Thank you for the ping, AG.
I know I probably sounded fixated on Luke 21, but I have a very high regard for it and it's clarity of chronology.
1. Persecution of early Christians.
2. Jerusalem surrounded by armies and destroyed -- protection of Christians; diaspora for Jews.
3. Jerusalem trampled under foot of Gentiles until time of Gentiles completed. (A time of wars, pestilences, earthquakes, and then, "fearful sight and great signs from heaven.)
4. ""And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; 26 men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken."
5. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near."
-- My point in all this is that Jerusalem must cease being controlled by Gentiles (trampled under foot) at some point. If external control is to be cast off, then it is reasonable to assume a full, internal Jewish control of the entire area. This would seem to over-ride alternatives such as some kind of neutral control or international control.
-- I gather that Half of Jerusalem is currently under Israeli control....east and west Jerusalem. Isn't the Temple area in East Jerusalem? Who controls it?
I agree. However, I suspect we are much further along in prophetic events.
Israel has been respectful of all Abrahamic religions (peace, peace) - probably much too much, IMHO.
Quoting from a bill that was before Congress:
(7) In the aftermath of the 1993 Oslo Accords, Yassir Arafat's Palestinian Authority asserted pre-eminence on the Temple Mount through the subversion of the Waqf and by coercing the Jordan-affiliated officials and clergymen off the Temple Mount. Arafat personally nominated the virulently anti-Semitic and anti-American Mufti Ikrima Sabri as the Imam of al-Aqsa Mosque. In May 1998, Sabri declared that the Jews have no right to the Temple Mount.
(8) In 1996, the Israeli Islamic Movement sponsored the expansion of the underground al-Marawani Mosque on the Temple Mount. The excavation conducted for this expansion extended beyond the original compound, and an ancient underground structure dating from the period of the Second Temple (circa 515 B.C. (B.C.E.) to 70 A.D. (C.E.), known as the Western Hulda Gate passageway was converted into a mosque.
(9) In early 1998, the Waqf, controlled by the Palestinian Authority, began further excavation. A major underground mosque hall was inaugurated in August 1999 and an emergency exit was opened to a mosque located on the Temple Mount. The exit is 18,000 square feet in size and up to 36 feet deep, and thousands of tons of ancient fills from the site were dumped into the Kidron Valley. Archeologists have subsequently determined that artifacts dumped into the Kidron Valley from the Temple Mount dated from the period of the First Temple (circa 22 1006 B.C. (B.C.E.) to 586 B.C. (B.C.E.).
(10) In mid 2000, Arafat deployed onto the Temple Mount armed and unarmed security personnel of Jibril Rajoub's Preventive Security Forces in violation of numerous past agreements with Israel. Rajoub's forces evicted the Waqf's personnel and consolidated Arafat's control and ability to wage the Intifadah (''uprising'') against Israel.
(11) In February and March of 2001, an ancient arched structure built against the Eastern Wall of the Temple Mount enclosure was razed by bulldozers in order to further enlarge the emergency gate of the new mosque at the Stables of Solomon.
(12) In early May, Arafat ordered that the underground halls under the Temple Mount be unified into a single fortified space that would be both the largest mosque ever built on Haram al-Sharif and a springboard for the forthcoming Palestinian struggle for control of the Temple Mount. Given the haste and unsupervised nature of the ongoing excavation and construction work, there is great fear that the foundations of the two Holy Mosques will be severely damaged to the point of collapse.
(13) The actions of Yassir Arafat and the Palestinian Authority threaten to eliminate all historical evidence of Jewish activity on the Temple Mount and serve to discredit Israeli claims of sovereignty over the Temple Mount.
If we are in the era preceding (or in) the "peace, peace" phase in the Tribulation - considering the power (and blindness to prophesy) of the secular Jewish people - I would not at all be surprised to see them turn jurisdiction of Jerusalem (or at least the Temple Mount) over to the United Nations in the hopes that all three Abrahamic religions can co-exist.
After all, the latest intifada was started at the Temple Mount (or the wailing wall to be more specific) - and peace between Israel and the Palestinians is a top priority to many, many nations.
I DO think that the issue of complete Israeli control of Jerusalem is a key issue. And, it's very muddy at present.
Of course, with the puppet masters so in control of the whole world until Christ vanquishes them all . . . not sure how 'complete' the Israeli control of Jerusalem will be. But, it seems to me, it HAS TO BE MUCH MORE complete than at present in at least key ways allowing the building of a new Temple.
-- I gather that Half of Jerusalem is currently under Israeli control....east and west Jerusalem. Isn't the Temple area in East Jerusalem? Who controls it?
Rev 11:2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
The way I see it, the 42 months, needs a start point. The holy city was under gentile control for most of the last 2000 years. It needs to be controled by Israel for a time before and again after the 42 months.