DESOLATE

DESOLATE
One day, near the end of His earthly Ministry, Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem. In doing so, He fulfilled a prophecy given by Daniel several hundred years prior to the time. He said: Matthew 23:37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, [thou] that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under [her] wings, and ye would not! _Behold, your house is left unto you desolate The prophecy of Daniel reads: Daniel 9:26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof [shall be] with a flood, and unto the end of the war _desolations are determined."_
It was more than a coincident that Jesus proclaimed desolation on Jerusalem just prior to his "cutting off" on the Cross, which "caused the sacrifice and oblation to cease." Sixty nine and a half of the seventy weeks which were "determined" upon Jerusalem and Judah were history when Jesus was crucified.
The term "unto the end of the war" means literallyuntil the end of the "Controversy", and not a war where two armies are engaged in battle. God has a score to settle with a people who rejected His rulership.
I am a little more than worried when I listen to the "standard teaching" about what is supposed to take place in the days that are ahead of us. All of the "Experts" seem to be saying mostly the same thing. It is the usual, "Antichrist! Beginning of the week, End of the week, Middle of the week, Daniel----Revelation."
I am afraid our modern "Experts" will miss it as far as the "Experts" in the days when Jesus was among us. Seems they are mostly "parroting" each other, and not getting anything from God for themselves.
It is easier to teach the standard curriculum than it is to ferret out what God is actually saying to us. The "seven year covenant" theory simply won't wash in the light of other scriptures which bear on the subject.
"If the trumpet give an uncertain sound."
There is no security in numbers, and the multitudes declaring it won't produce what the Word doesn't say. Jesus, being GOD IN FLESH, knew that in just a few days He would be standing in the hall of Pilate, and He would hear the Spiritual leaders crying:
Mark 15:13 And they cried out again, Crucify him.
Mark 15:14 Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him. Luke 23:21 But they cried, saying, Crucify [him], crucify him. John 19:6 When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify [him], crucify [him]. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify [him]: for I find no fault in him..
Jesus also knew that at the same time, the Jewish leaders would sound the death knell of their nation bythe choice they made that day: Matthew 27:25 Then answered all the people, and said, "His blood [be] on us, and on our children."
There are many Scriptures which refer to Jerusalem which DO NOT MEAN the natural city of Jerusalem. One such is Psalms 122:6 "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee." It is a song about the Heavenly Jerusalem.
Also, consider Hebrews 12:18 "For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, And the sound of trumpet, and the voice of words; which [voice] they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: Hebrews 12:22 But YE ARE COME UNTO MOUNT SION, and unto the city of the living God, the HEAVENLY JERUSALEM, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and CHURCH OF THE FIRSTBORN, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to THE SPIRITS OF JUST MEN MADE PERFECT, And to Jesus the mediator of the new Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than [that of] Abel."
We, then, as citizens of the New Jerusalem, should not be overly concerned with a city that is desolate of favor with God. Treat it like you would a last year's bird nest. It has served its purpose in the economy of God, just as the Levitical ceremonies have served their purpose. Jerusalem of old was a picture, in type, of the contrast, or difference between that which God produces, in comparison to Babylon of old, the best works of mankind. Modern "Babylon" is our present-day world economic, political and religious system. Jerusalem is the Church of the Living God. Mount Zion is a special segment of that Church.
Believers will never be grafted into the desolate city. They will become citizens of the Heavenly City.
"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem."