Updated on March 23, 2022

The Temple Institute is now talking publicly about the red heifer. Here are two of their latest posts:

For decades, Israel has unsuccessfully searched for a red heifer. However, there is a new endeavor between Jews and Texas ranchers that could very well produce a viable candidate.

Importance of the Red Heifer in the Words of the Temple Institute

According to the Temple Institute website:

“In our own times, the commandment of the red heifer takes on more and more significance. For without it, the Divine service of the Holy Temple cannot be resumed. There is a spiritual renaissance today in Israel; after almost 2,000 years, Israel is clearly moving towards the time when the Holy Temple on Mount Moriah — the prophesied Third Temple — will be rebuilt.”

“What does a red heifer have to do with any of this? Perhaps it would be difficult for some to believe that a cow could be so important. But in truth, the fate of the entire world depends on the red heifer. For God has ordained that its ashes alone are the single missing ingredient for the reinstatement of Biblical purity – and thereafter, the rebuilding of the Holy Temple.”

The Bible Prophesies the Rebuilding of the Temple

In Revelation 11:1-2, John was told to measure the Jewish temple and those that worship therein. A person obviously cannot measure a temple if there is no temple to be measured. The time given in the prophecy when this event will take place is 42 months before the Second Coming of Jesus and the Battle of Armageddon. Therefore, this prophecy indicates the Jewish temple will be standing 42 months before the Second Coming.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:4, it foretells the “man of sin” (the Antichrist) will sit in the temple of God claiming to be God. This incident is called the Abomination of Desolation which Jesus said would occur 42 months before His Second Coming.

So, we have two prophecies stating the Jewish temple will be rebuilt. Both of them prophesy the temple will be standing at the same time — 42 months before Armageddon.

The Scriptures also indicate there will soon be a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians. The prophecies foretell clearly the Jewish temple will be completed during the 3 ½ years following the signing of this peace agreement. Pressure from the International Community for Israel to reach a two-state solution to the Palestinian problem has never been greater than now.

We know the temple cannot be built until Israel has a qualified red heifer for the purification of the Israeli people. Many efforts are ongoing by the Temple Institute and others to produce a red heifer, indicating that we are nearing the time for the building of the Third Temple.

Why is a Red Heifer So Important?

Numbers 19 teaches the Jewish people if any person has had contact with a dead body, he or she is ritually impure and may not go into the sanctuary of the Lord until being purified. This means if a person has walked through a cemetery, visited a funeral home, been in a hospital where someone has died or been in the presence of human death in any form, he is impure. If a person violates this commandment by entering the sanctuary while impure, he is to be cut off from Israel. In other words, the person is to be excommunicated from God’s people.

The commandment in Numbers 19 describes the only way people under the law could be purified from contact with a dead body. A red heifer without blemish and on which a yoke has never been placed must be killed, its body burned and the ashes mingled in water. The one to be purified must then be sprinkled by the mixture in order to be cleansed from the curse of death. Only after the prescribed treatment can a person then go into the sanctuary of the Lord.

The Jewish people today assume that all of them have had contact with death and therefore the entire nation is impure. Consequently, it has become the highest priority of religiously observant Jews to find a qualified red heifer to cleanse the people from death. Until this is accomplished, they don’t believe they can build their longed-for Third Temple.

For years, the Temple Institute in Jerusalem has been leading the drive toward building Israel’s Third Temple. The Institute has created all the furniture and the utensils necessary for the resumption of temple worship. The only two things stopping the construction of the temple on the Temple Mount are the disputes between Muslims and Jews about control over the Temple Mount and the absence of the required red heifer. The Jews believe when they acquire the red heifer, God will resolve the political dispute.

According to Jewish tradition, there have been nine red heifers offered for purification from death since the commandment was originally given to Moses. It is believed the last red heifer was offered during the era of the Second Temple which ended with the Roman destruction of the temple in 70 A.D.

Since Israel took possession of the Temple Mount during the 1967 War, Jews wanting to build their Third Temple have begun to search for a qualified red heifer.

In 1996, a red heifer named Melody was unexpectedly born on a farm in northern Israel. Hopes ran high this could be the heifer that would restore the Jewish people back to a state of purity. However, Melody developed some white hairs in her tail and was disqualified by the rabbis.

Then in June 1997, the Jerusalem Post reported that Clyde Lott, a cattle raiser from Mississippi, and Rabbi Chaim Richman, the executive director of the Temple Institute, were working to bring red cattle from Mississippi to Israel. Somehow, this effort never came to fruition.

Israel National News on July 15, 2015, reported the Temple Institute was partnering with an expert Israeli rancher to raise a herd of red heifers for future use in the Jewish Third Temple. They quoted the Temple Institute as saying, “Make no mistake, this project is no less than the first stage of the reintroduction of Biblical purity into the world, a prerequisite for the building of the Third Temple.”

Over the last couple of years, reports from this project claim that several calves were born but currently none of them are suitable candidates. The Institute is hopeful one of the calves will be a qualified heifer in the future. If so, the sacrifice will be made and the mixture will be available for the purification of the people. They then will be qualified to launch the building of Israel’s Third Temple — the first Jewish temple in 2,000 years.

In July 2021, Israel365 News published an article titled: “Jews, non-Jews Join Forces in Quest to Find Red Heifer,” by Adam Berkowitz.

The article states, “Last month, the Temple Institute was contacted by a cattle farmer in Texas who informed them that five red calves had been born on his ranch, about two and a half hours travel from Dallas. The Temple Institute charged Rabbi Yitzhak Meir Sabo, a community rabbi in Dallas, Texas with making the initial inspection of the calves. The inspection was thorough, requiring about eight hours … Chanan Kupietzky traveled to Texas to be part of the delegation sent to inspect the red Angus calves … Four of the calves were disqualified. But the fifth had a dark area of hair near its mouth that was unclear whether it would disqualify it for the service … To be suitable for the ceremony, the heifer must be two years and one day old. Sometimes, a calf that is perfectly red when it is young develops black or white hairs as it grows older or may develop a blemish. Sometimes, the colored hairs fall out or disappear. The Temple Institute decided to reinspect the calf at a later date.”

“Kupietzky explained that as part of the ongoing effort to find a red heifer, he is working with Boneh Israel (build Israel), a Christian organization, to educate non-Jews to identify possible candidates.”

On Dec. 21, 2021, I traveled to Carrollton, Texas, an event sponsored by Boneh Israel, to view a potential red heifer. At the meeting we were told they have now found 21 prospective red heifers in Texas. We were also informed that the calves were only a few months old and would need to remain fully red until two years and one month of age, which is almost two years away. However, they are very excited about the possibility of one of these heifers being qualified at that time.

Will this effort be successful? Only time will tell but it is certainly something we will be watching because it is nearing the time for this prophecy to be fulfilled.

Will Israel Get its Red Heifer?

Remember, the two different prophecies that foretell a temple will stand on the Temple Mount during the end time?

In 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, it prophesies the Antichrist will sit in the temple of God claiming to be God. You can’t sit in a temple if there is no temple.

In Revelation 11:1-2, the Apostle John was told to measure the temple and those that worship therein. You can’t measure a temple if there’s no temple to measure.

It’s obvious from these two prophecies, Israel will get its red heifer — since the temple cannot be constructed without one.

Sacrifices will Resume in the End Time

The prophesied Israeli/Palestinian peace agreement mentioned in Daniel 9:27 will place the Temple Mount under a sharing arrangement between Muslims and Jews according to Revelation 11:1-2. Israel will be allowed to build her Third Temple without disturbing the Muslim holy places.

On one of our recent trips to Israel, I had a former and very religious member of the Israeli Knesset, Rabbi Yehuda Glick, tell me in order for the Jews to build their Third Synagogue on the Temple Mount, they would be willing to build it up there without disturbing the Dome of the Rock or the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

When the temple is completed, animal sacrifices will be offered just like they were in the Old Testament. These are the sacrifices that the Antichrist will stop.

You can’t stop non-existent sacrifices. Right?

Do Christians Need a Red Heifer?

Some may wonder if Christians are still under the law of the red heifer. Scripture clearly teaches us the Old Testament law was merely a type and shadow of New Testament realities.

Hebrews 10:1 says it this way:

“For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.”

The Book of Colossians also teaches many of the commandments of the Old Testament are simply symbols of New Testament realities.

“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” (Colossians 2:16-17)

In the New Testament, Jesus is Our Red Heifer

Hebrews 9:11-14 explains it this way:

“But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

Jesus Died to Deliver Us from the Curse of Death

Hebrews 2:9, 14 says,

“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man … Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;”

In Revelation 1:18 Jesus said, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”

Death has been Replaced With Eternal Life!

Finally, Romans 5:17 teaches us the curse of death that was brought upon us by the disobedience of the first Adam has now been replaced by eternal life through the obedience of the second Adam, Jesus Christ.

“For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.”

Aren’t we glad that we don’t have to wait for a qualified red heifer before we can be liberated from the curse of death? The role of the red heifer in the Old Testament has now been fulfilled by our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Yes, everyone, with these and many other prophecies converging at the same time, it is easy to see we are in the end time just prior to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ!

God bless each of you as you prepare for that great day!

Biblical Instructions About the Red Heifer

Numbers 19:1-22 says,

1)  And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

2)  This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke:

3)  And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face:

4)  And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times:

5)  And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn:

6)  And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.

7)  Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even.

8)  And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even.

9)  And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin.

10)  And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute for ever.

11)  He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.

12)  He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean.

13)  Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him.

14)  This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent: all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.

15)  And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean.

16)  And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

17)  And for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel:

18)  And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave:

19)  And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even.

20)  But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the LORD: the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean.

21)  And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them, that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his clothes; and he that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until even.

22)  And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even.