Have you ever wondered why all the attention to Israel and Jerusalem? It is difficult to find tiny Israel on a map of the Middle East. It is a sliver of land encompassing 8,522 square miles surrounded by Arab countries with more than 2.4 million square miles. What is so important about this tiny piece of real estate just a little bit bigger than New Jersey?

All diplomatic efforts today seem to focus on Jerusalem, but this is nothing new. After the Romans deported all the Jews from Israel and renamed the country for their enemies, the Philistines (Palestine in Latin), other countries filled the void of extraordinary interest.

In 691 A.D. the Dome of the Rock was completed by the Muslims on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. They considered this real estate important.

About 1099, Godfrey de Bouillon and seven other knights were given the Temple Mount on which to live. They had to be “connected” because you don’t just take over the most valuable real estate in town without a little clout. To this day, descendants of de Bouillon claim the title “King of Jerusalem.”

Much of Masonic ceremony is based on the building of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. Interest in the Jerusalem Temple Mount continued down through the ages.

The Holy Land languished under the Turks from 1517 until the late 19th Century. This was not for lack of effort on the part of the Turks. Great clouds of locusts would eat all the food of the land, and then it did not rain. The Turks gave up trying to colonize what would later become Israel, again. It is reported that it did not rain in the Holy Land until the first Jews began their return to Israel. It is also interesting that the greatest rainfall in Israel was in two historic years; 1948 (Israel became a nation) and 1967 (Jerusalem and the Temple Mount recaptured).

Now, in the 21st Century, the story is still the same. There is exceptional interest in the Temple Mount. The Arabs claim the Temple Mount and they claim that there was never a Temple located there. The United Nations wants Israel to give up East Jerusalem, which includes the Temple Mount, to the Palestinians. What is this all about?

I believe the answer is found in Holy Scripture. Isaiah 14:13-14 records five statements made by Satan. In one of those statements Satan says, “I will also sit on the mount of the congregation,” or the Temple Mount. In this passage Satan declares that he will usurp the position of the Lord. That includes usurping the Temple Mount, the “apple of God’s eye.” (Zechariah 2:8)

In the spiritual realm there is either black or white. There is no gray. Either you serve the Lord, or you serve, consciously or unconsciously, Satan. There are a lot of politicians and Islamic leaders trying to remove the nation Israel from the land of Israel. They cannot be serving the Lord.

I ask you to consider who you serve, consciously or unconsciously. The Lord is in control of Israel and Jerusalem. He has a Plan. He also has a plan for your life. Praise His wonderful name!