Written by Bill McKay
When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. –Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
In the waning moments of 2016, President Obama’s Secretary of State, John Kerry, spent 1hr and 13 minutes in an angry denouncement of the settlements in the West Bank in a major policy speech. However, it was the division of Jerusalem in the UN resolution that drove the stake into the heart of the Jewish people. Jerusalem is the epicenter of this war, not the settlements. The settlements, or more accurately, the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, are a head fake distraction from the overarching goal of every anti-Semitic nation to carve up the Holy City of Jerusalem.
To better understand the context of the “Settlements,” let’s take a quick look at the historical context of this issue. Prior to the famous Six Day War (1967), the country of Jordan included the territory we now call the West Bank and East Jerusalem. During this prophetic war, the Israelis miraculously retook the ancient eastern half of the City of David. On November 2, 1967, Lord Caradon, the British Ambassador, introduced UN Resolution 242 after the Six Day War had ended. By 1993, the resolution became the agreed-to framework for Oslo Peace Process, along with Resolution 338. The Israelis and Arabs mutually agreed to these two resolutions as the structural basis for the negotiations of a two state solution.
During the ensuing years, Israelis petitioned the Labor Party to build homes and villages in the territories acquired as a result of the war. The Israeli government granted systematic permissions to Israelis willing to live in Judea and Samaria, as commonly referred to in the Western press as the West Bank. Over the years, more than half a million Israelis established what the world would refer to as the “Settlements.”
As the Oslo Peace Process lay in political ruins by the early 2000’s, the UN, the EU, and the intelligentsia of the Left seized upon the notion that the “Settlements” were a chief impediment to achieving peace. As a political result, the Israeli, hard-right Prime Minister and war hero General Ariel Sharon advanced the Disengagement Plan or what was commonly referred to as the “Gaza Expulsion.” In February of 2005, 8,000 Jewish settlers, from 21 Settlements, were forcibly evacuated, along with four settlements from the north of the West Bank.
The PLO, Hamas, and Hezbollah rewarded Israel’s unilateral effort to make peace with the “Palestinians” by reining war and carnage on the civilians of Israel.
Once again, in the Ariel Sharon peace effort, Israel gave up land for war.
As I listened to Kerry’s tirade, my mind drifted to an ancient prophecy, annunciated by Zachariah in circa 520 B.C.
“And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”
—Zachariah 12:3
To my knowledge of history, we have never witnessed a gathering of the nations in a political forum to decide the great Jerusalem question. In the ancient eras, nations like Persia, Babylon, and Syria acted unilaterally. There was no gathering of the world’s powers to agonize over the disposition of Jerusalem. In A.D. 70, Rome singlehandedly determined its policy as it related to the fate of Jerusalem: the utter and complete destruction, as Jesus foretold and as recorded by Matthew verses 24: 1-2.
This brings us to the only time in history where a world body exists in the form of the United Nations and aligns its cross hairs on the target of Jerusalem.
For my prophetic skeptics, I have the following questions:
- Since Zachariah was speaking in the future tense, can you identify any setting that fully comports with the 12:3 text?
- What are the statistical probabilities that the conditions that we just witnessed in the UN Security Council, and as described by Zachariah in 520 B.C., are this close to prophetic reality? When you consider that the US was the last holdout, heretofore, and has now sided with the rest of the nations, it gives an overwhelming degree of authenticity to Zachariah's identification of "all people."
- Since the founding of the UN, 55% of all of its resolutions deal with Israel. In 2016 alone, the UN passed 24 resolutions. Interestingly, the tiny and democratic Israel was the object of 20 resolutions. What explains this irrational obsession with the Jews and Jerusalem when you consider the Middle East is aflame from Libya to Syria to Yemen? Think of the massive scale of genocide and cold-blooded violence all throughout the Middle East. To wit: 400,000 murdered in Syria by Assad, and millions of displaced refugees scattered throughout the nations.
If I were among the avowed enemies of Israel, I would pay particular attention to Zachariah's closing comments. And to the skeptics of Zachariah, keep note of the nations that enthusiastically cast their vote to divide Jerusalem. If Zachariah's words are divinely prophetic, the outcomes will be measured in the effects on the nations taking on the task of diving Jerusalem. If, on the other hand, Zachariah was mistaken, we will know soon enough.
WHERE IS ALL THIS HEADED?
In the past 10 years I have argued in my public commentary that the nations have been patiently and inexorably moving toward an international economic boycott of Israel.
From the birth of Israel in 1948, and up through its latest wars with its Arab neighbors, no one nation nor an alliance of nations have been able to defeat the Jewish people on the battlefield. This has left the many enemies of Israel vexed and exhausted. Every military and political scheme that has been hatched to destroy Israel has failed, and failed miserably.
THE SOUTH AFRICAN SOLUTION
In November of 1962, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 1761, which called for economic sanctions against the government and the people of South Africa.
In 1965, 496 university professors organized the Academic Boycott Campaign, which grew into a worldwide movement to intellectually isolate South Africa.
Over time, the economic, political, and intellectual pressure brought about the desired change.
And now, the nations of the earth have gathered one more time to follow the South African template and apply it directly to the Jerusalem question. The next step in this sordid plot will be to pass a 2nd UN resolution requiring Israel to give up all of the land acquired in the Six Day War of 1967, and particularly East Jerusalem.
A SHORT HISTORY LESSON RE JERUSALEM
In the summer of 587 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar completed the destruction of Jerusalem. The Temple was ransacked and the holy treasures of Yahweh were brought back to the great kingdom of Babylon as proof positive that the Jews and Jerusalem were not in control of their beloved city.
Notwithstanding the glory, the might, and the splendor of this Middle Eastern superpower, Babylon was subject to the governance of the Holy One of Israel. It is important to note that to this point in world history there was not a kingdom greater than that of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar.
To further illustrate the point, the Washington Post just published an article entitled, “3,000 Years Ago, It Ruled The MidEast, Now Blown To Pieces.”
In the period 701-681 B.C., Isaiah prophesied the destruction of Babylon, with the precision of the following words:
Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians' pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
—Isaiah 13:19 (NIV)
Jeremiah, in the period 626-586 B.C. put a finer point on the destruction of the Babylonian kingdom, when he stated:
“This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
“But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,” declares the LORD, “and will make it desolate forever.”
—Jeremiah 25:11-12 (NIV)
Isaiah, through the direction of the Holy Spirit, put the final punctuation on the future of Babylon when he said:
“I will turn her into a place for owls and into swampland; I will sweep her with the broom of destruction,” declares the Lord Almighty.
—Isaiah 14:23 (NIV)
This all brings us back to the present gathering of the nations as they plot to divide Jerusalem once again.
The United Nations Security Council 2334 passed December 23, 2016 by a vote of 14 to 0 with the US abstaining. This resolution will directly affect 580,000 Israelis, per the following map:
FOR THE PROPHETIC RECORD
Here are the list of the nations that have cast their votes to divide Jerusalem: China; France; Russia; United Kingdom; Angola; Egypt; Japan; Malaysia; New Zealand; Senegal; Spain; Ukraine; Uruguay; Venezuela, and the US abstaining.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO NOTE THE NATIONS?
This brings us full circle to the prophetic words of Zachariah 12:3: “And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”
It is worth observing that none of the nations listed in the UN vote were compelled to take on this task and vote to divide the Holy City. They voluntarily took on the task of attempting to lift the “burdensome stone.” What’s even more fascinating and implicating, in terms of these volunteering nations is the language of Zachariah: “all that burden themselves with it shall be cut into pieces.”
And this is where Zachariah’s prophetic threat gets exceedingly interesting. What will happen to each of the nations that gathered on December 23, 2016 to cast their votes to divide Jerusalem? Will they inherit the fate of Nebuchadnezzar’s beloved Babylon? Or does Yahweh have something a bit more nuanced in mind?
As I have reflected on this question, it occurred to me that nations like France, England, and the US may well experience its state(s) being “cut into pieces.” When you travel to Paris these days, travelers are warned not to inadvertently go into the “no go zones.” These are territories surrounding Paris and are completely controlled by the Muslim communities. Even the French police refuse to enter these areas. It is entirely possible that some time in the not too distant future the country of France will become completely exhausted with the ongoing terrorist attacks. It will leave France with two options: sue for peace or all-out war with the Muslims living in France. Assuming the French do not have the political will for all-out war with the “French Muslims,” this will leave the government with only one option: sue for peace. The net effect will be a partitioning of France, i.e. a cutting of France into pieces. It is entirely possible that the UK will suffer as it relates to its vote in the Security Council. As of this writing, there are reportedly 83 Sharia Courts throughout England. And then, there is America. Efforts are underway for California to secede from the Union…not to forget the La Raza movement to allegedly reclaim the five southwestern states of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and California.
The prophetic outcomes as it relates to the 14 nations listed above will remain in the sovereign hands of the Heavenly Father. However, it will be fascinating to monitor the way and manner God deals with each of them.
In the end, my recommendation is that you put the prophetic Scriptures to the test. Keep a wary left eye on the 14 nations that have sided with Israel’s enemies and a vigilant right eye on the leaders of those nations. Prophetic time will tell the eventual tale one-way or the other.
History of the “Palestinian people”: http://bit.ly/2jJyadR Washington Post Babylon article: http://bit.ly/2jzjRZg
