Jerusalem and the End-Time

The religious capital of the world
It is stating the obvious to say that Jerusalem is the religious capital of the world, seeing that no other city has such a profound importance to so many religions. All three monotheistic religions regard Jerusalem as a holy city – one that has had a fundamental significance for the founders of their faith:
For Judaism this is the place where Abraham was tested and where God chose to establish his earthly presence among the forefathers of the Jews, a city whose past glories are a mere foreshadowing of future messianic expectations.
For Islam Jerusalem is Al Quds, the Holy City, which was at first the qibla, the point to which every Muslim had to face when praying. It was also believed that Mohammed once visited the city by night, before receiving his heavenly revelation (Koran 17,1; 53:13-18). However, since Muslims consider Mecca and Medina to be the most holy cities, Jerusalem effectively comes third in the list of cities regarded as holy in Islam.
For Christianity, the status of Jerusalem is perhaps not so clear: the New Testament writers foresaw God’s judgment falling on Jerusalem, because of her rejection of the Messiah and his Church. It was not until the 4th century AD that, through the preaching of St Cyril, Patriarch of Jerusalem, this city came to be regarded unambiguously as the Holy City. He promoted Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land as a ‘fifth gospel’, through which one could personally come close to the mission, Passion, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ, and the subsequent birth of the Church at the first Pentecost.

Eschatological importance of Jerusalem
Nevertheless, all that is history. What we often tend to overlook, though, is that Jerusalem’s status, as a religious capital for the world’s monotheistic religions, is also due to her anticipated role at the end of days, as the location of the final judgment and of the momentous events leading up to this.
This is particularly relevant nowadays because in all three religions eschatological belief has been awakened by an undeniable historical fact of the 20th century: the massive immigration of Jews to the Holy Land.
In Islam, ‘Quranic prophecy clearly confirms that, upon the return of the exiled Jews to the Holy Land, the Day of Judgment commences: “And We said unto the Children of Israel after him: Dwell in the land; but when the promise of the Hereafter (wa'dul akhirati) cometh to pass We shall bring you as a crowd gathered out of various nations” (Koran 17.104).’ (quoted from http://www.al-qiyamah.org ).
In Judaism, the vast majority of modern orthodox Jews (Religious Zionists), base themselves on the post-exilic prophecies of restoration in the Old Testament, and believe that the return of the Jewish people to the Land of their forefathers, and the establishment of the State of Israel, are precursors to their imminent messianic redemption.
For Christians, also, there are hints in the Gospels that indicate a time, just before the end of the age, when the Lord ‘will restore the kingdom to Israel’ (Acts 1,6-7), after ‘the times of the Gentiles will be fulfilled’ (Lk 21,24).
So the return of the Jews to the Holy Land has strong religious and spiritual significance for all three religions. Consciously or unconsciously, this undeniable historical fact forces, or should force, the faithful of all religions to think eschatologically, that is to say to prepare themselves for the final Judgment, and to live their lives, more than ever, in the imminent expectation of the end. The fact that this historical event is most acutely felt in Jerusalem, where the religious presence of the Jews is most evident, may explain why eschatological, not to say apocalyptic, thinking is more lively and vivid here in Jerusalem than perhaps at any other place on the earth.
Eschatological traditions concerning Jerusalem have their origin in the Old Testament prophetical writings that describe the last judgment taking place in the valley (Jer 7,30-34; Isa 22,5; Ezek 39) between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives (Zech 14) which carries the symbolical name of Jehosaphat, ‘God judges’ (Joel 4,2.12). Inter-testamental apocalyptic writers developed this theme further and described people from all the world being assembled before the divine Judge in the same valley, now called Kidron, between Gethsemane and the Gihon spring just below the ancient City of David. At the time of judgment, the dead will be raised to stand before the throne of God, “some for everlasting life and others for everlasting shame and disgrace”, according to Daniel 12,2.  Over the centuries, therefore, this area has been filled with the graves of those who have desired to be the first to receive God’s merciful judgment. Just around the corner, to the south of the ancient city, is the valley of Hinnom (Gehinnom), which has given its name to the destiny of those who will receive the judgment of everlasting condemnation (1 Enoch 27,1-4). On the hill above these two valleys of Kidron and Hinnom is city of Jerusalem itself, or Zion, which has given its name to the place where God’s presence will be re-established in the world to come.
The geography of Jerusalem has clearly been very important for the symbolical development of eschatological thought in all three monotheistic religions, and may partly explain why they have very similar core beliefs about general resurrection and final judgment. However, before concluding that the importance of Jerusalem is entirely symbolical, we would do well to examine the mainline eschatological expectations of each of the three monotheistic religions. If we do this we will see that Jerusalem figures literally, and not just symbolically, in many of the events leading up to the final judgment.

Islamic eschatology
Let us start with Islam (cf. www.islaam.com ), whose expectations for the future are largely derived from the Hadith, or ‘Sayings’, of Mohammed. Before the end-times, Muslims believe that their caliphate will be re-established and that through the godly ruler, or caliph, Islam dominate the world (these are, in fact, the declared aims of many militant and non-militant Islamic movements including Bin Laden and Al Qa’ida ). At this time they will re-conquer Jerusalem from the Jews. The last in the line of Caliphs will be called the Mahdi. His rule will be challenged by a leader inspired by the devil, called Al Dajjal, who will arise from Isfahan in Iran and be supported by a multitude of Jewish people. He will deceive and corrupt many people with his lies. At this point, Jesus Christ will descend in person, as a Muslim, in Damascus. Rather surprisingly for us Christians, he will take his place in prayer behind the Mahdi, and will encourage all true believers to become Muslims. They say he will correct the Christians in their beliefs about the crucifixion (according to Muslims, Jesus was not crucified and did not die, but was taken up alive into heaven in order to reappear at the end of Time), and he will also instruct them not to eat pork. However the main purpose of his coming will be to lead the Muslims in war against the Dajjal and his Jewish supporters (thus confirming his correspondence to the antichrist of Christian tradition). Jesus will encounter the Dajjal in Jerusalem and chase him to the gates of the city of Lod, where he will kill him with a spear.
Shortly afterwards Jesus and his faithful will be surrounded at a place called Tur (At-Tur is the Arabic name for the town built upon the Mount of Olives), by the armies of Gog and Magog. They pray to God for deliverance, which comes in the form of worms that infest and kill the adversaries surrounding them. The land is filled with the stench of their corpses, but a rain falls and cleanses it.
Then Jesus will reign with justice and wisdom for 7 years, and everyone will prosper. After 7 years, a cold wind will carry away the souls of all those who have been good, leaving only those who were wicked. Satan will tempt them and they will behave like animals, until the blowing of the first trumpet, at which the resurrection will take place. At the sound of the second trumpet, the final Judgment will take place.

Jewish eschatology
Let us compare this Muslim scenario with that of the most representative branch of Judaism. As we have already stated the vast majority of modern orthodox Jews (Religious Zionists) believe that the return of the Jewish people to the Land of their forefathers, and the establishment of the State of Israel, are precursors to their imminent redemption through a leader they will call their messiah. This redemption is conceived as the historical restoration of their full political and religious sovereignty in the land of their forefathers. As a result of this redemption, the Jewish people will be vindicated over other nations, and through the leadership of their messiah the whole world will be restored (Tikun HaOlam) and all its inhabitants will experience peace and prosperity. In order to prevent false messianic movements, the criteria for identifying the real messiah were refined by Maimonides (Mishneh Torah, Book 14: Judges, Treatise 5 [Kings and Wars], chs. 11-12) and are now binding from the point of view of Jewish religious law: the messiah will be an observant Jew who will succeed in bringing the entire Jewish people to keep the Torah, in defeating their enemies (and winning the famous battle of Gog and Magog), in bringing the exiles back to Israel, and, finally, in building the third temple in its place. Please take note: the coming of their messiah and the arrival of their redemption await the literal completion of the building of the temple in its place on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Their messiah will be like Moses, and his coming will be confirmed by a religious leader, who will be like Elijah. Their mission will prepare the Jews for the final judgment and resurrection at an unknown time in the future. Since all Jews will have repented by then, all will be considered righteous. The final judgment will mainly be an occasion for the punishment of the wicked gentiles, and the abolition of their nations. After the final judgment, God will live among men and the earth will be like it was in paradise, as described in Isaiah 11,6-9: “Then wolf will be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them…”.

Some brief reflections
Before going on to speak about the Christian point of view, it is important to note, firstly, that we are talking about well-developed religious beliefs, which tend to be the strongest and most enduring of all beliefs, at the same time influencing the thoughts and motivating the activities of those who hold them.
Secondly we should note that both Islam and Judaism claim to be essential instruments in the ‘saving’, or redeeming, of the world: for Islam, the Islamic caliph must rule the world to prepare it for judgment, and for Judaism, their political messiah is the one who will repair the world and prepare it for judgment. We have here a kind of spiritual competition for the salvation of the world.
Thirdly, the Islamic and Jewish expectations appear to interact in such a way that they reinforce each other: on one side, the attempts by Muslims to reclaim Jerusalem and the Holy Land are interpreted by the Jews as the wars which their future messiah will win convincingly, giving him the opportunity to rebuild the third temple; on the other side, the Jewish leader who will consequently claim to be the messiah, will be interpreted by Muslims as the Dajjal, who will finally be defeated by the Muslim armies led by Jesus at his second coming.
In these two sets of eschatological beliefs, one sees the elements of a final conflict between the two sides. In view of the deterministic and uncompromising nature of these beliefs, and the fact that both religions zealously claim to be divinely ordained to prepare the world for judgment, the final conflict has a certain inevitability about it. Furthermore we can already see the preparations of this scenario in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, with important roles being played by extremist groups on both sides. On the one hand the religious Zionists who are preparing to take over leadership of Israel, and strengthen their grip on Jerusalem, and on the other hand the militant Islamists who are struggling on a global scale to re-establish their caliphate, and retake all of Israel and Jerusalem for the Muslims.
 

Christian eschatology
So what do Christians make of all this?  Firstly it is important to say that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is very divisive among Christians. In general the traditional churches tend to be supportive of the Palestinian-Arab position, whilst the newer fundamentalist movements tend to be more supportive of Israel.
But this division amongst Christians is also a result of misunderstanding of the basic nature of the conflict. As outlined above it is not, by any means, a purely political affair, which can be solved by negotiations, compromises and human justice. There is an essential spiritual component, fuelled by spiritual pride as well as irreconcilable eschatological hopes, beliefs and expectations. The only way we Christians can rightly respond is through spiritual insight, and in this we are greatly helped by our own somewhat enigmatic eschatological prophecies, of which there are several in the NT, the main one being the Apocalypse.
This is not the place to enter into a detailed analysis of the Apocalypse, or any other NT prophecy. All that is needed is to make a few simple observations about the text, and its relevance to the present situation here in the Middle-East. Firstly, a proper understanding of Christian eschatological prophecy enables us to reject both the Muslim and Jewish versions described above: Jesus was indeed crucified for our sins, and he will never want to change this understanding, or invite us to deny this as the Muslims presently do. Jesus is the true Messiah and he has already started the process of redemption, which the Jews so fervently await at the hands of a political leader who will rebuilt their temple in its place. In Christian eyes, such a figure would indeed be the ultimate antagonist of Jesus Christ, the antichrist, since he would be claiming to fulfil the redemptive mission of Jesus. Christians will need to be strong in their faith to resist being deceived by either the Islamic or Jewish versions of redemption.
Secondly, it should be said that the eschatological prophecy that is given to us in the text of the Apocalypse (Rev 8 to the end) actually confirms the terrible scenario that we have inferred above from the interaction of the eschatological beliefs of the Muslims and the Jews. The holy city, Jerusalem, will be profaned for a short period (Rev 11,2), in which the two false messianic figures will reign (the two beasts described in Rev 13). The temple will be rebuilt (this is alluded to in 13,13), and people will be coerced to participate in some kind of cultic activity based on the personality of the so-called messiah (Rev 13, 11-17). It will be a time of unprecedented persecution for those who resist these deceptions, but it will last only a short time before a final battle takes place at ‘Harmagedon’ (Rev 16,16; 19,11-21), followed immediately by the general resurrection, the final judgment, the condemnation of evil, and the perfect realization, on earth, of God’s promises for mankind (Rev 20,7 to the end).
In his grace, the Lord does not expect everyone to grapple with the symbols of this prophecy. Instead, he empowers two Christians to prophecy these things, here in Jerusalem, just before they happen, so that all the faithful will be ready for them (Rev 11,3-13). Our role as Christians, then, is not to support one side or the other, but to witness to both Muslims and Jews the true redemption in Jesus Christ, and in this way attempt to save as many Muslims and Jews from the irreconcilable hatred, conflict and blasphemy into which their religious beliefs are leading them.