God's Final Plans For Jerusalem

Text: "Jerusalem will be holy; never again will foreigners invade her. . . . Judah will be inhabited forever and Jerusalem through all generations" (Joel 3: 17b, 20).

The continued Arab mutterings about Jerusalem are troublesome--and the Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon has been rumored as plotting to give part of it to the Palestinians. Indeed I remember when the battle weary King Hussein of Jordan admitted defeat as the remainder of his troops were driven out of Jerusalem.

That was then, 1967. And this is now, politically speaking. The Israeli army, one of the most powerful in the world, gained the Holy City by force of arms.

But now, the threat is to turn tiny Israel into a nuclear desert. Iran is possibly offering itself as a massive target for Israel's nukes.

As a reader of the Bible and a believer in the inherent truth of the old Book, there are some refrains in the various prophecies that keep ringing true. I do not know whether this secular nation of Israel will be incinerated in a Second Holocaust-- or not. I do not know if Islam will again exert temporary custody over the land--or not.

But I do know God's final plans for Jerusalem. A day is coming when foreigners will be gone. A day is coming when Judah will be inhabited forever, and a Jewish Jerusalem, through all generations is in God's plan.

It is a comfort to know.