Jerusalem Is a Cup of Trembling…

By Bill Randles

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)

Once again events in the city of Jerusalem have erupted into world consciousness like a fire alarm in the midst of a deep sleep. Terrifying scenes of crowds of confused and frightened people running for their very lives as flash grenades explode around them. Muslims barricaded in the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple mountain, rushing to and fro as Israeli defense forces besiege them, and eventually enter the sanctuary in full riot gear.

There are also the instantaneous, angry, defiant international protests at Israeli treatment of Palestinians across the globe.

In what seemed to be a perfect storm of events, such as a National celebration of the Annexation of Jerusalem by the Jews in 1967 called “Jerusalem day,, the final Friday service of Ramadan, an Israeli court case, in which Jewish plaintiffs sued for the eviction of Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem, and the onset of a New American political administration hostile to Israel, the tensions exploded into a firestorm of violence.

The prophet Zechariah predicted that God would make Jerusalem to be a “cup of Trembling” to those who are round about her, making them to go crazy and unleashing among them self destructive impulses as a Divine judgment upon them.

Jerusalem is the most important city on Earth. God chose to “put his name there,” according to the promise God gave to King David.

And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light alway before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there.   1 Kings 11:36

Furthermore, it was in Jerusalem that God had his people erect a Holy House, and there God descended to inhabit that house in a cloud of Glory.

In Jerusalem also, God dealt a fatal blow to the enemy of God and of mankind, when He sent his Son to die outside of the city walls. The Earth’s most serious wound is also in Jerusalem because there is an empty Tomb, which had been used by the Messiah, and from that tomb emerged the risen Savior.

Jerusalem is also a very important city to the world’s 1.7 billion Muslims. Though Jerusalem is never mentioned by name in the Quran, Islam claims that Jerusalem is the third holiest site for Muslims.

There is one passage in the Quran which mentions a place called Al Aqsa, “the farthest place” which Muslim scholars cite to claim Jerusalem and the Temple mount as their own site. The passage is called “the Izra,” and it tells us that Mohammed rode a winged horse called “Barak” (I know, you just can’t make this stuff up), all the way to “Al Aqsa” where he ascended to Heaven and had prayer with Jesus and Moses. This is why the Mosque on the Temple must be called the “Al Aqsa Mosque.”

Every confrontation on the Temple mount is a portent of the final conflict for Israel and for all of mankind. It is ironic that this latest outburst involved a siege and assault on the Mosque. We are heading into very serious times. I hope you have made your peace with God and are ready.

The city of Jerusalem is also very important to the United Nations. It happens to be the only major world city which has been partitioned into two cities by the UN. The UN claims there are ‘two Jerusalems”; one is designated for Muslims and the other for Jews. God didn’t do this—the UN did.

A Jewish young man, who was born in Jerusalem, but was a US citizen, applied for an American passport. On the application, he was asked for the city of his birth, so he replied, Jerusalem, Israel. His passport was rejected on the grounds that officially, Jerusalem isn’t in Israel! It is a “universal city.” He sued all the way up to the Supreme Court of the United States and was rejected every step along the way, for insisting the Jerusalem is in Israel.

A terrible conflict is coming, and it will break out over the issue of Jerusalem. God has a controversy with the nations of this world. Could these volatile events in Jerusalem be leading up to this? We will soon see . . . Seek the LORD while He can be found . . .

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Related Articles:

Peace Plan for Israel and the Palestinians

Israel: Replacing What God Has Not

(Article from Bill Randles blog; used with permission. Bill is the author of several books and booklets, many of which are on the Lighthouse Trails site.