THE TIME OF MOURNING.
The Lord then goes into Jerusalem to reveal Himself to the people of Israel.
`The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not be greater than that of Judah.` (Zech. 12: 7)
The Lord then anoints their eyes to recognise who He is, their Messiah.
`And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication: then they will look on me whom they have pierced; they will mourn for Him as one mourns for His only son and grieve for Him as one grieves for a first-born.` (Zech. 12: 10)
This is the month of Tevet, the time that Israel commemorates when Jerusalem was surrounded by the Babylonians. It is a time of great mourning and repentance.
God had continually warned Israel about the impending destruction of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple if they didn`t mend their ways. But they derided the holy men as bearers of `false prophecies of doom.`
Then it finally happened that the Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem (in the past) and finally at the end of the Tribulation the world`s armies surrounded them too.
Thus the people of Israel go into mourning, having realised that their nation had rejected their Messiah over the centuries. The whole month of Tevet is one of mourning.
THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE.
Then on the last day of the month the Jews cleanse the sanctuary of the temple from the abomination of desolation, the desecration of the altar in the Holy Place. The priests will perform cleansing for themselves and for the vessels that are used.
`How long will the vision concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot? And he said to me, “For 2,300 days, (evening-mornings); then the sanctuary SHALL BE CLEANSED.` (Dan. 8: 13 & 14)
