All roads lead to Jerusalem: The heavy stone, Islam, and the Church

“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.” 
Zechariah 12:2

There is a phrase coined in medieval times that says, “All roads lead to Rome.” The idiom’s origins can be traced back to the Roman Empire, when all roads radiated out from the capital city, Rome. But the epicentre of God’s sovereign plan on earth is not Rome, but Jerusalem. When we consider God’s glorious plans for the Jewish people, Jerusalem is at the centre. When we think about God’s promises to us as Christians, Jerusalem is the centre. When we get to the root of the hatred for Israel as a nation, Jerusalem is at the centre.

The Bible says that Jerusalem will be a very heavy stone for all people. For the enemies of Israel, the stone is a massive stumbling block, and antisemites want to heave it out of the way. When the Hamas-sympathising mobs chant, “From the river to the sea,” they are unashamedly advocating for Israel’s destruction, whilst ironically holding up “end genocide” placards. Their slanders may have evolved over time, but the anger over Israel’s ownership of Jerusalem is as old as Jerusalem itself.

Yet, history has proved that every tribe and empire that has tried to rid Jerusalem of Jews has been cut off. There is a reason all roads no longer lead to Rome. Whoever has touched the apple of God’s eye has suffered the consequences.

Attempts to remove Jerusalem come with this severe punishment from God. But note another important observation in Zechariah 12:2. God says that “I” will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples. It does not say that people will make it one. We can deduct from this, that it is God’s will for Jerusalem to be an unmoveable stone. It is a ‘problem’ to the nations, because God has not removed His covenanted blessing on the city that He has chosen. He has placed upon Jerusalem a mandate that is unchanging. He has grounded Jerusalem as an integral part of the promises to the nation of Israel. He has made it heavy for a reason. For some it is liberating that such promises are so well established, but for others it is a sorrowful weight.

‘Political correctness’ says that the answer to issues in the Middle East is to make Jerusalem less of a heavy stone. Politicians conclude that compromise is the way forward and carving the heavy stone into two is the solution. Others conclude that shifting the ‘problem’ of Jerusalem would alleviate tensions. But Christians should be supporting the notion of Jerusalem’s heaviness. We should be endorsing the world’s perception that Jerusalem is a ‘heavy stone’, and, by our speaking Biblical truth, make Jerusalem heavier to Israel’s enemies. In other words, if we can be candid, let us rejoice that Jerusalem is a heavy stone – it is the will of God.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby at the Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

This is the heavy stone that the Palestinians are trying to move. For many years, the United Nations has furthered this aim by passing resolutions concerning Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem and by repeatedly naming the Jewish holy sites by their Arabic names instead of Hebrew. In September 2024, the UN went one step further. For the first time ever, ‘Palestine’ was seated among UN member states at the General Assembly in New York. Unsurprisingly, the very first resolution they put to the Assembly demanded that Israel ends “its unlawful presence” in the so-called “Occupied Palestinian Territory” within a year. The resolution, which was non-binding, passed with 124 member states in favour, 14 against and 43 abstentions, of which the UK was one. The Palestinian urgent demand for Israel to be kicked out in one year is strangely similar to Welby’s demand for a rapid response also.

Remember, Jerusalem is a heavy stone because it is God’s will. The Church should be a voice that warns those who might seek to heave it away. Justin Welby was forced to resign on 12th November 2024 over an unrelated matter, but many will rightly question whether his downfall was linked to his position on Israel. We must pray for the next Archbishop, that he will not hold his predecessor’s unbiblical views, but instead desire to bless Israel for the sake of the Church in Britain, for the sake of our nation, and for the sake of Zion. As Christians who love Israel, we all have a role in making this truth known.

Cup of drunkenness

While Jerusalem will be a heavy stone for all peoples, Zechariah 12 also describes Jerusalem as being a “cup of drunkenness” to all surrounding peoples. Drunkenness is only experienced by those that partake of the cup. In this verse, it is specifically the nations surrounding Jerusalem that consume, and suffer symptoms of intoxication, because of Jerusalem. Irrationality turns to rage and still they are not content without consuming more. In contrast, those who are sober-minded (1 Peter 5:8) remain vigilant, recognising that it is Satan himself that is exploiting the feelings and actions of those who have become drunk over Jerusalem. 

It is no coincidence that all of Israel’s surrounding enemies have the taste of Jerusalem in their mouths. They have become aggressively obsessed with the Jewish presence in Jerusalem and yet have become victims of their self-made misery. Jerusalem is at the very centre of their doctrine and worldview. They use terms like ‘liberation’, but what they really mean is the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Jerusalem and Muslim conquest. Let’s look at a few examples of what Israel’s enemies have said about Jerusalem and the common denominator behind their existence.

Hamas

On the day of Hamas’s massacre of Israelis on 7th October 2023, the terror group’s then-leader, Ismail Haniyeh, gave a speech in which he cited Jerusalem as part of Hamas’s goal. (Note: Al-Quds is the Arabic word used to refer to Jerusalem in Islam).

“Today, the enemy has had a political, military, intelligence, security, and moral defeat inflicted upon it, and we shall crown it, with the grace of Allah, with a crushing defeat that will expel it from our lands, our holy city of al Quds, our Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the release of our prisoners from the jails of the Zionist occupation. Operation ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ was launched from Gaza, but it will extend to the West Bank, to Al-Quds and to our people within the territories occupied in 1948, as well as to the Resistance and the Palestinian people abroad.” – Ismail Haniyeh

Haniyeh was killed by assassination during a visit to Iran nine months later.

Iran

The Iranian regime has made it very clear that one of its main goals is the Muslim takeover of Jerusalem. The founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Imam Khomeini, once said, “It is the duty of all Muslims to liberate the Quds and remove this nucleus of evil from Islamic lands.”

In 1979, Khomeini created ‘Al-Quds Day,’ which is celebrated on the last Friday of Ramadan. In his speech, Khomeini invited Muslim governments and Muslims worldwide to unite in solidarity against Israel and “join together to sever the hand of this usurper and its supporters,” stating that the “liberation” of Jerusalem and victory of the Muslims over the “infidels” was a religious duty to all Muslims. Today, Al-Quds Day is celebrated by Iran and throughout the region, including by Hezbollah in Lebanon and other areas with Shia Muslim populations. Tehran holds a large procession, parading its military arsenal including rockets inscribed with “death to Israel” and displays posters of Jerusalem being conquered. The hateful rhetoric of Al-Quds events organised by the regime in Iran also includes calls for “Death to America” and “Death to Britain.” Incredibly, each year Al-Quds Day is also celebrated on the streets of London and other Western cities, usually in organised street demos on the last Sunday of Ramadan.

Meanwhile, the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is still not banned in Britain, has an elite wing called the Quds Force, which is responsible primarily for the regime’s foreign operations. There are no prizes for guessing what their goal is.

Hezbollah

The leader of Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, Hassan Nasrallah, repeatedly spoke of Hezbollah’s goal to “liberate” Jerusalem. He was killed by an Israeli airstrike on 27th September 2024. Every Hezbollah terrorist who is killed fighting Israel is honoured with the title, “Martyr on the Road to Jerusalem.” Nasrallah himself was posthumously called the ‘Master of Resistance’ by allied terror groups, with Hamas stating: “The blood of the martyr leader Hassan Nasrallah mixes with the blood of martyrs of the nation in the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood on the path to liberating Al-Quds and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

Fatah

Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades has strong links with Fatah, the governing party of the Palestinian Authority, with many of Fatah’s leaders associated with the terror network, which is why it has often been described as Fatah’s military wing. It operates mainly in the West Bank. In a condolences statement sent to Hezbollah over the death of Hasssan Nasrallah, the terror group placed Jerusalem as central to its purpose, saying Nasrallah had offered his life “in sacrifice for Al-Aqsa, his blood mixing with the blood of the martyrs of Palestine and its glorious leaders, in the greatest image of unity, solidarity, and brotherhood in arms on the path to liberating Al-Quds.”

Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)

PIJ is one of the main terror groups in Gaza, second to Hamas. The rocket-firing terror group has an Al-Quds Brigade – again with the ambition to conquer Jerusalem.

“We will remain loyal to Al-Quds, to Palestine, to the blood of our struggling Palestinian people and to all the great martyrs who walk the path to Al-Quds. Indeed, it is a jihad of victory or martyrdom.” (Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), 28 September 2024)

Turkey

We could continue to list other Middle Eastern terror groups that want to ethnically cleanse Jerusalem, but we must also take note of other major states. In 2020, Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared that Jerusalem is Turkish. Erdogan is staking a claim to custodianship of the Temple Mount with the Al-Aqsa Mosque. It forms part of his ideological ambition to revitalise an Ottoman-inspired nationalism to rival Saudi’s growing prominence in overseeing custodianship of Islam’s holiest sites. In July 2024, Erdogan made a veiled threat to invade Israel: “Just like we entered Karabakh, just like we entered Libya, we might do similar to them.” In November 2024, Hamas relocated its headquarters from Qatar to Turkey with the approval of Erdogan.

Islam

One must acknowledge that Islamic teaching itself contributes significantly to the Muslim view of Jerusalem.

There are religious factors through which Muslims consider Jerusalem important, such as a hadith that says that a prayer made at Al-Aqsa Mosque (on the Temple Mount) is worth 500 times more reward than anywhere else (or 250 according to another hadith). Some Muslims say it was the first place that Muslims prayed towards before Mecca. Muslims believe that Mohammed was supernaturally transported in the night to Jerusalem and from there he ascended to paradise. There is also an eschatology in Islam that portrays Jerusalem as being integral to the last days, with the return of Isa (a Muslim version of Jesus), who will destroy all crosses and convert Christians to Islam.

These examples might explain Islam’s alleged links to Jerusalem, but to understand the motivation behind a ‘liberation’ of Jerusalem, we must look deeper. In fact, it can be explained by Islam’s very own version of ‘replacement theology’, which is ironic because it is replacement theology in Christianity that also undermines the Jewish connection to Jerusalem.

IslamQA, an English-language resource supervised by Palestinian-Saudi scholar Shaykh Muhammad Saalih al-Munajjid, states:

“The Jews do not have any stake in al-Quds, because even though they may have lived in the land previously, that land now belongs to the Muslims from two points of view:

1. The Jews disbelieved and are no longer following the religion of the believers among the Children of Israel who followed and supported Moosa [Moses] and ‘Eesaa [Isa], peace be upon them.

2. We Muslims have more right to it than them, because land does not belong to the people who lived there first, but to those who establish the laws of Allaah [Allah] therein.”

…Hence if some Arabs came who were not followers of Islam and they ruled the land with kufr [unbelief], they would have to be fought until they submitted to the rule of Islam or were killed… Hence it is clear that the Jews have no right to the land, whether according to religious law or in terms of who lived there first and possessed the land. They are aggressors who are seizing the land by force. We ask Allaah [Allah] to rid Bayt al-Maqdis [Jerusalem] of them sooner rather than later.”

Jerusalem, chosen by God

Our response as to why Jerusalem belongs to the Jews must be founded on the Word of God.

Jerusalem was chosen by the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as the epicentre of His plans and purposes on earth. In 2 Kings 21:7 we read, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever.”

Jerusalem is the capital for the Jewish people by means of an everlasting covenant. Jerusalem is a holy city for the Jewish people because it is the place God has chosen to reside. As Psalm 135:21 says, “Blessed be the LORD out of Zion, who dwells in Jerusalem!”

Jerusalem is a city of Israel’s kings, it is the place that God chose to set up David’s throne. It is the capital city of Israel, yesterday, today and forever: “And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.” (2 Samuel 7:16)

Jerusalem is a place that God loves. Psalm 87:2 says, “The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.”

Jerusalem is also important to Christians. It is the city where Jesus died, rose again, ascended into heaven, and to which He will one day return.

All roads lead to Jerusalem. For some, it is a heavy stone that leads to their demise, for others it is a cup of drunkenness that results in foolishness, but for those who believe in the Bible, Jerusalem is a place of hope and glory.