[Darris McNeely] A few years ago, I was in Amman, Jordan, with a tour group. And we invited one night to come to our hotel, a member of the Jordanian Senate. This individual came and lectured to us a lot about the history of Jordan. And he couldn't help but get into politics. And he made a comment that everyone just, kind of, was in rapt attention about. He said, "There was no historical evidence of a temple at any time in Israel, a temple of the Jews." Now, that's a typical line from Arab nations who want to discredit the presence of the State of Israel, the Jewish state in Jerusalem, and in the land. Of course, it's historically inaccurate.

I'm going through a series here in talking about why the Middle East matters and why these conflicts that we continually see there between the Israelis and other Arab peoples, why does it matter to you and to me? The first point I talked about the fact that this is a part of the story, the greater Biblical story, and going back to the time of Abraham.

What I'd like to talk about at this point is the fact that there is a very important critical, prophetic element to the presence of the Jewish state. And that's important to understand. Arabs senator is the one I heard can make the comment. There was no temple there. But as I showed you in the first "BT Daily," the fact that we were uncovering years ago and it has been uncovered the actual historic evidence of the Jewish presence in the land 2,000 years ago, on the Temple Mount, disproves all these political statements that people make today. They were there. They have a part of the promise to that land that began with their father, Abraham. And as I showed, so do the Arabs and the Palestinians as well, in a sense, because it's God's to give. But there's a prophetic element that we should understand when it comes to the presence of Israel in the land.

There's one key prophecy that requires the presence of a Jewish state, a part of the ancient nation of Israel in the land.

In Matthew 24:15, and what is well-known to be Olivet prophecy, Jesus Christ answers the question of the disciples, "What will be the signs of your coming in at the end of the age?" And in verse 15, one of the signs He mentions is this. He says, "Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken up by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand that let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains." He references the abomination of desolation spoken up by Daniel the prophet. What is that? Well, it was an actual historic event that Daniel prophesied would take place during the period of the Greek Empire and its hold in presence within the land, within what is the current land of Israel. You have to go back to Daniel 11:31, a very long prophecy, and there is mentioned a moment of the abomination of desolation. What it was was the Greek armies came in and desecrated the temple, the second temple, that was in Jerusalem by offering swines blood on the temple and erecting a pagan statue of a pagan god. That's what was a historical event.

Jesus Christ was referring to that and everyone in His day would have known what that was. We can understand what it is today. But the fact that there would be a place to abominate and to make desolate, references the fact that there has to be a holy shrine, a temple, a place where the sacrifices of the Scriptures are being given, which means that there has to be a part of the people of Israel there to whom were given those sacrificial system and everything that we read about back in the Old Testament. The Jews have long wanted to, again, offer sacrifices on the Temple Mount. They've been prevented by their own government from doing that, as well as the public opinion of not only the Arab nations but the entire world. But the prophecy show that there will be some type of sacrifice going on, that then will be made desolate and abominated in a type of what happened anciently under the Greeks and their leader, Antiochus Epiphanes.

And so, this prophecy very important to understand why Israel in the Middle East, the State of Israel today, the Jewish state, why it is there, why it is important.

You look at the current turmoils and the problems that have been a part of what has been taking place there. And, of course, the hatred of many of the Muslim states, primarily led by Iran today, they have promised, and their desire and their goal is to eliminate the State of Israel, to push them into the Mediterranean. That's what they want to do. And Bible prophecy shows that that's not going to happen until certain prophecies take place. And it's important to understand the whole panorama of that Bible prophecy in regard to that.

Jerusalem is a very interesting city. The Prophet Zechariah said that Jerusalem would be a cup of drunkenness and a heavy stone. And in many ways, it has been, historically, religiously, and politically. And today, it is kind of a heavy stone upon the nations. There's a lot of events that are going to take place where God has placed His name in that city. And the turmoil that has been going on is going to continue. But bigger events are going to take place.

But why does it matter? It matters because of certain prophetic stories and processes that have to play out as to why that state is there today. And it's important to be able to cut through the political rhetoric that goes on on all sides and the ideologies that it seek to turn opinion and attitudes and even policy against either the Arab states or against the Israeli state, and to be able to understand the Biblical story, the Biblical record, and prophetically what is going to happen.

There's one more point that I'd like to talk about in regard to why all of this is important, why it matters to you, why you should understand that in the midst of all the other problems that we are seeing today in that area. We'll talk about that next time.

That's "BT Daily." Join us then.