Mike Bickle emphasizes the profound significance of Jerusalem in God's plan, asserting that it is the only city that the Lord has declared His zeal and love for throughout scripture. He explains that Jerusalem is not only the center of God's spiritual and political plans but also the future governmental capital of Jesus's reign on earth. Bickle encourages believers to align their hearts with God's perspective on Jerusalem, recognizing its unique role in the end times and the blessings that come from supporting it. He highlights the importance of understanding Jerusalem's destiny and the need for intercession for the city, especially as conflicts around it intensify. Ultimately, Bickle calls for a deeper engagement with the biblical narrative surrounding Jerusalem and its implications for the church and the world.

Luke, how many years you've been a worship leader at IHOP? Ten years. Wow, you're a faithful man. I knew it was something like that. So faithful, him and his team. They're just so committed to doing their assignment in the Lord in that prayer room, keeping it going. Well, let's turn to Zechariah chapter 8. We're going to begin our subject about the Israel and the church in the end times with the subject of Jerusalem. Very significant subject for the church, though many in the church do not know it's significant from a biblical point of view. And I don't say that in a negative sense, but most believers, at least in the Western world, are raised in churches where Jerusalem is not, is rarely mentioned, and it has no real significance to what God's doing in the earth. Therefore, it doesn't matter to their own personal life. But I believe that when we see what the scripture says, we will see how significant this subject is. Because there's a great conflict that's emerging in the earth around the city of Jerusalem, and the Lord is adamant that His people take a stand on His side. And His side isn't necessarily the same side of everybody in Israel. Jesus has His own view of what He's doing, and that's the side that wins. I remember I was interviewed by a famous broadcaster type person, and they said, well, what's going on in Jerusalem? Who's right? The Jews, the Arabs, the Islam, I said, who's ever on Jesus's side, that's who's right. If they're Egyptians, and they agree with Jesus, they're right. If they live in Israel, and they don't agree with Jesus, they're not on the right side. Zechariah chapter 8, Jesus, the Lord makes a very significant declaration. He says in Zechariah 8 verse 2, I'm zealous for Zion, with great zeal. I have great affection. I have great energy for the city of Jerusalem. He says, matter of fact, verse 3, I'm going to return to Zion. When the Lord Jesus returns from heaven, He's coming to the city of Jerusalem. And He makes it very clear in the next phrase. He goes, I'm going to live. I'm going to live in one city. I've had my eye on that city, and I've had my heart on that city from before the foundations of the world, and that city is Jerusalem. I'm going to live there forever. Now there's vast implications to the idea that Jesus is zealous in a particular way for one city above all the cities of the earth. That matters to the people who love Jesus. I encourage you to pray the prayer. Holy Spirit, let me see what you see about the city of Jerusalem, and let me feel what you feel about the city of Jerusalem. Now the good news is, He knows so much about that city and its implications and God's plans for the city, and He is desirous to teach you and to teach me. I want to see what you see and feel what you feel about that city. Now the term Zion is used about a hundred and sixty times in the Bible. Most of the time, it's a reference to earthly Jerusalem. Some of the time, it's a reference to heavenly Jerusalem, particularly the famous passage in Hebrews 12. But the vast majority of the hundred and sixty references are clearly about Jerusalem that's on the earth. Now the thing that makes it a little complex sometimes, is that when the Lord returns, when Jesus returns, we'll get to this later in the notes if we get to it, but it's in the notes if we don't get to it, that when Jesus returns, the new Jerusalem is going to descend from heaven to the earth. It says it three times in the book of Revelation. The new Jerusalem is going to descend to the earth, and there's going to be a joining, a coming together of the heavenly Jerusalem and the earthly Jerusalem. So sometimes when you see Zion, it's speaking of the merger of the two, but with a clear footprint on the earth. But my point is, mostly, the reference Zion in the Bible is a reference to the earthly Jerusalem most of the time. Psalm 87, the Lord loves the gates of Zion or the gates of Jerusalem more than all the other dwelling places in the land of Israel. This is talking about earthly Jerusalem here. He loves that city more than all the other cities of Israel. Well, if he loves it, and he's zealous, and I love him, and you love him, I want to be zealous, and I want to love what he loves. I want to line up with him. The uniqueness of Jerusalem is seen in being the only city that the Lord repeatedly declares his zeal and his love for in the scripture. There's no other city that he repeatedly declares the way he feels about, like he does the city of Zion or Jerusalem. Paragraph C, Jesus declared it as the city of the great king, as his own city. Matthew 5, he says that city is the city of the great king, and I'm the great king, and that's my city. Now when Jesus said that in Matthew 5, he was actually quoting a well-known passage in Psalm 48. Where in Psalm 48, Jerusalem is called the city of the great king. Jesus said, hey, by the way, that's me. That's my city. But it says something else, and I, in Psalm 48, it says that when Jesus has the full leadership over this city, it will bring joy to the whole earth. Right now, the city of Jerusalem brings controversy, debate, and war and battle to the nations of the earth, and it's going to mount up to full-scale war. But the days are coming where that's all going to be reversed, and Jerusalem won't be a topic of controversy or a war and dispute. It will be the source of joy. What happens in Jerusalem will benefit all the nations in such an intense way. It will be the source of, one source of joy for the whole earth. The earth, all the faraway nations will say when the Lord returns, they will say, oh, the glory and the goodness and the benefit of what's happening in Jerusalem is touching my life. Wow. Thank you God for Jerusalem. It's all going to be reversed. Paragraph D. Now this may be a new idea to some of you, but Jerusalem continues forever on the earth. Matter of fact, the earth continues forever. People ask me, because they know that I've focused on the subject of the end times, and by the way, I'm not as interested in the plan as I am the man behind the plan. It's the man, Christ Jesus, the bridegroom, king, and judge. He's the one that fascinates me, and the plan gives me insight into the man, to his heart, and it's him that I'm committed to. But I, people say, well, now you believe in the end of the world. I go, no, I don't believe in the end of the world. They go, you don't? I thought you studied the end times. I go, I do. Well, you don't believe in the end of the world? No. The world will never end, ever. It's the end of the age, not the end of the world that the Bible talks about. Big difference. The world, the earth is going to go on forever and forever. Now there's a theological debate, that at the end of the millennial kingdom, the thousand-year reign, when the earth is cleansed with fire, the debate is this, and the terminology is renovation or annihilation. And a lot of theologians, they believe, which I agree with this position, that this earth will be renovated. Some theologians believe this earth will be annihilated, and the new earth means a complete annihilation of this one. Now the interesting thing, there's about 25 verses in the Bible, I haven't counted them, but where it talks about this earth going on forever. So I believe that what happens when Jesus returns, the thousand-year reign, that the earth is rinsed and cleansed with fire, and it's renovated, not annihilated. Again, but there is an argument for the annihilation, but there's a very strong argument for the renovation of the earth. Roman numeral two, the millennial kingdom. Now most of you are familiar with that term. The reason we need to bring it into this discussion tonight, or this teaching tonight, is because that is the time frame when Jerusalem is transformed in the glory of God, and as a source of blessing to all the nations of the earth. It's in the millennial reign. It's in the thousand-year reign of Jesus. Our position as a leadership team is historic pre-millennial. Some of you will know what that means. That's not the same as dispensational pre-millennial. We're historic pre-millennial. We believe the literal return of the Lord and the literal reign of Jesus on the earth. Revelation 20 talks about a period, a thousand-year period. Jesus will rule the whole world from Jerusalem. I mean in his physical person, in his physical resurrected body. Now you know the resurrected body is fully material, but with all the properties of the resurrection. Wow! He will be on the earth in his resurrected body, leading a worldwide government, bringing the earth to righteousness, and the peace, and prosperity, and the glory of God will be released. We have a little bit on this subject if you're interested. If it's new to you, we have a 10-part series on the website that's free. The video teachings, 10 one-hour teachings, and the complete with notes. You can get that if this is a new subject. It's one of the most exciting subjects in the Bible. The physical, material, literal reign of Jesus on the earth, and you will be a part of that reign. You'll live in the New Jerusalem, but the New Jerusalem is coming down to the earth too. It's descending from heaven. You will have a physical, material, resurrected body. You will live in the New Jerusalem, and you will work on the earth. That's a bigger subject for another day, but it's exciting. Good news. You're not going to be floating on a cloud for millions of years playing a harp. You're gonna have a real physical, material body. Jesus said in Luke 24 when he rose from the dead, he says, touch me. Do I not have flesh and bones? And they touched him. He had an elbow, two of them. Wow, you got bones. Then he ate fish. They made the fish, and he ate it, natural fish, a resurrected body. Then he walked through the wall. The question is, did the fish go through the wall with him? We don't know. How's that work? I don't get it. The top of page two. I mean the earthly, full manifestation of the glory of God with us having physical, material bodies together. And the resurrection power is the most wonderful thing. Face-to-face interaction with Jesus. Bringing the earth to the full glory of God. Now we do that in this earth, but we only get so far before the Lord returns. And when he comes, he brings it to fullness. It will take a thousand years to do it actually. Because there will be human process involved in every step. There'll be supernatural power of God, but there will be human process involved in every step. Top of page two. I'm gonna give ten reasons why Jerusalem is the most unique city in all of history. History past and history future. The most unique city. There's no city even close. The second place city is in a complete different category. Now, I may not get to all ten reasons, but again, that's why we leave the notes. That's why, I mean, that's why we have the notes. You can read them on your own. But my point in showing you how unique the city is, is that it would arouse zeal and stir up a fervor and a hunger to understand the importance of the city and the church's role under Jesus's leadership related to Jerusalem in the generation the Lord returns. We may be in that generation. We might not be, but I, my personal opinion, there are people alive on the earth today that will see it. It may be the two-year-olds. I don't know. It may be us. I don't know. No one knows the day or the hour, but I believe we're in those early days of that generation. And I believe there's people on the earth that actually will see it with their eyes. And if that's true, then, then the subject of Jerusalem, passing it on to our children and grandchildren, is a critical subject that they line up with Jesus's leadership. And they are proclaiming what He's saying, and they're not getting lost in the rhetoric, even the religious rhetoric, about the city of Jerusalem. The only authority that we have about Jerusalem is the written Word of God. It's not dreams and visions. It's not people's religious sentiment. That's not it. It's what the Bible says. That's what we go for. Well, number one thing I want to highlight, and there's, this list could have 25 reasons why Jerusalem is the most unique city in history. I just picked 10. This list could be far larger. Number one, Jerusalem is unique in being the very center of God's plan. There's no other city that compares to Jerusalem in its significance, in being the very center of God's plan. It's the center of God's plan spiritually. It's the center of God's plan politically, geographically, and you could put a few other terms there as well. God's eternal purposes. His eternal purposes. I mean, for millions of years, and is in time plan, the decades that, right before the Lord returns, that are all connected to His in time plan. It unfolds for some decades. His eternal purposes and His in time plans are what I call Jerusalem centric. They are centered around what happens in the city of Jerusalem. What happens in Jerusalem, in this age, is a timing indicator of what's happening on God's prophetic calendar. When God does something in Jerusalem that's in the prophetic scriptures, it's going to have an impact on the nations of the earth and even on the church. Paragraph B. Jerusalem is unique in this regard. It is the eternal governmental capital of Jesus's worldwide reign. Not just for a thousand years, billions of years. He will have the same capital, Jerusalem. On the new earth, after the millennium, a billion years from now, He will still be living and reigning in Jerusalem. Beloved, the devil hates Jerusalem under the control of Jesus's purposes. He wants to seize control of the city of Jerusalem. There's a lot of reasons for that. There's a reason there's terrorist bombers in the city of Jerusalem. The devil's not blowing up megachurches. He's blowing up the city of Jerusalem. Not worried about most megachurches. He's really not. They don't trouble him that much. What happens in Jerusalem does. Now he hates churches, but he's not overly threatened by most of what's going on in lots of places. I'm getting, let me get off that subject. Anyway. I'm meddling. Let me get out and change gears here. Jeremiah 3. Jerusalem, and this is in the millennium, this is where the millennium starts, that thousand-year period, when Jesus returns in glory in the sky and comes to the earth. It will be called by the nations of the earth the city where the throne of God is. The people in Africa and Asia, North and South America, the islands, they will say, oh yeah, Jerusalem. That's the city where the throne of God is. That the name of the city will be called the throne of God is in it. Wow. Pretty big statement. But it's more than that. Although that's really big. All the nations will gather to the name of the Lord in Jerusalem. Meaning all across the earth there will be pilgrimages. I mean I'm told millions over the years. They will go to Jerusalem because there will be a unprecedented measure of the revelation of the name of God. The majesty of God. There will be an impartation of the knowledge of God in the city of Jerusalem beyond any other geographic place on the earth. So much so it's called the nations will go to the name of the Lord to encounter God and to get revelation though the Holy Spirit gives revelation of the knowledge of God. But there will be something about in that hour being face to face with the Bridegroom King himself, the Lion and the Lamb, where a spirit of revelation will be so powerful in that city in that day. That's after the Lord returns. Some would say there's some of that happening now. I don't know. I don't have an opinion on that. But I know that when the Lord returns, that's when this the nations will go there in order to encounter him in a more in a greater revelation of his name. Now the reason they will go is Matthew 25. Jesus elaborates on Jeremiah 3 in Matthew 25. He's talking about himself. And he says, let me tell you about Jeremiah 3 verse 17. He goes, when I do come in glory, in the implication from many verses to Jerusalem, when I come in glory to this city, I will sit on a throne of glory. I will have a throne of glory. Beloved, it won't be just a little chair with a little gold covering on it. It's called the throne of glory. It's a massive governmental complex that is the connection of the heavenly Jerusalem and the earthly millennial Jerusalem brought together under his leadership. That's the throne of glory. It's the dynamic connection of those two cities. Again, it's not a little seat with some gold on it that sparkles. It is called the throne of glory forever. I think there are so many implications to what that might mean. And he goes, and when I sit on that throne, yes, the nations will come. I mean the leadership of the nations will come from all over. Paragraph C. The third unique thing related to Jerusalem is it's Jesus's own city. It's the only city that he calls my own city. He likes your city and my city. But there's only one city that is forever my city, the city of the Greek king. It's uniquely his. Number four, Jerusalem is unique in being the city of truth. Zechariah 8 verse 3, Jerusalem is called the city of truth. The nations will come there, not just for moral truth, not just the truth about how to live righteous, but it will be the truth about everything that's beneficial to the kingdom. They will come to Jerusalem from the nations of the earth to receive wisdom from Jesus as the greater Solomon. Isaiah chapter 2, many peoples. And when it says many peoples, put the phrase many nations or the people of the nations. When you find the the word peoples or the word Gentiles, often you can interchange it with the word the nations of the earth. Untold millions. The millennial reign over a thousand years. Untold millions. They will go up to Jerusalem. What they'll go there for is to receive teaching from Jesus and to receive the word of the Lord. Now Jesus will teach on many subjects, not just on character issues and moral issues. He will have far greater wisdom and knowledge than Solomon. Far greater wisdom than Solomon. He will have all knowledge and wisdom about all subjects from justice and righteousness in nations He will know about science. I'm talking about for the people that have natural bodies on the millennial earth. You'll have a resurrected body. You live in the New Jerusalem. You'll you'll work on the millennial earth, but there will be people with natural bodies. Again, that's another subject for another day. They will there will be scientists and doctors and musicians. They will go to Jerusalem, and I'm saying this quote unquote and Jesus will host conferences. I'm sure they won't call him that. He will host international summits on music and he will teach things about music never ever known by man before. He's the greatest singer and musician that ever walked the earth. Really good singer. Really good musician. A very very good songwriter. He knows economics. He will bring the globe to economic prosperity not by waving his hand, but by teaching his ways and that the leaders of the nations will come. The economic leaders of the nations. He'll teach on family life, on education and the millennial earth. I'm talking about the people with natural bodies. Several generations over a thousand years. They'll have a longer lifespan because the atmosphere will be glorious and the food will be completely healthy. The devil will be in prison. Can you imagine? Clean air. Perfect food. The devil and all the demons in prison. The water of life flowing out of Jerusalem affecting the nations of the earth. The lifespan like in the days of Noah began to decrease. You know they lived seven eight hundred years. Then after a while they lived only four or five hundred years. After a while only three or four hundred years. They went down. Well when Jesus comes natural lifespan will reverse. So there's I'm guessing three or four generations in the thousand years. I'm the guy will be 600 years old and have 6,000 grandkids or something like that. I don't know how that works. I have no idea how that works, but you know it says here in 1st Kings 10 that when the Queen of Sheba when she perceived the wisdom of Solomon, it says there was no more spirit in her. She was completely awestruck and overwhelmed at his insight. Well Revelation 5 says all the nations will say glory honor wisdom is yours. Won't be one Queen from Sheba who's overwhelmed. Everyone in the earth will be awestruck at the measure of wisdom this man has in Jerusalem. They will say riches. That's economics. You have riches beyond anything that we've ever imagined, but you have wisdom. You have insight. And how to bring the nations and the earth itself to the fullness of God's glory and intention. Revelation 5. All the angels and the saints proclaim that. But I tell you across the earth they will be more overwhelmed than the Queen of Sheba was with Solomon. Paragraph E, the fifth thing that Jerusalem is unique. It will be the worldwide worship center. Now by the Holy Spirit people will worship all over the nations. The nation will be filled with worship by the power of the Holy Spirit. But there will be one unique worship center in Jerusalem. I mean just I'm just having fun here, but I could just imagine Jesus hosting an international summit on economics. And he goes, okay, everybody loves Jesus. It's coming with natural bodies. Those are the resurrected physical material bodies. They'll probably be involved too for at various levels. They'll say okay, let's have some worship first. Oh the worship will be amazing. Then Jesus will lift his hand up. I'm just having fun. Come Holy Spirit. Boy the power and who knows what will happen when that happens. I know in John 18 when the Roman guard came to get him in the garden they said, who is he? He goes, I'm he. And they all fell down. I mean several hundred. They all just collapsed. Well, there's a worship service. They will have a worship center that talk about the city of Jerusalem, the temple where Jesus resides forever. Wow. All the kings they will fall down before him. That means they will be overwhelmed at who he is. They'll be overwhelmed by the majesty, the splendor, the power of being face-to-face with this man. And it's not just the kings. They will bring their leadership team, their cabinets, their national government, their national economic leaders or education leaders. They will come undoubtedly many different arranged arrays of teams coming. They will be overwhelmed at the power of this man. Top of page three. Number six. Jerusalem is unique in having a beginning like no other city has. Before anybody even knew anything about Jerusalem. Well Abraham went there and Melchizedek was there in Genesis 14. So Abraham, I don't know if he fully understood all that was happening when he went to visit Jerusalem. Melchizedek, this mysterious fellow. But I know that about 500 years later, not exactly, but Moses when he leads the children of Israel out of Egypt, about 500 years after Abraham. Says here in Exodus 17, Exodus 15. By the way, Exodus 15 verse 1 tells us that all of Exodus 15 is a prophetic song. Moses is singing this prophecy. And he taught the song to the children of Israel. The first prophetic song the children of Israel as a nation learned. And here's part of the prophetic song. I mean they're just out of Egypt. They're out in the wilderness and they sing this song. Verse 17, Lord you will plant us in the mountain of your inheritance. They're talking, they're singing about Jerusalem. They don't even know where it's at. You're gonna plant us in the place where your sanctuary will be and where you'll reign forever. I mean they were singing away the first prophetic song that the nation of Israel ever learned as a nation. You will, you have a place. You will plant us there and you will reign there forever. You will have a sanctuary. Now what the Lord knows that they didn't know, it wouldn't just be the millennial temple which will be glorious, but it will be connected to the New Jerusalem temple as well. The two will come together. So when they sang you're gonna have a sanctuary called the mountain of your inheritance. They had no idea what the mountain of his inheritance was. Beloved, the New Jerusalem is a 1,500 mile city. That's a big city. The millennial Jerusalem temple and the New Jerusalem are connected. We'll get there in a minute and we have some more of that on the internet on the millennial series. And the reason we care about this, we don't want to speculate, but we want to see what the Word says, because we want to, we want to be captured with more of the zeal that Jesus has for that city. If we knew its destiny, we would understand why it's so dear to Him. We would understand why the devil is so enraged to take it, control of it, and why it's a central issue in the end times and the generation the Lord returns that we stand for Jesus over in the battle of Jerusalem. It will be a very intense conflict, by the way, and it will touch your family. Again, you might not, we may not see it in our day, but our children, we might. But our children and grandchildren very well might, or their children will. I believe that we're clearly coming up on that time, and it will matter that we understand Jerusalem from the biblical point of view. It's time to say, well, you know, what's that got to do with me? There again will be a great conflict, and the Lord will require people to take a stand, and it will, it will be costly to take that stand. Paragraph G. Jerusalem is unique in its impact on the nations. No other one city impacts the nations in the measure, throughout history, history past and history future. That's the right term, history future, but you know what I mean. Here's what the Lord says. I will bless those that bless you, and I will curse those that curse you. That's talking to Abraham, the father of the, of the faith. Both Jews and Gentiles that have the faith in Yeshua, Jesus. Talking about the father of the nation. But it said back in Hebrews 11, we skipped it just a few paragraphs ago. I didn't point it out, Hebrews 11. Abraham's inheritance is in a particular place, and it is the city of Jerusalem. The Lord says, I'll bless those that bless you. There's an undoubted connectedness of this to the city of Jerusalem, and I will curse those that curse you. Though this extends beyond Jerusalem, but this promises for that city in a unique way. If a nation, I'm talking about over history, stands for Jerusalem, God blesses the nation. The nation curses Jerusalem, that nation gets in trouble with God over time. I believe one of the most dramatic displays or proofs of this is the city of London and England. the leadership in London was very zealous for Jerusalem for a year, for many decades. They were the most powerful empire in the world. About the 1930s, they switched their position, and they went for the oil fields and said no to Jerusalem. And overnight, I mean, England lost its world dominion and its world influence. Compared to the way it has, I am convinced it has a connection to their government's posture to stand against Jerusalem. I believe there's other issues. That was a absolutely deadly choice. Whatever leadership team determined it, I don't know the process. I believe it's one of the reasons America has been blessed. There's a number of reasons. We don't want simplistic answers to why a nation is blessed. There's many reasons why the Lord would bless a nation. But one of the reasons is we've had a stand for Jerusalem. But that stand is being shaken right now. Beloved, Israel doesn't need America. America needs Israel. I'm serious. People say, well, if America pulls out, Israel's doomed. I go, Israel's in good shape. The king of kings, who created in Genesis 1, is going to take care of Jerusalem. Jerusalem's fine. Trust me, Jerusalem's going to have a hard season. But Jerusalem is fine. It's his city. They're in good hands. We need Jerusalem much more than Jerusalem needs us. Because the Lord says, oh, so that's the stand that you take then. And again, the stand for Jerusalem is not necessarily the Jewish position. It's not necessarily the church position. It's whatever the biblical position, because some in the church and some in the land don't agree with the biblical position. It's the biblical position. It's critical. We take a stand. Here's what it says in paragraph 1. Any individual or any ministry, any family that will pray for Jerusalem, God says, I will prosper you. I will bless you. You line up with my heart. It will matter on your individual life. It will matter on your family life. It will matter on your ministry, your church family. A lot of people love Jesus. They have no connection to this at all. God still blesses them and God still loves them. But there's more that he has for them if they would line up in this area. Ezekiel 9. I believe this is a pattern for the generation the Lord returns. God told the angel, the Lord told the angels. Ezekiel 9 verse 4. In a time where there was abomination happening in the city of Jerusalem, the Lord mandated the angels. He said, angels, go through the city and put a mark on the foreheads of the people that intercede for my city. The people that pray for my city, put a mark on them and protect them when the trouble comes. Beloved, those folks that took this blessing of praying for the peace of Jerusalem serious, they were actually supernaturally protected here in Ezekiel 9. And this is a type, it's a picture. I mean it really happened in that day. But it's a picture of what will happen across the nations in the generation the Lord returns. We want to have a legacy and a history of standing and crying out for Jerusalem. I remember when Bob Jones, a prophetic man, most of you know his name, some of you are new in connection with us here. First time here, you don't know who he is. It's a man 30 years ago that prophesied to me, the first medic, 30 years ago. It was March 7th, 1983, right at 30 years and a few weeks. Walked in my office. I was a pastor of a young adult church. I was 27 years old. We had four or five hundred young people and praying and fasting and crying out for God. And he came and said, the Lord sent me here to tell you about your ministry. You know, you look like a guy I wasn't that interested in listening to. He said, God's going to use you to be involved with singers and musicians. I said, that's not going to happen. He said, God's going to use you to be involved in praying for Israel. I said, he goes, are you a singer musician? I go, no. He goes, do you ever pray for Israel? I go, no. And he told me a few other things and I said, no. And he said, that you don't know anything I'm telling you. I said, no. He said, the Lord told me you'd be dull. I did not think you'd be this dull. He said, you will be gripped by God's purpose for Jerusalem. I said, I don't think so. And then people coming to an internship for three months, six months or to our Bible school. And they go, now what's this Israel deal? And I get it because I was the guy who first said, what's this Israel deal? Now when I opened my Bible and saw it everywhere, I went, oops, it's everywhere. Well, I just wasn't a part of groups that ever talked about it. But beloved, just because your church background didn't talk about it doesn't mean it's not in the Bible. We don't want to judge biblical truth by the standard as if your group taught about it. We want to judge biblical truth if it's in the Bible, not if your group was familiar with it. Well, anyway, here at Ezekiel 9, it was a matter of life and death. There were, there was trouble coming to the land and the intercessors for Jerusalem were the ones God supernaturally protected. That doesn't mean every prayer warrior will have everything go well in their life. That's not what I'm saying, but there is a blessing. There is something dynamic about this city. It will affect your family, affect your ministry, affect your church family, affect your business, it'll affect your individual life and heart. It really will. It won't make everything wrong become right. It's not a magical wand or a rabbit's foot kind of superstition. Some people have a superstition about Israel. It's not even connected to a vibrant relationship with Jesus. It's just that they do Israel, everything will turn out right. Then when it doesn't, they get confused and then they get mad at God and it's not a rabbit's foot that some use it superstitiously. It's in relationship to Jesus, obeying his word, taking the stand and blessing and praying that the word of God says. That's what we're talking about. Number eight, Jerusalem has a unique measure of conflict against it. No city will have more glory or more conflict against it than the city of Jerusalem in the generation the Lord returns. Again, I think we're in the early days of that generation. Maybe a little sooner, maybe a little later than I understand. But that conflict is mounting up around Jerusalem right now. Last several decades, it's getting more and more intense. My good friend Francis Frangipane, he has his phrase, he says, new levels, new devils. If there's new levels of breakthrough, new levels of of God's stewardship to your life, new levels of the anointing, there's new devils to attack you. New levels, new devils. Well, Jerusalem has the highest level of divine destiny and the greatest level of demonic attack against it. The devil knows when Jesus is received in that city, Jesus won't force them to receive him. But when that the leadership of Jerusalem receives him, he said in Matthew 23, you won't see me till you say with your mouth, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. He goes, you won't see me till you say with your mouth Jesus of Nazareth is God. That's what in essence what he was saying. They said that's not going to happen. He says, yes, it will and I won't make you do it, but there will be a generation. You'll say it to me and when you do it, I will march you to the city. I'll be received as your king. I will sit on my throne and beloved when Jesus as a man, fully God, but fully man, is on that throne in Jerusalem received by the governmental leaders of that city, one of the first thing that happens, Satan goes to prison for 1,000 years. He does not want that to happen. Like I said, he's more concerned about that than a whole lot of other things going on in the church world. He does not want to go to prison and when that man is on that throne received in that city, Satan goes to prison, Revelation chapter 20, and he does not want to go. It says in Revelation 12, he is more angry and enraged as the time gets closer to his end. His rage increases. Let's look at paragraph I, Joel chapter 3 verse 14. Read it in its full context. It says multitudes, multitudes in the day of the Lord. That means those final years leading up to the Lord's return. It's the valley of decision, not just for Jerusalem, for the whole earth. Everybody will be forced to choose. Will they stand for the word of God? It will touch every remote village in Africa, in India, every remote island. It will actually come because of the oil and the economics and the technology and the globalization of governments. This thing is coming to a head. Those that stand for God's purpose in Jerusalem will be greatly resisted by the majority who stand for the devil's purposes for Jerusalem and it will have conflict that will matter. Joel 3 calls it the valley of decision for the whole earth. Every family on the earth will be brought into this decision. Say well, you know, I'm far away in some distant island. It won't matter but I'm between the oil and the money and the governments. They will make everybody stand one way or the other. You won't escape it. And the only way that we will stand boldly is by having a foundation of the word in the grace of God in understanding what God's doing. The word says it's in my word. Well, my church never talked about it. That doesn't make it leave the bible because your church never talked about it. Still in the word. And my point isn't against churches. That's not my point. I was so bored with that subject when I first ran into it. My point isn't to be negative on the groups that don't talk about it. My point is to tell you that's not a good answer for you. That's all I'm telling you. I don't mean go back home and point your finger at somebody and say bah humbug you a one believer. Don't do that. But I'm talking about don't use them as your excuse to stay uninformed about this subject. So I'm at page four. Jerusalem is unique in this regard. God made, the Lord made unique commitments. They have a unique divine destiny. They have, God made unique commitments. There's an unprecedented measure of glory coming to that city. Now notice here in paragraph J. I have Isaiah 60 to 62. With Zechariah chapter 1 and 2. Those chapters are the most clear description of the coming glory and destiny all in one little area. I would study those chapters. I just give a few examples. Isaiah 60. The Lord will arise over you. He's talking about Jerusalem. Jesus is going to actually arise. And the glory of the Lord over the city. His glory will be seen on you. I mean they're going to see the glory of God on people in that city. Verse 3. The leaders, the Gentiles. They will come to the city. We want an impartation of the glory from the city. The kings of the, the leadership of governments, of nations. They will say we want to be involved. Isaiah 4. It says in that day the branch of the Lord. That's a Old Testament term for the Messiah, for Jesus of Nazareth, for the Son of Man. It's used six times in the Old Testament. The phrase the branch of the Lord. That's always talking about the Messiah. Well when he's in Jerusalem, he shall be seen as beautiful by the nations. Well when he's in Jerusalem, he will create, catch this in Isaiah chapter 4 verse 5, above every dwelling place. Every place where people dwell. Whether families and residences or other types of buildings and structures where they dwell. Above every assembly. The fire of God will dwell above them. I mean talking about a tenth. Can you imagine a city of which every single dwelling and every assembly has the glory of God like shining fire resting on it? I tell you man. Those leaders and those, the Gentiles. Hey, I'm going back to Jerusalem. How am I going to get another touch of the Holy Spirit's power? Yes, I'm going for an economic summit, but there's fire over our meetings. Now in Acts chapter 2, verse 3, 120 people are in the upper room. It says in Acts 2 verse 3, fire rested on each one of them. 120 people. The fire rested on them. People saw it. Hey Matthew. What? There's fire on you. Hey John, it's on you too. Ah, I can feel it. And they all saw the fire. 120 people. I've never been in a room where 120 people saw the fire. Been in a few rooms where people made stuff up, but I've never actually seen it. Well, it's not going to be 120 people. It's going to be every assembly and every dwelling place in the city will have the spirit of fire on it. Talking about an intense city. Look it down. Number two, Isaiah 60 verse 15. I'll make you an eternal excellence. Everything in the city will be excellent. Everything. It'll be the most beautiful city, the most powerful, the most prosperous, the justice and righteousness, the government, the economics, the parks, the education, the very atmosphere of the city. Everything will be excellent because it will be under the leadership of the most excellent man. Well, there's no city that has this kind of divine destiny at this level. Paragraph K. The 10th one. We got to all 10. I didn't think we'd make it. Jerusalem is a unique model. No other city is a model, a picture of what God will do in the other cities of the earth. Now there's this principle. It's a term I use. It's not a biblical term, but it's a biblical principle. I call it like kind but lesser degree. Whatever measure of glory is on Jerusalem. Because God never changes. We know that that's the sort of thing He does on cities. So it'll be like it but a lesser degree in the other cities. But when we see what the Bible says about Jerusalem in terms of the glory, we know there's going to be a smaller measure of that because that's the kind of person and the kind of leadership that Jesus has. But it's not only the positive, it's also the negative. Whatever intensity of judgments on Jerusalem, that will be on the other cities of the earth a lesser degree. But if God has the capacity for glory or judgment of that measure in that city, we know that He never changes. He has that kind of capacity for other cities. It's just a lesser measure. So we actually gain insight as to what God's doing in the earth by what He's doing in that city. You can read a little bit more about that if that's something that grabs your attention. I love to study what the scripture says during the tribulation in Jerusalem. The negative as well as the positive. Both of them will be happening in Jerusalem. Positive and negative. The two greatest prophets that ever walked the earth besides Jesus. They'll be in that city doing signs and wonders greater than Moses and Elijah. Beloved, there's awesome things happening in Jerusalem in the tribulation. It's not a glorified Antichrist and a defeated church. It's a glorified Jesus and a victorious church and a defeated Antichrist. That is the truth. Roman numeral four. I'll do this ever so brief. Just to give you a taste of this last page or two and you can read it on your own. The relationship of the earthly Jerusalem to the heavenly Jerusalem. Ephesians 1. Verse 10. Here's what Jesus is going to do. Or the Father is going to do it with through Jesus. He's going to gather together the heavenly realm and the earthly realm and bring them together on the earth. That was always God's intention. God always wanted both realms to be together. The supernatural realm of the new Jerusalem and the earthly physical material realm of the of the earth coming together at the second coming under Jesus's leadership. Top of page five. The new Jerusalem, paragraph b, will descend to the earth. It says it three times in the book of Revelation. It's coming down to the earth. What does that look like? Paragraph c. Someone says, is Jesus's throne in the new Jerusalem? Because it clearly is. Revelation 22. His throne is in the new Jerusalem. Or is Jesus's throne on the millennial earth in the Jerusalem? Because it clearly is. Is his throne in the new Jerusalem or is his throne in the millennial Jerusalem? Is it in the heavenly or the earthly? Which place is his throne? And the answer is yes. He has two thrones? No. He has one throne. It's called the throne of glory. It has an expression in both realms because there's a dynamic convergence of those realms in a way we don't fully understand, but it's awesome. Let's look at paragraph g. The bottom of page five. It's one of my favorite passages about Jerusalem, Psalm 48. It's talking about Jesus on his throne in the millennial Jerusalem. With the new Jerusalem, the Jesus's throne, it's all one throne. It's two expressions. One throne brought together. Not brought together. His one throne always is together. Now this is what's happening when the kings of the earth go to Jerusalem to see. They go to see Jesus and his throne. It says in verse four. I'm going to skip verse one and two, which is so awesome. Behold the kings. Here they are. You know, he's a new king. He says, okay, we got to go Jerusalem for the economic summit, the government summit. Okay, I've heard great things. The last king told me beware when you go. It's more intense than you think. I think I'm ready for it. So the kings assemble. They pass by together and they see the city. I'm just picturing. I'm just imagining the first, a new king, his first trip. They pass by the city together. Oh my. I had no idea. Verse five. They saw it. That means the city. They marveled. They went, they were speechless. We're talking about the throne of glory in the millennial temple and the new Jerusalem in this dynamic convergence together. It's a 1500 mile city. It's kind of outside the box in terms of our thinking. Well, they marveled, but it's more than that. They troubled. First, they marveled. Amazing as they get closer. I'm throwing that in. Their heart starts trembling. Man, this is too intense. Then it goes to the next level. They run away. The kings run. They said, yeah, first guy time king. We knew it happens every time. Why did they run? Verse six. Fear took hold of them. Beloved, they're gazing on the city of the great king. Top of page six. Let's end with this verse. You can read the rest on your own. Isaiah 66 verse 10. Here's what the Lord tells to believers. Those who relate to him through his beloved son, the lamb of God, fully God, fully man, Jesus, Yeshua. He says, here's what I want you to do. I want you to rejoice with Jerusalem. And I want you to mourn with Jerusalem. Well, which is it? Do we rejoice or do we mourn? We enter into both. What do we rejoice about? Well, we see God moving in the midst of Jerusalem. Now, beloved, there are more believers coming to Jesus in that city now than over centuries. God's raising up messianic congregations in the land. There's a number of, I mean, they're small in the sense compared to the western world, but compared to the last 2,000 years, I mean, it's remarkable what's happening compared to the last, I mean, besides the book of Acts. Amazing things happening in the last thousand years. These churches are, these messianic congregations are springing up. Apostolic leaders, young men and women, houses of prayer. They're breaking out across the city. Many, many, many things are happening. The Lord says, don't be disinterested. Don't be passive. Don't be cynical. Enter in. Rejoice. Enter in with them. Lay hold of it. Understand it. But not only that, mourn for her. When you see her come under pressures, when you see her come under the attack of the enemy, when you see darkness rising in the city, cry out and ask the Lord for intervention. Don't be passive. Well, you know, I got a lot going on. I can't really enter in. Beloved, in order to enter into rejoicing or mourning, we have to gain understanding of the city from the biblical point of view. Paragraph B. My last, last verse. He said this. Psalm 48. Walk around the city. Go all around it. Count her towers. Mark her bulwarks. Consider her palaces. And tell your children. In other words, by walking, going about, counting, marking, considering, study and search out what the Word says about the city. Search it out. See what's happening in the contemporary setting. See what's going to happen in the future. And tell your children about it. That's how we engage in it. Amen. Let's stand.