Why is the world so interested and focused upon Jerusalem? There are a lot of different reasons at the moment. There are social, political, economic, and let’s not forget the religious importance. Whatever the individual reasons, Jerusalem is constantly in the news and at the center of the world’s attention.

I am writing this article while on a trip to an Arab country when the recent riots over the Temple Mount erupted. Every day in the local Arab-English newspaper, Israel is blamed for the events in what they always call “occupied Jerusalem.” Daily, Ariel Sharon is vilified for having had the audacity to have gone upon the Temple Mount. This is said to be provocative to the Arab and Muslim world. This, in spite of the fact that the Temple Mount is the most holy place for Jews. Apparently, most of the world thinks that it is unfair for Jews to have access to their own holy site in their own homeland. Well, such are the dynamics of the world in which we currently live.

Jerusalem: The Global Epicenter

During the coming seven-year Tribulation, Scripture teaches us that Jerusalem will be the center of global attention. Dr. LaHaye and I believe that the Battle of Gog and MaGog will take place before the Tribulation (Ezek. 38—39). This battle is an attack on the Jewish Jerusalem which is said by Scripture to be at the center of the earth (Ezek. 5:5). In the middle of the tribulation, the Antichrist defiles a rebuilt Jewish Temple in the city of Jerusalem by setting up his own image in the Holy Place. The Second Coming of Christ is preceded by the Campaign of Armageddon, which revolves around all the armies of the world coming up against Jerusalem. Jerusalem will be the focus of Satan and his Antichrist, because it is God’s designated city upon which He has chosen to place His name (2 Chron. 6:6).

No wonder the Prophet Zechariah declares that the Lord is “going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; . . . and it will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it. (Zech. 12:2-3). The Lord will so construct history that the world will view Jewish Jerusalem as the source of all the world’s problems. So much so, that they will attack it for the purpose of wiping out the Jews. Charles Feinberg notes that the Lord “sovereignly draws the nations—infected through the centuries with the virus of hatred for Israel, and desirous of dealing them a fatal death-blow—to the city of the coming King.” In fact, the Hebrew text in 12:3 has the sense of “in cutting he will be cut,” where it says “all who lift it will be severely injured.” Our Lord is leading the nations into His trap for the purpose of a global judgment that will occur at His Return. “The defeat of the Armageddon armies is thus likened to a man who drinks more than he can hold, or tries to move a weight heavier than he can lift. Those who attack Jerusalem will do so to their own ruin.”

The Battle for Jerusalem

The beginning of this latest incident in Jerusalem and upon the Temple Mount is said to be a provocation by Ariel Sharon’s visit upon the holy site in an effort to remind everyone that Israel is still sovereign over the site. However, the One who is sovereign over the entire universe is the ultimate source of these recent events. God is setting the stage for the events of the Tribulation when Jerusalem will become that “rock that won’t roll.” We see daily examples of our Lord’s posturing if we follow international news.

While I was recently in an Arab country, the English language paper carried a front page story entitled, “Saddam says can destroy Zionism.” The article said that Saddam Hussein “could destroy Israel if it was given access to a border strip with the Jewish state.” “’We must put an end to Zionism and Iraq is capable of putting an end to it on its own,’ Saddam said in a meeting with university academics.” “’Let them (Arab states) give us a small portion of territory and support us from a distance, they will see how we can put an end to Zionism in a very short period of time,’ he boasted.” Saddam further boasted, “The great people of Iraq are ready to destroy Zionism right now.” Saddam, if your listening, I think God will have a thing or two to say about the destiny of His people that will certainly conflict with your intentions.

This same Arab newspaper, a few days later, carried the synopsis of a call by the imam and khateeb of the Grand Mosque in Mecca saying “that Jews were the archenemies of Islam and Muslims and urged the faithful to launch Jihad against the enemies of God and Islam.” Quoting this high ranking imam as saying that the Jews “make use of every chance to clash with Muslims to shed their blood and violate their honor and destroy their properties.” He informed his listeners that “It’s the duty of every Muslim to do whatever possible and launch a Jihad against the enemies of Allah and Islam seeking the reward of Allah and not for any other purpose and to keep the word of God atop.” I thought Israel was already under an Islamic Jihad from these guys.

While in this Arab country, I occasionally watched a channel in Arabic that was nothing but seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day of anti-Semitic propaganda. Even though I could not understand the words, it was easily clear that its focus was on Jerusalem. They were inciting a call for all Arab Muslims to rise up against the Jews in Jerusalem. Even though a number of battles remain for Jerusalem (cf. Zech. 12—14) until the return of Jesus the Messiah, we already see a full-scale conflict underway in our own day. The stage is being set.

Ariel Sharon

The Muslim world and most in the West blame the current bloodshed in Israel on Likud leader Ariel Sharon, whom I frankly think is a real national hero and one of Israel’s greatest generals. Sharon, unlike current Prime Minister Ehud Barak, loves Jerusalem and the land of Israel, and is interested in preserving it. Yet, when one examines the events that actually led up to this current round of violence, it was clearly a provocation that lies at the hands of Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority. Note the following:

Ariel Sharon had permission from Barak and Palestinian officials, including the Muslim Wakf of the Temple Mount, to go upon the single most holy place for the Jews (it is only the third most holy site for Muslims).
Sharon did not want any police protection. It was both the Israeli and Arab police that insisted on accompanying him upon the Temple Mount. This is said to be a key issue, from the Arab perspective, that supposed justification for the riots.
Sharon’s Temple Mount journey could not have been the source of a spontaneous Arab reaction since it was a full day before the Palestinian response began.
The riots were the clear orchestration by Arafat and the Palestinian Authority since they came only after Palestinian television replayed Sharon’s Temple Mount visit, over and over many times.
Arafat and other key Palestinian leaders made numerous calls throughout the Palestinian media for an intafada uprising against the Jews. The Palestinians eventually complied with their request.
The Muslim Imam’s sermon upon the Temple Mount the day after Sharon’s visit was the specific spark that led to the explosion. It was after his inflammatory appeal that the Arabs stormed out of the Al Aqsa Mosque and proceeded to cast stones down upon the Jewish worshippers praying 70 feet below at the Western Wall.
In spite of propaganda in the Muslim and Western media, Israel did not provoke this current round of violence. It was clearly planned and orchestrated by the Arabs, who had been preparing for just such an incident for weeks in preparation for their November 15th unilateral announcement of a new Palestinian state. Many Western nations were not in favor of such a unilateral declaration. It appears that Arafat and his aides believe that they can gain Western sympathy by having our newscasts filled with daily scenes of the bad Israelis attempting to control the rock-throwing Arab mob. The media got just what they wanted when the unfortunate incident of the twelve-year old boy named Mohammad was killed in the Arab, Israeli crossfire while the television cameras were rolling. These pictures have dominated the media throughout the world, casting Israel in a bad light. All these events continue to cause most citizen of the world to see Jerusalem as a burdensome stone. But, beware world, the Lord says that “all who lift it will be severely injured” (Zech. 12:3).

Conclusion

The stage is being set for events of the Tribulation when Israel will be back in her land in unbelief, in control of Jerusalem, just as the situation exists today. All that is lacking is for the Jewish Temple to be rebuilt. However, that does not need to be ready and in place until just before the middle of the seven-year Tribulation. Perhaps this current sequence of events will lead to the Russian, Muslim invasion prophesied in Ezekiel 38—39. Certainly the Arab world believes that they have been wronged. Yet, just such an attack will not lead to a liberation of so-called “inhabited Jerusalem,” as the Arabs call it, instead, it will lead to a complete destruction of the invasion force that comes up against Jerusalem. Perhaps, just such a power vacuum will be what is needed in order for Israel to rebuild her Third Temple that will be the scene of many Tribulation events. These are interesting times in which we live.

No new development is needed for the next event on God’s prophetic calendar to take place and that is Christ’s rapture of the church. It must take place before the seven-year Tribulation and it could happen at any moment. Are you ready? Do you know Christ as your Savior? That is the only way that one can prepare himself for this important event. In the mean time, church age believers are watching and waiting for our Lord, while keeping an eye on developments in the holy land. There can be no doubt that our God is in control of history and has told us in advance through Bible prophecy what we can expect. What can we expect? We can expect increasing hostility to revolve around Jerusalem. It will not be until the second coming of Christ to planet earth that Jerusalem will realize her destiny as a city of peace and light to all the nations. Maranatha!

In January of this year I taught a course on Eschatology (Bible Prophecy) in Orange, California at Chafer Theological Seminary. Since preterist Ken Gentry lives only a few miles from Chafer Seminary, I invited him to come and speak to our class. Even though Chafer Seminary is dispensational, I thought it healthy to expose our students to the exact opposite of our views with Dr. Gentry’s visit. Dr. Gentry was gracious enough to come in and give a presentation of his preterist views on the Book of Revelation to our class. Even though I just completed a long series on Preterism in Pre-Trib Perspectives, I want to revisit the issue at least once more.

During a time of questions I ask Dr. Gentry about Zechariah 12—14 and preterism. I first asked him if he believed, as a preterist, that Zechariah 12—14 was a parallel passage to the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24—25; Mark 13; Luke 21:5-36). He answered, “Yes.” I agree! I then noted that Zechariah speaks of “all the peoples” (12:2), “all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it (Jerusalem)” (12:3), and “I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle” (14:2). “This does not sound like the Romans in a.d. 70,” I said. Further, Zechariah goes on to say, “In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem” (12:8) and “Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle” (14:3). I concluded that this does not fit with what happened to Jerusalem in a.d. 70 when the Romans conquered Israel. Finally, it says that the Lord will rescue Israel, in that day (14:3), whereas, in a.d. 70 the Lord judged Israel as Luke 21:20-24 notes. “How does a preterist say that Zechariah speaks of a.d. 70 when the Lord is rescuing His people in that passage,” I asked Dr. Gentry?

Now keep in mind that Dr. Gentry is one of foremost preterist spokesmen on the planet. His answer, in essence, was to say that the Church had replaced Israel. This is similar to what the late David Chilton had said in his preterist commentary on Revelation:

Another passage parallel to this is Zechariah 12, which pictures Jerusalem as a cup of drunkenness to the nations (Zech. 12:2; cf. Rev. 14:8–9), a laver of fire that will consume the heathen (Zech. 12:6; Rev. 15:2). The irony of Revelation, as we have seen repeatedly, is that first-century Israel herself has taken the place of the heathen nations in the prophecies: She is consumed in the fiery laver—the Lake of Fire—while the Church, having passed through the holocaust, inherits salvation.

I then told Dr. Gentry that his answer was nothing more than theologizing. He had merely stated his theological conclusion on the matter, but failed to give a textual interpretation. I asked his point blank, “Could you give a textual interpretation of this passage in Zechariah?” He responded, “No.”

A preterist cannot give a textual interpretation of Zechariah 12—14 because they believe it is to be equated with God’s judgment at the hands of the Romans in a.d. 70 upon Israel—error number one. Greg Beale notes that, “Zechariah 12 does not prophecy Israel’s judgment but Israel’s redemption.” Zechariah 12—14 clearly speaks of a time when Israel is rescued by the Lord from an attack by “all the nations of the earth,” not just the Romans—error number two. In this context, Israel must refer to Israel. Since that it true, then the event of Zechariah 12—14 has not yet happened in history. This means that it is a future event. Dr. Beale makes a comment about Daniel that applies to Zechariah as well:

the burden of proof rests on these preterists to provide an exegetical rationale both for exchanging a pagan nation with Israel as the primary object of Daniel’s final judgment and for limiting the last judgment mainly to Israel and not applying it universally.

Preterists and Futurist, like myself, both agree that Luke 21:20-24 prophesied the a.d. 70 Roman destruction of Jerusalem. Using Luke 21:20-24 as a baseline, notice the contrasts between it and Zechariah 12—14, as observed by Randall Price.

Contrasts Between Luke 21:20–24 and Zechariah 12—14

Luke 21:20–24 •Past fulfillment—”led captive to all nations (vs 24) •Day of the desolation of Jerusalem (vs. 20) •Day of vengeance against Jerusalem (vs. 22) •Day of wrath against Jewish nation (vs. 23) •Jerusalem trampled by Gentiles (vs. 24) •Time of Gentile dominion over Jerusalem (vs. 24) •Great distress upon the Land (vs. 23) •Nations bring the sword to Jerusalem (vs. 24) •Jerusalem destroyed (a.d. 70) “in order that all things which are written (concerning the Jewish People) may be fulfilled” (in the future), (vs. 22) •Jerusalem’s desolation is given a time limit: “until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled” (vs. 24). This implies that a time of restoration for Jerusalem will then follow. •The Messiah comes in power and glory to be see by the Jewish People only after “these thing”—the events of vss. 25–28—which are yet future to the events of vvs. 20-24.

Zechariah 12—14 •Eschatological fulfillment—”in that day” (12:3–4,6,8,11; 13:1–12; 14:1,4,6–9) •Day of deliverance of Jerusalem (12:7–8) •Day of victory for Jerusalem (12:4–6) •Day of wrath against Gentile nations (12:9; 14:3,12) •Jerusalem transformed by God (14:4–10) •Time of Gentile submission in Jerusalem (14:16–19) •Great deliverance for the Land (13:2) •Nations bring their wealth to Jerusalem (14:14) •Jerusalem rescued and redeemedthat all things written (concerning Jewish People) may be fulfilled (13:1–9); cf. Rom. 11:25–27) •The attack on Jerusalem is the occasion for the final defeat of Israel’s enemies, thus ending the “times of the Gentiles” (14:2–3,11) •The Messiah comes in power and glory during the events of the battle (14:4–5)

Because of the differences between the above contrasted passages, it is impossible to harmonize with events that have already taken place. Impossible as long as two plus two continues to equal four. But some of the best minds that preterism has to offer attempt to place round pegs into square holes.

Preterist Gary DeMar recently attempted an interpretation of Zechariah 14. Predictably, he says that Zechariah 14 “describes events leading up to and including the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70.” DeMar cannot show from the text of Zechariah the destruction of Jerusalem. DeMar approached the passage in what I would call a thematic approach. He hopped-skipped-and-jumped around the passage, denuding it of its context. Worse, he repackaged it into a false context. Dealing only with chapter 14, DeMar fails to produce any evidence that God is judging Israel, as is clearly used in Luke 21:20-24. In fact, the Lord is judging the nations for the text says, “I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem” (12:9), and “I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle . . . the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations” (14:2-3). Instead, the Lord is defending (12:8) and rescuing (14:3) Israel from those nations. Just as in Matthew 24, no where does the text speak of the Lord coming in judgment against His people. Both Zechariah and Matthew speak of Israel’s rescue (cf. Matt. 24:31) and this is why the prophecy of both passages are yet future.

Conclusion

The only way that preterists can attempt to deal with Zechariah 12—14 is not by taking the words and phrases of the passage in its literary context, but by simply declaring—as done by Chilton and Gentry—that the church replaces Israel. The text of Scripture is supposed to be the basis upon which we develop sound theology. Instead, preterists have to impose their false theological beliefs upon God’s inerrant Word. Walt Kaiser is on the mark in commenting on this passage the following:

In no other chapter of the Bible is the interpretation of the name “Israel” more important than in Zechariah 14. To say that “Israel” means the “Church,” as many have done, would lead to a most confusing picture in this chapter and in the end of chapter 13. For example, 13:8-9 affirms that two-thirds of the land (Israel) will die, but few would be willing to say two-thirds of the Church will be slaughtered in the final day. Clearly “Israel” refers to that geo-political unit known today as the nation of Israel.

God’s Word wants His Church to be forward looking to a secure and certain future of victory. Such a perspective enables a believer to live faithfully in the present because of the future. The past is equally important. However, a false view of the past will rob a believer in the present of the hope needed to live boldly for our Lord. Maranatha!