Ever since Oct. 7, 2023, I’ve kept a healthy distance from the propaganda war of the Israelis and the diverse pack of Sunni and Shiite Muslim warlords represented collectively by “The Palestinians.” If ever Israel had a true peer in the use of war propaganda to steer world opinion, it is they. I frankly take every bit of “news” in that real-world “Clash of the Titans” with a large grain of salt and keep my main focus on the larger geopolitical news-front which is harder for the elites on both sides to spin.
Admitting that the Israelis are master propagandists is not to say that my support for the nation state of Israel has diminished. On the contrary, it is to clarify that my support is based on Bible prophecy, not current events, and as such I know there is zero chance the Muslims will win their war to expel the Jews “from the river to the sea” while there is also zero chance that Israel will become a biblically righteous nation prior to the second coming of Christ.
In the not too distant future, probably under Trump, we will see the return of the Temple Mount to the direct control of the Jews and the return of animal sacrifices with or without the rebuilding of the Temple. There is scriptural ambiguity about whether a sacrificial altar could substitute for a fully reconstructed Temple (as was true under Ezra right after the Judean return from Babylon), but I think it most likely will be rebuilt.
The fight to build, activate and defend the Temple won’t make Israel biblically righteous, because the entire process and perspective denies the deity of Jesus Christ – Yeshua Hamashiach – which is the most important Truth of all history. And Scripture warns that this presumed Third Temple soon falls under the total control of the final Antichrist of Revelation, who sets up the Abomination that Causes Desolation there, following the pattern of Antiochus IV Epiphanes of Daniel 11 (described in detail in 1 & 2 Maccabees). All Hell will then, literally, be let loose to ravage the earth and humanity like never before … until Christ’s “military” intervention with the Host of Heaven per Revelation 19:11-21 and Zechariah 12 and 14.
The present battle of support for the Third Temple by Christian Zionists vs. efforts to dissuade them by Christian Anti-Zionists is completely moot and meaningless: This is God’s plan and it will happen.
This perspective I am espousing is called pre-Millennialism or futurism and assumes that the prophecies of the Bible about a future thousand-year Millennial Kingdom in which Jesus Christ rules from Jerusalem on the Throne of David are literally true and not metaphorical or symbolic.
That much of my eschatology will be familiar to many, but I have years of independent post-graduate study in biblical matters beyond the scope of the established camps, specifically the biblical theme of the division of Jacob’s progeny into two distinct “houses” that are only fully unified two times in human history: David’s Kingdom and Christ’s Millennial Kingdom. I believe from my studies that it is the unification of the two houses of the Hebrews, not any aspect of David’s conduct, which makes him the unique “type of Christ” of the Bible.
There is nothing in David’s conduct so distinct and superior from the other righteous kings of the Old Testament to truly qualify him for the comparison to the Messiah. Indeed, his conduct as a man of war disqualified him from having the honor of building the First Temple, and his horrific sins and their consequences related to the theft of Bathsheba from Uriah the Hittite greatly sabotaged their son Solomon spiritually. Only the full unification of the houses of Judah and Israel under the House of David merits his comparison to Christ. The fact that it was Solomon’s sins that caused God to rip the House of David into two again in the very next generation only strengthens my case: The only good and lasting fruit of David’s life was the political legacy of his own regency: “David’s Throne.”
This analysis is important relative to Donald Trump and the question whether he is the King David figure who will fully restore Jerusalem to the Judeans and oversee the rebuilding of the Temple. Some point to Trump’s character flaws and past sins to suggest he doesn’t qualify for that honor – but nothing he’s ever done remotely compares to David’s treatment of Uriah. I think the bigger question is whether Trump can bring true peace and unity to the Holy Land – and if that means by military force like David did, I think his capability is pretty much a given.
My WND column of July 22, 2024, emphasized “The danger of deifying Donald Trump” while acknowledging his obvious similarities to various Old Testament judges. I also compared his relationship and history relative to Joe Biden as akin to that of David and Saul.
I wrote: “Preceding David in Bible history as the first transitional monarch of the new order was King Saul – a Benjamite, not an ethnic Judean; an initially competent King who descended into mental illness under the dominion of a familiar spirit whose chief mission was to destroy David. The similarity to the Biden/Trump relationship is remarkable. (Even more so if one contemplates Barack Obama in the role of the familiar spirit). Additionally, the [first] assassination attempt on President Trump’s life has its parallel in 1 Samuel 10:6-11.”
I made the point that Saul had used a javelin – the ancient equivalent of a bullet – to try and kill David and added later in the piece: “Notably, David escaped Saul’s javelin twice, the second time recorded in 1 Samuel 19, so it’s possible we’ll see another failed attempt on Trump in the weeks or months ahead, if my analogy holds tightly.”
Now that Trump has in fact dodged the assassins’ javelin twice I think my case for the larger analogy of Trump to David is greatly strengthened.
Saul never stopped trying to destroy David, and it is clear the Biden administration will not stop trying to destroy Trump. Like Saul, Biden’s mental health has continued to deteriorate.
In my column I analogized Trump’s true nemesis, the Deep State, to the Philistines and Special Counsel Jack Smith to their champion Goliath. In the months since that was published, Joe Biden was forced out of his own re-election campaign by the Deep State, and he chose to “fall upon his own sword” rather than let them kill him (politically). As it happens that’s exactly what King Saul did in 1 Samuel 31:2-4 when the Philistines had defeated him in a long battle. His choice to literally fall on his own sword cleared the way for David to ascend to the throne – technically speaking.
However, the Philistines became the de-facto rulers of the land at that time per 1 Samuel 31:7 (just as the Deep State is now running America), and it took four chapters of persistent campaigning and coalition-building by David to gain the full backing of the Hebrew people against massive opposition. The Bible equivalent of an election happened fairly early in that process (2 Samuel 2:4), but the people remained deeply divided and polarized amidst great turmoil and strong challenges to David’s legitimacy.
It was only in 2 Samuel 5:1 that “all the tribes of Israel came [in full submission] to David at Hebron and said, “Here we are, your own flesh and blood.” David’s next acts after that, in sequence, were the military liberation of Jerusalem from the Jebusites, two mighty victories over the Philistines, and the triumphal transfer of the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem.
If my analogy holds true, Trump will win in November, the Deep State will try desperately after the election to keep him out of the White House but fail, and Trump will celebrate his victory over the Philistines by endorsing or sponsoring the Third Temple.
