Today's
promise: Christ will return
No
clever story
We
were not making up clever stories when we told you about the power of the Lord
Jesus Christ and his coming again. We have seen his majestic splendor with our
own eyes.
2 Peter 1:16 NLT
Fulfillment of prophecy?
On
June 7, 1967, a date clear to the heart of every patriotic Israeli, the
army of Israel captured the Old City of Jerusalem. The previous month the
Egyptians had decided to attempt once more to conquer Israel. Israel felt its
only hope was to launch a preemptive strike, which it did on June 5. Two days
later the Israelis captured the Old City of Jerusalem, which had been part of
Jordan. As a result of this military victory in what is known as the Six-Day
War, Israel once again possessed her ancient capital.
From
the beginning of Jesus' ministry he warned the Jews of God's coming wrath
unless they repented (Matthew 3:8). The Roman army, under general Titus,
completely destroyed the city and temple in A.D. 70.
Jesus
had also prophesied that following its defeat "Jerusalem will be…trampled
down by the Gentiles until the age of the Gentiles comes to an end" (Luke
21:24). Does this mean that the "age of the Gentiles" came to end on
June 7, 1967? Revelation 11:2 seems to answer no. It states that the Gentiles
"will trample the holy city for forty-two months," apparently the
three and a half years period to the second coming of Christ, implying that the
Jews will not be in control of Jerusalem at this time. June 7, 1967 was
an extremely significant event in Jewish history, but it was not the
fulfillment of prophecy.
Reflection
When
you read the unfulfilled prophecies of the Bible, do you believe that they will
be literally fulfilled? The first coming of Jesus Christ fulfilled many
prophecies, and his second coming will fulfill many more.
Adapted
from The One Year® Book of Christian
History by E. Michael and Sharon Rusten (Tyndale, 2003), entry
for June 7.
Content
is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications
of Tyndale Publishing House
No comments:
Post a Comment