This is reiterated in the 14th chapter, where the Lord says: “I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle” (Zechariah 14:2-3 NIV).
It is true, of course, that the Lord says that He is the one who will gather the nations against Jerusalem. And it is true that, after some level of suffering for His people, He will intervene and deliver.
But it’s also true that the nations will have reason to attack Jerusalem. Why that city? Why that people?
My guess is that, once again, Israel will be scapegoated. Israel will be blamed for a world war. Or for vast human suffering. Or for a global pandemic. It’s all Israel’s fault!
Israel will be behind a worldwide Internet crash. Or economic crisis. Or famine. Or plague. Israel is masterminding all this!
Again, this is similar to the Jewish people being blamed for the Black Plague or for AIDS or for all the unrest in the Middle Eastern Muslim nations. The Jewish people even get blamed for problems in the Vatican.
In the same spirit, the United Nations and its sister organizations have condemned Israel more than all other nations combined. Israel is the monster!
So, in this inter-connected age in which we live, would it be hard to blame Israel for the latest international crisis? Would it be hard to scapegoat Israel if the stock markets worldwide collapsed? (Obviously, someone was behind the crashes, right?) And, if our understanding of the End Times is correct, would it be hard for a world leader (aka, the Antichrist) to convince the nations that rebel Israel must be punished?
“They’re the ones spoiling everything! We have peace and tranquility without them! At last, we must crush them for good.”
Admittedly, this is all speculation, albeit speculation based on history and with a view towards the Scriptures. But what seems undeniable is this: If the devil knows that a Jewish Jerusalem must welcome back Yeshua the Messiah, he will do everything in his power to wipe out and destroy the Jewish people, especially targeting Jerusalem.
To me, that means that anti-Semitism, in its worst and ugliest and most violent forms, will raise its ugly head at the end of the age. That is very bad news.
The very good news, though, is that the King who will return in vengeance and power will be a glorified Jew.