Jerusalem is a Desolate House

JERUSALEM IS A DESOLATE HOUSE

                                                                                                            

The King, the Wedding Feast and the Citizens

Matthew 22:1-14 records a Kingdom of Heaven (God) parable told by Jesus.  A king (God the Father) was giving a wedding feast for His Son (Jesus).  Those initially invited to attend (the Judeans) refused.  In addition they mistreated and killed the messengers (prophets).  The reaction of the King as found in Matthew 22:7 is one of fury and destruction.

Matthew 22:7 NET  The king was furious! He sent his soldiers, and they put those murderers to death and set their city on fire.

The King sent His soldiers (Roman Military) and they set the city on fire (Jerusalem) and killed many of the murderers (Pharisees, Sadducees, experts of the law, and others).

Other messengers were sent into the streets (the nations) to invite others to the wedding feast.  Some attending were not properly dressed in garments of salvation and they were cast out.  The moral of the story can be found in Matthew 22:14:  “For many are called but few are chosen.”  This involves the first resurrection and the harpazo (catching away / rapture).  They will be the judges ruling with Christ during the Millennium. The remainder will await the 2^nd resurrection called the great White Throne Judgment.

Matthew 23 contains a series of “woes” given by Jesus to the Pharisees and the experts in the law residing in Jerusalem.  Jesus indicates, due to their knowledge concerning the death of prophets, they have the distinction of being the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.  Knowing He would soon be crucified by this group of legal experts and Pharisees, Jesus states, “Fill up then the measure of your ancestors”. 

All of Jerusalem at that time and today's current generation would be held liable for “all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah – Matthew 23:35”.  Jesus ends his discourse against the Pharisees and legal experts with the words recorded in verses 39 and 39, “Behold, your house is being left to you desolate”

Matthew 23:38-39 NET  Look, your house is left to you desolate!  (39)  For I tell you, you will not see me from now until you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!' "

Verse 39, “For I tell you, you will not see me from now until you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!' " may be saying they will not be included in the first resurrection but will have to wait for the second resurrection at the White Throne judgment occurring at the end of the Millennium.

Jeremiah’s Prophecy of the Destruction of Jerusalem

The desolation of Jerusalem first occurred when the city was destroyed by Babylon in 586 B.C.  It was again desolated in 70 AD by the Roman military. The third major desolation has yet to take place but it may be occurring soon.  This third desolation has been made known by Jeremiah who prophesied that the city would be destroyed so completely that it would not be repaired or rebuilt again.

The 18^th and 19^th chapters of Jeremiah contain a prophecy concerning the nation of Israel which was conquered and the inhabitants dispersed by Assyria around 640 BC.  The next section of the prophecy concerns the nation of Judah and the city of Jerusalem. 

For the nation of Israel, in chapter 18, Jeremiah is told to go to the potter’s house and watch the potter shape wet clay into any form he desired.  Because Israel is still malleable as wet clay (and open to the Gospel) God would shape Israel in their dispersion among the nations as a potter shapes wet clay.

Jeremiah 18:6 NET  "I, the LORD, say: 'O nation of Israel, can I not deal with you as this potter deals with the clay? In my hands, you, O nation of Israel, are just like the clay in this potter's hand.'

However, for the nation of Judah, Jeremiah was told to buy a previously made clay jar from the potter.  With several of the leaders of Jerusalem present to watch, Jeremiah was to take the jar and smash it to pieces in the valley of Ben-hinnom (Gehenna).  This clay jar would represent the nation of Judah and Jerusalem.  The pieces would not be put back together.

Jeremiah 19:11 NET  Tell them the LORD who rules over all says, 'I will do just as Jeremiah has done. I will smash this nation and this city as though it were a potter's vessel which is broken beyond repair. The dead will be buried here in Topheth until there is no more room to bury them.'

Hagar and Sarai

The current city of Jerusalem will not be spared at the last minute, as so many exegetes and Bible teachers have claimed.  Its destruction has been prophesied and proclaimed by God, even prior to the rebuilt city and temple by the Babylonian returnees.  Paul states in Galatians chapter 4 that Jerusalem is the slave woman named Hagar and she represents Mt. Sinai and the Old Covenant.  Only the New Jerusalem from God represents Sarai and the New Covenant.

Galatians 4:24-25 NET  These things may be treated as an allegory, for these women represent two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai bearing children for slavery; this is Hagar.  (25)  Now Hagar represents Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.

Verse 30 further proclaims that Hagar (Jerusalem) and her children (Jews / and currently self-proclaimed Jews) will be thrown out and will not share the inheritance with the Son (Jesus Christ) and the New Covenant which will be the New Jerusalem.

Galatians 4:26 NET  But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.

It has been said the return of Christ (2^nd Coming) will occur somewhere around the time of the destruction of Jerusalem.  When He returns, everyone will see Him.

Revelation 1:7 LITV-TSP  (7)  "Behold, He comes with the clouds," and "every eye will see Him, and the ones who pierced" Him, and all the tribes of the earth "will wail on account of Him." Yes, Amen. Dan. 7:13; Zech. 12:10

Everyone on the planet will mourn (wail / be sad / beat their breasts / be grieving / have bitter sorrow) at various levels of intensity.  The Jews may be the biggest mourners because:  they will finally realize at being duped and lied to by their religious leaders and historians; they will understand the Kingdom of God has been lost to them and that it was never in their power to gain; their desire to rule the world will be forever gone.  The ones reigning with Christ will be the first fruits (also called the overcomers, and the remnant of grace).  They will be reigning over the survivors of the wrath of God.

Repentance at the return of Christ will not change the previous verdicts that Jesus rendered just before He was crucified. It will not change Jeremiah’s prophecy of the utter destruction of Jerusalem. Instead, repentance will give Jews (and all other people) the opportunity to become citizens of the New Jerusalem, whereby they may be blessed along with all of its citizens.

The True Origins of Professing Jews

THE TRUE ORIGINS OF PROFESSING JEWS

The word “Jew” is a shortened form of Judean or Judahite.  The term can be found in the KJV of the Bible in 2 Kings 16:6.  This passage clearly demonstrates that Israel and Judah are not the same nation.  After the death of King Solomon, ten of the tribes, excluding the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, revolted against the new king and his excessive tax plan and launched a separate northern nation which they called Israel.  The name Israel, for their new nation, was legitimate because they contained the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh which were the sons of Jacob who was renamed Israel by God.  The southern nation did not have the legitimacy of the name “Israel” and called themselves Judah. 

The northern nation of the ten tribes called Israel were conquered and deported by Assyria between 745 and 721 BC.  The majority were taken to northeastern Assyria and they never returned.  Whenever the prophets write concerning the House of Israel and their ultimate restoration they were speaking of the ten tribes of northern Israel and not the nation of Judah.  This will include the major prophets, Ezekiel and Jeremiah as well as others. 

It is important that Bible readers and students make this distinction.  Many of today’s Christians and others have been told that Jews are Israel but this is totally untrue.  The prophecies speaking of the restoration of “Israel” are not being fulfilled by the people calling themselves Jews in the modern state of Israel.  Actually, the current nation of Israel has no legitimate right to call themselves Israel.

Although Judah was a son a Jacob and a tribe of the united Israel under the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon, it because a national name when the united kingdom divided into two nations.  This division broadened the term “Judah” and the prophets used the broadened name accordingly.

The House of Judah or national Judah was conquered by Babylon between the years of 604 through 586 BC.  Many were killed and some were deported to Babylon.  Due to the destruction of the nation of Judah it could no longer be specifically used as a national name or term.  In the book of Esther we find the term “Jew” employed rather than Judah or Judahite. 

Esther 8:17 KJV  And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.

Persian Jews

Also notice in the last sentence that “many of the people of the land became Jews”.  Through fear of possibly being hung, many of the Persians became Jews in a religious sense, not in a genealogical manner.  This accounts for the so-called Persian Jews that invaded the land of Canaan as prophesied in Ezekiel 38-39.

Ezekiel 38:5 KJV  Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:

These Persians or Persian subjects were not former citizens of the nation of Judah, but rather were converts who had never lived in the land of Canaan.  At the return of a portion of the Jews back to the land of Canaan after the 70 years of punishment had been fulfilled, it is certain the Persian Jews did not accompany them.

Edomite Jews

The First Book of Maccabees appears to regard the Maccabean revolt as a rising of pious Jews against the Seleucid king who had tried to eradicate their religion and against the Jews who supported him. The Second Book of Maccabees presented the conflict as a struggle between "Judaism" and "Hellenism".  Most modern scholars argue that the king was reacting to a civil war between traditionalist Jews in the countryside and Hellenized Jews in Jerusalem, though the king's response of persecuting the religious traditionalists was unusual, and was the immediate cause for the revolt.  

Some modern scholarship considers the Maccabean revolt less as an uprising against foreign oppression than as a civil war between the orthodox and reformist parties in the Jewish population and by the persecution of people who observed the Torah by having their children circumcised and refusing to eat pork.

Whatever the actual reason, the Maccabeans conquered their neighbors and forced them to either convert to Judaism or to be exiled.  Most of the conquered people chose conversion, particularly the Edomites, and all became Jews, with no distinction between them.  Remember that Esau, the founder of the Edomites, was a brother of Jacob thus they were all related to some degree.

The Jewish historian, Josephus, recorded this event in his Antiquities of the Jews.  He was a descendant of the Maccabees and initially fought against the Romans during the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. 

“Hyrcanus took also Dora and Marissa, cities of Idumea, and subdued all the Idumeans; and permitted them to stay in that country, if they would be circumcised, and make use of the laws of the Jews; and they were so desirous of living in the country of their forefathers, that they submitted to the use of circumcision and the rest of the Jews’ ways of living; at which time therefore, this befell them, that they were hereafter no other than Jews.”

This proclamation of Josephus is corroborated by the 1903 Jewish Encyclopedia.

“Judas Maccabeus conquered their territory for a time (B.C. 163; Ant. Xii, 8 par. 1, 2). They were again subdued by John Hyrcanus (c. 125 B.C.) by whom they were forced to observe Jewish rites and laws (ib. 9, par. 1; xiv. 4, par. 4). They were then incorporated with the Jewish nation, and their country was called by the Greeks and Romans ‘Idumea’.

“From this time the Idumeans ceased to be a separate people, though the name ‘Idumea’ still existed (in) the time of Jerome.”

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia states:

“The Edomites were conquered by John Hyrcanus who forcibly converted them to Judaism, and from then on they constituted a part of the Jewish people, Herod being one of their descendants.”

The above three references all agree that Edom (the Edomites) were absorbed and integrated into the Jewish or Judahite people group.

It has been said the Edomite Jews were the most violent and radical people of Judea and prior to the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome most of the Zealot group were of Edomite origin.  The actions of the Zealots supposedly precipitated the Romans to destroy Jerusalem.

In later years, the Jews began to call Rome and Christian Europe by the name of “Edom”. They obviously did not use the term literally, but symbolically for an oppressive government.  Even so, they seem to have done this in order to explain the many prophecies in the Old Testament about Edom in the latter days.

The prophets considered Edom as being a latter-day enemy. Since the rabbis could not submit to the idea that their own nation might one day have to fulfill those prophecies, they spiritualized them and applied them to other people they considered “enemies”.  Of course, it has been verified by many (including me) that many of the modern Jews are in reality, Edomites or partial Edomites.

Esau and Isaac believed that Esau was entitled to the birthright and scepter kingship promises.  Esau sold the scepter promise for a bowl of soup.  Jacob received the birthright promise by tricking Isaac into thinking he was Esau.  God desired that Jacob receive the birthright but Rebekah and Jacob did not have the faith to allow God to do His miracle work.  As a result, Esau begged for a blessing from Isaac.  Jacob gave him a blessing but it was a prophecy from God.

Genesis 27:39-40 KJV  And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above;  (40)  And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.

It appears that God has given the birthright back to the ancestors of Esau for a short time prior to the return of Jesus to fulfill His prophecy.  The bad figs of Jeremiah 24 as applied to the Judeans not accepting Jesus as their Messiah were disinherited from the birthright and Judah-ship promises of God.  Their only recourse is to accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah and King of the Kingdom of God.

The Khazarian Jews

During the Middle Ages, a kingdom known as Khazaria existed in southern Russia around the Caspian Sea area.  The faux-Jew Khazar kingdom was conquered by the Rus and many or most of the Khazarian people were scattered.  Most of the Khazars were incorporated into the Russian area and later migrated into Eastern Europe, integrated with other Jewish people (possibly Sephardim) and became known as Ashkenazi.

The Jewish Encyclopedia:  “A people of Turkish origin whose life and history are interwoven with the very beginnings of the history of the Jews of Russia. The kingdom of the Chazars was firmly established in most of South Russia long before the foundation of the Russian monarchy by the Varangians (855). Jews have lived on the shores of the Black and Caspian seas since the first centuries of the common era. Historical evidence points to the region of the Ural as the home of the Chazars. Among the classical writers of the Middle Ages they were known as the ‘Chozars,’ ‘Khazirs,’ ‘Akatzirs,’ and ‘Akatirs,’ and in the Russian chronicles as ‘Khwalisses’ and ‘Ugry Byelyye’.”

Togarmah is a group of imposter-Jew Khazarians who integrated into parts of Russia, such as Moscow and Tubolsk, and eastern European countries.  The seventh son of Togarmah was Khazar, from which the nation of converted-Jews acquired their name.  Togarmah and Ashkenaz were brothers according to Genesis 10.  The Khazar Jewish line became known as the Ashkenazi.