COMMENTS ON THE FATE
OF JERUSALEM
By Dr. Stephen Jones - Dec 08, 2017
Trump’s recent
decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem fulfills the will of
Congress, which passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act on November 8, 1995.
Presidents Clinton,
Bush, and Obama all signed waivers to postpone it. Even Trump signed a waver
six months ago. But now it is being implemented.
I see it as the
start of a final countdown toward the destruction of Jerusalem, as per Jeremiah
19:10, 11, a prophecy which was partially fulfilled in past destructive wars,
but which has yet to be fulfilled in its entirety.
Although Trump’s
policy is based on a misunderstanding of Bible prophecy, fed to him by his
evangelical spiritual advisors, I see also the inevitability that this prophecy
must be fulfilled at some point in history.
It is the only way
(in my opinion) that the dispute between Hagar and Sarah will be resolved,
since both of them firmly believe that they are called to give birth to the
promised seed. The dispute has been ongoing since the book of Genesis. In
Genesis 21:10 we see that it was Sarah’s request to cast out the bondwoman and
her son. But Paul affirms that decision as valid in Galatians 4:30.
In our time, I
believe, we will see this prophetic verdict actually carried out. Hagar-Jerusalem
must be cast out, along with her spiritual children of the flesh, in order for
the world to recognize and establish Sarah, the heavenly Jerusalem, as the true
mother of the Kingdom.
Recall that the
Hebrew word for Jerusalem is Ierushalayim. It literally means “two
Jerusalems.” The -ayim ending does not simply make the word plural; it
means “two.” So every time Jerusalem was named by the prophets, they were
prophesying about two cities, perhaps without realizing it.
This revelation was
given to the New Testament writers, Paul and John in particular, for they make
a clear distinction between the two cities. Paul says in Galatians 4:25, 26
that the earthly Jerusalem is Hagar, and the heavenly Jerusalem is Sarah. In
Revelation 11:8 John says that the earthly Jerusalem is the equivalent of Sodom
and Egypt, while the heavenly Jerusalem is the bride in Revelation 21:2, 9, 10.
By inference, that also makes the earthly Jerusalem the false bride, i.e., the
great whore, the one pretending to be the bride, the one also persecuting the
true bride.
This issue has
remained unresolved for thousands of years, and much conflict has occurred as a
result. But we are now on a countdown toward the resolution of this dispute,
and the result will not be pretty. Full background on this dispute is in my
book, The Struggle for the Birthright.
The Revelation of
June 24, 2017
Last June a local
friend came to my office to tell me that he was given revelation on June 24,
2017 about Daniel’s 70 weeks. His understanding was that June 24, 2017 was the
start of a 70-week cycle, ending October 27, 2018. He was seeking more
understanding about this.
I told him that the
original pattern was when Daniel prophesied about 70 weeks of years, or 70
sabbath years, beginning with the decree of Artaxerxes in 458 B.C. and ending
with the crucifixion of Jesus in 33 A.D. This is a cycle of Blessed Time (490).
In Matthew 18:22 it is a forgiveness cycle.
Applied to Judah’s
history, it speaks into the fact that every year on the Day of Atonement, the
blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat. All of the sins that had been deposited
daily under the altar by the blood of sacrifice was brought to the mercy seat
once a year, and God forgave the nation.
After 490 years,
however, a great reckoning had to be made. This is the point of Jesus’ parable
in Matthew 18:23-35. After forgiving 70 x 7 times, the “certain king”
began “to settle accounts.” The debtor asked for more time, and the king
went beyond that, cancelling the entire debt. In other words, he received a
Jubilee, the cancellation of all debt. But when the debtor could not forgive
the small debt that his neighbor owed him, he lost his Jubilee. The moral of
the story is found in Matthew 18:35,
35 So shall My
heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother
from your heart.
Sin is reckoned as
a debt in Scripture. So the parable was not just about forgiving monetary
debts, but forgiving offences that make us legally indebted to those we offend.
That is what
happened to Judah after 490 years. They sinned throughout the year, but their
sins were covered by the blood of sacrifice twice a day. Each year on the Day
of Atonement, God forgave the nation for 490 years. God then settled the
account with Judah, but Jesus paid the price on the cross to give everyone a
Jubilee.
Yet those who do
not live by the principle of the Jubilee will be disqualified and will then be
sentenced to pay off their own debt, if that were possible. That is why only a
few will inherit life in the first resurrection (Revelation 20:4, 5, 6). Most
of humanity will yet have to learn righteousness and forgiveness after the
general resurrection, so that they qualify for the Creation Jubilee at the end
of time. Then God will be “all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:28).
It appears that we
are presently in a short-term 70-week cycle from June 24, 2017 to October 27,
2018. How do we apply this? It appears that God is about to reckon the accounts
next year. It is somewhat unclear as to who this applies to. But now that Trump
is moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, there may well be a connection to this
70-week cycle.
The Rise of
Violence
The Muslim world is
not known for its ability to forgive. They always demand justice, because they
see justice as a duty, rather than as a right. Such is the nature of Old
Covenant thinking, which characterizes all who consider the earthly Jerusalem
to be their mother. Trump’s decision is already causing widespread reaction in
the Mideast. It has started with the call for “three days of rage” as the
people vent their anger.
It is probable that
Trump’s decision will spark a new Intifada, and the Israelis will use it as an
excuse to blow up the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and replace it with their own
temple. Since all of the materials have already been gathered, they could do
this rather quickly. This would spark a wider war, of course.
It is quite
possible that the temple controversy itself will prove to be the cause of
Isaiah’s prophecy to be fulfilled, regarding the manner of Jerusalem’s
destruction. Whereas Jeremiah 19:10, 11 gives us the fact that Jerusalem will
be destroyed so completely that it will never again be repaired (rebuilt),
Isaiah 29:1-8 gives us a description of a nuclear disaster.
Most people totally
misunderstand this prophecy, because of their assumptions. It is a prophecy of
“woe” upon Ariel, a poetic name for Jerusalem. Isaiah 29:1 says, “Woe, O
Ariel, the city where David once camped!” Ariel has a double meaning. It
means “the lion of God,” and it also means “the hearth of God.” It was supposed
to be the lion of God, but because of its wickedness, God was to turn into His
“hearth,” that is, a fireplace, a place of burning.
In Isaiah 29:2 God
says, “And I will bring distress to Ariel.” In other words, God speaks
directly to Jerusalem, telling her that He Himself will do this.
In Isaiah 29:3 God
says, “And I will camp against you encircling you, and I will set siegeworks
against you…” Here God lets Jerusalem know that God is the King who is
laying siege to the city. As we see later in verse 7, God uses other nations as
His army to lay siege to Jerusalem.
In Isaiah 29:4 God
prophesies that His war campaign against Jerusalem will succeed, and the city “shall
be brought low.” The city will then speak “from the earth” and “from
the dust.”
Isaiah 29:5 then
says in a very misunderstood passage, “But the multitude of your enemies
shall become like fine dust…” Most assume that this is a reference to the
nations who are part of God’s army in this siege against Jerusalem. But we
already know that God’s army will succeed in bringing Jerusalem to the ground
and to the dust. Will God destroy His own army and save the city, as so many
Christians believe?
The answer is found
in Isaiah 63:10, where God says about Israel in the days of Moses,
10 But they rebelled
and grieved His Holy Spirit; therefore, He turned Himself to become their
enemy, He fought against them.
In the law of
tribulation, we read in Leviticus 26:40-42,
40 If they confess
their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness
which they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility
against Me— 41 I also was acting with hostility against them,
to bring them into the land of their enemies—or if their uncircumcised heart
becomes humbled so that they then make amends for their iniquity, 42
then I will remember My covenant with Jacob…
This law shows that
when nations or people act with hostility against Yahweh-Yeshua, they become
God’s enemies. That is why Isaiah says “He turned Himself to become their
enemy.” God enemies are not defined in terms of race or genealogy, but in
terms of their unfaithfulness toward God Himself. Further, when Israel was
unfaithful, God said He would become their enemy and “bring them into the
land of their enemies.”
This clearly shows
that God would raise up an army of foreigners to lay siege to Israel and Judah,
and that God essentially leads those armies against His “enemies.”
Therefore, when God
tells Ariel in Isaiah 29:5 that “the multitude of your enemies shall become
like fine dust,” he is referring to internal enemies, not to the armies
laying siege to the city. The context shows that he is describing the manner in
which Jerusalem is brought to the dust.
5 The multitude of
your enemies shall become like fine dust, and the multitude of the ruthless
ones like the chaff which blows away; and it shall happen instantly, suddenly. 6
From the Lord of hosts you [Jerusalem] will be punished with thunder and
earthquake and loud noise, with whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a
consuming fire.
Verse 6 clearly
shows that God was continuing to speak to Jerusalem and that it is Jerusalem
that will be “punished” in this siege. The description of that punishment
appears to be a nuclear explosion, which causes “a loud noise” (or
“thunder”). The ground shakes (“earthquake”). A “tempest” blows with a
great wind. A “flame of a consuming fire” is unleashed.
Here is video of an
actual nuclear blast filmed by the US government in Nevada. Go to the 9:30 mark
to watch its effects and see if Isaiah describes it quite well in his prophecy.
Once Isaiah
establishes the fact that God will lay siege to Jerusalem and that Jerusalem “will
be punished,” then God turns His attention to the armies that He is using
to accomplish His purpose. Isaiah 29:7, 8 makes the analogy of a dream or vision.
It is like having a dream where you are thirsty and are drinking, but when you
wake up, you are still thirsty. In a dream you are hungry and are eating, but
when you wake up, you are still hungry.
What does this
mean? The Arab nations are “hungry” for Jerusalem. They desire that city and
the land of Palestine itself. That is probably their motive for laying siege to
Jerusalem. But when it is all over, they will find themselves still hungry and
thirsty. Why? Because NO ONE will get to inhabit the city. There will be too
much nuclear fallout. Hence, it will be like a dream, where they will wake up
still thirsty and hungry.
Finally, Isaiah
29:9 tells Jerusalem, “Blind yourselves and be blind.” In other words, the
people will not understand what is going on. Isaiah 29:10, 11 says,
10 For the Lord has
poured over you a spirit of deep sleep, He has shut your eyes, the prophets;
and He has covered your heads, the seers. 11 And the entire
vision [of Jerusalem’s
destruction] shall be to you like the words of a sealed book, which when
they give it to the one who is literate, saying, “Please read this,” he will
say, “I cannot, for it is sealed.”
So we see that
Isaiah’s vision in the 29th chapter of his book is “sealed.” People
cannot read it, that is, they cannot understand it, because their eyes are
blind. That is why hardly anyone understands this prophecy. That is why most
Christians misapply it, thinking that God will save Jerusalem at the last
minute. Few even understand Jeremiah 19:10, 11, although it is plain as day
once your eyes are opened to see it.
Yet once we
understand the prophecies, we will not be taken by surprise, nor will we lose
faith in God when Jerusalem is destroyed. Many Christians, who consider the
earthly Jerusalem to be their mother, will be astonished and will even lose
their faith, because they have been told that this city is an “eternal city”
and will be the capital of the Kingdom. They think Jesus will rule from a
temple at that location, rather than from the temple that Paul described in Ephesians
2:19-22, which is made of living stones (1 Peter 2:5).
But you are not
deceived, for you know the difference between the two Jerusalems, and you know
that you are temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16).
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