The prophet Zechariah reminds us that God is the Creator and that He is able to intervene in the affairs of our world. He created human beings with body, soul, and spirit, in the image of God, capable of entering into a relationship with God and knowing Him through the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. We should focus all our attention on God and on the salvation He brings to the whole world, as well as to the people of Israel.

The prophet Zechariah describes a time when the attention of the whole world will be focused more on Jerusalem: “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling to all the surrounding peoples, and even to Judah, when Jerusalem is besieged. “On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the nations. All who lift it up will be severely wounded, and all the nations of the earth will gather against it” (Zechariah 12:2–3). This means that a time will come when the status of Jerusalem will be a concern for all nations, and those who rise up against it will suffer. Today, the status of Jerusalem is a top priority on the agenda of the nations of the world.

The prophecy refers to a time far in the future compared to the time in which Zechariah lived and wrote (487 B.C.). At that time, following the return of the Jewish people from Babylonian captivity and the rebuilding of the Second Temple, Jerusalem had been rebuilt. According to the prophecy in Daniel 9:26, during the time of the Second Temple, the Messiah will come and “be cut off,” after which the Temple and Jerusalem will be destroyed. “After these sixty-two weeks, the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of a ruler who is to come will destroy the city (Jerusalem) and the Holy Place (the Temple), and its end will be like a flood; it is decreed that war will continue until the end, and with it, desolation.” The Lord Jesus fulfilled this prophecy at His first coming, during the time of the Second Temple, as the Messiah—a servant of sorrow accustomed to suffering—in order to give His life as a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the world.

Forty years later, the Temple and Jerusalem were destroyed by the Romans, exactly as the Lord Jesus had prophesied as He entered Jerusalem, shortly before His crucifixion. As He approached the city and saw it, Jesus wept over it and said, “If only you had known, even on this day, the things that could have brought you peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Days will come upon you when your enemies will surround you with trenches, besiege you, and close in on you from every side; they will level you to the ground, you and your children within you; and they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not recognize the time when you were visited.” (Luke 19:41–44)

What can give us peace is the knowledge of God through the Messiah, who came to redeem us and will soon return to save the people of Israel and the whole world. The passages from Daniel and Luke draw a connection between the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and the failure to recognize the Lord Jesus as the Messiah during His lifetime. However, the liberation of Jerusalem will come as a result of the recognition of the Lord Jesus as the Messiah (Zechariah 12:10). After the destruction of Jerusalem, there will be a long period during which the city will be ruled by the Gentiles and the Jewish people will be scattered throughout the world: “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, know that its desolation is near. For there will be great distress in the land and wrath against its people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken as captives among all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. (Luke 21:20–24).

By the phrase “until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled,” the Lord Jesus shows that the Gentile rulers governing Jerusalem will not be permanent, but there will come a time when the Jewish people will return to the land of Israel. At some unspecified time in the future, control of Jerusalem will return to the Jewish people. During the reign of the Gentiles, a power above all others will take control of Jerusalem. In 638 AH, Caliph Omar conquered Jerusalem for Islam, seizing the Temple Mount area and transforming the holiest site for the Jewish people into a Muslim sanctuary at the Dome (Mosque) of the Rock, built in 691, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, built in 701.

Islam considers that it has superseded both Judaism and Christianity and that, in this era, Islam must be the dominant religion. Furthermore, according to Islamic thought, once Muslims have conquered a territory, that place is theirs forever. Significantly, the Dome of the Rock building has inscriptions all around its dome stating: “The Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, was only a messenger of God,” and denying that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior, and the Son of God. It is said that those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that God is a Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—“should stop.” From a Christian perspective, this is in fact an antichristian text (1 John 2:22–3).

The Lord Jesus spoke of the “abomination of desolation” standing in the holy place (that is, in the Temple area). Muslims are also convinced, based on certain verses in the Quran, that Muhammad made a miraculous journey to heaven starting from the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on a white horse named al-Baraq. This is problematic because the Al-Aqsa Mosque was not built until 701, and Muhammad died in 632. For this reason, Jerusalem became Islam’s third holiest city, after Mecca and Medina.

Jesus said that at His second coming, Jerusalem’s status will change; it will no longer be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles (that is, ruled by non-Jews). The prophet Zechariah tells us that in the last days, Jerusalem will be the focus of the world’s attention, and the controversies will lead to a great conflict that will take place “on that day” (in the last days of this age).

Thus, the events of the past 100 years confirm this prophecy. First, in 1917, the British took Jerusalem from the Turks, putting an end to many centuries of Muslim rule. The Balfour Declaration of 1917 stated that “His Majesty views favorably the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.” The British reneged on their promise to support a Jewish homeland in Palestine. It took the horrific atrocities of the Holocaust to bring about the 1947 UN Partition Plan for Palestine and the establishment of the Jewish state of Israel in 1948. After the first Arab-Israeli war, Jerusalem was divided, with the western half in Israel and the eastern half in the West Bank, administered by the Jordanians. The Old City of Jerusalem, home to the biblical holy sites, fell within the Arab half of the city, where Jews were barred from entering. As a result of the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel occupied all of Jerusalem and the West Bank, the biblical region of Judea and Samaria. However, Israel placed the Temple Mount area—where the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosques are located—under Islamic jurisdiction. In 1980, Israel enacted the Jerusalem Law, declaring Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel. In 1993, the Oslo Accords were signed, agreeing to work toward a peace agreement, which has since evolved into the “two-state solution” proposal. This entails the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, which, in theory, would recognize Israel and live in peace with it. This has raised the issue of Jerusalem’s status.

Despite the commitment of the UN and the world’s major powers (particularly the UN, the U.S., the EU, and Russia), no agreement has been reached to date, nor has a solution been found. Jerusalem is “a stumbling block” for all nations, just as Zechariah prophesied it would be in the last days of this age. Zechariah goes on to describe how the nations of the world are gathering against Israel, a theme also found elsewhere in Scripture regarding the last days, for example, Joel 3:9–12 and Revelation 16:14 (Armageddon).

At this extremely critical moment, Israel will call upon the Lord. Terror and confusion will strike Israel’s enemies, for the glory of the Lord will descend upon His people and strengthen them in the great conflict surrounding Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:4–9). At that moment, the people of Israel will run to the Lord for salvation, and He will reveal to them who the true Savior is: Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication, and they will look upon Me, the One they have pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son, and they will grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10)

The Jews will repent and believe, and thus a fountain of blessing will be opened, leading to the knowledge of the one true God and deliverance from their enemies.

According to the prophecies, in the last days, the Jewish people will return to the land of Israel; there will be a time of tribulation but also an outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28–29, Isaiah 32:15, 44:3, Ezekiel 39:29, 36:26–27). In the Book of Zechariah, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit will reveal the One who was pierced. This outpouring of the Spirit will convict people of the sin of rejecting Jesus as the Messiah; it will lead to repentance and faith, and they will understand who Jesus is and the significance of His first coming when HeHe gave Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. The prophet Zechariah goes on to show that this outpouring of grace will prepare them for His imminent and glorious return with great power and glory. As people turn their eyes toward the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit will grant wisdom and understanding.

The term was also used in the context of Numbers 21:9, where the people looked upon the bronze serpent after being bitten by venomous snakes. Moses made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole; and whoever was bitten by a serpent and looked at the bronze serpent lived. (Numbers 21:9).

Jesus uses this image of the serpent in the wilderness as a parallel to His crucifixion in John 3:14–17: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life.” For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. (John 3:14–17) As they turn their eyes toward the Lord, they will be filled with a spirit of repentance (elai). They will weep and confess their sin, and they will be reconciled to Him. As a result, a fountain of blessing will be opened: “On that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.” This fountain was opened centuries ago, when the Lord Jesus offered Himself as the one and only sacrifice for the sins of humanity. The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world shed His blood for our sins during the Jewish Passover. Since then, anyone who comes to the Lord with repentance and faith and believes in Jesus as Savior can find forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God. The blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8–9)

Then the people of Israel will use the words from Isaiah 53 as a prayer of repentance and faith in the One who has already come to redeem us: Despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief—He was so despised that we hid our faces from Him, and we did not regard Him. Yet He bore our infirmities and carried our sorrows; and we thought He was punished, struck by God, and humbled. But He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brings us peace fell upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all wandered like sheep, each going his own way, but the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:3–6). May the Lord help each of us to pray with repentance and faith, just as was prophesied concerning the people of Israel.