Sovereignty versus Superiority

Unlike the totalitarian suppression of varying degrees found in Middle Eastern Muslim nations, Jewish sovereignty over Temple Mount, Jerusalem, and all of the land of Israel given to them by the true and living God and reclaimed in four defensive wars of survival against Arab nations, does not equate to superiority of one people over another.

The very idea of sovereignty is understood in principle and practice to be that which a “sovereign state” is entitled to by virtue of belonging to the family of nations on this earth. Israel was afforded that status by the United Nations in 1947 and, accordingly, declared her statehood in 1948. Whereas, there is no such thing as a Palestinian State or even “Palestinian territories occupied by Israeli settlers” except in the indoctrinated mindset of virtually all Palestinians and many Israeli-Arabs.

Webster’s Dictionary defines sovereignty: “a: supreme excellence or example of it. Supreme power esp. over a body politic. b: freedom from external control. Autonomy…”

In contrast, the definition of superiority is: “…in a higher or better manner or degree … in a haughty or condescending manner.”

Last week’s Eye of Prophecy article included the period of Jewish ancient history when her people did harbor a haughty attitude toward Gentile nations, even toward the Lord their God—exhibited in Israel’s disobedience to and defiance of the Lord. Consequently, God severely disciplined them when the Romans in 70 A.D. devastated Israel and destroyed the Temple, then exiled the Jews to the four corners of the earth. For nearly 2,000 years, God’s people were humbled. In fact, they were often humiliated, persecuted, and murdered by the millions.

Here is an excerpt from last week’s Eye of Prophecy article (in italics):

…God ended his centuries-long punishment of Israel—through Gentile domination of the Jews—in the 1967 Six-Day War. Yet Israel did not, by any stretch of the imagination, become arrogant or feel superior by virtue of this stunning victory. Instead, they (one could even say “humbly”) relinquished what was their rightful sovereignty over Judea/Samaria, the Gaza Strip, and the Temple Mount to the Arabs. In fact, many, including me, believe that this self-effacing gesture was ill-advised.

However, they did so to appease international pressure (including that from the United States) not to assert their God-restored self-determining authority; because the world-at-large had not yet (still hasn’t) accepted Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel or the Temple Mount as the original holy dwelling of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob among his people. In short, the world still refuses to recognize the God-given right of Jewish sovereignty over ALL of Israel, first and foremost Temple Mount.

For Israel to continue to allow Jordan administrative supremacy over Temple Mount as well as Palestinian self-government in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (properly called Judea/Samaria) is anything but an expression of apartheid-like arrogance or superiority of one people over another. For example, the millions of Palestinians in Jordan don’t have near the liberties or standard of living that Israeli-Arabs citizens of Israel and even the Palestinians who live in Israel enjoy.

Then, the last paragraph of that excerpt:

Yes, the Jews are back and Israel is here to stay forever. As in their glory years of King David and King Solomon…

The Chosen People … Why the Jews?

The Lord didn’t choose the Jews to be his special possession because they were better than anyone else. He did not select and separate them from other nations because they were special. Rather, they became a special possession because God chose them. God chose Abraham and his descendants because that was his choice. Those who rant and rave against Israel are defying the sovereignty of the Most High God. They also are harming themselves by refusing to accept God’s sovereign plan to bless all peoples and nations through Israel.

On the other hand, God imposed a higher standard of faithfulness on his people; one that was attainable—if they would only reciprocate by trusting that God knew what was best for them, and choosing to obey God’s Laws. Laws of light and life that would set them apart as an example of morality and integrity; a godly nation that the Lord would provide for, prosper, and protect … so much so that other nations would want to emulate their example.

“The Lord has declared today that you are his people, his own special treasure, just as he promised, and that you must obey all his commands. And if you do, he will set you high above all the other nations he has made. Then you will receive praise, honor, and renown. You will be a nation that is holy to the Lord your God, just as he promised” (Deuteronomy 26:18-19).

This lofty position of Israel was not to lord it over other nations or peoples. Rather, they were called to be a “holy” people, which means set apart by God for a specific purpose—to ultimately bring the light of God’s salvation through the Jewish Messiah (Jesus) to the whole world. And for Jerusalem to be the seat of God’s divine government on earth forever, which began to take shape with the miraculous recreation of the State of Israel.

“The Lord has sworn to Jerusalem by his own strength: ‘I will never again hand you over to your enemies. Never again will foreign warriors come and take away your grain and new wine. You raised the grain, and you will eat it, praising the Lord. Within the courtyards of the Temple, you yourselves will drink the wine you have pressed” (Isaiah 62:8-9, italics for emphasis).

Never again is the poignant prayer of Jews the world over. Never again could they or would they suffer another holocaust. Prophetically, this longing came to pass beginning with Israel’s rebirth in 1948; stamped with divine certainty when the Israelis liberated Jerusalem in 1967, and Gentile domination of the Jews came to an end. Then sealed tightly with Israel’s victory in the Yom Kippur War of 1973. Since then, no Arab coalition has attacked Israel by conventional warfare.

The crops and the vineyards of Israel are flourishing. One day soon they will eat the grain and drink of this wine in the courtyards of the rebuilt Temple.

(Vineyards and Crops in Israel)

Ironically, like the Persian King Cyrus—whom God chose to return the Jews from Babylonian captivity and rebuild Solomon’s Temple—another Gentile ruler will be instrumental in getting the 3^rd Temple built. This will be accomplished as part of a seven-year treaty between Israel and the Arab nations. It will be orchestrated by, of all people, the Antichrist (See Daniel 9).

While solidifying his ten-nation federation, Antichrist Nero will sit on his hands and gleefully watch Russia, Iran, Turkey, and other smaller nations invade Israel to destroy the Jews and accomplish his real agenda against God’s people under the pretext of bringing them peace. When this assault fails miserably, it won’t phase Nero a bit … not even the fact that it is God himself who personally crushes Gog/Magog. From the outset, Nero will boast of his divinity by virtue of returning from a 2,000 year-old grave (actually reappearing from the Abyss, but the world won’t know this or care). He will pick up where Russia and its cohorts failed, and break his treaty with Israel half way through the Tribulation. Then, a man-made hell will break loose on the earth. And God’s wrath will be poured out from heaven on a wicked, warped, and wretched world.

For a brief time, Israel, especially in Jerusalem, will once again experience great peril, but nothing like the Holocaust. See Zechariah Chapter 14. See also Eye of Prophecy article, Two-Thirds of the Jews Killed … Past or Future? Posted 9-19-15.

In the final days of the Great Tribulation during Nero’s campaign against Israel, the Jews will do something they couldn’t do and hadn’t done for over 2,500 years … until 1948. They will fight back. Even the weakest among Israeli warriors will fight valiantly like King David (Zechariah 12:8).

And the Lord will do something for Israel that he hadn’t done during almost all of that same 2,500 years of Israel’s history; until he providentially restored the State of Israel, and divinely directed her victories in the wars of 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973.

“Then the Lord will go out to fight against those nations, as he has fought in times past” (Zechariah 14:3).

Aftermath of the Temple Mount Attack on July 14th

Nearly 75% of Israelis were critical of Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to take down the metal detectors just a few days after they were installed. Israel’s Minister of Culture Miri Regev voiced the prevailing view of many Jews by saying:

“The Cabinet’s decision is regrettable. You don’t have to be a security expert to understand that the metal detectors have a security and deterrence effect.”

Said Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely: “Placing the metal detectors was a legitimate action. When what you want to do is ignite the region, any excuse works.”

Although I’ve conveyed the same thought in a few Eye of Prophecy articles as Ms. Hotovely’s last sentence, I’ll choose an excerpt from Jerusalem, City of Peace? (Posted 12-27-14) as an example:

If anyone carefully examines the wars that Israel has fought since her national birth, the incidents of intifada terror that has killed and maimed thousands of Israelis, or just the daily stream of hate-filled verbiage from the mouths of Muslim leaders and much of the Palestinian people, they would realize that the level of tension really can’t get any higher. Meaning that when Muslim armies, terror groups, and lone wolf assassins decide it’s time to strike, that’s exactly what they do. They may cite a particular incident or problem, but it’s always just an excuse to do what they were going to do anyway. The balloon is always full of enough air to burst. The string is always tight enough to break.

The Palestinian and Muslim pathetically flawed protest over the metal detectors seemed to accomplish its aggressive agenda: Divert attention away from the three Israeli-Arabs who started the whole thing by murdering two Israeli policemen (in an entrance to Temple Mount no less), by accusing the Israelis of arbitrarily forcing Arabs to go through metal detectors. How dare Israel change the “status quo?” No matter that Jews themselves have always had to go through metal detectors at the one and only entrance (Dung Gate) through which non-Muslims can ascend Temple Mount?

(Dung Gate, the Gate Nearest to the Western Wall … Metal Detectors Are Further Ahead)

Even after the metal detectors were removed, for days Arabs rioted in the streets. They wouldn’t miss the opportunity to do what they seem to do best: incite the radicals among them to periodically antagonize, terrorize, and murder Israelis. Since September, 2015, that incitement has focused even more sharply on the flagrantly false allegation that the Jews are “desecrating” Al-Aqsa Mosque and are seeking to change the “status-quo” of Temple Mount by asserting “illegal” sovereignty over it. No matter that the Israelis do, in fact, have ultimate jurisdictional authority over Temple Mount and all of Israel; but have chosen not to exercise that right for reasons already covered in last week’s and this week’s Eye of Prophecy articles.

Another incident in which an Israeli Embassy guard shot and killed a Jordanian who had stabbed the guard with a screwdriver (obviously trying to kill the guard) was part of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to do what (I along with a handful of others conclude) was tantamount to a tactical retreat … as opposed to an unwarranted capitulation to the Arabs. In order for the Jordanians to release the Embassy security guard, Israel needed to withdraw the metal detectors. More security cameras and security guards would be a substitution for the removed metal detectors.

According to Netanyahu, his and his cabinet’s decision was made in the context of several factors that, in the long run, would provide a more beneficial long-term solution to the problem. Bottom line, however: Many Israelis believe that their Prime Minister compromised, and missed a golden opportunity to restore Jewish sovereignty on Temple Mount that had been relinquished soon after Israel liberated Jerusalem in 1967.

Palestinian Reaction to the Israeli “Capitulation”

Although the Palestinians would never ever consider a simple “thank-you” to the Israelis for taking down the metal detectors, you would think that gesture would be enough for the Muslims to at least return to their own “status-quo” by lying low for a while. Instead they have ramped up their incitement rhetoric to an unmatched loathsome level.

Just last weekend Muslim Arabs in Israel released a vile (music) video that has gone viral on Palestinian social media. Breaking Israel News columnist Abra Forman described it as, “real footage of terror attacks and car rammings, as well as graphic illustrative animations depicting bloody stabbings as the singer croons, ‘I will attack you, tear you apart, and stab you.’”

The singer brags: “I will do what’s never been done before for the sake of Al Aqsa Mosque, so that the Jews will know who I am—a Muslim, an Arab, a Palestinian.”

Obviously, this is a boast to reinforce his perverse point as to who will be killing the Jews. Still, do those behind this taunting song (representing the Palestinians as a whole) seriously think that the Jews don’t know or won’t remember the identity of those killing them, or that something will be done that’s never been done before? When, in fact, as recently as July 14^th that’s exactly what happened: the unprecedented killing of Israelis in the entrance to Temple Mount. Then the brutally evil murder of three Jews in their own home on July 22^nd.

The songster disgustingly crows—what Abra Forman described as an upbeat, Middle Eastern-style tune—in perfect Hebrew in order to intimidate the Jews even more: “I will kill you, I swear by my religion … You will be killed, I guarantee. An axe, a gun, or a rifle will kill you.”

Although there have been hundreds, if not thousands of Palestinian online cartoons, caricatures, and videos denigrating the Jews and calling for their elimination and eradication of Israel, this recent video has grotesquely pushed the envelope that much further.

See Eye of Prophecy article, Ethnic Cleansing of Jews … The Real Palestinian Agenda, posted on 9-17-16.

The video concludes with what is (always has been but lately is being broadcast by Palestinians like never before) the real objective of Muslims in Israel and the world over: “cleanse my country of every Jew.”

Their country? Not according to the League of Nations which recognized the British Mandate for Palestine based on the Balfour Declaration of 1917, followed by the United Nations Resolution of 1947 that granted statehood rights to both the Jews and Arabs in Palestine. The Arabs flatly refused to create their own state if it meant one next to the State of Israel. They still reject such a notion unless Israel concedes to every single one of their (non-negotiable) demands, not the least of which is eastern Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.

Thus, the Palestinians have no country; they have no one to blame for that, except themselves. It’s quite simple: they live in the sovereign Jewish State of Israel. But the only way for the Palestinians to tolerate that fact is if the words, sovereign, Jewish, State, and Israel were all deleted.

(Earlier This Year at the Western Wall, Israelis Celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Jerusalem’s Liberation During the 1967 Six-Day War. From God’s Viewpoint There Is No Such Thing as East or West Jerusalem. It Is and Will Always Remain the Undivided Capital of Israel)

*Note: I still don’t understand why the United States won’t consider giving the eastern half of Washington D.C. and the east-wing of the White House to Great Britain, so the British can create their own “status quo” and govern all of the immigrants who have come to America from England, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland!

Although nearly two million Arabs are citizens of Israel, Israelis still permit Arab non-citizens (about 3.7 million Palestinians) to reside in Israel. Unlike some surrounding Muslim countries that have evicted all Jews since Israel became a state in 1948, the Jews have not expelled Palestinians from Israel. My guess is that 95% of the world’s population doesn’t know these historical and contemporary facts. And 4% of those who do know, don’t care.

Most Palestinians either don’t know or choose to ignore their real history. Instead they have begun to rewrite history to vainly justify their warped agenda of wiping Israel from all maps of the world. And UNESCO is all too happy to believe this fake Palestinian history by passing resolutions that Temple Mount, the Western Wall, and the Tombs of the (Jewish) Patriarchs are all Muslim holy sites! Pray tell … how can these sacred Jewish sites be Muslim holy places when they (and more) existed long before Islam became a religion? As we use to say, “Go figure!”

(Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, Israel)

More Incitement from Palestinian Leaders

Here is another quote from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in response to the Israeli metal detectors: “These are political steps in the guise of imaginary security, whose goal is to take control of Al-Aqsa and set facts on the ground, evade the peace process, and turn the conflict into a religious one.”

“Imaginary security,” says Abbas. Was it the figment of Israeli imagination that two of their police officers were murdered in cold blood, then three innocent Israeli civilians knifed to death in their own home?

“Take control of Al-Aqsa mosque,” contends Abbas. If that were the case, Israel could have done that long ago. Jews couldn’t care less about the mosque, which is NOT the mosque that Arabs claim was visited by Muhammad in his fictitious journey to Israel and his imaginary ride to heaven on his fanciful flying horse (See Eye of Prophecy article, Myth of Al-Aqsa Mosque published 4-16-16).

I can state with absolute certainty: If the Jews did assert their God-given right to exercise complete control over Temple Mount, Israel would still allow Muslims to visit Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Just as they did after a brief 48 hour shut down of Temple Mount when the police officers were murdered, only to reopen it to Arabs … albeit through metal detectors, which were then removed a couple of days later.

“Evade the peace process,” claims Abbas. It has been Abbas who has several times rejected Netanyahu’s request for a peace conference. Instead, Abbas has taken his case to the United Nations, calling for unilateral establishment of a Palestinian State without any input from Israel whatsoever.

Finally, Abbas ludicrously asserts that Israel is turning, “the conflict into a religious one.”

Absolutely false, as though Palestinian insistence that only Muslims have the right to Temple Mount is exclusively a political reason, having nothing to do with Islam. So much could be said in response to this absurd allegation, but I’ll limit commentary to the following: The Jews don’t indiscriminately kill Palestinians or anyone else in the world. And when they do silence terrorists in self-defense, they don’t yell, “Great is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Who is it that constantly commits terror atrocities not only in Israel but all over the world? And who is it that screams in the name of their religion, “Allah Akbar” (Allah is the greatest) as they bomb, shoot, stab, and ram cars into innocent people?

As stated by Bassam Tawil in his August 1^st article, The Battle over Jerusalem Has Just Begun” posted in the online Op-ed source, Gatestone Institute:

“We have reached a new level in this discourse: Palestinian Authority (PA) officials are now openly admitting that it is not the metal detectors or security cameras that are at issue. Instead, they admit, this is a battle over sovereignty on the Temple Mount and Jerusalem … The real battle, in their eyes, is over the Jews right to live in their own state in the Middle East…”

In fact, Bassam Tawil based the title of his article on a statement by Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki.

Bassam Tawil writes: “In a speech before the Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo, Malki explained: ‘The issue is not metal detectors or cameras, but who is in charge and who has sovereignty over the Al-Aqsa Mosque … The battle over Jerusalem has just begun,’ he said, adding that the wave of Palestinian protests over the Israeli security measures had succeeded in ‘thwarting’ Israel’s ‘conspiracy’ to change the historical and legal status quo at the Temple Mount.”

Later in his article, Bassam Tawil summarizes: “Now that Israel has complied with their demands regarding the security measures, Palestinians feel more emboldened than ever. Murder and incitement, in their case, does indeed pay. They got away with the murder of the two police officers at the Temple Mount; they got away with the murder of the three family members in Halamish, and, in their view, they also got away with the recent violent protest and incitement against Israel.”

According to PA Foreign Minister Malki: “The battle for Jerusalem has just begun.”

Whether Malki realizes it or not—in the light of Biblical prophecy and contemporary developments in fulfillment of those prophecies—what he’s really saying is that: The FINAL battle for Jerusalem has just begun. Not “just begun,” because it’s been going on for millennia, centuries, decades; but with increasing intensity in just the past few years, months, and days … via a verbal and physical Muslim intifada against Israel.

Palestinian and Israeli-Arabs are audaciously testing international political waters and the court of world opinion. Now that they’ve crossed the line of Temple Mount violence with (in their eyes) virtually no impunity, they have and will continue to publicly accelerate their devious objective—absolute autonomy over Temple Mount. Then Jerusalem, then all of Israel.

They have shown their true but ugly colors. They are no longer trying to disguise their real agenda with such fabrications as stated by PA President Abbas to President Trump (“we are raising our children in a culture of peace”). They have ratcheted up their rhetoric and, I believe, will more overtly intensify their avowed intention to destroy Israel. In light of and reaction to several nations warming up to Israel in just the past few weeks and months, the Palestinians have now charted a course to determine if the world-at-large will support the Palestinian narrative or the rights of the Israelis in the sovereign state of Israel.

Like never before, the Arab/Muslim mindset is: It’s us or them. Now they’ve added: We can get away with anything. Let’s see who’s on our side.

Israeli Sovereignty … The Real Issue in Israel

Several conservative and even some liberal Jews have called for Israel to take this opportunity—in which the Arabs crossed a line that shouldn’t be crossed and violated the holiest place of Judaism—to assert sovereignty over Temple Mount that should have never been relinquished in the first place, going back to the 1967 Six-Day War. This begins effectively with more proactive media publications, as written representatively in a July 26^th Israel Hayom article by Ariel Bolstein—founder of the Israel advocacy organization Faces of Israel:

“We must refine our message and focus our efforts on emphasizing our rights and not the rights of others.”

His reference to the rights of others was not what the United States of America or other democratic nations would consider the inalienable rights of all people; rather his remarks were in the context of what he previously identified as “anti-Israel propaganda incitement in the Muslim world.”

Ariel Bolstein went on to say: “Our right to the land of Israel, to Jerusalem, and to the Temple Mount is indisputable, and the time has come to realize this right with the uncompromising implementation of Israeli sovereignty throughout the country … Our path to a public diplomacy victory is long, but determination and an insistence on our rights will take us there.”

Regarding Israel’s regrettable lack of reactive and proactive promotion of Jewish sovereignty in Israel, Nadav Shragai, a regular columnist for the online news source Israel Hayom, wrote in an article posted July 28, 2017:

“The problem is that we are in a constant state of defensiveness, retreat and apology. No one ever mentions the enormous, profound and unimaginable concession Israel made back in 1967 regarding the Temple Mount. No one brings up the fact that Israel, the homeland of the Jewish people, took the Temple Mount, the holiest place for the Jewish nation, and placed it in the hands of a competing religion, Islam, for which the Temple Mount is only the third-holiest site—essentially infringing on the rights of Jews there. This unacceptable state of affairs is now being taken for granted for some reason, even though it really shouldn’t be. In terms of religious relations across the globe, this concession is unprecedented in scope, but Israel downplays it, hides it, as if in never happened. Israel is neglecting the obvious. It is not telling the world the most basic and elementary truth—that the Temple Mount is first and foremost a holy place for the Jews…”

Of course there are many Jews and some Gentiles (including me) who love Israel; who have spoken and written about her God-given right to the Promised Land, which includes Divine-delegated sovereignty in Israel. Several Eye of Prophecy articles have dealt with that issue to some extent or another. In fact, the title of last week’s and this week’s article is precisely on that subject.

Naturally, Nadav Shragai knows there are others like him who passionately and proactively defend and support Israel. So when he states, “No one ever mentions…” he’s saying this for dramatic effect; to stir the hearts and minds of Israelis to do more and say more in defense of their country and their rights.

In another Israel Hayom article written by contributing author Annika Hernroth Rothstein (Jewish, but a resident/citizen of Sweden … one of my favorite Op-Ed columnists) also posted on July 28^th, she tells the story of a recent meeting she had with a Chinese woman who was “a fan of Israel.” However, the Chinese woman was puzzled over the disposition of Israeli Jews in general and the mentality of Israel’s government in particular. So much so that the Chinese woman asked Annika: “Why do you (Jews) not assert yourself? Being humble is nice but it seems like you don’t believe in standing up for yourself.”

I, too, am a “fan of Israel!” So, I, too, will ask a question: Whether Gentile or Jew, what about you? Do you believe God’s promise to Abraham and God’s special possession Israel?

“I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3).

As for me, I will echo the prophetic words of the Prophet Isaiah:

“Arise, Jerusalem! Let your light shine for all to see. For the glory of the Lord rises to shine on you. Darkness as black as night covers all the nations of the earth, but the glory of the Lord rises and appears over you. All nations will come to your light; mighty kings will come to see your radiance” (Isaiah 60:1-3).

As long as the Lord gives me breath, I will continue to shout: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek (Gentile)” (Romans 1:16, NASB, parenthesis mine).

By God’s grace, I will continue to exalt my Lord and Savior Messiah Jesus. Because: “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

And concerning Israel’s final redemption, I say ardently with the Jewish Apostle Paul (former Pharisee who was dramatically and eternally changed by the risen Messiah, Jesus):

“Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved. I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God” (Romans 10:1-4).

Things to Ponder

Restating the premise proposed in last week’s Part I article:

As Temple Mount goes, so goes Jerusalem. As Jerusalem goes, so goes Israel. As Israel goes, so goes the world.

I’m not stating or even implying that the nation of Israel is the only nation on earth that matters, and certainly not that Israel is perfect. However, based on the authority of God’s Word, I am saying that God’s ultimate plan and purpose for the human race goes directly through Israel.

How much sovereignty Israel will regain over Temple Mount, over Jerusalem, and over Judea/Samaria before the Rapture—which will take place any day now—remains to be seen. But whatever the extent of any reclaimed authority, it won’t be enough until they exercise their God-given right to sovereignty over ALL of Israel.

(Star of David Superimposed Over Temple Mount to Symbolize Jewish Sovereignty in Israel)

Those with eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to know the truth of God’s salvation and the sovereign position and responsibility he has given to Israel will eagerly agree with the prophet Isaiah who said:

“Because I love Zion, I will not keep still. Because my heart yearns for Jerusalem, I cannot remain silent. I will not stop praying for her until her righteousness shines like the dawn, and her salvation blazes like a burning torch. The nations will see your righteousness. World leaders will be blinded by your glory…” (Isaiah 62:1-2, italics for emphasis).

And from whom does this righteousness come?

“In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth. In those days Judah shall be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell in safety; and this is the name by which she shall be called: the Lord is our righteousness” (Jeremiah 33:15-16, NASB, italics for emphasis).

Once upon a time, the Kingdom of God on earth was almost here. When Jesus of Nazareth rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, thousands in Israel proclaimed, “Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessings on the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David! (Hosanna) Praise God in highest heaven!” (Mark 11:9-10).

Heartbreakingly, their religious leaders handed Jesus over to the Romans to be crucified. But just as Jesus said would happen: He arose from the dead to prove he was and is the Messiah, the Son of God. That was God’s providential purpose: The Kingdom of Heaven in the hearts of men and woman who believe and receive His Son’s supreme sacrifice for our sins. Soon, God’s ultimate plan will be fulfilled: the Kingdom of God on earth.

Nearly half of Jews on this earth are now living in Israel. And many more, if not all, will return when Jesus Christ himself returns to Israel—setting foot on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem directly across the Kidron Valley from Temple Mount. He will then enter Temple Mount through the now sealed Eastern Gate.

From then on Messiah Jesus will be the Status Quo.