Christians, the only true worshipers of God today, are identified by the Apostle Paul as the true seed of Abraham. For instance, Paul pens these divinely inspired words in his epistle to the Galatians: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Furthermore, Paul identifies the true Jew as the spiritual descendants of Abraham, not as the physical descendants of Abraham (Romans 2:28-29). According to Paul, the true Jew is marked by an inward circumcision of the heart, not by any outward circumcision.

Along with Paul’s identifying of Christians as the true seed of Abraham and the true Jews in the world today, the Apostle Peter identifies today’s Christians as God’s priests. In 1 Peter 2:9, Peter writes, “But ye are a chosen  generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” Just as the Levitical priesthood alone was allowed into the temple’s inner court to minister before the Lord in the Old Testament, it is only the “royal priesthood” (believers) who are allowed into the inner court of today’s temple (the church) to minister before the Lord.

Peter’s analogy of Christians as priests was not lost on the Apostle John, who repeatedly makes reference to it in the book of Revelation (Revelation 1:6; 5:10; 20:6). In light of this analogy, John’s prediction in Revelation 11:2 of the “holy city” being tread under foot of the “Gentiles” is an obvious reference to the church being ultimately overrun by unbelievers. Just as the New Testament refers to Christians as “Jews,” it refers to non-Christians as “Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 5:1; 12:21; 1 Thessalonians 4:4-5; 1 Peter 2:12; 3 John 5-8). Also, the “holy city” of which John speaks in Revelation 11:2 is clearly identified elsewhere in the book of Revelation as the church—the “new” and “holy Jerusalem,” as well as “the bride” and “the Lamb’s wife” (Revelation 21:1-2, 9-10).

Despite the fact that John is obviously predicting that those in the inner court, the true priests of God who alone are allowed to minister before the Lord, will eventually be outnumbered in the church by those in the outer court, those who merely profess Christ without possessing Him, many today still insist upon interpreting the “holy city” as the earthly city of Jerusalem and John’s prediction as a trampling of it under the feet of those  who are not Jewish. Apparently, those who hold to such a interpretation are unaware of the fact that Jerusalem has been “tread under foot” by Gentile peoples from the  time of the Roman conquest until our present-day.

Since the time of Christ, the earthly city of Jerusalem has been ruled by the Romans, Persians, Arabs, Crusaders, Turks and British. In 1949, the year after the reestablishment of the nation of Israel, Jerusalem was divided into an eastern section under Jordanian control  and a western section under Israeli control. Even though the eastern section was captured from Jordan by Israeli forces during the Six-Day War in 1967 and the whole city of Jerusalem subsequently declared to be Israel’s capital by the Jewish Knesset in 1980, the Knesset’s declaration was immediately declared “null and void” by United  Nations Security Council Resolution 478. Ever since, Israel’s claim to the whole city of Jerusalem has sparked worldwide dispute and served as the main sticking point in Israeli/Palestinian peace negotiations.

Today, Muslims, not Jews, make up the majority of East Jerusalem residents. Also, parts of East Jerusalem (the  Old City) are still under Muslim control; such as the Jewish Temple Mount, which is home to the third holiest site in all of Islam, the Mosque of Omar or, as it is better known, the Dome of the Rock.

When you add to all of this the cooling of U.S. and Israeli relations over every new building of apartment complexes in Jerusalem, you begin to clearly see just how  tedious and limited a say the Jewish people really have over their own capital. What other country in the world can be taken to the woodshed by another government for constructing apartment buildings in their capital city? Truly, only Israel, whose capital city is still being tread under foot by Gentile peoples, just as it always has since the days of Christ.

As we’ve already pointed out in a previous issue of Piecing Together Bible Prophecy, the best commentary on the Bible is the Bible. When we use the Bible to explain the Bible, it becomes clear that the church is the “holy city” John is speaking about in Revelation 11:2, not the earthly city of Jerusalem, and it is unbelievers John is referring to as “Gentiles” who will “tread” the church “under foot” in the last days. This prediction is materializing before our very eyes today as we witness the contemporary church slipping more and more into compromise and apostasy.

TO SUBSCRIBE TO THIS PUBLICATION SEND YOUR NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS TO: don@timefortruth.org