President Trump Recognizes Israel’s Biblical Capital. And the world rejoices for Israel at this momentous occasion.
If you’ve only just arrived from Pluto (or woken from a coma) you’d be forgiven for not hearing the BIG news. By the time anyone reads this column it will have been a week since President Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
So let me tell you how I saw it all go down.
For a long time, the media was abuzz with speculation about whether Trump would fulfill his promise. Personally, I was skeptical. After all, Trump’s predecessors from Clinton onwards promised to do it, and then forgot about it. I guess that comes from the business of being a president. There’s an awful lot on a presidential plate.
But Trump done did it!
Clinton, Bush and Obama cheered Trump on. One of them was heard telling a reporter: “For all his numerous faults, President Trump is a courageous guy.” Former president Obama opined that, had he not been so busy correcting the economy and the perception of Islam, recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital rated high on his agenda. Regrettably, he ran out of time. But he thinks the president is doing a great job.
At first there was fear about possible fiery retribution. All this proved to be unwarranted. It’s true that there was a temporary silence from Hamas and the Palestinian Authority leaderships. But only because they wanted to calmly assess and digest the US decision, as is their fashion.
Mahmoud Abbas sheepishly conceded that there was virtually no mention of Jerusalem in their sacred writings anyway. On the other hand he acknowledged that there were hundreds of references to Jerusalem in the Bible’s Old and New Testaments.
Abbas told a reporter that he felt a heavy burden lift from off his shoulders. “It was liberating,” he said. Years of hiding, ignoring and eliminating archeological and historical evidence of Jewish presence were beginning to take their toll on his conscience and nerves.
He now wishes peace and goodwill to all his Jewish neighbors. Meanwhile the infectious moment had the Palestinians passing out candy in the streets in celebration of the good news.
One of the conveners of the Palestinian Christ at the Checkpoint Conferences came clean as well. “Mr. Trump is right,” he contritely admitted. “In fact it’s about time that we all recognized that Jesus was a Jew, rather than a Palestinian.”
Several Christian heads of churches in Jerusalem had sent a letter of understandable concern to President Trump. It referred to the “three religions” and cited Psalm 80:14. Just as a lark, one of them decided to read the rest of the Psalm. He hastily called an urgent meeting of the Patriarchs upon realizing that the context of the verse related to Israel!
According to an insider, they’re now reviewing the rest of the Psalms. For example:
He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Psalm 98:3
For the LORD has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His own possession. Psalm 135:4
Speaking of which, one noted Covenant Theologian recounted his remarkable epiphany. He was sitting at his desk with his Reformation Study Bible and notes on Luther. The presidential speech on Jerusalem was being telecast on the TV set.
He shook his head at the silliness of it all, and sneezed. The sneeze was so violent his Seminary Textual-Decoder glasses fell off. When he found them, the text read differently. He was seeing eternal promises made to Israel which must still be fulfilled. Jerusalem belongs to Israel. The theologian later wrote on his blog:
Of course it’s now obvious what happened. I accidentally picked up my wife’s reading glasses instead of the Magical-Decoder ones I was given during Seminary. Suddenly the prophetic texts look different – like they mean what they say. How strange! God is a Zionist after all!
Even Pope Francis got caught up in the moment. Initially apprehensive about the president’s decision, he experienced his own epiphany while tentatively reconsidering The Lord’s Prayer. He read the Covenant Theologian’s blog and came to similar conclusions.
Moreover, he’s now realized that Islam does not worship the same God, because it rejects the Cross. Sources close to the pope cited him as noting that:
It seems so obvious now. How could we have missed it? There’s so much work to do that we’ve abandoned talks about Social Justice and Climate Change. The biblical gospel is more important. We’re drastically restructuring the Catechism. Heck we may even scratch it and use the Bible. The cardinals are very excited.
A Reality Check….
I find it ironical that theologians deny biblical prophecy regarding Israel. Yet throughout the centuries Jews have been persecuted, just as the Bible predicted. And the nations rage against Israel, just as the Bible predicted.
Isn’t it amazing how many people got themselves fired up over the president’s recognition of Jerusalem’s as Israel’s capital? What other nation is subjected to this kind of scrutiny? And why does the world get tied in knots over such a small allegedly prophetic-insignificant piece of real estate?
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. 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. Zech 12:2-3
Maranatha!
Further Reading:
Biblical Covenantalism and Dispensationalism
Esoteric Theology or Biblical Hermeneutics?
Sharing is caring!
