The City of Destiny

Written to Address the current situation in the Middle East and possible decision by the Israeli government to divide Jerusalem and hand portions of it to the Palestinians.

Jerusalem is a city of destiny that carries a warning to all those who would invade or divide her! Nations and empires have risen and fallen depending on how they have treated this unusual city and its inhabitants. It somehow either releases a blessing or exudes a curse, and we can choose between the two. Ultimately the day will come, the great and terrible day of the Lord, when ALL nations of the Earth will be caught in a divine vortex as they are gathered against Jerusalem. In the midst of this no one knows at this time that will stand with Israel at this fateful hour. Will the United States be there? The hearts of all true intercessors cry out “Israel, you are not alone.” Sadly, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that our nation does not share that same sentiment as we continue to press Israel on each side to give up Covenant Land AND DIVIDE Jerusalem in exchange for peace. It will not work! No matter if Israel gives the Arab world Jerusalem no peace will come; if that happens however, JUDGMENT will fall on America if we have forced her to do such. That neighbor is the destiny and power of this mighty and holy city we call Jerusalem. God has chosen Jerusalem to put HIS NAME there and because of such it is not the Israeli government's call to say they will just hand over this city to the Palestinians in exchange for peace.

 

By Chris McDonald
 

 

TEXT: 2 Chron. 6:6
But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel.

 

In the Scriptures, Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel, is named 881 times! The city is exalted that there are at least seventy names for it from cover to cover. God's love relationship with Jerusalem is seen in the tender words that He often addresses her with: "My Holy City," "My Highest Joy," "My Holy Mountain." Spiritual history has been catalogued here. This is where God met with humanity and one day will again. God is attached to the city forever. That's why it's called the Holy City. How does Yahweh feel about Jerusalem? Look at the Bible:

 

        Jerusalem was and still is the city of the prophets. This was the home of the priests. Kings ruled here. Men and women of God served here. Abraham came here to sacrifice Isaac. Jesus came here to die. Jesus continues to shock the world because He didn't stay dead here. And here again, one more time, He'll show the world He's not dead! When eternity begins, Jerusalem will come down from heaven adorned like a bride on her wedding day. God's beautiful eternal love for her cannot be quenched. For more than a thousand years God's home address was there at the original "clean room," called the Holy of Holies on the Temple Mount, the very heartbeat of Israel's existence.

 

        Jesus Himself wept over the beloved city. There is an anointing on it that words cannot express. I have never visited Jerusalem personally but we're praying that one day soon we will get to behold it's beauty. The 12 marveled at it. The prophets made it the focal point of their scathing messages to God's disobedient people. Jesus predicted in Matthew 24 that many would proclaim to be the Messiah in the day s to come. The passage points to the Tribulation period, which will be a time filled with messianic impostors. In verse 23-25 of the chapter, Jesus said this:

 

Matthew 24:23-25
Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. [24] For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. [25] Behold, I have told you before.
       

        As we draw closer to the rapture of the church this will get more and more pronounced. There are many antichrists already in the earth who are just pretenders for the REAL Antichrist.

 

The City Of Peace

 

        Jerusalem means, "city of peace," yet rarely has it experienced it. The theme of this study will look at some of the terrorism it has experienced even recently in its history along with the stories of blood and violence in the midst of her walls. Throughout its history Jerusalem has:

        A river of blood has flowed out of the city, and the riverbed has not stopped even up to the minute of this writing. Through the psalms of King David we would have to conclude that God is in wholehearted agreement with the fact that the Holy Spirit wants the church to "agonize" through intercession over the future of Jerusalem. In Psalm 122:6, David prayed for the security of those who in turn pray for his beloved city of Jerusalem. In this passionate crying out to God, David called down from heaven a "showering" of peace from God for those who love her too. The Hebrew word for peace is "SHALOM." Along with peace, the word also contains in it other blessings such as prosperity, welfare, and happiness. All of these words can be interpreted in the physical sense, but it goes deeper than that. There are eternal dynamics in place over her that causes God to bless those who utter a prayer for her. That's powerful!

 

 The Question Of Ownership

 

        The three great religions of the world all collide in Jerusalem. Judaism, Islam and Christianity are deeply entwined in the fabric of the Holy City. For Jews, the glory days of the nation were generated from Mount Zion in Jerusalem. Israel soared to world prominence under David and Solomon before its spiritual implosion and subsequent captivities in later years. One of the man roads in Jerusalem is called, "the street of the Prophets." Jewish influence has never been extracted from the city no matter how hard her enemies have fought against her. ALL of Israel's history is tethered to Jerusalem. The PEOPLE and the CITY cannot be separated. Even in their many centuries away from Jerusalem, the hope of a return to her filled their hearts regardless of where they lived. Jews worldwide continued to have an eye on Jerusalem throughout the years.

 

        For Christians, the church began here on Pentecost in AD 30. Although, the first-century believers and leaders were from the northern Galilee area, the dramatic events of Jesus death, burial and resurrection, and ascension all took place within the same general area. The famous southern steps between the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives are believed to be the very one on which Jesus often taught the multitudes. It's a powerful witness of the Risen Christ to walk through this beautiful place. It was here that most of the dramatic and significant events of Jesus' life unfolded.

 

        For Muslims, the historical attachment does not track as clearly as it does with the other two monotheistic faiths - Judaism and Christianity. Since Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Koran, the only Islamic link is the supposed tying of Muhammad's horse to the stone edifice that Jewish people affectionately call the Western Wall. This has become the Muslim world's ultimate battleground and in reality over where a majority of the bloodshed has been spilled. Prior to his death, the late Yasser Arafat issued a called for a million martyrs in Jerusalem. Unfortunately, in the volatile Middle East, many are more than willing to answer his call - even from the grave. Islamic claims to the city are fairly recent. After the Six-Day War in 1967, Arab Muslims launched a campaign that named Jerusalem as its third holiest site.

 

        Formerly, Damascus, Baghdad, Cairo, and a host of other cities were all called the third holiest sites by various Muslim groups, ranking just behind Mecca and medina. But now, the fervor for Jerusalem among Muslim extremists is seen all over the Middle East. Murals of the Temple Mount are painted all throughout the West Bank and in surrounding Islamic regimes with the Palestinian flag flying proudly over it. For Muslims, the one goal that will bring their solidarity worldwide is the fight for Jerusalem. This will be the battle that unites Arabs and Muslims. The Bible tells us that the coming battle for Jerusalem will be the bloodiest ever. It is called ARMAGEDDON.

 

It will involve many nations in an all-out fight, but as usual it will be a battle that is SPIRITUAL in nature rather than political. It is not about land, it's about GOD! Remember that as you continue in this study about Israel's land.

 

God's weapons will be the brightness of His Son's coming! With the SWORD OF HIS MOUTH He will destroy the Antichrist!

 

In the natural sadly, the battle rages between Jews and Muslims. After waiting 19 centuries to return to Jerusalem, many Jews would have no trouble giving their lives to defend their spiritual home. They have waited so long to dwell in the city again (more on this in a future lesson). Many lives have been lost and many people have suffered so much in their long history to get back inside the golden city's walls. This time the fight is for good, though the Jewish race is very small compared to the world's population. They are fierce in their desire to keep Jerusalem as their spiritual and political capital. This will be the plumb line of the end times scenario!

 

Muslims see taking of Jerusalem as validation of their Islamic beliefs. Some radical Muslims believe that becoming a suicide bomber and killing innocent Israelis in the process would only bring more "honor" to their families. Jerusalem is the ultimate conquest for Islam. Since it is home to the Jewish people now, Muslims covet it more than ever. In 2006, Jerusalem celebrated it's 58th birthday (May 14). Protesters in Cairo marched in defiance of the historical day. One Muslim woman held a sign that summarized the statement of the day with these words, "Go to hell! Enemies forever!" These feelings friend WILL never change!

 

There is a myth that has spread throughout the Muslim world that Jerusalem has always been an "Arab" city. That is false! Jews have been living in Jerusalem continuously for nearly two millennia. They have constituted the largest single group of inhabitants there since the 1840's (map of Jerusalem in 1912) .Jerusalem contains the Western Wall of the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism.

Jerusalem was never the capital of any Arab entity. In fact, it was a backwater for most of Arab history. Jerusalem never served as a provincial capital under Muslim rule nor was it ever a Muslim cultural center. For Jews, the entire city is sacred, but Muslims revere a site — the Dome of the Rock — not the city. "To a Muslim," observed British writer Christopher Sykes, "there is a profound difference between Jerusalem and Mecca or Medina. The latter are holy places containing holy sites." Besides the Dome of the Rock, he noted, Jerusalem has no major Islamic significance.


The Muslim Mindset: “Jerusalem need not be the capital of Israel.”

Ever since King David made Jerusalem the capital of Israel more than 3,000 years ago, the city has played a central role in Jewish existence. The Western Wall in the Old City — the last remaining wall of the ancient Jewish Temple, the holiest site in Judaism — is the object of Jewish veneration and the focus of Jewish prayer. Three times a day, for thousands of years, Jews have prayed "To Jerusalem, thy city, shall we return with joy," and have repeated the Psalmist's oath: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning."

Jerusalem "has known only two periods of true greatness, and these have been separated by 2,000 years. Greatness has only happened under Jewish rule," Leon and Jill Uris wrote in Jerusalem. "This is so because the Jews have loved her the most, and have remained constant in that love throughout the centuries of their dispersion....It is the longest, deepest love affair in history."


“For three thousand years, Jerusalem has been the center of Jewish hope and longing. No other city has played such a dominant role in the history, culture, religion and consciousness of a people as has Jerusalem in the life of Jewry and Judaism. Throughout centuries of exile, Jerusalem remained alive in the hearts of Jews everywhere as the focal point of Jewish history, the symbol of ancient glory, spiritual fulfillment and modern renewal. This heart and soul of the Jewish people engenders the thought that if you want one simple word to symbolize all of Jewish history, that word would be 'Jerusalem.'” — Teddy Kollek

 

Muslims do not have the same feeling about Jerusalem! To them it is a means to an end - the destruction of Israel! It is an object on conquest, not an object of love. And as we draw closer to the rapture, Jerusalem will continue to be middle of one of the world's greatest conflicts it has ever seen!

 

Matthew 23:37
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

Matthew 24:21
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Another false myth that circulates through the Muslim world and finds its way into the thinking of ungodly world leaders is: “East Jerusalem should be part of a Palestinian state because all its residents are Palestinian Arabs and no Jews have ever lived there.”

The fact is that before 1865, the entire population of Jerusalem lived behind the Old City walls (what today would be considered part of the eastern part of the city). Later, the city began to expand beyond the walls because of population growth, and both Jews and Arabs began to build in new areas of the city. By the time of partition, a thriving Jewish community was living in the eastern part of Jerusalem, an area that included the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. This area of the city also contains many sites of importance to the Jewish religion, including the City of David, the Temple Mount and the Western Wall. In addition, major institutions like Hebrew University and the original Hadassah Hospital are on Mount Scopus — in eastern Jerusalem.

The only time that the eastern part of Jerusalem was exclusively Arab was between 1949 and 1967, and that was because Jordan occupied the area and forcibly expelled all the Jews. In 1967 Israel reunited the city and made it her capital - in the throws of a battle started by Arab attackers where Israel basically defended herself from destruction and obtained the possession of the city of God. God was with Israel in this process, make no mistake! The reunification of Jerusalem is one of the greatest prophetic events of the 20th Century.

 

The United States Policy On Jerusalem

Yet another myth that is widely believed by many in the Muslim world is, “The United States does not believe Jerusalem should be the united capital of Israel.”

The facts are that only two countries have embassies in Jerusalem — Costa Rica and El Salvador. Of the 180 nations with which America has diplomatic relations, Israel is the only one whose capital is not recognized by the U.S. government. The U.S. embassy, like most others, is in Tel Aviv, 40 miles from Jerusalem. The United States does maintain a consulate in East Jerusalem, however, that deals with Palestinians in the territories and works independently of the embassy, reporting directly to Washington. Today, then, we have the anomaly that American diplomats refuse to meet with Israelis in their capital because Jerusalem’s status is negotiable, but make their contacts with Palestinians in the city.

In 1990, Congress passed a resolution declaring that "Jerusalem is and should remain the capital of the State of Israel" and "must remain an undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected." During the 1992 Presidential campaign, Bill Clinton said: "I recognize Jerusalem as an undivided city, the eternal capital of Israel, and I believe in the principle of moving our embassy to Jerusalem." He never reiterated this view as President; consequently, official U.S. policy remained that the status of Jerusalem is a matter for negotiations.

In an effort to change this policy, Congress overwhelmingly passed The Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995. This landmark bill declared that, as a statement of official U.S. policy, Jerusalem should be recognized as the undivided, eternal capital of Israel and required that the U.S. embassy in Israel be established in Jerusalem no later than May 1999. The law also included a waiver that allowed the President to essentially ignore the legislation if he deemed doing so to be in the best interest of the United States. President Clinton exercised that option.

During the 2000 presidential campaign George W. Bush promised that as President he would immediately "begin the process of moving the United States ambassador to the city Israel has chosen as its capital."25 In June 2001, however, Bush followed Clinton's precedent and used the presidential waiver to prevent the embassy from being moved.

While critics of Congressional efforts to force the administration to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital insist that such a move would harm the peace process, supporters of the legislation argue the opposite is true. By making clear the United States position that Jerusalem should remain unified under Israeli sovereignty, they say, unrealistic Palestinian expectations regarding the city can be moderated and thereby enhance the prospects for a final agreement. We discussed this in part one of this message but want to reiterate a strong point - AMERICA NEEDS TO RECOGNIZE JERUSALEM AS THE CAPITAL OF ISRAEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


MYTH: “The Temple Mount has always been a Muslim holy place and Judaism has no connection to the site.”

During the 2000 Camp David Summit, the late Yasser Arafat said that no Jewish Temple ever existed on the Temple Mount. A year later, the Palestinian Authority-appointed Mufti of Jerusalem, Ikrima Sabri, told the German publication Die Welt, "There is not [even] the smallest indication of the existence of a Jewish temple on this place in the past. In the whole city, there is not even a single stone indicating Jewish history."

These views are contradicted by a book entitled A Brief Guide to al-Haram al-Sharif, published by the Supreme Moslem Council in 1930. The Council, the supreme Moslem body in Jerusalem during the British Mandate, said in the guide that the Temple Mount site "is one of the oldest in the world. Its sanctity dates from the earliest times. Its identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to universal belief, on which David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings."

In a description of the area of Solomon's Stables, which Islamic Waqf officials converted into a new mosque in 1996, the guide states: "...little is known for certain about the early history of the chamber itself. It dates probably as far back as the construction of Solomon's Temple... According to Josephus, it was in existence and was used as a place of refuge by the Jews at the time of the conquest of Jerusalem by Titus in the year 70 A.D."26

Even the "holy" book of the Arab world - the Koran – describes Solomon’s construction of the First Temple (34:13) and recounts the destruction of the First and Second Temples (17:7).

The Jewish connection to the Temple Mount dates back more than 3,000 years and is rooted in tradition and history. When Abraham bound his son Isaac upon an altar as a sacrifice to God, he is believed to have done so atop Mount Moriah, today’s Temple Mount. The First Temple’s Holy of Holies contained the original Ark of the Covenant, and both the First and Second Temples were the centers of Jewish religious and social life until the Second Temple’s destruction by the Romans. After the destruction of the Second Temple, control of the Temple Mount passed through several conquering powers. It was during the early period of Muslim control that the Dome of the Rock was built on the site of the ancient temples.

The Ultimate Question: Whose Land?

 

The stakes over whose land it is have become increasingly higher since World War I. Before that time the Middle East was only a chunk of land in the middle of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. Because the Turks ultimately owned it all, the fights over the land were minimal. With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire the landscape began to go through radical surgery! Nations like Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia were carved existence, and land ownership became the name of the game. For centuries the same land had been populated by local tribes. These people groups were a throwback to biblical days not only  in their dress but also in their nomad lifestyle. All of a sudden, countries began springing to life in the 1930s and 1940s, and national identities emerged as the area was recreated.

 

The Jewish desire to return to their homeland was not a recent one. For centuries, Jewish families dreamed of a return to their home that the prophet Ezekiel described and detailed in his famous "dry bones," prophecy of Chapter 37. God had promised he would gather the Jews back from ALL the countries where they had been scattered and bring them back to their land for good. Despite the Jewish turning away from God and being displaced in the first place, these spiritual refugees would return in order that God's holy name would be exalted.

 

The process would be a two-step one. Old Testament Ezekiel told us in 36:24-25:

 

Ezekiel 36:24-25
For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
[25] Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

 First, Jewish immigrants would return to Israel from the four corners of the earth. Through this seemed improbably even 60 years ago, how quickly God moves when he seeks to fulfill His ancient promises. Before the Jewish people inhabited Palestine it was a barren strip of land that nobody wanted. But Israel DID return to the land and results of this miracle are seen every day. The first step is completed - Israel is Israel again with a strong Jewish population right in the midst of a strong regional hostility. The country's very existence forces the rest of the world to watch it's every move and watch it's move it does. The first step in the miracle is the RETURN.

 

The second step of God's returning His covenant people to the land they love is "the cleansing." Israel is fragmented in its religious pursuits and for the most part quite secular Orthodox Jews wearing side curls and Eastern European garb are what most people picture when they think of  a Jewish man. But Orthodox Jews are only 18-20 percent of the population. The rest are fairly modern and not much different than a typical American. In short, Israel does not see a whole lot more spiritual than other nations. The Word of God tells us that a future time of cleansing time of repentance is still in store for Israel. This will be a time that will restore the people to God and reveal their Messiah. Like returning to the land, this cleansing seems unlikely but again when God decrees something - it doesn't matter how unlikely it seems on the outside - it becomes reality!

 

The birthplace of this return appeared unlikely too. As the smoke cleared from the Nazi death camps, Jewish people began immigrating both legally and illegally back to what was then called Palestine. The British blocked much of it, and as a result, Jewish organizations sprung up everywhere helping the Jewish people make a supreme effort to return to the land God gave them on May 14, 1948. We will look at the details of this historic day in a latter lesson. In summary, the United States became a major player in the effort to give the Jewish people a home after the way. President Harry Truman originally had wanted to stay out of all the madness in the explosive Middle East. Great Britain had already tried to stabilize the region for 30 years without success. Despite all its efforts, the British mandate period from 1917-1948 was in the end a no-win situation for England.

 

On the surface it appeared to be political suicide for Truman, and initially he was lukewarm at best concerning the plight of the Jews. But in only a way that can be best described as "God," Truman's heart was changed. Through a relationship with a former business partner, his viewpoint changed in an instant about a homeland for Jews.

 

A man by the name of Chaim Weizman welded tremendous influence in his talks with Truman. Realizing that the votes were going to come up short for Israel, President Truman strong-armed four nations to help swing the vote in favor of the Jews. Greece, Haiti, Liberia and the Philippines all reversed their former position after Truman, several U.S. Senators and American businessmen applied economic and political pressure. In one instance, Harvey Firestone of Firestone Tires told the president of Liberia that if it voted against partition for the Jews, he would have to consider moving his rubber plant to another country, costing thousands of jobs and revenue to the country. Instantly, Liberia changed its vote in favor of the Jews!

 

To say the least, Israel has truly experienced a miraculous rebirth. Not one nation's history has ever come close to returning to their former homeland after a 1900 year absence!. The Jews have never fully assimilated into the more than one hundred nations where they were scattered. Their return to the land was always in some sense the fuel that kept the flame of their existence flickering. Now they were home.

 

The Language Of Jerusalem

 

Shortly after Israel reunited Jerusalem in 1967, the Hebrew language was also revived. The language had not been spoken for about 2,500 years. Ever since Israel's Babylonian captivity, the language of the people had ceased being Hebrew. Rabbis and scholars knew the ancient tongue, but the common folk soon adopted Aramaic and Greek, and soon the Hebrew language became a dead one. Even in Jesus' day the people spoke Greek, and as a result it became the language of the New Covenant. Again, the God of the Hebrews, made good on an ancient promise.

 

        The Holy Spirit through Zephaniah in 640 B.C., said this:

 

Zeph. 3:9
For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.

What would this "pure" language be? Hebrew of course! A man by the name of Ben-Yehuda had to invent Hebrew words to match ordinary words that had come into being over the 25 centuries of Hebrew disuse. It didn't happen overnight but in one sense it seemed that way. The turnaround in the language was almost like a modern-day exodus from Egypt.

 

 

The Ultimate Fight For The Spiritual Capital Of Christianity

 

        David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, announced on May 14, 1948, that Israel was officially a nation again. On May 15, five Arab nations attacked the one-day-old country. The Jews' zeal to return to their ancient land was greeted with outright rejection by their neighbors. Even today, many Arabs call the birth of Israel the NACKBA - the tragedy. Since the nation's inception it has experienced a major war every decade, and it looks as if another one may start soon. Yet Israel still perseveres through adversity. To emigrate from the United States or any other part of the world to Israel is not only admirable but certainly high risk. But Jews keep coming because no war, no strife, no threats can extinguish the flame in the heart of every Jew for their beloved Israel.

 

       The reason for all this fighting is the source of this lesson - JERUSALEM! In short the spiritual epicenter of the earth and world will always be right in the middle of a major fault line. Earthquakes will continue to reverberate the Holy City of God until Jesus returns and creates one of His own. As Christians we have a permanent connection to Jerusalem. Our spiritual roots are buried DEEP within the Holy Land soil. We are grafted into Israel as Romans 11 tells us. Roughly 85 percent of scripture is about Israel!! Our Messiah was Jewish, so were the apostles and first church leaders. The prophets were Jewish. In addition, sixty-four of the sixty-six books of the Bible were Jewish authored. Luke was the only Gentile author of Scripture, penning under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles.

 

        The kingdom of the future millennium will be established of course, in Jerusalem, Israel! She is our spiritual capital city! No way around that. The fate of the Holy City is in our Savior's powerful, loving hands, yet we can still be involved. What role will our nation play? What role will the church play? Can our prayers and intercession make a difference? You bet! The following lessons will unveil more details of how the land issues have become so vitally important through the years and how future end time events will center around one central theme - THE LAND OF ISRAEL!
 

 

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Related: A Covenant God and A Covenant Land (Covenant Land 1)

The Two Covenants (Covenant Land 2)

Israel: God's Prophetic Anvil (Covenant Land 3)

A Covenant With Death and With Hell We've Made Agreement (Covenant Land 4)

The Mountains of Israel Part One (Covenant Land 5)

Israel's Return To The Land (Covenant Land 6)

The Prophetic Promise of Return (Covenant Land 7)

The Palestinian Cause And Israel's Land (Covenant Land 8)

The Times of the Gentiles (Covenant Land Series)

 

For a complete Bibliography of this message series click here