Jerusalem means “city of peace.” In reality, this city drips with blood. Replete with axe murders, rampaging bulldozers, shootings, beatings, violent protests and the constant threat of terrorist attacks, Jerusalem is more a crucible of death than a sanctuary of peace.

If it were any other city, such woes might be overlooked, particularly amid the thunder of global crises and personal tribulation. But this is Jerusalem!

Passages in both the Old and New Testament show that Jerusalem is the center around which world events orbit in the months and days leading up to the return of Jesus Christ. To those who understand this prophetic reality, Jerusalem is more than just another city blistered by chaos: It’s a thermometer for measuring—and anticipating—end-time events.

Zechariah 14:1-2 is a seminal passage outlining the events in Jerusalem immediately preceding Jesus’s return:

Behold, the day of the Lord cometh …. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

In this vision, Zechariah explains that immediately prior to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the entire city of Jerusalem “shall be taken” by a conquering force—which other scriptures reveal to be a German-led European empire.

But notice: The event that causes the whole of Jerusalem to be overrun by European armies is a violent conflict inside Jerusalem that ends in “half of the city [going] forth into captivity.” First, half of Jerusalem is taken, then the whole city is conquered. This prophecy indicates that a Hamas-dominated Palestinian insurgence, backed by Iran, will take half the city of Jerusalem captive. If you haven’t already, study this prophecy in detail by reading Jerusalem in Prophecy, specifically Chapter 3.

“When half of Jerusalem falls,” editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in March 2006, “it starts a chain reaction of events—an avalanche of crises—that leads directly to Christ’s Second Coming!” This is why—even during economic, political, social and even personal calamity—we must not take our eyes off Jerusalem.

Events in that city are the thermometer that measures how close we are to the most awesome event in human history: the Second Coming of Jesus Christ!

Tension between Palestinians and Jews have increased substantially amid the current “Arab Spring.” Courcy’s Intelligence Brief suggests that Islamist leaders are purposefully striving to turn the revolutionary energies sweeping the region into a weapon against the Jewish state. “There is evidence that Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood are working together to refocus the energy of the Arab Spring onto Israel and the Palestinian question and away from the purely domestic issues that were the initial inspiration,” it says.

The cause for Palestinian statehood also has momentum, thanks to increasing direct and indirect support from the international community—most notably from the American administration of Barack Obama. International support for the declaration of a Palestinian state, perhaps as early as next month, is building. The hope that Palestinian statehood will lead to peace between Israel and the Palestinians is both naive and dangerous. In the end, it is more likely to result in further conflict.

In the unlikely event that Israel accepts a Palestinian state according to 1967 borders, conflict will be inevitable. If East Jerusalem and the West Bank are allowed to fall under the sole control of the Palestinians, another Gaza will be created in an instant, this one on the doorstep of Jerusalem. Embedded in the hills of Judea and Samaria, Iran’s radical Islamic proxies would have the tactical advantage and be able to conduct violent attacks on Jewish towns and cities throughout the West Bank. Moreover, Jerusalem would be under constant threat.

On the other hand, if Israel bucks international opinion and rejects the declaration of a Palestinian state, the Palestinians, especially Hamas, will likely resort to pursuing statehood through violence. Should this occur, blame for the violence will be pinned squarely on Israel (because it rejected the “peace overtures”), and Israel would be further ostracized by the international community.

Jerusalem’s cobbled streets are rumbling, tension is mounting, war is brewing. This is sobering. But it is also incredibly exciting.

It wasn’t long ago that those who believed in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ were ridiculed as wacky conspiracy theorists. Today, world conditions are so extreme and foreboding, even some in the mainstream are beginning to wonder—quietly, secretly—if Christ’s return might be imminent after all. If you asked about the possibility of Christ’s return 20, 10, even 5 years ago, you would probably have been ridiculed or ignored. Not today! World conditions are now so dire that popular newsmagazines are willing to investigate that question. For many, it’s not so crazy to wonder, Is Jesus Christ about to return?

The answer to that question is revealed by events currently unfolding in Jerusalem!

The Bible says that when Christ returns to this Earth, He will return to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:4). Logically, Jesus’s focus right now is on ensuring Jerusalem, His landing pad, is ready for His return. In a spectacular way, conditions in Jerusalem today—politically, demographically, economically, even archeologically—are aligning exactly as Christ described in the Bible 2,000 years ago!

We need to watch Jerusalem, this remarkable thermometer of end-time events, more closely than ever. Even now, events in that city indicate that the Messiah’s return is imminent, and that the time rapidly approaches when He will transform Jerusalem into exactly what its name means: a city of PEACE!