Land of Israel​
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What will happen in the land of Israel before Turkey relocates its government on its soil? This is a question this study seeks to answer.
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Jerusalem
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"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate." {Matthew 23:37-38}
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The first Jerusalem mentioned in the above verse refers to the physical Jerusalem in the land of Israel. The second Jerusalem refers to the whole world. "Christ saw in Jerusalem a symbol of the world, hardened in unbelief and rebellion, and hastening on to meet the retributive judgments of God." {Great Controversy 22}
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In other words, the retributive judgments of God that will take place in the land of Israel will precede the retributive judgments of God that will come upon the whole world.
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To the Jews first, and also to the World
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Here are the retributive judgments of God that have and will continue to take place in the land of Israel:
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"Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out." {Isaiah 51:17}
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When Jerusalem has drunken the dregs of the cup of God's fury, then the world shall drink from the same cup of trembling:
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"Thus saith thy Lord the Lord, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again. But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over." {Isaiah 51:22-23}
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The drinking of the cup
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In the year A.D. 70, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman army, and for centuries, the Jewish people suffered severe persecutions at the hands of various nations, such as the Nazi Germany. All that are just various drafts from the cup of wrath until that cup is drain to its dregs.​
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"Looking down the ages, He saw the covenant people scattered in every land, “like wrecks on a desert shore.” In the temporal retribution about to fall upon her children, He saw but the first draft from that cup of wrath which at the final judgment she must drain to its dregs." {Great Controversy 21}
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The prophecy of the sword
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"And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the *1 land of Israel, And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth *2 my sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from thee *3 the righteous and the wicked. Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north: That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath: *4 it shall not return any more. Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes. And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings; because it cometh: and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord GOD." {Ezekiel 21:1-7}
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1. 'land of Israel' - Land of Israel, currently occupied by the State of Israel.
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2. 'my sword' - The sword used by God to send retributive judgment in the land of Israel is a symbol of the wicked. For it is written: "the wicked, which is thy sword" {Psalm 17:13} and "He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them." {Psalm 78:49}. In other words, this sword will be given into the hand of the slayer (see Ezekiel 21:11) thus it becomes the sword of the king of Babylon. (see Ezekiel 21:19) This wicked slayer who is the king of Babylon represents Satan, the chief of evil angels (see Isaiah 14:5,12).
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3. 'the righteous and the wicked' - In the final judgment of the covenant people, both righteous and wicked shall perish. Just as Jonathan (righteous) and Saul (wicked) perished at the hand of the Philistines, the nation of Israel shall perish at the hands of nations that surround them.
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4. 'it shall not return any more' - After the final judgment of the covenant people, the same sword shall be turned towards the world. The most notable example is Turkey, which will come to its end in the land of Israel.
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Why this destruction?
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“Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.” {John 5:40}