Right from the beginning, most informed commentators have predicted that the only logical conclusion to the so-called Middle East Peace process would be war.  Contrary to what our leaders have told us, the Palestinian goal has never been to accept a two state solution.  They’ve already turned that deal down at least twice.  No, the goal has been to eliminate the Jewish state altogether.  As long as they could win concessions at the bargaining table war could be avoided, but the day would obviously come when no more concessions could be given, and the only option would be to go to war for the rest.  That day may have come, and of course the stumbling block is  Jerusalem.

I Am Going To Make Jerusalem A Cup That Sends All The Surrounding Peoples Reeling … Zech. 12:2
How have we come to this? Let’s review the real issues. The Koran teaches that any land conquered in the name of Islam will never be lost. The very existence of the nation Israel is a violation of that teaching because the land of Israel, including and especially Jerusalem, was once conquered for Islam. Since 1948 the utter destruction of Israel has been the stated Moslem goal, but half a dozen wars have taught them that Israel was too strong to be destroyed militarily. The brilliance of the “Peace Process” is that it enables the Palestinians to win back much of the land through inexpensive negotiations. This has the effect of simultaneously weakening Israel and giving the Moslem forces time to gain the necessary strength to take the rest.

Land For Peace?
What most people don’t realize is that with the speed of modern aircraft and missiles, conventional warfare requires more geography rather than less to give defenders sufficient time to react to an attack. Taking land from central Israel(the West Bank) means that attack aircraft could traverse the country in about 8 minutes. This is not enough time to react with effective counter measures.   Giving up the West Bank would make Israel less secure rather than more.

Also, Israel’s enemies have used the time spent in negotiations to create long-range ballistic missile and biological warfare capabilities in an effort to neutralize Israel’s nuclear threat. A nasty situation all around. Most informed observers believe that as soon as the Moslems have gained everything possible from negotiating and believe they’re strong enough to destroy Israel, they’ll attack. And unless major changes in the Jewish position concerning the sovereignty of Jerusalem are forth coming, the negotiations are effectively over.  Whether Israel’s enemies are strong enough yet for a military victory may soon be revealed.  Combatants on both Israel’s Northern and Southern borders seem ready to find out.

I Make Known The End From The Beginning … Isaiah 46:10
Over 2500 years ago the Lord informed Ezekiel of a great battle involving a coalition of nations who would align themselves against Israel (Ezek. 38-39). He said this battle would take place in the latter days, after the Jewish people had been gathered in the land from many nations following a great war, and would be a surprise attack on the mountains of Israel (West Bank). But he also said the people would think they were living in safety when the attack came (Ezek. 38:8), a peaceful and unsuspecting nation (Ezek. 38:11).   But that doesn’t seem to define their current state.

Recently a little known prophecy from Psalm 83 that might be a bridge between here and Ezekiel 38 has come to the surface.  Psalm 83 is a prayer that God would defeat a coalition of nations that could represent Israel’s current next door neighbors, who the Psalmist accuses of conspiring against God’s people, threatening to destroy them as a nation.  There is no evidence in the historical record that such a coalition ever rose up against Israel, so Psalm 83 may very well be speaking of an attack that a growing number of strategists expect to come in 2010.  If so then it’s obvious Israel will emerge victorious and will fall into the state of complacency suggested by Ezekiel 38:8-11.  This would also explain why none of the nations named in Psalm 83 are included among the attackers of Ezekiel 38. (Read about Psalm 83 here)

Who Started This?
The so called Arab-Israeli conflict has actually been brewing for over 4000 years. It began with Isaac and Ishmael, the sons of Abraham, escalated in the time of Jacob and Esau, the sons of Isaac, and continued through out the Old Testament.  It became a Moslem-Jewish conflict with the advent of Islam in the 6th century AD.   But behind the scenes the real battle has always been a spiritual one, because ever since God chose the Jews as His people, Israel as His land, and Jerusalem as His city, Satan has been working overtime in an effort to take the land away from Him by destroying His people.  After all, he thinks Planet Earth is his.  So this is not just a political matter or even a religious one.  It’s a spiritual matter and will not be resolved until Satan is defeated and the Lord Himself causes every knee to bow and every tongue to confess that He (alone) is Lord (Phil 2:10-11).

Why Pray For The Peace Of Jerusalem?
On several occasions I’ve been asked something like, “If this is a great cosmic problem that won’t ever be solved until the 2nd coming, how can our prayers help?”  Here are some good reasons why we should pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

1st, speaking of the Jewish people the Lord said, “Whoever touches you touches the apple of my eye” (Zech. 2:9) and to tribulation survivors He’ll say,”Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matt 25:40).  I know it breaks His heart to see the way His city has been defiled by hate and bloodshed. As Bob Pierce, founder of World Vision has said, “Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God.” It’s good for us to be on the Lord’s side.

2nd, He has commanded it and rewards us for obedience. All of Psalm 122speaks of the special nature of Jerusalem, the one place on Earth God specifically chose for His dwelling, and  promises prosperity to those who pray for its peace. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.(Psalm 122:6 KJV)

And 3rd, when you pray for the peace of Jerusalem, you’re praying for the Messiah to come and establish His Kingdom. Maybe that’s the best reason of all.

“O profane and wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come, whose time of punishment has reached its climax, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Take off the turban, remove the crown. It will not be as it was: The lowly will be exalted and the exalted will be brought low. A ruin! A ruin! I will make it a ruin! It will not be restored until he comes to whom it rightfully belongs; to him I will give it. (Ezekiel 21:25-27)

The turban was worn by the High Priest, the crown by the King. The Lord had deliberately kept these two offices separate, the priests always coming from the family of Levi and Kings from the family of Judah. The third holy office (prophet) could come from any tribe and indeed there were priests who were also prophets (Ezekiel and Zechariah for example) and at least one king who was also a prophet (David). In Abraham’s time one man (Melchizedek) was both King and Priest but there was never another since the birth of the Nation. To prove the Lord was serious about this mandatory separation, when King Uzziah tried to officiate as a priest, he was immediately stricken with leprosy.

But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the LORD followed him in. They confronted him and said, “It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the LORD God.”

Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the LORD’s temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead. When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him, they saw that he had leprosy on his forehead, so they hurried him out. Indeed, he himself was eager to leave, because the LORD had afflicted him.

King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house —leprous, and excluded from the temple of the LORD. Jotham his son had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land. (2 Chron. 26:16-21)

A New Priesthood
So this prophecy of Ezekiel’s actually called for a suspension of the offices of both of High Priest and King, and then proclaimed they would remain suspended until he comes to whom it rightfully belongs. The “he” in the passage refers to an individual and the “it” to the combined office of King/Priest.  In other words, someone like Melchizedek.  In Ezekiel 44 we read that the Lord has become more and more displeased with the Levitical priesthood for their behavior down through time and declares that only those from the faithful line of Zadok can minister before Him in the Millennial Temple.  But even among them there is no mention of a Levitical High Priest in the Millennium.

The idea of a priest in the order of Melchizedek was first put forth in Psalm 110.

The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies. Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty, from the womb of the dawn you will receive the dew of your youth.

The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath. He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth. He will drink from a brook beside the way; therefore he will lift up his head.

The Hebrew word translated LORD is the unspeakable Name of God, represented by the four letters YHWH. The one translated Lord is Adonai, and is used by a junior to address a senior. The only one senior to King David, the author, and yet not the LORD has to be His Son, the Messiah. In this Psalm, the Messiah is appointed a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

Placing Jesus in the context of Psalm 110, the writer of Hebrews wrote;

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.(Hebr. 6:19-20)

Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever. (Hebr. 7:26-28)

But the Messiah is also the Lion of Judah, King of Israel, heir to David’s throne. (Luke 1:32-33) It seems to me then, that the “he” Ezekiel’s prophecy referred to is the Messiah, who we know as Jesus and who, like Melchizedek, is both King and High Priest.

When Were These Offices Suspended?
The last legitimate King to sit on David’s throne was Jeconiah, aka Jehoiachin about 600 BC, a few years after the time of  Ezekiel’s prophecy. The LORD was so offended by this King’s behavior that He pronounced a blood curse on the Royal line.

Is this man Jehoiachin a despised, broken pot, an object no one wants? Why will he and his children be hurled out, cast into a land they do not know? O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD!

This is what the LORD says: “Record this man as if childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah.” (Jeremiah 22:28-30)

To this day, there hasn’t been a legitimate King in Israel since. By the way, it was this curse that made the virgin birth necessary to preserve the Messiah’s claim to the throne. It’s a complicated issue that I explained in detail in my article entitled “The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy.”

The last legitimate High Priest was Onias III who was murdered during the tumultuous reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, about 174 BC. With the exception of a period during the Hasmonean Dynasty, the office of High Priest was thereafter auctioned off to the highest bidder. (The first “winner” was Jason, brother of Onias, causing speculation that he was behind his brother’s death.)

How do we know that these two suspended offices will really be combined?   The Bible tells us so.  In my article called “The Branch” I explained that this phrase appears four times in prophecy, each time revealing one of the Messiah’s assignments on Earth. In Zechariah 6:12-13 we read, … this is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the LORD. It is he who will build the temple of the LORD, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.

The Lord had told Zechariah to fashion a crown of silver and gold and place it on the head of Joshua, the High Priest. (Zech. 6:9-11) Silver was the coin of redemption and symbolized the priesthood. Gold of course stands for royalty, the King. Then he used Joshua as a model of the Messiah clothed in Majesty and ruling on His throne, as both King and Priest. In Him there is finally harmony between the two offices and the promise of Psalm 110 is fulfilled.

As you read this, we have a Great High Priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man. (Hebrews 8:1-2) And one day soon He’ll appear in the sky with all His Holy Ones, and then the LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name. (Zech 14:9) Maranatha. Come Lord Jesus!