May Day protests across Europe and Asia turn into anti-American, anti-Israel political battlegrounds
May Day demonstrations across Europe and Asia transformed into coordinated anti-Israel and anti-American rallies, reflecting Scripture's warning that the nations will gather in increasing hostility against Jerusalem and her allies in the last days.
Zechariah 12:2-3
Prophetic Fulfillment“Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it.”
Why this passage
Zechariah 12 addresses the eschatological gathering of the nations against Jerusalem, using the image of a 'cup of staggering' — a vessel that intoxicates and destabilizes all who drink from it. The original near horizon concerned the Persian-era threats surrounding Judah, but the explicit universalism ('all the nations of the earth') points the prophecy's far horizon toward a global alignment of hostility.
The plain grammatical sense is that Jerusalem will become an irresistible and yet destructive obsession for the world's peoples — they cannot leave her alone, and their engagement brings harm to themselves. The prophecy is not exhausted by any single historical event, but rather describes a pattern intensifying toward a climax.
The prophet Zechariah declared that Jerusalem would become 'a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples' — and today that cup is pressed to the lips of nations on every continent. What the prophet saw as a future certainty, the evening news now renders visible: the world's peoples, under any banner or pretext, find their rage converging on one city and one people.
Behold, the nations do not assemble in a vacuum. Scripture declares this gathering is known to God, and it does not catch Him by surprise.
The believer's task is not to fear the crowd, but to stand firm in the knowledge that the Lord 'who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep' (Psalm 121:4).
Today's Prayer
Pray that believers witnessing the nations' rising hostility toward Israel would stand rooted in God's Word, neither swept into hatred nor into silence, but bearing faithful witness to the God who keeps covenant with His people.
Further Scripture
Additional passages that illuminate this event, each grounded in a distinct interpretive lens.
“I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered my people among the nations and have divided up my land.”
Why this passage
Joel 3 presents God as the sovereign who ultimately orchestrates the nations' gathering — they come against Israel, but they come into His courtroom. The Valley of Jehoshaphat ('the LORD judges') is a theological location as much as a geographic one.
The original context addressed the nations that had oppressed Judah through exile and land-seizure.
The far horizon of Joel 3 is a universal judgment in which God vindicates His people before the nations that have treated Israel as a pawn and her land as negotiable territory. The divine perspective inverts the human optics entirely: what looks like Israel standing alone against the world is actually the nations walking into divine judgment.
How it applies
Streets from Istanbul to Jakarta filling with crowds demanding the dismemberment of Israeli sovereignty echo the very indictment Joel records — peoples who regard Israel's existence and land as illegitimate. The theological irony Scripture names is that these gatherings, however vast, do not intimidate the LORD who calls Himself Israel's advocate.
The believer watching these protests sees not a geopolitical crisis without resolution, but the stage-setting of Joel's courtroom.
“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed.”
Why this passage
Psalm 2 opens with a question that doubles as an indictment: the nations' rage is real but ultimately purposeless — 'in vain.' The psalm's original setting is the LORD's anointed king on Zion facing international opposition, but the NT (Acts 4:25-28) establishes an inspired broader application: this pattern of nations raging against God's purposes and people recurs across history and finds its ultimate expression in the last days.
The plain grammatical sense is that organized international opposition to God's covenant purposes is a recurring feature of human history, never catching God off-guard.
How it applies
Mass coordinated protests across multiple continents on a single day, all converging on hostility toward Israel and her chief ally, are a contemporary expression of the 'raging' and 'plotting' Psalm 2 names. The Word does not merely predict this pattern; it pre-interprets it — labeling it 'vain' before it achieves its aims.
For the disciple watching the images from Istanbul, Manila, and Athens, Psalm 2 is a pastoral word: this fury is real, but it is bounded.
Related by Scripture
Other events we've interpreted through the same passage or hermeneutical lens.
Saudi Arabia launched numerous covert attacks on Iran as war expands, sources say
Wars & Rumors of WarsShares Psalm 2:1-2Beijing calls Paraguay leaders willing ‘chess pieces’ after disputed Taiwan trip
Wars & Rumors of WarsShares Psalm 2:1-2Why is Iran increasingly targeting the UAE in its war messaging?
Wars & Rumors of WarsShares Psalm 2:1-2Putin hails Russia’s test of new nuclear-capable ICBM, calls it world’s most powerful
Wars & Rumors of WarsShares Psalm 2:1-2War in Iran: Despite Iranian attacks, Doha steps up mediation efforts
Wars & Rumors of WarsShares Psalm 2:1-2
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Source: foxnews— we link to the original for full context.