Page 126 - Satan in the Sanctuary

128 Satan in the Sanctuary

They did this, in considerable numbers. And there were
still Jews present in Israel whose ancestors either had never
left their promised land, or had been able to return some-
time in the passage of the centuries.
The rest is within memory.
Twenty-five years ago, the time of the Gentiles began to
come to a close, as the Jews prevailed in their war for in-
dependence. At that time Jerusalem once again became an
armed camp; it was bayonets instead of swords, and jeeps
instead of horses, but the old city must almost have shud-
dered under the all too familiar agonies of combat.
And in 1967 the Jews recovered the Temple site.
Now, after seeing this story—after following the history
of this piece of ground from the time of Abraham's offered
sacrifice—we can see the meaning of this repossession.
The Jews remember, as they study their rich heritage, the
terrible forty-years journey to the promised land from
Egypt; the great days of David and Solomon when the
mighty first Temple graced Jerusalem; the horrors of the
Babylonian assault and captivity; the painful rebuilding
under Zerubbabel, and Nehemiah, when the builders car-
ried swords to the site to hold off the Samaritans while
they worked.
And they can well remember the decimation of Israel
under the crushing rule of Rome; the starvation of an
entire people; the destruction of the second Temple; the
humiliation of Hadrian's pagan house on their sacred site,
and the terrible, endless dispersion of Jewry throughout the
world.
They want to rebuild their Temple. That's understand-
able.
We Christians can remember the same chapters of his-
tory. The significance of the Jews rebuilding their Temple