Focus on
Jerusalem Prophecy Ministry September,
2004
Israel is unique among the
community of the world’s 200 plus nations in that it is 3000 years old, and
throughout the course of world history it has appeared and disappeared twice
from that exclusive club. As sure as the nations of the world are monitored over
by unseen princes of the power of the air, surely the great angel Michael has
waged a successful war against the Dragon’s principalities to preserve a remnant
of Israel. (still yet though, Michael’s battle is not
finished as he will defend
Israel in the coming day of trouble)
However, God’s hand of judgment has fallen twice on his own nation, once through
the trauma of the Babylonian Captivity, and the second time through the great
world wide dispersion at the hands of Rome that has come to be known in history
as the Diaspora.
Viewed purely from a sovereign
land perspective, the Babylonian Captivity was a mild disturbance and a brief
interruption for the nation of Israel in its history when compared to the
brutish uprooting and the imposed world wide scattering that Rome inflicted upon
the Jews. It is no less than a miracle that the Jewish people could even survive
as an ethnic socio-culture group after such a long interruption as a nation. But
survive they did.
Albeit, the Bible prophesied of
both of these national up-rootings (one being regional, the 2nd
being global) of Israel. So it should come as no surprise that the Bible
also foretold of two gatherings for Israel. The second gathering of Israel is
distinct from the first gathering of Israel, and it establishes a prophetic
landmark that signals alarm bells for the Second Coming of Christ. Eschatologists usually point to the rebirth of Israel
as a sovereign state in 1948 as one of the most important events in prophecy.
Why is the current existence of Israel significant, you may ask? I usually
assert to FOJ seminar listeners that Israel is back to stay. Although the world
is repulsing at the return of Israel and is undergoing seismic geo-political
shocks over Israel’s present existence, there are several reasons why we can
assert that Israel is here for good this time, and will never, never, be
uprooted again. The reemergence of Israel is no mere accident of history. Just
as its ancient history reveals that God chose the nation to be a model to all
the nations of the world, its reemergence in our day portends that God is
readying to settle accounts with Israel, and indeed with all the nations
pertaining to the way in which they have interacted with Israel during their
time of calamity.
The Apostle Paul commented (written
by Luke) in his writings in the book of Acts, that Jesus Christ had
fulfilled all the things that were foretold of him by the prophets of Israel. He
further mentions (Acts
3:15,21)
that God had raised him from the dead and received him into Heaven. He further
qualifies these statements by adding that when the “times of restitution”
are come, that God the Father will send his Son Jesus Christ, at a specific
point in time which God himself had spoken about through the prophets ever since
the world began.
Acts 3:20-21
And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the
heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which
God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
By definition, restitution is the action of restoring to the rightful
owner something that has been taken away, stolen, lost, or surrendered. The
word restitution is taken from the Greek word apokatastasis,
which means reconstitution. In Hebrew, the word restitution is derived from
the word shalam, which means to make amends, restore, to give back
again, to make peace for, to recompense, or make good again and to make
completed.
It should be noted that Paul is
talking about the restitution of all things in a continuing context to the
questions posed to Jesus by his Disciples, and repeated by Peter in his treatise
to Theophilis. Their question was specific, and it follows from chapter one. (Acts
1:6-7 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord,
wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to
Israel?
And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which
the Father hath put in his own power.)
The Disciples specifically
pinpointed Jesus down on the topic of the restoration of the kingdom to Israel.
Jesus remarked that it was not for them to know the times (whether it was times
of grace, time of restitution, time of the kingdom, etc.) or even the season for
the restitution’s commencing. In effect, Jesus was looking far ahead into the
corridor of time that we (Christians) have been traveling now for 20 centuries,
and simply informed his Disciples that the time for the restoration of the
Israeli kingdom was beyond their very limited life span. While the restitution
of Israel was certainly within God’s power and domain, (vs-7: “which the
Father hath put in his own power.”) the time for it was then yet afar off.
Jesus quickly turned their attention to the power of the coming of the Holy
Ghost and the fact that they should become his witnesses, (the first generation
of witnesses) that would carry the good news of His 1st coming to the
ends of the earth. A few days later they all experienced the magnificent power
of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. On that wondrous occasion, Peter explained the
spirit’s presence among the converts, and waxed into a brief narrative about the
anticipated day of the Lord (Acts 2:16-36) when God would indeed make
restitution for Israel. (please see more on this topic under
Question #232 in the FOJ Question
and Answer section)
Israel’s Diaspora Was not
Accidental History, It was Prophesied
The great world-wide scattering of the Jews and the
complete obliteration of the Jewish nation from 70AD until 1948 was not a fact
of history that caught God unaware. The Lord forewarned Israel of that
eventuality over and over again before it ever came to pass. Repeated revolts by
the Jews against Roman rule caused the Romans not only to destroy the second
temple and the city of Jerusalem in AD 70, but ongoing revolts led the Romans to
subsequently remove most all of the Jews from their land and scatter them among
the nations. The fact that such terrible consequences would follow deep-seated
and persistent revolt against their legitimate King had been thoroughly
described by Moses at in the closing Chapters of Deuteronomy. All the prophets
said the same thing as Moses. However none of the Old Testament prophets ever
said that God's promises to Israel were now null and void or that Israel was to
be permanently set aside, a teaching that sadly would engulf a large segment of
the Church throughout the Diaspora through the concept of replacement theology.
Quite the opposite is the truth in fact. One finds the most glowing,
glorious promises for Israel's ultimate long-term prosperity from the
writings of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the other prophets immediately after
the grimmest, darkest predictions of God's consequence engine running in their
history. The atrocity of the Diaspora fell upon Israel in 70AD and carried
forward throughout most of the Church Age. (times of Grace) The Diaspora is
gradually being reversed in our times through the waves of Jewish aliya that has
transpired since Israel’s reconstitution as a state in 1948. But still the Bible
is emphatic that the times of restitution are coming for Israel, and indeed
afterwards, for the whole world. (Deuteronomy 28:64 And the Lord shall
scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other;
and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have
known, even wood and stone.
(Ezekiel 12:14-16 And I
will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and
all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them. And they shall know
that I am the Lord, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and
disperse them in the countries. But I will leave a few men of them from the
sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their
abominations among the heathen whither they come; and they shall know that I am
the Lord.)
To what purpose has Israel and
world Jewry, after 2000 years of exile, been physically reconstituted today? Has
Israel returned to its Promised Land only to be banished from the land of
promise once again? Is the modern political Zionist movement simply a movement
born of human geo-politics that does not figure into Bible prophecy? There are
at least seven very important things to consider about the modern rebirth of the
state of Israel from a Biblical perspective, and the times of restitution that
are connected to its existence. These seven reasons demonstrate that God’s plan
for Israel’s restitution are already being activated. There will not be another
exile for Israel. Israel is back to stay, and the world needs to know that fact.
After reviewing these items, it should be readily apparent to the reader why the
god of this world (Satan, Allah, etc; Antichrist) insists upon diminishing the
size of the state of Israel, and then upon destroying the nation of Israel
altogether.
God has uniquely conveyed
throughout the Bible through the use of both imagery and symbolism that Israel
would first be re-gathered from the nations while yet remaining in a condition
of unbelief. This fact may be startling to some, to those that may think that
Israel’s repentance is a prerequisite for Divine accommodation back into the
land. But the fact of the matter is that God will change their hearts toward him
after they have returned to the land, a geographic-demographic fact which in
turn causes a world-wide conflict from which they can find no resolution.
Albeit, a world leader will arise to offer Israel a deceptive plan for peace and
security. The prophet Ezekiel describes this physical restoration to the land in
the following scripture references. (Pay close attention to the italics and
under-lined portions of scripture as you read from Ezekiel:)
Ezekiel 36:24-29
For I will take you (Israel) from among the heathen, (nations) and
gather you out of all countries, (diaspora) and will bring you
into your own land. (partial physical restoration) Then (afterwards)
will I (God) sprinkle clean water (spiritual restoration) upon
you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols,
will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit (spiritual
rebirth) will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart (blindness
and hard-heartedness) out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of
flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my
statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the
land (realization of a permanent physical full land-covenant) that I gave
to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also
save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, (fruitful
land- Millennial Kingdom) and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.
Ezekiel 37:11-14
Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel:
behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for
our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God;
Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of
your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am
the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of
your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall
place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it,
and performed it, saith the Lord.
Ezekiel explicitly states in verse
eleven
that the dry bones that are
pictured within his prophetic imagery lesson are specifically the House of
Israel. In verses 11-14 of Ezekiel’s vision, we can easily see the utter despair
in the Jewish psyche, and the sense of hopelessness that was endured by them
throughout the Diaspora. But a return to the land was always in the forecast,
and formed the backdrop for the Zionist dream that was uniquely venerated in the
exilic anthem, “next year in Jerusalem.”
Ezekiel 37:3-10
And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord
God, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say
unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God
unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall
live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and
cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall
know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I
prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came
together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh
came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath
in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of
man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O
breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he
commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up
upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
In this portion of scripture,
Ezekiel clearly lays out the scenario for Israel being restored in a physical
body first. (bone coming to bone with sinew covering coming upon them)
The restoration of the physical body is followed by a spiritual rebirth, as
depicted in the fact that new physical body is shown first without breath being
in it. Only after the body parts are shown reconstituted as a legitimate body
are we confronted with the realization that it has no life. (…but
there was no breath in them.)
The physical body still
requires the breath of life to be breathed into the body for it to experience
actual life. So it is with the house of Israel yet today. Israel has been
reconstituted in the world as a physical entity, but it has not yet experienced
the “breathing of life” being breathed into its restored body. But the existence
of the body portends that Israel’s time of spiritual restitution is close at
hand. The Psalmist prayed thusly for the time of Israel’s restitution:
(Psalms 141:7-8
Our bones are scattered at
the grave's mouth, as when
one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth. but mine eyes are unto thee, O GOD
the Lord: in thee is my trust;
leave not my soul destitute.)
The Lord will not leave Israel in a world of destitution forever.
In John chapter three, Jesus tells
Nicodemus that in order for anyone to ever see the kingdom of God that he must
be born again. (John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I
say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.)
Nicodemus was taken aback by these comments, as he did not understand the
concept of being born of the spirit. Jesus continued on to convey to Nicodemus
the reality that flesh is born of flesh, but that which is born of spirit is
spirit. Jesus was teaching Nicodemus that regeneration, (paliggenesia)
or spiritual rebirth can only be realized through the abiding manifest work of
the spirit. (The Greek word (palingenesia) that is translated
"regeneration" comes from a combination of the Greek word (palin) that
means "again," and the Greek word (genesis) that means "birth" or
"beginning.) Often eschatologists refer to 1948 as being the date
of the rebirth of Israel. In reality, Israel was only reconstituted as a
restored physical body in that year. Its rebirth, (spiritual rebirth) or
regeneration has not yet occurred.
Ezekiel 20:33-44 As I
live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out
arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you: And I will bring you out
from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are
scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury
poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there
will I plead with you face to face. Like as I pleaded with your fathers
in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord
God. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into
the bond of the covenant: And I will purge out from among you the rebels,
and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country
where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye
shall know that I am the Lord. As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the
Lord God; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will
not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and
with your idols. For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of
Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in
the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your
offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things. I
will accept you with your sweet savor, when I bring you out from the people, and
gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be
sanctified in you before the heathen. And ye shall know that I am the Lord,
when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I
lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers. And there shall ye remember
your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall lothe
yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed. And
ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you for my name's
sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O
ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God.
In this portion of scripture, God
forecasts that after he has brought the House of Israel back into the land, that
he will begin a mission to refashion the hearts of the people, by purging out
the rebels, and pleading with the seed of Israel face-to-face. (in the land)
God will also use the Last Days world conflict over Israel’s physical
reconstitution to force Israel to remember its foolish ways, and to come to the
point (like the prodigal son) whereby it loathes itself, and becomes
humbled to the point to where they will cry out to the one whom it pierced 2000
years ago! (see Zechariah 12:10-12 and Matthew 23:39)
Jesus alluded to the time of
Israel’s regeneration. (Matthew19:28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say
unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the
Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve
thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.) Jesus even conveyed that
after Israel’s regeneration that his Disciples would sit with him upon his
throne, an allusion to the Millennial Kingdom, and the time when the Lord brings
about total restitution for Israel. (3.)
Israel was Re-gathered from the Whole World
God banished Israel from
the Promised Land and permitted the Gentile powers of this world to scatter the
seed of Israel to the four-corners of the earth. God dispersed the Jews into
every nation in the world for a variety of reasons. Israel lost its precious
land heritage because of disobedience. But God has used the scattering of Israel
to the whole world as his witness to the gentiles, and to call into
accountability the actions of the world as they relate to his chosen nation. (Psalms
44:13-14 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and a derision to
them that are round about us. Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a
shaking of the head among the people.)
Isaiah 11:12 And he shall
set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and
gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
Jeremiah 16:14-16
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said,
The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of
Egypt; But, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the
land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and
I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. Behold,
I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and
after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every
mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
Ezekiel 39:21-29 And I
will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment
that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. So the house of
Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward. And
the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their
iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from
them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the
sword. According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have
I done unto them, and hid my face from them. Therefore thus saith the Lord God;
Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole
house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name; After that they have
borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against
me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid. When I have
brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies'
lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; Then shall they
know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity
among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have
left none of them any more there. Neither will I hide my face any more from
them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the
Lord God.
Six thousand years of human
history testifies that only
one nation, after having been subjugated and farmed out all over the entire
planet has managed to retain its identity and resurface among the community of
the world’s civil governments. That nation is Israel, and it portends that the
20th century phenomenon of Zionism is an episode in the affairs of
mankind that will result in God’s plan of regeneration and restitution.
(4.) A
World Conflict Over the Land
Zechariah’s utilization of the
phrase “cup of trembling” to describe the Last Days geo-political world scene is
striking. The word cup from the Hebrew is the word caph, and
refers to a bowl or dish, and also to a gate, or doorway, such as a threshold.
The word for trembling in Hebrew raal, and it refers to an
environment, or spirit that leads to intoxication or madness. Zechariah’s phrase
is meant to convey the idea that the city of Jerusalem in the Last Days would
become a weight of political weariness that would in turn induce the nations of
the world into a spiteful state of frenzy over Israel’s existence. The world’s
madness against Israel, and against the God of Israel would literally catapult
the entire world onto the very threshold of God’s righteous judgement. Isaiah
also makes the analogy of Jerusalem being likened unto the dregs (goblet) of a
cup of trembling, and Jeremiah chapter 25 makes the case in point that a sword
(Islam) will be sent unto all the nations in the last days to make them drunken
with the madness of anti-Semitism.
Zechariah
12:2-3
Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the
people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and
against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for
all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though
all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. Jeremiah 25:27-31
Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of
Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken,
and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because
of the sword (Islam) which I will
send among you. And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to
drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Ye shall
certainly drink. For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by
my name, and should ye be utterly
unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the
inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts. Therefore prophesy thou
against them all these words, and say unto them, The Lord shall roar from on
high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon
his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against
all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise shall come even to the ends of the
earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with
the nations, he will plead with all flesh;
So then, the Lord has a controversy with
the nations. That controversy revolves around the city of Jerusalem and more
specifically a hill called Zion. The nations of this world have fallen (become
drunken) under the evil domain of Satan, and his scheme is to utilize the
might of the world’s nations to oppose God’s designs for Zion. Israel’s
physical re-emergence in our day signals the fact that the world is approaching
High Noon in the showdown over Zion. (Isaiah 34:8 For it is the day of
the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.)
In Revelation 11:18 we are foretold that the nations are angry against God and
his plan for Israel, but their madness will result in God’s righteous judgment
being exacted upon them. (Revelation 11:18 And the nations were angry, and
thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and
that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the
saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them
which destroy the earth.)
(5.) Israel Still Owns the Land
The Gentile church has been called not only to testify
and witness unto the Gentiles, but also to be their brother’s keeper as they
move toward their time of trouble. The Church has as one of its many duties the
charge to intercede on behalf of Israel. That does not mean to be prejudiced
towards Israel and ignore the needs of other nations. All nations need the
salvation and grace of God. But we must never forget that in the long-term, all
nations will be blessed when Israel is blessed. Satan would have the world to
believe just the opposite! Satan would have the world believe that the Jews are
monkeys and apes and that they must be exterminated. The nations of this world
have become blinded by the god of this world, (Satan) and he is actively
enticing the nations ahead with all speed to enact his evil conspiracy to
destroy the seed of Israel. If the nations persist in the evil of anti-Zionism,
then God will lift back his pronounced stay of execution, and unleash judgment
upon them. This judgment action is commonly known as Armageddon. As long as the Church has existed, so has God
preserved a remnant of Israel. That remnant of Israel constitutes the missing
link in the Church’s relationship to ancient Israel. Christians must never
forget that Jesus was a Jew. He was the fulfillment of the Jewish law. He was
the lamb that God provided in the place of the many lambs the Jewish priests
sacrificed. Salvation came by way of the Jews, therefore all Christians owe a
great sense of gratitude to the forefathers of Israel, for without Israel we
would all be without hope. God revealed himself first to the Jews, and
afterwards through Jesus, he grafted us into the citizenship and fellowship of
Israel, and into the faith of Abraham. Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto
salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the
Greek. Ephesians 2:11-13
Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are
called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made
by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. The Church needs to be
Israel’s keeper because God is undertaking a new mission to bring Israel back
into his fold. Romans chapter eleven explicitly verifies that God has permitted
the Church’s relationship to Christ work to help format a spirit of jealousy
within the Jewish heart. In fact, (Christ’s crucifixion) what Satan
thought would destroy the seed of the woman, God has turned into the gift of
grace unto the Gentiles. The fall of the Jews may have diminished them, but
their fall resulted in the richness of God being made available to everyone. But
we as Christians are not to boast against the Jews, rather we are to unite with
the Holy Spirit in working toward the day when God will graft the Jews (the
natural branches) back into the root of God’s twofold plan of harvest. In
reality, God wants the Church to provoke the Jewish people to seek him, and we
must always remember that we are indeed our brother’s keeper. The Devil labors
unceasingly to keep the Jews from coming to faith in Jesus Christ, and that is
because he knows full well that when salvation comes full circle back to the
Jews, his day will be over. God has mandated that the salvation and restitution
of Israel will lead to the blessings of God being poured out upon the whole
world. (Romans 11:15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the
world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?) Israel’s
embrace of their true Messiah (and our Savior) will trigger a new vitality and
richness of life that exceeds anything modern man can imagine. The peace of
Jerusalem will usher in a Kingdom of peace. In the meantime, the Lord is looking to his Church to
stand-in-the-gap, as the world’s evil intentions are focused upon Jerusalem. (Ezekiel
22:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and
stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I
found none.) There is a battle cry among fanatical fundamentalist
Islamic terrorists today that should sound the alert for every Christian to be
standing-in-the-gap, and praying for Israel. That evil motto from the Islamic
Imams goes like this: “today we are working to destroy the Sunday people, and
tomorrow we shall destroy the Saturday people.” The Sunday people they have
in their view are the Christians, and the Saturday people they are targeting is
Israel. This motto lies at the very heart of the war-on-terror. The world will soon face a perplexing final dilemma;
what will it do about Israel. Hitler had his final solution, and the coming
prince of false peace will also offer a solution to the Jewish problem. Although
Christians will escape the fateful hour of temptation that will befall the Jews,
the Church is not exempt from how it treats God’s chosen nation. If it should be
that the Church should be blinded to God’s ongoing move to restore Israel, then
it will unwittingly lend its support to the conspiracy of the Antichrist.
(7.)
Israel’s Messiah Will Bring Restitution
Two thousand years ago the Lord
was received up into Heaven in a cloud, and arriving upon there, the Son of
righteousness sat down at the right hand of his Father. There, seated together
upon the heavenly throne they have reviewed the history and actions of men and
nations. The book of The Revelation was sent by the Lord to convey to mankind
that the righteousness of the Lamb of God had prevailed, and that the Father has
decreed that his judgment and justice for this world has been set in stone.
God, who is beyond space and
time, has utilized the art and craft of foretelling history (prophecy) to warn a
warring world to repent, and abandon the cosmic conspiracy of the Great Red
Dragon. But God has not decreed an end to this present world. God has decreed
that it will be restituted under the kingdom of our Lord for 1000 years. He is
planning to restore this world, to bring it peace and finally to bring
restitution to Israel.
Who hath required the
restoration of Israel? The Lord has looked for anyone among the world’s nations
that aspires to the restoration of Israel, and sadly throughout history, he has
found none.
Isaiah 42:22-24
But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes,
and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for
a spoil, and none saith, Restore. Who among you will give ear to this?
who will hearken and hear for the time to come? Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and
Israel to the robbers? did not the Lord, he against whom we have sinned?
for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.
But the Lord God Jehovah of
Israel has promised Israel a Kingdom, and he will not go back on his word. He is
moving in the affairs of this world even now to restore Israel, and when it is
accomplished, the desert places will blossom as a rose, the nations shall beat
their swords into plowshares, and a lion shall lie down by a lamb, and the law
of the Lord will go forth from Zion, and there will be restitution for the
oppressed. (Isaiah 27:6 He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root:
Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.)
The aforementioned seven points
of Biblical and prophetic evidence are all reasons that our generation should
anticipate the soon restitution of Israel. The physical return of Israel
stipulates that the spiritual rebirth of Israel is within sight. The Church,
which was so long ago informed by Peter that the heavens had received Jesus
until the “times of the restitution of all things” is finishing
its race! The signal from Israel’s physical reconstitution should alert the
Church to the fact the Father is about to send his Son back to Jerusalem. (Acts
3:18-21 But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his
prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore,
and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of
refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send
Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must
receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by
the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.)
The countdown to the showdown
over Jerusalem has been logistically prepped. The nations are readying and
jockeying for positions as they choose sides, and sad to say, but they appear (as
prophecy indicated they would) to be choosing the wrong side. But the facts
the world should consider today are:
·
Israel is back to
stay, and will never again to be uprooted (Amos 9:15)
·
Israel (Jerusalem)
will be encircled by the Antichrist (Luke 21:20)
·
Israel will be saved
(reborn spiritually) by the returning Messiah (Zechariah 12:10-12)
·
Israel will enjoy
complete restitution (Ezekiel 11:17)
·
Israel will be a
blessing to the whole world (Zechariah 8:13, Isaiah 19:24, Isaiah 65:8-9)
Focus on Jerusalem Prophecy Ministry Israel and the Time of Restitution September,
2004 |