(OPINION) Passover is nearly upon us, and most people around the globe understand that this time of the year has deep significance for both Christians and Jews. But this year I will be on particularly high alert throughout Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and all the way to Pentecost.
All throughout the Bible, big events often happened during God’s appointed times, and I believe that will also be true during this period of history. Of course, I am not saying that any particular event will happen on any particular day, but what I am saying is that as we get deeper into the end times we should be watchful during the special days that God has specifically designated on His calendar.
Personally, I am going to be watching Israel very closely. There has been so much violence in Jerusalem lately, and Palestinian terror groups are calling on their followers to go to the Temple Mount on Friday for more protests… Leaders of several Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip have called on Palestinians to converge on al-Aqsa Mosque compound (Temple Mount) on Friday to protect it against “provocations by Zionist criminals.”
The call came after an emergency meeting of faction leaders on Wednesday evening in the office of Hamas’s Gaza leader, Yahya Sinwar, in Gaza City. So why are they so upset? Well, it turns out that there are rumors that someone may try to conduct a Passover sacrifice…
The meeting was held amid claims by Palestinians that “extremist Jews” were planning to conduct ritual sacrifices on Temple Mount during the Passover holiday. It has been nearly 2,000 years since a Passover sacrifice was conducted on the Temple Mount, and so such a gesture would be extremely significant.
In fact, one Jewish group is reportedly offering cash rewards to anyone that attempts to conduct a Passover sacrifice on the Temple Mount… Returning to the Mountain, a movement dedicated to “redeeming the Temple Mount,” on Monday posted a provocative announcement: “Making the Passover sacrifice where and when it was intended,” meaning, of course, on the Temple Mount, on the first evening of Passover.
The poster continues: “You didn’t succeed? You were arrested – You won!” And the text explains: “In light of the Hamas threats and the police objection to let us make the Passover sacrifice in its due time in an approved manner – join the attempts to make the Passover sacrifice and receive a financial reward!”
Here’s the rate card, according to the same poster: “You got busted? NIS 400 ($124); Busted with a lamb or baby goat? NIS 800 ($248); Succeeded in making the sacrifice? NIS 10,000 ($3,100).” Even if nobody attempts a sacrifice, I anticipate that there will be more violence in Jerusalem in the coming days.
And I actually think that there is a very high probability that a major war will erupt in the Middle East this year. Hopefully, such a war will not erupt in the next few weeks, but the truth is that one could literally start at any time. Meanwhile, I am also watching for any other events of special spiritual significance in the land of Israel.
As I noted above, major historic events often fall during God’s appointed times. For example, for more than a thousand years in advance God held a “dress rehearsal” for the crucifixion of Jesus the Messiah every single year in the exact city where it would happen and on the exact day it would happen.
Every year, those that believed in the one true God would gather in Jerusalem for Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and they would conduct rituals that foreshadowed the death of Jesus on the cross. Most people have heard that Jesus is “the Lamb of God”, but the vast majority of them don’t understand what that really means.
All the way back during the very first Passover, God had the people of Israel kill lambs and put the blood on their doorposts. Why the doorposts? Well, the truth is that it was prophetic. Just think about it. Even today, what material are most doorposts made from? Wood. And where does the wood come from? READ MORE
