House of Hope Online

October 13, 2024

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No… it is not what you are thinking.  Even though we are in the middle of football season, today’s word has nothing to do with the mural on the facade of Notre Dame’s Sound Bend Campus library.

On the contrary, today I am captured by the prophesied coming of our Lord.  In the past, we have discussed the Rapture, when Jesus will come for His church, and the Second Coming, when He will come with His church to defeat the kings of the earth who are opposed to Him, and who are directed by the global leader, the antichrist.

Today I want to focus on some scripturally prophesied details of the Second Coming, and how they relate to the current situation in Israel.

Acts 1:

 9 And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

 10 And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was departing, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them;

 11 and they also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

 12 ¶ Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.

Jesus told us in Matthew 24:36 that no one but the Father knows the day or the hour He will come.  But Acts 1 tells us where He will come.  The disciples were at the mount called Olivet, near Jerusalem.  Mount Olivet, in the original Greek, means “Mount of Olives.” 

This is confirmed with even more specificity, in Zechariah 14.

Zechariah 14:

 1 ¶ Behold, a day is coming for the LORD when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you.

 2 For 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.

 4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.

So, we see that Jesus’ feet will touch down on the Mount of Olives, as promised by the angels in Acts 1.  Note the geographic position of the touchdown: in front of Jerusalem on the east.  Zechariah goes on to explain that from this position in East Jerusalem, Jesus will reign over all the earth.

Zechariah 14:

 9 And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be [the only] one, and His name [the only] one.

The Zechariah prophecy is consistent with John’s vision in Revelation 19.

Revelation 19:

 11 ¶ 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; 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.”

Revelation 19:15 says that Jesus will rule the nations, just as Zechariah 14:9 prophecies He will be king over all the earth, and He will be the only one.  Revelation 19 goes on to describe the great battle against the kings of the earth, who have assembled against Jesus.

Revelation 19:

 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 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.

Significance of the Location

Acts 1:12 and Zechariah 14:4 say Jesus will return at the Mount of Olives, which is east of Jerusalem.  East Jerusalem is at the center of the proposed “two-state solution” favored by the United Nations and the current U.S. administration.  Palestinians have long desired East Jerusalem as the capital for its state, but Israel considers Jerusalem its “eternal and indivisible” capital.  Pressure is mounting on Israel to compromise.

There is an increase of antisemitism in this country and around the world, and many are championing the cause of the Palestine state.  The U.S. has a growing segment that is anti-Israel.  Three prominent elected officials in the Pittsburgh area have recently taken anti-Israel positions:  U.S. Representative Summer Lee, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gaines, and Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato.  These three issued a joint statement on October 7, 2024 that emphasized the deaths and displacement of Palestinians in the aftermath of October 7, 2023, without referring to the vicious attack on Israel by Hamas, which is a U.S.-designated terrorist group.  Members of Gainey’s staff supported a proposed referendum that would have called for the city to cut all ties with Israel.

Jerusalem is the apple of God’s eye, and it is key to His plan for all eternity.  Following Jesus’ touchdown at East Jerusalem, the kings of the earth are defeated, and Jesus rules there for 1,000 years.  As a nation, we do not want to be on the wrong side of the battle at East Jerusalem.

Let us pray.

Father God, we thank You that Jesus is coming again in accordance with Biblical prophecy.  We pray for the peace of Jerusalem, but not the peace contemplated by the kings of the earth.  We pray instead for your permanent peace that comes only through Jesus today and on that great day.  Lord, we pray for the leadership of our country, that we would be on the righteous side of that great battle.  In Jesus’ name, we pray.  Amen.