The Fall and Rise of Israel, Part 10 - The Reason Why

Israel's return to the land wasn't just for the heck of it.  Perhaps you are wondering, what is the ultimate purpose of that return?

Let's jump in.  But we need to go back briefly to the very beginning.

There is a very special word that God uses on day four of creation.  Genesis 1:14 says, And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night.  And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years...

The word for seasons is moedim, which literally means appointed times.  God has set up appointments with His people that were built into the very fabric of creation and the biblical calendar.

These appointments are explained in detail in Leviticus 23.  The first is a weekly appointment known as the Sabbath, commemorating the day that God rested after creating the world.  Then, the chapter continues and describes seven annual appointments that are to take place - four in the spring and three in the fall.  People often refer to them as the Biblical Feasts, but the word is moedim. (Moe eh DEEM). Appointments.

For thousands of years, the Jews have celebrated these appointed times.  The bible often translates the observance of these appointments as convocations, or dress rehearsals.  Dress rehearsals for what?

As the biblical narrative unfolds, we see an awesome promise to Abraham.  Genesis 17:7-8 tells us, And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.  And I will give to you and to our offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.

My favorite depiction of YHVH's promise to Abraham

The story continues to unfold, and God makes a covenant with His people at Mt. Sinai after He delivered them from slavery in Egypt.  Unlike the unconditional Abrahamic Covenant, this Sinai Covenant required obedience.  Israel was told what would happen if they did not follow its precepts.  They would be booted out of the land (see Deuteronomy 28:63-64). The ownership of the land was never taken away because of the everlasting Abrahamic covenant, but the right to live in it was temporarily taken away. 

And indeed, failure to obey the Sinai Covenant caused the Israelites to be carried off to Babylon, where they remained for 70 years. But since God had an appointment to keep with His people, they had to return to the land of promise for that appointment - and miraculously, they did.

Several hundred years after Israel's return to the land, the LORD in His perfect timing sent the Messiah, Yeshua, to earth to take on the sin of the world as the Passover Lamb.  Yeshua perfectly kept the Sinai Covenant, yet He was killed, even though He did not owe the death penalty for sin like the rest of us do.  In doing so, He took on our sin Himself and paid the penalty for us.  Through His self-sacrifice, He instituted the New Covenant that had been prophesied to Israel in Jeremiah 31:31-33.

Passover Lamb

And even though the first New Covenant believers were all Jewish, most Jews missed the time of Messiah's first visitation.  They were looking for deliverance from Rome, not from their own sin.

Yeshua said in Luke 19:43-44, He said, For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you.  And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.

This was fulfilled in 70 AD, when Rome destroyed Jerusalem and the Jews were scattered to the ends of the earth.

The second exile lasted much longer than the 70 years in Babylon.  I believe it is because the scope of the New Covenant is much larger and more far-reaching than the Sinai Covenant, which itself pointed to (and was fulfilled by) the Messiah.

But now, Israel is back.  The Messiah, the suffering servant, son of Joseph, perfectly fulfilled the four spring appointed times when He came 2000 years ago.  Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, and Shavuot saw the precise and perfect fulfillment of His death, burial, resurrection, and indwelling of His Holy Spirit.

The fall feasts have yet to have their ultimate fulfillment.  When Messiah returns as the Son of David and the Conquering King, He will perfectly complete the fall appointed times.  Israel is back in the land so that the Lord can keep this appointment with them and reveal Himself to them.  

Psalm 118 says, 

The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
This is the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day that LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Save us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of LORD!

(Reminder:  every time you see the word LORD in the Hebrew scriptures, it is -  a representation of the tetragrammaton the name of God, YHVH)

In Matthew 23:38, Yeshua quoted Psalm 118 when he said to the Jewish leaders, "You will not see me again until you say blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD."  Yeshua is reminding His people that He WILL keep His appointment with them when they finally recognize and call out to Him.

Zechariah 12:10 says, “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

Romans 11 tells us, And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
“The Deliverer will come from Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
“and this will be my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”

The story doesn't end with the redemption of Israel. The glorious return of the Messiah and the redemption of Israel signals the beginning of a new age, the world to come. Yeshua will come to Jerusalem for the purpose of setting up His kingdom on earth, where He will rule and reign with His redeemed people - those of Israel and those of the nations that are grafted into the commonwealth of Israel.  God is preparing to keep an appointment with Israel, in the land of Israel.

It is a big deal.  The biggest deal since the beginning of time, for all who will trust in Him as Redeemer, Lord, and King.

In Isaiah 49:6, YHVH says about the Messiah:

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
that my salvation (Yeshua - Messiah's name, which means salvation) 

may reach to the end of the earth.”

And Revelation 11:5 says, Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he shall reign forever and ever.”

Week after week, the Jews continue to celebrate the appointed time of the Sabbath.  Every week, the Jews partake of bread and wine.  Week after week, they celebrate an incredible dress rehearsal for that which is about to come.

For six days YHVH created the world, and then He rested.  For six thousand years of human history, the world has been in travail.  We are at the dawn of the seventh (and Sabbath) millenium, the thousand years of peace and rule under the coming kingdom of the Messiah (see Revelation 20). The pattern is unmistakable. He is coming again soon.  Have you made Him your king yet?  Will you trust in Him and receive Him?

The Fall and Rise of Israel, Part 9 - Jerusalem the Capital, The Trump Sounds, The Numbers Speak

Now that Jerusalem had been restored to the Jewish people, it would become the focal point of global controversy.

The years following 1967 saw the return of more Jews than ever to the land.  

And remember, the enemy of our souls knows his time is short.  And he knows that the return of Jerusalem to the Jews, along with more Jews flooding to the land, is a smoking gun of biblical prophecy.  So biblically speaking, there is absolutely no surprise that he would freak out and stir up the hearts of the world against Jerusalem.

Israel declared its capital to be Jerusalem in 1967.  But they were the only ones making this declaration... the rest of the world refused to recognize it.  Not only did the world refuse to recognize it, but the nations of the world would gather together again and again (via the United Nations) to condemn the return and to declare it illegal.

To date, the UN has issued more condemnations against Israel than they had ever issued against all the nations of the world, combined.  For example, look at this chart, which outlines the condemnations by the UNHRC (United Nations "Human Rights Council") during the years of 2006 to 2015:

Israel 62, North Korea 8??
Who are they kidding?

In spite of all this, something incredible happened, on the jubilee that followed 1967, which had followed the jubilee of 1917.

Let's look at the progression.

On June 5, 1917, the British War Cabinet decided that General Allenby should be appointed as Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in Egypt.  That appointment set in motion the liberation of Jerusalem from the Ottomans and the Balfour Declaration.  

On June 5, 1967, the Six Day War began, which set in motion the liberation of Jerusalem from Jordanian control, restoring control to the Jews for the first time in 2000 years.

On June 5, 2017, the US senate initiated Jerusalem's fiftieth year with this declaration:

Resolved that the Senate recognizes the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem... reaffirms the Jerusalem Embassy Act... as United States law, and calls upon the President and all United States officials to abide by its provisions.   

What is this Jerusalem Embassy Act referred to by the Senate?  It was a declaration by congress in November of 1995, calling on the US President to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel and move the embassy to Jerusalem.  You can read it here if you'd like.

The act has a built-in waiver, which allows the president to temporarily postpone the move on grounds of “national security,” and has been repeatedly invoked by successive US presidents, from Bill Clinton to George W. Bush and Barack Obama, meaning the law has never taken effect.

After he was elected, Trump signed the waiver as well.  I was disappointed, as during his campaign he had promised to move the embassy to Jerusalem.

But in hindsight, I see that God's timing is perfect.  On December 6, 2017, Donald Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel, and announced plans to move the embassy to Jerusalem.  This pronouncement took place one hundred years after Jerusalem was liberated from the Ottomans, in the very same week.

You can read Trump's declaration in its entirety here.  But for me, this is the highlight of his speech:

"However, through all of these years, presidents representing the United States have declined to officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. In fact, we have declined to acknowledge any Israeli capital at all.

But today, we finally acknowledge the obvious: that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. This is nothing more, or less, than a recognition of reality. It is also the right thing to do. It’s something that has to be done."

Preparations began immediately.  The embassy move to Jerusalem was completed on May 14, 2018.  Its televised inauguration took place seventy years to the day that Israel became a nation, and seventy years to the day that Israel had been recognized as a legitimate nation by a world leader:  Harry Truman.

People had predicted World War 3 if the declaration and subsequnt embassy move were to take place.  But WW3 didn't happen.

This photo ran in the Jerusalem Post...
and it may or may not have been photoshopped.
While there was no World War 3,
the Arabs were not happy with the move. 
I've met this camel guy.
I can't imagine that he was thrilled.

The embassy moved to an area in Jerusalem known as Arnona, which is located right on the imaginary green armistice line of 1948. There is a fascinating back story to this area, and you can click here to read it. Trust me, it's a worthwhile bunny trail.

In post 6, I made a comparison to Truman and Cyrus. Can we now throw another guy into the mix?

During Truman's presidency, a little boy was born on June 14, 1946.  Seventy years later, this little boy would be elected president of the United States.  And just as Truman sounded the trumpet of Israel's statehood, this US president sounded the trumpet of Jerusalem's restoration.  It is interesting that their names both start with tru.  Even the man's name reflected his mission... Trump.  And the meaning of the name Donald?  World leader.

Listen to this speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the opening of the US Embassy Jerusalem on May 14, 2018:

Exactly 70 years ago today, President Truman became the first world leader to recognize the newborn Jewish state.  Last December, President Trump became the first world leader to recognize Jerusalem as our capital.  And today, the United States of America is opening its embassy right here in Jerusalem.

This pattern of 70 years heralds back to King Cyrus, who made his declaration for the return of the Jews to the Holy Land after seventy years of exile in Babylon.

Do you suppose that there would be a relevant scripture reading from the Torah portion for the week of May 14, 2018?

You'd suppose right. 

Part of the reading that week included Leviticus 25:9-10, which says this:
...you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan.

The fall of Jerusalem began with a Roman invasion in 67 AD.  Counting 36 jubilee cycles of 50 years each from that year, we are taken to 1867, the year the restoration kicked off with the work of Mark Twain and Charles Warren.  Each subsequent jubilee had restoration significance:

1917 - Jerusalem liberated from the Ottomans during World War 1

1967 - Jerusalem reunified and given back to Jewish Control

2017 - Jerusalem declared by a world leader to be Israel's capital

Thirty-nine jubilee cycles.  Hmm.  It makes me wonder if any kind of big event will take place upon the completion of the 40th jubilee in 2067.  This is not a prophecy or a prediction... it's just me wondering, because forty is also a big number in the scriptures.  It generally signifies a time of testing.

Through all these number patterns, God has woven a beautiful pattern of Israel's restoration.  No mortal man could possibly come up with all these coincidences.  It's all very cool and interesting, but the question remains... why?  Why is Israel back in her land?  Why is Jerusalem back under Israel's control?

One more post! You can click here to read it.

The Fall and Rise of Israel, Part 8 - Masada to Jerusalem, A New Song, and a Priestly Declaration

1948 saw the official restoration of the Jews to the land. But something was missing.

The day after Israel was declared a nation, enemy forces from five Arab nations attacked the newborn state, each in an effort to grab land. The Jews were driven from the biblical heartland and from the Old City of Jerusalem.

Even today, the large kidney-shaped area of the biblical heartland is called the “West Bank” because it fell under control of Jordan to the east... and they called it the "west bank" of Jordan.  Syria grabbed the Golan Heights. Egypt grabbed Gaza. For these attacking nations, it was a free-for-all. The Jews were left with a long skinny area from north to south of the land that excluded the old city of Jerusalem.

For 19 years, this is how the tiny nation of Israel existed. But something amazing happened to change all that.

In the 1960s, excavation began of the ancient desert fortress of Masada, located next to the Dead Sea. Masada was the place of the Jews’ last stand in the year 73 AD. The man who led the return to Masada was named Yigael Yadin. He was a military commander who had been a general in Israel’s war of Independence in 1948.

Yadin’s original last name was Sukenik. His father was the one who uncovered the Dead Sea Scrolls.

As Yadin led the expedition to open that ancient grave of Masada, an ancient synagogue was found. Parchments of scripture were discovered, the most notable being from Ezekiel 37:1, which read The hand of the LORD… set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. And He said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to bone…and flesh came upon them… And breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army. Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel… Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.

Masada - an ancient and amazing desert fortress next to the Dead Sea,
built by King Herod more than two thousand years ago

God had embedded His promise into the sands of that ancient grave. And just as the loss of Jerusalem led to the loss of Masada in the first century, the return to Masada would lead to… the return to Jerusalem.

For nearly 2000 years, the Jews had yearned for a return to Jerusalem. This song of yearning is found in Psalm 137, written during the exile in Babylon... If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill…

Psalm 137 was the song of the first exile.

Tiny rabbit trail... A few years ago, I attended a Jewish wedding in Jerusalem, on a hillside overlooking the city. This psalm was included in the wedding ceremony. Later, I asked our host about it. He said that a wedding is considered one of the highest joys, yet Psalm 137 commands that Jerusalem be their chief joy. Therefore, it is declared at a wedding to be an even higher joy than the wedding. 

A joyful Jewish wedding celebration overlooking Jerusalem

In May of 1967, a modern song of Jerusalem was written by a young Israeli named Naomi Shemer, and it was sung for the first time in public at the annual Israeli Music Festival. The song was called Yerushalayim Shel Zahav, or Jerusalem of Gold. The song gave a modern voice to the ancient Jewish yearning for Jerusalem.

When it was sung at the music festival, the audience was transfixed. The song spread like wildfire throughout the nation because it struck a chord in the heart of Jews, both religious and secular.  Here are the lyrics of that first performance, translated into English:

Verse 1

The mountain air is clear as wine
And the scent of pines
Is carried on the breeze of twilight
With the sound of bells.

And in the slumber of tree and stone
Captured in her dream
The city that sits solitary
And in its midst is a wall.

Chorus:
Jerusalem of gold
And of copper, and of light
Behold I am a violin for all your songs.

Verse 2
How the cisterns have dried
The market-place is empty
And no one frequents the Temple Mount
In the Old City.

And in the caves in the mountain
Winds are howling
And no one descends to the Dead Sea
By way of Jericho.

Verse 3
But as I come to sing to you today,
And to adorn crowns to you
I am the smallest of the youngest of your children 
And of the last poet.

For your name scorches the lips
Like the kiss of a seraph
If I forget thee, Jerusalem,
Which is all gold... 

Just for fun, here is a link to a recording of that very first performance, if you are interested.

On the very day that the song was first performed, enemy troops were moving across the desert toward Israel’s borders. 

The reason they were preparing to attack Israel was because of a false report from the Soviet Union to Egypt - the report that Israel was intending to launch an invasion against them. Anticipating war, the UN peacekeeping troops withdrew from the Sinai peninsula on May 16.  By June, over 200,000 troops were gathered along Israel’s borders. Israel was outnumbered. Threats of annihilation were real.  Egyptian leader Nasser declared, "Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel."

On June 3, a secret meeting of Israel’s leaders took place to determine what to do. The decision was made to launch a surprise attack. One of the men in that meeting was Yigael Yadin, the man who uncovered Masada.

Interestingly, this meeting took place as the Sabbath came to a close.  Included in that week's Torah portion are the first four chapters of the book of Numbers, in which Israel was numbering and assembling men eligible to go to war, as well as numbering the Levites who were ordained as priests and tabernacle servants.

On June 5, the Israeli air force made surprising attacks on neighboring Arab countries and destroyed their air forces.  They fought Syria in the north and Egypt in the south.  But it was Jordan that occupied Jerusalem.  The Israeli government pleaded with Jordan to stay out of the war.  Israel was fighting for its life, not for Jerusalem.

Israeli troops were not even focused on the old city.  The fighting centered on a mountain overlooking Jerusalem - Mount Scopus, Israel's sole possession east of the old city.  Located on that mountain were an Israeli hospital, an Israeli university... and Israeli army personnel.  

Mount Scopus had been the headquarters of Roman General Titus in 70 AD.  Just as Jerusalem's destruction was staged from Mount Scopus, so too would be Jerusalem's liberation.

On June 7, 1967, Israeli soldiers swept down from Mount Scopus on the north into the old city and to the Temple Mount.  The commander of the 55th Brigade, Motta Gur, radioed words that would be heard all over the nation:  "The Temple Mount is in our hands."

Iconic photo of soldiers at the Western Wall of the Temple Mount.
Photo by David Rubinger, who died in 2017 at age 92

The soldiers who liberated Jerusalem found themselves on the Temple Mount and spontaneously began singing Naomi Shemer's song that had swept the land just three weeks prior.  When Naomi heard of Jerusalem's liberation, she added a verse.  The song of longing became a song of rejoicing.  Here is the English translation:

We have returned to the cisterns
To the market and to the market-place
A ram's horn calls out on the Temple Mount
In the Old City.

And in the caves in the mountain
Thousands of suns shine -
We will once again descend to the Dead Sea
By way of Jericho!

Going back to the Torah portion for that week, from the book of Numbers, there were two chapters numbering the men for war, and two chapters speaking of the duties of the priests.  

It was the duty of the priests to mark, herald, and proclaim the Jubilean year to the rest of the nation.

And something amazing was taking place as the Temple Mount was being liberated.  One of the first Israelis to enter the Old City was Rabbi Shlomo Goren, the chief chaplain of the Israeli army.  As he stood on the ancient site, his mind turned to his father-in-law, another rabbi, who was known for his deep yearning for Jerusalem's restoration.  Goren sent his assistant through enemy fire to bring his father-in-law, Rabbi David HaCohen, back to the Holy City.  

Rabbi Goren sounds the shofar at the Temple Mount

Rabbi HaCohen was so overcome with emotion that he left his house without putting shoes on.  The driver stopped to pick up another rabbi, Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda HaCohen Kook, who also was passionate about Jerusalem's restoration.  Three weeks earlier, Rabbi Kook had shocked his hearers when he cried out in pained longing for the restoration of the nation's holy places that were currently separated from them.

Both of these Rabbis were descendents of Aaron - in other words, priests.  Just as the first people marching into the promised land under Joshua were priests, so too were the priests present at the moment of return to Jerusalem.

Interestingly, the soldier who drove the Jeep that brought the two priests to the Holy City was also of a priestly line - his name was Menachem HaCohen, which means the comfort of the priest.  (Cohen means priest).

What a day that was! June 7, 1967 (or 28 Iyyar if you are looking at the Hebrew calendar).  The next post is now available here.

Note:  There are many more details that are associated with the return of Jerusalem in 1967.  I highly recommend the book The Oracle by Jonathan Cahn, in which you can read all of them.

The Fall and Rise of Israel, Part 7 - A New National Anthem, Language, and Military; Cyrus vs. Truman, Ben Gurion

Now that the declaration of the Jewish state had been made by the nations of the world in November of 1947, there was a short waiting period before the declaration would be activated.

Generally, nations follow the course of nature.  They are born, they grow, they become more complex, and eventually they become ill and wither.  Even a brief glance at the United States of America and its history makes this cycle apparent.  (I need to remind myself that most of human history to date has occurred without the presence of relatively-new-on-the-scene America).

But in the case of Israel, what happened was not natural.  It appeared to be a birth, but in reality it was a rebirth.  A resurrection.  To disintegrate is natural.  To come back together is not.

Ezekiel 37 gives us a prophetic picture of dry bones coming back to life - a resurrection, so to speak.  You can read the entire passage here.

In a birth, one develops into maturity.  In a resurrection, one becomes what they once had been.  So it has been with Israel.

Let's look at some examples.

Nations are born and they they establish a national anthem.  In Israel's case, the national anthem was established when the nation was nothing more than a dream.  An eastern European Jewish man named Naftali Imber wrote the poem Hatikvah (The Hope)  in 1878.  He immigrated to the Holy Land in 1882 and read his poem to the pioneers of early Jewish villages.  In 1887, Samuel Cohen put the poem to music, and the song spread rapidly in the land.  Here is the English translation of the lyrics:

As long as in the heart, within,
The soul of a Jew still yearns,
And onward, towards the ends of the east
an eye still gazes toward Zion

Our hope is not yet lost,
The two-thousand-year-old hope,
To be a free nation in our land,
The land of Zion and Jerusalem

This lovely poem became the national anthem of the modern state of Israel. Click here to hear a beautiful recording of it.

The next example is language.  In the world, languages develop over time.  But with Israel, its native language of Hebrew had been dead for ages.  Then, a young Jewish man from eastern Europe made it his life's mission to resurrect the language.  Eliezar Ben Yehuda nearly single-handedly re-established the Hebrew language, writing a full dictionary for it and teaching it to the people.   Long story short, Hebrew is the main language of the state of Israel.  Just for fun, see Zephaniah 3:9, which says “For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure language, that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord.  The verse just before that gives us a hint as to what language was indicated.  Zephaniah 3:8 is the only verse in the whole Bible where all 22 of the Hebrew letters and all five Hebrew sofits (special word-ending letters) appear together.

A third example:  the land itself, which had lain desolate for centuries and centuries. It was resurrected, as vineyards, olive groves, forests, and grain fields were re-established in the same places where they once were.  Again I will mention the book Exodus, which gives such a clear account of the agricultural revival in the land.

Another example:  Soldiers.  The last Israeli soldiers died in battle against the Roman Empire at the fortress of Masada in the year 73 AD and vanished from the earth.  But after nearly 2000 years, Israeli soldiers once again appeared on earth to protect the nation that had likewise died and reappeared on the earth.  Often, Israeli soldiers are sworn in on top of Masada.

Israeli soldiers on Masada

Nations come to exist, and then are spoken of.  But the reborn Israel was dreamed about and prophesied for thousands of years before its modern existence.  One of many biblical examples is Jeremiah 30:3, which says, For behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the Lord, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it.

When the Jews were restored to the land from Babylon in the 538 BC, it was initiated and sanctioned by a decree from Cyrus, king of Persia.  The second return from exile was sanctioned by another world leader - Harry S Truman.  We have already looked at his role in the establishment of modern Israel. Now let's look at some interesting parallels between Truman and Cyrus.

King Cyrus spent 30 years in government.  Truman entered his first governmental office in January of 1923, and his presidency ended 30 years later, in January of 1953.

Cyrus became king just as Persia was becoming the world's superpower.  He was sixty years old.  Truman's age as he assumed the presidency was - yep, 60 - just as the United States was rising to a place of superpower in the world.

And of course, both of them made decrees that opened the doors for the Jewish people to return home and rebuild their nation.

Cyrus issued his decree to allow the rebuilding of the Jewish nation after a period of 70 years (which was prophesied by Daniel).  

Modern Israel's restoration began in the late 1878 with the first Jewish settlements in the land.  Fast forward 70 years to Truman's presidency, and the rebirth of Israel which officially took place on May 14, 1948.  In 1945, Truman had written a letter to the British prime minister Atlee, calling for Jewish Holocaust refugees to be allowed to return to their homeland.  

This letter was made public on August 31, 1945, just as the Sabbath was beginning.  The Torah portion for that day included Deuteronomy 30:3-5.  These words were being declared in synagogues all over the world:  The Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you.  And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. 

Cyrus and Truman each made their declarations in their first year as world leader.

For further reading on this subject, check out this book.

Interestingly, when Truman was wrestling over whether to support the rebirth of the Jewish nation, his decision was sealed by the words of a quote he kept in his office at the White House:  Always do right.  This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.  It was a quote of the stranger - mentioned in the very first post of this series - Mark Twain.

Before wrapping up this post, I want to look at one more example of reversal.

Before the Jewish nation was destroyed in 70 AD, a provisional government was formed of its leaders to guide the nation against Rome.  It would be the last unified government before its destruction.  Its leader was a man named Joseph Ben Gurion.

Israel's first prime minister is known as David Ben Gurion.  But he was born in Poland with the name David Grün. He was inspired to immigrate to the Holy Land after Theodor Herzl visited his hometown of Plonsk, Poland.  He became a journalist and chose his pen name, David Ben Gurion.  It is interesting that his middle name, given at birth, was Joseph.  David Joseph Ben Gurion.

David Ben Gurion
First Prime Minister of Israel

The ancient provisional government, led by Joseph Ben Gurion, proclaimed the existence of a sovereign Jewish state to Rome, which led to its disappearance.  The modern provisional government, led by David Joseph Ben Gurion, proclaimed the existence of a sovereign Jewish state to the world, which led to its rebirth.

On May 14, 1948, David Ben Gurion announced the rebirth of the state of Israel to the world.  It was a Friday, and the Sabbath was about to begin.  Was there an appropriate scripture reading in the synagogues to mark this moment?  Of course there was.

The haftorah portion for that week included Amos 9:11-15. On the day of Israel's resurrection, it was being chanted all over the world.  Check it out:

“In that day I will raise up
the booth of David that is fallen
and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins
and rebuild it as in the days of old, 

that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations who are called by my name,”
declares the Lord who does this.

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when the plowman shall overtake the reaper
and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed;
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and all the hills shall flow with it.

I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,
and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,
and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.

I will plant them on their land,
and they shall never again be uprooted
out of the land that I have given them,”
says the Lord your God.

If you would like to continue this series, click here. 

The Fall and Rise of Israel, Part 6 - A Nation is Declared and the Dead Sea Scrolls are Found

My last post looked at the penning of the Partition Plan in the United Nations as the summer of 1947 came to a close.  Let's keep exploring!

Most nations were not in favor of Partition, including the main world powers.  The Soviet Union, an athiest communist country, certainly was not in favor of fulfilling biblical prophecy.  Additionally, the American State Department had positioned itself against it.  However, the American president was in favor of it.  How did that happen?

Here we see another case of world history melding together with God's ancient purposes.  Had the former US president been in power during that window of time, it is doubtful he would have sanctioned Israel's rebirth.  However, in Franklin D Roosevelt's last re-election, he chose a new vice president - Harry S. Truman.  Three months into his fourth term, FDR died, giving Truman a very sudden promotion.

Even Truman was nervous about supporting Partition in the face of worldwide hostility toward it.  However, his former business partner, a Jewish man named Eddie Jacobson, met with Truman and implored him to meet with Chaim Weizmann.  It is reported that Truman resisted, but in the end, he declared to Eddie, "You win, you bald-headed son-of-a-b$#%."  He met with Weizmann and walked away from that meeting in full support of a Jewish state.

Not a joke:  two Jews and a Baptist entered into a piece of history.

Even the Russian dictator Stalin began to see the value of a Jewish state in the Middle East that would oust the British and possibly increase their own influence in the area.

When the vote for Partition came up in the United Nations on November 29, 1947, the resolution passed with 33 votes for, 13 votes against, and 10 abstentions.

The date of the vote also happened to be the Sabbath.  The weekly Torah portion included Genesis 32:9, which includes the command, return to your native land.

The context of that scripture is Jacob returning to his land years after fleeing from his brother Esau.  It was during that return trip that Jacob wrestled with the LORD, and he would not give up until the LORD blessed him.

When the vote came up, no name had been assigned to to the resurrected Jewish state.  Several different names had been proposed, including Judah and Zion.  But on the day of the UN vote, the name would be revealed to the world:  Israel.

Remarkably, Genesis 32:28 was also included in that week's Torah portion, which stated You shall be called Israel.  This is the first appearance of Israel in scripture.  The Torah portion continued on that week to include Genesis 35:12, which says, To your descendants, I will assign this land.

All these details are so precise and exciting, but wait, there's more!

From the beginning, it has been God's word that initiates all things.  He spoke the universe into existence.  First the word, then the creation.  First the word, then the restoration.

Down by the Dead Sea, a Bedouin shepherd boy was passing the time by chucking rocks into holes in the cliff.  After one such launch, he heard a shattering sound.  What followed was the discovery of the most significant archaeological discovery of modern times - the Dead Sea Scrolls.  The Bedouin boy and a friend brought their find to an Arab merchant in Bethlehem.

Dead Sea caves at Qumran

These scrolls had been hidden in the caves by a Jewish group called the Essenes almost two thousand years earlier, when Rome was driving the Jews from the land.  There is almost nowhere else in the world that these scrolls would have survived for that length of time, but the extra dry climate of the Dead Sea was an ideal hiding place.

The most celebrated of the scrolls was the scroll of Isaiah.  It was found in that very first cave and was preserved in its entirety.  Isaiah includes beautiful prophetic words of Israel's restoration, including 11:12, which declares, He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

The head of Hebrew University's archaeology department, Eliezer Sukenik, was able to obtain the scrolls from the Bethlehem merchant and bring them back to his home.  As Eliezer carefully began unrolling the scrolls, his younger son Mati was listening to the radio in the next room.  Mati kept rushing back and forth to tell his father what he was hearing.  The UN vote was being broadcast to the world.  It was November 29, 1947.

UN Partition vote

The Word was being revealed at the same time that the new nation was being proclaimed.

The UN resolution set into motion what was to come next.  Click here to continue on.

The Fall and Rise of Israel, Part 5 - Theodor Herzl, Zionism, and the UN Partition Plan

So we arrive at the end of World War I, which came and went, and it would be wonderful to assume that everything then went smoothly for the return of the Jews to the land.  But alas, as scripture tells us, the devil knows his time is short.  He went into a rage, and the story of Israel's restoration was just getting started.

We have looked at the 50 year Jubilee cycle that was kicked off in 1867 and ended in 1917.  In an earlier post, I promised that we would come back to Theodor Herzl, and this post will explore another Jubilee cycle, taking place on its own timeline.

Herzl was a Hungarian journalist.  He had early leanings toward a Jewish state, having had a dream about  it at the age of 12.  But the event that spurred him into action was called the Dreyfus affair, in which a Jewish French man, Alfred Dreyfus, was wrongfully accused and convicted of treason in 1894. (Dreyfus was eventually exonerated twelve years later).  

Herzl had simply had it with Jews being blamed for anything and everything. His thoughts became, in my paraphrase, "we gotta think about getting our own place."

Herzl founded Zionism at the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland.  The Oxford dictionary defines Zionism thusly:  A movement for (originally) the re-establishment and (now) the development and protection of a Jewish nation in what is now Israel. It was established as a political organization in 1897 under Theodor Herzl, and was later led by Chaim Weizmann.

A few days after that First Zionist Congress, Herzl penned these words:  At Basel, I founded the Jewish State.  If I said this out loud today, I would be answered by universal laughter.  Perhaps in five years, certainly in fifty, everyone will know it.

Following World War I, and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1917, the victors began carving up the lands in the Middle East. Various European nations were given control over chunks of the former Ottoman Empire.

The British, who occupied the Holy Land following WWI, were granted the British Mandate for Palestine at a conference in San Remo in 1920.  This event kicked off two decades of violent clashes between Jews and Arabs in the Holy Land.  And Britain, who had once championed the idea of a Jewish state, unfortunately began to change its policy and turn against the return of the Jews that it had once advocated.

There was a saying that "the sun never sets on the British Empire" because there were territories and colonies of Britain on every continent.  As Britain withdrew its support for the Jewish state, its empire crumbled into near nothingness.  We would do well to heed the scriptures that tell us, in regard to Israel, I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who lightly esteem you.  Just saying.

British Empire, circa 1919

Back to Herzl's First Zionist Congress: it concluded on August 31, 1897.  Can we fast forward fifty years, as Herzl proclaimed, to see if anything took place then?  Why yes.  Yes we can.

On August 31, 1947, the United Nations would complete the writing of the Partition Plan.  This was a plan to help the Jewish-Arab skirmishes cease, and it attempted to divide the land and give a chunk to each side.  A few days later, the Partition Plan was officially received and recorded by the United Nations General Assembly.  That took place on September 3, 1947.  Herzl wrote his 50-year prediction on September 3, 1897.

(The Jews accepted the Partition Plan.  The Arabs did not.  War would be on the horizon. More on that later).

Partition Plan of 1947

The UN representatives had no idea they were part of a prophecy that is recorded in Leviticus 25:10, which says, And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan.

Click here if you'd like to continue on.

The Fall and Rise of Israel, Part 4 - More World War I and Jerusalem

World War I gets its name because it was the first war that involved pretty much the whole globe.  But God used this conflict to change the face of a particular geographical area - the Middle East.  (Yeshua alluded to the concept of world war in Matthew 24 when he prophesied "kingdom against kingdom.")

Let's first look at a particular skirmish that took place in the war,  Beersheva.

Beersheva was the main stomping ground of Abraham after he had wandered through the land that God promised him.  And it was also the scene of battles and then a settlement between Abraham and Abimieech.  See Genesis 21 if you'd like to review it.

In the summer of 1917, a Christian man by the name of Edmund Allenby was chosen to replace General Archibald Murray as commander of the British forces in Egypt.  While Murray had focused on Gaza, Allenby directed his focus to Beersheva.  The battle to take Beersheva was Britain's first major victory in the Middle East. It was a breakthrough that would lead to the restoration of the Jews to the land.

Beersheva in 1917

Beersheva was regained on October 31, 1917.  The same day that the Balfour Declaration was penned.  

Another scripture that was read in synagogues around the world on the Sabbath of that same week was Genesis 21:31:  Therefore he called that place Beersheva, because the two of them swore an oath there.

Beersheva in modern times

The battle for the Holy Land pressed on, and the British engaged their air force as they set their eyes on Jerusalem.  Because of this focus on air warfare, Allenby's troops were able to prevent enemy aircraft from bombing missions.  Jerusalem was liberated and emerged from the war largely unscathed.  

Isaiah 31:5 gives a beautiful prophecy of what took place:

Like birds hovering, so the LORD of hosts

will protect Jerusalem;

he will protect and deliver it;

he will spare and rescue it.”

Was this passage read in synagogues that week?  Nope, sorry.

It was, however, in the Anglican Book of Common prayer (read daily by many British soldiers), and was appointed hundreds of years earlier to be read on the last day before Jerusalem's deliverance - December 8, 1917.

The reading in the Book of Common Prayer for next day, the day of Jerusalem's liberation on December 9, was Isaiah 33:20, which begins thusly:

Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts!

Your eyes will see Jerusalem

The following day, December 10, was a day of rejoicing and comfort for Jerusalem.  And the prayer for that day? Isaiah 40:1-2.
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended

In the book of Haggai, the prophet was speaking to the exiles returning from Babylon.  But is there a modern day application of this prophecy?  Could it be a near/far prophecy?

Chapter 2:18-19 says,
Consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider:  Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on I will bless you.

On the Hebrew calendar, the 24th day of the ninth month occurred on December 9, 1917.  The day of Jerusalem's liberation.  It is interesting to note that the biblical day begins at sundown the previous evening.  That is the exact time when the Ottoman soldiers gave up the city and fled through its gates.  

And as the sun set on December 9, 1917, the Hebrew calendar was ushering in yet another significant day:  the first day of Hanukkah, also called the Feast of Dedication.  People all over the world were lighting their first candle of the Hanukkah menorah.  And the appointed scripture to be read on the Sabbath of Hanukkah includes Zechariah 2:12, which says, And the LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.”

And so He did.

Modern Jerusalem

Part five is now ready.  Click here to continue.

The Fall and Rise of Israel, Part 3 - World War I and The Balfour Declaration

WWI.  It was to change our globe forever.

There is quite a back story how it started, but the simple version goes like this:

On June 28, 1914, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Ferdinand, was riding in a motorcade through the streets of Sarajevo, when he was shot by a Bosnian Serb nationalist.

Archduke Ferdinand
 Heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire

Many empires and countries, having previously made alliances with each other, began to be sucked into the conflict until the world was in uproar.  The British Empire was drawn in one one side, the Ottoman Empire on the other.

I need to back up at this point.  There was a man born in the Russian Empire in 1874, the third child in a Jewish family of 15 children.  He had a passion for chemistry and moved to Germany to study it.  But he had a deeper passion than science - the dream that his people would someday return to their ancient homeland.  His name was Chaim Weizmann. He attended Theodor Herzl's second Zionist Congress while still living in Germany.

Weizmann moved to Britain in 1904 and made the acquaintance of a man named Arthur Balfour, who was a deeply committed Christian. 

As the war drew nearer, Weizmann was appointed as an advisor to the British Ministry of Munitions under its head, David Lloyd George - another committed Christian.

Weizmann's passion for a Jewish homeland left a deep impression on both of those men.

During the war, Britain experienced a shortage of acetone - a substance used in warfare that was produced by the Germans.  Well, Germany was on the opposite side of the conflict, and they were not going to sell warfare chemicals to their enemies.  Duh.  Weizmann found a way to produce the chemical in mass quantities, which had a direct impact on the Allied victory.

As the war was drawing to a close, the British government collapsed in December of 1916. Prime Minister Asquith, who was against a Jewish homeland, was ousted.  He was succeeded by David Lloyd George, who appointed Arthur Balfour as his foreign secretary.

Two men in favor of a Jewish homeland.

Because of his successful war efforts, Weizmann was asked what the British government could do for him.  His response?  A Jewish homeland, por favor.

Chaim Weizmann

On October 31, 1917, a letter was penned by Arthur Balfour, and two days later was declared publicly.  The document became known as the Balfour Declaration  It included this statement:

His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object...

Fifty years after the release of the land, the release was fulfilled.  In that first jubilee, the land was measured.  In this subsequent jubilee, the land was transferred.

Interestingly, on the Sabbath just before the Balfour Declaration went forth, the reading in the synagogues around the world included Genesis 12, the scripture that established the ancestral right.

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you... Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.

The next post will back up and examine some war details.  I'll try not to make it boring (like school history class always was).  Click here to continue.

The Fall and Rise of Israel, Part 2 - The Ottoman Decline, The Return of the People

 The land.

The physical land of Israel was one of the three parts of the everlasting Abrahamic Covenant, which is outlined in Genesis 12, 15, and 17.  These parts are intertwined and inseparable:

• The Land - the physical land of Israel
• The Seed - the promised Seed of the woman, the coming Messiah Yeshua
• The Blessing - Salvation offered to the entire world

My last post examined two passages of scripture that were fulfilled in order to initiate the return of the land to their rightful owners - the Jews.  The first was the foreigner who declared the devastation of the land, and the second was the surveyor who measured the land.

This post looks at the circumstances regarding control of the land.

The last time the Jews had control of the land was around the time of the Maccabbees, starting in about 165 BC and lasting until they were overtaken by the Roman Empire in 63 BC.  In 70 AD (and again in 135 AD), Jewish uprisings against Rome took place that caused the Romans to expel the Jews from the land and destroy their temple.

Since that time, many foreign entities had taken control of the Holy Land, but the last great power to have that control was the Ottoman Empire.  The Ottoman conquest of the land happened around the time of Christopher Columbus, in the midst of worldwide exploration.  In a battle with the Egyptian Mamluks, the Ottomans seized control of the land - in the year 1517.

Let's pause for a moment and recall the jubilee cycle that I mentioned in the first post.  A biblical jubilee is 50 years.  It calls for the release of debts.   A reset button, so to speak.  It kicks off the next cycle.

Another very significant number used in scripture is the number 7, which signifies completeness.  So, did something noteworthy take place take place in the Holy Land after seven jubilee cycles?

Yes.

First, a brief history lesson, which shows that God's hand is all over history (I like to call it His Story).

In the mid 1800s, two entities were having a skirmish in the Holy Land - the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church - over who should have control of the holy places in the land.  The triggering factor was a missing star from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The fighting escalated, ultimately leading to war between the Russians and the Turkish Ottomans.

The Crimean War.

The Crimean War was a turning point for the declining Ottoman Empire. After the war, the devastated empire entered into massive loans with its European creditors - leading to financial disaster and bankruptcy.   

The Ottomans needed money.  

To raise this money, the Ottoman sultan enacted the Ottoman Land Code.  The law stipulated that no land could be sold to foreigners - those outside their empire.  So this first land code was enacted to raise taxes in order to pay debts.

The first land code did not solve the Ottomans' financial woes.  So nine years later, they enacted a new Ottoman Land Code.  The land could now be purchased by foreigners.

Guess who jumped on this opportunity?  

Jewish people began buying up land in what was then called Palestine.  One of the major buyers was the European banking family, the Rothchilds.  Historically, this family has been subject to vast conspiracy theories that center on the Jews taking over the world.  But in reality, the Jews were not allowed memberships in the trade guilds of the late Middle Ages, so they turned to banking.  And God used that historical reality to create a wealthy European Jewish family who would become key investors in the land of Israel.  

When the Ottomans realized that Jews were buying up the land, they tried to put a stop to it.  But one cannot stop God's prophecy from moving forward.

Jeremiah 32:44 says,
Fields shall be bought for money, and deeds shall be signed and sealed and witnessed, in the land of Benjamin, in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb; for I will restore their fortunes, declares the Lord.”

Are you ready for the kicker?

The second Ottoman Land Code was signed into law on June 10, 1867, two days after Mark Twain began his epic journey toward the Holy Land, and during the same time that Warren was surveying the land. 

This official land release took place exactly 350 years after the Ottomans overtook the Holy Land in 1517.  

Seven jubilee cycles.

The stage was now set for what was to come.

When Twain and Warren were doing their work in Jerusalem and the surrounding land, the population of the Jewish people there constituted a minority. But within just a few years they became the majority.  

The prophecy-fulfilling work of the foreigner and the surveyor kicked off waves of Jews making aliyah - returning to the land.  That first decade saw the first Jewish agricultural settlements established since ancient times, as well as a school whose purpose was to teach Jewish people how to farm the land.  Additionally, massive persecution of Jews in the Russian Empire at that time caused Jewish people to seek refuge in the Promised Land (history at work again).  

These massive waves of returning exiles continued into the twentieth century.  These agricultural settlements (known as kibbutzes) would transform the land.  If you would like more detail on how these kibbutzes functioned and were organized, I recommend the book Exodus by Leon Uris. 

The next part of the story kicks off with a providential meeting in the city of Paris in 1894.  Two men converged in the city, met, and became good friends.

One of the two men was Mark Twain.  The other man was named Theodor Herzl.  That very year, Herzl was transformed from a playwright and European journalist into a visionary with a mission to see his people return to their land.  He became known as the founder of Zionism and the Father of the Jewish State.  I will come back to Herzl and his work later on.

Theodor Herzl, the Father of the Jewish State

In the meantime, there was a dark cloud forming on the horizon of history.  That cloud was World War 1.

My next post will look at that war's historical significance to Israel's return.  Click here if you'd like to read it.

The Fall and Rise of Israel, Part 1 - The Desolation, the Foreigner, and the Surveyor

I love discovering patterns in scripture. And there are oh so many to find. The patterns remind me just how precise and wise our God is. There is no way man could have come up with the many underlying  patterns on his own.

Some of of my favorite sources that help me to identify scriptural patterns are Chuck Missler of Koinonia House, Rabbi Jonathan Cahn’s many writings, and the work of Tim Mackie and his Bible Project team.

Cahn has written a book that highlights the patterns of the restoration of Israel, called The Oracle. His book has many storytelling elements, but I would like to recap the patterns clearly and concisely in a short series of blog posts.

One of the most astounding biblical prophecies is the restoration of Israel, and it is being fulfilled right under our noses.  For me, this is a huge faith builder, especially after realizing that it was predicted over and over again in the scriptures.

Let’s jump in.

Moses’ words of warning in Deuteronomy 28:64 to Israel told them that they would be scattered from one end of the earth to the other. History has shown this to be true. 

But Moses didn’t stop with his warning in Deuteronomy 28. In chapter 30, you can read his prophecy that they would return. This is a near/far prophecy, meaning that it would have multiple fulfillments.

The Jews were kicked out of their land in 586 BC for their apostasy and rejection of the Sinai covenant. In His mercy, YHVH brought them back seventy years later, so that they would be present in the land when He sent His son to make a new covenant with them.

Once again, the Jews (most of them, anyway - but don’t forget that the first followers of Yeshua were all Jewish) rejected this new covenant, and they were once again kicked out of the land... this time for much longer.

Here we are, nearly two thousand years later, watching their long-awaited return to the Promised Land.  The return of the Jews to their ancestral homeland would be a sign of the last days.

In Deuteronomy 29:22-23, Moses describes the condition of the land of Israel after the Jews are scattered:

And the next generation, your children who rise about you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, will say, when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which YHVH has made it sick- The whole land burned out with brimstone and salt, nothing sown and nothing growing, or no plant can sprout, an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah...

I think you get the picture. 

But what about that comment nestled in Moses’ prophecy about the foreigner? What is that about?

In the middle of the 19th century, Mark Twain visited the land of Israel. He came home and wrote the book, Innocents Abroad. In it, he described the desolation of the land of Israel. Here are some of his comments: 

Rags, wretchedness, poverty and dirt, lepers, cripples, the blind… To see the numbers of maimed, malformed, and diseased humanity that throng the holy places… 

He colorfully continues on:

The whole land is brimstone, salt… 

All desolate and unpeopled... 

miles of desolate country, the far-reaching desolation, the waste of a limitless desolation... 

it is a scorching, arid, repulsive solitude. Such roasting heat, such oppressive solitude, and such a dismal desolation cannot surely exist elsewhere on earth. 

Nowhere in all the waste around with a foot of shade, and we were scorching to death. 

Valleys are unsightly deserts fringed with a feeble vegetation. A desert, paved with loose stones, vid of vegetation, laying in the fierce sun.

No spring of grass is visible.

Illustration from Twain's book,
Innocents Abroad

The words of Moses were declared by Mark Twain and sent throughout the world via the book he published.

Deuteronomy states that stranger must come before the return of the Jewish people, and he must come when the land is desolate and hopeless. Twain’s tour and subsequent declarations set the stage for God’s modern day miracle... the rebirth of Israel.

The year of his visit was 1867.

Twain's journey began in June of 1867.  His last day in Jerusalem was September 28, which happened to be the Sabbath.  The Torah portion that was read in synagogues all over the world that day included Deuteronomy 29:22-23 (see above).  As Twain walked through the streets of Jerusalem, perhaps he heard this scripture being read.  The very day the stranger finished his journey in the land, the prophecy regarding the stranger was read in Jerusalem and around the world.

Another portion of scripture that was appointed for that day was Isaiah 62:4, which says,
You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate,
but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,
and your land Married;
for the Lord delights in you,
and your land shall be married.

Mark Twain's real name was Samuel, which is a Hebrew name meaning YHVH has heard.  For two thousand years, the children of Israel have prayed for God to have mercy and bring them back to their land.  Samuel's last name was Clemens, which means merciful.  

Samuel - God has heard their prayers

Clemens - He was about to show them mercy

Mark Twain departed the land having no idea the part he was to play in the restoration of Israel.

The prophet Zechariah made his own last days prophetic declaration in chapter 2:1-2.  He says,  Then I raised my eyes and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. So I said, “where are you going?” And he said to me, “to measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.”  

In scripture, the original owner would return to his land in a jubilee year.   The jubilee years happened every 50 years.  Before this can happen, a title, deed, and survey would be needed. The land needed to be defined. And if there was no existing survey, then one had to be made.

Enter Charles Warren. He was sent to Israel by Britain, on a mission to survey and map out Jerusalem, to measure the holy city. Warren's work ushered in a new age of biblical archaeology.

In order to measure the holy city, Warren had to first dig it up.  He uncovered ancient gates, ancient walls, and ancient chambers.  But his most dramatic discovery was when he stumbled onto a water shaft.  

It was through Jerusalem's ancient water system that King David's soldiers first entered the city.  Warren's discovery renewed that ancient connection.

Warren's water shaft 

The year of the water shaft discovery was 1867.  Fall of that year, to be more specific.

The name Warren means a habitation, often used of rabbits (which are known for multiplying).  Jerusalem was being prepared to become a habitation of Jewish people returning to the land.

Look what Zechariah says in 8:4-5...

Thus says the Lord of hosts: Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of great age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.

And here’s the kicker… Mark Twain and Charles Warren had no idea that the other existed. But the two of them would dwell inside walls of the aged city at the same time, the same month, the same week, the same days, and in the very same lodging place - the  Mediterranean Hotel.

Stay tuned!  We've only begun this journey.  If you would like more details set in a story format, I recommend reading The Oracle, which can be purchased here.

Part 2 is has been posted.  You can click here to read it.

The Cross: Love Embodied

We have just finished another season of Passover/Unleavened Bread/Firstfruits, remembering the death, burial, and resurrection of Yeshua our Messiah.  This post has been floating around in my head all week, so it's time to put it down on virtual paper.

The cross. What took place there is the crossroads (pun intended?) of human history.

All the scriptures point to this One Monumental Moment in time. The work of the Messiah on the cross - and His subsequent resurrection - is why the Berean Jews searched the scriptures daily to see if these things were true.

So what is the crux of the cross?

Love.

There is a lot of talk about love today. Love is love. Be kind to everyone. All kinds of love are equally valid.

It all sounds so lovely and good.  And indeed, what did Yeshua say were the two greatest commandments?

1. Love God. In fact, love Him with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. In other words, love Him with all ya got.

2. Love your neighbor as (much as you love) yourself. Scripture goes on to define your neighbor as those like you (friends, brethren) and those not like you (Samaritans, enemies).

Both of these commands sum up the essence of the entire Sinai Covenant, which points toward (and was fulfilled in) Yeshua.

When Yeshua was sacrificed, He gave us a visual picture of that love - the cross itself.

The vertical part, the trunk of the tree so to speak, is the part that points to the heavens. It points to the love of God. We love because He first loved us.

The horizontal part is the snapshot of love to the world. God Himself in human form stretched out His arms to love all of us. In the same way, it is a picture of the love we are to have for humanity.

Notice that the horizontal crossbar of the cross is firmly attached to the vertical bar. It is because of the love of God that we can love others. We love because He first loved us.

Without that vertical stake, there is nothing on which to hang/fix/attach/base that horizontal bar that represents our love for others.

We can try, for a time, to try and love others in our own power. But because of the sinful nature of people (we can all be jerks at times), eventually, without the firm foundation of God’s love, humanistic love will fall flat.

In fact, it is already happening.

I would like to ask those in favor of a godless, humanistic love for your fellow man: where exactly do you think this love comes from?

Are you being honest when you claim that we should just be kind to everyone? Are you kind to those who hold to a biblical faith? Or do you act like you are, but make fun of them being their backs?

Funny how I  don’t see love for the Bible believers showing up much in your claims. In claiming that those people are intolerant fundamentalists, haven’t you just created your own version of intolerant fundamentalism?

(Side rant:  when atheists use the term "freethinkers," what they really mean is people who think like they do.  Wrap your head around that.  All people possess free will, and are therefore free to come to their own conclusions based on the best evidence before them.)

There is nothing new under the sun.

As believers, this shouldn't really surprise us.  Note the words of Yeshua in John 15:18-19...  

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

They just don't like us/Him.

Two groups of people that I see coming up in humanistic love claims, over and over again, are the Muslims and the gays. Why these two groups, in particular?

Does your kindness to Muslims only include the moderate ones? Or are you also kind, loving, and accepting to the ones who fly planes into buildings and behead followers of Yahweh?

Does your kindness and acceptance toward gays include all of them,  including NAMBLA members and pedophiles?

I’m not saying we shouldn’t love all people, including our enemies. We should.  It is a clear command to us, the second most important one. Yeshua saw worth and value in every person, which is why He sacrificed Himself for every single person on the planet. He desires that NONE should perish but that ALL come to repentance and find life in Him.

Yeshua Himself made the claim, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

If His claim is true, then eliminating His atoning death on the cross from the conversation is probably the most unkind, unloving thing a person can do.

However, not every person will accept His love offering that was given for them on the cross. 

They will say, "How intolerant of Him to only provide one way.  How dare He?"

As if that one way - the violent and painful murder of God Himself on an execution stake - was simply not good enough.

The Creator established the rules of the world that He created, and as Creator, He was entitled to do so. In Leviticus 17:11, we are clearly told that without the shedding of blood, there is no atonement. It was His innocent blood that provided that atonement - He paid the  penalty that we owe for sin - death.

I will end with a quote from the Master:  Greater love has no one than this, that he lays down His life for his friends.

He then proved it by laying down His life; not only for His friends, but for His enemies as well, as shown in Romans 5:6-8:
For while we were still weak, at the right time Messiah died for the ungodly.  For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Messiah died for us.

Now that is LOVE!