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INSIGHT INTO BIBLE PROPHECY #170
"WHO OWNS JERUSALEM?
by David Vaughn Elliott

Jerusalem. Who controls it? Who owns it?

The status of Jerusalem is one of the major obstacles to peace in
the Middle East. It is always among the last items for

negotiation. Both the Israelis and Palestinians demand Jerusalem
as their capital. However, the United Nations and many (or most)
governments say Jerusalem should be an International City.

Didn't the Israelis conquer East Jerusalem, including the Old
City, in the Six-day War in 1967, and don't they now claim
undivided Jerusalem as their capital? Yes, but...

Before proceeding, what does all this have to do with prophecy?
Much. When Jesus predicted the total destruction of Jerusalem and
the temple (fulfilled in A.D. 70), he added this amazing
prediction: "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles,
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke 21:24).
Romans, Persians, Arabs, Crusaders, Turks, the British,
Jordanians, and others trod down Jerusalem from A.D. 70 to 1967.

The Jerusalem that Jesus spoke of was a walled city. The Romans
tore down those walls in A.D. 70. Throughout history, the walls
have been rebuilt, torn down, and built again. The portion of
modern Jerusalem that is inside today's walls is commonly known as
the "Old City." This "Old City" is all the Jerusalem there was
until about 1850. Since then, suburbs have been added outside the
walls, so that the original city is only a tiny part of today's
Jerusalem. This sprawling metropolis is not the Jerusalem of the
Bible. The Old City is the Jerusalem of the Bible. Is the Old City
still trodden down by the Gentiles?

There are numerous ways to consider this question. Today, I would
like to highlight one phase of the question. Who owns and controls
the land in the Old City? Who lives there?

A recent report (2/11/2007) in the Washington Post puts the
population of the Old City at 35,000. Of this total, only 9% are
Jews, nearly all of whom live in the Jewish Quarter. When I first
heard of the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters, I
assumed they were each one-fourth part of the city. However, it
takes only a glance at a map of modern Jerusalem to see that
"quarter" simply refers to a section of the city according to who
lives there, without regard to size. The Christian Quarter is
larger than the Jewish Quarter. The Muslim Quarter is at least
twice as large. A rough calculation based on a National Geographic
map before me shows that today's Jewish Quarter is less than
one-sixth of the entire Old City.

Non-Jews own/control most of the land in the Old City. Jewish
settlers are attempting to gain a foothold, but at an agonizingly
slow pace. While some branches of the Israeli government are
trying to aid the process, other branches make it difficult. On
the other side, Arabs willing to sell land to Jews in such areas
as the Old City have even been murdered by their own countrymen.

In summary, the population, the land ownership, and the control of
the Old City are today overwhelmingly in the hands of Gentiles.
Can you imagine 90% of Jerusalem's population in Solomon or Jesus'
day being composed of Philistines, Egyptians, and Syrians, with
only 10% being Jews living in one corner of the city? This reality
is just one of several reasons to conclude that the Old City (the
Jerusalem of Jesus' Day) is still "trodden down of the Gentiles"
in the year 2008. If this is correct, "the times of the Gentiles"
are not yet finished.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
P.S.: This topic is still an on-going investigation with me. If
you have access to any additional or even contradictory
information, please share it with me, along with the sources.
Thanks.
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