Jerusalem and the End Times

The status of Jerusalem in the last days, as stated in Zechariah Chapter 12, is said to be a burdensome stone burdening all nations. It’s going to be the source of the final conflict.

² Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.

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.

Zechariah 12.2-3

The Bible speaks of a number of wars connected to the end times which, from the Jewish point of view, are looking to the coming of the Messiah and, from the Messianic Christian point of view, look to the Second Coming of Yeshua / Jesus the Messiah.

This is why it’s interesting for us – and you should pay attention to these things – because they’re not just someone else’s problem. There is something in it that has to do with the world and the future of the world in which we’re living.

You have Ezekiel 38 and 39, the war of Gog and Magog, happening in the last days, you’ve got Zechariah 12 to 14, the battle over Jerusalem which ends with the Messiah coming and standing on the Mount of Olives, and you also have Revelation 16 and Revelation 19 which end with the Second Coming of Jesus the Messiah at the last battle of Armageddon.

All these things are in the Bible and, if you’re following what I’m saying, we could be heading sooner or later towards it. That is why what’s happening in the Middle East is significant.

I’m not actually going to look at any of those passages here. We’re going to look at Psalm 83.

Psalm 83 is a psalm. It is not necessarily prophetic of the end times as I shall show, but it is prophetic of the entire situation surrounding the land of Israel and it provides certain statements which you can look at in the light of what’s happening and that have a relevance to the whole issue.

Therefore, if you’ve got your Bible, go to Psalm 83.

Do not keep silent, O God!
Do not hold Your peace,
And do not be still, O God!
² For behold, Your enemies make a tumult;
And those who hate You have lifted up their head.
³ They have taken crafty counsel against Your people,
And consulted together against Your sheltered ones.
⁴ They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation,
That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”

⁵ For they have consulted together with one consent;
They form a confederacy against You:
⁶ The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites;
Moab and the Hagrites;
⁷ Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek;
Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
⁸ Assyria also has joined with them;
They have helped the children of Lot. Selah

⁹ Deal with them as with Midian,
As with Sisera,
As with Jabin at the Brook Kishon,
¹⁰ Who perished at En Dor,
Who became as refuse on the earth.
¹¹ Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb,
Yes, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
¹² Who said, “Let us take for ourselves
The pastures of God for a possession.”

¹³ O my God, make them like the whirling dust,
Like the chaff before the wind!
¹⁴ As the fire burns the woods,
And as the flame sets the mountains on fire,
¹⁵ So pursue them with Your tempest,
And frighten them with Your storm.
¹⁶ Fill their faces with shame,
That they may seek Your name, O Lord.
¹⁷ Let them be confounded and dismayed forever;
Yes, let them be put to shame and perish,
¹⁸ That they may know that You, whose name alone is the Lord,
Are the Most High over all the earth.

Psalm 83

There is a question mark over this Psalm: whether it is a prophecy of a specific war against Israel or whether it is a statement of the settled position of hostility towards Israel from the nations that surround it. You can see that, unlike Ezekiel 38, it does not have a specific connection to the last days or to the coming of the Lord as in Zechariah 12 to 14.

Some people connect this to the event in 2 Chronicles chapter 20 in which Jehoshaphat’s army comes against the combined armies of Moab and Ammon at Mount Seir and where they joined together to pray and worship the Lord who went before them.

It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat. ² Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria; and they are in Hazazon Tamar” (which is En Gedi). ³ And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. ⁴ So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

2 Chronicles 20.1-4

As they went and prayed before the armies, it says that the opposition came into confusion began fighting each other and Israel was victorious. Suddenly, we can see parallels in the psalm with 2 Chronicles In this passage.

Obviously, a collection of 10 enemies set against Israel is not referring to one specific occasion but to the constant danger Israel faces of attack from its neighbours all of whom are aiming at Israel’s extermination.

This is relevant both in the ancient world and in the modern world. It is also relevant to modern Israel and you can see a partial fulfilment of this Psalm in the war of independence in 1948 and in 1967 Six Day War when the surrounding Arab armies did come against Israel did consult together with one consent and formed a confederacy against Israel, an agreement with the aim of destroying the Jewish State and when God intervened and to saved Israel.

If you study history and you look at the history of those events, you can’t actually leave God out of it. I have to say that the only way in which Israel could have survived against the opposition which came against them was with God intervening on their behalf.

The main events and focus points outlined in Psalm 83 are:

1. The people involved in this war are not just at war with Israel but at war with God. This is actually a war against God not just a war against Israel. And do not be still, O God! For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; And those who hate You have lifted up their head.
2. The opposing nations are saying “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” Therefore, the aim is to remove Israel from the map altogether, that the State of Israel will no longer exist.
3. The enemies are saying “Let us take for ourselves The pastures of God for a possession”, which means let us take this land (from the river Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea) for ourselves and kick the Jews out, make it our land.
4. Finally, the psalmist appeals to God to intervene on Israel’s behalf

¹³ O my God, make them like the whirling dust,
Like the chaff before the wind!
¹⁴ As the fire burns the woods,
And as the flame sets the mountains on fire,
¹⁵ So pursue them with Your tempest,
And frighten them with Your storm.
¹⁶ Fill their faces with shame,
That they may seek Your name, O Lord.
¹⁷ Let them be confounded and dismayed forever;
Yes, let them be put to shame and perish,
¹⁸ That they may know that You, whose name alone is the Lord,
Are the Most High over all the earth.

Psalm 83.13-18