Prophecy Update: The Battle for Jerusalem                          5/13/2021

Jerusalem is the capital city of Israel and will be forever. This is the reality in spite of the world’s rejection of the claim. God made specific promises regarding Jerusalem; prophetically fulfilled in David and Solomon’s day. God prophesied through Moses that Jerusalem would be chosen as the eternal capital city of Israel and the world.

“You will bring them and plant them in the mountain of Your inheritance, The place, O Lord, which You have made for Your dwelling, The sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established.”

Exodus 15:17

This prophecy is clearly speaking of Jerusalem and of the Temple. God clearly kept promising one-day King David would establish Jerusalem.  The Temple is also clearly in view and was built by Solomon. The world has been trying to destroy Jerusalem from the time God established the ancient city. After Ezra led the people back to Jerusalem and built the temple, God spoke of the next temple.

“And I responded the second time and said to him, What are the two olive branches which are beside the two golden pipes, which empty the golden oil from themselves? So he answered me, saying, Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, my lord. Then he said, “These are the two anointed ones, who are standing by the Lord of the whole earth.”

Zechariah 4:12-14

God took this verse and explained to us that Elijah and Moses will be the two anointed ones who stand before the temple, rebuilt in Jerusalem during the Tribulation.

“And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.”

Revelation 11:3-4

 After the two witnesses are killed and raptured, antichrist will rule for 3.5 years and Jesus will come and put him down! One day, Jesus will come and fight the nations over Jerusalem.

“And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.”

Zechariah 12:9

The battle over Jerusalem will extend into the Tribulation Period. Since that is true, we will see times when the world will utterly reject Israel claim that Jerusalem is their capital city. The Bible makes clear that this battle will continue until Jesus comes back. That is why this week is so important. Hamas and Iran launched a plan to kill and maim Jews in Jerusalem so that they could take the city back from Israel. Part of their confidence was boosted by the American administration.   

“Biden Administration Sides with Muslim Rioters in Jerusalem. Muslim rioters, incited by the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas terror organization, have been rioting on the Temple Mount and in other areas in Jerusalem in recent nights. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke by phone on Sunday evening with his Israeli counterpart Meir Ben-Shabbat to express “serious concerns about the situation in Jerusalem, including violent confrontations” at the Temple Mount during the last days of Ramadan. Jerusalem did not publish a readout of the conversation, but according to Israeli journalist Ariel Kahana, Ben-Shabbat rebuffed the Biden Administration’s intervention in Israel’s internal affairs and his apparent support for the Muslim rioters in Jerusalem. Israel celebrates the reunification of its capital and its victory in the 1967 Six-Day War on Jerusalem Day, marked this year on Monday, but has encountered significant violent Muslim resistance to the celebrations.” unitedwithisrael.org 

Tensions have been rising in Israel because of two things happening at the same time. First, both Israel and the Palestinian Authority had failed elections. Secondly, the Biden Administration has given the green light to Iran and her supporters to attack Israel. The Biden Administration put the most anti-Semitic people in government that we have ever had. The weakness of America supporting Israel has emboldened the enemies of Israel. Israel told the White House to shut up about Israel. When Biden gave millions of dollars to the PA for pay to slay, this encouraged the terrorism.

“IDF chief sends 3 additional battalions to Judea and Samaria in wake of escalation.  In the wake of the ongoing disturbances by Palestinian rioters in Jerusalem and the increased tension with Hamas, the Israel Defense Forces will increase its troop presence in Judea and Samaria. The decision to bolster the troops in the area was made by Kochavi following a meeting with senior commanders at the checkpoint where three terrorists tried to kill the Border Guard troops on Friday. The incident ended with two terrorists dead and the third wounded.” israelhayom.com 

Israel will always respond to the terrorism. As missiles fell on Jerusalem, the Biden Administration told Netanyahu to be careful about his response. What if missiles were falling on Washington D.C.? The American press corps has censored news out of Israel. They refuse to talk about the Jews who were attacked in Judea and Samaria because they side with the Palestinians!

“Netanyahu on Arab Riots: ‘Struggle is Now Being Waged for the Heart of Jerusalem’ “It is the struggle between intolerance and tolerance, between law-breaking violence and law and order,” the Israeli prime minister said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that the Arab rioting in Jerusalem is part of the organized Palestinian campaign to cancel Jewish presence in the city.” unitedwithisrael.org 

This is very serious, on the level of the war in 1948 or 1967. Israel needs to act with force or they will lose their capital city. I disagree with Netanyahu though. This is not being waged for the heart of Jerusalem, this is a war for the survival of Israel. The message out of Turkey for instance is fight for Jerusalem until every Jew is killed. Iran is begging people to kill the Jews and take the land. The world press is complicit. Israel is alone! Only God can save them now! Save them He will!

“Ignoring rocket fire, most foreign media focus on Israel’s airstrikes. The coverage of the clashes in Jerusalem and the rocket fire that followed has focused disproportionately on Israel’s actions, either on the airstrikes that occurred or the threatened evictions in Sheikh Jarrah and clashes in Al-Aqsa mosque. This may not be surprising, but it also has helped frame the current conflict as largely a product of Israel’s alleged aggression, as opposed to a cycle set in motion partly by Hamas.” jpost.com    

I was in Israel during August 2014 during the last war with Hamas. I watched CNN lie about what was happening. The world is in lockstep against Israel. Won’t they be surprised when Israel annexes all of Judea and Samaria as the Bible prophesies? Won’t they be surprised when Russia leads a coalition of nations against Israel and they lose?

“Last week, Hamas’ leaders announced their detailed plans to open a new campaign against Israel on May 9. May 9 was a conflation of three events: Jerusalem Day – Israel’s national holiday celebrating the unification of Jerusalem in 1967; Muslims marked the holiest day of the month of Ramadan, and Iran marked its own Jerusalem Day, whose purpose is to call for the destruction of Israel and end Jewish rule in Jerusalem. Hamas’ leaders put everything on the table. And events progressed precisely according to the plans the terror bosses set out in their public announcements. Despite that fact that everything was on the table, and despite the fact that only one side has been rioting, violently attacking and trying to lynch innocent civilians, Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser found it appropriate Sunday night to phone his Israeli counterpart Meir Ben-Shabbat and read him the riot act. In the course of their conversation, Sullivan parroted the libelous narrative being spewed by Hamas and the PA/Fatah which blames Israel and Israeli Jews for the premeditated violence that Arabs – instructed by Hamas and Fatah – are conducting against Israel and Israeli Jews.” israelhayom.com    

The Biden Administration has shown its true colors regarding Israel. They are working hand in hand with Iran to bring down Israel. For some strange reason, they believe that Iran can be a better friend to America than Israel. Cursing Israel is always a bad idea!

“Israel should thank Hamas for choosing to launch rockets at Israel’s capital at the height of Jerusalem Day. Maybe this onslaught will restore Israeli passion for the redemption of Zion and Jerusalem. Palestinian spokesmen in recent days have blamed the escalation in Jerusalem on Jewish settlers. They were assisted in their efforts by interviews with Israeli proponents of Jerusalem’s division, among them former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and IDF Maj. Gen. (res.) Gadi Shamni, who emphasized that the neighborhoods of “Issawiyya and Shuafat are not Jerusalem.” israelhayom.com   

Iran, Turkey, and Hamas used the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood as a reason to start the intifada. Israel is going to remove Arabs who stole Israeli land. This will be a test whether Israel will recognize Jerusalem as the eternal capital or will they give up part of Jerusalem to the Palestinians? God made a promise in Amos 9 that I think needs repeating:

“I will also restore the fortunes of My people Israel, And they will rebuild the desolated cities and live in them; They will also plant vineyards and drink their wine, And make gardens and eat their fruit. I will also plant them on their land, And they will not be uprooted again from their land Which I have given them,” Says the LORD your God.”

Amos 9:14-15

“At the height of the siege on Jerusalem in 1948, before Israel declared independence, the man who would become Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, demanded a concentrated effort toward the battle for Jerusalem. Explaining the reasoning behind this decision, he said, “If the land has a soul, then Jerusalem is its soul, and the battle for Jerusalem is crucial, and not just militarily … That oath on the rivers of Babylon [“If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning …” (Psalms 137)] obligates us now as it did in those days, otherwise, we will not be worthy of the name people of Israel.”  israelhayom.com     

The secular leader of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, recognized that Jerusalem is special to every Jew in the world because God declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel. Jesus said that Jerusalem is the “city of the great King” and the Lord commands us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Israel is at war and let us pray for the land, the people, and that many will come to believe in the Jewish Messiah Jesus who alone can save them from their sins.

“After Arab rioters torched portions of the Israeli city of Lod on Monday, they continued threatening Jewish residents on Tuesday night. Israel’s Channel 20 interviewed eyewitnesses, including former Israeli lawmaker Amit Halevy, who called what he saw in Lod nothing short of “war.” unitedwithisrael.org   

The city of Lod is a suburb of Tel Aviv. This lets you know that the war is in the most populous area for Jews in the nation. I talked to a Major General from the IDF, responsible for counter terrorism in 2014 while in Israel. He said that Israel grows between wars and operations while her neighbors are stuck in 1948. We see that on display today, Hamas, Palestinian Authority, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Jihad all live in the fiction that they will drive every Jew out of the land. God has made promises to Israel and they are being fulfilled even as I write. This war will end in Israel gaining more sovereignty over her land, which will drive the UN and the Biden Administration crazy. The nation of Israel never completely took possession of the land God promised Abraham. The land God promised Israel is approximately 300,000 square miles. Remember that God promised Israel that her land would stretch to the Euphrates River.

The unconditional promise of land to Israel means that ownership of the land is not based on obedience. Obedience to God was the basis of staying in the land not owning the land. Ezekiel 36-37 and Jeremiah 30-33 teach that God owns the land and He gave it to Israel and only Israel. That truth is still in force today.

“For behold, days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah.’ The LORD says, ‘I will also bring them back to the land that I gave to their forefathers, and they shall take possession of it.”

Jeremiah 30:3

“But as for you, mountains of Israel, you will grow your branches and bear fruit for My people Israel; for they are about to come.”

Ezekiel 36:8

Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Palestinian Authority, and Islamic Jihad all do not recognize Israel right to exist. This will be taken care of by the Lord at some point. War is ongoing in Israel at the moment, but eventually, God will fulfill His promises. Thank God that He fulfills His promises in our lives. Have a blessed weekend.

Joemaggelet.com                   youtube.joemaggelet.com

P.S. I want to say a word about Psalm 83. I see this current war in Israel as a possible fulfillment of Psalm 83. If we see God begin to drive Hamas, Fatah, and Hezbollah out of the land for good. You will know that the Lord is doing a great work. I don’t have room here to exegete Psalm 83 for you but suffice it to say that this prophecy has not been fulfilled yet. I am excited for what the Lord is doing. Pray for us while on vacation please.