An undated but recent video shared by The Temple Institute shows Israel’s Minister of Heritage, Amihai Eliyahu, visiting the red heifers being raised in Shiloh, highlighting the continued momentum in preparations tied directly to biblical prophecy.
In the Facebook post accompanying the video, The Temple Institute said Eliyahu brought his children “to see the red heifers being raised in Shiloh, as part of the mission to return ritual purity to Israel, a major step toward the rebuilding of the Holy Temple and the renewal of the Divine service.”
Interest in the red heifer has intensified in recent years, particularly after a 2025 practice event in Shiloh sparked widespread claims that the long-awaited biblical ceremony had taken place. Organizers later clarified that the event was only a rehearsal and did not fulfill the scriptural requirements.
According to Numbers 19, the red heifer must be without blemish and never have borne a yoke. The ceremony itself must occur outside the camp, understood in Jewish tradition to mean the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem and directly facing the Temple Mount. The ashes are then used for purification rites necessary for Temple service.
No such ceremony has taken place on the Mount of Olives.
Meanwhile, momentum surrounding the Temple Mount continues to build. According to reporting by Israel365 News, 76,448 Jews ascended to the Temple Mount in 2025, Judaism’s holiest site, shattering all previous records. The total represents a 31% increase over 2024 and continues a decade-long surge. Since 2015, when 10,700 Jews ascended the mount, Jewish presence there has increased more than sevenfold.
The surge reflects a rising national and religious desire for Jewish prayer and worship at the site of the First and Second Temples. What was once viewed as a marginal aspiration has increasingly moved into mainstream religious and political conversation, with renewed calls for greater access and ultimately the rebuilding of a Third Temple.
These developments are not random. Scripture makes clear that a future temple will stand in Jerusalem in the last days. Daniel 9:27 speaks of sacrifices being stopped. Jesus warned of “the abomination of desolation” standing in the holy place in Matthew 24:15. Second Thessalonians 2:4 states that the man of lawlessness will sit in “the temple of God.”
Those passages require a functioning temple in Jerusalem.
Though the precise timing remains in God’s hands, the convergence of rising Temple Mount attendance, visible support from Israeli officials, and ongoing preparations, such as the raising of red heifers, demonstrates that the stage described in biblical prophecy is steadily being set.
The red heifer ceremony has not yet occurred. But the momentum surrounding it and the growing fervor for worship on the Temple Mount point directly toward what Scripture has long foretold.
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a background in journalism from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine.
