Can anyone answer this one? Will the desolation of Israel during the tribulation work in the 7 year tribulation scheme of things?
This Antichrist (a dictator possessed by Satan), not only takes over the Third TEMPLE, and starts beheading anyone who will not worship him as GOD and take his mark, but I think it Clearly indicates he will start what can only be described as WWIII. Combine that with WRATH OF GOD being Poured out on the whole world, and the great earthquakes, bolder size hail stones, and plagues at and around His Second Coming to MAKE WAR on the Nations attacking Jerusalem, it sounds to me, there will be only the 144,000 survive in Israel, especially around Jerusalem. Those 144,000 sealed survivors are the Mortals that will repopulate Israel, so that God's Everlasting Covenant with ISRAEL can continue.
Zechariah 14:1-21 (NIV)
[SUP]
1 [/SUP] A day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided among you.
[SUP]
2 [/SUP] I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.
[SUP]
3 [/SUP] Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle.
[SUP]
4 [/SUP] On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.
[SUP]
5 [/SUP] You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.
[SUP]
6 [/SUP] On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost.
[SUP]
7 [/SUP] It will be a unique day, without daytime or nighttime--a day known to the LORD. When evening comes, there will be light.
[SUP]
8 [/SUP] On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea and half to the western sea, in summer and in winter.
[SUP]
9 [/SUP] The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name.
[SUP]
10 [/SUP] The whole land, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become like the Arabah. But Jerusalem will be raised up and remain in its place, from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses.
[SUP]
11 [/SUP] It will be inhabited; never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure.
[SUP]
12 [/SUP] This is the plague with which the LORD will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
[SUP]
13 [/SUP] On that day men will be stricken by the LORD with great panic. Each man will seize the hand of another, and they will attack each other.
[SUP]
14 [/SUP] Judah too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected--great quantities of gold and silver and clothing.
[SUP]
15 [/SUP] A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.
[SUP]
16 [/SUP] Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
[SUP]
17 [/SUP] If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain.
[SUP]
18 [/SUP] If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The LORD will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
[SUP]
19 [/SUP] This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
[SUP]
20 [/SUP] On that day HOLY TO THE LORD will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in the LORD's house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar.
[SUP]
21 [/SUP] Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the LORD Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD Almighty.
Add all that to everything it says will happen in Revelation, especially Chapter 19, (HIS SECOND COMING), I think it is very reasonable, to say Jerusalem and all the surrounding area will be a wasteland covered with bodies, and only the 144,000 Jewish mortals who were sealed, will survive in that area.
Psalm 79:1-9 (NIV)
[SUP]
1 [/SUP] O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.
[SUP]
2 [/SUP] They have given the dead bodies of your servants as food to the birds of the air, the flesh of your saints to the beasts of the earth.
[SUP]
3 [/SUP] They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead.
[SUP]
4 [/SUP] We are objects of reproach to our neighbors, of scorn and derision to those around us.
[SUP]
5 [/SUP] How long, O LORD? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire?
[SUP]
6 [/SUP] Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not call on your name;
[SUP]
7 [/SUP] for they have devoured Jacob and destroyed his homeland.
[SUP]
8 [/SUP] Do not hold against us the sins of the fathers; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need.
[SUP]
9 [/SUP] Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name's sake.
Jeremiah 7:32-34 (NIV)
[SUP]
32 [/SUP] So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.
[SUP]
33 [/SUP] Then the carcasses of this people will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away.
[SUP]
34 [/SUP] I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the land will become desolate.