Israel is God’s timepiece. It has been ticking since the Jews began to return to the land with the advent of the Zionist movement of the 1890’s. Bible scholars have given it special attention since the establishment of the modern State of Israel in 1948. The Scriptures have laid out some very specific prophecies concerning Israel through the ages. The Prophets have described the scattering and re-gathering of the Jews, as well as the restoration of the Land and the coming redemption. They revealed specific details of the wars to come in the last days. In this series we will examine those prophecies, relating them to Israel’s past and present situation. We will also look at God’s promises for the future in hopes of getting a better picture of just where we may be on that timeline to the return of Messiah.
We can judge where we are on God’s prophetic calendar by looking at the history of Israel. A by-product of that fact is the notion that, from both the prophetic and increasingly from the political standpoints, Jerusalem is the center of the world. This city in what would otherwise be only a moderately remarkable state is the focal point of the Globe’s three monotheistic faiths. Nearly every nation in the world, as well as the EU, the UN and the Vatican believe they have a stake in its fate. And in the Last Days, when the rebellion against God will reach its zenith, it is Jerusalem that will be the point of contention. President Trump’s long-overdue recognition that Jerusalem is and should remain the capital of Israel turned into a driving force that infuriated the nations and moved the prophetic clock forward. There is coming a battle their when the whole world will unite against Israel….But God will see His purposes fulfilled. “Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, And your spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem.” (Zechariah 14:1-2)
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We live in a time of accelerating crisis. We’ve seen a small war fought in Iraq and a long and shameful one in Afghanistan. ISIS had its’ day – and it is now passed. Unstable regimes in Iran and Korea prepare for war. North Korea, with an ideology that is willing to sacrifice millions of its own citizens to take on the United States is in possession of nuclear weapons and a delivery system that can reach anywhere in the world. In many ways, the times parallel those of the 1930’s, as Hitler ramped up for war, gobbled Europe, and a Japanese invasion of China was virtually ignored. Storm clouds are on the horizon. Earthquakes, volcanoes, record weather, wars and rumors, are all wreaking massive havoc on the earth. Jesus warned of these things in Matthew 24 and Luke 21. In those passages, Our Lord gave us a general overview of what the world will be like as we approached the time of His return. Other Scriptures get even more specific. Looking at the events from the perspective of God’s people, the Scriptures give us a detailed account of just what will happen to prepare the world for the coming of the Antichrist, the One-World System, and Christ’s eventual return. Jesus told us of “wars and rumors of wars.” The Prophets reveal some of the specific nations involved and the outcomes of those wars. Scripture tells us there are at least two wars before Messiah comes: The first in which Israel fights Syria and its near Arab neighbors and another soon to follow against a coalition of Turkey – and/or Russia – along with Iran and the second ring of Islamic States. Yet despite the machinations of man, God has promised the land to Israel forever. “Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17:8) But let’s go back to see just how God’s promises have operated with regard to His chosen people and Land.
THE SCATTERING
At the time of His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday, Jesus began to contemplate the coming fate of Jerusalem; the city of the prophets in the Land The Father had chosen. What should have been a time of joy was marred by the tragedy He knew was coming. Luke 19:41-44 gives us this account. “Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” In Matthew 21:2, Jesus reiterates the same point regarding the Temple buildings. “Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
That is exactly what happened. In April of AD 70, Roman General Titus began a siege of Jerusalem against the rebelling Jews. The Romans constructed embankments as they systematically starved the city’s inhabitants.[i] In the final assault in September of that year the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and killed an estimated 1.1 million Jews. During the destruction, fire was set to the Temple. The fire caused the gold-leaf ornamentation on the Temple ceiling to melt. The melting gold flowed down the walls and settled into crevices between the stones. The Romans pried apart the stones to remove the gold. This specifically and exactly fulfilled Jesus Christ’s prophecy that not one stone would be left standing on another.
Jesus was saying that the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem itself occurred “because you did not know the time of your visitation.” Despite clear prophetic warning, Israel had failed to recognize and accept their predicted Messiah. Still speaking to his disciples on the events to come, The Lord detailed more of the fate of Jerusalem. “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near…. And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” (Luke 21:20 & 24) Again, that is exactly what happened. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem in the year 70, and again in the year 135. During the two destructions, the Romans killed an estimated 1.5 million Jews. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were taken as slaves to other countries, mostly throughout Europe and parts of Asia. It is significant that the respected historian Josephus names no Christian victim of this Roman slaughter in his accounts of this great Jewish War. Believers were warned first of all by Luke’s account of Christ’s warning. They clearly saw the approaching Roman Legions, gathering to surround Jerusalem. In addition, Eusebius, an early Church Father, known as the ‘Father of Church History’, tells us of a New Testament prophet that warned the Christian community to leave the city and escape the coming slaughter. It seems they did.[ii] No Christian is recorded to have been caught in that slaughter.
Now, what has become known as the Olivet Discourse, delivered to His disciples just before He headed to the Cross, Jesus warned of the coming destruction of Jerusalem, which would occur thirty-odd years later. It was fulfilled right down to the letter. Jesus in His words was both mirroring and expanding on the prophecies contained in the 9th chapter of Daniel. These shed interesting light on those words. That chapter points to the exact time of “visitation” of which Jesus spoke, leaving no excuse for unbelief. As students of the Scriptures, it should have been apparent to the Pharisees, and rabbis that the time of the Messiah was indeed at hand. Many scholars believe that it was indeed the prophecies found in Daniel that inspired the Magi to seek the Christ near the time of his birth. We know that the Essene community near the caves of Qumran, which gave us the Dead Sea Scrolls, was not the only group expecting Messiah in first century Palestine. The precise nature of Biblical prophecy is what drove those expectations. In fact the precision of Daniel’s prophecy reveals the very day of the Messiah’s ascendance into His Kingdom. It then goes on to talk about the destruction of the Temple and the fate of the Jewish nation as well as the ultimate triumph of the Messiah. “Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.” (Daniel 9:24-26)
This is one of the most astounding prophecies in all of Scripture. It nails down the exact day the Messiah was to come; – after “seven weeks and sixty-two weeks.” Follow this! Daniel was given this prophecy while Israel was in exile. There was no Temple and there was no human reason to believe that one would ever be rebuilt. Yet he was told that the Temple would be rebuilt in 69 weeks, or in the Hebrew, 69 shabuim. Shabuim refers to weeks of years or 7-year periods. And this period of 69 weeks-of-years was to begin precisely when the command was given to “To restore and build Jerusalem.” Now we know from the 2nd chapter of Nehemiah, that King Artexerxes gave a command to rebuild the Temple on the first day of the Jewish month of Nisan, in the 20th year of his reign. British scholar, Robert Anderson, investigated this prophecy in the late 1800s. Using common secular historical knowledge, Anderson found the day of the Decree: March 14, 445 BC. Now sixty-nine weeks-of-years multiplied by seven, gives us 483 years. But both the Jews and Babylonians used 360-day years. So he multiplied the 483 years times the 360-day Biblical year. He got 173,880 days. He then counted forward from the day of that decree. It came out to be the 10th of Nisan, or April 6, 32 AD. That, by no coincidence, was the first Palm Sunday. It was the day Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem, accepting and acknowledging His kingship. Exact fulfillment! Now the prophecy in Daniel 9 goes on to tell us that “Messiah shall be cut off” at that time; – and He was. It tells us too of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. We saw that too.[iii]
Remember, in Matthew 24, Jesus told us that the people would “be led away captive into all nations.” In Deuteronomy 28:64-66, Moses wrote, “Then the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known—wood and stone. And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life.” And Hosea pronounces God’s judgment on Israel for unfaithfulness to God. “Do not rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples, for you have played the harlot against your God.” (Hosea 9:1) If you recall from above, Jesus had indicted them because they “did not know the time of your visitation.” Hosea had announced God’s judgment for the sin. “My God will cast them away, because they did not obey Him; And they shall be wanderers among the nations.” Deuteronomy 29:23 gave sentence upon the land. “The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur–nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in fierce anger.” And Ezekiel 33:28 concurred. “For I will make the land most desolate, her arrogant strength shall cease, and the mountains of Israel shall be so desolate that no one will pass through.”
History has shown, it all came to pass in the centuries that followed. The Jews scattered, establishing a presence on every continent. The land, formerly fertile and luxuriant, had become, in the words of Mark Twain, who visited during the late 19th century, “A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds… a silent mournful expanse.” But God’s judgment was not final. It came with a promise. “Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east, And gather you from the west; I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not keep them back!’ Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the ends of the earth— Everyone who is called by My name, Whom I have created for My glory.” (Isaiah 43:5-7)
[i] John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible, Thomas Neslon Bibles, 1997, – notes for Luke 19:43-44, pg 1,554-1,555
[ii] Paul L Maier, The Catastrophic Fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, Jesus Christology, July 13, 2008
[iii] The Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain, 1869 p. 361-362,
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