President Bush, Benjamin Netanyahu and King David!

Benjamin Netanyahu pulls no punches when it comes to the proposed division of Israel’s capital city. Yesterday, in a private meeting with President Bush at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said, “Jerusalem belongs to the Jewish people and will remain under Israeli sovereignty for eternity.” During the exchange, the Likud chairman presented the president with an ancient coin bearing a Hebrew inscription. The coin, which was discovered in Jerusalem, is 2,000 years old and proves that Jewish ties to the region are millennia-old.

The meeting between Netanyahu and Bush is significant for a number of reasons. For one, as early as January 2006, we have discussed the possibility of Netanyahu’s return to power in Israel. Two years ago, that prospect seemed highly unlikely. But now, with Netanyahu leading in the polls, and with the soon-to-be released second Winograd report about Prime Minister Olmert’s failures in the Second Lebanon War said to be devastatingly condemning, Israel may be on the verge of a new government.

Initially, President Bush had planned to snub Netanyahu during his eight-day Middle East tour, which didn’t sit well with Bibi. “It would be right if the president would take the time to listen to someone who represents more than half the people in Israel, who oppose the Annapolis process,” Netanyahu said prior to the president’s arrival. Netanyahu, though, blamed Ehud Olmert’s office for blocking a possible meeting with the president. That prompted a Kadima source to lash back at Bibi: “At the White House they think he’s a liar, because of his behavior when he was prime minister.”

In the end, President Bush changed his mind and decided to meet with the opposition leader, indicating that Washington is preparing for the possibility of working with an Israeli government that opposes the peace process. Here is why that is significant: Zechariah 14:1-2 prophesies that Israel will eventually give up East Jerusalem, but not by negotiation. A Hamas-dominated Palestinian insurgence, backed by Iran, will take half the city by force shortly before the Messiah sets foot on the Mount of Olives (verse 4).

Prepare for a change in Israel’s policy regarding Jerusalem’s status. At some point, perhaps under new leadership, Olmert’s offer to hand over East Jerusalem will be rescinded.

Recent Discoveries Finding a Role in Politics

The second point of interest from Thursday’s meeting between Netanyahu and Bush is the increasingly important role ancient artifacts are playing in the modern-day political discourse. Several weeks ago, we referred to this Nov. 14, 2007 report from cnsnews.com, which said, “Some Israeli lawmakers are seizing on archeology as a way to fight Prime Minister Olmert’s apparent plan to divide the city of Jerusalem.” The report showed how some politicians were relying on these ancient ruins to illustrate how strong the link is between the Jewish people and the land of Israel.

Here is what we wrote on Nov. 23, 2007: “We should expect these new discoveries to find a more prominent place in Israel’s future political discourse, especially after peace talks with the Palestinians break down.” Now, thanks to Netanyahu, these discoveries have made their way into the hands of America’s president.

In recent years, Israeli archaeologists have been making fantastic discoveries all over Jerusalem—palaces, pottery, city walls, tunnels and bullae—much of it even centuries older than the coin Netanyahu gave to Bush. In 1982, for example, the late Yigal Shiloh discovered a collection of 53 bullae (clay discs used to seal scrolls) within a building that would later be called the House of the Bullae. Shiloh assumed the structure must have been some kind of archive building, located close to the palace complex where the kings of Judah reigned. That palace has now been located, thanks to Eilat Mazar’s recent work, and indeed, it’s situated on a hilltop platform just above the House of the Bullae. One bulla from Shiloh’s collection was inscribed with the Hebrew name “Gemariah, son of Shaphan.” Mentioned in Jeremiah 36:10, he was one of the princes of Judah during Jehoiakim’s reign. His father, Shaphan, worked for King Josiah (2 Kings 22:3).

Within King David’s palace, in 2005, Eilat Mazar found a bulla bearing this inscription: “Jehucal, son of Shelemiah.” He was a royal officer who worked in the administration of King Zedekiah, Judah’s last king before going into Babylonian captivity during the sixth century b.c. Jehucal is referred to twice in the book of Jeremiah (37:3; 38:1).

Besides finding a more prominent role in Israel’s political discourse, these new archaeological discoveries might actually drive a thicker wedge between Jews and Arabs, since Palestinian leaders have de-legitimized Israel’s right to exist by arguing that Jewish ties to the land of Israel are not rooted in Scripture.

It is even possible that a stunning discovery of some kind might be the spark that ignites the Arab-Israeli battle over Jerusalem.

Jeremiah’s Fascinating Story

When my wife and I were touring the area around King David’s palace last summer while in Jerusalem, our guide showed us where Shiloh and Mazar found their bullae. Since the inscribed names are both referred to in the book of Jeremiah, I asked, “What about Jeremiah? Where is he around here?”

“Jeremiah,” he said to me, gesturing from one side of the city to the other, “is everywhere.”

Now that, to me, was a fascinating history. Israeli politics will most likely experience a rightward shift in a last-ditch attempt to save Jerusalem. And archaeological finds might be featured more prominently in the political discourse, perhaps even leading to a clash.

But it’s this prophetic history—Jeremiah is everywhere—that will soon revolutionize Jerusalem and the land of Israel! Anciently, the Prophet Jeremiah pleaded with the people of Judah to consider their sinful ways and to repent. His prophetic warning was made to the very highest levels of Jewish government. The inscriptions on those two bullae are not the names of insignificant commoners. They were members of Judah’s royal court—people who heard Jeremiah’s prophetic message and then rejected it, leading to their eventual captivity.

In her report on the findings from her first phase of digging, Dr. Mazar wrote, “The discovery of the bulla of Jehuhal son of Shelemiah adds one more example of an official mentioned in the Bible. The congruity of the biblical text with the names of these two officials [Gemariah and Jehucal] appearing on bullae from the City of David is not only astounding but, more importantly, instructive on the great importance and accuracy of the biblical source” (The City of David Excavations 2005).

Yes, indeed! Jeremiah’s life and work is one of the most fascinating accounts in the Bible. Read it for yourself sometime. He was real—just like Jehucal and Gemariah. He prophesied of Judah’s ruin and captivity before it actually happened. He prophesied of their return to Jerusalem from Babylonian captivity—even pinpointing the very year it would come to pass (Jeremiah 29:10). That too happened, as archaeological discoveries and secular histories have proven.

Besides prophesying that David’s throne would be “rooted out” of Judah and “destroyed,” which is what happened at the conclusion of Zedekiah’s reign, he also foretold how that kingly line would be built up and planted elsewhere (Jeremiah 1:10). That too happened, as Herbert W. Armstrong thoroughly recounts in his masterful work The United States and Britain in Prophecy.

In addition to the numerous prophecies that have already happened, there are several others in Jeremiah’s book that have yet to be fulfilled, like the one in chapter 30. “For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it” (Jeremiah 30:3).

Do you suppose, as some Bible scholars do, that this was somehow fulfilled anciently? Read further and see for yourself when this, like so many of his already-fulfilled prophecies, will actually happen. “For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them” (verses 8-9).

David had been dead for about 400 years when God inspired Jeremiah to write that! This refers to a time just ahead of us—after one last captivity for the descendants of Israel and Judah, after their re-gathering and final return to the land of Israel—when God will resurrect King David to again be Israel’s king.

So says the Prophet Jeremiah! This is the true significance behind the prophetic events unfolding right now in Jerusalem. This is where it’s all leading! The only real and lasting solution to the Middle East peace process is found within the pages of Jeremiah’s book.

How could anyone reject his sure word of prophecy after so many other prophesied events have happened exactly the way Jeremiah said they would?