“You
will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the
appointed time has come.” Psalms 102:13 (NIV)
Turn in your Bibles to Psalm
102:13 and join with me as I read this today’s text. This is a marvelous
prophesy concerning our Lord and the land of Israel The subject today is
“Making Sense from the Middle East Mess.” From a Biblical
perspective the Jewish people are God's chosen people. And this verse will
help to express why in this time of crisis we get nervous.
“You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is
time to show favor to her; the appointed
time has come. For her stones are dear to your servants; her very dust moves
them to pity. The nations will fear the name of the LORD, all the kings of the
earth will revere your glory.” Psalms 102:13-15 (NIV)
The phrase that makes us nervous in any crises in the Middle
East is “the appointed time has come.” Any student of prophecy can tell you
that when our Lord returns in glory, it will be to Zion, which is Israel, God's
Holy Land.
It is important that we study and understand the history of the Jewish nation of
Israel for at least two reasons:
• Their past helps us understand our present. I
love to study about the land and people that gave birth to my Savior and I love
to study about the land where He lived and walked and talked. In fact, studying
the Bible on location is an awesome experience. What a blessing that is because
the Bible burst into living flames in your very hand. Remember, Christianity
came forth from the womb of Judaism and we must understand Jewish history in
order to embrace our present.
• Their
past helps me understand my future. I not only want to see the past,
but I want help in understanding the present and the future because there is
bible prophesy yet to be fulfilled. You can not understand Biblical apart from
understanding the place of the Jewish nation in world affairs.
The Jewish people of Israel are God's chosen people and they
are also the people of destiny. As the Jewish nation goes, so goes the history
of the world. If you want to know what God is up to in this world in this day
and in this in this age, then you must study the land of Israel and the people
of that land because the Jewish people seem to be God's yardstick. They are
God's outline, they are God's blueprint, they are God's program for what He is
up to in the rest of the world and therefore I'm bringing this message tonight
to try to help us understand a little about this Middle East mess.
How Did The
Middle East Get To The Mess It Is Today?
A Brief History Lesson
#1. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s there
was the rise of what is known as the Zionist movement.
The Zionist movement pushed the idea of restoring a Jewish nation to the
Holy Land. This idea was not met with immediate enthusiasm, but slowly the idea
gained traction.
#2. In 1948 the nation of Israel was created
by an act of the United Nations.
At the end of end of World War II, the Holy Land was under British control. They
tried to broker an agreement that would create separate Arab and Jewish states,
both carved out of the Holy Land.
The Arabs rejected that proposal!
So, with no political solution possible, the British forces withdrew on
May 14, 1948. The Jews declared Israel a nation and immediately Arab forces
invaded.
By November 1948, the Israeli military prevailed. Israel had, during this war,
increased its land holdings by one-half (compared with the original British
proposal).
Israel was recognized as an independent nation on May 14, 1948. The
Arabian nations promised to “drench the soil with Jewish blood” if this
recognition were to be acknowledged by the world. The day after recognition,
Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq invaded Israel with all their fury.
Against insurmountable odds, a nation less than a week old was able to regroup
and defend itself. Not only did they drive these nations out of their
territories, but they also gained new territory including Jerusalem. After
utterly defeating the invaders, the Israeli army isolated the Egyptian army and
was in route to the capitol of Egypt to overthrow it.
Under the pressure of the Soviet Union, the UN declared a cease-fire in
order to end the conflict and protect the 5 attacking nations. Though costly,
Israel gained much of its ancient territory by victory over the invading
countries.
Israel considers this event a war of independence for the creation of
their homeland. Palestinians call this Al Naqba (or, “The Catastrophe”),
when more than 700,000 Arabs were driven from their homes
#3. In 1967
during the infamous Six-Day War, Israel gained more territory.
Years before the war,
hostilities between the Arab nations, and the Israel had already been at a high
point. The Arab nations refused to accept the fact that Israel could be a Jewish
state, and so, President Nasser of Egypt called for the destruction of Israel.
At first, there were just attacks on civilians once and a while, but the attacks
became more and more ferocious, until it came to Israeli villages being heavily
shelled by Syrian troops from the Golan Heights. Israel had warned Syria, but
Syria came to Egypt for help, and by then, Egyptian forces were packed into the
Sinai Peninsula. Nasser closed down the Atrait of Tiran, which was a very
important trading link between Israel and the other countries of the world. Such
an act was considered by Israel as an act of war, but what the Arab countries
didn’t know was that Israel would react with full force.
Fearing an imminent attack from Egyptian and Syrian forces, Israel
struck first, virtually destroying the Egyptian Army and Air Force. Also, Israel
gained control of the following “occupied” territories: the Sinai Peninsula,
the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, the West Bank, and Jerusalem.
Israel went into battle against the Egyptians, the Jordanians, and the
Syrians. Because of this, Israel decided to fight in Arab territory rather than
have the battles in Israeli territory. On June 5th the Israeli Air Force made
the First Strike on Egypt.
That strike destroyed 309 of the 340 combat aircrafts belonging to Egyptian Air
Force. Then, Israel moved in their ground forces to complete the attack, leaving
heavy Egyptian casualties, but very minimal casualties for Israel. Israel’s
first strike in the war was amazingly successful.
Israel asked Jordan not to join in on the war, but President Nasser of
Egypt called Jordan and told
them that they had won the previous battle between themselves and Israel,
although they really had not. Because of this, Jordanian troops attacked the
Israeli half of Jerusalem. Israel didn’t have to worry about Egypt anymore, so
they turned their attention on Jordan. By the next morning, Israeli troops
seized the other half of “occupied” Jerusalem that they did not yet own.
Just one day had past, and already the Egyptian air force had been eradicated,
as well as the Jordanian forces suffering heavy casualties.
Israel continued its operations against Arab air force bases, raising the amount
of fighters destroyed to 416! With almost total control of the skies, Israel’s
fighters and bombers were able to protect the tanks and artillery on the
battlefield below. They prevented Jordanian reinforcements from reaching
Jerusalem, and at 10:00 AM, Israel had taken control of the Western Wall! By the
next day, Jordanian forces were pushed back to their side of the Jordan River.
That day, the Jordanians arranged for a cease-fire. The first group had
surrendered.
On June 8, Israeli forces reached the Suez Canal. After they had taken over the
Sinai Peninsula, Israel turned its forces on the Golan Heights, which is where
the Syrians were shelling Israeli
villages from. The next day Israeli soldiers began the difficult assault up
steep terrain against the Syrian forces. The balance of power soon shifted in
Israel’s favor, and by 6:30 PM, Syria had surrendered and signed a cease-fire.
Israel then controlled all of the Golan Heights. The war with the Egyptians
didn’t formally end until 1979, when the two countries finally made peace.
Israel’s victory was extremely devastating to the Arabs, who expected victory
for themselves. The fact that the war took only 6 days shows that Hashem is with
Israel. The Arab forces lost almost their entire air forces, and much of their
armed weaponry. 10,000 Egyptians were killed in Sinai and Gaza alone, compared
to the 300 Israeli casualties on that front. In all, Egypt lost about 11,000
troops, Jordan lost about 6,000, Syria lost about 1,000, and Israel lost about
700. Israel gained all of Jerusalem, The Golan Heights, Sinai, the Gaza Strip,
and the West Bank (West Bank referring to the west
bank of the Jordan River. Some object to the term "West Bank" arguing
that is inappropriate because it falsely suggests that the area belongs to
Jordan. Some prefer to call the areas "Judea and Samaria" the names
used to refer to these areas in biblical times.)
But something strange happened after this incredible military feat.
General Moshe Dayan placed the Israeli flag on the Muslim Dome of the Rock where
the ancient Jewish Temple was constructed. This made the religious Jews very
happy—but then he took down the flag in a political move to placate the Muslim
Arabs and avoid a full and complete Holy War.
#4. In 1973 there was the Yom
Kippur War.
In an effort to force Israel
to unilaterally surrender captured lands, Egypt and Syria jointly attacked
Israel on October 6, 1973, on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish
calendar. They
invaded
the Sinai
and Golan
Heights, respectively, which had been captured by Israel in 1967
during the Six-Day
War.They attack
Other Arab states contributed troops and financial support. Caught by surprise,
Israel suffered severe losses in human life and equipment. Following an Egyptian
refusal to accept a cease-fire and a Soviet airlift to the Arab states, the U.S.
sent an airlift to Israel enabling her to recover from earlier setbacks. Saudi
Arabia then led the Arab world in an oil embargo imposed on the United States
and other western nations.
Following
a cease-fire, the war officially ended on October 22, 1973 but fighting
continued on the Egyptian-Israeli front and the U.S. and the Soviet Union were
nearly dragged into a full-scale superpower confrontation. Such a confrontation
was avoided and when hostilities finally ended, Israel held an additional 165
square miles of territory from Syria, and had encircled the Egyptian Third Army
on the west bank of the Suez Canal. Egyptian forces held two areas of Israeli
territory along the east bank of the canal. Israel, Egypt and Syria all held
prisoners of war.
NOTE: In 1978 Israeli forces invaded Lebanon. It was known
officially as Operation Litani;
invasion of Lebanon up to the Litani river. The invasion was a military success,
as the Israeli military expelled the PLO from Southern Lebanon, where they had
created a de facto state within a state. An international outcry over the
invasion forced a partial Israeli retreat and the creation of a United Nations
patrolled buffer zone between the Arab guerrillas and the Israeli military
#5.
In 1979 the Camp David Accords occurred between Israel and Egypt.
During
negotiations led by U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Israel agreed to return control
of the Sinai peninsula to Egypt in exchange for Egypt’s recognition of the
state of Israel.
#6.
In 1987 there was an Arab uprising called Intifada.
Intifada is the wave of violence that began between Palestinian Arabs and Israelis. Intifada"
is an Arabic word for "uprising" (literally translated as
"shaking off"). Many Palestinians consider the Intifada to be a war of
national liberation against foreign occupation, whereas many Israelis consider it to be a
terrorist campaign.
This Arab uprising against Israeli rule in the occupied territories
involved terrorist military activity by Palestinians, resulting in escalating
tensions and more violence. Israel viewed this as Arafat choosing violence over
peacemaking; the Palestinians viewed this as an overdue response to twenty years
of Israel building settlements in the occupied territories.
#7.
1993 & 1995 produced The Oslo Accords (I & II).
The Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements
or Declaration of Principles (DOP),
were finalized in Oslo, Norway on August
20, 1993, and subsequently
officially signed at a public ceremony in Washington
D.C. on September
13, 1993, with Mahmoud
Abbas signing for the Palestine Liberation Organization and Shimon
Peres signing for the State of Israel.
It was witnessed by Warren Christopher for the United States and Andrei
Kozyrev for Russia,
in the presence of US President Bill
Clinton and Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin with the PLO's Chairman Yasser
Arafat.
Israel agreed to withdraw its forces from Arab territories seized during
the Six-Day War in exchange for Arab states agreeing to recognize Israel’s
statehood and right to security.
1995 produced The Oslo II Agreement.
Under this agreement, Israeli forces were to withdraw from six Arab
cities and 400 villages in the West Bank by early1996. Both sides blame the
other when it doesn’t happen.
#8.
2000 until now.
Increased Palestinian violence is met by a hard-line response from
Israel. Rise of suicide bombers and
other terrorist organizations. Terrorism through Islamic
al-Qaeda groups spreads around the world, even in America with 9-11.
The 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict refers to a series
of ongoing military actions and clashes in northern Israel and Lebanon
between Hezbollah's
armed wing and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israeli air strikes
on the country of Lebanon, and Hezbollah's rocket attacks on northern Israel.
Why
Is This Land So Important?
The land of Israel, the land that
many call the Holy Land is what I consider to be the most important spot on the
face of the earth. In fact, the most important city on earth is not Washington,
or London, nor Moscow, but Jerusalem and the most important land, believe it or
not, is not America, but is that tiny little land about the size of New Jersey
that we call the land of Israel. Some facts you should consider when trying to understand this mess
in the Middle East. Remember that Israel
is at the CENTER of much of what happens in our world today. Let me explain.
• ISRAEL
IS THE GEOGRAPHIC CENTER OF THE WORLD
Ezekiel 5:5
says: “This
is what the Sovereign LORD says: This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the
center of the nations, with countries all around her.” Ezekiel 5:5 (NIV)
This land is strategically located, the hub of three mighty
continents, Asia, Africa, and Europe are all tied together. It is the confluence
of those three mighty land masses. It is the geographic enter. But not only is
it the geographic center…
• ISRAEL
IS THE REVELATION CENTER OF THE WORLD
It is the revelation center
because from this land we received the Word of God.
It was the land of Moses, prophets, Jesus, the apostles and the early church and
so it is the revelation center of the world.
• ISRAEL
IS THE SPIRITUAL CENTER OF THE WORLD!
It is the spiritual center of the
world, because it's the land of Jesus. It was in this land, in Nazareth, where Jesus grew to
maturity. It was in this land, in Galilee that Jesus walked and talked on the
hills and the mountainsides of Galilee and beside the blue lake of Galilee. It
was in this land in Jerusalem that our Lord was crucified and buried. It was in
this land that our Lord was raised from the dead. It was in this land from the
Mount of Olives that Jesus ascended and went to heaven and it is to this land
and to those mount of Olives that Mount of Olives that Jesus shall come again
and his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives. Israel is the
spiritual center of the world.
• ISRAEL
IS THE PROPEHCY CENTER OF THE WORLD!
It is the prophesy center of the
entire world because it is the Israel is the only place and the Jews the only people
whose future is pre-written history called prophesy. The details of this
land and these people are minutely written down. That's the reason that I've
said if you want to know what God is up to, if
you want to know what God is doing, then you can study this land of Israel and
the people of this land because it is the prophesy center.
• ISREAL
IS THE STORM CENTER OF THE WORLD.
It is the storm center of the world. The
great trouble spot in the world is the Middle East, specifically, the land of
Israel. The Bible says that Jerusalem will be a burdensome stone for all
of the peoples of the world and indeed it is. Each evening on the news, as if we
were thee, we can see the gathering storm clouds of Armageddon on the horizon. Israel is the storm center of the world.
• ISRAEL
IS THE PEACE CENTER OF THE WORLD!
Israel is also the peace center. There will be peace in the world when there is peace in Jerusalem and that
is the reason that we are told to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. There
will never be peace on earth until there's peace in Jerusalem and there will
never be peace in Jerusalem until Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace rules and
reigns from Jerusalem. In my opinion, herein lies the BIG PROBLEM for all the
proposed solutions to the problems in the Middle East.
The
problem in the Middle East is a spiritual problem that men are attempting to
solve by diplomatic and political means. And, that will never work!
So, and so when
we're praying for the peace of Jerusalem, we're praying even so, come Lord Jesus
and we want our Lord to reign from Zion and to sit upon the throne as King of
Kings and Lord of Lords. And I want to say that when this prophecy if fulfilled
then Israel will be…
• ISRAEL
WILL BE THE GLORY CENTER OF THE WORLD!
When Jesus returns Israel will then become the glory center
of the world, for all of the nations of the world shall come to Jerusalem to
worship and Jerusalem shall be the capital city not only of Israel, but of the
entire world and the word of the Lord shall go forth from Zion and Jesus shall
reign!
Tonight I want to mention to you four vitally important prophesies concerning the Jewish people and
their land of Israel. I believe that with an understanding of these four
prophecies that you will perhaps better understand the escalation of conflict
that we are witnessing today in the Middle East.
1. There is the MIRACLE of the birth of the JEWISH PEOPLE.
The very first prophesy is what I call the miracle of the
birth of the Jewish people. This
miracle of generation is how Israel came to be a nation to begin with.
Genesis 12:1-4
relates the PROMISE that resulted in the nation of Israel. Genesis 18:18 states: “Abraham will surely become a great and powerful
nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.” (NIV)
You find that God gave to Abraham, who was the father of the
Jewish people, a promise and that promise became a title deed to the
people and the land. God said to Abraham. Abraham, I'm going to give you a land
and I'm going to give you a seed and I am going to bless you. God
gave Abraham the land that we call the land of Israel. God’s
promise was irrevocable. And then
God said to Abraham, “Abraham, I'm going to give you a
son and through that son all of the nations of the world are going to be
blessed.”
When God made that promise to Abraham he was a young man of
seventy years of age and his wife Sarah was sixty years of age. When Sarah heard
that they were going to have a child she blushed and laughed. It was hard for
her to believe that because she had already passed age of having children, her
womb was now dead and she laughed at the idea of Abraham being able to provide a
child. She laughed, but God was not
amused at Sarah’s laughter. And
God, in order to allow all human hope to die, waited thirty more years when
Abraham was a hundred years of age and Sarah was ninety years of age.
The seeds of the Mess
In The Middle East were sown as a result of Abraham and Sarah wavering in
their belief that God could miraculous keep His promise. So, through human
instrumentality they elected to help God keep His promise and Ishmael was born.
The seeds of the problem today go all the way back to that act of disobedience.
Then God gave them a son and the
child that God gave was a miracle child. Baby was indeed a miracle child and
from him a nation was born into existence.
Every Jewish person that you see
is the direct result of a miracle birth. Our precious Jewish friends should have no difficulty
believing in the virgin birth because dear friend, they every one of them, are
here because of a miracle birth. God
performed a miracle and every Jewish person here today is here because of a
miracle. This prophesy is what I call the miracle of the Jewish people as a race
and as a nation.
2.
There
is the Miracle of PRESERVATION (Psalm 89)
Not only did God bring this nation into being as a miracle
nation, but God keeps and preserves this
nation as a miracle nation.
Psalm 89:20
is a prophecy concerning David, Israel's greatest king, and the decadency of
David: “I have found David my servant; with my sacred oil I have anointed
him.”
Psalm 89:27-28: “I will also appoint him my
firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth. I will maintain my love
to him forever, and my covenant with him will never fail.”
The word covenant means an unbreakable promise and it
says “shall never fail..” Now, what is God saying? God is saying the descendants of David
shall endure. Now, in verse thirty you see something remarkable.
“If his sons forsake my law and do not follow my statutes,
if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands, I will punish their sin
with the rod, their iniquity with flogging; 33 but I will not take my love from
him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or
alter what my lips have uttered.”
Psalms 89:30-34 (NIV)
God looked down through the tunnel of time and said if
David’s children; that’s David's descendants, forsake my law and walk not in
my judgments and by the way, they have forsaken God's law and they have not
walked in his judgments, then God says in verse thirty two, “I will punish
their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging.” “BUT”, put a
circle around the word “BUT.” “But I will not take my love from him, nor
will I ever betray my faithfulness. 34 I will not violate my covenant or alter
what my lips have uttered.”
Now, what is God saying? God has said here that even though
the Jewish people would be disobedient and they were; they would be disbursed
and they were; God said that the Jewish people would be discredited and they
were; BUT God said that the Jewish people would not be destroyed.
They may be chastised, they may
suffer God’s disciple, but God said I will keep my word to David, his seed
shall endure. And
every Jewish person you know is here because of God's miracle, keeping His
preserving power upon His chosen people. You can study history or even read
today’s newspaper and see that the devil, has tried to eradicate, annihilate
them, to eliminate and to utterly destroy this nation! The enemies of Israel continue to try to override God and obliterate this
promise! However, they will never succeed. I want you to remember today:
•
Pharaoh could
not diminish God's chosen people.
• The Red Sea could not drown God's chosen people.
• Jonah's whale could not digest God's chosen people.
• Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace could not burn God's chosen people.
• The hanging gallows of horrible Haman could not execute God's chosen
people.
• The nations of this world have not been able to eliminate God's
chosen people.
• The dictators of this world have not been able to annihilate God's
chosen people!
• The Islamic Terrorist in this world have tried to destroy Israel but they
too will fail. The Jewish people have suffered, but they have endured
because God's word prophesied by His miracle, they would persevere, they will
endure.
You say, what's so great about a
miracle of preservation? My friends, when other peoples have been taken from
their homelands, they have been absorbed, they have been assimilated, they have
been swallowed up, they have been diminished. They cannot be traced, but for
twenty centuries the Jewish nation has continued, they have kept themselves
together, for centuries, they are still clinging to their traditions, to their
laws, to their statutes and even to their language.
God has preserved them a nation.
Now please understand what I’m
saying. Israel is NOT perfect and they are certainly living as cultural Jews and
not religious Jews. God promised HE would discipline them for their rebellion and I
believe He has and will continue to do so.
They suffered unmentionable atrocities, under Pharaoh;
they suffered under Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander the great and the Greeks,
under Nero and the Romans;
they suffered under the Turks; they
suffered under Hitler; they suffered
under Russia; and now they are
suffering under the Arab terrorist
organizations of Hammas and Hezbollah.
Yes they have suffered, but friend, I want you to know that
they have endured because God prophesied that they would endure.
You could no more destroy the Jewish race than you could destroy the sun, the
moon and the stars.
Listen to the prophecy of Jeremiah 31:35-37:
“This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to
shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the
sea so that its waves roar-- the LORD Almighty is his name: "Only if these
decrees vanish from my sight," declares the LORD, "will the
descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me." This is what
the LORD says: "Only if the heavens above can be measured and the
foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants
of Israel because of all they have done," declares the LORD.” Jeremiah
31:35-37 (NIV)
Jeremiah said if you want to get rid of the nation Israel,
you would have to get rid first of the sun and the moon and the stars. Now,
notice in Jeremiah 31:37 that God said,
“I will let you know how you will know when I have cast off Israel.” I'll
cast off Israel the same day you can tell me how high is up. I'll cast off
Israel the same day you can show me what this earth suspended in space is
resting upon, when you can pluck the stars and the moon and the sun from God's
heaven, when you can tell me how high is high and when you can show me what the
earth rest upon, then God says Israel will no longer endure.
When
you study history, you're going to find out that the indestructible Jewish life
has left its indelible mark upon world history.
•
They're not a great people in number; only one fourth of one percent of the
world's population is Jewish.
• One fourth of one percent and yet they have 10% or more of all of the honors
in medicine and in health and in music and in public life and in science. It is
an amazing thing.
• Did you know in the last twenty five years over 25% of the Nobel Prize
winners have been Jewish? Think of that, just one fourth of one percent and yet
twenty five percent to one third of the Nobel Prize winners.
• But what a mark they've made
upon our world. Think of the history of the United States.
· It was a Jewish man that financed Christopher Columbus when
he set voyage to sail to the west?
·
Did you know that it was a Jewish man that first set foot on this soil at the
first landfall? A Jewish man was one of the crew members.
·
Did you know that it was a Jewish man, Hiram Solomon that financed General
George Washington in our Revolutionary War?
·
Think of how God’s chosen people have left their mark upon all of us in so
many ways?
·
Have you ever taken an aspirin? Bayer who developed aspirin was
Jewish.
·
Have you been vaccinated for polio? Salk and Savin were Jewish.
·
Have you ever had a heart condition and your doctor prescribed digitalis? Trebo
was Jewish.
·
Have you ever gone to the dentist and he had to deaden your gums before he
started to drill? Stricker, who developed Novocain was Jewish.
· You've gone to the psychiatrist and had psychoanalysis.
Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis was Jewish.
·
Have you been helped by the Salvation Army or have you helped the Salvation Army
and been blessed by the Salvation Army, as all of us have. William Boothe, the
founder of the Salvation Army had a Jewish mother which according to the law of
return would make William Boothe Jewish.
·
Are you a student of philosophy? Spinosa was Jewish.
·
You say, well, I'm a Roman Catholic. The first popes were Jewish.
It's an amazing thing dear friend as we study the mark that
God's chosen people have made upon this world.
The miracle of their birth as a people and the miracle prophecy of preservation
of His people is amazing.
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3.
There
is the Miracle of RESTORATION (Amos 9:14-15)
Now, the third prophesy I want to mention is the
prophesy of restoration as God has brought these people back into the land
promised to Abraham. In my estimation the most amazing and wonderful fact of the
20th Century was not the end of World War II. It was not planting a man on the
moon, but the most amazing thing happened in May 14-15, 1948 when the nation of
Israel was reborn, reconstituted as a nation.
I want to show you a very wonderful promise and prophesy in
the book of Amos 9:14-15. “I will bring back my exiled people Israel;
they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards
and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant
Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given
them," says the LORD your God.”
God promised to bring Israel back to their land and further
promised to plant them there and allow NO NATION to uproot them. And friend,
God has brought them back and I want to tell you, they are back there to stay
regardless of what any one says about it. The fact of their existence was a military miracle. When the nation of Israel was born in 1948, 650,000
Jewish settlers returned to be surrounded by six Arab states and forty million
enemies that had sworn to destroy them and drive them in the sea.
The same thing happened in the Six
Day War, 1967 as again God seems to have been looking over their care. The same
was true in 1973 and the Yom Kipper War
and God seemed to have somehow miraculously intervened and with a military
miracle, the same is going on today as
thousands of Hezbollah missiles are being fired into the Israel.
THE
TIME IS COMING WHEN THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON IS GOING TO BE FOUGHT AND GOD ONE
MORE TIME IS GOING TO COME TO THE RESCUE OF HIS PEOPLE IN THAT GREAT FINAL WAR
FOR ISRAEL AND FOR HER INDEPENDENCE.
Remember Psalm 103:13?
“You
will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the
appointed time has come.”
War in the Middle East makes us nervous because we ask,
“Is this the one that will lead to the FINAL CONFLICT of the ages? As a matter
of fact a few years ago
there was a great debate in the United States about the neutron
bomb. A neutron bomb is a bomb that kills not primarily by the flash of
fire, not primarily by percussion, but by radiation. There was a great debate
about how inhuman it was to take lives like this with a neutron bomb and some
did not want the United States to go further into the development of the neutron
bomb.
What some do not realize is that there are experts who
believe that Israel has possessed a neutron since 1977.
Listen to Zechariah 14:12;
“This is the plague with which the LORD will strike all the nations
that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still
standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues
will rot in their mouths.”
God prophesied that the battle of Armageddon, when the
forces of nations marshaled by anti-Christ, will be gathered against Jerusalem. Please
understand, that for years the spirit of Israel was described as “the
Masada complex or spirit”. On Masada 969 Jewish patriots committed suicide
rather than become Roman slaves. However, today Israel has they now call “the
Samson complex.” Today their attitude and spirit is, “If we go, we will
go down like Samson.” Their enemies will be cut down with us and there are
those who believe that Israel has the bomb (neutron) and Israel is
prepared to use the bomb.
The man who wrote the book on Hiroshima and Nagasaki said
that when that radiation came that people's eyeballs melted in their skulls and
ran down their faces like tears and then the flesh melted from their face.
That's what Zachariah seems to be talking about here.
There is coming a
battle, that great battle, but one more time, the Bible says that the LORD will
fight for Israel.
4.
THE PROPHECY OF REGENERATION (Zech. 12:10)
There's
the last miracle prophecy. It is the miracle of Israel’s regeneration.
Listen to the words of the prophet Zachariah says in 12:10: “And I will pour out on the house
of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication.
They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as
one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a
firstborn son.”
What a blessing that will be when the promise and prophecies
of the Bible will be literally fulfilled. Zechariah 13:1-2 declares: "On
that day, I will banish the names of the idols from the land, and they will be
remembered no more," declares the LORD Almighty. "I will remove both
the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land.”
CONCLUSION
I want to finish by returning to the verse that I began
with, Psalm 102:16:
“For the LORD will rebuild Zion and appear in His glory.”
One of the signs that Jesus Christ is coming and coming soon is the sign that
Zion is being build up and then the Lord shall he appear in His glory. The most
important fact that you should consider in the midst of this current Middle East
Crisis is not what Israel is doing or what the terrorist are doing but what are
you doing to prepare for the final battle? Will you be ready when the Lord
returns to appear in His glory?
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