Blue Helmets to Jerusalem

by David A. Reed             

Contents  

Summary Preface 
Ch. 1 - Blue Helmets and Bible Prophecy 
Ch. 2 - Objections to Christianity 
Ch. 3 - Jerusalem a problem for the whole world 
Ch. 4 - Why Believe Bible Prophecy? 
Ch. 5 - Chosen People 
Ch. 6 - Promised Seed 
Ch. 7 - Promised Land 
Ch. 8 - Holy City  
Ch. 9 - Promised Messiah 
Ch.10 - False Alarms, False Prophets and the Antichrist 
Ch.11 - Turned off by Hellfire? 
Ch.12 - What about Darwin? 
Ch.13 - How to be Saved  
Ch.14 - What Happens Next 
Ch.15 - America's Role 
Ch.16 - Why Now? Precedents 
Ch.17 - Nations United and Resolved 
Ch.18 - Are you ready?  
About the Author 

Posted online at  BlueHelmetsToJerusalem.com
Copyright © 2003 by David A. Reed, all rights reserved





Summary 



Preface

Several of my earlier books have dealt with prophetic failures. I have researched and written about the great "Disappointment of 1844," the dates set for Christ's return by various Adventist groups, attempts at prophecy by Mormonism's founder Joseph Smith, and the Jehovah's Witnesses' predictions for 1914, 1925, and 1975. This research has shown me the accuracy of the Bible's own predictions about Jerusalem, which have serious implications for our modern world.

Chapter 1 - Blue Helmets and Bible Prophecy

The Hebrew prophet Zechariah foretells a future time when the status of Jerusalem would become a problem for the whole world, and when all the nations of the world would be united in sending a military force to impose their solution for the city. Are today's events moving in that direction? Radical Islamic terrorists who cite the status of Jerusalem as a principal grievance have made their problem the world's problem, especially since the attack on America on September 11, 2001. The United Nations General Assembly has decreed that Jerusalem shall be an "international" city "administered by the United Nations." Now the Quartet made up of the European Union, Russia, the United States and the United Nations have pressured the Israelis and Palestinians into accepting a roadmap for peace. There are calls by world leaders for the U.N. to enforce its resolutions, and calls within Israel to reject an international solution.

Chapter 2 - Objections to Christianity

Rational minds demand reasons for faith, especially when Christianity is merely one of many competing religious philosophies. Moreover, the Christian church has lost credibility, even among believers, due to a long history of wars, sex scandals, political corruption, and other evidences of hypocrisy. In explaining his parable of 'the weeds and the wheat' Jesus foretold that the Church would be filled with counterfeit Christians who would act this way. He warned against the hypocritical 'leaven of the Pharisees' and the politically corrupt 'leaven of Herod.' He also told how to identify real Christians amidst the imitations. Rather than undermining the credibility of the Bible, the corruption in the Church today confirms Jesus' words. Later chapters will address the theory of evolution and concerns about hellfire teaching. 

Chapter 3 - Jerusalem a problem for the whole world

Located at the intersection of three continents, Jerusalem often found itself in the path of conquering empires. The Crusades brought international armies to the city but did not fit the prophetic picture of the whole world uniting to impose a solution. International terrorists citing Jerusalem's status as their grievance have created a problem for the whole world. The first world body, the League of Nations, gave Britain an official Mandate to govern Palestine, shortly after the Balfour Declaration stated the British intention to establish a Jewish homeland there. In 1947 United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 called for division of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, and the nations of Israel and Jordan were born the following year. Resolution 181 also called for Jerusalem to be separate from either state, under international control with a governor appointed by the United Nations. Israel has accepted U.N. peacekeeping forces brought in to monitor the border with Lebanon. The "roadmap" provided by the international community calls for settling the issue of Jerusalem in its final phase. Several proposed scenarios could lead to the deployment of blue helmets around the city.

Chapter 4 - Why Believe Bible Prophecy?

Rooted in the complexities of ancient history, the prophecies of the Bible can prove difficult to grasp. However, two significant predictions that are both simple and straightforward can be used to test and establish the Bible's prophetic track record. First, there is the prediction that the gods of the gentile nations -- Baal, Ashtoreth, Chemosh, Dagon, Artemis, Zeus and the rest -- would be abandoned and forgotten, while the God of Abraham would come to be worshiped world wide by people of all nations. The prediction seemed laughable when it was made, because those other gods were much more popular than the unseen God of the tiny Hebrew nation, but billions of Muslims, Christians and Jews today prove the prophecy was right on target. Second, there is the prediction found as far back as the books of Moses, that the Jewish people would be uprooted from the Promised Land and would be scattered throughout the world, only to be restored as a nation thousands of years later, just before the end of the world. Impossible as it may have seemed, the Roman empire carried out the scattering and the British empire facilitated the regathering. Fulfilled against overwhelming odds, these two prophecies establish a basis for believing that the remaining prophecies about Jerusalem will also come true.

Chapter 5 - Chosen People

Some people reject the notion that the Jews are the biblical Chosen People. Others who see the connection reject the Bible as a result. Misconceptions abound as to the actual meaning of the expression in Scripture. Condemnation of the Old Testament kings demonstrates it does not imply God's approval of the policies of the state of Israel. With each national group making idols to worship and dreaming up pantheons of gods and goddesses, mankind would have forgotten the Creator, had he not intervened to preserve true worship somewhere on earth. The Jews were chosen to preserve the only written record of the creation and of God's early dealings with the human race. Even the Christian New Testament was written entirely by Jewish followers of the Messiah, and the later Muslim Koran acknowledges the Jews as the "guardians" whose job was "to preserve the Book of Allah." The Jews were also chosen as the people to host the Messiah's birth and ministry, and to provide the setting for his promised return to Jerusalem.

Chapter 6 - Promised Seed

The Genesis account of Adam and Eve's sin includes a cryptic promise of a coming "seed" of the woman who would eventually crush the serpent. The Bible concludes with the Revelation's identification of the devil as the original serpent and Christ as the son of man who crushes him. In between that introduction and conclusion, the Bible is full of lengthy genealogies that try the patience of many readers. But these complex lists of who begat whom are crucial to the story, because they trace the promised seed from Adam and Eve, down through Abraham and King David, to the promised Messiah himself.

Chapter 7 - Promised Land

From the town called Ur of the Chaldees, where Iraqi exiles met three thousand years later to discuss forming a new government after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Abraham moved with his family to Harran in what is now Turkey. God told him next to migrate south to the land of Canaan. The Canaanites were gross sinners and were slated for destruction. The slaughter would not be genocide, because it was decreed by the Judge of all the earth. God promised to give their land to Abraham and his descendants. Soon afterward God sent fire from heaven to wipe out the worst of them, the inhabitants of the district of Sodom and Gomorrah. The divine promise was repeated to Abraham's son Isaac, and to Isaac's son Jacob. After his name was changed to Israel, Jacob and his family moved to Egypt, where they survived a famine and grew, over the centuries, into a small national group. Moses led them out of slavery in Egypt to the border of the promised land, and then Joshua led their armies as the Israelites wiped out the Canaanites and took possession of their land.

Chapter 8 - Holy City 

Recognized by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 as a city holy to "the three great monotheistic faiths throughout the world, Christian, Jewish and Moslem," Jerusalem is unique among holy cities. In the most ancient references Abraham paid tithes to Jerusalem's mysterious king Melchizedek, who was "priest of the most high God." Centuries later king David drove pagan Jebusites from the city and made it his capital. Solomon built God's temple there. After unfaithful Jews polluted it with idolatry, God allowed the neo-Babylonian empire to destroy the city, but later he moved the heart of Medo-Persian emperor Cyrus to rebuild Jerusalem and its temple. After Israel rejected its Messiah, God had Roman legions destroy both the city and the temple again. With Jews in control of the area now since 1967, Islamic mosques sitting atop the Temple Mount, and U.N. resolutions calling for the Jews to vacate, Jerusalem has become "a heavy stone burdening the world" as Zechariah foretold. Soon to follow are the apocalyptic Battle of Armageddon, which will leave Messiah ruling the world from Jerusalem.

Chapter 9 - Promised Messiah

The first Israelite kings were anointed with holy perfumed oil poured ceremonially over their heads. This made them "anointed ones" or Messiahs in Hebrew. God promised that a future Messiah would come who would be anointed with the Holy Spirit instead of oil. He would wage war in righteousness, conquer the world, and rule for ever afterward in peace. Every sorrow would be erased, even sickness and death ceasing to plague mankind. Dozens of prophecies foretold the Messiah and the details of his life, death, resurrection and second coming. He would be born in Bethlehem, the child of a virgin, would preach in Galilee, would arrive in Jerusalem seated on a donkey, but would be rejected, beaten, stripped, and nailed up to die like a criminal. Jesus of Nazareth fit every detail of the prophetic description, but only a small minority of the Jewish people accepted him as their promised Messiah. Even his miraculous resurrection from the dead failed to convince the religious leaders. Nevertheless, the message spread throughout the Greek-speaking world as Gentiles embraced their "anointed one," or Christ.

Chapter 10 - False Alarms, False Prophets and the Antichrist

Anyone calling attention to prophecies about the return of Christ is in danger of being compared to the proverbial 'boy who cried wolf.' My earlier books dealt with many false alarms allegedly based on biblical passages: various groups pointed to 1874, 1914 or 1975 as the time Christ would return. Some people have been hurt by such failed predictions, but others have been moved to investigate further and have benefited as a result. The Apostle Paul wrote that there would be a falling away first, and the appearance of an antichrist. Watch out for speculative answers and for those who resort to the tyranny of authority or who claim to have special knowledge beyond what others can discern from reading the Bible. Scripture was written for ordinary folk, not for intellectuals. The basic signs and warnings in prophecy are straightforward and easy to understand.

Chapter 11 - Turned off by Hellfire?

Some people shy away from the Bible due to misrepresentations or distortions of what it says about life after death. While some teachers focus on certain verses, all must be examined to determine what the Bible actually teaches on this subject. That teaching is both reasonable and satisfying. While the Old Testament contains mere hints and glimpses of the afterlife, the teachings of Jesus and his apostles add a considerable amount of clarifying information. Hades was the destination of all who died before Christ's resurrection, but it was not at all the place depicted in Dante's Inferno. Jesus' parable of the rich man and Lazarus sheds light on the truth about "hell." Punishment after death is meant to inspire healthy fear of God, not to depict the deity as a fiend who dreams up worse torments than human war criminals. Jesus was the kindest, most loving man ever to walk the earth, and this should inspire us to trust God to deal fairly. If our concept of the afterlife offends us, then perhaps it is our concept that is wrong, rather than some supposed injustice on God's part. 

Chapter 12 - What about Darwin?

Popular acceptance of the theory of evolution causes many to doubt the truthfulness of the Bible. Discovery of the genetic blueprints contained in DNA points to the existence of an intelligent designer of all living things. The genetic code shares many similarities with computer code, which should make us realize that mutations are destructive, not creative. Mutations can add diseases to the genome, but can not add improved new features, just as damage to a computer disk can corrupt the code and make it malfunction but cannot cause Windows 98 to evolve into Windows XP. Scientists associated with the "intelligent design movement" have demonstrated that irreducibly complex structures in living things could not have evolved through a series of mutations producing component parts that depend on other components in order to function. The musical talent of Mozart and the self-sacrificing altruism of Ghandi and Schweitzer can not be explained by 'natural selection' though 'survival of the fittest.' On the other hand, the Bible's explanation of man's origin fits the facts of history and of science and adequately accounts for the world as we see it today.

Chapter 13 - How to be Saved 

Through the prophet Jeremiah, God announced that his law covenant with Israel would eventually be replaced by a new covenant based on grace. Open to all mankind, instead of to Jews only, it would bring believers into a personal relationship with God and would free them from the burden of sin. Jesus inaugurated the new covenant and bridged the gap between God and man. By trusting Jesus as their Savior and submitting to him as their Lord, believers now can be 'born again' as adopted children of God. As such, they receive the Holy Spirit to live in their hearts, which results in an intimate closeness to God. He takes an active part in directing the lives of his children and brings them into fellowship with others in the Church. Believers enjoy, not only the sure hope of surviving the coming world catastrophe, but also peace and joy in their lives right now.

Chapter 14 - What Happens Next

The Bible's end time prophecies go into considerable detail concerning the events that will take place. Zechariah devotes two chapters to what will happen when God "will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it." Daniel offers prophetic visions of the rise and fall of beast-like world powers, culminating in the triumph of the Messiah. The apostle John refers to a seven-headed beast-like world government that would finally fall under the assault of heavenly armies. The Hebrew prophet Joel speaks of all the Gentile nations coming together for war, only to encounter God's voice roaring from Jerusalem. Isaiah similarly speaks of God gathering "all nations and tongues" to "execute judgment upon all men." The apostle Peter cautions that, although the foretold judgment may seem to be delayed, it is coming nonetheless. There are different schools of thought regarding whether God will rescue believers before the final troubles break out, or during the tribulation, but the signs Jesus said to watch for include mention of "Jerusalem surrounded by armies."

Chapter 15 - America's Role

Although there are no clear references in the Bible to the United States of America, it should not be surprising to see the world's sole superpower play a prominent role in regard to Israel. After all, Egypt served as a cradle for the Jewish people to grow into a populous national group, albeit in slavery. The neo-Babylonian empire destroyed Jerusalem, and then the Medo-Persian empire conquered Babylon and restored both the Holy City and its temple. So, it is certainly consistent with history for both Britain and America to figure prominently in the final chapters written, so far, only in prophecy.

Chapter 16 - Why Now? Precedents

The history of divine intervention in ages past also helps identify the types of situations that provoke God to act. The flood of Noah's day was sent to cleanse a planet that had become full of sexual immorality and violence, much like today's world. God sent fire and brimstone to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, so the open gay pride movement today must not be acceptable to him. He intervened when the builders of the Tower of Babel built an urban society capable of accomplishing the impossible, so what about today's scientific breakthroughs in a similar setting? The Jews have restored the state of Israel, and the Information Age lets the whole world now view Jerusalem as their problem demanding an international solution.

Chapter 17 - Nations United and Resolved 

Zechariah's prophecy of the world's nations uniting for the final attack on Jerusalem parallels similar predictions Joel, Isaiah and the apostle John. Although its founders, no doubt, had other things in mind, the League of Nations made Britain's Palestine Mandate one of its first official acts, and the U.N., likewise, passed a resolution demanding international control over Jerusalem as far back as 1947, soon after that body's formation. Since then, there have been more United Nations resolutions on Israel and Palestine than on any other region of the world. These have consistently called for the Jews to vacate all or part of the city, for Israel not to claim Jerusalem as its capital, or for the city to be internationalized under a governor appointed by the United Nations. The Quartet's roadmap has United Nations backing. The nations have spent decades "uniting" for the attack and drawing up resolutions, and now all that remains is the enforcement.

Chapter 18 - Are you ready? 

What response should these events evoke from individuals who discern that Jerusalem has become a problem for the whole world, as prophesied, and that the nations have united for a final foretold attack? Should we weigh in on the political issues involved and push for events to move in one direction or the other? The most important response for each one of us is to look at our personal relationship with the Creator, the God who is about to engage the nations in the final war of Armageddon. His victory is certain. Ours can be, too, if we trust and obey. 

About the Author

To address the legitimate question of credibility I will say more about myself here than in the typical about-the-author blurb. No, I was not raised as an unquestioning member of a Christian fundamentalist community. Skepticism prevailed, both in my family and in my adolescent plunge into Darwinian evolution, humanistic existentialism and well-argued atheism. My major in political science at Harvard also removed any my-country-right-or-wrong idealism. The evidence that convinced a skeptic like me is presented in this book, out of respect for other inquiring minds.







Preface 



Much of my time during the past two decades has been devoted to researching failed prophecies concerning the return of Christ. The prophecies that failed were not found in the Bible, but, rather, originated in the sermons and writings of various religious leaders here in America during the past two hundred years. Yet, the promulgators of these predictions setting specific dates for the apocalypse all claimed to be interpreting biblical prophecy. 

The American date-setting spree began with the prophecies of Baptist lay preacher William Miller, who declared that Christ would return in March of 1843. He gained a large following from many mainline churches, but the date came and went without the predicted event. So, he recalculated his chronology and came up with a new date; he blamed the revision on a one-year error in the first calculations. Now, Christ would return in March of 1844. That prophecy, too, proved to be false, so Miller made a third attempt, this time specifying October of 1844. 

As if catching the prophetic bug from Miller, or perhaps to compete with his contemporary whose predictions captured newspaper headlines, Joseph Smith, the founder, leader and official "Prophet" of the Mormon Church, set his own timetable that would have had Christ returning around the year 1890. 

Mormons never made a big fuss over Joseph Smith's off-the-cuff predictions, and quickly forgot about them, but a remnant of William Miller's movement persisted, although fragmented into several schismatic Adventist groups. The Advent Christian Church, the Life and Advent Union, the Seventh-day Adventists, and various small Second Adventist groups all sprang from the Millerite movement. Some Adventists recalculated Miller's dates, found what they believed to be a thirty-year error, and began proclaiming after the American Civil War that Christ would return in the autumn of 1874. When that date passed and nothing occurred, however, some die-hard sect members took a new approach: they insisted that their calculations could not possibly be in error, so Christ must have returned on schedule, only invisibly. This viewpoint found expression in a periodical titled Herald of the Morning, published by Nelson H. Barbour of Rochester, New York.

After associating with Adventist groups for about ten years, in 1879 the young assistant editor of Herald of the Morning broke away to start his own magazine, Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence. Watchtower founder Charles Taze Russell succeeded in reaching a much wider audience with his assertions that Christ had returned invisibly in 1874 and that the world would end in the autumn of 1914. Those dates were later abandoned, but Russell's successors in the modern day Jehovah's Witnesses went on to teach during the late 1960's that Christ's triumphant battle of Armageddon could be expected to occur in the autumn of 1975.

Details and documentation of these failed prophecies can be found in several of my books, including Answering Jehovah's Witnesses Subject by Subject (1996, Baker Book House) and Mormonism: Changes, Contradictions and Errors (by John R. Farkas and David A. Reed, 1995, Baker Book House).

My research made me conversant also with the failed prophecies of various other groups, too, both cultic and those closer to mainstream Christianity. All of these forays into date-setting failed for fairly obvious reasons. In some cases corrupt cult leaders stirred up false expectations for their own selfish purposes. In other cases sincere Bible believers got carried away in their eagerness for Christ's return and went beyond what was written in Scripture, adding their own imagination and wishful thinking to what the Word of God actually said.

In all cases, however, regardless of the motives behind those making these pronouncements, they all abandoned sound methods of biblical interpretation in favor of twisted reasoning and bogus logic.

On the receiving end of all these false prophecies were millions of real people who were deeply disappointed and who suffered very real hurt. The failure of William Miller's predictions that Christ would return in 1844 was labeled by historians as "the Disappointment of 1844." Some victims of failed prophecies lost faith entirely, while others were forced to undergo a painful re-examination of what they believed and why. Some had quit jobs, sold homes, or made other sacrifices on the assurance that money and possessions would no longer be needed after the predicted date. 

In every case it was human interpretation the failed, not the prophecies of Scripture itself. To the contrary, Bible prophecy has an excellent track record, as I will document in several chapters of this book.

Researching the lives and works of false prophets has made me painfully aware of the danger of going "beyond what is written" in Scripture. (1 Corinthians 4:6 NIV) Yet, at the same time, Jesus told us to "keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come." (Matthew 24:42 NIV)

Watch for what? For Jesus to come? No, rather he indicated that there would be signs to watch for that would signal the imminence of his return. "When these things begin to take place," we would know that the time was near. (Luke 21:28 Jerusalem Bible) Keeping on the watch involves efforts to match the things happening in the world -- current events -- with the things prophesied in Scripture. However, that is not an easy task.

Human understanding of the fulfillment of biblical prophecy has always been better in hindsight than in foresight. The faithful Hebrews watched to see how the prophetic words of the inspired prophets among them would be fulfilled. But they were often surprised when the fulfillment actually took place before their eyes, and it was not what they had expected.

This was especially true in regard to the prophecies about the long expected Messiah. The Jews weren't anticipating Jesus' lowly birth, his teachings contrary to the established authorities of the day, and his untimely and shameful death. The New Testament points back to dozens of verses in the Old Testament that foretold details of the Messiah's life and death, but most of them had gone unrecognized or been misunderstood before their fulfillment in Christ. (See the chapter titled "Promised Messiah" in this book.)

Similarly, many noble efforts have been made in our day to puzzle out the details of how the book of Revelation and other New Testament end times prophecies will be fulfilled. Yet sincere Christians who are knowledgeable of the Scriptures still may find themselves in opposite camps as to when the 'rapture' will occur in relation to the 'tribulation period' and in regard to other details of those prophetic passages, as I will explain later.

Scripture says that 'no man knows the day or the hour' of Christ's return (Matt. 24:36), but Jesus did say to watch for certain things that would indicate his return was very near, and a number of recent world events stand out as red flags in that regard. My aim in this present book is not to the fine tune the minor details of eschatology, nor to get into a theological debate over questionable interpretations. Rather I am grabbing hold of one of those red flags, taking it up, and waving it in air. I am calling attention to fulfillment of prophecy that anyone who reads it will be able to recognize.

This is the new red flag: as never before in human history, Jerusalem has become a problem for the whole world, and, also as never before in human history, the nations of the world are united in their determination to find a solution to that problem. In the light of Bible prophecy, the implications are staggering.

Whether you are a Bible believer or a skeptic sincerely exploring all possibilities, at least consider the evidence presented in the following chapters of Blue Helmets to Jerusalem.







Chapter 1

Blue Helmets and Bible Prophecy 



The Bible speaks of a future time when Jerusalem would become a problem burdening the whole world, and when all the nations of the earth would be united in sending armed forces to Jerusalem to impose a solution. Could today's events be moving in that direction? 

The answer should be of the greatest significance for all of us, because the prophecy goes on to say that Almighty God responds by sending his heavenly armies to crush the governments of the nations and to replace their rule with the Kingdom of God.

"Jerusalem will be a heavy stone burdening the world," the ancient Hebrew prophet Zechariah foretold in the book of the Bible bearing his name. What does the world do about this burdensome problem? "All the nations of the earth unite in an attempt" to impose their solution for Jerusalem; that is the answer God inspired his prophetic penman to write. (Zechariah 12:3 The Living Bible Catholic edition)

Are today's events moving in that direction? Are United Nations peacekeeping forces in blue helmets about to take up positions in Jerusalem? 

During the final years of the administration of American President Bill Clinton, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process had made considerable progress toward ending the violence in and around Jerusalem. Just about all the details had been worked out and agreed to by both parties, and a Palestinian state seemed to be only months away. But, then the negotiations broke down over the status of Jerusalem, and violence resumed on a level worse than before. Moreover, that violence spread abroad, as Muslim extremists expressed their rage against Jewish and American interests worldwide, citing the situation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, including Jerusalem, as a prime reason for their actions.

Could you imagine Israel and the Palestinians finally reaching a peace accord under the auspices of the United Nations, with U.N. peacekeepers stationed on the scene to enforce the terms of the agreement? Many nations today are pushing for this very thing to happen.

Could you imagine violence increasing after such an arrangement is in place, so that reinforcements are sent in to augment the U.N. presence? Could you imagine those multi-national peacekeepers coming into conflict with Israeli forces at Jerusalem?

Would this fit the biblical scenario? Would God respond by unleashing Armageddon?

The question becomes more pressing, as the words of Jesus of Nazareth are added to the mix. "…when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies…when you see the events taking place…the Kingdom of God is near." (Luke 21:20, 30 The Living Bible Catholic edition)

So, it is not just an ancient Hebrew writer who spoke prophetically of armies moving against Jerusalem in the context of end times prophecies. Such predictions are not found exclusively in the Scriptures of the Jews. The Christian Messiah used similar words in a similar context.

But, how realistic is it to think of the nations uniting to deal with the problem of the status of Jerusalem, and to impose an international solution by military force? Although most people may not be generally aware of it, events have been moving in that direction for decades.

Back in 1947, when the future birth of the state of Israel was a topic for discussion and planning, the General Assembly of the United Nations passed its Resolution 181, which was voted on and approved on November 29 of that year. Section C of Part II of that Resolution was titled "The City of Jerusalem" and, in effect, claimed the authority of the United Nations to determine and establish "the boundaries of the City of Jerusalem." General Assembly Resolution 181, Part III, Section A went on to state that the city must not be part of the state of Israel, nor part of any Arab state. Rather, it must be an "international" city administered by the United Nations.

Representing the nations of the whole world, the General Assembly declared: "The City of Jerusalem shall be established as a corpus separatum under a special international regime and shall be administered by the United Nations. The Trusteeship Council shall be designated to discharge the responsibilities of the Administering Authority on behalf of the United Nations."



And in Section B titled "Boundaries of the City" U. N. General Assembly Resolution 181 went on to specify that "The City of Jerusalem shall include the present municipality of Jerusalem plus the surrounding villages and towns."

More recently, the "Quartet" composed of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations drew up a "roadmap for peace" toward the end of the year 2002 and presented it formally to the government of Israel and to the Palestinian Authority in May, 2003. That roadmap envisions, in its final phase of implementation, an international conference to achieve "resolution on the status of Jerusalem that takes into account the political and religious concerns of both sides, and protects the religious interests of Jews, Christians and Muslims worldwide."

Later chapters of this book will look more closely at this and subsequent resolutions regarding the status of Jerusalem passed by both the General Assembly and the Security Council of the United Nations, and at the Quartet's roadmap for peace. But this much is mentioned here to prove that "all the nations of the earth" have already started to "unite in an attempt" to impose their solution for the problem posed by Jerusalem. (Zechariah 12:3 The Living Bible Catholic edition)

Besides simply drawing up resolutions on Jerusalem and voting to make them official, the international community seems to be moving in the direction of enforcing those resolutions. According to a report in the Jerusalem Post Internet Edition, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said, "the West has been guilty of double standards -- on the one hand saying the UN Security Council resolutions on Iraq must be implemented, on the other hand, sometimes appearing rather quixotic over the implementation of resolutions about Israel and Palestine." (From the article titled, "Foreign Ministry slams British PM's linkage of Iraq, Intifada," by Douglas Davis, March 26, 2003) 

The same article quoted British Prime Minister Tony Blair as saying that the American President George W. Bush "believes, like me, that this is a vital interest to resolve because it is probably the issue, more than anything else, that keeps the Arab and Muslim worlds and the Western world apart." Prime Minister Blair spoke those words less than a week after the British armed forces had entered active combat, alongside American forces, with the stated goal of enforcing Security Council resolutions on Iraq.

So, linking "the implementation of resolutions about Israel and Palestine" to the military enforcement of resolutions about Iraq carries ominous implications, and, not surprisingly, the British statements drew strong criticism from the Israeli government.

Farther along in his prophetic writings, Zechariah foretells that the command will go forth to "gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle… Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations." (Zechariah 14:2-3 KJV) And the Christian New Testament features similar prophetic language, this time locating the actual battlefield at the plain of Megiddo, or Armageddon, the site of a massive defeat of Egyptian armies thousands of years earlier. The Apostle John referred to it this way in his inspired Apocalypse: "the spirits of devils…go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth… And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon." (Revelation 16:14-16 KJV) 

Television news coverage in recent years has made all of us familiar with the sight of white-painted vehicles marked "UN" manned by peacekeeping forces in blue helmets. But the Apocalyptic vision of the Apostle John's Revelation uses less familiar language when describing in greater detail the forces God will use when he intervenes militarily. We speak of armies in terms of armored cavalry, tanks and heavy weaponry; God used the language of the day, borrowing terms from the cavalry John was familiar with:

"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army." (Revelation 19:11-19 KJV)

Is the world really moving toward such a head-on conflict with God? Israeli-Palestinian talks broke down in the year 2000, with neither side willing to yield on the status of Jerusalem. The violence and terror that followed hit Israel first, but then spread worldwide. Now, fear of terrorism grips the world. Much of the world also lives in fear of the American military response that has already been demonstrated first in Afghanistan and then in Iraq. World public opinion rages against these American actions and against the Israeli military moves in Gaza and the West Bank. As tensions rise between Muslim nations and the West, many point to the violence in and around Jerusalem as the root cause. 

While radical Islamic leaders enlist followers to 'march on Jerusalem,' other diplomats seek to place Jerusalem under international control, policed by United Nations peacekeeping forces. The government of Israel has been following such talk, of course, and has long been resolved to hold onto Jerusalem at all costs. 

The Jerusalem Post Internet Edition carried a story by Gil Hoffman on November 7, 2001, reporting, "The diplomatic plan that Foreign Minister Shimon Peres is formulating with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is intended to prevent the international community from imposing its own plans on Israel, Sharon explained yesterday." That same report added these details: "Explaining the urgency of the Sharon-Peres diplomatic initiative, the Foreign Minister referred to plans circulating out of the United States, European Union, and United Nations and said that Israel cannot let its actions be driven by the agendas of other bodies with vested interests." (The Jerusalem Post's internet edition can be found online at www.jpost.com.)

So, Israeli politicians see the possibility of 'the international community imposing' a solution, and they are determined to resist. That is the formula for conflict.

Although foreign armies have surrounded Jerusalem in the past -- even international armies during the crusades -- the problem has always been of a more limited scope. Never before has Jerusalem been a problem for "the world," and never before has there been a fulfillment of Zechariah's prophecy that "all the nations of the earth" would unite to impose their solution. (Zech. 12:3 The Living Bible Catholic Edition) Now, today, we see such a problem in place, and we see moves afoot in the world community to impose such a solution. Are we about to see the events Jesus pointed forward to as part of a 'sign' to watch for in the end times? 

Jesus said, "When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies…Men will faint from terror…When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near…it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth." (Luke 21:20, 26, 28, 35 NIV) Everyone living today has reason to be concerned and to investigate the significance of these events.







Chapter 2

Objections to Christianity 



Besides laying out the evidence for the reliability of Bible prophecy and its application to the world situation today, this book will also attempt to deal with the objections that a rational mind might raise. I am hoping to present evidence that will be clear, concise, and compelling, not only to readers who are already believers in Bible prophecy, but also to individuals inquiring into these matters for the first time. I don't wish to limit myself to preaching to the choir.

To Christian Bible believers the message is, "When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your deliverance is drawing near." (Luke 21:28 NIV) Compare the events that are taking place in the world today with the things that Jesus said to watch for as indicators that the time of his return is near. Can you see the predicted events "begin to take place"? Then rejoice, because Christ is coming again!

But, for the person looking into these matters for the first time, the message must include some additional elements. It must include evidence that Bible prophecy has been reliable in the past, and that the things that the Bible said would happen prior to today have been happening as foretold.

Moreover, there are some objections that an inquiring mind may need to deal with before it makes sense even to look at Bible prophecy. I am painfully aware of that, because I myself have a background of deep immersion in scientific atheism, Darwinian evolution, and humanist philosophy. If you read the portion of this book titled "About the Author," you will see that I started out, not as a gullible child indoctrinated to accept the religious beliefs of his parents, but rather as one who viewed Christianity as a strange phenomenon dimly visible on a distant horizon.

How can Bible prophecy be true, if the Bible itself is nothing more than a collection of poetry and imaginary stories written by primitive people to entertain primitive audiences? How can anything having to do with God be worth considering, if mankind has no Creator but instead arose through a series of evolutionary accidents in a pool of chemicals? And, if there really is a God, still, why should anyone look for understanding to the Scriptures of the Jews and the Christians? Why not look to Buddhism or Hinduism for answers about man's future?

Chapters in this book will deal with such issues, for the sake of those who need to answer such questions intelligently before they can give any serious consideration to Bible prophecy.

But there is another issue that I will attempt to address here in this present chapter, and that is the loss of credibility on the part of the Christian church itself. 

If Christianity possesses the truth, and has this truth spelled out in the Bible, then why are there so many different "Christian" churches with different denominational names? And why do these differ so widely in beliefs and practices? And why have they often been at each other's throats, quite literally, throughout church history? Why isn't there just a single Christian Church, united in belief and practice?

Another problem is that, in those multitudinous "Christian" churches, one sees things going on that even unchurched unbelievers know should not be there. There are scandals involving wealthy television evangelists living in shameless luxury and sexual immorality. There are scandals involving pedophile Roman Catholic priests. 

Politically, the history of the churches and nations of Christendom has been tainted with every sort of sin imaginable, from bloodthirsty Crusades to greedy colonialism. Priests accompanied Spanish conquistadors who converted native peoples at the edge of the sword. And church-going people made up the mobs that lynched blacks in the American south.

Could you imagine Jesus behaving that way? Of course not. 

Jesus repeatedly extended the invitation to, 'Come, and follow me,' or 'Come, be my follower.' (Matt. 9:9, 19:21, Mark 2:14, 10:21, Luke 5:27, 9:59, 18:22; John 1:43) Are lynch mobs or pedophiles "following" Jesus? Certainly not. He would not behave that way, so people who do behave that way are not following Christ.

Yet, people who engage in such shameful conduct have often claimed to be Christians, even to be acting in Jesus' name. Jesus knew that this would happen, and he explained why in his 'parable of the weeds':

"Jesus told them another parable: 'The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. The owner's servants came to him and said, "Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?" "An enemy did this," he replied. The servants asked him, "Do you want us to go and pull them up?" "No," he answered, "because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn."'" (Matt. 13:24-30 NIV)

What did Jesus mean by this illustration? We don't need to puzzle over it, because he gave the explanation himself, and his disciple Matthew wrote it down:

"Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, 'Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.' He answered, 'The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.'" (Matt. 13:36-43 NIV)

So, Jesus, "the Son of Man," knew that the church organization he planted would soon be overrun with "weeds," even though he had planted good seed. And it would continue that way until "the end of the age" when he would return and set matters straight. Yes, Christ made it very plain that there would be many claiming to be Christians, but who would be anything but true followers of the Messiah:

"Not everyone saying unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess to unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." (Matt. 7:21-23 KJV)

So, there is a difference a between the followers of Jesus Christ and the many organizations and nations that have called themselves "Christian" down through history. Many of the latter have been Christian in name only.

Before departing the earthly scene, Jesus gave his disciples instructions about the church that he would build through them. And together with those instructions and he also gave them serious warnings: "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod." (Mark 8:15 KJV)

What is this leaven or yeast? The laws God gave to Israel required that they eat unleavened bread during the Passover period, and that they have no yeast in their homes during that time. So, the presence of leaven would be improper and defiling. Leaven in the Church would be something brought in inappropriately, that doesn't belong there. But what impurities did Jesus have in mind when he referred symbolically to the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod? 

Jesus explained the first one himself: "Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." (Luke 12:1 KJV) Hypocrisy does not belong in the Church. And the Pharisees were hypocrites. In his sermon recorded in Matthew chapter 23, Jesus repeatedly called them that: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" (verses 13, 14, 15, 23, 25, 27 and 29 KJV) They were the religious leaders in Jerusalem, when he pronounced doom on the holy city: "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, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold your house is left unto you desolate." (Matt. 23:37-38 KJV)

Yet, despite this strong warning, the Christian community, just like its Jewish predecessor, has found itself riddled with hypocrisy, the leaven of the Pharisees.

What, though, about the leaven of Herod? Unlike the leaven of the Pharisees, Jesus did not explain what he meant by this second type of impurity that the Church needed to guard against.

King Herod was extremely wealthy, and his wealth bought him great influence in the Jewish religious community. He financed the rebuilding of the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the Levitical priests serving at the temple accepted such material assistance as hush money to keep them from speaking out against their wealthy patron's sexual immorality, murderous brutality and other blatant violations of the laws of God. So, the leaven of Herod could refer to improper influence in the church by corrupt rich people who buy themselves a position of prominence and acceptance in the Christian community. 

The Bible writer James wrote, "Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?" (James 2:6 NIV) He said that the church was not doing right when it gave a special seat of honor to a rich man while requiring of poor man to sit on the floor. "My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, 'Here's a good seat for you,' but say to the poor man, 'You stand there' or 'Sit on the floor by my feet,' have you not discriminated?" (James 2:1-4 NIV)

So the leaven of Herod could refer to undue influence by the rich in the church.

But, Herod was also a powerful political leader, allied with the Roman empire, who affected the Jewish congregation through his governmental influence. Besides the Pharisees, the party followers of Herod claimed the obedience of a large faction of the Jews. After the Messiah healed a man on the Sabbath, "the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus." (Mark 3:6) Later "the Pharisees and Herodians" conspired together to catch Jesus in a verbal trap over the divisive issue of paying taxes to Caesar. (Mark 12:13)

So, besides the influence of wealthy patrons, the leaven of Herod could refer also to political alliances and political influence in the church -- particularly alliances that lead church leaders into compromise with corrupt politicians.

After Jesus finished his earthly ministry, his faithful apostles fought against the infiltration of the Church by corrupt elements. Paul told the elders of the church in Ephesus, "I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them." (Acts 20:29-30 NIV) This would result in a proliferation of sects claiming to be Christian but teaching distorted doctrine, each group following the teachings of a its own leader.

Paul also wrote that "the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." (2 Timothy 4:3 NIV) This, too, would give rise to denominations with teachings popular among one group or another.

The Apostle Peter added similar warnings: "But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them -- bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. " (2 Peter 2:1-3 NIV)

And so there is plenty of reason to expect that there would be an impostors in the Church and wicked men doing things in the name of Christ. In fact this is what Jesus, too, said would happen: "many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ... For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect -- if that were possible." (Matthew 24:10, 24 NIV)

Still, down though history there have always been faithful believers who truly belonged to Jesus. Some of these were great preachers who spread revival through the land and stirred whole populations to pick up their Bibles and turn to Christ. Others died in the fire, clutching copies of the Holy Scriptures, while they were branded as heretics and burned at the stake by false 'Christians' in positions of church leadership.

How can you tell true Christians apart from impostors? Jesus said to look at the fruit that they bear: "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them." (Matt. 7:15-20 NIV)

So, if Jesus says to false 'Christians' that 'I never knew you,' and 'get away from me!' (Matt. 7:23) it would not be right for us to associate such people with Jesus by accepting their claim to be Christian. Despite the fact that they do things "in his name," we can recognize by their fruits that they are not followers of Jesus.

Paul listed among the perils that he faced "danger from false brothers." (2 Cor. 11:26 NIV) So a distinction must be made between individuals who claim to be Christians or who use the name of Christ and belong to so-called "Christian" organizations, and those who really walk in Jesus' footsteps and belong to him.

So the division of Christendom into many sects, and the existence of false teachers and false "Christian" sects and people doing wicked things in the name of Christ are NOT proof that Bible prophecy is unreliable. Rather, these all prove that what the Bible said would happen did, in fact, come true. Christ and the apostles all warned in advance that such imitation Christians would abound, and they have indeed sprung up everywhere. This is reason, then, to take seriously what the Bible says will yet happen in its other prophetic passages.

Consider this, too, then, as you weigh the additional evidence in the remaining chapters of this book.





Chapter 3

Jerusalem a Problem for the Whole World 



It would be an understatement to remark that political and military control over the city of Jerusalem has changed hands many times over the years. (See the chapter in this book titled "Holy City.") In most cases, however, the city itself was not the main focus of the war or the diplomatic negotiations that resulted in the change of ownership, at least from the standpoint of the generals and the diplomats. Empires were on the move, and Jerusalem just happened to be in the way. It's location at the intersection of lines connecting the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa placed it in the path of many a large-scale conquest.

The exceptions were the numerous Jewish campaigns and revolts, aimed at wresting control away from occupying Gentile powers, and, of course, the Christian Crusades and Islamic Jihads, because these "holy" wars were, in fact, targeted specifically at control of Jerusalem. 

The Crusades and opposing Jihads which raged from the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries involved the nations of Christendom and those of Islam, but it would be an exaggeration to say that Jerusalem had become a problem for the whole world during that period, or that all the nations of the world had united to impose a solution. Christendom then stretched across Europe, and the Muslim states covered North Africa and the Middle East. Few, if any, inhabitants of China, Japan or sub-Saharan Africa were following those developments, much less actually involved in them, and the Americas (which had not yet received that name) were totally out of the picture. Moreover, the Crusades and Jihads pitted groups of nations against each other for control of Jerusalem; they had not come together to impose an international regime. The time Zechariah predicted when Jerusalem would be a 'stone burdening the whole world' and when 'all the nations would unite' in dealing with it was yet future. (Zech. 12:2-3)

Today, however, we do indeed see a situation in which the status of Jerusalem has become a problem for the whole world, and in which the nations, already united through the United Nations organization, are debating using that organization to impose a solution. The radical Islamic suicide bombings that were once confined to Israel, with the aim, in part, of restoring Arab control over Jerusalem, have now spread worldwide. American interests around the globe have become the target of such attacks, and a principal argument of justification offered by the attackers and the groups sponsoring them has been that America supports Israel. United States embassies have been blown up in Africa, a nightclub full of international tourists has been bombed in Bali, Indonesia, and, of course, the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City have been destroyed, killing mostly Americans, but with citizens from dozens of countries included among the fatalities.

America responded to the destruction of September 11, 2001, with a "war against terrorism" that has involved nations around the globe. The United States military targeted Afghanistan, and drove from power the Taliban regime that had hosted and supported Osama Bin Laden and his Al Quaeda training camps. Terrorists were reported to have held secret meetings in places far from the Middle East to plan the September 11 attacks. The FBI began working with governments to arrest alleged conspirators in Spain, France, England, Italy, Germany, Indonesia, the Philippines and elsewhere. U.S. soldiers entered the Philippines as "advisors" to help hunt down Islamic militants. Jerusalem had become a problem for all of these nations.

Concurrent with all of this, letters laden with deadly anthrax spores killed or sickened American postal workers and shut down major government buildings for decontamination. Still unsolved as of this writing, that germ warfare attack was blamed by many on the same terrorist network responsible for the suicide bombings, the terrorists whose complaint revolved around the status of Jerusalem. Copycat hoaxes turned up envelopes with white powder from South America to the Far East and from Europe to Africa. 

America and coalition forces next attacked Iraq to depose the regime of Saddam Hussein, whose alleged weapons of mass destruction threatened the United States and its allies, most notably Israel. The Jewish state had sent attack aircraft to destroy an Iraqi nuclear facility in 1982, and one of Saddam's constant propaganda themes had been recruitment of an army of millions of civilians to "march on Jerusalem." Israel had been struck by several Scud missiles fired from Iraq during the Gulf War of 1992, and so was clearly within range and was a prime target. The Iraqi government had also been making cash payments to the families of suicide bombers who died attacking Jews in Israel. Some American critics of the George W. Bush administration blamed the president's push for war on his support for Israel and his determination to save Israel from attack by alleged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. 

Nations throughout the world have been directly involved in all of these events, or at least have participated in the international debate and the political maneuverings relating to Afghanistan, Iraq and the war on terrorism. Nations everywhere have been forced to modify procedures relating to air travel, institute improved security measures, and keep track of suspected terrorists or terrorist support organizations within their borders.

The whole world has followed all of these developments on TV and on the Internet, and the whole world has been terrorized. Jerusalem has indeed become a problem for the whole world. Each time there was another suicide bombing in Israel, or another Israeli military incursion into Palestinian areas, the world shuddered and speculated on how the international terrorists would respond. Where would they strike next?

Yes, Jerusalem is now a problem 'burdening the whole world.' But, are the nations also uniting to impose a solution, as Zechariah foretold? (Zech. 12:2-3)

Prior to the twentieth century and the formation of the League of Nations in the wake of World War One, it would have been difficult to conceive of all the nations of the world uniting to do anything at all, let alone uniting to send armies to Jerusalem. But, one of the earliest official acts of that League of Nations was to grant the British government a Mandate to rule over Palestine, including Jerusalem. 

Prior to the late 1990's and the beginning of the new millennium, it would have been difficult to conceive of the League's successor, the United Nations, sending forces to Jerusalem. The prevailing concept had always been that national sovereignty trumped United Nations authority. United Nations peacekeepers generally assisted in conflicts between member nations, with the consent of both parties, but the world body scrupulously avoided interfering in the internal affairs of member states.

In fact, from the time of its founding at the end of the Second World War, the U.N. had been viewed as largely a debating society, when it came to issues of war and peace. As a world government, it had active social service agencies such as UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund), and it accomplished a lot in the way of promoting world communication and commerce, but it did not have a strong police force.

And it still does not. After all, how can a policeman armed with only a billy club subdue brawlers brandishing knives and guns? Comparatively speaking, that is what peacekeeping forces in white trucks marked "UN" would be up against, if they were to confront an uncooperative nation determined to use its jet fighters, bombers and tanks aggressively. United Nations peacekeepers have never been heavily armed by modern military standards.

The Korean War may come to mind as an exception. The United Nations organization was still in its infancy when, in 1950, the Soviet Union decided to boycott sessions of the Security Council. In the absence of a Soviet veto, the Council invoked military sanctions against North Korea and invited member states to come to the aid of South Korea. American troops then led those from many other nations as "United Nations forces" in a military campaign sanctified as a U.N. mission. These U.N. forces waged full scale war with everything short of nuclear weapons. But that was an unusual circumstance that has not repeated itself.

Recent decades, however, have seen more and more authority vested in U.N. agencies, together with greater reliance on blue-helmeted U.N. peacekeeping forces. Toward the end of 2002 and during the early months of 2003, the Security Council earnestly debated whether or not to authorize military action to enforce its earlier resolutions about disarming Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq.

Will this prove to be a dress rehearsal for a military move by the United Nations against Israel? Time will tell. But the necessary U.N. resolutions that could lead up to such actions are already in place. If the Security Council could debate the possibility of calling for military action against Iraq to enforce its resolutions, it could certainly do the same with regard to Israel. In fact, some critics of the American push for a resolution authorizing force against Iraq argued that it would be a double standard to take action against Iraq and not against Israel.

Even now, although the world has not yet come together to authorize joint military force against Israel, it has already come together to oppose Israeli control of Jerusalem. It is only the military enforcement that is lacking, as of this writing. 

Over the course of many decades, the groundwork has progressively been laid for international intervention to determine Jerusalem's fate.

Following the Allied conquest of the city at the end of 1917, Britain ruled Jerusalem and all of the land of Israel under a Mandate issued by the League of Nations, predecessor of the United Nations. This did not appear, at that time, to be hostile to Jewish interests concerning the city. Prior to that Jerusalem had been in the hands of the Ottoman Turks, Muslims who had no intention of establishing Jewish sovereignty. But the British government had, by its Balfour Declaration of 1917, announced that "His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object." (See a later chapter in this book for a discussion, and for the full text of this document.) So, the League's grant of a Mandate for Britain to rule the area appeared to be a pro-Jewish move. Still, it established a precedent for international determination of Jerusalem's fate by a world body.

In 1947, after the League's demise, a United Nations resolution recommended partitioning the mandated territory of Palestine into two independent nations, one Jewish and the other Arab, and, after British forces withdrew, the nations of Israel and Jordan were born the following year. Thus, the United Nations has been involved with the modern state of Israel since before its birth.

United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 called for the partition of the British-ruled Palestine Mandate into a Jewish state and an Arab state. It was approved on November 29, 1947, and included the following provisions relating to Jerusalem:

I.A.3. Independent Arab and Jewish States and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem, set forth in Part III of this Plan, shall come into existence in Palestine two months after the evacuation of the armed forces of the mandatory Power has been completed but in any case not later than 1 October 1948. The boundaries of the Arab State, the Jewish State, and the City of Jerusalem shall be as described in Parts II and III below. ... 

C. THE CITY OF JERUSALEM 

The boundaries of the City of Jerusalem are as defined in the recommendations on the City of Jerusalem. (See Part III, section B, below). ...

Part III. - City of Jerusalem

A. SPECIAL REGIME 

The City of Jerusalem shall be established as a corpus separatum under a special international regime and shall be administered by the United Nations. The Trusteeship Council shall be designated to discharge the responsibilities of the Administering Authority on behalf of the United Nations. 

B. BOUNDARIES OF THE CITY 

The City of Jerusalem shall include the present municipality of Jerusalem plus the surrounding villages and towns, the most eastern of which shall be Abu Dis; the most southern, Bethlehem; the most western, 'Ein Karim (including also the built-up area of Motsa); and the most northern Shu'fat, as indicated on the attached sketch-map (annex B). 

C. STATUTE OF THE CITY 

The Trusteeship Council shall, within five months of the approval of the present plan, elaborate and approve a detailed statute of the City which shall contain, inter alia, the substance of the following provisions: 

1. Government machinery; special objectives. The Administering Authority in discharging its administrative obligations shall pursue the following special objectives: 

i. To protect and to preserve the unique spiritual and religious interests located in the city of the three great monotheistic faiths throughout the world, Christian, Jewish and Moslem; to this end to ensure that order and peace, and especially religious peace, reign in Jerusalem; 

ii. To foster cooperation among all the inhabitants of the city in their own interests as well as in order to encourage and support the peaceful development of the mutual relations between the two Palestinian peoples throughout the Holy Land; to promote the security, well-being and any constructive measures of development of the residents having regard to the special circumstances and customs of the various peoples and communities.

2. Governor and Administrative staff. A Governor of the City of Jerusalem shall be appointed by the Trusteeship Council and shall be responsible to it. He shall be selected on the basis of special qualifications and without regard to nationality. He shall not, however, be a citizen of either State in Palestine.

The Governor shall represent the United Nations in the City and shall exercise on their behalf all powers of administration, including the conduct of external affairs. He shall be assisted by an administrative staff classed as international officers in the meaning of Article 100 of the Charter and chosen whenever practicable from the residents of the city and of the rest of Palestine on a non-discriminatory basis. A detailed plan for the organization of the administration of the city shall be submitted by the Governor to the Trusteeship Council and duly approved by it.

The partition of the territory covered by the British Palestine Mandate resulted in formation of the states of Israel and Jordan, but the internationalization of Jerusalem specified in General Assembly Resolution 181 failed to occur. Nor did any "Governor of the City of Jerusalem" representing the United Nations ever take office to run the city, as that Resolution required. 

However, the United Nations continued to generate new resolutions concerning Jerusalem. In fact there have probably been more United Nations resolutions concerning Israel and Jerusalem than concerning any other nation or region in the world. At last count, there were well over three hundred U.N. General Assembly resolutions and more than fifty U.N. Security Council resolutions concerning Israel -- the vast majority of them condemning the actions of the Jewish state.

These resolutions, often referencing earlier resolutions, continue to protest Israeli control of the city. For example, Security Council Resolution 476 (1980) declares that the body is

"Reaffirming its resolutions relevant to the character and status of

the Holy City of Jerusalem, in particular resolutions 252 (1968),

267 (1969), 271 (1969), 298 (1971) and 465 (1980).

....

1. Reaffirms the overriding necessity for ending the prolonged occupation of 

Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem.;

....

4. Reiterates that all such measures which have altered the geographic, 

demographic and historical haracter and status of the Holy City of

Jerusalem are null and void and must be rescinded in compliance with

the relevant resolutions of the Security Council.

Consider also the full text of U.N. Security Council Resolution 478, which, like Resolution 476, was presented in response to Israeli laws affirming the status of Jerusalem as Israel's capital:

Resolution 478 (1980)

of 20 August 1980

The Security Council,

Recalling its resolution 476 (1980),

Reaffirming again that the acquisition of territory by force is inadmissible, 

Deeply concerned over the enactment of a "basic law" in the Israeli Knesset proclaiming a change in the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, with its implications for peace and security.

Noting that Israel has not complied with resolution 476 (1980),

Reaffirming its determination to examine practical ways and means, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Charter of the United Nations, to secure the full implementation of its resolution 476 (1980), in the event of non-compliance by Israel,

1. Censures in the strongest terms the enactment by Israel of the "basic law" on Jerusalem and the refusal to comply with relevant Security Council resolutions;

2. Affirms that the enactment of the "basic law" by Israel constitutes a violation of international law and does not affect the continued application of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since June 1967, including Jerusalem;

3. Determines that all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, which have altered or purport to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and in particular the recent "basic law" on Jerusalem, are null and void and must be rescinded forthwith;

4. Affirms also that this action constitutes a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East;

5. Decides not to recognize the "basic law" and such other actions by Israel that, as a result of this law, seek to alter the character and status of Jerusalem and calls upon:

(a) All Member States to accept this decision;

(b) Those States that have established diplomatic missions at Jerusalem to withdraw such missions from the Holy City

6. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Security Council on the implementation of the present resolution before 15 November 1980;

7. Decides to remain seized of this serious situation.

Adopted at the 2245th meeting by 14 votes to none, with 1 abstention (United States of America). 

You can read all of the Security Council resolutions concerning Jerusalem by browsing to the United Nations website at www.UN.org. Just follow the links for U.N. bodies, and select "Security Council" and then "Resolutions." Or, to go directly to the resolutions regarding Israel and Palestine, a direct link valid as of this writing is found at the URL http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/

Has the world forgotten about the 1947 resolution calling for internationalization of Jerusalem under a governor appointed by the U.N.? Most people may have forgotten, but the leaders of the world's nations remember. In fact, toward the end of the year 2000 the U.N. General Assembly passed Resolution 57/111 on Jerusalem, in which it specifically references "resolution 181 (II) of 29 November 1947, in particular its provisions regarding the City of Jerusalem," and states, "the international community, through the United Nations, has a legitimate interest in the question of the City of Jerusalem" and that "any actions taken by Israel to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the Holy City of Jerusalem are illegal and therefore null and void and have no validity whatsoever." (See our chapter "Nations United and Resolved" for more on this particular U.N. resolution.)

It is these resolutions that the world community seems to be moving in the direction of enforcing. As noted in the first chapter of this book, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said, "the West has been guilty of double standards -- on the one hand saying the UN Security Council resolutions on Iraq must be implemented, on the other hand, sometimes appearing rather quixotic over the implementation of resolutions about Israel and Palestine." (From the article titled, "Foreign Ministry slams British PM's linkage of Iraq, Intifada," by Douglas Davis, March 26, 2003) 

Despite such resolutions, and the possibility of enforcement by military means, it is still hard to imagine blue-helmeted United Nations peacekeeping forces assembling in the region outside Israel and then marching into the country by force. In half a dozen wars Israel was able to push back the combined armies of all its Arab neighbors. In the 1967 war the Arab armies managed to push ahead twenty miles inside Israel, but then Israel stopped them and pushed them back. Would U.N. forces meet with greater success than the Arabs? Even from a purely secular and strategic standpoint, without giving thought to divine intervention, the task would give pause to any general or military commander.

Moreover, today it is generally known or widely believed that Israel possesses nuclear weapons, although the Jews have never publicly declared themselves a nuclear power. With atomic weapons on both sides, the United States and the Soviet Union faced off for decades without either side daring to stage an all-out attack. A would-be attacker of Israel would face a similar deterrent.

So, how could a situation reasonably arise that would actually bring the forces of the United Nations into conflict with Israel over Jerusalem?

We will have to wait to see what happens, of course. But, dramatic changes and reversals have occurred before in global politics, and suicidal military ventures are not unknown in human history.

Yet, it is more common for military powers to back themselves into a corner, where they find themselves forced to act. For example, it would not be difficult to conceive of United Nations peacekeeping forces being invited into Jerusalem in relatively small numbers as part of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. They could be welcomed by both sides in under certain conditions, perhaps as unarmed monitors to report on compliance with agreements, or as lightly armed border guards to secure agreed-upon boundaries. Then, once they were in place, it would not be difficult to imagine the situation deteriorating some time later, and the government of Israel taking a position contrary to what the United Nations felt obligated to enforce. A confrontation between Israeli troops and reinforced U.N. forces could escalate unexpectedly.

Actually, United Nations forces in have already been invited into the area; not into Jerusalem, but into the border area of southern Lebanon. Israel welcomed them after its withdrawal in the year 2000 from Lebanese land that had been occupied as an Israeli "security zone" for more than two decades. In July, 2000, the U.N. deployed its first peacekeeping units along the "line of withdrawal", also known as the "blue line," between Israel and Lebanon. Referred to as the United Nations Interim Force, battalions of nearly two hundred soldiers in blue helmets took up positions -- armed men and women from Ireland, Ghana, Finland, Fiji, Nepal and India. So, a similar deployment around Jerusalem is not unthinkable.

In fact, numerous proposals have been made, calling for interposing U.N. peacekeepers between the Israelis and the Palestinians, either ahead of a peace agreement or as a means of implementing such an agreement. So far, Israel has refused to allow entry to such international forces, and the United States has blocked efforts in the U.N. Security Council to move in that direction.

But, the political situation can change a rapidly. Nothing illustrates that better than the changes in the United States policy toward Israel under President George W. Bush.

For decades prior to his administration the American policy had been one of official neutrality between Israel and the Palestinians. President Jimmy Carter dealt even handedly with both sides and brought them to the peace table at Camp David. Ronald Reagan pursued the same course during his eight-year administration. And George H. W. Bush (the father of George W. Bush) did likewise. The Bill Clinton White House followed the same policy and brought the Israelis and the Palestinians to the point of a peace agreement that was to have put a Palestinian state in place as early as 1999. Then the status of Jerusalem came up, and negotiations fell apart.

The policy of the new administration of George W. Bush appeared, at first, to be characterized by a lack of interest in the Middle East, altogether. Then, it became clear that, by adopting a hands-off policy, the new president had caused the United States government to change its course with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Instead of acting as a neutral power trying to bring both sides to the negotiating table, the United States actually took on the role of a ally of Israel. Without strong American intervention to act as a restraint, the government of Israel had the upper hand in dealing with the Palestinians. And with the tacit approval of Washington Israel used to its military superiority to impose a de facto solution without further negotiation with the Palestinians. Citing security concerns, Israeli forces simply re-occupied territory previously turned over to control by the Palestinian Authority.

But, then came September 11, 2001. When Islamic terrorist attacks hit the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, it became clear that Israel's strangulation of Palestinian aspirations in the occupied territories would not settle the matter. Like a balloon that is squeezed in one place, only to expand everywhere else, the violence spread worldwide. As a result, American policy changed course again. Instead of total disengagement, the U.S. became fully engaged again in the Middle East peace process, this time by joining Russia, the European Union and the United Nations to form a Quartet sponsoring an international roadmap for peace.

Similar rapid changes in circumstances and policies could turn a voluntary peacekeeping operation around Jerusalem into a hostile military occupation of Jerusalem by blue helmeted United Nations peacekeeping forces. The international attack on Jerusalem long foretold in the Bible could develop from a botched peacekeeping effort. Peacekeepers brought in voluntarily by Israel could turn into the advance guard of an invading army. And a new administration in Washington could turn Israel's only ally into a neutral observer, or even an opponent.

Am I writing this book to declare to the world that this is what will happen? No. We can not be certain, at this time, just how the prophecies of an international attack on Jerusalem see fulfillment.

But we can be certain that Jerusalem has already now become a problem for the whole world, and that the legal framework has already been put in place for the United Nations to insist upon international control over the city. In the light of Bible prophecy, this gives us reason to expect the rest of what the Bible predicts to take place in the near future.







Chapter 4

Why Believe Bible Prophecy? 





What is the Bible's track record? Unlike fanciful religious writings and fairy tales, the Bible speaks of the real world and its past and future events. The existence of ancient kings and kingdoms described in Scripture has been verified, time and again, by archaeological discoveries. In fact, archaeologists have long used the Bible as a guide, to help them know what to look for and where to dig for it. 



Is its prophetic track record equally reliable? Yes. Besides its 'end times' prophecies concerning Messiah's return, his coming Kingdom of God, and the end of the corrupt 'world' as we know it, the Bible also contains many prophecies that have already undergone fulfillment. If we look at these, and at their accurate fulfillment hundreds or thousands of years later, we will find convincing evidence that will enable us to put faith in what the Bible also predicts for the near future.



Although we think of it as a single book, the Bible is actually a collection of more than sixty books written by some forty writers over the course of well over a thousand years. Some of the oldest prophetic passages were already considered 'ancient' writings by those who lived generations afterward, and who likewise heard from God and penned the more recent books of the Bible. They, along with secular historians outside Israel, recorded the events that took place as foretold by the earlier writers.



Is there a chance that later writers 'fudged' these prophecies by writing them, or re-writing them, after the events occurred? No, because the ancient hand-written scrolls were copied and distributed far and wide. No one could possibly have collected all the copies, from Egypt to Babylon, to make such later modifications. And enough copies have been found, nestled among ancient artifacts unearthed during archaelogical digs, to establish that they were written long before the events they accurately predicted.



Prophecy that has already been fulfilled provides some of the strongest motivation to believe the other prophecies of Scripture that remain be fulfilled in the future. Fulfilled prophecy constitutes evidence proving the Bible's authenticity as a product of superhuman divine intelligence, although humans clearly were used as God's scribes to write it down. 



Fulfilled biblical prophecies are many in number, and some of them are relatively long and rather complex. That is because they are essentially history written in advance, and history can be long and complex. Have you ever studied the history of England with its violent mixing of Angles, Saxons, Celts and others, and its turbulent succession of kings and queens? Then you know what I am talking about when I refer to length and complexity. The history of ancient Israel and the surrounding empires that encroached on its territory at one time or another forms a tangled web as difficult to untangle as the history of Britain, or more so, and some of the prophecies are equally difficult to understand.



For example, in the book of the Bible bearing his name the prophet Daniel uses symbolic language to predict a succession of world powers who would fight each other for supremacy over a period of hundreds and thousands of years, culminating in the coming of the Jewish Messiah and his eventual supplanting of human governments with the Kingdom of God. An adequate discussion of these prophecies and the world events that have fulfilled them, so far, would fill books -- and has, indeed, proved to be the subject of many books. So, we won't even start to look at them here. (Whew!)



But there are two Bible prophecies in particular that are simple to understand, powerful in their impact, and impossible to deny. They fit within the scope of this web site.



The first of these is the prediction that the God of Israel would eventually be worshiped all over the whole planet earth.



The Bible's prophecies on this matter were written during an era when each nation had its own gods and goddesses. The Ammonites worshipped Molech, and sacrificed their children as part of that worship. The people of Phoenicia and Canaan bowed down to Baal and Ashtoreth. The nation of Moab served their god Chemosh. The Philistines prostrated themselves before Dagon. The Greeks in Ephesus shouted praise to their goddess Artemis. The Egyptians, Greeks and Romans all worshipped whole pantheons of gods, including Zeus, Mercury, deified emperors and pharaohs, and many, many others. But the people of Israel worshipped the unseen Creator of the universe, who revealed himself to Abraham and Abraham's offspring by the name Yahweh or Jehovah -- the Hebrew tetragrammaton or word of four letters, YHWH.



How many people today still worship Molech, Chemosh or Dagon? A better question might be, How many have even heard of these long-lost 'gods'? The names of Zeus and Mercury are still recognized today as gods of classical antiquity, but how many cities throughout the world can boast of temples where throngs of people assemble to pray to these Greek and Roman deities? But the God of Abraham has worshipers today in Jewish synagogues throughout the earth. Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches devoted to this same God are found on every continent. And a billion Muslims spread across the earth identify Allah of the Koran with the God of Abraham.



Did the God of Abraham win worshipers worldwide because the nations sponsoring other gods ceased to exist? At first glance, that might seem to be explain why Molech, Chemosh and Dagon find few faithful adherents today. Ammon, Phoenicia and Moab are no longer on the map. But, wait! Israel, too, ceased to exist as a nation some two thousand years ago, and wasn't re-established until very recently in 1948. Yet the God of Israel survived and gained worshipers throughout the earth. Moreover, Egypt still exists as a nation, but the gods of the pharaohs and the pyramids are long gone. The vast majority of Egyptians today worship the God of Abraham. Greece and Rome are still on the map, but the Greeks worship the God of Abraham, and Rome has become synonymous with the Catholic faith that elevates the God of Abraham and his Messiah or Christ. 



Is it mere coincidence, then, that the God of Israel has worshipers everywhere, while the gods of Israel's ancient neighbors have faded into oblivion? No, this is exactly what the Bible prophesied would occur.



The Old Testament was written over a period of hundreds of years in the Hebrew language, and it was completed long before the third century B.C., when it was translated into Greek in Alexandria, Egypt. Contained within that Old Testament, while the pantheon of pagan gods were still actively worshiped, were these ancient prophecies about the God of Abraham:



"All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee." (Psalm 22:27) 



"All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name." (Psalm 66:4) 



"That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations." (Psalm 67:2)



"God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him." (Psalm 67:7) 



"All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name." (Psalm 86:9) 



"O LORD ...the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods." (Jeremiah 16:19-20)



"And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts." (Zechariah 14:16) 



How unlikely those words would have seemed to non-Israelites at that time, had they even had the curiosity to read the religious writings of the Jews!



Hundreds of years later the New Testament was completed and began circulating in multiple copies during the lifetime of those who encountered Jesus in the flesh, while pagan Caesars still ruled the world and compelled people to worship them as deified emperors. Yet these early Christian writings, too, prophesy about the God of Abraham:



"Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest." (Revelation 15:4)



How unlikely this, too, must have seemed at a time when the powerful Roman empire had only recently crushed Jewish nationalism, tore down the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, scattered the Jewish captives to the four corners of the empire, and was in the process of hunting down and publicly executing the remaining followers of the Jewish Messiah Jesus!



Yet, in spite of overwhelming odds, these ancient biblical prophecies have proved true. The God of Israel is worshiped today by people of all nations, even by millions in a land as foreign to Israel as China. I myself have visited Japan and shared in worship with Japanese Christians. Besides the Jews, billions of Christians and Muslims throughout the entire world claim to worship the God of Abraham.



Yes, the God of the Jews finds worshipers everywhere today -- just as He prophesied in the Bible thousands of years ago.



But, that isn't all. This is merely one of many, many fulfilled prophecies proving the truthfulness of the Bible as God's inspired Word.



The second prophecy that can be considered in the space allowed here is equally simple, powerful and undeniable. It is the prediction that the Jews would be removed from the Promised Land, would be scattered throughout the earth, but thousands of years later would finally return and reestablish the nation of Israel. This prophecy was made centuries prior to the rise of the Caesars in Rome, yet was fulfilled within my lifetime, and within the recollection of many people alive today.



Through Moses, God brought the nation of Israel into a covenant, a solemn agreement to keep the complete set of laws and commandments He gave them. "These are the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel." (Deuteronomy 29:1 NASB) If they kept the covenant, they would receive a long string of blessings specifically listed as part of the agreement. But, if they broke the covenant, there would be punishments in store for the nation. The ultimate punishment would be the breakup of the nation and the scattering of the Jewish people to live as strangers in the territories of other nations.



"But it shall come about, if you do not obey the LORD your God...the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth." (Deuteronomy 28:15, 64 NASB)



Though the Jewish people would remain in this scattered condition, without a homeland of their own, for a very long, long time, this scattering would not be permanent. They would eventually be returned to the Promised Land: 



"...then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee ...from thence will he fetch thee: And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it." (Deuteronomy 30:3-5)



"...the LORD will...assemble the dipersed of Israel, and gather together the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth." (Isaiah 11:11-12 Jewish Publication Society of America)



There were relatively brief periods of captivity forced on the Jews by the Assyrian empire and, later, by the Babylonian empire. Much of the population was carried captive to Babylon for about seventy years, with a large number of escapees fleeing in the other direction, to Egypt, around the sixth century B.C. But the real scattering of the Jews to the four corners of the earth was yet future. Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, repeated the prophecy in these words:



"And they shall fall by the edge of the sword and be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." (Luke 21:24)



Within the lifetime of those who witnessed Christ's crucifixion, a Jewish uprising against Rome was crushed brutally by the imperial armies. The Romans demolished Jerusalem and its temple and sold the Jews into slavery throughout the empire, scattering them to the four corners of the earth, into all the nations. 



Normally, that would have spelled the end of the Jews as a people and Israel as a nation. To all appearances, there would never again be a Jewish state in Palestine. The Romans ruled the ruins of Jerusalem until the empire began to fall apart. Then the eastern empire ruled from Byzantium. With the rise of Islam, Muslims took control. The land changed hands as European Crusaders and the Arab warriors of Islamic Jihad pushed each other back and forth over the war-torn terrain. For hundreds of years -- nearly two thousand years, in fact -- Gentiles trampled upon Jerusalem. Would the Jewish state ever be restored? You must be joking!!! Only a miracle could bring that about.



However, that miracle had been promised in biblical prophecy. Although it took two world wars to accomplish it, the miracle occurred as the hand of God pushed world events in that direction, and the prophecy was fulfilled. 



World War I was still raging, and the Ottoman Turks still held Jerusalem when, on June 4, 1917, Jules Cambon, Secretary General of the French Foreign Ministry, wrote this in an official letter to Jewish Zionist leader Nahum Sokolow:

... it would be a deed of justice and reparation to assist, by the protection of the Allied Powers, in the renaissance of the Jewish nationality in that Land from which the people of Israel were exiled so many centuries ago.



The French Government, which entered this present war to defend a people wrongly attacked, and which continues the struggle to assure victory of right over might, cannot but feel sympathy for your cause, the triumph of which is bound up with that of the Allies.



I am happy to give you herewith such assurance. 



Five months later, on November 2, 1917, British foreign secretary Arthur James Lord Balfour wrote a letter to a Jewish peer in the House of Lords, a letter that has since been dubbed "the Balfour Declaration":

Foreign Office November 2nd, 1917



Dear Lord Rothschild,



I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet.



"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."



I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.



Yours sincerely,

Arthur James Balfour



When British forces under General Allenby took Jerusalem in December, 1917, a Jewish Legion of several thousand Jews from many nations formed part of the victorious army. Under a Mandate from the League of Nations, Britain continued to administer the territory. Meanwhile, a huge steady influx of Jewish immigrants began to arrive.



As though to thwart the fulfillment of prophecy, Hitler's Nazi government arose and began the systematic slaughter of six million Jews in gas chambers and ovens. It took the Second World War to stop this demonic madness and to keep the prophecy on track to fulfillment. But enough Jews survived to see the formation of the State of Israel in 1948. The Bible indeed proved to be a book of true prophecy.



How could the ancient Bible writers see thousands of years ahead into mankind's future? How could they know, in advance, that the gods of the Gentile nations would fade into antiquity, while Israel's God would come to have worshipers in every nation? How could they know that the Jewish nation would be destroyed, its people scattered worldwide, only to be restored once again after thousands of years? 



Actually, they did not "know" the future, except in the sense that they wrote down what they were told by God, and they believed what He told them. God, in turn, knew the future, because he could make it happen. Regardless of what men chose to do, using the free will that he granted them, he could intervene in human affairs and cause events to turn out in fulfillment of his inspired prophecies.



These prophecies, undeniably fulfilled thousands of years later, offer indisputable evidence of the truthfulness, inspiration and reliability of the Bible. 









Chapter 5

Chosen People 



"Who are God's chosen people?" "The Jews." Ask almost anyone that question, and that is the answer you will receive. (However, many people will be quick to add a qualifying statement, opinion or argument.) The expression "chosen people" is commonplace, part of everyone's vocabulary. And everyone knows that it refers to the Jews.

But what does it really mean? 

First, it is important to understand what it definitely does NOT mean. It is clear from Scripture that their being the chosen people does not mean that God approves of everything they do or endorses the policies of their government. 

The government of Israel has brought worldwide criticism upon itself for its mistreatment of Palestinian civilians both politically and militarily. Have those injustices and brutalities been endorsed by God, because the Jews were his chosen people? The best answer is to look into the Bible to see what God had to say about Israeli political leaders in the past. Although he referred to King David as "a man after my own heart," his Word the Bible had much more negative things to say about most of the kings of Israel:

"Jehoram was thirty and two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem...and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord." (2 Chronicles 21:5-6 The Holy Scriptures, Jewish Publication Society of America)

"Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem...And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord." (2 Chronicles 22:2-4 The Holy Scriptures, Jewish Publication Society of America)

And so on for most of the kings who ruled in Jerusalem, and for most of the Jewish kings who ruled in Samaria over the breakaway northern kingdom of Israel. They followed policies that were displeasing to God, for the most part, and they were condemned for it in the Bible.

So, the fact that Benjamin Netanyahu or Ariel Sharon might be ruling as prime minister over God's chosen people does not mean that their governmental policies are God's chosen policies. 

In what way, then, are the Jews God's chosen people?

The answer is found in the Bible, and, although the story begins thousands of years ago, it is essential to understanding what is happening today in the Middle East and its significance for the whole world.

Although the first human pair, Adam and Eve, were expelled from the Garden of Eden, they still went on to fulfill God's mandate to them to 'be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.' (Genesis 1:28) Their offspring spread abroad and populated and planet, but, for the most part, they too followed the sinful course of their parents, and the earth was full of violence and immorality. The Creator returned to his creation to correct the mess they were making of the earth and to correct the course that these creatures endowed with free will had chosen for themselves. He announced that he would wipe the earth clean and start over again. He commissioned a righteous man named Noah to make this announcement and to provide the means for a new start for the world's repopulation via his offspring. 

Noah spent perhaps a hundred and twenty years building, with the aid of his three sons, a floating box or ark that would preserve the lives of his family, his wife and sons and their wives. Then God sent the global deluge that wiped out the rest of mankind and cleansed the earth. After many months of floating over the flooded planet, Noah and his family finally disembarked when the flood waters had drained off the land. God caused geological processes to lower the ocean floors and raise the mountains and redistribute the water, and "the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat" in eastern Turkey. (Genesis 8:4 Jerusalem Bible)

As generations passed, the offspring of Noah increased in numbers and grew to a sizeable population. But, instead of spreading out to fill the earth as God intended, they remained concentrated in "the land of Shinar" not far westward from where the ark had settled after the flood. They set about building a city there. "Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.'" (Genesis 11:2, 4 Revised Standard Version) 

They were able to do this, in part, because all mankind, descended from Noah and his sons, naturally spoke the same language. So, God intervened creatively by giving the people different languages, thus preventing them from continuing their cooperative venture, and forcing them to spread out and fill the earth.

As they moved apart and settled in widely scattered areas, the families of mankind all had opportunity to carry with them the knowledge passed on by their ancestors concerning God's dealings with mankind. But most of them chose not to preserve this knowledge. Instead, they began making up fables and even making up gods for themselves, and crafting idols to worship instead of worshiping the Creator. As the Apostle Paul explained it to Roman Christians thousands of years later:

"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles." (Romans 1:18-23 NIV)

However, not everyone chose to forget about the true God, the Creator of heaven and earth. Some continued to worship the true God. In the line of descent from Noah's son Shem there was eventually born a man named Abram. God spoke to Abram, and he listened obediently, even though God's instructions were to leave his relatives behind and move his own household to a foreign land he had never seen before. 

God told Abram, "Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee." (Genesis 17:5-7 KJV)

Abraham was to be a father of "many nations," not just of the Jews. Through his wife Sarah, Abraham begat Isaac, the father of Jacob, whose name was later changed to Israel. But, through Sarah's Egyptian maid Hagar (a practice considered acceptable in that culture), Abraham fathered Ishmael, and Ishmael became the progenitor of many of the peoples inhabiting the Middle East:

"This is the account of Abraham's son Ishmael, whom Sarah's maidservant, Hagar the Egyptian, bore to Abraham. These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. These were the sons of Ishmael, and these are the names of the twelve tribal rulers according to their settlements and camps. Altogether, Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty-seven years. He breathed his last and died, and he was gathered to his people. His descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the border of Egypt, as you go toward Asshur. And they lived in hostility toward all their brothers." (Genesis 25:12-18 NIV)

This "hostility" has continued into our day, in the form of Arab opposition to the Jews and the state of Israel.

Later in life, after the death of his wife Sarah, Abraham took another wife, who bore him additional sons, the progenitors of other Arab tribes: 

"Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan; the descendants of Dedan were the Asshurites, the Letushites and the Leummites. The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah." (Genesis 25:1-4 NIV) These, too, settled areas and towns of the Middle East that came to bear their names.

Abraham's son Isaac became father to twins: Jacob and Esau. 

Esau became father to the Edomites, who inhabited land surrounding Canaan:

"These were the chiefs descended from Esau, by name, according to their clans and regions: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, Magdiel and Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom, according to their settlements in the land they occupied. This was Esau the father of the Edomites." (Genesis 36:40-43 NIV)

Meanwhile, "Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan." (Genesis 37:1 NIV) There he fathered twelve sons by his two wives and two concubines. These sons, in turn, became the progenitors of the twelve tribes of Israel. But, first, due to a famine in the land of Canaan the whole family went to live in Egypt, where vast amounts of food had been put into storage ahead of time by Jacob's son Joseph who had been appointed prime minister of Egypt. (The whole story is fascinating and is found in the Bible book of Genesis.)

While living in Egypt for hundreds of years, Jacob's descendents grew into twelve populous tribes, so populous that the king of Egypt began to fear them and put them into slavery to keep them under control. (Exodus 1:9-11) God spoke to an Israelite named Moses and gave him the assignment of leading the people of Israel up out of Egypt. He also told Moses to tell them that they were his chosen people:

"For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt." (Deut. 7:6-8 NIV)

From that point on, there has been jealousy and rivalry and war among these close relatives, the Arabs and the Israelites. It is a jealousy that goes beyond normal sibling rivalry. It revolves around choices God made and the promises he made to Israel as his chosen people.

Psychologists have written books about 'irregular people' and 'toxic parents' who favor one child over another unreasonably. Is that the sort of parent God was in choosing Jacob's offspring rather than Esau's?

No, God had sound reasons for his special dealings with the nation of Israel. And he engineered things so that the Jews did not, ultimately, have an unfair advantage over the rest of mankind. Their being 'chosen' resulted in many blessings, but also in many tribulations. What other nationality has been persecuted from one country to another, culminating in a holocaust in which six million were killed? When faced with such persecution, the lead character in the play Fiddler on the Roof finds it so painful that he asks God to 'choose someone else next time.'

But why did God 'choose' one people out of all mankind? Primarily, because the Messiah would need to be born in a community that would be able to receive him appropriately. By the time the Christ child was scheduled to be born, the rest of mankind had forgotten about the Creator and his promised "seed." (More will be said about the Promised Seed in the next chapter of this book.) The Jews would have forgotten, too, and would have been worshiping idols with the rest of the human race, if God had not intervened and made them his Chosen People. 

When Moses was still on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments from God, the people of Israel had his brother Aaron make them a golden calf and they bowed down and worshiped it. They turned to idolatry just as quickly as all the other nations. God intervened and forced them to destroy that idol. The history of Israel shows that he intervened many, many times in the same way, because the people of Israel had the same sinful tendencies as the other nations to abandon true worship and to fall into idolatry.

The Chosen People were given the Ten Commandments, as well as more than six hundred laws of God, to force them to preserve true worship of the one living and true God, and to preserve some semblance of moral and ethical purity. God could have chosen any nationality to provide this appropriate framework to receive the Messiah. But, he had to choose somebody. So, why not the Jews?

Besides providing a society practicing true worship, in which the Messiah could make an appearance, God also needed a Chosen People to preserve the sacred Scriptures. A pagan society would not have valued the holy writings, and they would have been lost. So, one nation on the earth had to be kept somewhat on the straight and narrow, to act as custodians of the Bible.

"The Jews were entrusted with the whole revelation of God," according to the Apostle Paul. (Romans 3:2 New Living Translation) "The Jews are the people to whom God's message was entrusted." (Romans 3:2 Jerusalem Bible) Even the Islamic holy book the Koran says that the Jews "were required to preserve the Book of ALLAH" and that "they were guardians over it." (5:45)

So, the Jews were 'chosen' to do a job that needed to be done. Any nation could have been chosen, and if another nation had been instead of the Jews -- say, the Irish, for example -- then people would have asked, "Why the Irish?" in the same way that they now ask, "Why the Jews?"

Ultimately, though, the Jews were not given a permanent advantage over other nations, because God is not the sort of parent who plays favorites. "There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism." (Romans 2:9-11 NIV)

The Jews were the people 'chosen' to preserve true worship until the arrival of the Messiah, and the people 'chosen' to preserve the Sacred Scriptures with their inspired history and prophecy. But, God did this with the aim of saving other people 'chosen' from all nations. Because of the things that God accomplished in this way, personal salvation is now available to both Jews and non-Jews on the same basis: "Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith." (Romans 3:29-30 NIV)

In fact, to avoid giving the Jews an unfair advantage over other nationalities, when it came to receiving blessings through the Messiah, God placed an obstacle in their path. "Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in," or "One section of Israel has become blind, but this will last only until the whole pagan world has entered." (Romans 11:25 KJV and Jerusalem Bible)

The Jews, too, would end up being blessed. But, in the meantime, they would have to suffer more than many other peoples. For example, they would undergo centuries of slavery: "And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land [that is] not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years." (Gen 15:13 KJV) And, if they failed in their responsibilities to keep the strict laws God gave them, "the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth." (Deuteronomy 28:15, 64 NASB)

The Jews were 'chosen' to do a job that needed to be done, but it was a servant's job, because its aim was to bless the rest of mankind. The end result would be, as God told Abraham, "And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." (Gen 22:18 KJV)









Chapter 6

Promised Seed 



"And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed," God told Abraham. (Gen 22:18 KJV) Who would that promised seed prove to be? The answer is not immediately obvious, because God used the term "seed" differently at different times. First, he used the term very broadly to refer to the vast numbers of people who would be descended from Abraham, but later God revealed that the blessings would come to "all the nations" from a single individual at the end of a long line of descent.

The Apostle Paul explained, "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." (Gal 3:16 KJV) Besides calling him the seed of Abraham, Paul also referred to Jesus as King David's seed: "Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh." (Romans 1:3 KJV)

What is the connection between Abraham and Christ? And between David and Christ? The Bible records these connections in the long chain of genealogies and histories that fill the Old Testament. But the Gospel writer Matthew sums it up for us this way:

A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: 

Abraham was the father of Isaac, 

Isaac the father of Jacob, 

Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 

Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, 

Perez the father of Hezron, 

Hezron the father of Ram, 

Ram the father of Amminadab, 

Amminadab the father of Nahshon, 

Nahshon the father of Salmon, 

Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, 

Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, 

Obed the father of Jesse, 

and Jesse the father of King David. 

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife, 

Solomon the father of Rehoboam, 

Rehoboam the father of Abijah, 

Abijah the father of Asa, 

Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, 

Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, 

Jehoram the father of Uzziah, 

Uzziah the father of Jotham, 

Jotham the father of Ahaz, 

Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 

Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, 

Manasseh the father of Amon, 

Amon the father of Josiah, 

and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. 

After the exile to Babylon: 

Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, 

Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 

Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, 

Abiud the father of Eliakim, 

Eliakim the father of Azor, 

Azor the father of Zadok, 

Zadok the father of Akim, 

Akim the father of Eliud, 

Eliud the father of Eleazar, 

Eleazar the father of Matthan, 

Matthan the father of Jacob, 

and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. 

Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ. 

(Matt. 1:1-17 NIV)

On several occasions God indicated that Abraham's seed or offspring would grow to include vast numbers of people. "And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered." (Gen 13:16 KJV) "And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be." (Gen 15:5 KJV) The number would be literally astronomical, as the latter verse indicates.

In a general sense Abraham's seed would include all of his offspring, of course. But God made a distinction and indicated that the promises he gave to Abraham would apply to a certain line of descent. When a conflict developed between Abraham's young son Isaac, whom his wife Sarah had borne, and his older son Ishmael, his child through Sarah's servant Hagar, God instructed him to send Hagar and Ishmael away, as Sarah had requested: "And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed." (Genesis 21:12-13 KJV)

God would cause a nation of people to descend from Ishmael, "because he is thy seed," but the promised blessings would come through Isaac, "for in Isaac shall thy seed be called." Or, as the New Living Translation puts it, "for Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted." (Gen. 21:13) Or, "it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." (NIV) The promises of blessing were part of a covenant or formal agreement that God entered into with Abraham, and he indicated that he would continue his covenant with Isaac: "And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him." (Gen 17:19 KJV)

There is no biblical record of God making a personal covenant with Ishmael, but the Almighty spoke to Isaac very much in the same way that he had spoken to Abraham: "And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake." (Gen 26:24 KJV)

Likewise, when it came to Isaac's twin sons Jacob and Esau, the Father of all mankind chose one of them in connection with the promised seed. It was to Jacob that he said, "And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." (Gen 28:14 KJV)

These were not choices made on the spur of the moment, after Isaac was born and then, again, after Jacob was born. No, the One who sees the future and who knows the end from the beginning, knew ahead of time the line of descent that would produce the promised seed. He knew the destiny of the Israelites way back when he made his first promises to Abraham: "And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years." (Gen 15:13 KJV) God knew the future, not just of the nation of Israel, but also of the specific line of descent that would lead to the Messiah or Christ ("Anointed One" in Hebrew and Greek, respectively).

As can be seen in Matthew's chronology, above, God selected a line of descent though King David. (Read the full story of David in the Bible books of First and Second Samuel.) "I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations." (Psalm 89:3-4 KJV)

"Now then, tell my servant David, 'This is what the LORD Almighty says: I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel. ... When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. ... Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.' " (2 Samuel 7:8-16 NIV)

David's son Solomon succeeded him as king of Israel, and Solomon built the "house" or temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem, as promised. And a long succession of kings in David's line ruled for hundreds of years. But God's promise to David hinted at more than that; it hinted at a descendent who would be called God's son and who would rule as king forever.

After being given a vision outlining a succession of world powers that would encroach on the territory of Israel over a period of hundreds of years, the prophet Daniel was given another vision depicting this promised immortal ruler, the promised seed who would be born "like a son of man," yet who would have access to heaven and to the presence of God the Father:

"In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed." (Daniel 7:13-14 NIV)

The prophet Isaiah provided additional details about the promised seed who would be born of a virgin and who would preach in Galilee: "Galilee" would "see a great Light" because "a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son." "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 7:14; 9:1-6 KJV)

The Messiah's birth would begin an era when many non-Jewish people of all the nations would turn for hope to "the root of Jesse, that standeth for an ensign for the peoples. Unto him shall the nations seek." (Isaiah 11:10 Jewish Publication Society of America) Isaiah was referring here to Jesus' descent from David, son of Jesse. The Apostle Paul made clear that Isaiah was prophesying about Christ, when Paul quoted him: "And again, Isaiah says, 'The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him.'" (Romans 15:12 NIV)

For more about prophecies identifying the Messiah and prophecies he has fulfilled, see the chapter of this book titled "Promised Messiah."

With millions of people of all nationalities putting faith in the Jewish Messiah and returning to the one living and true God, it is already true that, as God promised Abraham, "And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." (Gen 22:18 KJV) Even greater blessings for all mankind lie ahead when, as promised elsewhere in the Bible, Christ returns to rule the world from Jerusalem, the Holy City.









Chapter 7

Promised Land 



Even in the vocabulary of unchurched people the expression "Promised Land" is synonymous with the land of Israel. Where did this expression come from? 

Before God confused the languages and scattered the people at the tower of Babel, the world's human population was concentrated in the plain of Shinar near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. After that, when the nations were scattered about to the four corners of the globe, those who spoke Hebrew still resided close to Shinar. But a small family group began to migrate southward. "And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Cannan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there." (Genesis 11:31) 

Ur is the same town where, on April 15, 2003, representatives of various Iraqi exile groups met under the auspices of the victorious United States military to begin talks aimed at forming a new government for Iraq. Haran is now called Harran, a city in modern-day Turkey.

Abraham was in his seventies and still living there when God spoke to him and told him to leave the land of his relatives and to go to a new land that he would give him: "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee." (Genesis 12:1 KJV)

So, together with his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot and several dozen servants, Abram set out toward the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea.

God led Abraham to the land of Canaan, land that today is covered by the nations of Israel and Jordan. (Canaan was named after the forefather of its inhabitants, a grandson of Noah. "And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth...And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan." (Gen 9:18; 10:6 KJV) 

The land was sparsely populated, so even the Canaanites felt that there was plenty of room for nomadic Abram and his nephew Lot. They had no way of knowing that God planned to transfer ownership of the land to Abram's offspring. "And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give t