Today is the 60th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel. Although it is not getting much publicity in America, it is still an event to note. Jerusalem, it's capital city is the focus of the world and the bull's eye of Bible prophecy. Regardless of one's faith, Jerusalem will play a key role in the future.

I was reading an article this morning by an Israeli who lives in America but is planning to return home to Israel. He has mixed feelings about the land of his birth. It appears he has a bit of guilt over the issue of who owns the land. He cannot fully accept the Jewish point of view that Israel has an historic right to the land that supersedes the rights of the Palestinians, who have a more modern claim. He probably represents the view of many Israelis who cannot ignore the plight of the Palestinians in the current stalemate that prevents any agreement about how to divide the land, and about partitioning Jerusalem in particular.

Time is running out for Israel. World opinion is turning against its policies, which maintain a segregated situation between Palestinians and Israelis.  The Palestinian state is a patchwork of territory that does not work. Gaza is separated from its political parent by Israeli territory. Situated on the southern tip of Israel next to Egypt, Gaza is a breeding ground for discontent and rocket attacks on Jewish cities. It is clearly an untenable situation.

Israel is also facing the reality of demographics. The Arab population of the land is growing at a faster rate than the Jewish. Not only are more babies being born to Arab families, but also Israel is facing an exodus of Jews out of the land. Significant numbers are settling in other countries due to the threats from neighboring nations. Regardless of the type of peace settlement reached in the coming years Israel can expect to see its numbers shrink in relation to the Palestinians.

Jerusalem continues to be central to any settlement between the two. The question is "who owns Jerusalem?" Whose home is it really? Since it was the ancient capital of Israel do the Jews have a historic right over any other group? The city did not come under Arab control until the late seventh century A.D. Through the centuries Jews, Romans, Arabs, Byzantines and the British have ruled it. Not until 1967 was it reunited by the Jewish state.

The answer is that Jerusalem belongs to God. I did not mean this merely in the general sense that God owns everything.  Rather, anyone who is familiar with Bible recognizes that God has had a special interest in this unique city for millennia and that it figures prominently in to His plans for the future. Though its long history has left it deeply scarred and divided, no longer the city of peace it was meant to be, it will one day be the location to which all nations will flow to learn the way to peace, understanding and true justice. Jerusalem will be called holy and God will "purge the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning" (Isaiah 4:4).

Jerusalem's best days lie in the future. Before that time there will be more suffering for the city and its inhabitants. You need to understand what the Bible says about this city and the present land of Israel.  God's "peace settlement" will be far better than any agreement reached by human governments. Watch this Beyond Today program, "Who Owns Jerusalem" for more information beyond this fascinating topic.

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