JERUSALEM AS ISRAEL’S CAPITAL (3)
Matthew 24:1-3 (AMPC)
JESUS DEPARTED from the temple area and was going on His way when His disciples came up to Him to call His attention to the buildings of the temple and point them out to Him.
JESUS DEPARTED from the temple area and was going on His way when His disciples came up to Him to call His attention to the buildings of the temple and point them out to Him.
2 But He answered them, Do you see all these?
Truly I tell you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will
not be thrown down.
3 While He was seated on the Mount of Olives,
the disciples came to Him privately and said, Tell us, when will this take
place, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end (the completion,
the consummation) of the age?
Dear people of God, only yesterday
December 25, 2017, the nation of Guatemala in Central America has also taken a
decision like the United States of America to move its embassy in Israel to
Jerusalem.
From today’s lead Holy Bible text,
you can see the Lord Jesus’ comments concerning the future fate of the Jewish
Temple that was in Jerusalem. This was actually the 3rd temple or Herod’s
temple as it was known at the time.
For those who are not aware, let
me give a brief history of this temple:
(1) David,
the second king of Israel had wanted to build a temple in honour of God
Almighty but God restrained him because David had shed so much blood in
different battles – 1 Chronicles 28:2-3
And so
it was that David gathered the materials for the temple and it was his son
Solomon the next king that God appointed to build the temple. Solomon built the
temple on Mount Moriah where God appeared to his father David sometime earlier
– 2 Chronicles 3:1.
Solomon’s
temple was destroyed by the Babylonians under king Nebuchadnezzar who invaded
Jerusalem as God predicted by the Prophet Jerimiah as punishment for Israel’s
sin of idolatry.
Israel
remained in exile for 70 years as God said would happen after which they
returned to Jerusalem – Jeremiah 25:1-11.
(2) Zerubbabel,
a leader of the tribe of Judah and who was appointed in Israel’s exile by king
Cyrus of Persia as Governor of Judah is chronicled as the one who started the
rebuilding project of the second temple as ordained by God through support by
Cyrus the Persian king.
This
second temple was later dedicated and it was actually smaller than the first.
All these are recorded in Ezra Chapters 1 – 6.
(3) Herod
the king of Israel, at the time the Lord Jesus Christ was born into this world
as a human being, is the one who renovated and expanded the second temple into
the third one or Herod’s temple, which is referred to in today’s lead Bible
text.
The Lord Jesus Christ departed
this world by ascension into heaven in 34AD after His resurrection from death.
This was when He had accomplished
His earthly mission as Saviour of the world through His precious death on the
Cross of Calvary after a judgment passed by Pontius Pilate, who was Governor
over Israel under Roman rule.
After a long, destructive civil
war between Jewish Zealots and the Roman authorities, four legions, led by
Titus the Roman general, besieged Jerusalem and burned down the temple in AD
70.
The Roman soldiers took the temple
apart, stone by stone, fulfilling Jesus’ prophecy in Matthew 24:1–3. The Jewish people were scattered
in the Diaspora, and did not return en masse to Israel until after World War
II.
The Temple Mount, where Herod’s
temple stood, is now home to the Islamic mosque the Dome of the Rock. The
Wailing Wall, the only insignia left of Herod’s temple stands to the southwest
of the mosque and north of an Islamic museum.
Dear friend, it would shock you to
note here that God raised Donald John Trump of America for this purpose of
ensuring Israel rebuilds the destroyed Jewish Temple in the place where this
mosque currently stands in East Jerusalem, where the Palestinians are laying
claim as their land.
With the history above, you can
see that the entire Jerusalem belongs to Israel as God gave to them as
fulfilment of the covenant promise to Abraham, their father and the spiritual
father of Christians as seed of Abraham by virtue of their belonging to the
Lord Jesus Christ – Galatians 3:29.
For those who think Donald Trump as
President of the United States is an accident, it would interest you to note
the under listed:
(1) Over 10
years ago on February 10, 2007 and April 4, 2007, God spoke through a prophet
in America called Kim Clement that He, God, was raising Trump to blow His
(God’s) trumpet to the world and he would serve out 2 terms as President.
God
said Trump would be described as a hot blood and He (God) would fool the
people. This is clearly seen in the rise of Trump to a shocking win of the
American Presidency and the decisions Trump is currently making as President.
Unfortunately,
after 16 long months of battling health challenges and at the age of 60 years,
Kim Clement passed on to glory on November 23, 2016, just 15 days after Donald
Trump won the American Presidential election.
(2) On
February 22, 2014, Kim Clement prophesied that the man God would raise to the
American Presidency would throttle the enemies of Israel. We have seen this prophecy
happening more than 3 years later with the recent declaration by Donald Trump
that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, which has infuriated the enemies of
Israel across the globe.
(3) On the
same day on February 22, 2014, Kim Clement said there would be several calls
for impeachment for God’s chosen person as America’s President, which is
already happening in 2017, just a year into the Trump Presidency. However, God
said, such calls would not succeed.
If you are interested in seeing
the video, just Google the name Kim Clement and prophecy of Trump as American
President to see these and other things God said about Trump.
Dear friend, take note that with
the decision of Donald Trump to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the
Israelites are going to tear down the mosque that is currently there and
rebuild the Jewish Temple.
Then as prophesied in Daniel 9,
24-27, 11:36-37, Matthew 24:15 the temple would be invaded with the aid of
enemy kings (or presidents in today’s world) and desecrated by the man of sin,
the anti-christ, who will proclaim himself to be God.
It is at this point that the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself would return to earth to destroy all enemies of Israel in
what is known as the battle of Armageddon – Revelation 16:16-21.
Dear friend, before this would
happen, the Lord Jesus would have taken away the Christians in Rapture, which
is imminent as you can see from all that has been said above.
There shall be extremely terrible
times of distress or Great Tribulation for everyone else who remains on earth
after the Rapture as God pours out His Righteous wrath of judgment on sinners
and lawlessness of humans.
It is not those who profess
Christianity by mouth that would go in Rapture but Christians who are living a
sincere and righteous life in strict obedience to God’s commandments in the
Holy Bible.
My sincere prayer for you as you
read this, dear friend, is that the Lord God opens your eyes of understanding
to what I am saying here because many Christians today are living in very
shameful unrighteousness whilst believing they are heading for heaven.
For non-Christians, this is
another opportunity God is giving you to repent from sin and unrighteousness to
sincerely believe and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Messiah and to live
in strict obedience to His commandments.
Time is running out. Tomorrow may
be too late. Today and now is that moment of decision.
May the good Lord bless you as you
heed His Word today, act on it and share with others in Jesus’ Most Merciful
Name, Amen.
Gabriel Ama.
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