Jerusalem-a city of contradictions. It is in Jerusalem that three of the world's greatest religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, all claim holy sites. It is in this strife-torn region that Christians believe the Prince of Peace came to bring His message of hope. Yet, daily on our television sets we watch Palestinians and Israelis fighting each other...rocks and bullets...an endless battle with no equitable solutions. What is the future for Jerusalem? These are the headlines...but in this program we're going to look at the important news behind these headlines.

Where is the wisdom of Solomon in all this? Where is the voice of reason, the voice of fairness, that can bring peace to the violent streets of Jerusalem?

For Jews, Jerusalem is the City of David, the capital of a glorious past where Solomon's temple stood as the great house built to honor the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For Christians, it is near the birthplace of Jesus the Christ, the Savior of humanity. It was here that Jesus was crucified by the Romans and rose from the dead three days and three nights later, just as He had predicted. To Muslims it is the site of the holy Dome of the Rock.

When Abraham, the father of both the Jews and the Arabs, traveled the land of Canaan as a wandering nomad, this city already straddled the valleys that would become known as Kidron and Hinnom. Caravans from the civilizations that sprang up along the Tigris and Euphrates wound their way to the great cities of the Nile along the route overseen by Jerusalem.

The God of the Hebrew Scriptures promised Abraham and Sarah a son, but as the years wore on and the couple remained barren, it seemed that God would not fulfill His promise. Struggling with the possibility of never having a child, they devised a plan to produce the promised heir through a surrogate mother.

Sarah gave Abraham her servant girl, Hagar, and from that union Ishmael, the father of many Arab nations, was born.

God had other plans

But God had other plans, and eventually Abraham and Sarah gave birth to a son, Isaac. Ishmael was driven into the wilderness and the seeds of future strife between the descendants of Isaac and Ishmael were sown. Later another family feud, this time between the two sons of Isaac, Jacob (whose name was changed to Israel) and Esau, would create further bad blood in Abraham's family tree.

The descendants of Jacob, the Israelites, ended up spending centuries in Egyptian slavery before being led to Canaan by Moses and Joshua. And it was the great military leader Joshua who defeated the Jebusite king of Jerusalem and his allies. Years later, the renowned King David ruled Israel from Jerusalem. David's son Solomon, known for his great wisdom, as well as a few great follies, reigned there for 40 years during Israel's golden age around 1000 B.C.

After Solomon's death, Israel was torn by civil strife and divided into two nations with Jerusalem serving as the capital of the southern kingdom known as Judah. In 586 B.C., the Babylonians destroyed the City of David, and the task fell to a future generation of Jews to rebuild it under the direction of men like Ezra and Nehemiah.

Jewish independence flourished under the Maccabees, and the splendid temple to God was reconstructed by Herod the Great. Roman legions brought Roman domination and endless conflict between the freedom-loving Jews and Romans, eventually leading to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

But the city never completely disappeared. Occupied by Arabs, it was the focal point of the Crusades in the Middle Ages as Europeans tried to bring the stones Jesus trod under Christian control.

In the 20th century, it was the United Nations that attempted to mediate a peaceful solution to the city always at the crossroads of strife. In 1948, with the world trying to dig itself out of the rubble of World War II, the United Nations created a Jewish homeland in Palestine for the tens of thousands of survivors of the Nazi concentration camps. Immediately, there was open warfare between Jew and Arab, with Jerusalem at the center of the conflict.

An Israeli victory brought a reprieve, but no real peace. War exploded again in 1956, 1967 and 1973 as the children of Abraham wreaked havoc upon each other. The Israelis have maintained a tenuous hold on Jerusalem since 1967 in spite of attempts by many, including the Vatican, to make it an international city.

Jerusalem's future

Jerusalem, which means "city of peace," plays a very important role in both biblical history and in the fulfillment of future biblical prophecy.

Jesus told His disciples that He would visibly return. In what has become known as the Olivet Prophecy He explained that "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Matthew 24:29-30).

Where exactly will Jesus return? The Old Testament prophet Zechariah was inspired to write: "Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south" (Zechariah 14:1-4).

It is one of the great paradoxes of history that in order for the Prince of Peace to bring an end to violence and strife, He has to fight a war. Mankind will mistake Jesus Christ, not as the Savior, but as an invader. It is in the area around Jerusalem that this cataclysmic battle will take place. And it is Jerusalem that will become the capital city of one world government, not organized by the United Nations or any similar organization, but established by Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Where do you fit into the overall picture of prophecy? Why were you born? More important than the future of the world's great cities and nations is your own future. There is a big difference between grasping your future, and simply going on the way you have been. The choice is up to you. WNP