In the same way Jesus left, visibly, bodily, from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, He will return, visibly, bodily, to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
By MICHAEL BROWN Published on November 23, 2023
Jesus is coming back to Jerusalem. As the angels said to the disciples as they watched the Lord ascend to heaven from the Mount of Olives, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven" (Acts 1:10–11, my emphasis). Yes, in the same way He left, visibly, bodily, from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, He will return, visibly, bodily, to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
As noted by the late Bible teacher David Pawson in his book Defending Christian Zionism, "Once you accept that his return will be physical as well as personal, tangible as well as visible, in a word ‘bodily’, then another adjective has to be added: it will be 'local'. Once that has been said, the location needs to be identified. I have never heard anyone claim it will be Rome or Geneva, Canterbury or Moscow. Every opinion that I have come across plumps for Jerusalem."
But this is not merely a matter of opinion. Zechariah 14 confirms this explicitly, stating, "On that day, He will set His feet on the Mount of Olives, near Jerusalem on the east" (Zechariah 14:4a). It is also confirmed by other passages, which will we examine shortly, affirming the central importance of Jerusalem during the Lord’s millennial reign.
For those Christians who deny the prophetic significance of modern Israel, ask yourself a simple question: Why, then, is Jesus returning to Jerusalem, and why will this city be the site of the final, end-time conflict (see Zechariah 12 and 14)?
"But," Pawson continues, "that raises real problems for the anti-Zionist. It is one of their basic axioms that the land of Israel and its capital city have long since ceased to have any significance for the Lord, even if he still has plans for the Jewish people. The question: ‘Why on earth would Jesus return to Jerusalem of all places?’ becomes a real embarrassment. The only possible answer is that the place as well as the people is still integral to his purposes."
The Nations Streaming to Jerusalem, God Deciding Their Disputes and War Forever Ceased Exactly! Why would Jesus return to Jerusalem if the city no longer has significance? Or, to turn this question around, to what other location would the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and the King of the Jews return? One of the most famous prophecies in the Bible is found on the lips of the prophet Isaiah, presenting a glorious picture of the Messianic reign:
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths."
For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. (Isaiah 2:1–4)
How beautiful this day will be, and how this hope has inspired millions through the centuries. No more war. No more strife. The nations of the world worshiping the God of Israel. The Messiah ruling and reigning with justice and with truth. And all of this will flow out of Jerusalem!
Does the Nation of Israel Still Have Good Promises of God Yet to be Fulfilled? Christian antisemites, however, have a very different take. In the words of one contemporary leader,
For the record, I totally reject Evangelical Zionism. … I am not a religious Zionist, nor a secular Zionist. I am a New Zionist! Old Jerusalem is not my eternal capital. Old Jerusalem is the harlot, the great city, Sodom and Egypt, the city that killed our Lord. It will be completely destroyed by fire when Jesus Christ returns to establish His everlasting kingdom on the new earth. Unlike today's Evangelical Zionists, I do not idolize the State of Israel. I desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called my God: for he hath prepared for me a city.
That is quite a contrast: Jerusalem the praise of all the earth (see Isaiah 62:7) or Jerusalem the harlot. Which is it? And why does it matter?
If replacement theologians are correct, then there are no future promises for Israel as a nation or for the earthly city of Jerusalem. Individual Jews can be saved like anyone else, but the only Jerusalem that matters is the Jerusalem from above, the New Jerusalem, our eternal home. As for the earthly city mentioned so often in the Bible, it is of no significance anymore — other than to be judged at the end of this age.
What About These Prophesies From Isaiah? The problem is that for this view to be true, scores of verses from the Hebrew Scriptures would have to be voided out entirely — or, at the least, reinterpreted so radically as to be completely unrecognizable. Just look at these promises about the future of Jerusalem all taken from the Book of Isaiah:
Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, for the Lord of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and his glory will be before his elders (Isaiah 24:23).
And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem" (Isaiah 27:13).
Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent, whose stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken. … And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick"; the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity (Isaiah 33:20, 24).
On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the Lord in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth" (Isaiah 62:6–7).
But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress" (Isaiah 65:18–19).
"Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her; that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious abundance." For thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip, and bounced upon her knees. As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem" (Isaiah 66:10–13).
"And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord" (Isaiah 66:20).
None of these prophecies have yet been fulfilled, but all of them will be fulfilled. And not just prophecies from Isaiah but from all the other prophets that prophesied about Jerusalem's glorious future as well. Yeshua will return to Jerusalem, and from there He will rule and reign, sitting on David's throne, as the prophets foretold and as the New Testament reaffirmed.
In the words of Gabriel to Miriam (Mary), the mother of Jesus, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David" (Luke 1:32) — and that throne is on earth, not in heaven. That is when God will fulfil His many promises to Israel. Those promises remain true as surely as God is true!
What Right Do Theologians Have to Radically Reinterpret the Plain Meaning of God’s Promises? The big question is: What right does anyone have — any author or theologian or preacher or scholar or leader or believer — to change the meaning of scores of clear and plain verses in the Bible? What right does anyone have to claim that a later meaning voids out or makes null what God has previously stated? What right does anyone have to so radically reinterpret the plain sense of scripture verses so as to make them completely unrecognizable?
For those Christians who deny the prophetic significance of modern Israel, ask yourself a simple question: Why, then, is Jesus returning to Jerusalem, and why will this city be the site of the final, end-time conflict (see Zechariah 12 and 14)?
I say we let the Word speak for itself.
(Excerpted and adapted from Michael L. Brown, Christian Antisemitism: Confronting the Lies in Today's Church.)
In the same way Jesus left, visibly, bodily, from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, He will return, visibly, bodily, to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
In the same way Jesus left, visibly, bodily, from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, He will return, visibly, bodily, to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
Ọ̀DẸ̀! ÒPÒNÚ!! OLÓDO!!!
Jesus that's taking his own people away from the earth will return to a CURSED city like Jerusalem shey?
Instead of studying your Bible to understand God's word you will be looking for ways to blackmail God's people.
😂 🤣 😂 🤣 😂 🤣 😂 🤣 😂 🤣 😂 Made me laugh uncontrollably
These faithless people will come on Nairaland spewing gibberish against God's organization but spiritually speaking themselves and their pastors knows nothing about God's word!
Jesus said:
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the killer of the prophets and stoner of those sent to her—how often I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings! But you did not want it. Look! Your house is abandoned to you. For I say to you, you will by no means see me from now until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in Jehovah’s name!’” Matthew 23:37-39
The Jews in Jerusalem back then banned the mention of Jesus' name in that city and till today 99% of those inhabiting Jerusalem are against Jesus' name so how are they going to receive the Prince of Peace as guest when they are against the mention of his name?
In fact that city has no place anymore in God's arrangement:
"This is why I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken from you and be given to a nation producing its fruits." Matthew 21:43
But because misinformed churchgoers are going there to get the JP title they're thinking Jesus' words is of no relevance!
Jesus that's taking his own people away from the earth will return to a CURSED city like Jerusalem shey?
Instead of studying your Bible to understand God's word you will be looking for ways to blackmail God's people.
This thread is for ardent sincere seekers of the truth not for those whose minds are already made up and do not want to be confused with the facts. You can kindly open a thread that caters to your indoctrination where you and your fellow deluded folks entertain yourselves.
This thread is for ardent sincere seekers of the truth not for those whose minds are already made up and do not want to be confused with the facts. You can kindly open a thread that caters to your indoctrination where you and your fellow deluded folks entertain yourselves.
Kumuyi pikin, Jerusalem is CURSED according to the utterances of God's only begotten Son!
This thread is for ardent sincere seekers of the truth not for those whose minds are already made up and do not want to be confused with the facts. You can kindly open a thread that caters to your indoctrination where you and your fellow deluded folks entertain yourselves.
Kumuyi slave, continue in your folly DECEIVING YOURSELF.
In the same way Jesus left, visibly, bodily, from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, He will return, visibly, bodily, to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
"Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: . . . . The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God."
malvisguy212: Jerusalem is curse ? by who? cite your reference.
That is the city where Jesus said:
"Serpents, offspring of vipers, how will you flee from the judgment of Ge·henʹna? For this reason, I am sending to you prophets and wise men and public instructors. Some of them you will kill and execute on stakes, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, so that there may come upon you all the righteous blood spilled on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zech·a·riʹah son of Bar·a·chiʹah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the killer of the prophets and stoner of those sent to her—how often I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings! But you did not want it. Look! Your house is abandoned to you. For I say to you, you will by no means see me from now until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in Jehovah’s name!’” Matthew 23:33-39
On the day Jesus was executed on false charges the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate told the Jews:
“I am innocent of the blood of this man. You yourselves must see to it.” Matthew 27:24
This was their response:
“Let his blood come upon us and upon our children." Matthew 27:25
All these are the reasons why Jesus said their city and temple will become useless when the enemies coming to destroy them arrives:
“However, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by encamped armies, then know that the desolating of her has drawn near. Then let those in Ju·deʹa begin fleeing to the mountains, let those in the midst of her leave, and let those in the countryside not enter into her, because these are days for meting out justice in order that all the things written may be fulfilled. Woe to the pregnant women and those nursing a baby in those days! For there will be great distress on the land and wrath against this people. And they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations until the appointed times of the nations are fulfilled." Luke 21:20-24
So after the CHRISTIANS left that city in 66 C.E. Jews were SCATTERED throughout the earth never to return to their homes again {Luke 11:23} the one and only way for them to regain that place has been destroyed Jesus said until they welcome those speaking about him hospitably {Matthew 23:39} but from that time till today this people keep fighting against the mention of Jesus' name {Act 4:18; 5:28} just recently their parliament passed a bill that anyone mentioning Jesus' name should be prosecuted:
"Serpents, offspring of vipers, how will you flee from the judgment of Ge·henʹna? For this reason, I am sending to you prophets and wise men and public instructors. Some of them you will kill and execute on stakes, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, so that there may come upon you all the righteous blood spilled on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zech·a·riʹah son of Bar·a·chiʹah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the killer of the prophets and stoner of those sent to her—how often I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings! But you did not want it. Look! Your house is abandoned to you. For I say to you, you will by no means see me from now until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in Jehovah’s name!’” Matthew 23:33-39
On the day Jesus was executed on false charges the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate told the Jews:
“I am innocent of the blood of this man. You yourselves must see to it.” Matthew 27:24
This was their response:
“Let his blood come upon us and upon our children." Matthew 27:25
All these are the reasons why Jesus said their city and temple will become useless when the enemies coming to destroy them arrives:
“However, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by encamped armies, then know that the desolating of her has drawn near. Then let those in Ju·deʹa begin fleeing to the mountains, let those in the midst of her leave, and let those in the countryside not enter into her, because these are days for meting out justice in order that all the things written may be fulfilled. Woe to the pregnant women and those nursing a baby in those days! For there will be great distress on the land and wrath against this people. And they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations until the appointed times of the nations are fulfilled." Luke 21:20-24
So after the CHRISTIANS left that city in 66 C.E. Jews were SCATTERED throughout the earth never to return to their homes again {Luke 11:23} the one and only way for them to regain that place has been destroyed Jesus said until they welcome those speaking about him hospitably {Matthew 23:39} but from that time till today this people keep fighting against the mention of Jesus' name {Act 4:18; 5:28} just recently their parliament passed a bill that anyone mentioning Jesus' name should be prosecuted:
the offspring of vipers are reference to the Pharisees . Jerusalem play a significant role in God Devine plans. how then will you say it's a curse land ?
malvisguy212: the offspring of vipers are reference to the Pharisees . Jerusalem play a significant role in God Devine plans. how then will you say it's a curse land ?
The only significant role Jerusalem was to play is the center for God's government (kingdom) where the Christ will rule over the earth:
In the final part of the days, The mountain of the house of Jehovah Will become firmly established above the top of the mountains, And it will be raised up above the hills, And to it all the nations will stream. And many peoples will go and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, To the house of the God of Jacob. He will instruct us about his ways, And we will walk in his paths.” For law will go out of Zion, And the word of Jehovah out of Jerusalem. He will render judgment among the nations And set matters straight respecting many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares And their spears into pruning shears. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, Nor will they learn war anymore. Isaiah 2:2-4; Micah 4:1-3
But Satan made the inhabitants to hate and kill God's prophets then the Christ was condemned and executed in Jerusalem!
That's why Jesus foreseeing this said so many bad things about Jerusalem and promised his corulers that he will take them to heaven no longer Jerusalem on planet earth! John 14:1-3
So stop been emotional about a city that God's only begotten Son has condemned {Matthew 23:37-38} whatever Jesus said has been granted in heaven therefore Jerusalem is CURSED!
You will see to it yourself that you had nothing to say other than emotions for that city even though you can read for yourself in God's word all the references confirming what i said so it's left to you whether to believe in the Bible or your emotions.
"Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: . . . . The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God."
-- Isaiah 40:1-3
"Every Valley."
From the Album of the New Young Messiah. Every Valley sang by soloist sang by Larnelle Harris.
" Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain." -- Isaiah 40:4
