by A.V. Rauf
Zechariah 12:1-10
A prophecy: The word of the LORD concerning Israel.
The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the human spirit within a person, declares: “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness,” declares the LORD. “I will keep a watchful eye over Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations. Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the LORD Almighty is their God.’ “On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume all the surrounding peoples right and left, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place. “The LORD will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem’s inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah. On that day the LORD will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the LORD going before them. On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem. “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit[a] of grace and supplication. They will look on[b] me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.
The rebirth of the nation of Israel and the quest to establish Jerusalem as its capital has always been at the center of conflict between the Jews and the Arab-Islamic world. In all land negotiations that have been attempted notice that it was not the West Bank or Gaza or even the Golan Heights that have been the central point of contention. The issue has always been and ultimately will be the final status of Jerusalem. Of much importance is also the issue of the Temple Mount as well.
Revelation 11:1-2
I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers. 2 But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months.
As ironic as this may sound, historically, Jews and Arabs are both descendants of Abraham and are like estranged brothers who one day will reconcile in the Millennium.
It also can be proven that it wasn’t until the rebirth of the Nation of Israel that Islamic religious leaders began to popularize the claim that Jerusalem was the third most holiest site to the Muslims. The holy cities for Islam have always been Mecca and Medina. Ultimately, once the Jews returned to their homeland, it was since then that the battle for Jerusalem really began and it will ultimately end with the return of the LORD Jesus Christ.
Just as Islam on the basis of its religion is attempting to lay both political and religious claim to Jerusalem, so has the papacy ever since the Middle Ages. Lately, there has been speculation in that there has been an acceleration in the pope’s plans to move the entire Vatican to the city of Jerusalem, and that moving the Vatican to Jerusalem is imminent.
Over the past decade the Vatican has been in negotiations with the government of Israel to obtain land in Jerusalem upon which to build a second Vatican.
Why in Jerusalem you ask?
The Word of God explicitly and repeatedly states that Jerusalem is the city chosen by God from which He will rule the world.
So what man on earth today claims to be “The Vicar of Christ;” or in other words, the very embodiment of Christ upon the earth?
It is being reported that these negotiations between the Vatican and Israel were approved by the Israeli government back in 2012, or perhaps longer, and construction has been going on ever since. Now the residence of the Pope; the Papal “palace,” and other buildings for the second Vatican are complete or nearly so. Where is this construction taking place? On Mt. Zion!!!
Again, let’s not forget that principalities operate through personalities. According to the New Testament it is in Jerusalem where Satan suffered his greatest defeat with the resurrection of Jesus Christ and it is right here where he will receive his final defeat. In the following Psalm the city of David is also referred to as Mt. Zion and it is on the sides of the North.
Psalm 48:1-2
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.
Notice where Satan wants to establish his throne…….
Isaiah 14:5-14
The LORD has broken the rod of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers, which in anger struck down peoples with unceasing blows, and in fury subdued nations with relentless aggression. All the lands are at rest and at peace; they break into singing. Even the junipers and the cedars of Lebanon gloat over you and say, “Now that you have been laid low, no one comes to cut us down.” The realm of the dead below is all astir to meet you at your coming; it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you—all those who were leaders in the world; it makes them rise from their thrones—all those who were kings over the nations. They will all respond, they will say to you, “You also have become weak, as we are; you have become like us.” All your pomp has been brought down to the grave, along with the noise of your harps; maggots are spread out beneath you and worms cover you. How you have fallen from heaven,
morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne
above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.[a] I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”
With all this talk about the building of the third temple as well as the recent rehearsals of the Feast of Passover and First-fruits (please see the following posts: http://bibleprophecyfortoday.com/2015/05/28/the-stage-is-being-set-is-anybody-paying-attention/ and http://bibleprophecyfortoday.com/2015/04/14/does-the-building-of-the-third-temple-seem-to-be-drawing-closer/
Now let us also keep in mind that the Anti-Christ will ultimately sit in the temple of God in Jerusalem, on the sides of the north, and proclaim that he is God:
2 Thessalonians 2:1-6
Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness[a] is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time.
Now notice the rest of the chapter and also pay attention to the prophesied destruction of “The Assyrian,” This happens to be one of many allusions to the Anti-Christ. (Please see the following post: http://bibleprophecyfortoday.com/2015/05/06/anti-christ-and-the-assyrian-connection/ )
Isaiah 14:15-27
But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit. Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: “Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, the man who made the world a wilderness, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?” All the kings of the nations lie in state, each in his own tomb. But you are cast out of your tomb like a rejected branch; you are covered with the slain, with those pierced by the sword, those who descend to the stones of the pit. Like a corpse trampled underfoot, you will not join them in burial, for you have destroyed your land and killed your people. Let the offspring of the wicked never be mentioned again. Prepare a place to slaughter his children for the sins of their ancestors; they are not to rise to inherit the land and cover the earth with their cities. “I will rise up against them,” declares the LORD Almighty. “I will wipe out Babylon’s name and survivors, her offspring and descendants,”
declares the LORD. “I will turn her into a place for owls and into swampland; I will sweep her with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD Almighty. The LORD Almighty has sworn,
“Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will happen. I will crush the Assyrian in my land; on my mountains I will trample him down. His yoke will be taken from my people, and his burden removed from their shoulders.” This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?
Currently, there happen to be not one but two Jewish religious academies known as yeshivas, in Jerusalem and dedicated to the resurrection of a Levitical priesthood conducting the training of student rabbis with Levitical names (i.e. “Levi,” Cohen,” “Segal,” etc.) to literally officiate a re-established sacrificial system.
The amazing facty about Bible prophecy is that what God spoke ages ago in His Holy Writ, is literally coming to pass before our very eyes, word by word:
Isaiah 46:9-10
Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’
Ladies and gentlemen, the Rapture is not too far off…….It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when and from the way things are setting up like Bob Dylan would say, folks we are literally:
Knock, knock, knocking on Heaven’s door!
http://bibleprophecyfortoday.com/2015/06/05/jerusalem-a-trembling-cup-unto-all-nations/