These Jews, who were blind to all things, called on the Emperor (Julian the Apostate) for help and begged him to aid them in undertaking to rebuild the temple. The Emperor, for his part, spared no expense, sent engineers from all over the empire to oversee the work, summoned craftsmen from every land; he left nothing undone, nothing untried. At the same time, in his mad folly, he was hoping to cancel out the sentence passed by Christ which forbade the rebuilding of the temple.
They removed a great mound of earth and began to lay bare the foundations. They were just about to start building when suddenly fire leaped forth from the foundations and completely consumed not only a great number of the workmen but even the stones piled up there to support the structure. This put a stop to the untimely obstinacy of those who had undertaken the project. Many of the Jews, too, who had seen what had happened, were astonished and struck with shame. The Emperor Julian had been madly eager to finish the work. But when he heard what had happened, he was afraid that, if he went on with it, he might call down the fire on his own head. (St. John Chrysostom Against the Jews Homily V)
Julian the Apostate
He (Julian) planned at vast cost to restore the once splendid temple at Jerusalem. He had entrusted the speedy performance of this work to Alypius of Antioch. But, though this Alypius pushed the work on with vigour, aided by the governor of the province, terrifying balls of flame kept bursting forth near the foundations of the temple, and made the place inaccessible to the workmen, some of whom were burned to death; and since in this way the element persistently repelled them, the enterprise halted. (Ammianus Marcellinus Chronicler of the Emperor Julian)
Contrast: The Jewish Third Temple movement have built a theologically improbable alliance with evangelical Christians, who have come to believe that the Second Coming of Jesus–already accelerated by the return of the Jews to Israel–will be given even more momentum if the Jews build the Third Temple. If they build it, He will come. (Evangelical Support for rebuilding the Temple)
If St. John was down here below now, what would he say to our “seperated brethren”?:
The search for the ashes of the last red heifer have so far proved unsuccessful. In 1998, however, Clyde Lott, a Mississippi rancher, formed Canaan Land Restoration of Israel, Inc. for the purpose of raising livestock suitable for Temple sacrifice. (Evangelicals trying to breed the Red Heifers needed for Temple Sacrifice)
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