Dear Heavenly Father, may all Israel be blessed by the same devotion Jehoshaphat showed (here in II Chronicles 20:3-15 ) a day in Judah's history.
When they were alarmed and in fear Jehosaphat resloved to inquire of the Lord, and he fasted for all Judah.
May the people of Israel today 7/21/08 go to You in prayer, faith, trust and belief in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel their fathers.
May Israel search for and claim the promises in the Old Testament and the New Testament that proclaim Your victory for your inheritance, your Chosen People. May Paul's words in Romans chapters 9, 10, 11 be fulfilled that "All Israel will be Saved"
In Jesus name I pray.
Marcie
2 Chronicles 20:3-15 (New International Version)
3 Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the LORD, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. 4 The people of Judah came together to seek help from the LORD; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.
5 Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the LORD in the front of the new courtyard
6 and said: "O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you.
7 O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?
8 They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying,
9 'If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.'
10 "But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them.
11 See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance.
12 O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you."
13 All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the LORD.
14 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite and descendant of Asaph, as he stood in the assembly.
15 He said: "Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says to you: 'Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army.
For the battle is not yours, but God's.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
that My Name may be there for ever:....perpetually
My prayer for Israel today, as long as there is today.
2 Chronicles 7:12-16 (King James Version)
12And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice.
13If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;
14If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
15Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.
16For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that My Name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.
2 Chronicles 7:12-16 (King James Version)
12And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice.
13If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;
14If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
15Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.
16For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that My Name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.
In Jesus Name, The Word, the Only Begotten, The Son of God, the King of Kings, The Almighty
Amen
I praise Your Name O Lord, my heart does magnify the Lord, Amen
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Israel: The Chosen People
The Jews Return From Exile – Part 2 of 2 - by J. R. Church - www.prophecyinthenews.com
Israel: The Central Theme
Geographically, the Bible is set in the land of Israel, and historically, its theme is the people of Israel. It is a Jewish Bible penned by Jewish men giving both the history and the future of those children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
For centuries Gentile Christianity has laid claim to the book declaring that Israel has been dispossessed by God. Historic Christianity claims that the Chosen People are no longer chosen, that God has instead turned His back forever on the children of Israel.
Though it is true that God has punished the Jewish people over the past 3,000 years for their unbelief, it is not true that God has cast away His people forever. The central theme of Bible prophecy is the restoration of the Israeli people -- both to their land and to their God.
The first 11 chapters of Genesis serve as an introduction. They fill in the background and set the stage for all that is to follow. From that point forward, the Bible is essentially the history of Abraham and the nation that descended from him through Isaac and Jacob. The Bible is basically the story of Israel embracing both the past and future.
What About the New Testament? (Read Romans Chapters 9, 10, 11)
But what about the New Testament? Isn’t it distinctly Christian? It’s a little difficult for Gentile Christianity to admit that even the New Testament is a Jewish book, yet it is true.
First of all, Jesus Christ, the most important Person in the New Testament, was of Jewish descent, and He did not lose His Jewish identity after His death and resurrection. Fifty years after Calvary, Revelation 5:5 still referred to Jesus Christ, in heaven, as the "Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David." He is still identified with the family of David, the tribe of Judah, and the people of Israel. He is forever an Israelite.
Furthermore, well over 90% of the people portrayed in the New Testament are Israelites. The only exceptions would be a few Gentiles, such as the Magi from the East, or the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, along with a sprinkling of Roman officials and military personnel. Essentially, the New Testament represents a record of Israelites and their faith in the Messiah.
The New Testament books were penned by Jews -- with the one possible exception being Luke. The 12 apostles were Jewish. Paul, who became the apostle to the Gentiles, was likewise a Jew. Most of the co-workers of these great men were also Jewish.
The writer of Hebrews tells us that the ultimate goal of all true believers is the "city which hath foundations whose Builder and Maker is God." In Revelation 21, the holy city, New Jerusalem, is described for us. On its gates are inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. On its foundations are the names of the twelve apostles of Jesus. Every name inscribed in the New Jerusalem is a Jewish name. I must say that no one with anti-Semitic prejudice could ever feel comfortable in the New Jerusalem.
Why, then, does it seem strange -- in fact, almost unthinkable -- to associate the Jewish people with the New Testament? The answer lies in what Christians perceive to be the judgment of God. Because the leadership of the nation had rejected Jesus Christ as Messiah, the people of Israel were separated from their land. At the same time, the early Jewish Christians were separated from their role as leaders in proclaiming the Gospel and building the church.
This double break determined their role in history for the next 18 centuries. They became a nation of exiles. Not only were they exiled from their land, but they were also exiled from the very religion of which they themselves were the founders. It seems as if God sacrificed the Chosen People in order to bring the message of salvation to the great masses of Gentile nations around the world.
God Has Not Forsaken Israel
We are the benefactors of that break in the continuum of history. Let us not forget, however, that God has not forever forsaken His people. Just as Jesus rose again on the third day, in like manner, the resurrection of Israel has been promised in the prophecies of the Bible. Hosea wrote:
"After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight" (Hosea 6:2).
The 1948 resurrection of the Israeli nation not only fulfills Hosea’s prophecy, but is the central theme of each prophet in the Old Testament. For instance, Isaiah wrote concerning the regathering of Israel:
"And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
"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.
"The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.
"But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab: and the children of Ammon shall obey them" (Isaiah 11:10-14).
The Root of Jesse
These five verses contain some astounding prophecies, most of which have already been fulfilled and others which are yet to be fulfilled -- perhaps in the near future. First of all, Isaiah wrote in verse 10 that the entire picture revolves around one person -- the Root of Jesse.
He will stand as an "ensign," or a banner, of the people, and to Him "shall the Gentiles seek." Furthermore, Isaiah wrote, "His rest shall be glorious." Jesus Christ fulfilled the prophecy of the Root of Jesse. And when He was lifted up on Calvary’s cross, He became a banner for all the Gentile nations.
Since that day, Gentiles around the world have found, through Christ, the forgiveness of their sins. We have been drawn to the foot of Calvary, and there we have found salvation.
His Millennial Reign
Then, wrote Isaiah, "His rest shall be glorious." Over the past 20 centuries Jesus Christ has been lifted up to the throne of God and has been seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. He is presently awaiting the establishment of His earthly kingdom, which shall last for a thousand years. It will come to pass in the seventh millennium -- the great Sabbath rest. Yes, His rest shall be glorious.
The Second Redemption of Israel
In verse 11, Isaiah tells of the redemption of Israel:
"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people ..." (Isaiah 11:11a).
Isaiah wrote of a specified time, "in that day." How do we know we live in that day? Because of the following words: "... the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people ..."
Isaiah wrote in the days before the Babylonian captivity, but he did not simply write that the Lord will set his hand to recover the remnant of His people. He went beyond that. He saw a second dispersion of the Jews from their land and wrote that "in that day the Lord shall set His hand AGAIN the SECOND time."
I believe we live in that day. The return of the Jew to his land in this century does not represent the first return or the third return. The rebirth of the nation of Israel in 1948 marked the second return of the Jews to their land. Isaiah, then, zeroes in on this generation in the giving of his prophecy.
A Worldwide Return
In verse 11, Isaiah continues by giving the locations from which the Jews shall return:
"... from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea." (Isa. 11:11b).
In the first dispersion, the people were led into Babylonian captivity, and when they returned, they returned from Babylon. But in that day designated for the far future, the Israeli people will return from many lands:
"And he shall set up an ensign for the [Gentile] nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth" (Isaiah 11:12).
Isaiah indicated that the second dispersion of the Jews would be to all nations and that when they returned one day, they would return from the four corners of the earth.
Isaiah wrote in a day when the Israeli nation was divided. There was a split between the north and the south. Ephraim was the leading nation of the north, and Judah of the south. There was a continuing feud between the two factions. However, Isaiah wrote that in that day when the Lord reaches out His hand the second time to regather the people, there would be no division among the tribes:
"The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim" (Isa. 11:13).
How indicative of the Israeli nation today! It is no longer a nation divided against itself. Israel is one.
Surely this is the generation which marks the fulfillment of Isaiah’s great prophecy. We have reached that point in history. The Jew is back in his land and all the tribes are united.
Military Victory
The next prophecy is fascinating:
"But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west..." (Isa. 11:14a).
This appears to be indicative of the 1956, 1967, and 1973 Arab-Israeli Wars. What happens in the rest of the verse, however, is yet to be fulfilled. Isaiah wrote:
"... they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab: and the children of Ammon shall obey them" (Isaiah 11:14b).
According to Isaiah, Israel will obtain an understanding with the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan. King Hussein once declared that he would not negotiate with Israel over the future of the confiscated West Bank. One Jordanian politician was upset. He was in favor of negotiations and said, "If we do not negotiate with Israel today over the West Bank, we may eventually have to negotiate with Israel over the East Bank." According to Isaiah’s prophecy, such an agreement will come to pass.
The Potter’s Vessel
In Isaiah 43:1, the prophet again took up the theme of Israel’s restoration:
"But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine" (Isaiah 43:1).
In the previous chapter, Isaiah wrote about the judgment of God upon Israel. But in this verse he turns from judgment to mercy and begins the verse by saying, "But now ..." Oh, what a glorious promise! God has not forever forsaken His Chosen People! Please note two things Isaiah wrote in this verse.
First, the Lord "created" the nation and, secondly, He "formed" the nation. When He created the people of Israel, a flaw appeared. Like the potter who remade his broken vessel, the Lord is now in the process of restructuring the nation. First, He created them -- today, it seems that He is in the process of forming them:
"When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee" (Isaiah 43:2).
Again, we can see the accuracy of biblical prophecy. The vivid phrases of this verse depict the history of the Jewish people through a period of almost 2,000 years. They have, indeed, passed through the rivers and walked through the fire. There is only one explanation for their continued survival as a people. God has been with them:
"For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
"Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life" (Isaiah 43:3-4).
The great message, in these verses, is that God loves Israel with a supreme love. This is a revelation of tremendous importance. God places a special value on His Chosen People and, though He permits them to pass through the fire, He has a purpose in it. And Isaiah gives us the reason why:
"Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction" (Isaiah 48:10).
Because He loved them, He tested them -- just as Job was tested. In these verses, God declares that His love for Israel has also influenced His dealings with other nations.
East, West, North and South
Finally, a distinction is given between those who return from the "east and west" and those who return from the "north and south":
"Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;
"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;
"Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him" (Isaiah 48:5-7).
Like the promises of chapter 11, Isaiah repeated that Israel will be regathered from the four corners of the earth. Note the precision with which he gave the prophecy. He said, "I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west."
The "east" primarily refers to Asia and the "west" could represent the great concentrations of Jewish people in Europe, Africa, the United States, and South America.
The verbs used here do not indicate any particular opposition to the Jewish people returning from either the "east" or the "west." In fact -- especially in regard to the "west" -- there seems to be the suggestion of a reluctance on their part to leave.
However, when we come to the "north" and "south," we get a different picture:
"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." (verse 6).
How indicative of the "north!" The cry still goes out today, "Give up!" "Give up [My people]!" The "north" must represent not only the former Soviet block of eastern Europe, but Russia itself, as well. The former Soviet Union had a history of being extremely unwilling to permit Jewish emigration to Israel. This makes the message to the north especially appropriate: "Give [them] up! Give up [My people; let them come home]."
Let us not forget about the MIAMI HERALD (1983) newspaper story that pointed out the fact that there had been a strange disappearance of more than 100,000 Jews from the Soviet Union over a previous ten-year period from 1973 to 1983. Some 100,000 Jews were arrested when they applied for permission to emigrate to Israel. No wonder Isaiah wrote that the divine message to the "north" would be, "Give up [My people; let them come home]."
After hearing about an American school girl’s well-publicized letter to then Soviet Premier, Yuri Andropov, which received an answer, a 12-year-old girl in the Soviet Union wrote him a letter of her own. The content of the letter, however, was somewhat different. Irina Tar-no-pol’-sky, of Kharkov, in the Ukraine, appealed to Andropov on behalf of her father, a Jewish scientist who had been imprisoned on a charge of slandering the Soviet state. His crime? Applying for permission to leave for Israel.
Irina wrote, "Not long ago I came to know that an American school girl, Samantha Smith, appealed to you in a letter, and you answered her. So I decided to write you a letter, too. My father, Yuri Tar-no-pol’-sky, is in prison now. He is accused of slandering the Soviet system, and soon he will be tried. But my papa is an honest man. He has never lied. He is under arrest only because we are Jewish and want to leave for Israel."
In October 1983, Irina’s father had begun a hunger strike to protest the plight of Jewish families who were denied permission to emigrate. They were referred to as refuseniks. He had been fired from his job shortly after his application was turned down. Later he wrote, "I am unable to forget that in modern history only the Nazi barbarians refused to allow Jews to emigrate, persecuting them at the same time."
Slander, in the Soviet Union, was punishable by a sentence of three years in a labor camp or five years of internal exile. The Tar-no-pol’-sky family had had no contact with him since his arrest the previous March. And Irina received no reply from Andropov. Such was the plight of the Jews in the Soviet Union. Once again we see both the accuracy and the authority of the Scriptures.
Finally, Isaiah wrote of God’s message to the south:
"I will say to the ... south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth" (Isaiah 48:6).
There are two southern areas to which this prophecy relates. The first could be the country of Yemen, where nearly 50,000 Jews lived in 1948. Yemen is a fanatically Moslem country, strongly opposed to the state of Israel. Who would have believed that a country like that would have released almost its entire Jewish population shortly after Israel became a state in 1948. In fact, 43,000 Jews were airlifted out of Yemen into Israel in what appears to be yet another fulfillment of Bible prophecy:
"Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bare thee on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself" (Ex. 19:4).
The other southern country with a large Jewish population was Ethiopia. And since 1984, a continuing effort to rescue the Falashas paid off with the massive airlift in May 1991. All Ethiopian Jews are now safe in Israel!
"I will say to the ... south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;
"Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him" (Isaiah 43:6-7).
Indeed, the return of Israel is the prevailing theme of all the prophets. Without them, none of the historic events in the twentieth-century could have come to pass!
Israel: The Central Theme
Geographically, the Bible is set in the land of Israel, and historically, its theme is the people of Israel. It is a Jewish Bible penned by Jewish men giving both the history and the future of those children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
For centuries Gentile Christianity has laid claim to the book declaring that Israel has been dispossessed by God. Historic Christianity claims that the Chosen People are no longer chosen, that God has instead turned His back forever on the children of Israel.
Though it is true that God has punished the Jewish people over the past 3,000 years for their unbelief, it is not true that God has cast away His people forever. The central theme of Bible prophecy is the restoration of the Israeli people -- both to their land and to their God.
The first 11 chapters of Genesis serve as an introduction. They fill in the background and set the stage for all that is to follow. From that point forward, the Bible is essentially the history of Abraham and the nation that descended from him through Isaac and Jacob. The Bible is basically the story of Israel embracing both the past and future.
What About the New Testament? (Read Romans Chapters 9, 10, 11)
But what about the New Testament? Isn’t it distinctly Christian? It’s a little difficult for Gentile Christianity to admit that even the New Testament is a Jewish book, yet it is true.
First of all, Jesus Christ, the most important Person in the New Testament, was of Jewish descent, and He did not lose His Jewish identity after His death and resurrection. Fifty years after Calvary, Revelation 5:5 still referred to Jesus Christ, in heaven, as the "Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David." He is still identified with the family of David, the tribe of Judah, and the people of Israel. He is forever an Israelite.
Furthermore, well over 90% of the people portrayed in the New Testament are Israelites. The only exceptions would be a few Gentiles, such as the Magi from the East, or the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, along with a sprinkling of Roman officials and military personnel. Essentially, the New Testament represents a record of Israelites and their faith in the Messiah.
The New Testament books were penned by Jews -- with the one possible exception being Luke. The 12 apostles were Jewish. Paul, who became the apostle to the Gentiles, was likewise a Jew. Most of the co-workers of these great men were also Jewish.
The writer of Hebrews tells us that the ultimate goal of all true believers is the "city which hath foundations whose Builder and Maker is God." In Revelation 21, the holy city, New Jerusalem, is described for us. On its gates are inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. On its foundations are the names of the twelve apostles of Jesus. Every name inscribed in the New Jerusalem is a Jewish name. I must say that no one with anti-Semitic prejudice could ever feel comfortable in the New Jerusalem.
Why, then, does it seem strange -- in fact, almost unthinkable -- to associate the Jewish people with the New Testament? The answer lies in what Christians perceive to be the judgment of God. Because the leadership of the nation had rejected Jesus Christ as Messiah, the people of Israel were separated from their land. At the same time, the early Jewish Christians were separated from their role as leaders in proclaiming the Gospel and building the church.
This double break determined their role in history for the next 18 centuries. They became a nation of exiles. Not only were they exiled from their land, but they were also exiled from the very religion of which they themselves were the founders. It seems as if God sacrificed the Chosen People in order to bring the message of salvation to the great masses of Gentile nations around the world.
God Has Not Forsaken Israel
We are the benefactors of that break in the continuum of history. Let us not forget, however, that God has not forever forsaken His people. Just as Jesus rose again on the third day, in like manner, the resurrection of Israel has been promised in the prophecies of the Bible. Hosea wrote:
"After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight" (Hosea 6:2).
The 1948 resurrection of the Israeli nation not only fulfills Hosea’s prophecy, but is the central theme of each prophet in the Old Testament. For instance, Isaiah wrote concerning the regathering of Israel:
"And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
"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.
"The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.
"But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab: and the children of Ammon shall obey them" (Isaiah 11:10-14).
The Root of Jesse
These five verses contain some astounding prophecies, most of which have already been fulfilled and others which are yet to be fulfilled -- perhaps in the near future. First of all, Isaiah wrote in verse 10 that the entire picture revolves around one person -- the Root of Jesse.
He will stand as an "ensign," or a banner, of the people, and to Him "shall the Gentiles seek." Furthermore, Isaiah wrote, "His rest shall be glorious." Jesus Christ fulfilled the prophecy of the Root of Jesse. And when He was lifted up on Calvary’s cross, He became a banner for all the Gentile nations.
Since that day, Gentiles around the world have found, through Christ, the forgiveness of their sins. We have been drawn to the foot of Calvary, and there we have found salvation.
His Millennial Reign
Then, wrote Isaiah, "His rest shall be glorious." Over the past 20 centuries Jesus Christ has been lifted up to the throne of God and has been seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. He is presently awaiting the establishment of His earthly kingdom, which shall last for a thousand years. It will come to pass in the seventh millennium -- the great Sabbath rest. Yes, His rest shall be glorious.
The Second Redemption of Israel
In verse 11, Isaiah tells of the redemption of Israel:
"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people ..." (Isaiah 11:11a).
Isaiah wrote of a specified time, "in that day." How do we know we live in that day? Because of the following words: "... the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people ..."
Isaiah wrote in the days before the Babylonian captivity, but he did not simply write that the Lord will set his hand to recover the remnant of His people. He went beyond that. He saw a second dispersion of the Jews from their land and wrote that "in that day the Lord shall set His hand AGAIN the SECOND time."
I believe we live in that day. The return of the Jew to his land in this century does not represent the first return or the third return. The rebirth of the nation of Israel in 1948 marked the second return of the Jews to their land. Isaiah, then, zeroes in on this generation in the giving of his prophecy.
A Worldwide Return
In verse 11, Isaiah continues by giving the locations from which the Jews shall return:
"... from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea." (Isa. 11:11b).
In the first dispersion, the people were led into Babylonian captivity, and when they returned, they returned from Babylon. But in that day designated for the far future, the Israeli people will return from many lands:
"And he shall set up an ensign for the [Gentile] nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth" (Isaiah 11:12).
Isaiah indicated that the second dispersion of the Jews would be to all nations and that when they returned one day, they would return from the four corners of the earth.
Isaiah wrote in a day when the Israeli nation was divided. There was a split between the north and the south. Ephraim was the leading nation of the north, and Judah of the south. There was a continuing feud between the two factions. However, Isaiah wrote that in that day when the Lord reaches out His hand the second time to regather the people, there would be no division among the tribes:
"The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim" (Isa. 11:13).
How indicative of the Israeli nation today! It is no longer a nation divided against itself. Israel is one.
Surely this is the generation which marks the fulfillment of Isaiah’s great prophecy. We have reached that point in history. The Jew is back in his land and all the tribes are united.
Military Victory
The next prophecy is fascinating:
"But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west..." (Isa. 11:14a).
This appears to be indicative of the 1956, 1967, and 1973 Arab-Israeli Wars. What happens in the rest of the verse, however, is yet to be fulfilled. Isaiah wrote:
"... they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab: and the children of Ammon shall obey them" (Isaiah 11:14b).
According to Isaiah, Israel will obtain an understanding with the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan. King Hussein once declared that he would not negotiate with Israel over the future of the confiscated West Bank. One Jordanian politician was upset. He was in favor of negotiations and said, "If we do not negotiate with Israel today over the West Bank, we may eventually have to negotiate with Israel over the East Bank." According to Isaiah’s prophecy, such an agreement will come to pass.
The Potter’s Vessel
In Isaiah 43:1, the prophet again took up the theme of Israel’s restoration:
"But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine" (Isaiah 43:1).
In the previous chapter, Isaiah wrote about the judgment of God upon Israel. But in this verse he turns from judgment to mercy and begins the verse by saying, "But now ..." Oh, what a glorious promise! God has not forever forsaken His Chosen People! Please note two things Isaiah wrote in this verse.
First, the Lord "created" the nation and, secondly, He "formed" the nation. When He created the people of Israel, a flaw appeared. Like the potter who remade his broken vessel, the Lord is now in the process of restructuring the nation. First, He created them -- today, it seems that He is in the process of forming them:
"When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee" (Isaiah 43:2).
Again, we can see the accuracy of biblical prophecy. The vivid phrases of this verse depict the history of the Jewish people through a period of almost 2,000 years. They have, indeed, passed through the rivers and walked through the fire. There is only one explanation for their continued survival as a people. God has been with them:
"For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
"Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life" (Isaiah 43:3-4).
The great message, in these verses, is that God loves Israel with a supreme love. This is a revelation of tremendous importance. God places a special value on His Chosen People and, though He permits them to pass through the fire, He has a purpose in it. And Isaiah gives us the reason why:
"Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction" (Isaiah 48:10).
Because He loved them, He tested them -- just as Job was tested. In these verses, God declares that His love for Israel has also influenced His dealings with other nations.
East, West, North and South
Finally, a distinction is given between those who return from the "east and west" and those who return from the "north and south":
"Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;
"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;
"Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him" (Isaiah 48:5-7).
Like the promises of chapter 11, Isaiah repeated that Israel will be regathered from the four corners of the earth. Note the precision with which he gave the prophecy. He said, "I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west."
The "east" primarily refers to Asia and the "west" could represent the great concentrations of Jewish people in Europe, Africa, the United States, and South America.
The verbs used here do not indicate any particular opposition to the Jewish people returning from either the "east" or the "west." In fact -- especially in regard to the "west" -- there seems to be the suggestion of a reluctance on their part to leave.
However, when we come to the "north" and "south," we get a different picture:
"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." (verse 6).
How indicative of the "north!" The cry still goes out today, "Give up!" "Give up [My people]!" The "north" must represent not only the former Soviet block of eastern Europe, but Russia itself, as well. The former Soviet Union had a history of being extremely unwilling to permit Jewish emigration to Israel. This makes the message to the north especially appropriate: "Give [them] up! Give up [My people; let them come home]."
Let us not forget about the MIAMI HERALD (1983) newspaper story that pointed out the fact that there had been a strange disappearance of more than 100,000 Jews from the Soviet Union over a previous ten-year period from 1973 to 1983. Some 100,000 Jews were arrested when they applied for permission to emigrate to Israel. No wonder Isaiah wrote that the divine message to the "north" would be, "Give up [My people; let them come home]."
After hearing about an American school girl’s well-publicized letter to then Soviet Premier, Yuri Andropov, which received an answer, a 12-year-old girl in the Soviet Union wrote him a letter of her own. The content of the letter, however, was somewhat different. Irina Tar-no-pol’-sky, of Kharkov, in the Ukraine, appealed to Andropov on behalf of her father, a Jewish scientist who had been imprisoned on a charge of slandering the Soviet state. His crime? Applying for permission to leave for Israel.
Irina wrote, "Not long ago I came to know that an American school girl, Samantha Smith, appealed to you in a letter, and you answered her. So I decided to write you a letter, too. My father, Yuri Tar-no-pol’-sky, is in prison now. He is accused of slandering the Soviet system, and soon he will be tried. But my papa is an honest man. He has never lied. He is under arrest only because we are Jewish and want to leave for Israel."
In October 1983, Irina’s father had begun a hunger strike to protest the plight of Jewish families who were denied permission to emigrate. They were referred to as refuseniks. He had been fired from his job shortly after his application was turned down. Later he wrote, "I am unable to forget that in modern history only the Nazi barbarians refused to allow Jews to emigrate, persecuting them at the same time."
Slander, in the Soviet Union, was punishable by a sentence of three years in a labor camp or five years of internal exile. The Tar-no-pol’-sky family had had no contact with him since his arrest the previous March. And Irina received no reply from Andropov. Such was the plight of the Jews in the Soviet Union. Once again we see both the accuracy and the authority of the Scriptures.
Finally, Isaiah wrote of God’s message to the south:
"I will say to the ... south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth" (Isaiah 48:6).
There are two southern areas to which this prophecy relates. The first could be the country of Yemen, where nearly 50,000 Jews lived in 1948. Yemen is a fanatically Moslem country, strongly opposed to the state of Israel. Who would have believed that a country like that would have released almost its entire Jewish population shortly after Israel became a state in 1948. In fact, 43,000 Jews were airlifted out of Yemen into Israel in what appears to be yet another fulfillment of Bible prophecy:
"Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bare thee on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself" (Ex. 19:4).
The other southern country with a large Jewish population was Ethiopia. And since 1984, a continuing effort to rescue the Falashas paid off with the massive airlift in May 1991. All Ethiopian Jews are now safe in Israel!
"I will say to the ... south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;
"Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him" (Isaiah 43:6-7).
Indeed, the return of Israel is the prevailing theme of all the prophets. Without them, none of the historic events in the twentieth-century could have come to pass!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Threats and Warnings for September 2008
July 15, 2008
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday predicted end of the US empire saying that the world countries should get ready for a situation when the US hegemony perishes. Talking to Iran's ambassadors to the Persian Gulf states, he called for efforts to establish a long-term and lasting relations with the Persian Gulf countries.
According to IRNA, he reiterated that the sensitive Middle East region is among the most crucial and complicated part of Iran's foreign policy. The Iranian leader condemned presence of foreign forces in the region, saying that involvement of foreign forces in local affairs of the regional countries has created tension in the entire region.
He said that it s crucial for the Gulf states to strengthen ties and that the US threats should not harm the "amicable and profound" relations between Iran and the Persian Gulf countries.
As to the enemies attempt to "sow discord" among regional nations, he assured the Gulf countries that Tehran advocates peace and stability in the region and that all enemies' anti-Iran allegations are "baseless and sheer lie."
© 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
Ahmadinejad Headed Back To New York City
By Special to the Sun July 15, 2008
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President Ahmadinejad of Iran is planning another visit to New York to attend the next U.N. General Assembly, the Jerusalem Post reported on its Web site.
Mr. Ahmadinejad announced on Iranian state television yesterday that he would attend the meeting to defend Iran's rights and to propose changes to what he called the "unjust" Western system of administering international organizations, the Jersualem Post report said. The meeting is expected to take place in September. It will be Mr. Ahmadinejad's first visit to America since he spoke at Columbia University last September. It was there that the university's president, Lee Bollinger, introduced Mr. Ahmadinejad as a leader who displayed "all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator." The visit sparked an outcry from thousands of protestors outside of U.N. headquarters. Mr. Ahmadinejad has attended every annual U.N. General Assembly meeting since he was elected in 2005.
(End of articles)
Do you believe God will allow Mr. Ahmadinejad to pull of his threats?
Just like Mr. Ahmadinejad's October letter, and the many threats he's made against the United States I believe he is planning to follow through with his threats. This September he will come and announce his plans, and they do not bode well for the United States.
I believe all that was predicted in Revelation Chapter 18 is about to take place. (pastor Byron MacDonald's book The Morning Comes and Also the Night explains that Babylon (man's rebellion) is actually three parts, economic, political, and religious.
The economic part is going to be judged in ONE DAY. Our world will be forever changed. God does not do anything unless HE predicts it in His Word.
We best know it, Trust it, Believe it. Amen
Our HOPE is to Read the Bible, Repent of our Sin (for no one is without sin).
We need to Watch and Wait for God's plan to unfold. We need to Trust and Believe in the Word of God because Jesus is the Word of God. We need to know what the Old Testament and New Testament says because we can learn from every word of it.
God's Chosen people the Jews are God's inheritance, and we who believe in the Messiah Jesus are by Faith adopted into the Covenant of Abraham.
The Jews are going to begin the "Time of Jacob's Trouble". The Church is going to be removed by the Rapture possibley THIS September on Rosh Hashanna, and I believe it will also usher in The Day of the Lord.
Satan would have you believe the world is hopeless,
BUT God would have you repent, and hope in His Son Jesus,
None of us deserve salvation, it is available as a GIFT to those who will ACCEPT IT.
God said in His Word:
For God So Loved The World That He Gave His Only Begotten Son, Whosoever Believe In Him Will Not Perish, But Have Eternal Life. John 3:16
God Is Love. God Has A Plan.
God Bless the reading of His Word, His Revealed Love Story to the Earth.
Amen,
Marcie
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday predicted end of the US empire saying that the world countries should get ready for a situation when the US hegemony perishes. Talking to Iran's ambassadors to the Persian Gulf states, he called for efforts to establish a long-term and lasting relations with the Persian Gulf countries.
According to IRNA, he reiterated that the sensitive Middle East region is among the most crucial and complicated part of Iran's foreign policy. The Iranian leader condemned presence of foreign forces in the region, saying that involvement of foreign forces in local affairs of the regional countries has created tension in the entire region.
He said that it s crucial for the Gulf states to strengthen ties and that the US threats should not harm the "amicable and profound" relations between Iran and the Persian Gulf countries.
As to the enemies attempt to "sow discord" among regional nations, he assured the Gulf countries that Tehran advocates peace and stability in the region and that all enemies' anti-Iran allegations are "baseless and sheer lie."
© 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
Ahmadinejad Headed Back To New York City
By Special to the Sun July 15, 2008
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President Ahmadinejad of Iran is planning another visit to New York to attend the next U.N. General Assembly, the Jerusalem Post reported on its Web site.
Mr. Ahmadinejad announced on Iranian state television yesterday that he would attend the meeting to defend Iran's rights and to propose changes to what he called the "unjust" Western system of administering international organizations, the Jersualem Post report said. The meeting is expected to take place in September. It will be Mr. Ahmadinejad's first visit to America since he spoke at Columbia University last September. It was there that the university's president, Lee Bollinger, introduced Mr. Ahmadinejad as a leader who displayed "all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator." The visit sparked an outcry from thousands of protestors outside of U.N. headquarters. Mr. Ahmadinejad has attended every annual U.N. General Assembly meeting since he was elected in 2005.
(End of articles)
Do you believe God will allow Mr. Ahmadinejad to pull of his threats?
Just like Mr. Ahmadinejad's October letter, and the many threats he's made against the United States I believe he is planning to follow through with his threats. This September he will come and announce his plans, and they do not bode well for the United States.
I believe all that was predicted in Revelation Chapter 18 is about to take place. (pastor Byron MacDonald's book The Morning Comes and Also the Night explains that Babylon (man's rebellion) is actually three parts, economic, political, and religious.
The economic part is going to be judged in ONE DAY. Our world will be forever changed. God does not do anything unless HE predicts it in His Word.
We best know it, Trust it, Believe it. Amen
Our HOPE is to Read the Bible, Repent of our Sin (for no one is without sin).
We need to Watch and Wait for God's plan to unfold. We need to Trust and Believe in the Word of God because Jesus is the Word of God. We need to know what the Old Testament and New Testament says because we can learn from every word of it.
God's Chosen people the Jews are God's inheritance, and we who believe in the Messiah Jesus are by Faith adopted into the Covenant of Abraham.
The Jews are going to begin the "Time of Jacob's Trouble". The Church is going to be removed by the Rapture possibley THIS September on Rosh Hashanna, and I believe it will also usher in The Day of the Lord.
Satan would have you believe the world is hopeless,
BUT God would have you repent, and hope in His Son Jesus,
None of us deserve salvation, it is available as a GIFT to those who will ACCEPT IT.
God said in His Word:
For God So Loved The World That He Gave His Only Begotten Son, Whosoever Believe In Him Will Not Perish, But Have Eternal Life. John 3:16
God Is Love. God Has A Plan.
God Bless the reading of His Word, His Revealed Love Story to the Earth.
Amen,
Marcie
Friday, July 4, 2008
The World's Greates Treasure Hunt
The World's Greatest Treasure Hunt - Chris Mitchell - www.cbn.com/CBNnews/348570.aspx
In 1981, Indiana Jones made his big-screen debut re-igniting world-wide interest in history's most hunted relic: the Ark of the Covenant.
That same year, two real-life raiders went on their own search for the Ark. There were no Nazis and no snake pits - like the movie.
Just two renegade Rabbis on a mission. Their search came to an end in Jerusalem.
"God signed, like with a pen, the location where the Ark of the Covenant was located. You can see it today even, on the rock," said Gershon Salomon, Founder of Temple Mount Faithful.
Designed by God, created by Moses, and revered by the Israelites, from the Sinai Desert to the Temple of Solomon, the Ark of the Covenant was the place of meeting between God and man.
In 586 B.C., Israel was conquered by the Babylonians. The Temple was raided by Nebuchadnezzar's army and the Ark disappeared from the pages of history.
"What happened, why did this most dramatic instrument of God's glory and power in human history suddenly vanish?," questioned Joel Rosenberg, Author of Dead Heat.
"All what we know is legends," said Archaeologist Gabriel Barkay who believes the legends are what makes so many people interested in finding the Ark.
Those legends stretch all over the ancient world - starting with Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon.
"The Ark of the Covenant was made of wood and it was gold plated. Such an amount of gold would be melted down at the time of war immediately after it was captured," Barkay told CBN.
When asked if he thought the Ark itself was destroyed at that time, Barkay told CBN that is what he believed.
Jewish writings say the prophet Jeremiah hid the Ark on Mount Nebo in Jordan. Another legend claims it was smuggled to Ethiopia by the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
In Israel, most Rabbis agree that when it comes to the Ark all roads lead back to Jerusalem. They say the Ark never left the city. To them, the so-called "Lost Ark" was never really lost.
On June 7, 1967, Israeli troops recaptured Jerusalem in the Six-day War. The Western Wall was in Jewish hands and those hands were ready to dig.
Archaeologists exposed parts of the wall that had been buried for 2000 years. Not all of the digging was done legally. In 1981, two of Israel's highest-ranking Rabbis, Shlomo Goren and Yehuda Getz picked up their pick-axes and started chiseling their way under the Temple Mount.
"And he knew that at the end of the gate he will come to the secret room where the ark of covenant is located," said Salomon, who was also one of the paratroopers who liberated the Western Wall in 1967.
Salomon was there 14 years later the night Rabbi Getz opened a secret passage in the Wall and remembers their conversation.
"It was after midnight. And he called me and said to me, Gershon, come immediately, don't wait, your dream is going to be fulfilled. 'What happened?,' I told him. 'The Messiah came?' And he told me, 'He is coming almost.'"
What came next was a subterranean slugftest according to Salomon.
"Arab demonstrations, you know? The Israelis are coming to build their temple underneath the dome of the rock."
At the end of the day, the passage to the Temple Mount was permanently sealed by Israeli Police.
"No doubt, I tell you. No doubt, we needed just two days more to come to the place where the ark of the covenant is located," Salomon explained.
"The work was done without archaeological supervision and when I was the official archaeologist of Jerusalem, I decided to stop the work," said Archaeologist Dan Bahat, who directed the excavation of the Western Wall tunnels.
According to him, the search for the Ark stops with Jeremiah 3:16.
"Prophet Jeremiah says, there will come a day when the ark of the covenant will not be seen, nor will it be visited which means that somehow, he sees the days when it will not be there. In other words, this was a hint from God. Don't look for the Ark of the Covenant!"
Scholars may not agree on the fate of the Ark but many of them agree on one thing: it's discovery could set in motion another event that's been 2000 years in the making - the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple.
"Perhaps when it's time to build the third temple, the second temple treasures will be found. Why? Because in Ezra and Nehemiah the Bible indicated that when it was time to build the second temple, God restored the treasures from the first temple which of course have been carted off to Babylon," said Rosenberg.
"When it's time to build a third temple, the second temple's treasures would be found. Wouldn't that be dramatic?," he concluded.
"It is soon to come, I tell you, I promise you, and you check me. Test me. It will be in our lifetime," added Salomon.
Book of the Ages – Stan Goodenough - www.stangoodenough.com/?p=148
Two things before moving on in Genesis…
First: A note to my Jewish readers. As many of you know, I am unapologetically and unashamedly, a Christian, a follower of the way lived and taught by the most wonderful and influential Jew ever to walk this earth. I am deeply ashamed, however, of a great deal of what has been done in the name of Christianity, especially the evil of antisemitism that saturates so much of Church history. Despite this often wide-spread departure from - and betrayal of - what Christ lived and taught, I know that He is the Messiah. And it is directly out of this belief that my love for Israel flows. Zionism is an integral and inseparable part of my Christianity; one would not operate without the other and cannot be severed from the other.
I write, therefore, as a Christian. And in this “The Bible on Israel” series I am writing primarily with those in mind for whom the Hebrew Scriptures as well as the New Testament represent the indivisible inspired Word of God. My aim is to contribute to our understanding of God’s eternal commitment to, and purposes for, Israel. My desire is to help deepen Christian commitment to and support for this nation; Christians need to stand with Israel because it’s what God wants us to do, and not out of mere feelings or sentiments which can be altered by events and arguments. We learn that this is what God wants us to do by what He says in the Bible.
Second: To my Christian readers: I think it is important that I state at this early stage - but hopefully without offending or losing any of you - that I do not subscribe to so-called Dispensationalism (also called Premillenial Dispensationalism). For me the Bible does not support that point of view and in fact - for reasons I’d rather not go into just now - it seems to me this teaching creates some serious misunderstandings and misconceptions, certainly concerning Israel, but inextricably also thereby concerning the Church in history and in prophecy.
Having said that (and hopefully this does not seem contradictory), it is clear as I study the Bible and, in its light, look back to the dawning of this age, that world history can be separated into different “stages” or “eras” in terms of God’s involvement and interaction with mankind.
It helps clarify my thinking if I have both a basic grasp of biblical chronology and a sweeping overview of the Bible’s wider historical perspective, so I want to lay out the following - in some ways simplistic though I find it rather straightforward - synopsis of the Book of books before we continue our journey:
The Bible encompasses and thus speaks to the whole of this age, from the Creation recorded in the first two chapters of Genesis to the New Creation as foretold in the last two chapters of The Revelation.
Looking “down” on this age - as it were from a God’s-eye point of view - I see that it unfolds from creation and the establishment of fellowship between God and man, through the fall of man and the resulting breach of that fellowship, through the consequences of that fall on all of creation, to God’s provision of a way for mankind to be saved out of those consequences and the working out of that plan of salvation.
All this, as we are able to say from where we stand in the early part of the 21st Century - has been played out over a period of approximately 6000 years.
What awaits its fulfillment in the time still before us is the culmination of this redemption plan that will see the ultimate restoration of man in fellowship with God to the way it was in Eden.
According to the Bible - which for me is the rock and source of all truth that cannot be altered or in any way shaken by advances in human understanding and discovery - the six millennia (give or take a few decades) that have passed since Adam celebrated his first birthday can be separated into three eras, each one approximately 2000 years in length.
From Creation to the calling out of Abram (Abraham) we have the first 2000 years, which I will here call The First Period.
From the calling out of Abraham to the coming of Jesus are the second 2000 years - The Second Period.
From the time of Jesus’ life on earth to the present day - that is, what Jews call the “Common Era” and what Gentiles refer to as the era AD (anno Domini) - we have the third 2000 years - The Third Period.
The First Period - from the fall of man to the calling out of Abram - is covered in just a few pages of the Bible, immediately after Creation, from Genesis chapter three to chapter 11.
During these first two millennia we read about God’s interaction with individuals (Adam, Cain, Enoch, Noah) rather than with nations, which were only just beginning to take shape. (We can read about the formation of some of those nations in those chapters, specifically in Chapter Four verses 16 to 24, and in chapters 10 and 11.)
The Second Period is covered by the lion’s share of the rest of the Bible, beginning in Genesis 12:1 and running all the way through to the end of the Hebrew Scriptures (Malachi or Chronicles) and into the Gospels, through the Acts of the Apostles and into the epistles.
During these two millennia, God - as it were - confines His attention to one family, the descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob. And God focuses on one small part of the planet: the Land of Israel. Other nations and lands do feature in the scriptures covering this period, but only insofar as they relate to Israel. Thus we have the Philistines, the Canaanites, the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Medes and Persians, the Greeks and the Romans, all of whose existence, biblically-speaking, is juxtaposed to Israel’s. The nation of Israel is the “hero” of the piece, if you like. Their land is the stage on and around which this Second Period of history revolves.
In human terms, then, God appears to be all caught up - almost obsessed, we might say - with Israel. His purpose is clear: He has set this nation apart - sanctified her - and is working to mold and make her into His “Chosen People.” Israel is His “special treasure” destined to play an exclusive and vitally important national role in the returning of errant mankind to Himself.
During those 2000 years - the Second Period - it seems as if God has little if any interest in the wellbeing of the other nations that exist at that time except, that is, when individuals from among them take leave of their own people and cling to the House of Israel.
I stress again: The bulk of the Bible deals with Israel: the nation and land upon which God “spends an inordinate amount of time” as He forms out of and in her the people through which, and the geographical location to which, His Messiah will come.
The Third Period is mostly post-biblical. We read about the transition into this Common Era (AD) in the Acts of the Apostles and the letters to the first followers of Christ, who are all Jewish to start with. But the Bible then goes quiet on the ensuing 2000 years.
These last almost 20 centuries of history are a time when God, as He warned through Moses and many of the prophets that He would do, turned His face away from Israel and their land, permitting the Jews to be dispersed to the four corners of the earth - in fact, Himself driving them out into the Diaspora, where they suffered under the yoke of the Gentiles while their land was left desolate and uncared for.
Gentile civilization, meanwhile, basked in the blessings of the Almighty as it discovered and settled more and more lands, taking the good news of God’s salvation plan for mankind to the four corners of the globe.
But just as, during the Second Period, the people of Israel repeatedly forsook the Lord and played the harlot with false gods, growing increasingly unfaithful until God had no choice but to lift His hand of blessing and allow them to experience the curses resulting from their disobedience, so too did the Christian world, from very early on in the Third Period, forsake the teachings and example of Jesus, and become increasingly syncretised with the Greek-based humanistic world view until the practice of Christianity was so far removed from its origins as to be almost unrecognizable from the life Jesus lived.
The worst of all the rotten fruits spawned by this perversion was Christian antisemitism, which took root barely a century after Jesus’ ascension and manifested in increasingly vicious ways down through the centuries until it erupted and consumed one third of the Jewish people in the Holocaust.
Nonetheless (and this is essential to understand), just as Israel’s unfaithfulness - tragic and terrible as it was - did not render null and void Israel’s calling and purpose, so neither has the unfaithfulness of Church leaders and their followers - tragic and terrible as it has been - rendered null and void the calling and purpose of the true Church. A common destiny lies before them both.
One area of biblical coverage we did not isolate is that which speaks to “the Last Days.” These prophetic passages pepper the Scriptures from Genesis 3:15 (as we have seen) through the Books of Moses, the Psalms, the major and minor prophets, the Gospels, the Epistles and, of course, The Revelation. I will call this the Fourth or Final Period.
What I am growing to understand, and what I hope we will see together as we make our way through the “Bible on Israel,” is that periods One, Two and Three of human history are in the process of being pulled together in these last days; in the very coming to pass of the multitude of prophecies that look towards our redemption.
In the end, I believe, we will see that Israel - the land - remains the stage on which the glorious final act of God’s redemption plan is played out. And Israel - the people - remains the nation in and through which God is working to so bring all things back into right relationship with Himself. Christians, increasingly, are having their eyes opened to these truths, with more and more responding by identifying with and - like the Moabitess Ruth - seeking to go with the people of Israel.
To sum up then:
In the First Period – Genesis 1 to 11 – God interacts with individuals until He comes to Abraham, singling him out.
In the Second Period – Genesis 12 and virtually the rest of the Bible – God focuses on the descendants of Abraham known as the nation of Israel. Another way of putting this is that God “favors” Israel while the gentile nations are “ignored.”
In the Third Period – the last 2000 years of post-biblical history – God turns His “attention” away from the nation of Israel and the Land of Israel, and “focuses” on the gentile nations in their gentile lands. He blesses, prospers or favors God-fearing gentiles and their lands, while Israel - land and people - lie in the shadow of His disfavor; under His curse.
In the Fourth Period – from about 1850, and encompassing the very days we are living in – God is turning the light of His countenance from the gentiles – whose lands are falling increasingly into darkness – and lifting up His face to shine once again upon Israel, over whom a new dawn is breaking. He is regathering the scattered people of Israel to their land, restoring their land to them (against the wishes and efforts of the world), and bringing their land back to life.
God is doing this in readiness for Messiah’s return, when the Lion of the Tribe of Judah will come back to the Land of Israel restored to Jewish sovereignty, and back to Jerusalem, the city of David, from where He will rule and reign over the nations of the world.
All who survive among our gentile nations will then come up to Jerusalem to worship the King and celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles as Messiah finally will have come to tabernacle among us - our relationship with Him eternally and gloriously restored. And the name of the city in that day will be “The Lord is there.”
In 1981, Indiana Jones made his big-screen debut re-igniting world-wide interest in history's most hunted relic: the Ark of the Covenant.
That same year, two real-life raiders went on their own search for the Ark. There were no Nazis and no snake pits - like the movie.
Just two renegade Rabbis on a mission. Their search came to an end in Jerusalem.
"God signed, like with a pen, the location where the Ark of the Covenant was located. You can see it today even, on the rock," said Gershon Salomon, Founder of Temple Mount Faithful.
Designed by God, created by Moses, and revered by the Israelites, from the Sinai Desert to the Temple of Solomon, the Ark of the Covenant was the place of meeting between God and man.
In 586 B.C., Israel was conquered by the Babylonians. The Temple was raided by Nebuchadnezzar's army and the Ark disappeared from the pages of history.
"What happened, why did this most dramatic instrument of God's glory and power in human history suddenly vanish?," questioned Joel Rosenberg, Author of Dead Heat.
"All what we know is legends," said Archaeologist Gabriel Barkay who believes the legends are what makes so many people interested in finding the Ark.
Those legends stretch all over the ancient world - starting with Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon.
"The Ark of the Covenant was made of wood and it was gold plated. Such an amount of gold would be melted down at the time of war immediately after it was captured," Barkay told CBN.
When asked if he thought the Ark itself was destroyed at that time, Barkay told CBN that is what he believed.
Jewish writings say the prophet Jeremiah hid the Ark on Mount Nebo in Jordan. Another legend claims it was smuggled to Ethiopia by the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
In Israel, most Rabbis agree that when it comes to the Ark all roads lead back to Jerusalem. They say the Ark never left the city. To them, the so-called "Lost Ark" was never really lost.
On June 7, 1967, Israeli troops recaptured Jerusalem in the Six-day War. The Western Wall was in Jewish hands and those hands were ready to dig.
Archaeologists exposed parts of the wall that had been buried for 2000 years. Not all of the digging was done legally. In 1981, two of Israel's highest-ranking Rabbis, Shlomo Goren and Yehuda Getz picked up their pick-axes and started chiseling their way under the Temple Mount.
"And he knew that at the end of the gate he will come to the secret room where the ark of covenant is located," said Salomon, who was also one of the paratroopers who liberated the Western Wall in 1967.
Salomon was there 14 years later the night Rabbi Getz opened a secret passage in the Wall and remembers their conversation.
"It was after midnight. And he called me and said to me, Gershon, come immediately, don't wait, your dream is going to be fulfilled. 'What happened?,' I told him. 'The Messiah came?' And he told me, 'He is coming almost.'"
What came next was a subterranean slugftest according to Salomon.
"Arab demonstrations, you know? The Israelis are coming to build their temple underneath the dome of the rock."
At the end of the day, the passage to the Temple Mount was permanently sealed by Israeli Police.
"No doubt, I tell you. No doubt, we needed just two days more to come to the place where the ark of the covenant is located," Salomon explained.
"The work was done without archaeological supervision and when I was the official archaeologist of Jerusalem, I decided to stop the work," said Archaeologist Dan Bahat, who directed the excavation of the Western Wall tunnels.
According to him, the search for the Ark stops with Jeremiah 3:16.
"Prophet Jeremiah says, there will come a day when the ark of the covenant will not be seen, nor will it be visited which means that somehow, he sees the days when it will not be there. In other words, this was a hint from God. Don't look for the Ark of the Covenant!"
Scholars may not agree on the fate of the Ark but many of them agree on one thing: it's discovery could set in motion another event that's been 2000 years in the making - the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple.
"Perhaps when it's time to build the third temple, the second temple treasures will be found. Why? Because in Ezra and Nehemiah the Bible indicated that when it was time to build the second temple, God restored the treasures from the first temple which of course have been carted off to Babylon," said Rosenberg.
"When it's time to build a third temple, the second temple's treasures would be found. Wouldn't that be dramatic?," he concluded.
"It is soon to come, I tell you, I promise you, and you check me. Test me. It will be in our lifetime," added Salomon.
Book of the Ages – Stan Goodenough - www.stangoodenough.com/?p=148
Two things before moving on in Genesis…
First: A note to my Jewish readers. As many of you know, I am unapologetically and unashamedly, a Christian, a follower of the way lived and taught by the most wonderful and influential Jew ever to walk this earth. I am deeply ashamed, however, of a great deal of what has been done in the name of Christianity, especially the evil of antisemitism that saturates so much of Church history. Despite this often wide-spread departure from - and betrayal of - what Christ lived and taught, I know that He is the Messiah. And it is directly out of this belief that my love for Israel flows. Zionism is an integral and inseparable part of my Christianity; one would not operate without the other and cannot be severed from the other.
I write, therefore, as a Christian. And in this “The Bible on Israel” series I am writing primarily with those in mind for whom the Hebrew Scriptures as well as the New Testament represent the indivisible inspired Word of God. My aim is to contribute to our understanding of God’s eternal commitment to, and purposes for, Israel. My desire is to help deepen Christian commitment to and support for this nation; Christians need to stand with Israel because it’s what God wants us to do, and not out of mere feelings or sentiments which can be altered by events and arguments. We learn that this is what God wants us to do by what He says in the Bible.
Second: To my Christian readers: I think it is important that I state at this early stage - but hopefully without offending or losing any of you - that I do not subscribe to so-called Dispensationalism (also called Premillenial Dispensationalism). For me the Bible does not support that point of view and in fact - for reasons I’d rather not go into just now - it seems to me this teaching creates some serious misunderstandings and misconceptions, certainly concerning Israel, but inextricably also thereby concerning the Church in history and in prophecy.
Having said that (and hopefully this does not seem contradictory), it is clear as I study the Bible and, in its light, look back to the dawning of this age, that world history can be separated into different “stages” or “eras” in terms of God’s involvement and interaction with mankind.
It helps clarify my thinking if I have both a basic grasp of biblical chronology and a sweeping overview of the Bible’s wider historical perspective, so I want to lay out the following - in some ways simplistic though I find it rather straightforward - synopsis of the Book of books before we continue our journey:
The Bible encompasses and thus speaks to the whole of this age, from the Creation recorded in the first two chapters of Genesis to the New Creation as foretold in the last two chapters of The Revelation.
Looking “down” on this age - as it were from a God’s-eye point of view - I see that it unfolds from creation and the establishment of fellowship between God and man, through the fall of man and the resulting breach of that fellowship, through the consequences of that fall on all of creation, to God’s provision of a way for mankind to be saved out of those consequences and the working out of that plan of salvation.
All this, as we are able to say from where we stand in the early part of the 21st Century - has been played out over a period of approximately 6000 years.
What awaits its fulfillment in the time still before us is the culmination of this redemption plan that will see the ultimate restoration of man in fellowship with God to the way it was in Eden.
According to the Bible - which for me is the rock and source of all truth that cannot be altered or in any way shaken by advances in human understanding and discovery - the six millennia (give or take a few decades) that have passed since Adam celebrated his first birthday can be separated into three eras, each one approximately 2000 years in length.
From Creation to the calling out of Abram (Abraham) we have the first 2000 years, which I will here call The First Period.
From the calling out of Abraham to the coming of Jesus are the second 2000 years - The Second Period.
From the time of Jesus’ life on earth to the present day - that is, what Jews call the “Common Era” and what Gentiles refer to as the era AD (anno Domini) - we have the third 2000 years - The Third Period.
The First Period - from the fall of man to the calling out of Abram - is covered in just a few pages of the Bible, immediately after Creation, from Genesis chapter three to chapter 11.
During these first two millennia we read about God’s interaction with individuals (Adam, Cain, Enoch, Noah) rather than with nations, which were only just beginning to take shape. (We can read about the formation of some of those nations in those chapters, specifically in Chapter Four verses 16 to 24, and in chapters 10 and 11.)
The Second Period is covered by the lion’s share of the rest of the Bible, beginning in Genesis 12:1 and running all the way through to the end of the Hebrew Scriptures (Malachi or Chronicles) and into the Gospels, through the Acts of the Apostles and into the epistles.
During these two millennia, God - as it were - confines His attention to one family, the descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob. And God focuses on one small part of the planet: the Land of Israel. Other nations and lands do feature in the scriptures covering this period, but only insofar as they relate to Israel. Thus we have the Philistines, the Canaanites, the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Medes and Persians, the Greeks and the Romans, all of whose existence, biblically-speaking, is juxtaposed to Israel’s. The nation of Israel is the “hero” of the piece, if you like. Their land is the stage on and around which this Second Period of history revolves.
In human terms, then, God appears to be all caught up - almost obsessed, we might say - with Israel. His purpose is clear: He has set this nation apart - sanctified her - and is working to mold and make her into His “Chosen People.” Israel is His “special treasure” destined to play an exclusive and vitally important national role in the returning of errant mankind to Himself.
During those 2000 years - the Second Period - it seems as if God has little if any interest in the wellbeing of the other nations that exist at that time except, that is, when individuals from among them take leave of their own people and cling to the House of Israel.
I stress again: The bulk of the Bible deals with Israel: the nation and land upon which God “spends an inordinate amount of time” as He forms out of and in her the people through which, and the geographical location to which, His Messiah will come.
The Third Period is mostly post-biblical. We read about the transition into this Common Era (AD) in the Acts of the Apostles and the letters to the first followers of Christ, who are all Jewish to start with. But the Bible then goes quiet on the ensuing 2000 years.
These last almost 20 centuries of history are a time when God, as He warned through Moses and many of the prophets that He would do, turned His face away from Israel and their land, permitting the Jews to be dispersed to the four corners of the earth - in fact, Himself driving them out into the Diaspora, where they suffered under the yoke of the Gentiles while their land was left desolate and uncared for.
Gentile civilization, meanwhile, basked in the blessings of the Almighty as it discovered and settled more and more lands, taking the good news of God’s salvation plan for mankind to the four corners of the globe.
But just as, during the Second Period, the people of Israel repeatedly forsook the Lord and played the harlot with false gods, growing increasingly unfaithful until God had no choice but to lift His hand of blessing and allow them to experience the curses resulting from their disobedience, so too did the Christian world, from very early on in the Third Period, forsake the teachings and example of Jesus, and become increasingly syncretised with the Greek-based humanistic world view until the practice of Christianity was so far removed from its origins as to be almost unrecognizable from the life Jesus lived.
The worst of all the rotten fruits spawned by this perversion was Christian antisemitism, which took root barely a century after Jesus’ ascension and manifested in increasingly vicious ways down through the centuries until it erupted and consumed one third of the Jewish people in the Holocaust.
Nonetheless (and this is essential to understand), just as Israel’s unfaithfulness - tragic and terrible as it was - did not render null and void Israel’s calling and purpose, so neither has the unfaithfulness of Church leaders and their followers - tragic and terrible as it has been - rendered null and void the calling and purpose of the true Church. A common destiny lies before them both.
One area of biblical coverage we did not isolate is that which speaks to “the Last Days.” These prophetic passages pepper the Scriptures from Genesis 3:15 (as we have seen) through the Books of Moses, the Psalms, the major and minor prophets, the Gospels, the Epistles and, of course, The Revelation. I will call this the Fourth or Final Period.
What I am growing to understand, and what I hope we will see together as we make our way through the “Bible on Israel,” is that periods One, Two and Three of human history are in the process of being pulled together in these last days; in the very coming to pass of the multitude of prophecies that look towards our redemption.
In the end, I believe, we will see that Israel - the land - remains the stage on which the glorious final act of God’s redemption plan is played out. And Israel - the people - remains the nation in and through which God is working to so bring all things back into right relationship with Himself. Christians, increasingly, are having their eyes opened to these truths, with more and more responding by identifying with and - like the Moabitess Ruth - seeking to go with the people of Israel.
To sum up then:
In the First Period – Genesis 1 to 11 – God interacts with individuals until He comes to Abraham, singling him out.
In the Second Period – Genesis 12 and virtually the rest of the Bible – God focuses on the descendants of Abraham known as the nation of Israel. Another way of putting this is that God “favors” Israel while the gentile nations are “ignored.”
In the Third Period – the last 2000 years of post-biblical history – God turns His “attention” away from the nation of Israel and the Land of Israel, and “focuses” on the gentile nations in their gentile lands. He blesses, prospers or favors God-fearing gentiles and their lands, while Israel - land and people - lie in the shadow of His disfavor; under His curse.
In the Fourth Period – from about 1850, and encompassing the very days we are living in – God is turning the light of His countenance from the gentiles – whose lands are falling increasingly into darkness – and lifting up His face to shine once again upon Israel, over whom a new dawn is breaking. He is regathering the scattered people of Israel to their land, restoring their land to them (against the wishes and efforts of the world), and bringing their land back to life.
God is doing this in readiness for Messiah’s return, when the Lion of the Tribe of Judah will come back to the Land of Israel restored to Jewish sovereignty, and back to Jerusalem, the city of David, from where He will rule and reign over the nations of the world.
All who survive among our gentile nations will then come up to Jerusalem to worship the King and celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles as Messiah finally will have come to tabernacle among us - our relationship with Him eternally and gloriously restored. And the name of the city in that day will be “The Lord is there.”
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