Page 65 - Signs of the End

THE SIGNS OF THE END 29

secret just like the one with the Palestinians, and the leaders are
merely waiting for the propitious moment to announce it to the
world.

Jerusalem Still "Trodden Down by the Gentiles"

Jerusalem certainly figures prominently in Bible Prophecy.
Jesus called it "the City of the Great King," and He looked
forward to the time when He would return and rule over
Jerusalem as the capital of restored Israel and "the head of the
nations." But, according to the Scriptures, there are still dark
days ahead for Jerusalem between now and that wonderful time.
The city has known very sad days in the past, in the times of the
first and second destructions by the Babylonians and the Romans.
Yet the critical time to come is called "the time of Jacob's
trouble," and the Great Tribulation.

We evangelicals who believe in this difficult upcoming time
are not happy about it, but if we are true to the Scriptures, we
have to teach it. Among other things, one of the purposes of the
Tribulation is to prepare Israel for the Second Coming of Christ.
Part of that whole scenario is that not only will the Temple be
rebuilt in Jerusalem, but that unbelieving Gentiles will still have
considerable influence in the city. In a remarkable passage
(Rev. 11:2), this Gentile influence is described:

But the court, which is outside the temple, leave out, and
measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles, and the holy
city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

Thus, even when the Temple is standing again in Jerusalem
during the Tribulation, the unbelieving Gentiles will still be
treading down the Holy City. Perhaps the plans we are now
seeing to make Jerusalem an international city are setting the
stage for this kind of situation of Tribulation Jerusalem, which
John described in the Revelation.