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JERUSALEM - DRIVING THE NATIONS CRAZY
"‘On
that day I will strike every horse with
panic and its rider with madness,’
declares the LORD. ‘I will keep a
watchful eye over the house of Judah,
but I will blind all the horses of the
nations’"
(Zech. 12:4).
In the last
days some people will go mad over
Jerusalem as we see in Zechariah. Their
horses and riders will be stricken with
confusion and madness. There is already
some evidence that Jerusalem is driving
people crazy. In Israel there is an
affliction known as the "Jerusalem
Syndrome." It is a strange and
unexplainable illness that sometimes
strikes those who visit. Those afflicted
may get the idea that they are some
righteous and holy person of the past or
future, like the Prophet Elijah or one
of the Two Witnesses. The illness
usually subsides when the patient is
returned home.
But there are
many other serious ways that Jerusalem
makes people and nations crazy.
Jerusalem manages to keep the Middle
East in a state of near hysteria much of
the time. For instance, far-off Iran
celebrates a "Jerusalem Day"
every year with marches and frenzied
cries for Jerusalem’s
"liberation." The various
Middle East peace proposals usually
reach their stalemate when it comes to
the subject of Jerusalem. Feelings
concerning this city simply run too high
on all sides for any rational solution.
Why do people and nations go so crazy
over Jerusalem? Let us consider some
probable causes.
JERUSALEM, IS A REMINDER OF GOD’S
RULE
Jerusalem is
a reminder of God’s rule, and that
drives the nations crazy. In Psalm
48:4-6, we have an example of this as
some ancient kings approached Jerusalem:
"When the kings joined forces,
when they advanced together, they saw
her and were astounded; they fled in
terror. Trembling seized them there,
pain like that of a woman in
labor." In Zechariah. 12:2-3,
we hear that surrounding nations are
sent reeling, as Jerusalem becomes a
"cup of trembling," and a
"heavy stone" injuring all who
attempt to move it.
The Bible tells
us that Jerusalem is God’s chosen
capital - God’s footstool - God’s
throne. The Lord says of her: "This
is my resting place for ever and ever;
here I will sit enthroned, for I have
desired it." (Psa. 132:14).
Jerusalem is a sort of physical evidence
that God is the true ruler of this
earth. God speaks through Jeremiah
saying: "At that time they will
call Jerusalem The Throne of the LORD,
and all nations will gather in Jerusalem
to honor the name of the LORD. No longer
will they follow the stubbornness of
their evil hearts" (Jer.
3:17). What a
mortal threat this information is to the
postmodern, secular-humanist, one-world
government crowd! It is simply not
"politically correct" to speak
like this, of a chosen city, or of a
chosen people.
We learn in
Daniel 2:31-45, that a stone from the
mountain will bring an end to this world
governmental system. The stone will
strike the ten toes, or the shaky
foundation, of the present governmental
system, and it will collapse in a heap.
The stone is obviously the Messiah and
the mountain is surely Mt. Zion or
Jerusalem. In Zechariah 14:2-4, we read
that the real King will be revealed just
as nations have gathered to attack
Jerusalem.
So, Jerusalem
and the Temple Mount are real threats to
the world system today. The military and
political attacks upon Jerusalem will
not cease until the Lord comes. These
attacks against Jerusalem have been
going on since David’s day, Ezra’s
day, and Nehemiah’s day. Strangely,
the enemy’s program is always the
same. In one sense it makes the job of
writing about Israel easy. We just have
to change the names occasionally from
Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem, to Arafat,
Hussein, etc.
If Jerusalem is
truly God’s throne, then the enemy
will do all he can to move it, as we saw
in Zech 12:3. Indeed, today there is one
thought that is almost guaranteed to
make the world’s rulers deliriously
happy. That is the thought of a divided
Jerusalem. The world’s rulers would
love to "move the rock."
However, the Bible tells us that the
rock will not be moved (Psa. 125:1),
though all nations on earth come against
it. Today we are about to have an
irresistible force meet an immovable
object. It should be interesting!
JERUSALEM IS A REMINDER OF GOD’S
LAW
The thought
of God’s law almost drives nations and
peoples mad. Today in our world we are
speeding down the wide road of
lawlessness and people seem to like it
that way.
We remember how
the "do your own thing" era
began in the 60s, with its drug culture,
situation ethics and general
lawlessness. These folks threw out the
Bible, along with thousands of years of
biblical heritage. Their philosophers
declared God to be dead. Young people
began to adore worthless idols and role
models. This is what the Bible said
would happen: "Those who forsake
the law praise the wicked" (Prov.
28:4).
A similar thing
has happened in the political arena. For
years the nations adored Yasser Arafat.
It seemed not to matter to them that he
was totally lawless, a habitual liar, a
thief and a mass murderer. In spite of
all this, he was honored with the
illustrious Nobel Prize. Obviously the
nations would have chosen him in a
minute over Israel or Israel’s God.
It seems
obvious that the world is being
carefully prepared for the Antichrist,
who is known in scripture as "The
Lawless One." When we begin calling
good evil and evil good (Isa. 5:20), we
can know that time is short. In fact,
the scripture says: "Don’t let
anyone deceive you in any way, for that
day will not come until the rebellion
occurs and the man of lawlessness is
revealed, the man doomed to
destruction" (2 Thess. 2:3).
Lawlessness and
the Antichrist will both meet their end
in Jerusalem. In 2 Thessalonians 2:8 we
read that the Lawless One will be
destroyed by the Messiah’s appearing
there: "And then the lawless one
will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus
will overthrow with the breath of his
mouth and destroy by the splendor of his
coming." Yeshua is the Living
Law, the Living Torah. The
arising of God’s Law or word is surely
the most frightening prospect for Satan
today. It is this very word that will
proceed out of the Messiah’s mouth to
strike the nations in the last day (Rev
19:15). Then the Bible tells us in
Isaiah 2:3, that the law will go forth
from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.
The Messiah, the Living Law, will rule
all nations from Jerusalem (Psa. 2:6-9).
Just imagine his justice, righteousness,
holiness and love. It is enough to drive
this evil world crazy.
JERUSALEM IS A REMINDER OF TRUTH,
OF THE ONENESS OF GOD
Today there
is a monstrous struggle for truth,
focusing on three major things. The
struggle particularly focuses upon who
is really God. Every terrorist and
suicide bomber screams "Allah
akbar!" (Allah is the
greatest). We must understand that this
cruel god, Allah, has absolutely no
connection with the God of the Bible.
The Bible tells
us that there is only one true God. Over
two hundred times in scripture this God
is called the "God of Israel."
God may be called by many names today in
our world, but he is certainly not ever
called by this name. It is just not
"politically correct." Yet,
the day is coming when God will be one
and he will have only one name
throughout the whole earth. In Zechariah
14:9 we read: "The Lord will be
king over the whole earth. On that day
there will be one Lord, and his name the
only name." When all is
finished, the nations will know that the
Lord is God. Ezekiel in his prophecy
mentions this fact over twenty times.
The struggle
for truth also focuses upon whether or
not we will believe the Word of God.
This should not be a problem for
Christians, but alas, such is not the
case. Many in the Christian world are
going by intuition, by feeling, by
tradition, and not by the Word. Let us
ask ourselves some simple questions. Do
we believe God’s promises to Abraham
in Genesis 17:7-8? Are we going to
believe what God said about Ishmael
(Gen. 17:20-21)? Do we believe it is
serious when nations divide up God’s
land (Joel 3:2)? Are we going to believe
what Paul taught everywhere about
Israel? Do we believe Israel is root,
and that Israel supports us, the church
(Rom 11:18)? The Bible says that if we
do not love and believe the truth, we
will be sent a strong delusion, that
will cause us to believe the lie (2
Thess. 2:10-11).
Finally, the
struggle for truth today focuses
directly upon Jerusalem, for Jerusalem
is God’s base of truth. Jerusalem is a
living witness to the truth of the Bible
and the gospel message. Psalm 87:1 tells
us: "He has set his foundation
on the holy mountain; the Lord loves the
gates of Zion." In Zechariah
8:3 the prophet tells us: "Jerusalem
will be called the City of Truth." We
are assured in scripture, that in
Jerusalem and on God’s holy mountain,
the veil of confusion covering all
people will be removed (Isa. 25:7). In
other words, the blinders are coming
off. People won’t go to Mecca anymore,
or to Tibet to find God, but only to
Jerusalem. Such thoughts drive our
ungodly world crazy.
JERUSALEM IS A REMINDER OF GOD’S
COMING JUDGMENT
There is a
final thing about Jerusalem that drives
people crazy. Jerusalem is a reminder of
God’s coming judgment against people
and nations. In fact, God is already
quite angry with people and nations over
Jerusalem and Zion. We read about this
in Isaiah 34:8. God says of the coming
last day: "For the LORD has a
day of vengeance, a year of
retribution, to uphold Zion’s
cause." Amazingly, there is a
day of judgment set aside just to
recompense Zion.
Why is God so
angry with peoples and nations over
Zion? There are several probable things
that have stirred God’s anger. He is
no doubt angry over the mistreatment of
Jewish people through the centuries; he
is no doubt angry over the gross
hypocrisy that the nations constantly
display concerning Jerusalem and Israel.
He is likely angry concerning the world’s
rejection of the gospel message from
Jerusalem. Obviously, he is very angry
about the long-running attempts of the
nations to divide his land. In this
regard, there seems to be some kind of
"peace process" going on at
all times. It is this very thing that
precipitates a crisis of divine
judgment. We read about this in Joel
3:2, where God says: "I will
gather all nations and bring them down
to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I
will enter into judgment against them
concerning my inheritance, my people
Israel, for they scattered my people
among the nations and divided up my
land." Yes, the final gathering
of the nations to Jerusalem for divine
judgment will happen because they have
messed with God’s people and with his
land.
The idea that
people and nations will be judged by the
living God is a rather shocking one. It
is an idea that doesn’t find too much
reception in today’s postmodern world.
Nevertheless, it will happen according
to the word of God. In this great
judgment, the earth will uncover its
blood - its many holocausts - its mass
burials. It will uncover its corrupt
politicians, and its secret and crooked
deals made by men and nations.
Everything done in darkness will be
brought out into dazzling light as Luke
12:2 tells us: "There is nothing
concealed that will not be disclosed, or
hidden that will not be made known.."
It appears from scripture that this
great final judgment will take place in
Israel.
WHILE NATIONS ARE GOING CRAZY,
SOME ARE GOING TO ZION
In Psalm
84:5 we read: "Blessed are those
whose strength is in you, who have set
their hearts on pilgrimage."
Today while the world frets over Zion,
God is doing a sovereign, world-wide
work in believing hearts. He is setting
these hearts toward Zion; he is leading
them on pilgrimage. Indeed the scripture
speaks of this in Isaiah 51. In this
chapter we are told to look to Abraham
our father. In Isaiah 51:11 it is said: "The
ransomed of the LORD will return. They
will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them, and
sorrow and sighing will flee away."
In Isaiah
49:6 we see that this movement is led by
the Messiah of Israel, whom we
Christians know as Jesus or Yeshua.
Not only is he bringing the Jews home a
second time, but he is gathering
Gentiles with them. Indeed, when all is
finished, the survivors of the world’s
nations will go up to Zion. But they
will not go up to plot and fight against
Jerusalem. They will go up to worship,
as Zechariah 14:16 states:
"Then the survivors from all the
nations that have attacked Jerusalem
will go up year after year to worship
the King, the LORD Almighty, and to
celebrate the Feast of
Tabernacles."
-Jim Gerrish
This article is the condensed and
updated version of the author’s
speech, given at the Bridges For Peace
Conference,
Denver, Colorado, 1996. It is reprinted
courtesy of Bridges For Peace,
Jerusalem.
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