1. INTRODUCTION
The tiny nation of Israel, reborn on Friday 14th May 1948, is ofmighty significance in this troubled world. The speed at which modernIsrael came into being is spectacular to say the least.
| Isaiah 66: | 8: "Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shallthe earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be bornat once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth herchildren." |
Why does this tiny nation exert so great an influence on mankind?The answer is: because YAHWEH, the Almighty God of Abraham, Isaacand Jacob is with Israel. Through Israel came His prophets.Through Israel came His law. Through Israel came the Holy Bible, and,most importantly, through Israel came YESHUA ( Jesus ) the King ofIsrael, the only begotten Son of God. Yes, the Almighty God iswith Israel and that is why this tiny nation is so important. To besure other nations and individuals count in God's sight; but only asthey consciously or unconsciously relate to His Son Jesus, His HolyWord the Bible, His Law and His People Israel. Let us now considersome little known facts about this amazing - almost incredible -nation.
2. ISRAEL, YAHWEH'S CHOSEN PEOPLE
To begin with, no matter what the majority of mankind or even theChristian church may believe, say or do, the fact is - Israel isthe one and only nation chosen of God! Not chosen because she isintrinsically better than other nations, but because of Yahweh'spromise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Not surprisingly, the Almighty iskeeping His promise to Israel's ancestors; a promise He sealed with anoath.
| Hebrews 6: | 13: "For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swearby no greater, he swore by himself." |
Here is what Scripture says about Israel being the Chosen Nation.
| Deuteronomy 7: | 6: "For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God; the Lordthy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, aboveall people that are upon the face of the earth. 7:The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people. But because the Lord loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers ..." |
| Deuteronomy 10: | 15: "... The Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and Hechose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is thisday." |
| Deuteronomy 14: | 2: "For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and theLord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto Himself, above allthe nations that are upon the earth." |
| Isaiah 41: | 8: "But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen,the seed of Abraham my friend. 9: Thou whom I have taken from theends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, andsaid unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, andnot cast thee away." |
| 2 Chronicles 20: | 7: "Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants ofthis land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed ofAbraham thy friend for ever?" |
3. ANTI-SEMITISM
Because Israel is the Chosen of God, she became - and still is- the focus of Satanic attack. Anti-Semitism began centuries beforethe days of Hitler's Germany and can be traced back to the 3rdmillennium BC. Believe it or not the Christian church is just asguilty of anti-Semitism as any other religious or political body.Consider these amazing statements about Israel.
"In the rivalry between religions, no other religion in theworld makes the accusation that Christianity makes against the Jews,that they are literally murderers of God ... to be a murderer of Godmeans to be the opponent of anything decent, anything humane, anythingmoral, anything ethical." ( quoted, but not agreed, by RichardRubenstein, Professor of Religion, Florida University )
Here is another quote about Israel:
"A theology was developed claiming that Christians were the trueIsrael, God's chosen people. God had cast aside the Jews. He had sentthem His only son and they had rejected him. God's chosen people hadbetrayed Him and had become the false Israel, the Devil'sIsrael. The Christians were now God's chosen people. The Jews hadforfeited everything, including their own past, Abraham, Moses andall." ( The Longest Hatred, A study guide to Thames TelevisionSeries on Anti-Semitism, page 5 )
In a leaflet entitled The Jews and their Lies, published in1543, Martin Luther wrote
"Their ( the Jews' ) synagogues are pigsties, they ought to beburned ... they live by evil and plunder, they are wicked beasts thatought to be driven out like mad dogs ... May ( we ) all be free ofthis insufferable, devilish burden - the Jews."
Over two thousand five hundred years ago the same hatred againstthe Jew was voiced; this time because Israel clung to the law of herGod. Listen to these words spoken by the enemies of the Jews to kingAhasuerus.
| Ezra 4: | 12: "Be it known unto the king, that the Jews which came up fromthee to us are come unto Jerusalem, building the rebellious and thebad city ... 13: Be it known now unto the king, that if this city bebuilded, and the walls set up again, then will they not pay toll,tribute and custom; and so thou shalt endamage the revenue of theking." |
In our generation we can plainly see Arab/Muslim hatred of Israel. Thefollowing five quotations, taken from pages 201-202 of RamonBennet's masterful book When Day and Night Cease, willprove the point - if proof is needed - that anti-Semitism is very muchalive in our day.
| Psalm 83: | 4: "They have said, 'Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.'" |
Quotations from more recent times are as follows:
| Exodus 3: | 10: "Come now therefore, and I will send thee ( Moses ) unto Pharaoh,that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israelout of Egypt." |
| Exodus 10: | 3: "And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him,Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse tohumble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serveme" |
| Psalm 81: | 13: "Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: OIsrael, if thou wilt hearken unto me; ... But my peoplewould not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me ... Oh thatmy people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in myways!" |
4. ISRAEL'S REBELLION
As most Christians know, Israel was the name given to Abraham'sgrandson Jacob when he successfully wrestled all night with theAngel of the Lord at a place called Peniel.
| Genesis 32: | 27: "And he ( the angel ) said unto him ( Jacob ) What is thy name? Andhe said, Jacob. 28: And he said, 'Thy name shall be called no more Jacob,but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, andhast prevailed.'" |
| Romans 3: | 1: "What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there ofcircumcision? 2: Much every way: chiefly because that unto them werecommitted the oracles of God." |
| 2 Kings 17: | 9: And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. 10: And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree: 11: And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger: 12: For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing. 13: Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. 14: Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God. 15: And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them. 16: And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. |
| Jeremiah 6: | 16: "Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and askfor the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and yeshall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walktherein. 17: Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound ofthe trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken. 18: Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. 19: Hear O earth: behold I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit oftheir thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, norto my law, but rejected it." |
| Matthew 27: | 22: "Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus whichis called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him becrucified." |
| Romans 3: | 10: "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11: Thereis none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12: Theyare all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable;there is none that doeth good, no, not one." |
5. ISRAEL SCATTERED
How then did the Almighty respond to ancient Israel's rejection of Hislaw and of His only begotten Son? The Almighty carried out thepunishments prophesied through His servant Moses. One of those punishments wasbanishment from the Promised Land. This happened. Yahwehscattered His chosen people to the four corners of the earth. Thewarning to scatter Israel, if she persisted in disobedience, was madecenturies before the scattering took place. Texts about the scatteringof Israel are legion. I quote a few:
| Deuteronomy 4: | 25: "When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, andye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves,and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall doevil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke Him to anger. 26: I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soonutterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan topossess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterlybe destroyed. 27: And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations..." |
| Deuteronomy 28: | 64: "And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from one endof the earth even unto the other ..." |
| Leviticus 26: | 33: "And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will drawout a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and yourcities waste." |
| Ezekiel 20: | 23: I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries; 24: Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols. |
| 1 Kings 14: | 15: "For the LORD shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in thewater, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which hegave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river,because they have made their groves, provoking the LORD to anger." |
The Saviour also Predicted Israel's Scattering.
| Luke 21: | 20:"And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, thenknow that the desolation thereof is nigh. 21: Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. 22: For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23: But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. 24: And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." |
6. ISRAEL NOT ABANDONED
Nevertheless, for all her sins, God did not abandoned His peopleIsrael. He is still Israel's God and they are still the Chosenof God! I repeat, even though ancient Israel sinned grievously andwas scattered to the four quarters of the earth, the God of Abrahamdid not abandon His people Israel. To be sure He punished Israelover and over again with war, famine, and pestilence: but the MostHigh has not abandoned His chosen people. Israel is still thechosen race! Pause awhile dear reader and consider theselittle-known divine promises.
| Ezekiel 11: | 16: "Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; Although I have castthem far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered themamong the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary inthe countries where they shall come. 17: Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel " |
| Isaiah 41: | 8: "But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen,the seed of Abraham my friend. 9: Thou whom I have taken from the ends ofthe earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said untothee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and NOT CAST THEEAWAY. 10: Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thyGod: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will upholdthee with the right hand of my righteousness. 11: Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shallbe as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. 12: Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contendedwith thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as athing of nought. 13: For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand,saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. 14: Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." |
| Jeremiah 31: | 35: "Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day,and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night,which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of Hostsis His name: 36: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith theLord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nationbefore me for ever. 37: Thus saith the Lord; If heaven can be measured,and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will alsocast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith theLord." |
In other words the People of Israel, for all that they have done, will continue to be Yahweh's chosen people as long as the measureless universe exists! God Almighty has given us that assurance. He even sealed it with an oath! It is therefore absolutely impossible for Israel to be anything other than the Chosen of God!
"But," some will say,"You have only quoted Old Testament texts. In the New Covenant and New Testament you'll find that God has replaced Israel with the Gentile Church; and all the favours and promises He previously made to literal Israel are now transferred over to the Gentile Church, with perhaps a few Jews who accept Jesus as the Messiah being included."
Is this the case? Has the Almighty cast off His people Israel, transferred all His favours to the Christian Church and, in the process, inadvertently violated His own oath? The very idea is monstrous, if not blaspemous! For the fact is, the New Testament teaches no such thing! Indeed, the New Testament teaches the very opposite. It quite plainly states that:
The Apostle Paul confirms these facts when he cautions Gentile believersin Jesus not to imagine that God has abandoned or cast away His peopleIsrael. To be sure the Most High has cut away some unbelieving, dead branches from the Olive of Israel and in their place grafted in believing Gentiles. But let no one smugly imagine that God has gotten rid of the Jewish nation and replaced it with the Christian Church. Because that is certainly not the case. I repeat, those who make these boastful, groundless claims are themselves at risk of being cut off from the Olive of Israel. This terrifying New Testament warning should cause all Christians to treat Israel with absolute care; for she is still the Chosen of God! Here are a few New Testament texts to prove these astonishing facts.
| Romans 11: | 1: "I say then, Hath God cast away His people? God forbid.For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe ofBenjamin. 2: GOD HATH NOT CAST AWAY HIS PEOPLE..." |
| Romans 11: | 17: And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; 18: Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. 19: Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. 20: Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: 21: For if God spared not the natural branches, TAKE HEED LEST HE SPARE THEE NOT. |
Yes, the people of Israel are still the Chosen of God; and will continueto be so as long as the immeasurable universe exists. That is what theAlmighty God of Israel says in His Word. We had better believe it!
7. ISRAEL REGATHERED BY GOD
Even whilst the Most High was predicting the Diaspora ( the scatteringof Israel ) He was also forecasting Israel's re-gathering. Overand over again He said that He would re-gather His scattered people;and bring them back from the four corners of the earth to the land Hepromised to their ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That is why itis called The Promised Land! The re-gathering of Israel istaking place at this very moment. I quote a few texts which tell ofthis astonishing development.
| Deuteronomy 30: | 1: "And it shall come to pass when all these things are come uponthee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, andthou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the Lordthy God hath driven thee. 2: And shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey His voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; 3: That then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and GATHER thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee. 4: If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: 5: And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers." | ||
| Isaiah 11: | 11: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall sethis hand again the second time to recover the remnant of hispeople, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and fromPathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and fromHamath, and from the islands of the sea. 12: And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth." | ||
| Isaiah 43: | 3: For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. 4: Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. 5: Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and GATHER thee from the west; 6: I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Ezekiel 11: | 17: "... Thus saith the Lord God; I will even GATHER you fromthe people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have beenscattered, and I will give you the land of Israel." | |
| 1948 | ... 657,000 |
| 1950 | ... 1,203,000 |
| 1958 | ... 1,810,000 |
| 1962 | ... 2,069,000 |
| Isaiah 43: | 5: "Fear not for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from theeast, and GATHER them from the west. 6: I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far and my daughters from the ends of the earth." |
| Ezekiel 39: | 27: "When I have brought them again from the people, and gatheredthem out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in thesight of many nations; 28: Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which cause them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there. 29: Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD." |
8. ISRAEL REFINED AS SILVER
What does Yahweh plan to do after re-gathering Israel? What does HisWord tell us? It tells us that He is going to refine Israel as asilversmith refines silver; with the sole intention of producingan obedient and holy nation, a nation that will reflect His perfectcharacter and obey His eternal law. He is going to do this for Hisgreat Name's sake, which Israel by its sinful practices has profanedamong the nations. Yahweh is about to act, not because the Jews arebetter than Gentiles in any way, because they are not: but to keep Hispromise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and to clear His slandered name.
| Ezekiel 22: | 15: "And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse theein the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee. 16: And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of theheathen, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD. 17: And the word of theLord came unto me, saying. 18: Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver. 19: Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 20: As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so I will gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you. 21: Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof. 22: As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the Lord have poured out my fury upon you." |
| Ezekiel 36: | 21:"But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house ofIsrael had profaned among the heathen, whither they went. 22: Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; I donot this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holyname's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither yewent. 23: And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned amongthe heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and theheathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when Ishall be sanctified in you before their eyes. 24: For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. 25: Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from your idols, will I cleanse you. 26: A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27: And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgements, and do them." |
| Zechariah 13: | 8: "And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith theLORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shallbe 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 asgold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: Iwill say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God." |
9. THE PROMISED LAND
Yahweh, the Creator and owner of planet Earth, promised the land ofCanaan to Abraham and his seed for an everlasting possession. Whatare the boundaries of the Promised Land? The answer to thisquestion may come as a shock to you; but these are the words of GodAlmighty!
| Genesis 15: | 18: "In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying,Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto thegreat river, the river EUPHRATES." |
| Genesis 24: | 6: "And Abraham said unto him ( Eliezer his servant ) Beware thouthat thou bring not my son thither again. 7: The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that swore unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son ( Isaac ) from thence." |
| Genesis 28: | 1: "And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, andsaid unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. 2: Arise, go to Padan-aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father;and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thymother's brother. 3: And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful,and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; 4: And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee;that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger,which God gave unto Abraham... 10: And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran. |
| Deuteronomy 11: | 24: "Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shallbe yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the riverEUPHRATES, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be." |
| Joshua 1: | 1: "Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it cameto pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses'minister, saying, 2: Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, goover this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I dogive to them, even to the children of Israel. 3: Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river EUPHRATES, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast." |
10. THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH & ISRAEL
Over the centuries the Christian church has made many seriousmistakes. Let us consider five.
| Romans 11: | 16: "For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy; and ifthe root be holy, so are the branches. 17: And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou ( Gentile ) being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree. 18: Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. 19: Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. 20: Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear. 21: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He spare not thee ... 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 fullness of the Gentiles be come in." |
| Romans 2: | 28 "For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is thatcircumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 29: But he is a Jew, whichis one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit,and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God." For further information see Who/What is a Jew? |
| Galations 3: | 29: "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirsaccording to the promise." |
| Hebrews 8: | 8: ... Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL and with the house of Judah: 9: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. 10: For this is the covenant that I will make WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: |
| Rev.7: | 4: And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of ALL the tribes of the children of Israel. |
| Zech:2: | 8: For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. |
| Deut:32: | 10: He found him ( Israel ) in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. |
How true were the words of the mercenary prophet Balaam, who, inspite of himself, declared this eternal fact as he lifted up his eyesand beheld the camp of Israel:
| Numbers 24:9 | "Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he thatcurseth thee." |
11. THE PALESTINIAN QUESTION
The word 'Palestine' comes from 'Palaestina' which is Latin for'Philistia.' Every Bible student knows that the Philistines dweltmainly in Philistia ( known today as the Gaza strip ). ThePhilistines were the implacable enemies of ancient Israel. Timeshaven't changed: they still are. The modern Philistines( Palestinians ) are still bent on Israel's destruction - yea, onIsrael's extermination! What's more, the tide of world opinion isturning against Israel. The world is beginning to favour Palestinian( Philistine ) arguments, assuming that they provide an answer tothe Middle East problem. Israel's friends are also abandoning her oneby one as she clings to territory promised to her centuries ago bythe Creator. Mankind does not recognize the promises Yahweh made to Abraham,Isaac and Jacob, so is unimpressed with Israel's claim to thePromised Land. The world dismisses the divine promises asreligious lunacy. But mankind - and this includes modern Israel, theMuslim nations and the Christian Church - is about to learn twostunning truths:
| Daniel 5:21 | "And he ( Nebuchadnezzar ) was driven from the sons of men; andhis heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wildasses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet withthe dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in thekingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will)" |
| Jeremiah 12: | 14: "Thus saith the LORD against all mine evil neighbours, thattouch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit;Behold, I will pluck them out of their land, and pluck out the houseof Judah from among them. 15: And it shall come to pass, after that I have plucked them out Iwill return, and have compassion on them, and will bring them again,every man to his heritage, and every man to his land. 16: And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, The LORD liveth; as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built in the midst of my people. 17: But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy thatnation, saith the LORD." |
12. ISRAEL'S FUTURE
We learn from Bible prophecy that just before the Saviour returnsto earth, the city of Jerusalem will be the centre of greatturmoil. We are also told that the city of Jerusalem will be conquered anddominated by Gentile nations for a period of 42 months; that is 3.5 years or 1260 days. During this time the Most High will send Two Witnesses with a final warningfor all mankind. After delivering their 42 month-long warning, the Two Witnesses will be killed by the Antichrist in the city of Jerusalem,"where our Lord was crucified."
| Revelation 11: | 1: "And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. 2: But the court which is without the temple leave out, andmeasure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy cityshall they tread under foot forty and two months." |
| Revelation 11: | 7: "And when they ( the Two Witnesses ) shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. 8: And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified." |
| Zechariah 14: | 1: "Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall bedivided in the midst of thee. 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. |
During this harrowing period of time the Antichrist will rule the entire earth using as his capital the captured city of Jerusalem. Thanks be to Yahweh the Almighty God of Israel, the Antichrist's rule will end at the return of Yeshua the Messiah. ( Jesus Christ ) The Scriptures tell us that Yeshua will return with the heavenly host and his resurrected saints --- to the city of Jerusalem! The millennial ( 1000 year ) reign will then begin and all the nations of the world will be required to keep the law of Israel's God; the same law He gave for mankind through His servant Moses so long ago. Believe it or not at that time all mankind will also be required to keep the Feast of Tabernacles ( Succoth )! The Bible is packed with prophecies about the mellenial reign when the LORD God of Israel will govern all mankind through His Son Yeshua - and His people Israel! It is future which no words can describe; simply because no human mind can properly imagine such glory!
| Zechariah 14: | 3: Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight againstthose nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. 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 ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: 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." ... 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 |
| 1 Cor:2: | 9: But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. |
More texts concerning this last-day confrontation can be found atZechariah chapter 12, Hosea 10:10, Micah chapter 4 and Joel chapter 3. See also our lesson on the Signs of Christ's Return
SUMMARY
I urge the reader to pause and take note of what he/she has just read.Failure to heed Bible warnings is a sure way of courting disaster! Iwill now summarize the points I have raised in this sermon.
May Jehovah, the Almighty God of Israel open your eyes to these eternal facts! Amen!
