Jerusalem is God’s Earthly City Capital
Lesson 21: Zechariah Chapter 8: 18-23
“Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be joy and gladness and cheerful feasts for the house of Judah. Therefore, love truth and peace.’
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Peoples shall yet come, inhabitants of many cities; The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, ‘Let us continue to go and pray before the Lord, and seek the Lord of hosts. I myself will go also.’ Yes, many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord.’
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”
Man, do we live in exciting times! Today is December 9, 2017. On Wednesday, December 6th, President Trump declared that the USA will now acknowledge that Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Israel. This is a historic announcement.
For all intents and purposes, Tel Aviv has been the recognized capital of Israel since Israel re-formed as a nation in May 1948. Even after the Six-Day War in 1967, when they retook Jerusalem, no one wanted to defy the Palestinian Authority and declare that Jerusalem was the ancient and rightful capital of Israel. Well, with the USA declaring that recognition and planning to move its embassy to Jerusalem, there is no longer any doubt.
Out of courtesy I asked one of the co-workers about how his week was going after having a day off and not seeing him for a day. He commented that his week was good except for the idiocy that President Trump did in Israel. I forgot that he was a Muslim. He is from Egypt. I commented that I was good with it.
So, the stage is gradually being set for the return of Jesus to rule the whole earth from Jerusalem. The Muslims may squawk, and they will, loudly. There may be bombs and rallies and suicide bombers, but the stage is set. Let us not forget that the Antichrist will also seek Jerusalem from where to rule the earth. Satan knows enough of the Bible to know that Jerusalem is God’s earthly city capital.
The prophecies of Zechariah that we are to explore today deal with the Millennial Kingdom of Jesus. This will be a time of peace on earth when Satan is caged in a pit for 1,000 years. The period of time is described this way:
Revelation 20:1-3 “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.”
During this time, there will be some other really cool things that will happen. There will be no infant deaths, and living to 100 will be commonplace.
Isaiah 65:20 “No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of one hundred, And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred Will be thought accursed.”
Even the animals will be at peace.
Isaiah 11:6 “And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them.”
And as we mentioned before, Jerusalem will be the political and spiritual capital of the earth.
Isaiah 2: 2 “Now it will come about that in the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it.”
So, what we have witnessed over the past few days is just the beginning, as we see the world being set up for the next phase. The New World Order that has been prophesied by Presidents Bush Sr. to Obama, by the Pope, and by the leaders of the EU will be put in place. For now, President Trump is being used of God to set up the pins of God’s prophecies, just so God can knock them down and show His Omniscience. He truly does know the end from the beginning, and He truly has control of tomorrow.
Truth and Peace, verse 19
Today, in our time, truth does not normally bring peace. For instance, if we tell the truth about the ‘transgendered lie,’ there is no peace. The truth is that there are only TWO (2) genders, Male and Female. There are no others, just XX and XY. No amount of surgery, medications, hair growth or hair removal, no amount of hormone therapy or anything else will change that. When we get up and state this truth, it causes a fight and a war. Governments are trying to squelch the freedom of speech for the truth.
But in the time when Jesus rules the earth from Jerusalem, there will be peace and truth. We are called to love peace and truth. In fact, we are to be peacemakers here on earth until Jesus returns.
Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”
We are called to search the scriptures—the truth—God’s written declared truths. In the Bible are the truths of creation, life, death, hope, the future, the present and the past. In the Bible are the truths of how to run a business, how to run a family and how to run a country. The Bible shares truths on how to pick your spouse, your friends and your enemies. The Bible has been proven to be true in its science, its history and its geography.
With this truth, those of us who also have Jesus as our Savior are able to find true peace. We have peace in daily life, the peace that Jesus is in control and that He will never abandon us no matter how it may feel or hurt. We have the peace of God in us through His Holy Spirit that carries us when we cannot go on any longer. We have a peace that transcends human understanding and sight.
One day soon this kind of peace will be available to everyone. Jesus will be the clear and present standard of truth; the Bible will still be the Book, and He will usher in an era of peace that we only see movies about. There is no Utopia without Jesus. This is the problem of the New World Order; they want to get peace without Jesus, and that is an impossibility.
All the World will seek the Lord, verse 22
Wow, what if this were true now? What if all the nations simply just sought the Lord? What if they consulted the Bible before making laws and executing judgment? What if each company had to build their business model on Biblical principles of integrity, openness, and serving the poor? What if the economy operated on Biblical financial principles so that all personal debts were wiped out every seventh year? What if we gave people a fresh start and did not burden the next generations with our stupid decisions?
But we still have some leaders that seek the Lord. In all of our governments, even here in North America, we have a few persons who seek the Lord as they perform their governmental duties. They are few and far between, and they are often drowned out, but they are there. The day will come, and soon, when the nations of the world will seek the truth from Jesus. They will travel to Jerusalem and seek Jesus. They will ask for the eternal wisdom of the Almighty God. What a world that will be!
God is with Israel, verse 23
We are told that in that day, not too far from now, 10 men will seek a Jew and ask to go to Jerusalem with him since they know that God is with them. God has been with the Jews since Genesis 12: 1-3 when He called out Abram to follow Him. He has overseen and superintended the Jews for 4,500 years. He has protected them, cared for them and preserved them.
Yes, they have been hurt, killed, maligned and scattered by many all over the earth. God has allowed them to suffer horrendous crimes at times, and still they are His. We see this in passages such as the following:
Deuteronomy 7: 6-8 “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples; but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers; the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”
Psalm 105: 8-15 “He has remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations, the covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac. Then He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, ‘To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion of your inheritance,’ when they were only a few men in number, very few, and strangers in it. And they wandered about from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people. He permitted no man to oppress them, and He reproved kings for their sakes: ‘Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm.’”
Over and over again and again, the Lord makes it clear that Israel is His and those that hurt them do so to their own detriment. God is with Israel even today. They are surrounded on every side by millions of Muslims all clamoring for their destruction, but they cannot do anything lasting – maybe a few rockets here and there, and a skirmish now and then. But they cannot get rid of Israel ever again out of their place, because God is with them.
God can never abandon the Jews, JESUS IS A JEW. He cannot abandon Jesus. We in the New Testament church are called to pray for Israel, and to wait for the coming of the Lord.
Psalm 122: 6-7 “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you. May peace be within your walls, And prosperity within your palaces.”
As we come to the season to celebrate the birth of our Saviour, please remember that He was born as the King of the Jews. The first time He came as our Messiah, to take away our sins. The next time He comes, He will arrive as the rightful King of the Jews. Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus!
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FB: Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church