It’s official. Paraguay has become the sixth country to move its Embassy to Jerusalem. The relocations began with President Trump’s move of the American Embassy to Jerusalem in 2018. The United States was followed by Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, and Papua New Guinea. Now, Paraguay, as the newly elected President Santiago Peña promised in 2023, will move its Embassy back to Jerusalem.
“Today, we close an important chapter here at the Embassy in Herzliya, from where we worked tirelessly for the Paraguay-Israel relationship,” the Paraguay Embassy in Israel announced in a video statement. “But, like every story, it is time to move forward toward a stronger future. This is a historic moment that brings our nations even closer together.”
With President Trump returning to the White House next January, we can safely assume that more countries will follow in relocating their Embassies in recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s rightful capital.
But what does God think about Jerusalem, and does He care what the nations think?
Indeed, He does! In 2 Chronicles 6:5-6, God says, “Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel to build an house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be a ruler over my people Israel: But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel.”
In 2 Chronicles 7:15-6, God says about the temple mount in Jerusalem, “Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.” There is no other place on planet Earth where God makes this declaration. His eyes and His heart are perpetually in Jerusalem.
In Ezekiel 5:5, God further says, “This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.”
There you have it! God considers Jerusalem the eternal capital of Israel, and He has placed it at the center of all the nations.
Yet, there are world leaders who refuse to see it that way. Donald Trump took a lot of flack over his decision to move the US Embassy. When you move the US Embassy to Jerusalem, you are acknowledging the fact that Jerusalem is Israel’s Capital. That recognition is unacceptable to the world—despite what the God of the universe and history declares.
Jerusalem has been Israel’s capital for 3,000 years, dating back to the time of King David. It’s mentioned over 850 times in the Bible. Not once is Jerusalem mentioned in the Quran, and yet most of the nations and their leaders are more sympathetic to the cause of the Palestinians than that of the Jewish people, in whom the history of the city is well documented and speaks for itself.
The nations ought to tremble as they refuse to acknowledge God’s sovereign choice over that special city. Jerusalem is the city where He has placed His name forever, and it is the city that He has given to His chosen people—the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Period.
For that very reason, there is a warning to the nations in Zechariah 12:2-3. In these verses, God says, “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”
There is a showdown on the horizon with the countries that come against God’s chosen people, and it’s not going to fare well for the nations.
It’s a spiritual battle. Satan hates Israel, Jerusalem, and the Jewish people. Why? Because God loves and has made promises to them. If Satan can destroy the Lord’s chosen people and nation, he believes he can render the promises void and make the God of Israel a liar.
This endeavor by Satan to thwart God is an effort to avoid judgment. We know from the Messianic prophecy in Genesis 3:15 that one day, the seed of the woman (Jesus Christ) would crush the head of the serpent. As we read in Ephesians 2:2, Satan is working overtime in the “sons of disobedience” to carry out his dirty work. That is why the majority of the nations refuse to acknowledge Jerusalem as Israel’s eternal capital.
There is coming a time, as we read in Zechariah 12 that God is going to “make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces…” One day, this hatred of the nation’s going to come to a head.
In the New Testament, we read that when Israel’s Messiah, Jesus Christ, returns at His Second Coming, He comes back to rescue the remnant of His people—to save Israel physically and spiritually. Christ will then rule on the throne of His father, David, for one thousand years, and the millennial Temple in Jerusalem will be constructed.
In Matthew 25:31-33, we read, “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.”
This chapter goes on to detail that the “sheep” and “goat” nations are judged based on what they did or didn’t do to the Jewish people. The goats are cast away into eternal darkness, awaiting judgment at the Great White Throne, which occurs following the thousand-year reign of Christ. The sheep, on the other hand, are those that will go into the Millennial Kingdom.
Well done, President Santiago Peña! I believe that you’ve shown the world a picture of what being a Matthew 25 “sheep” looks like.
