What kind of anti-Semitism can we expect at the end of the age? Will it become more intense? More widespread? More violent? More irrational? Perhaps all of the above?
On the one hand, when it comes to Jew-hatred, there’s nothing new under the sun. It is just the same old lies repackaged in the latest contemporary form.
As The Who sang in their song “We Won’t Get Fooled Again,” “Meet the new boss.
Same as the old boss.” So, too, we can say, “Meet the new anti-Semitism. Same as the old anti-Semitism.”
For a case in point, consider this recent sermon by a Muslim cleric in Damascus. As reported by The Middle East Media Research Institute on June 22, “In a Friday sermon delivered at the Lala Pasha Mosque in Damascus on June 22, Dr. Muhammad Ali Al-Malla said that the World Cup was part of a plot, outlined in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, to distract the Arabs and the Muslims from the defiling of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the bloodshed in Gaza. According to Al-Malla, ‘the Europeans have taken upon themselves to distract the Arabs,’ while the U.S. and China never qualified because their responsibility lies elsewhere – in the selling of weapons to the Muslims. The sermon was posted on the mosque’s YouTube channel.”
The notorious Protocols live again! Only this time, it’s the nefarious Jews who are using their global power to orchestrate the results of the World Cup, which just happens to have been scheduled shortly after the violent Gaza protests. But of course! (For the record, the World Cup is held every four years, with the dates carved out many years in advance.)
To quote Dr. Al Malla directly, “I would like to shed light on some matters. People’s lives have come to a standstill. If there is a game at three o’clock, at two o’clock, nobody is left at work and the roads are totally deserted. ‘What’s happened?’ you ask. ‘There must be a match,’ they tell you. ‘Who’s playing who?’ you ask. An examination will show that these countries are sworn enemies of Islam – countries that conspire against the Arabs and the Muslims day and night.
“The Protocols of the Elders of Zion... When the Jewish organization was established, one of the articles [of The Protocols] article 29, I think – stated: ‘We shall distract the Arabs using arts and sports.’ Indeed, they have done just that, and that’s how we got to where we are today.”
What power we Jews have! How diabolically clever we are!
So, to repeat: If you’ve met the old anti-Semitism, then you’ve met the new anti-Semitism. The same old libels are repackaged and reused for another generation and another setting.
That being said, the prophet Zechariah declares that at the end of the age, the nations of the world will join together to attack Jerusalem (see Zechariah 12 and 14).
At the very least, this means all the surrounding nations. But the language suggests more than that. Perhaps it refers to a coalition of nations from around the world. Perhaps it even speaks of every nation on the planet attacking Jerusalem.
Whatever the precise interpretation may be, we cannot downplay the magnitude of these words: “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves” (Zechariah 12:2-3 NIV).
This is reiterated in the 14th chapter, where the Lord says: “I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle” (Zechariah 14:2-3 NIV).
It is true, of course, that the Lord says that He is the one who will gather the nations against Jerusalem. And it is true that, after some level of suffering for His people, He will intervene and deliver.
But it’s also true that the nations will have reason to attack Jerusalem. Why that city? Why that people?
My guess is that, once again, Israel will be scapegoated. Israel will be blamed for a world war. Or for vast human suffering. Or for a global pandemic. It’s all Israel’s fault!
Israel will be behind a worldwide Internet crash. Or economic crisis. Or famine. Or plague. Israel is masterminding all this!
Again, this is similar to the Jewish people being blamed for the Black Plague or for AIDS or for all the unrest in the Middle Eastern Muslim nations. The Jewish people even get blamed for problems in the Vatican.
In the same spirit, the United Nations and its sister organizations have condemned Israel more than all other nations combined. Israel is the monster!
So, in this inter-connected age in which we live, would it be hard to blame Israel for the latest international crisis? Would it be hard to scapegoat Israel if the stock markets worldwide collapsed? (Obviously, someone was behind the crashes, right?) And, if our understanding of the End Times is correct, would it be hard for a world leader (aka, the Antichrist) to convince the nations that rebel Israel must be punished?
“They’re the ones spoiling everything! We have peace and tranquility without them! At last, we must crush them for good.”
Admittedly, this is all speculation, albeit speculation based on history and with a view towards the Scriptures. But what seems undeniable is this: If the devil knows that a Jewish Jerusalem must welcome back Yeshua the Messiah, he will do everything in his power to wipe out and destroy the Jewish people, especially targeting Jerusalem.
To me, that means that anti-Semitism, in its worst and ugliest and most violent forms, will raise its ugly head at the end of the age. That is very bad news.
The very good news, though, is that the King who will return in vengeance and power will be a glorified Jew.
