Jerusalem
By Bill Randles
In view of last week’s UN Vote on the day the UN designates “Palestinian day,” in which 151 nations voted that Israel has no claim on Jerusalem and of last week’s six UN anti-Israel resolutions, and in view of today’s historic declaration by President Trump that Jerusalem is the Capitol of Israel, I thought it fitting to re-run this 2010 exposition of Zechariah 12. Prophecy is being fulfilled this very day! Maranatha!
The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. (Zechariah 12:1-3)
From 2010 Zechariah 12 Exposition:
The last chapters of Zechariah have an amazing relevance to the world situation we see unfolding before us today. It is uttered in the name of the Creator God, who continuously sustains his creation, most notably of His ongoing work of creation, forming the spirit of man.
God , the Creator, will one day make Jerusalem to become a cup of trembling to those nations round about her.
The idea of a cup of trembling is a judgment administered, which causes the neighboring nations to reel, to go mad, to lose the capacity for sound judgment which leads to self-destruction.
For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red;
it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same:
but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.
True to this prophecy, the nations of the world are in great turmoil about the so-called “status” of Jerusalem. Though Jerusalem is manifestly the capital of the State of Israel, virtually none of the nations of the world will put an Embassy there, including the USA. They fear inflaming the Moslem neighbors of Israel.
The Obama administration has attempted to make the appeasement of the Muslim world a centerpiece of its foreign policy. Therefore it has taken an unprecedented US stance toward Israel especially regarding Jerusalem and Judea.
Obama and his secretary of state have called for a strict “no natural growth” policy for Judea, (The West Bank), and they severely condemned Israel for approving the building of housing Units in East Jerusalem.
Islam has been claiming that Jerusalem has never been anything but a Muslim city, one of the “holiest’ sites of the Muslim faith. Yet the Koran doesn’t mention Jerusalem by name anywhere.
In its effort to erase any sign of Jewish history in Jerusalem, the Wafq, the Muslim custodianship of the temple mount, has been moving tons of rubble from beneath the surface of the site of the temple, dumping it in gravel pits outside of the city. Archeologists are finding priceless artifacts of the previous two temples in the rubble.
There is a reference in the Koran to “Al Aqsa,” literally, the “farthest place” from Mecca, where Mohammed supposedly rode a winged horse en route to a heavenly Muslim prayer meeting with Jesus and Moses. It is interesting that in Obama’s Cairo speech to the Muslim world, he referenced this obscure story, “the Isra,” the sole Muslim claim to Jerusalem, and that only by inference.
The Bible, however, has more than 800 direct references to Jerusalem. It is “the city of the great King,” the “Joy of the whole earth,” Mt Zion, the sight of the future capital of the world, the counterpart to “the heavenly Jerusalem.” God is “zealous for Jerusalem with a great fury,” we are told earlier in Zechariah.
Jerusalem, we are told by our Lord Jesus, will be trodden under foot of the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled. For the time being, it is as “Sodom and Egypt,” (Revelation 11) but is destined to be the city where Righteousness dwells, and out of which the Law of the Lord shall stream forth to all of the world. No wonder there is such a storm around it.
The UN wants to make it an international city, the Vatican wants custodianship over it, Islam claims it as one of its holiest sites, The Gentiles insist on it being divided into two cities on the capital of the “Palestinian” state, the other side the capital of the Jewish state. Islam doesn’t like the name Jerusalem, they call it “Al Quds,” and so did a senior Obama security advisor in a speech recently. There is a storm brewing exactly as the Prophet said it would; God is making Jerusalem a cup of trembling, making mad the nations of the world.
(Used with permission; original source and Pastor Bill’s blog; photo from bigstockphoto; used with permission)
Related Resources:
A Sword in the Land by Bill Randles
The Messiah Factor by Tony Pearce
Is John Piper’s Bethlehem College anti-semitic? What is their stand on Israel and the Jews?
According to Dr. D. Reagan, founder of Lamb and Lion Ministries, several so-called Christian leaders and teachers have become advocates of the Christian Palestinian movement, which is totally anti-semitic and denies that the Jews have any right to the Holy Land. The most prominent leaders are Stephen Sizer, Gary Burge, Donald Wagner, John Stott, Hank Hanegraaff, Tony Campolo and Lynn Hybels, to name a few.