PRAYER UPDATE FROM ISRAEL
(October 25, 2006)1. A FIFTH PILLAR ON THE MOUNTAIN
"FOR THE HAND OF THE LORD WILL REST ON THIS MOUNTAIN, AND MOAB WILL BE TRODDEN DOWN IN HIS PLACE…THE LORD WILL LAY LOW HIS PRIDE." Isaiah 25:10,11 (NASB)
The past Monday morning we were awakened shortly after 4:00 to the cries of prayers and proclamations to the Muslim god echoing and re-echoing through the wadis and valleys surrounding the Old City of Jerusalem. It was the end of Ramadan, and the prayers, which usually subside after a minute or two, went on for almost two hours, electrically amplified to an incredible degree, and emanating primarily from the four ancient minarets on the Temple Mount. If the spirit presently working through the King of Jordan has its way, a year from now the calls from these four towers may well be joined by those of a fifth.
Exactly two years ago (25 Oct 2004) the Israeli newspaper HaAretz reported that King Abdullah II of Jordan had decided to build a fifth minaret on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Plans were to be completed by the end of the year and construction was to begin in 2005. The plan did not materialize. Last week the King again issued a proclamation, that for the first time in 600 years, a new minaret will soon be constructed on the eastern wall near the Golden Gate. At 42 meters, it would be the largest, and with its completion all Five Pillars of Islam would be represented on the Holy Mountain in Jerusalem.
A minaret is a thin tower adjoining a mosque wall. In earlier times, a "mullah" would emerge onto a circular balcony near the top of the minaret five times a day to lead Muslims in the surrounding area in the proscribed prayers (a practice which comprises one of the Five Pillars of Islam). Nowadays, electrical amplification is used. In Israel these calls sometimes include extra-religious messages, including incitements to violence.
Although Israel took the Mount from Jordan during the '67 War, it was decided shortly thereafter that custodianship of the Muslim 'holy sites' would remain with the Kingdom of Jordan. What this has meant has been that Israel continues to claim sovereignty and is responsible for over-all security-but since the entire top of the hill (with the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa mosque) is considered a "holy Muslim site", a contingency of Jordanians known as the WAQF polices the area alongside the Israeli troops and oversees administration and maintenance. Non-Muslims are allowed on the Mountain, but only at certain designated hours, and they are not allowed to worship or pray demonstrably while there. This arrangement is looked at as a "status quo." Maintaining it has been a delicate business; the tiniest alteration can cause shock waves. In 2000 a visit of Ariel Sharon was used by Muslims as a pretext for beginning the bloody 4 ½ year 2nd Intifada. For three of those years non-Muslims were barred from the Mountain for fear of sparking even greater violence. For the same reasons, the Antiquities Authority, charged with protecting the archaeological integrity of the site, was not allowed to supervise or interfere with the building of a huge underground mosque in the southeastern corner, in which many unearthed Jewish artifacts are thought to have been destroyed.
As of this writing, Israeli officials claim not to have received an official request from Jordan to build the minaret, and are therefore not studying the issue of issuing or denying the required permits. However, their silence is being taken by many Jews and Muslims as indifference, if not tacit assent. A recent article in the Post was headed, Israel unopposed to building of 5th Temple Mount minaret. An article this weekend, entitled Spiraling out of control, dealt with waves of restlessness which are beginning to be sensed in both Muslim and Jewish quarters regarding the minaret. One Jewish group has stated its plan to build a synagogue on a portion of the Mountain. A Muslim official has responded, "We do not recognize the right of any other religious denomination to have authority…For more than 14 centuries this holy compound has belonged to the Muslims and will stay this way." In the meanwhile, it is reported that King Abdullah has issued an international tender for the design of the minaret and estimates are being made that construction could begin in early 2007.
Of course, the real battle which is rising will be a spiritual one. The spirit behind Islam has never been content to dwell in Saudi Arabia. Isaiah 2:2 speaks of a mountain in Jerusalem which in the Last Days will " be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills." But that mountain is called "The Mountain of YHVH" (the Covenant God of Israel). Islam demands "submission"…nothing can rise above its god and prophet. Within 25 years of the death of Mohammed, the mountain in Jerusalem was designated the location of the "Farthest Mosque (Al Aqsa)" where the prophet had supposedly ascended to heaven to receive his revelations. An elaborate mythology was developed in which Abraham was the first Muslim who sacrificed Ishmael (not Isaac) on this mountain. From the 10th century until well into the 20th the "Hashemite" family in Arabia, claiming direct descent from Mohammed, held oversight of the holy places in Mecca. In the early 1920's this oversight was taken away by the Saudis, but in 1922 Britain divided up the land of Palestine (all of which had been intended in the Balfour Declaration as a future home for the Jews), forming a land called Trans Jordan. As a gift to the Hashemite leader who had assisted them in overthrowing the Turkish rule in the Middle East during the First World War, they offered to grant him a limited leadership of this new territory. With independence in 1946, Abdullah I became sovereign over the Kingdom of Jordan. And oversight of the Muslim holy sites in Mecca was shifted to those in Jerusalem. It is his young grandson, King Abdullah II, who desires to build the new minaret, and in so doing to "complete" a representation of the pillars of Islam in Jerusalem-placing it over the very gate where the Messiah of Israel is prophesied to return to take up His throne.
Of course, present-day Jordan lies in the area of ancient Moab and Ammon. (The part north of the Arnon River later became the territories of the Hebrew tribes Reuben, Gad and part of Manasseh). And so, it is a sovereignty from the land of Moab which presently represents the religion of Islam on the Mountain. Isaiah 25 speaks of some of the wonderful events which will someday take place at this location, where the LORD of Hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples; where " on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples"; where He will " swallow up death for all time" and " remove the reproach of His people [i.e. Israel] from all the earth" (vss 6-8). Then comes verse 10: " For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain, and Moab will be trodden down in his place as straw is trodden down in the water of a manure pile…the Lord will lay low his pride." Before this takes place, a fierce battle is brewing.
PLEASE PRAY:
*That " He who sitteth in the heavens" would speak and terrify the powers rising up to establish a further edifice to a false god on the place where He has placed His Name and where His Son will rule (Psalm 2).
*For God's mercy, mercy and guidance to bewildered Israel in how to maintain her sovereignty over the Mountain. Pray that the Israeli government will not allow this fifth minaret to be built. A great breach of spiritual darkness may be opened if it is allowed to be completed, creating an enormous vulnerability to Israel in the heart of Jerusalem.
*The Lord's Prayer-that God's Name be hallowed; that His Kingdom come and His will be done in Jerusalem.
*For the Kingdom of Jordan, that God's redemptive purposes for that land and people will come forth. In Jeremiah 48:47, He promises " Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days," and in Jeremiah 49:6, He promises the same for Ammon. Pray for King Abdullah II - that he will be diverted from the folly of his present plans…that he would rule his people wisely and be freed from the false faith of his ancestors.
*In Jeremiah 50:19, God promises that returned Israel will again dwell in the hill country of Gilead (an area of Jordan where she dwelt in ancient times). It is worth remembering that Elijah the prophet (who " is coming and will restore all things" [Matt. 17:11 NASB]) was from this area and returned there before being caught up into heaven. Pray that God's will for this land as it relates to the future of Israel will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven!
2. THE FORMER RAINS
"Let us now fear the LORD our God, who gives rain in its season, both the autumn rain and the spring rain, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of the harvest" (Jeremiah 5:24 NASB).
The "former rains" are slowly beginning to fall in Israel. This is of course something we can never take for granted in Israel. From late April or early May until mid-to-late October, this land sits dry and arid. Water is drawn from the Sea of Galilee and the several large underground aquifers and pumped all over the country to make its way through the drip-irrigation systems (invented in Israel), which have made the new nation to "blossom like a rose." As the Sea goes down, the aquifers begin to empty, and we pray for another wet winter, with lots of rainfall and heavy snows on Mount Hermon. The season lasts into the winter, then the "latter rains" come for a time in the spring.
PLEASE PRAY:
*That Israel will receive adequate water this rainy season to fill up the lake, that the aquifers would be replenished.
*Isaiah 41:17-20 - that God would open rivers on bare heights and springs in the midst of valleys, pools in the wilderness and fountains in the dry land…and that in this Israel will see that it is the hand of the LORD which has done this!
*Hebrews 6:7 - that Israel would be " ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled", so she will receive a blessing from God.
*That there would be showers of God's Spirit over Israel, watering the young Messianic Body here, the Arab Christian community and the many worshippers and intercessors from the Nations whom God has here ministering to Him in His Land. Pray that the shoots of the Olive Tree of Israel would begin to awaken in a new way and that Israel will spring to Life and recognize her Messiah!
