Jerusalem
40 Years United and Divided Capital of Israel
by Hugh Kitson

28th Iyar in the Jewish calendar, 16th May in our calendar in this year of 2007, is a most significant date for every Israeli, and especially for those who live in the their ancient beloved Capital, Jerusalem. This day marks exactly 40 years since the entire Holy City came under sovereign Jewish rule in more than two thousand years. Of course, most of us well remember 7th June 1967 (28th Iyar in the Jewish calendar that year). This momentous event was captured by photographers and television cameras and beamed all over the world. The Israeli army had conquered the Temple Mount, the holiest place in Judaism, and descended to the Western Wall to pray, rejoice and weep – at a place that had been denied to them for nearly two decades since Israel had been reborn as a sovereign nation.

Gershon Salaman, leader of ‘the Temple Mount Faithful’ organisation, was there on that day. Many years later, in an interview, he told me of his memories as the Israel Defence Force liberated the Temple Mount:

“I will never forget when the Israeli forces entered through the Lion’s gate, and then through the Tribal Gate of the Temple Mount. We ran like crazy people – if I can say that – to a place that we had never seen before. Then we stood before God in the location of the first and second Temple. It was a great moment. And we did just one thing – we cried like small children. Shortly before this, our soldiers were like lions in the battle for the liberation of Jerusalem. For a long, long time this holiest place of Israel and of God had been in captivity. And here we were, and we wept and cried. And we felt the presence of God. It was as if a great historical circle – a prophetic circle – was completed in that moment.”

Anyone watching the television coverage that momentous day, as the battle-worn Israeli soldiers stood at the Western Wall with tears of joy streaming down their faces, could have opened their Bible at Psalm 126 and seen the fulfilment of these words before their very eyes: ‘When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations: “The LORD has done great things for them.” The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.’ (Psalm 126:1-3 NIV)

It is absolutely true, the nations of the world were stunned by Israel’s amazing victory of the Six Day War of 1967, and the majority of Christians all over the world openly declared it to be the hand of the Lord.

History has been rewritten in the intervening 40 years. What was a defensive war on Israel’s part is now portrayed as an act of naked aggression, including by many Christians in the West. Israel’s regaining of her ancient Capital in 1967, is now seen by many as being stolen from the Palestinians.

The city, which has now been the united capital of the Jewish people for 40 years in the modern era, is now more divided than ever. The Israelis, on the one hand, have repeatedly said that they will never give up sovereignty over any part of Jerusalem, although in recent times some have offered to so. The Palestinians, on the other hand, have repeatedly said that unless they get what they call East Jerusalem, which includes the walled Old City with all its holy sites, as the sovereign capital of a Palestinian state, then there will be no peace.

In reality, Jerusalem was physically divided for only 19 years, between 1948 and 1967. No people, not even the Palestinians, ever claimed Jerusalem as their capital, except the Jewish people. Ironically, there has never been a Palestinian Arab nation dwelling in the Holy Land. It is true that there have been Arabs living in the territory known as Palestine for many centuries, although the vast majority of Arabs who live in the area today are first, second and third generation descendants of those who migrated there during the British Mandate period. But where are the historical records of Palestinian nationhood? And where are the historical records of Jerusalem being their capital? There are none.

Where are the records of Jerusalem being the capital of Israel and Judah? They are in the Bible. So who does Jerusalem belong to? This has become a vexing question, especially in the last 40 years. Historically Jerusalem, whose name means ‘City of Peace’, is arguably the most fought over city in the world. Analysts of every political persuasion are agreed about one thing: The bottom line in the Middle East peace process, if indeed there is any such thing any more, is Jerusalem.

To make matters more complicated for the Israelis, her main political ally, the United States is guarded about openly recognising Israel’s sovereignty over even the western part of the city. At the same time, neither the European Union nor the Muslim world recognises Israel’s sovereignty over any part of Jerusalem. It is almost as if the three thousand-year bond between the Jewish people and their ancient capital city never existed.

In fact that is precisely what the Muslim world, assisted by the propaganda in the Western media, wants everyone to believe. Consequently, the history of Jerusalem is being rewritten before our eyes. Tragically, because of either their ignorance of Scripture, or rejection of it as the Word of God for today, this revisionism is endorsed by a large part of the Christian Church as well. The nations of the world are trying to coerce Israel into what they believe to be a ‘just and equitable’ solution to achieve lasting peace, regardless of her future well-being as a nation. And so, 40 years on, the re-division of Jerusalem is very much on the international agenda.

However, a political or humanist solution to the conflict in the Middle East, and particularly over Jerusalem, will never bring peace. This is simply because the source of the conflict is not in the human arena at all. Essentially the conflict in the Middle East, and especially over the status of Jerusalem, is a spiritual conflict.

To put the question again, who does Jerusalem really belong to? The Creator of the Universe, the God of Israel, has made a number of very clear and unambiguous declarations concerning the status of Jerusalem, which the nations of the world and the Church ignore at their peril. For example: For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His habitation: “This is My resting place forever, here I will dwell, for I have desired it. There I will make the horn of David grow; I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed (Messiah).” (Psalm 132:13, 14, 17) Or again: “Thus says the LORD: ‘I will return to Zion, and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, the Mountain of the LORD of Hosts, the Holy Mountain.’” (Zechariah 8:3) What the Lord is saying through the Scriptures is that He is personally laying claim to the city of Jerusalem, and particularly the Temple Mount. The Psalmist says it is “His resting place forever”. In other words, not simply for the Old Testament period, but for ever. Zechariah tells us that the Lord will return to Zion (see also Zechariah 2:12) and make His presence very obvious.

The Lord is preparing Jerusalem for the return of His Son, Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah) as the rightful King of Israel to rule the earth from the throne of David. In Psalm 2 the Lord declares: “Yet have I set My King on My holy hill of Zion.” “I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession.” (verses 6 to 8) This gives us the key to what the conflict over Jerusalem is all about. It is an assault by the spiritual forces of darkness against the declared purposes of God. Satan knows full well that when the Messiah returns to Jerusalem, he and his demonic minions will be bound and confined to the bottomless pit (Revelation 20: 2,3). Therefore Satan’s intention, in what little time he has left, is to try to disinherit the Jewish people of the Land and the City that God has covenanted to them as an everlasting possession, and, if it were possible, to destroy the nation of Israel as well. Such a feat would make the Word of God null and void.

Satan is using Islam, as well as the vast majority of Western nations, to try to achieve this end. Whether or not the nations of the world realise it, in meddling with Jerusalem they have set themselves on a collision course with the purposes of God. At the moment this spiritual conflict is manifested in the intense political and propaganda war to de-legitimise Israel’s presence in both her Biblical heartland and her ancient capital city. Later, the Scriptures tell us, the conflict over Jerusalem will escalate to a military conflagration of global proportions. A remarkable prophecy by Zechariah is being fulfilled before our eyes: “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling … All who try to move it will injure themselves.” (Zechariah 12: 2 & 3 in part, NIV). It will have its ultimate fulfilment when all the nations of the world come against Jerusalem, with catastrophic results for them. (see Zechariah 12:9)

Furthermore, Psalm 2, which we considered earlier, contains a dire warning to the nations: Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and His Anointed (Messiah), saying, “Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord will hold them in derision. He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure: “Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.” (verses 1-6)

If one were to present this word of the Lord to the leaders of the Western nations they would simply laugh and ignore it. And yet, it is these nations’ response to the Lord and His declared purposes for the Jewish nation that will ultimately affect their well-being more than anything else (see Joel 3:2 and Zechariah 14: 16-17).

The ancient prophets of Israel predict that the conflict over the status of Jerusalem will set the entire world ablaze before Messiah’s return. The prophet Isaiah indicates that all Christians have an obligation to pray for the peace of Jerusalem:

“I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest, and give Him no rest till He establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.” (Isaiah 62: 1-7, NIV)

Note: Bible quotations are from the New King James Version, unless otherwise specified.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Hugh Kitson has been a documentary film-maker for 40 years. His many productions include Jerusalem, The Covenant City – a journey through the prophetic destiny of Jerusalem. The two-hour documentary film is presented by Lance Lambert and complemented with a 335-page book. Website www.hatikvah.co.uk

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Jerusalem 40 Years United and Divided Capital of Israel by Hugh Kitson

Jerusalem
40 Years United and Divided Capital of Israel
by Hugh Kitson