need a third temple for the end time prophecies to come about.

Where are we today in the development of the third temple? To many, the idea may seem distant and so far removed. Yet for the Jewish people, especially in Israel, the rebuilding of the temple is part of their daily prayer. And for a growing number in Israel today, the vision of a third temple is no longer a remote hope, but a near and tangible reality.

Take for instance the Temple Institute in Jerusalem. If you go to their Facebook page of the Temple Institute, you will see that it is a Jewish religious and educational organization based on the Jerusalem Old City near the Western Wall and founding in 1987. We went to see that place, by the way.

This institute is dedicated to research, teaching, and preparing for the rebuilding of the third temple. And as far as they are concerned, the temple is ready today to be built. All these items are ready for use: the Menorah, the Shofar, the altar of incense, the priestly garment including the Ephod of the priest, and many other items that are certified kosher and ready for actual temple use.

They have been training priests, those who have been verified as Kohanim in lineage, being direct descendants of Aaron. These priests are now ready for the temple service, including the sacrifices. You know in this past month, August 2025, the Institute steered much attention in social media with a striking Facebook post featuring a wristwatch with an image of the rebuilt Jewish temple.

The post reads: Synchronize your watches. It's time to build. The announcement was made during Tisha B'Av, the annual Jewish fast day commemorating the destruction of both temples. So they say this year, we will build. There are many statistics that say many Jews in Israel, more and more, are desiring to want to have this temple built.

Guest (Female): Shalom Ariel is a daily radio program emphasizing the Jewish perspective of Scripture. God is not through dealing with Israel, nor will He renege any of the promises He has made to her. Our teacher for this program, Jacques Isaac Gabizon, is a Messianic Jewish believer and Messianic leader at Beth Ariel Congregation right here in Montreal.

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