John Hagee - The Battle for Jerusalem
Jerusalem is the only place on earth that's called "The city of God" in Psalm 48:1 and 2. Benjamin Disraeli said and I quote, "The view of Jerusalem is the history of the world... it's more than that, it's the history of earth and heaven". Jerusalem is the shoreline of eternity. Jerusalem is going to last forever. The day will come, and is not far in the future historically, when Washington, D.C., Rome, Paris, London, the Hague, will be insignificant nothings in comparison to the City of Jerusalem, because God has made that his habitation. And he is going to set up his throne there. And he's going to rule the world from there with a rod of iron for a thousand years.
I'm looking forward to the day when that happens. Hallelujah to the lamb of God! There is a supernatural presence in the City of Jerusalem like no other place. Why? Because God says I have placed my name there. God says, "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so is the Lord round about his children forever". Few Christians understand the supernatural power connection to Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the city of David, is the place that God calls home. Jerusalem is where Abraham, the father of all who believe, placed his son, Isaac, on the altar on the temple mount in Jerusalem to prove to God that he, Abraham, had placed God first in his life.
Jerusalem was conquered by king David from the Jebusites, who declared that city to be the capital of Israel 3.000 years ago. You would think that the United Nations, after 3.000 years, would get the message that Jerusalem was the capital of Israel. But I'm going to help you out. It's in the Bible and you can read it, where David said in Psalm 137:5 and 6, "If I forget thee, o Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its cunning, and let my tongue cleave to the roof of the mouth if I do not prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy". David was a musician. He played the harp with his right hand. He was a singer. He is called the Psalmist. If you are a musician and cannot play, and you are a singer and your tongue won't move, life has no meaning. David's saying, if I forget Jerusalem and its spiritual significance to my life and its spiritual importance in the mind of God, there is really no reason for me to exist.
I want to express my profound appreciation to the president of the United States for announcing to the nations of the world that Jerusalem is in fact the capital of Israel, because some people need help in getting up to date. President Trump made a promise when he was a candidate that he would recognize Jerusalem as the capital, but we heard that before. But he kept his promise. That we haven't seen before. God bless you, Mr. President, and thank you. The Jewish people do not occupy the land of Israel or the City of Jerusalem: they own that land and they own that city!
This word of warning to the nations of the world. The prophet Zechariah says in chapter 12:3 that Jerusalem is going to be a burdensome stone: and that any nation that comes against Jerusalem in the future is going to be cut to pieces. That's God's word. Are you listening, Russia? Are you listening, Iran, Turkey, Hamas, Hezbollah? Are you listening? Because according to Ezekiel 38, 39, God is going to crush you when you invade that sacred soil that he has given to the Jewish people. The Bible says, "He that keepeth", "Keepeth" is a military term meaning to defend. "He that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps". And that someone is the living God: the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: the God who created the earth.
His day of vengeance is coming to every anti-semitic nation where the blood is going to flow to the bridle of the horses in the battle of the armageddon. The battle for Jerusalem is being fought right now. The victory is going to be won by the son of David, Jesus Christ, the king of kings and the Lord of Lords, who's going to establish the final throne! Give him praise and glory in the house of God!
Listen closely. Jerusalem is your path to prosperity. Listen to the word. Psalm 122:6, David writes, "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper that love thee". Say that with me. "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper that love thee". This prosperity is not just financial. This word "Prosperity" is the cornucopia of heaven's blessing. It includes divine health. It includes peace of mind. It includes self-confidence. It includes joy and happiness that other people search for and can never find. It includes a success that runs off the charts that you don't have to work for: God brings it to you. "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper that love you".
This is not a recommendation: this is a command. "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem," not if you feel like it. "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem". For out of you, Jerusalem will flow all of the blessings that are in the Bible. When you read the scripture, listen very closely for verses like this. Psalm 128:5, "The Lord bless you out of Zion". Hear that phrase? Where is that? That's Jerusalem. "The Lord bless you out of Zion. And may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life". Where's the Lord's blessings going emanate from? Out of Jerusalem. When you pray for the peace of Jerusalem, you are releasing God's favor on yourself, on your family, on America.
Diana and I were privileged to visit with president Donald Trump in the White House in the summer of 2017. The topic turned to Jerusalem. And the president's advisors were telling him that it wouldn't be an appropriate thing to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel because of all of the chaos it would create. I said to the president, "I believe that recognizing Jerusalem will accentuate and accelerate the peace process. It will crush the delusion that some have that they should have a right to a portion of Jerusalem. Once you announce that it is the property of the Jewish people, we can get past that".
And I said, "Mr. President, you stand today where president Harry Truman stood in 1948 when Israel was becoming a state. Harry Truman's advisors told him, "If you recognize the state of Israel as a state, the winds of war will sweep across the Middle East. The world will tilt on its axis and things will never be the same". General George Marshall, a highly respected general, and former secretary of state, a man who had more political influence than even Harry Truman, warned Mr. Truman that if you recognize Israel, I will vote against you in the forthcoming campaign and do everything I can to keep you from being president again. Harry Truman signed the declaration recognizing the state of Israel in eleven minutes and apologized for taking so long. God bless you, Harry Truman. America's endorsement of Israel shook the world.
I opened my Bible while sitting at the table with the president to Leviticus 25:10 and 11, concerning the year of jubilee, which was celebrated in Israel every 50 years in Bible times. God runs his prophetic clock. And Israel is the basis of that clock. And time is measured in modules of 50 years. You'll get that when you read Leviticus 25:10 and 11. And I said to him, "Mr. President, let's just go to 1917 when the Jewish people came back into the land, and God's clock began to tick". I said, "In 1917, the Balfour Declaration happened where the British people gave a homeland to the Jewish people, and they began to come from all of the nations of the world to live there. It was a year of jubilee.
You add 50 to 1917, and you have the six-day war of 1967. It was a miraculous victory where the Israeli IDF defeated five arab armies that were armed by the Russians. And in six days, Israel doubled the land mass of Israel. They regained the Western Wall. They regained the City of Jerusalem, and they had not had that since the Roman empire had them surrounded in 70 A.D. You add 50 to 1967 and it's 2017, jubilee, this year".
I said, "Mr. President, if you recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, you will step into political immortality just like Harry Truman". As the dinner ended, the president stood and he pointed toward me, and said, "Other presidents have promised you and failed you, but I will not fail you". And he did not. A few weeks later at a time of his choosing, he demonstrated the raw courage other presidents did not have, by proclaiming Jerusalem as Israel's capital. He made a promise: he kept the promise.
God bless you, Mr. President, for having that kind of courage in this world. Soon afterwards, the president announced that America would move its embassy to Jerusalem. That was bold. It was daring. It was historic. It was powerful. The dedication of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem was a blessing to Israel. And God will bring that blessing to America because we have blessed Israel. For those of you who didn't get to see it, I want you to hear this historic prophetic moment, the dedication prayer.
Our most gracious Heavenly Father, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: the God who calls the stars by name and measures space with a span of his hand: the God who is the king of the universe, we gather here today to thank you for the joy of living and seeing this glorious and historic day. We thank you for the state of Israel, the lone torch of freedom in the Middle East, who lives and prospers because of your everlasting love for the Jewish people. It was you, o Lord, who gathered the exiles from the nations and brought them home again. It was you who made statehood possible. It was you that gave a miraculous victory in 1967 when Jerusalem was reopened to worshippers of all faith.
Jerusalem is the city of God. Jerusalem is the heartbeat of Israel. Jerusalem is where Abraham placed his son on the altar of the temple mount and became the father of many nations. Jerusalem is where Jeremiah and Isaiah penned principles of righteousness that became the moral foundations of western civilization. Jerusalem is where Messiah will come and establish a kingdom that will never end.
We thank you, o Lord, for president Donald Trump's courage in acknowledging to the world a truth established 3.000 years ago that Jerusalem is and always shall be the eternal capital of the Jewish people. And because of that courage of our president, we gather here today to consecrate the ground upon which the United States embassy will stand, reminding the dictators of the world that America and Israel are forever united. We thank you for our ambassador David friedman and pray your anointing upon him as he opens the doors of the U.S. Embassy to receive the nations of the world.
Let the word go forth from Jerusalem today that Israel lives. Shout it from the housetops that Israel lives. Let every Islamic terrorist hear this message, Israel lives. Let it be heard in the halls of the United Nations, Israel lives. Let it echo down the marble halls of the presidential palace in Iran, Israel lives. Let it be known to all men that Israel lives, because he that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. As king David prayed 3.000 years ago, we pray for the peace of Jerusalem and all its inhabitants. Let the name of the Lord be glorified today: for the defender of Israel today, tomorrow, and forever is here. Can we all shout, "Hallelujah"! Amen.
Jerusalem is the city of God. Jerusalem is the heartbeat of Israel. Jerusalem is where Abraham placed his son on the altar of the temple mount and became the father of many nations. Jerusalem is where Jeremiah and Isaiah penned principles of righteousness that became the moral foundations of western civilization. Jerusalem is where Messiah will come and establish a kingdom that will never end.
We thank you, o Lord, for president Donald Trump's courage in acknowledging to the world a truth established 3.000 years ago that Jerusalem is and always shall be the eternal capital of the Jewish people. And because of that courage of our president, we gather here today to consecrate the ground upon which the United States embassy will stand, reminding the dictators of the world that America and Israel are forever united. We thank you for our ambassador David friedman and pray your anointing upon him as he opens the doors of the U.S. Embassy to receive the nations of the world.
Let the word go forth from Jerusalem today that Israel lives. Shout it from the housetops that Israel lives. Let every Islamic terrorist hear this message, Israel lives. Let it be heard in the halls of the United Nations, Israel lives. Let it echo down the marble halls of the presidential palace in Iran, Israel lives. Let it be known to all men that Israel lives, because he that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. As king David prayed 3.000 years ago, we pray for the peace of Jerusalem and all its inhabitants. Let the name of the Lord be glorified today: for the defender of Israel today, tomorrow, and forever is here. Can we all shout, "Hallelujah"! Amen.
What was I feeling when I finished that prayer? I felt a surge of supernatural joy over this fact: one, this was prophetic to the core. But the thrilling moment was just a very short distance away was the temple mount where Jesus Christ, the king of kings, is going to set up his throne in just a few days. And we will not be dedicating the embassy of the United States. We will be dedicating the new Jerusalem of King Jesus, the Son of the living God. Kings and queens will bow before him! Hallelujah to the Lamb of God! Bless his holy name!
What is the basis of the battle for Jerusalem? There's so much more in the book that I can get squeezed into this sermon today. First, the battle is supernatural. God has promised it to Jesus Christ and to David. The devil has promised it to the Antichrist. There is a war between light and darkness over the City of Jerusalem. What is the basis of the battle? The kingdom of light versus the kingdom of darkness. That's a sermon by itself. I press on.
The second major reason is theological. Not land, not money, not a two-state solution, not the right of return: theology is the root of the problem. And here it is: the majority of radical Islamic fundamentalists, believe that Muhammad was the only true prophet and that the Koran is absolute truth, far surpassing the Bible. The Bible is irrelevant to them. "An infidel," that would be Christian or Jew, has one choice to convert or be beheaded. Muhammad taught a theology of triumphantism. Triumphantism is this: it is God's will for me to rule over you. It is God's will, in their mind, for Islam to rule over Christianity and judaism, and don't you ever forget it. That's the reason the Islamic prayer tower is the highest point in the city. It must have the position of supremacy.
That's the reason Iran's leadership believes that if they can start a nuclear war, their Islamic Messiah will come, because he will come in a time of chaos. Mohammed said, "A day and a night with the sword is preferred to 30 days of fasting and prayer". He made war holy. He made killing infidels a thing of reward where you go straight to heaven where 70 virgins are waiting to fulfill your every sexual pleasure. Sex and religion is a powerful concoction in the minds of some people. Sitting in the throat of these Islamic nations is Israel that has an unconditional blood covenant from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that the land of Israel belongs to them and only them forever more. It is theirs no matter what the Islamic people believe.
Let me say this in closing, concerning Jerusalem. In Psalm 102:13, it says, "You God will arise and have mercy on Zion (that's Israel): for the time to favor her, yes, the set time," hear that? "The set time has come to declare the name of the Lord in Jerusalem". Why did President Trump recognize Jerusalem when he did? Because it was a set time. It was jubilee. Why did he move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem after 70 years of statehood? Because it was a set time. It was a year of jubilee. Why did Cornerstone Church start doing nights to honor Israel in 1981 when other Christians thought we had lost our mind? Because it was a set time to bless Israel and the Jewish people.
Why has Christians United for Israel prospered by the hand of God to become America's largest pro-Israel organization? Because it is set time to bless Israel and the Jewish people. Why did God send four blood moons in 2014 and '15 on exact days confirmed by NASA in advance? Because it was a set time. Passover, April 15, 2014: Feast of Tabernacles, 10/8/14. The black sun represents coming judgment on gentile nations. And then 4/4/15, the third blood moon, and then the last blood moon, 9/28/15. This is not some pie in the sky something that happened. It is confirmed by science before the fact. But by Joel, 3.000 years ago, in Joel 2, saying that when these things happen, God is getting ready to favor Israel.
So what happened? Within ten days of that last blood moon, Russia moved out of the north into the Middle East. "When you come out of the north parts into, toward the holy land, the hand of God is getting ready to come against you". We are living in exciting times. Why should you care? Because Jesus said, "When you see these signs, lift up your heads and rejoice: your redemption draweth nigh". The king is coming. For the Lord himself is going to descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice of the Archangel, with a trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ are going to rise first.
When you see these things? What signs? When Israel is reborn may 14, 1948. When Jerusalem is liberated in june of 1967, that's when the hoof of the gentiles came off the Jewish people. When Jerusalem is no longer under gentile rule, that's right now. When the capital is recognized, that's right now. When the embassy has been moved, of the American embassy, recognizing the most powerful gentile nation is now in Israel. When Jerusalem is no longer trampled by the gentiles, that's right now. Jesus said, "When you see these things, lift up your heads and rejoice". The king is coming! The king is coming! The king is coming! Give him praise and glory in the house of God! Magnify the Lord with me and let us bless his name together! Bless his holy name! Bless his holy name! Bless his holy name! Pray this prayer with me. Those of you watching by television can pray right where you are. Pray.
Heavenly Father, I come to your holy throne, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I ask you to forgive me of all of my sin. Cleanse me from all unrighteousness and become the Lord of my life today. Let every person in my family that does not know you or accept you, immediately become convicted by the Holy Spirit and seek to know you. I receive the answer to my prayer, in Jesus' name. Amen.