Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told CNN Türk that Israel has become “a problem for the entire international community” and that “Israeli authorities have become a burden humanity can no longer bear” (“Turkish FN Fidan,” World Israel News, July 3, 2026). He is unwittingly citing Scripture. The prophet Zechariah said:
“The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. 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” (Zec. 12:1-3).
This is a reference to Armageddon when the foolish nations will besiege Jerusalem during the coming day of the Lord. Jerusalem will be a stone that is too heavy to lift and too strong to break. This is exactly what we see in the last 2,000 years of history. It is as if Jerusalem were a massive stone in a field that someone wants to remove, but no matter how much they labor, they cannot remove it, and they become drunk with a fervor to solve this unsolvable problem. Both the city (Jerusalem) and the field (the land of Israel) are God’s, and those who are wise will leave them alone. Jerusalem is mentioned 814 times in Scripture. In addition, it is called Zion 153 times. Jerusalem was chosen by God that His name might be there (2 Ch. 8:6). This is not said of any other city on earth. God calls Jerusalem “my city” (Isa. 45:13). God loves Jerusalem (Ps. 78:68; 87:2) and has stated that He will dwell in Jerusalem forever (Ps. 132:13-14). God delivered Jerusalem to Israel by the hands of David in about 1050 BC (1 Ch. 11:4-9) and it was Israel’s capital city until the Babylonian Captivity. Since then Israel has been under “the times of the Gentiles” and has largely been under Gentile control, but Jerusalem still belongs to God and will be the capital of the Messianic kingdom. (See Ps. 2:6; 48:1-2; 68:35; 87:5-7; 102:16, 21; 110:2; 132:11-18; Isa. 2:1-4; 4:3-5; 12:4-6; 24:23; 27:13; 30:19; 33:5, 20; 35:10; 40:2, 9; 41:27; 44:26; 46:13; 51:3, 11, 17; 52:1-2, 9; 59:20; 60:14; 61:3; 65:18-19; 66:10, 13, 20; Jer. 3:17; 17:25-26; 30:17; 31:12; 32:44; 33:10, 13, 16; 50:28; Joel 3:1, 16-17, 20; Ob. 1:17; Mic. 4:2, 7, 8; Zep. 3:14-17; Zec. 2:4, 10, 12; 8:3-4, 8; 8:22; 9:10; 12:6-11; 14:8-11, 14, 16-17, 21; Mal. 3:4.) Throughout the times of the Gentiles, Jerusalem has been a cup of trembling and a burdensome stone for many people. The city has been captured and recaptured more than 40 times. Jerusalem was a cup of trembling to the Babylonians, to the Greek Seleucid Empire of Syria, to the Romans, to the Catholic Crusaders, to the Muslims, and to the British. The latter seemed to be drunken with the desire to solve the Jerusalem problem, but the great world empire builders had zero success and finally gave up in disgust and left. Jerusalem has been a cup of trembling to American presidents who have tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully to solve “the Middle East problem.” Jerusalem is a cup of trembling to Hamas, Hezbollah, the Palestinian Authority, the PLO, and Iran. Jerusalem will be a cup of trembling at Armageddon.
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