God's Plan for Jerusalem

 

 

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THE WALL

 

Why is this chart on Jerusalem associated with the study of Ezekiel?

Ezekiel's prophecy (Click here for Historical Timeline of Ezekiel) deals with God's final warnings and reasons for the complete destruction of the holy Temple and the holy city of Jerusalem. Ezekiel's prophecies were fulfilled in 586BC with the final burning of the city, but this was not to be the final "end" of God's discipline on His holy city and the chart and Scriptures below are an attempt to provide an overview of the five "mountain peaks" of prophecy centered around the city of Jerusalem. A proper understanding of the pivotal role of Jerusalem in God's plan for the ages, will greatly aid a proper understanding of all other end time events. This chart represents a synopsis and is not meant to be all inclusive. Note that this chart is based upon a literal interpretation of the Scriptures and otherwise assumes no predisposition to any one specific school of interpretation or "systematic theology". For example, if John writes "1000 years" the approach is to interpret this as a literal 1000 year period of time. As you contemplate your future home in the holy city, click the following link and play the beautiful, haunting Jewish melody YERUSHALAYIM.

Click here for another timeline of end time prophecies
Click here for all NASB uses of "Jerusalem"
Click here for synopsis of "Day of the Lord"
Click here for synopsis of "End Time Judgments"

 

The Old City of David  
(click for closer view)

"Then David and all Israel went to Jerusalem (ie, Jebus); and the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, were there. The inhabitants of Jebus said to David, "You shall not enter here." Nevertheless David captured the stronghold of Zion ie, the CITY OF DAVID...Then David dwelt in the stronghold; therefore it was called the CITY OF DAVID & he built the city all around from the Millo even to the surrounding area; and Joab repaired the rest of the city & David became greater and greater for the LORD of hosts was with him" (1Chr 11:4-5, 11:7-9)

 

"THE END" OF JERUSALEM
AS PICTURED IN 5 PROPHETIC "PEAKS"

  MOUNTAIN
PEAK 1
MOUNTAIN
PEAK 2
MOUNTAIN
PEAK 3

MOUNTAIN
PEAK 4

MOUNTAIN
PEAK 5

WHAT IS THE SIGN OF THIS PEAK?


Sketch, Side, Starvation, Shaving (Ezek 4-5)
 

Jerusalem
Being Surrounded

Abomination of Desolation (Antichrist)
Standing in Holy Place

Beloved City Surrounded
by Nations (Gentiles)
Deceived by Satan

"Bride Adorned for Her Husband"

WHAT SCRIPTURES
SUPPORT THIS EVENT?

Ezekiel 4-7
(many others in OT)

Luke 19:41-44,
Luke 21:20-24


Mt 24:3, 15, 21

Jer 30:3,7
Zech 12-14
Rev 11:1-2
Rev 19:11-21
2Th 2:1-10
Da 7:11ff
Da 9:24-27
 

Rev 20:1-10

Rev 20:11, 21:1-4
2Pe 3:10-13, Mt 24:35
Isa 65:17, 66:22

WHAT CHARACTERIZES THIS "MOUNTAIN"?

City Besieged
The End has come Ezek 7:2
Remnant Preserved
Ezek 6:8-9
Restoration Predicted
Ezel 33-39

Jews did not recognize
Time of Messiah's (first) Visitation


"Great Tribulation"
"Jacob's Distress"
City Surrounded
Messiah Returns & Fights
Jews Mourn (cf Ezek 6:9)
Jewish Remnant Saved
(cf Ro 11:25-36)
 

1000 Year
Millennial Reign
of Messiah on Earth
Fire devours rebels
Satan > Lake of Fire


New Heavens & Earth
The Holy City:
New Jerusalem
(new = qualitatively brand new)
 

WHEN IS IT
FULFILLED?
(By Whom?)

586BC
(BABYLON)
70AD
(ROME)
Second Half of Daniel's 70th  Week 
(Antichrist &
"REVIVED ROME")
AT END OF
THE 1000 REIGN
(SATAN DECEIVES MANY
GENTILES TO REVOLT)
AFTER HEAVEN & EARTH PASS AWAY

HOW ARE THE TIMES DESCRIBED?


TIMES OF THE GENTILES Lu 21:24
(from conquest by Nebuchadnezzar
until the destruction of the antichrist) 

 


Righteousness
forevermore  Isaiah 9:7
 RIGHTEOUSNESS DWELLS 2 Peter 3:13 (note)
 

 

Below are most of the Scriptures that correspond to the five prophetic peaks in the history of Jerusalem. Consider downloading Instaverse which will allow you to read all of the Scriptural annotations in the chart in context.

 

 JERUSALEM
THE FIRST MAJOR PROPHETIC PEAK
586BC: DESTRUCTION BY BABYLON
TIMES OF GENTILES BEGIN

Ezekiel 4-7 Remember that Ezekiel 4-24 describes God's judgment on Judah and the desolation of Jerusalem

Ezekiel 4:1-2 (SKETCH SIGN)

Now you son of man, get yourself a brick, place it before you, and inscribe a city on it, Jerusalem.. Then lay siege against it, build a siege wall, raise up a ramp, pitch camps, and place battering rams against it all around…

Ezekiel 4:4 (SIDE SIGN)

As for you, lie down on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; you shall bear their iniquity for the number of days that you lie on it….

Ezekiel 4:9  (STARVATION SIGN)

But as for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and spelt, put them in one vessel and make them into bread for yourself; you shall eat it according to the number of the days that you lie on your side, three hundred and ninety days…15  Then He said to me, "See, I shall give you cow's dung in place of human dung over which you will prepare your bread."

Ezekiel 5:1-2 (SHAVING SIGN)

…take a sharp sword; take and use it as a barber's razor on your head and beard. Then take scales for weighing and divide the hair. 1/3 you shall burn in the fire at the center of the city…1/3 and strike it with the sword all around the city & 1/3 you shall scatter to the wind…

Ezekiel 6:8  (MOURNING REMNANT SPARED)

However, I shall leave a remnant, (click note on remnant) for you will have those who escaped the sword among the nations when you are scattered among the countries. 9 Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations to which they will be carried captive, how I have been hurt by their adulterous hearts which turned away from Me, and by their eyes, which played the harlot after their idols; and they will loathe themselves (see Zech  in their own sight for the evils which they have committed, for all their abominations. 10 Then they will know that I am the LORD; I have not said in vain that I would inflict this disaster on them.

Ezekiel 7:2

And you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD to the land of Israel, 'An end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land. 3 'Now the end is upon you, and I shall send My anger against you; I shall judge you according to your ways, and I shall bring all your abominations upon you.

 JERUSALEM
THE SECOND MAJOR PROPHETIC PEAK
70AD: DESTRUCTION BY ROME
DISPERSION OF JEWS

Luke 19:41 

And when He approached, He saw the city and wept over it 42 saying "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. 43 for the days shall come upon you when your enemies will throw up a bank before you, and surround you, and hem you in on every side, 44  and will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation (If they had recognized and received Jesus as their Messiah, He would have set up His kingdom but they did not so He will return as described below to set up His 1000 year kingdom and fulfill His covenant promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob).

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Luke 21:20-24  

But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is at hand. 21  Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are in the midst of the city depart, and let not those who are in the country enter the city 22  because these are days of vengeance, in order that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23 Woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse babes in those days for there will be great distress upon the land and wrath to this people, 24 and they will fall by the edge of the sword and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. (Comment: Click times of Gentiles charted out. In context, the sign of Jerusalem surrounded by armies was a reference to the future siege and destruction by the Roman General Titus in A.D. 70. However, before the Romans could capture Jerusalem, they had to lay a long siege lasting some 143 days. Josephus claimed that nearly a million people were killed by the Romans, and over 100,000 taken captive, when Titus captured the city. But for those who heeded Jesus' warning, presumably believers, the vision of Jerusalem surrounded by Roman armies would be the signal to flee to the mountains. The historian Eusebius reports that before the destruction of Jerusalem, Christians, apparently following this warning, left the city and took refuge at Pella, a little town east of the Jordan near the Sea of Galilee. This historically verifiable event is a picture of the yet future sign that Jesus described in Matthew 24:15 concerning the abomination of desolation standing in the Jewish temple. In regard to when the times of the Gentiles began some observers conclude from Luke 20 that it began in 70AD, but most authorities believe these times began with Nebuchadnezzar's destruction of Jerusalem in 586BC.)

Dr. John Walvoord feels that...

The times of the Gentiles began in 605 BC. when Nebuchadnezzar (a Gentile) and his armies conquered Jerusalem and took the first captives to Babylon. Since then there have been times when Israel had possession of Jerusalem temporarily, but they did not have permanent possession. At the time Jesus was on earth, though Israel was in Jerusalem, it was under the control of the Gentiles (Rome). That has continued to the present time. Even today Israel controls Jerusalem because of military support from the United States (and they still do not control the most valuable land in Jerusalem...Temple Mount, which is controlled by Gentiles!). According to Daniel’s prophecies, the times of the Gentiles will not end until the end of the Great Tribulation which is future. The section of prophecy in Luke:20-24 should be distinguished from the other prophecies dealing with signs of the end because Luke 21:24 has already been literally fulfilled while the other aspects of its signs, as in Matthew 24 and Mark 13, are yet to see complete fulfillment. Only Luke gives the specific answer to signs of the destruction of Jerusalem." (Walvoord, J. F. The Prophecy Knowledge Handbook. Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books)

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Revelation 11:11-2 

And there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, "Rise and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and those who worship in it. 2 "And leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations (Gentiles - so clearly indicating that these are still "the times of the Gentiles"); and they will tread under foot THE HOLY CITY for forty-two months. (a three and one-half year period, the last half of the "Tribulation" or Daniel's Seventieth Week) -- better classified under the "Third Major Mountain Peak" as this prophecy refers to events in the second half of Daniel's 70th Week (see Daniel 9:27 below) (See notes Revelation 11:1, 11:2)

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A study of Daniel 2 provides an excellent overview of the succession of Gentile nations that would trample Jerusalem underfoot. Daniel first states Nebuchadnezzar's dream:

Daniel 2:31-36

You, O king (Nebuchadnezzar), were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome.

32 The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze,

33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

34 You continued looking until a Stone (the second coming of Messiah, the Rock and Redeemer Ps 19:14, cf Isa 28:16 Lu 20:18 at the end of the Great Tribulation crushing the Gentile armies of the world and the antichrist Rev 19:11-21) was cut out without hands (speaking of His supernatural aspect - no human help needed), and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and crushed them.

35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. (When Christ returns at the end of the Tribulation, the Seven Year period described by Daniel in Da 9:27 -notes) But the Stone that struck the statue became a great mountain (mountain in scripture often = kingdom, in this case the Millennial Kingdom)  and filled the whole earth (Messiah will rule over all the earth during His 1000 year rule).

36 This was the dream; now we shall tell its interpretation before the king....

Then Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar's dream...

Daniel 2:37-45

You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory; 38 and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold. (First of five Gentile kingdoms to rule over or "trample" Jerusalem: Babylon   605 - 539BC)

39 And after (marks time sequence) you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you (Second Gentile kingdom to trample Jerusalem: Medo-Persia   539 - 330BC),

then (remember that "then" is an important conjunction in prophetic passages as it marks sequence of events) another third kingdom of bronze (Third Gentile kingdom to trample Jerusalem: Greece under Alexander the Great   330 - 63BC ), which will rule over all the earth.

40 "Then (time phrase indicating sequence of events) there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron (Fourth Gentile kingdom to trample Jerusalem:  Rome   63BC) inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces.

41 And in that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay (Fifth Gentile kingdom to trample Jerusalem: Greece).

42 And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. 43 And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery (Most conservative authorities equate the 10 toes with the "Revived Roman Empire" - the statue above is relatively accurate but "European Union" is conjecture and not a definite fact).

44 And in the days of those kings (What days? The days of the 10 kings = the Revived Roman Empire) the God of heaven will set up a kingdom (Millennial Kingdom in which the "Stone", the Messiah reigns for 1000 years) which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms (All the Gentile kingdoms which trampled under foot are in turn crushed forever by the Messianic Millennial kingdom), but it will itself endure forever.

45 Inasmuch as you saw that a Stone (Messiah) was cut out of the mountain without hands (speaks of supernatural aspect) and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, (at Christ's second advent {See notes on Rev 19:11ff}, all the kingdoms of men will be crushed at one time bringing in the Millennial Kingdom of Messiah, the King of kings) the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy." (Nebuchadnezzar’s dream symbolized the ultimate end of the "times of the Gentiles" and their domination of Israel brought about quickly by the second coming of Christ.)

 JERUSALEM
THE THIRD MAJOR PROPHETIC PEAK
SOMETIME FUTURE AT THE END OF THIS AGE
THE GREAT TRIBULATION
THE TIME OF JACOB'S DISTRESS

Matthew 24:3, 15, 21  - The "Olivet Discourse", Christ's longest "sermon"

And as He (Jesus) was sitting on the Mount of Olives (in His last week prior to His sacrificial death), the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age? (and in verse 15 He warns them of a time of great danger for Israel)...

15  (
Here is the "sign" Jesus told them to watch for) "Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION (reference to the antichrist = man of lawlessness of 2Thes 2:3-4 = beast of Rev 13:2ff = little horn of Daniel 7:8) which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place let the reader understand (the "holy place" indicates there must be a rebuilt Temple)…
 
21 for then there will be a great tribulation (
refers to the last 3.5 years of Daniel's 70th week) such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall." (worse than the Babylonian and Roman destructions of Jerusalem)

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Jeremiah 30:3,7  Note the context of these verses is a prophecy of  the future restoration for Israel.  

Jeremiah records...

3 For, behold, days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah

7  'Alas! for that day is great (What day? the "great tribulation"). There is none like it; and it is the time of Jacob's distress, but he will be saved from it."

Israel's Future Restoration
In Parallel Passages

Jeremiah 30:7  will be saved
Daniel 12:1 will be rescued
Zechariah 13:8-9 I will bring the third part through the fire
Romans 11:26 all Israel will be saved

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Daniel 12:1  

Daniel's Time of Distress =
Jesus'
Great Tribulation  =
Jeremiah's
Time of Jacob's Distress

Now at that time (What time? For context you need to read the previous chapter, especially beginning in Da 11:36, {note the phrase "the indignation" = the "time of distress", etc} which describes the reign of the antichrist), Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.

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Zechariah 12:1-3  Zechariah 12-14 should be read as a "unit" for these passages refer to the same time period and events.

The burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel. Thus declares the LORD who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him, 2  Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. 3  And it will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it….

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Zechariah 12:10

And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they (in context God is referring primarily to the Jews who) will look on Me whom they have pierced and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a first-born….

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Zechariah 13:8

And it will come about in all the land" Declares the LORD "That two parts in it will be cut off and perish but the 3rd will be left in it. 13:9 And I will bring the 3rd part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined & test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name & I will answer them. I will say, 'They are My people,' & they will say, 'Jehovah is my God." (compare parallel passage Daniel 12:10 which in context also refers to the time period of the "Great Tribulation" or "Jacob's distress")

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Zechariah 14:1 

Behold a day is coming for the LORD when…I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished, and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. 3 Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. (Describing the Second Coming as in notes on Revelation 19:11ff)

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Romans 11:25-29 - Paul explains what happens to the Jews who place their faith in Messiah when He returns (as described in the previous passages in Zechariah and the following passage from Revelation) at the end of the Great Tribulation

For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles (not the same as the "times of the Gentiles" which is more of a term of judgment on Israel) has come in 26 and thus all Israel will be saved ("All" who place their faith in Messiah, but from Zechariah we know that this "all" is only a "Remnant" of one third - click note on remnant); just as it is written, "THE DELIVERER (See description of Messiah's "deliverance" in,  Rev 19:15 {note} and 2Thes 2:8 below) WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB." 27 "AND THIS IS MY COVENANT (God keeps His covenant - this statement is based on His unconditional, eternal covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, see Ge 12:1-3 which reaches its fullness in the "New Covenant" first prophesied in Jer 31:31-40 - read those verses to see how "permanent" it is!) WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS." 28 From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers 29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable (compare Isaiah 66:14) (See notes on Romans 11:25; 26; 27; 28; 29)

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Revelation 19 In this passage the Stone of Daniel 2 (above) crushes all the Gentile kingdoms of the world (Cf Zech 14:3 above)

And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war.12 And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations (~Gentiles) and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." 17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, "Come, assemble for the great supper of God; 18 in order that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great." 19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make war against Him who sat upon the horse, and against His army. 20 And the beast (antichrist) was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat upon the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh." (And thus end the "times of the Gentiles that began with Nebuchadnezzar's destruction of Jerusalem in 586BC) (See notes on Revelation 19:11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 20; 21)

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2Thessalonians 2:1-10 

Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him, 2 that you may not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the Day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy (a specific turning away from a prior religious allegiance - as this event is associated with the mention of the antichrist in the following section, this apostasy could be a turning away of Jews from Jehovah and to the Antichrist who Daniel teaches will make a covenant with them) comes first, and the man of lawlessness (the Antichrist) is revealed (means to be shown clearly in regard to his evil nature, implying that in the first 3.5 years of Daniel's Seventieth Week, his true nature is veiled), the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God (his incredibly blasphemous act will set in motion the last 3.5 years of the Tribulation, the period Jesus referred to as "The Great Tribulation", the inception of which could be identified clearly when the Antichrist stood in the rebuilt Jewish Temple - see Mt 24:15, 21). 5 Do you not remember that while I was still with you,