Daily Manna from Heaven

I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling…. Zechariah 12:2

In his bid for the American presidency Senator John McCain earned himself headlines in Israel when he said, “I support Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.”

As one newspaper reported: “Professing support for Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, though it is not internationally recognized as such, has become a time-honored political tradition for U.S. presidents and would-be presidents. Since the Jerusalem Embassy Act passed Congress in 1995, moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem has been the official policy of the United States. And yet, every six months, the president signs a waiver that says, “[My] Administration remains committed to beginning the process of moving our embassy to Jerusalem.” It never happens, for the obvious reason that the move would cause an unprececdented uproar in the Arab world.

As the Christian Science Monitor put it, “Israeli government officials are also quick to point out that East Jerusalem, formally annexed by Israel in 1980, is by Israeli law part of the nation’s capital. But that annexation was not recognized by most of the international community, the U.S. included. ”You would think, “Who cares?” I’ll tell you who cares–about 5 million Jews and more than 100 million Arabs, both of whom have a definite opinion about the matter.

It’s part of an old feud that goes back for hundreds of years. Both feel that they are the rightful heirs of the city of Jerusalem, and neither is willing to give on the issue. If occupying the territory has anything to do with who controls it, then Israel has an advantage.

Their claim to the city goes back to King David, who took it from the Jebusites and made it his capital. Until the Romans took the city in 70 A.D., it essentially belonged to the Israelis. In recognition of the fact it was the historic capital of Israel, the American Congress wants to move their embassy there.

But–and here’s where the issue gets sticky–in the year 637 A.D. Jerusalem was overthrown by Muslims who began building the Mosque of Omar on the Dome of the Rock–the very site of the Jewish temple, the same place where Abraham had offered his son Isaac long before.

Jews were forbidden to sep foot on the site, and began to pray for the Holy City. The Jewish Passover worship would include the refrain, “Next year in Jerusalem… next year in Jerusalem!”

In 1917, the British General Allenby wrestled the city from the Turks, with the flourish of a Prince of God who was doing what the Crusaders never fully did. Zechariah, a fifth century B.C. prophet, spoke of Jerusalem as “an immovable rock for all the nations” and said, “All who try to move it will injure themselves” (Zechariah 12:3). He prophesied, “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that send all the surrounding peoples reeling” (12:2).

I don’t know whether the folks intent on moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem know what Zechariah predicted, which probably is yet in the future, but this I do know. What God has said in His Word will take place with unerring and painful accuracy, and it says clearly that in the end times, Jerusalem will figure large in the geographic and political scenario.

This is not to suggest that moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem is part of the fulfillment of prophecy, but it is to say that the events of the past, beginning with the establishment of the modern state of Israel on May 14, 1948, have taken place with a rapidity and certainty never before seen in history. Think about.

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“The preceding material was written by Dr. Harold J. Sala, and is copyrighted. Reproduction for sale or financial profit is prohibited. Permission to reproduce this article was granted by Guidelines, Inc.”
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