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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for October 27, 2009
“Jerusalem Will Be Trampled On Until…”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
In Luke chapter 21, Jesus’ disciples marveled at the beauty of the temple in Jerusalem.
It was an awesome structure, built just a few years before by King Herod, with huge chiseled blocks of stone weighing around 30 tons each.
As they raved about the temple, Jesus sobered them up with this statement, “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”
That was a little hard to fathom, considering how massive the temple was, and that Jerusalem was a thriving city.
Then in verse 24 Jesus made this cryptic statement, “Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”
What exactly did Jesus mean by that? Well what we do know is that Jerusalem was thoroughly trampled on in 70 AD when Titus and his Roman legions destroyed much of the city, including the temple.
Around the year 135 the Roman Emperor Hadrian began to rebuild Jerusalem as a pagan city. When the Jews revolted, he killed about half a million of them, then forbid all Jews from even entering Jerusalem except for one day a year. That ban stayed pretty much in place for hundreds of years thereafter.
In the 300’s, Byzantine Emperor Constantine rebuilt Jerusalem as a Christian center of worship, and constructed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 335.
In the 600’s, Arabs conquered Jerusalem, and Jews were allowed once again to live and worship in the city.
Around the turn of the millennium, the Arabs ordered the destruction of all the churches in Jerusalem. At this time the Jews joined the Arabs in fighting against the Crusaders.
When the city fell, the Crusaders gathered all the Jews into the synagogue and burned it down.
Jerusalem was recaptured by the Arabs in 1187, and for a time there was freedom of religion in the city.
In 1219 a sultan ordered the destruction of the walls of Jerusalem, leaving it defenseless. During that century there was a steady stream of fighting and various factions controlled the city. Eventually it was captured by the Egyptians.
In the 1500’s, Jerusalem became part of the Ottoman Empire, and once again there was religious freedom in the city. Not that they got along with each other, but you could find a church, synagogue and mosque on the same street.
By the mid-1800’s, the Ottoman Empire was declining, and Jerusalem was not much of a city, with maybe 8,000 residents.
However, more and more Jews became interested in immigrating to Jerusalem, and Christians began sending missionaries. Soon the city, of only one square kilometer, became overcrowded, and new settlements were formed on the outskirts. Jerusalem was now a growing patchwork of ethnic communities.
In World War I, the British defeated the Turks in the Middle East, and on December 11, 1917 British General Sir Edmund Allenby took control of Jerusalem from the Ottomans.
The Arabs resented the British rule, and more and more Jews were immigrating to the city. There were violent anti-Jewish riots in the 1920’s and 30’s, and the Jews organized their own defense forces.
When it appeared that the British were aligning with the Arabs, the Jews attacked the British, and the violence escalated in the 30’s and 40’s.
After World War II, in 1947, the United Nations decided that Jerusalem would fall under international control.
At one point, however, Arabs cut off all the roads to Jerusalem and placed the Jewish population under siege. The British grew more and more reluctant to intervene, and finally in 1948 they withdrew.
The British Mandate ended in May 1948, which marked the beginning of the Arab-Israeli War.
After the war, Jerusalem was divided. The western half of the new city became part of the newly formed state of Israel, while the eastern half, along with the old city, was annexed by Jordan.
In 1967, East Jerusalem was captured by Israel in the Six Day War. Since then, the status of East Jerusalem has remained highly controversial.
And that’s pretty much where Jerusalem is today. Now I know that only scratches the surface of the history of Jerusalem, and I got all that information from Wikipedia.
But go back to the words of Jesus. He said, “Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”
Have you ever seen a city that has been so trampled on for 2,000 years? Yes, most cities have had their times of war, but Jerusalem has been a hotbed of conflict since Jesus walked its streets.
And it will remain that way. It will be a city that is trampled on by the Gentiles until…
Until I don’t know when, but Jesus said it.
Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until that fateful and awesome moment in history when “the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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