Searching for the Peace of Jerusalem

The Balfour Declaration of 1917, a British document that formed the basis for an upsurge of Jewish emigration to Palestine, stated that nothing should be done toward a Jewish national home that might be detrimental to other ethnic communities in the area.

Though often scarred by violence and bloodshed, words of peace have periodically surfaced during the 20th century. British historian Sir Martin Gilbert summed up the undergirding thoughts:

"At its heart, Zionists had striven for a hundred years for the recognition of its legitimacy by the Palestinians. The many conflicts before and after 1948 . . . could not hide the basic imperative, that a way had to be found for the Jews and Arabs of the small strip of land running between the Mediterranean Sea and the River Jordan to find a way of accepting each other's right to live and prosper" (Israel: A History, 1998, p. 560).

Not long before succumbing to an assassin's bullet in October of 1995, Israel's prime minister Yitzhak Rabin appealed to the Palestinians: "We are destined to live together, on the same soil, in the same land . . . We harbor no hatred towards you. We have no desire for revenge. We, like you, are people who want to build a home, plant a tree, love, live, side by side with you—in dignity, in empathy, as human beings, as free men . . . Let's pray that a day will come when we all will say, 'Farewell to arms.'"

This appealing prayer for the peace of Jerusalem and Israel will only be answered by the arrival of God's Kingdom on earth (see Micah 4:3-4). But first the Bible foretells that massive armies will gather their forces outside Jerusalem to fulfill the prophecy of Armageddon (Revelation 16:16)—culminating with the divine deliverance brought about by the second coming of Jesus Christ. GN