(Luke 21:23-24) “For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”
According to the Jerusalem Post Online Edition earlier this week it was reported that 154 U.N. nations have called the Temple Mount solely by the Muslim name Haram al-Sharif in a document submitted to the U.N. Council. The EU has also approved the text of this but did warn that it may not do so in future but of course time will tell with that lot. According to the report in the Jerusalem Post it stated; “The UN gave its preliminary approval to a resolution that referred to the Temple Mount solely by its Muslim name of Haram al-Sharif. The resolution passed at the UN’s Fourth Committee in New York 154-8, with 14 abstentions and 17 absences. It was one of eight pro-Palestinian resolutions approved on Friday, out of a slate of more than 15 such texts the committee is expected to approve.
The UN General Assembly will take a final vote on the texts in December. According to the article in the Jerusalem post it further stated that “the UN is gravely concerned by the tensions and violence in the recent period throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including east Jerusalem and including with regard to the holy places of Jerusalem, including the Haram al-Sharif. The resolution makes no mention of the Jewish name for the area, the Temple Mount, which is Judaism’s holiest site, and Islam’s third holiest site.
The US and Israel voted against the resolution and the other seven, the only two countries to vote against all eight texts. They were joined in their opposition to the Jerusalem text by Australia, Canada, Guatemala, Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Nauru. All 28 European Union member states supported this resolution, along with six others but a Finnish representative, who spoke to the Fourth Committee on behalf of the EU, said it disagreed with attempts by Arab states to solely reference the Temple Mount by its Muslim name of Haram al-Sharif.”
Since 70AD the City of Jerusalem has been trodden under the foot of the Gentiles. The final ‘blood bath’ came to the Jewish nation when the Romans ruthlessly put down the last Jewish rebellion fermented by Simon Bar Kokhba in 135AD. For almost 2,000 years Jerusalem was under the heel of the Gentile nations. Then in 1948 the prophecy of Isaiah came to pass. “Who has heard of such as this? Who has seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be delivered in an instant? Yet as soon as Zion was in labour, she gave birth to her children. Shall I bring a baby to the point of birth and not deliver it?” says the LORD.” (Isaiah 66:8-9)
Since its establishment in 1948, the State of Israel has fought eight recognized wars, two Palestinian intifadas, and a series of armed conflicts in the broader Arab–Israeli conflict. The wars continue today with rockets coming in from Gaza at the behest of Hamas and rockets coming in from Syria at the behest of Iran and then you have Hezbollah in Lebanon with a huge stockpile of rockets ready to launch at Israel. Not only do we see Israel’s implacable enemies surrounding them on all sides but we have the UN and the EU by and large approving one sanction after another against the Jewish state.
Added to this there seems to be an impasse between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Benny Gantz that may well lead to yet another election in Israel. Indeed the Lord Jesus was spot on when he said that “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” It is not a good time to have political dissunity would seem that the Gentile Nations by and large are still seeking to trample down Jerusalem if they can. According to the prophet Zechariah another exile is coming for the people in Jerusalem. (Zechariah 14:1-2) However, in this final ‘exile’ only half of the people from the city will be taken into the Muslim nations surrounding Israel but Jerusalem will remain in its place. God is going to make Jerusalem “a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling” when Jerusalem is besieged once again. In that day when all of the armies of the nations are laying siege to the city God will make Jerusalem “an immovable rock for the nations. Those nations that seek to remove it will be ripped apart!” (Zechariah 12:1-3).
Israel has a very rocky path ahead and God is going to have to take drastic measures and apply pressure to bring His people back to Himself and to their Messiah. Zechariah also prophecies this process when he writes concerning Israel; “In the whole land,” declares the Lord, “two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’” (Zechariah 13:8-9)
In 70AD according to the Jewish historian Josephus 1.1 million people were killed during the siege of Jerusalem, of which a majority were Jewish. During the bar Kokhba revolt a total of around 580,000 Jews were killed, 50 fortified towns and 985 villages razed and many more Jews dead as a result of famine and disease. Then during the Second World War we saw the tragic holocaust where 6 million Jewish people perished at the hands of the Nazis, something that was prophesied centuries before by the prophet Jeremiah when God spoke through him saying; “For I will return them to their land that I gave to their forefathers. But for now I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill, even from the clefts of the rocks.” (Jeremiah 16:15b-16)
In its context God had sent many prophets to the people in Judah and especially to the leaders and people of Jerusalem warning them time and time again to return from their spiritually backslidden state to the God of their forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God said through Jeremiah; “Were they (the people of Judah and Jerusalem) ashamed of the abomination they committed? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they will collapse,” says the LORD. This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths: Where is the good way? Then walk in it and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it!’ I appointed watchmen over you and said, ‘Listen for the sound of the ram’s horn.’ But they answered, ‘We will not listen!’” (Jeremiah 6:15-17)
Jeremiah and the other prophets were the fishermen God had sent to warn the people of God and the Babylonians were the hunters. However, we see the same scenario 40 years before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD. God once again spoke to spiritually backslidden Israel through the Lord Jesus Himself and then after His ascension God continued to speak through His apostles and followers for another 40 years before the Romans conquored the city of Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. The Lord Jesus and the apostles and the faithful assembly of believers were the fisherman and the Romans were the hunters.
Then in the early 1930’s the Zionists went throughout Europe warning the Jewish people to flee to Israel because they saw the rise of the Nazis and what was to come at their hands. These Zionists were the fishermen and the Nazis were the hunters. Tragically by and large the Jews stayed in Europe and multitudes were living secular and materialistic lifestyles and well entrenched in the nations where they were living. Today Israel is a nation once again and God is saying through His faithful witnesses to His people to ask for the ancient path of obedience to Torah and to their Messiah our Lord Jesus but are they listening? Those witnessing for Yeshua to His brethren in Israel are the fishers but the Muslims are the hunters.
Tragically the prophecy of Zechariah Chapter 13: 8-9 not only applied to 70AD and to the Holocaust in Europe but specifically applies to these last days. These past tragic events are a pattern and harbinger of the final tragic event to occur in Israel. Two thirds in Israel will once again be struck down in the land but a third God will put into the fire and will refine them like silver and test them like gold. After this time, lasting for a time, times and half a time (3.5 years) when the power of the Holy people has been broken, they will call on God’s name and He will answer them speedily. (Daniel 12:7) (Luke 18:7-8) God will send their Messiah to them once again to rescue them from all of their their enemies and from the hands of all who hate them. (Luke 1:71) In that day God will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God!’”
The Times of Gentile domination over Jerusalem has not yet completely run its course and there is very troubling times ahead for Israel, for the Church and for the world at large, but for the sake of the elect people of God, being Israel and by extension and inclusion the faithful Church, and for the sake of the world’s survival, God will cut those days of tribulation (thlipsis not thumos) short and send the Messiah back. In that day everything that has been turned upside down will be turned right-side up! Once our Lord and Messiah has returned to earth the City of Jerusalem will no longer be trampled under the feet of the Gentiles.
In that day the prophet Isaiah tells us “In the last days the mountain (kingdom) of the house of the LORD will be established (an immovable rock) as the chief of the mountains (kingdoms); it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the Torah will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 2:2-3)
https://blowthetrumpet.com.au/israel-in-the-last-days-part-1/
