Concerning the news, here is something really very exciting. It concerns the red heifer and the rebuilding of the 3rd Temple.
About two years ago, the Temple Faithful in Israel, those who are spearheading the project to rebuild the Third Temple, acquired five rare red heifers from the state of Texas. This is a very rare breed of cattle. This purchase was made with the hope that two years later they would be fit for sacrifice. The criteria is strict: This heifer must be completely red with no dark hair at all and they must be a proper age for sacrifice, which is about three and a half years old.
Now two years later, one of them did not make it, but four of them did pass the test, and are now fit to be sacrificed.
And listen to this! They were hoping to sacrifice it at some point before Passover and that is very soon on the calendar. For the occasion, they built a huge altar on the Mount of Olives, facing the east gate of the Temple Mount.
This is major news for this group. Now they have all that is needed toward the rebuilding of the Third Temple. They already have all the necessary temple articles, and they even know who is from the Tribe of Levi who would perform the work of the Temple. What remains missing is the sacrifice of the red heifer and the Temple structure itself.
Let’s recall how the ashes of the red heifer, or the red cow, work. According to the commandment in the Book of Numbers 19, the red heifer is needed for the opening, for the inauguration and for the functioning of the Temple.
Now, something else that is important. From the time of the Exodus, this red heifer, would be the 10th in the history of Temple sacrifice and according to a prophecy given by one of their most revered Rabbis, Maimonides, (1138 to 1204), we read, “… and the 10th red heifer will be accomplished by the king, the Messiah; may he be revealed speedily.”
This is their own prophecy and so, there is a messianic fever going on in Israel among the religious leaders this Passover season. For these religious Jews, they expect the Messiah to come this season.
But there is more. It seems that there is a direct connection between the attack on October 7 by Hamas and the red heifer. On the 100th day of this current war in Israel, a Hamas spokesman, when listing the reasons for their attack on this dark day in Israel, accused the Jews of bringing the red heifer to the holy land. They understood very well that having the red heifer now, meant that Israel is planning to rebuild the Third Temple on the Temple Mount, which is to them, the third holiest site in Islam.
All of this is major and very exciting. Prophecies of the end time require this Temple to be in place before the Second Coming. Daniel, John, Paul and even Yeshua Himself made reference to this Temple. As we have seen in our studies of the End Times, there is no need to destroy anything of the current structures on the Temple Mount; the placement of the Third Temple could be right next to the Dome of the Rock.
And one last word, and the most important. Whether they sacrificed the red heifer this season or later, these past events allow us to speak of the salvation we have in Yeshua to our neighbors, for the red heifer powerfully speaks and points to our great and wonderful Savior Yeshua.
There is one particularity about the red heifer that baffled Jewish commentators. They could not figure out how the person, the man who applied the water of purification of the red heifer was himself considered impure. This is unique in the law. How could an impure man give something to someone that would make them pure? It is like what Job pointed to; Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one! (Job 14:4),
But this is possible with Yeshua as we read 2Corinthians 5:21, For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. He took all the sins of the world, and while He Himself never sinned and while He was always pure and holy, He carried the impurities of others…and instead gave us a new and pure heart.