Fulfillment Of Prophecy?

Fulfillment Of Prophecy?

Was the Israeli capture of the old city of Jerusalem predicted in the Bible?

ON June 7, 1967, a date dear to the heart of every patriotic Israeli, the army of Israel captured the Old City of Jerusalem. The previous month the Egyptians had decided to attempt once more to conquer Israel. They poured one hundred thousand troops into the Sinai Peninsula, ordered the UN peacekeepers out, and made a military alliance with neighboring Jordan. Israel felt its only hope was to launch a preemptive strike, which it did on June 5. Jordan and Syria immediately entered the war. Two days later the Israelis captured the Old City of Jerusalem, which had been part of Jordan. As a result of this military victory in what is known as the Six-Day War, Israel once again possessed her ancient capital. It had been 1,897 years since the Romans conquered Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

Jesus had predicted that Jerusalem and its temple would be destroyed.

He said, “The time is coming when all these things will be so completely demolished that not one stone will be left on top of another” (Luke 21:6). When his disciples asked him, “When will all this take place? And will there be any sign ahead of time?” Jesus answered, “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that the time of its destruction has arrived. . . . There will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. They will be brutally killed by the sword or sent away as captives to all the nations of the world” (21:7, 20, 23-24).

From the beginning of Jesus’ ministry he warned the Jews of God’s coming wrath unless they repented (Matthew 3:8). In response to the Jews crucifying their Messiah, God sent the Roman armies to conquer Galilee and Samaria and then to surround and destroy Jerusalem (Cf. 21:37–22:7). The attack began in A.D. 66 when the Jews rebelled following a theft from the temple treasury by the last Roman prefect. To quell the rebellion the Romans sent four legions, which arrived the following year. After a siege Jerusalem fell in A.D. 70. The Roman general Titus completely destroyed the city and temple.

Jesus had also prophesied that following its defeat “Jerusalem will be . . . trampled down by the Gentiles until the age of the Gentiles comes to an end” (Luke 21:24). Does this mean that “the age of the Gentiles,” or as other translations put it, “the times of the Gentiles,” ended on June 7, 1967, when the Jews gained control of Jerusalem?

Revelation 11:2 seems to answer no. It states that the Gentiles “will trample the holy city for forty-two months,” apparently the three and a half years prior to the second coming of Christ, implying that the Jews will not be in control of Jerusalem at that time. If this explanation is correct, the times of the Gentiles did not end on June 7, 1967. They will end at the second coming of Christ.

June 7, 1967, was an extremely significant event in Jewish history, but it was not the fulfillment of prophecy.

Reflection

When you read the unfulfilled prophecies of the Bible, do you believe that they will be literally fulfilled? The first coming of Jesus Christ fulfilled many prophecies, and his second coming will fulfill many more.

We were not making up clever stories when we told you about the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming again. We have seen his majestic splendor with our own eyes.

2 Peter 1:16