1. INTRODUCTION
TOP DIPLOMATS ARE STREAMING TO ISRAEL & THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
BUT DOES IT ?
For the last two years Washington has said any movement towards peace talks depends on the Palestinians electing a new leadership.
Now, with Mr Arafat's death, they can. But that does not necessarily mean there will be movement toward peace talks.
The US and Britain see presidential elections as crucial to bolstering the legitimacy of any post-Arafat leadership,
particularly moderate leaders like PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei.
On Monday, Mr Powell told reporters he had been encouraged by the Palestinian Authority's commitment to reform. He also said
he had got a degree of commitment from Israel to facilitate the election, scheduled for 9 January.
Israeli officials spoke of easing travel restrictions to allow Palestinian candidates and voters freedom of movement.
And they suggested they could come to an arrangement that would allow Palestinians living in occupied East Jerusalem to vote.
Mr Abbas and Mr Qurei welcomed Colin Powell's visit and will of course welcome those who come after him. They know a sound relationship
with the United States is the surest way to influence Israeli policies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and thus build support
in the Palestinian street for their moderate line. So they were happy to see the US Secretary of State once more in Jericho.
They were less happy with the answers he gave them. For example, he did not accede to their central demand that Israel's plan to
withdraw unilaterally from Gaza should be negotiated with the Palestinians as part of the peace plan known as "the roadmap".
NO CEASEFIRE DEAL !
The most Mr Powell and Israeli officials would say is that disengagement could perhaps be co-ordinated with the Palestinians.
However, they stressed there would be no return to the roadmap until the Palestinians had fulfilled their obligations to curb
incitement and halt violence against Israel.
2. JERUSALEM, THE CITY OF THE MOST HIGH
Zechariah 12: 1: 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.
PERSECUTION / DEATH
Zechariah 13: 7: Awake, O sword, against my
shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the
LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered:
and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
3. SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS / THEN REVIVAL
BUT ALAS !
THE BLINDNESS OF ISRAEL
BEWARE YOU GENTILES !
We are told in the New Testament that when the Time
of the Gentiles is passed, ( AND THAT TIME HAS COME ) Israel's
blindness will be removed and the nation will recognize the truth
it had rejected so long, long ago. Read Romans chapter 11 where
these amazing events are foretold !
ISRAEL'S COMING REVIVAL
The Apostle Paul continues:
4. FINAL ATTACK ON JERUSALEM
Genesis 6:8 And I will bring you unto the land,
concerning which I did swear to give to Abraham, to Isaac and
to Jacob and I will give it to you for an heritage: I am
the Lord.
Genesis 35:12: And the land which I gave Abraham
and Isaac, to thee ( ISRAEL ) I will give it, and
to thy seed after thee will I give the land.
Deuteronomy 19:8: And if the LORD thy God enlarge
thy coast, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, and give thee
all the land which he promised to give unto thy fathers.
Believe it or not, the feud between Israel and
its Arab neighbours IS THE OLDEST FEUD in history. It goes
back to the tents of Abraham, to the contempt Hagar the Egyptian
maid had for Abraham's wife Sarah; and to the subsequent hatred
of Ishmael ( Hagar's son ) for Isaac the child of promise.
THAT FEUD IS ABOUT TO BE SETTLED ONCE AND FOR ALL - SOON ! WATCH FOR
THESE EVENTS !
Zechariah 14: 1: Behold, the day of the LORD
cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
Revelation 11:2: But the court which is without
the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given
unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot
forty and two months.
This capture and trampling of Jerusalem for three
and a half years ( 42 months, or 1260 days ) will be the LAST
TIME the holy city will be subjected to Gentile rule. Many a time
has Jerusalem come under Gentile domination. But this will be
the very LAST TIME ! Indeed just when everything looks forever
lost, just when the unbelieving Gentile nations suppose
they have gained a permanent victory over Israel, just when the
mockery of God's people and His TRUTH is at a climax, Yeshua
the Messiah ( Jesus Christ ) will return to LIBERATE Jerusalem !
Zechariah 14: 3: Then shall the LORD go
forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the
day of battle.
5. THE MILLENNIAL RULE
Isaiah 2: 1: The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz
saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
THE SACRED FEASTS OF THE GOD OF ISRAEL
Zechariah 14: 16: And it shall come to pass, THAT
EVERY ONE ( THAT IS LEFT ) OF ALL THE NATIONS which came against Jerusalem
shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD
of hosts, and to KEEP THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.
These include the British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. He follows the American Secretary of State Colin Powell
and the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and will be followed in the coming weeks by foreign ministers from Germany and Spain.
They all insist that the death of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat represents a new beginning for the bloodied Israeli-Palestinian
peace process.
The Bible predicted some 2500 years ago that the
city of Jerusalem would be a 'cup of trembling,'
an 'awkward boulder,' a 'fiery torch' amidst the
nations. Though the name Jerusalem means ' foundation
of peace,' it is currently a city of bloodshed and war.
Only when the Messiah returns will it live up to its name. So
when we 'pray for the peace of Jerusalem' ( Psalm 122: 6 ),
we are, in effect, praying for the Messiah's return. Look up and read that verse of scripture.
2: 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.
3: 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
6: In that day will I make the governors of Judah
like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch
of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round
about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem SHALL
BE INHABITED AGAIN in her OWN PLACE, even in Jerusalem.
The prophecy continues, telling first of the crucifixion
of Israel's Messiah Yeshua ( Jesus ), then the cruel
scattering and persecution of the Jews. Next comes the great
home - coming and restoration of Israel to the Promised
Land. The prophecy then goes on to tell of a national revival
in Israel which is compared to a smith purifying silver
and gold ! When that process is complete,
Israel will call on the Name of the LORD; ( the word
translated LORD is Yahweh, which most Israelis never use,
considering it sacriligeous to utter God's name ). See AVITW article
the Sacred Name.
8: And it shall
come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts
therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left
therein.
9: And I will bring the third part through the fire,
and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as
gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear
them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The
LORD is my God.
The Bible records that when the chosen people of
Israel rejected Yeshua, the Son of God, they called
a terrible curse upon themselves: ' His blood be upon us
and upon our children ' ( Matthew 27: 25 ). A more tragic decision
could hardly have been made by any nation. It opened the floodgates
of woe for Israel. Not many years later the holy city of Jerusalem
was destroyed by the Roman army, the Temple was burned to the
ground and the people of Israel were scattered to the four corners
of the earth. Then followed a period of spiritual blindness
for Israel; during which the Almighty gave the Gentile nations
the opportunity to accept the Everlasting Gospel.
This period is called the Time of the Gentiles.
The Gentile nations proved no better than that of the Jews. If anything,
they were worse. Gentiles nations have also rejected God's Word,
God's law and God's Son; and were the Saviour here on earth today
the Gentiles would be the first to cry ' CRUCIFY HIM ! '
Romans 11: 7: What then? Israel hath not obtained
that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it,
and the rest were blinded
8: ( According as it is written,
God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they
should NOT see, and ears that they should NOT hear; ) unto this
day.
Romans 11: 25: For I would not, brethren, that
ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise
in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel,
UNTIL the fulness of the Gentiles be come in ...
The prophet Zechariah confirms this end-time revival
in Israel when, under inspiration, he writes:
Zechariah 12:10: And I will pour upon the house
of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit
of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom
they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth
for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that
is in bitterness for his firstborn.
Romans 11: 26: And so all Israel shall be saved:
as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer,
and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
27: For this is my
covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
No one need be in any doubt but that Israel's enemies
want to rid the Middle East of all Jews: especially those Israelis
who base their right to the land of Palestine on the oft-repeated
promise God made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And yet, astonishing
as this may sound, according to the Bible the Creator of this
world did give the land of Canaan to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
- and to their descendants - forever ! ! !
2:
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.
4: And his feet shall stand in that day upon the
mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the
mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east
and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and
half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of
it toward the south
5:
And the LORD my God shall come, and ALL
THE SAINTS with thee.
6: And it shall come to pass in that day,
that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7: But it shall be
one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night:
but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8: And it shall be in that day, that LIVING WATERS shall go
out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and
half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall
it be.
9: And the LORD shall be KING over ALL the earth: in
that day shall there be ONE LORD, and HIS NAME ONE !
When the Messiah liberates Jerusalem from Gentile
rule, the 1000 Year Reign of Peace will begin. JERUSALEM
will then become the CAPITAL CITY of the world and from its SACRED
COURTS the LAW of the Most High will go forth to ALL nations. Bear those facts in mind !
2: And it shall come
to pass IN THE LAST DAYS, that the mountain of the LORD's house
shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be
exalted above the hills; and ALL NATIONS shall flow unto it.
3:
And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to
the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and
he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths:
for out of Zion shall go forth the LAW, and the WORD of the LORD
from Jerusalem.
4: And he shall judge among the nations, and
shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into
plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation SHALL
NOT lift up sword against nation, NEITHER SHALL THEY LEARN WAR
ANY MORE.
At long last, man's rebellion will be curtailed and
ALL THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD will celebrate the Almighty's Feast Days - those eternal Memorials of Salvation!
6. SUMMARY
To help you understand what is taking place in
the Middle East I will now briefly summarize:
7. HOW DOES ALL THIS CONCERN US ?
Sermons, even the very best, are pointless if their
lessons cannot be personally applied. What is the personal lesson
in this sermon for all of us? The answer is plain: We must not
fight the God of Israel, HIS WORD, HIS LAW, HIS SON or HIS PEOPLE. Why ?
Because we can never win. Instead, we must repent of our sins,
put our FAITH in the HOLY ONE of Israel, OBEY HIS LAW
and live. That is the ONLY path to eternal life. All other roads lead to eternal death! The choice is yours to make !