After Israel’s return to their land, the Bible predicts that

(i)           Jerusalem will be a major problem to the surrounding nations.  “Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it. (Zechariah 12:2-3)

(ii)    The Israeli people will recognize the saving work of Jesus. “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.” (Zechariah 12:10)

This also will fulfill the prophetic words of Paul in Romans 11 that Israel will be saved and that their awakening will be like ‘life from the dead.’  This awakening of Israel will have tremendous effects on Israel but on Christianity world –wide.

“For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. ..  Lest you be wise in your own opinion, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” (Rom.11:15,23, 26-27)

(iii)                  Many nations will go to war against Jerusalem and try to divide it. Then The Lord will return to the Mount of Olives and establish His reign on the earth.

 “Behold, the  day is coming for the Lord, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst.  For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city.  Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward.” (Zech. 14:1-4)

These prophecies from Zechariah certainly seem to be in the process of being fulfilled today. Jerusalem has become a major geopolitical problem. The surrounding Islamic nations are hostile to it and they are influencing the great powers (including the USA, Europe and Russia) to divide Jerusalem. Eventually this will lead to a war for Jerusalem. Zechariah predicts that the nations will succeed in dividing  Jerusalem. When this happens the Lord will return to the Mount of Olives and establish His rule as we see in the prophecy of Zechariah 14 quoted above.

Though we are now ( as we have seen) in the end of the Last Days - 'the end of the age', we do not know how long this period will last or ‘the day or hour ‘ of His coming – but we say, “MARANATHA’

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