Moses: Snapshot of Messiah

While studying Exodus the other morning, I was given yet another foreshadowing, or scripture picture, of our Messiah, as well as our justification and sanctification.

Exodus 18 speaks of Jethro's advice to Moses - Hey, you are doing everything yourself.  Get some peeps to help you, son!

I closed my eyes and thought of Moses as a picture of Yeshua.  The Lord God had used Moses alone to part the Red Sea and lead the Israelites across to dry land.  The fact that Moses stretched out his hand for physical redemption is a foreshadowing of our Messiah stretching out His hand on the cross for our spiritual redemption.

After Moses led the Israelites safely through the Red Sea, it closed up after them - completely destroying the Egyptian army.  The closing of the Red Sea is a foreshadowing of baptism.  The Egyptian Army represents the sin in our life that is completely wiped away by the water.   It is the trip through the Red Sea that represents our justification through the redeeming arm of the Messiah.

So now on the other side, it will no longer be Moses that does everything.  At his father-in-law's urging, Moses divides responsibilities among the people of Israel.  Verse 21 says, Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

In Matthew 25, we read the parable of the talents.  Each servant was put in charge of a different amount.  They were then judged on what they did with what they were given.  Verse 21 says, His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.  Enter into the joy of your master.'

Scripture promises that we will reign with Yeshua in the coming kingdom (Rev 20:6).  The Word is telling us that we will have a position in the kingdom that reflects our works here on earth.  We are not working for our salvation; that happened when we accepted the finished work of the Lord on the cross as payment for our sins.  We are working out our salvation  (Philippians 2:12) because of our justification (redemption).  This is where we earn those jewels on our crowns!  Sanctification is a lifelong process.  1 Corinthians 3 gives us a picture of the judgment of our works: 

For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.  If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

Justification is the work of the Lord.  Sanctification requires our cooperation, and will determine our position in the coming kingdom. 

So what are those works of sanctification?   We are told, firstly, to love the Lord our God with all we've got, and then love our neighbor as ourselves.  Everything we do, to His glory, is considered a work.  Praise, prayer, adoration, serving, using our gifts and talents... the list goes on.  Colossians 3:23 says, Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord and not for men.

A Stunning Geneology

I have said it before... nothing is in scripture by mistake.  There are so many levels to God's word that we can spend our whole lives digging out truths and never find it all.

God has placed a beautiful account in the geneology of the first people.  Have you ever skipped over Genesis 5, thinking that it's just a bunch of ancient names?  I know I have.  But Genesis 5 is, in truth, a gold mine.

 The name of the first human being, Adam, means man.  That is pretty basic, and it makes sense.  Adam had a son, and named him Seth.  Seth means appointed.  OK, an unusual name to be sure.  "Hey appointed!  Can you bring me that flint rock so I can start a fire over here?"

Seth grew up and became father to Enosh, which means mortal.   Enosh named his son Kenan, which means sorrow.  I don't even want to think of the taunts poor Kenan must have received from his peers.  Kenan grew up and fathered Mahalael, which means the blessed God.

Mahalael became father to Jared (which does not mean I lost 400 pounds eating Subway sandwiches).   Jared means to come down, or he who descends.  Jared named his son Enoch, which means teaching. 

*Update!  I have studied the name Enoch (Hebrew chanak), and have discovered that it really means to dedicate, or inaugurate.  In other words, watch out, a new thing is coming.  The word Hanukkah is a form of the name Enoch, and it is the Feast of Dedication.  It commemorated the restoration and opening of the Jewish temple.

Enoch became father to the oldest man on record, Methuselah, which means his death shall bring.  (And guess what happened the very year Methuselah died?  The flood.)

Methuselah named his son Lamech, which means despairing (another great one for the school yard taunts).  Having grown up with that name, Lamech gave his own son the name Noah, meaning comfort or rest.

None of these names are accidental.  When put together, they read something like this:

Man [is] appointed mortal sorrow, [but] the blessed God shall come down, to inaugurate [that] His death shall bring the despairing comfort and rest.

Coincidence?  I think not. 

I wonder if there could be a message in the full geneology of Yeshua in Luke 3?  Hmmm.... stay tuned!

Water and Blood

This post ended up being a continuation of my last...  in case you haven't read it, you can go here:

Geology in Scripture - Rocks and Water

So, now I am going to step on a few theological toes here. 

The other night, we were singing a song about the blood of Jesus.  Of course, in the context of the redemption of man, it an excellent theme. 

 

However, I have noticed that in singing and prayers, we often call on the blood of Yeshua to constantly cleanse us.  We pray the blood of Yeshua over any number of conflicts in our life.  But is this what we should do? 

My last post dealt with the punishment of Moses when he struck the rock the second time, instead of simply speaking to it.  The meaning is that the Rock (Yeshua) only had to be struck once.  In other words, His blood was shed once for all to atone for our sin.  Once we have applied it to our lives, we are justified.  It’s a done deal.  No more blood needed.

 

When the Roman centurion plunged the spear into Yeshua, who was already dead, out flowed both blood and water.  The blood represents our justification, which happens as a one-time event:  when we turn to Him in faith.  The water, however, represents our sanctification… the process of our lives being cleaned up as we live for Him, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

 

This same pattern can be seen in the the tabernacle and also the feasts (both of which are rarely mentioned in the church).  Each is made up of seven parts (seven represents completeness), and it is amazing how they line up with each other!  

 

The first element of the tabernacle is the altar; a picture of redemption, which is also called justification.  The first feast, Passover, is also a picture of that redemption/justification with the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb.  Justification is a one-time deal... our redemptive price is paid in full.

 

 

 

The second element of the tabernacle is the laver; a basin of water that represents the cleaning up our lives.  After the sacrifice of the lamb on the altar, the priests would need to clean up.  Sacrifice is messy!  Likewise, we came to the altar flawed and sinful, and we were accepted as we were.  But in the same way, there is a lot of cleanup to do!

 

 

 

God loves us too much to leave us messy at the altar; thus the laver - which gives us a picture of our sanctification.  As a parallel, the second feast (of the seven )is Unleavened Bread.  Leaven in scripture symbolizes sin, and the seven day feast of Unleavened Bread is another picture of our sanctification, which takes place over the course of the rest of our lives (the seven days demonstrating that completeness).

 

I have often heard “the blood of Jesus” prayed over a situation with a believer that really calls for the cleansing, living water instead.  The blood was already shed, and there is no need to strike that Rock again.  Yeshua was raised from the dead, no longer mortal flesh and blood (1 Corinthians 15:50 says that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God). The Living Water flows constantly, purifying and cleansing us as we walk out our sanctification, serving our risen King!

Geology in Scripture - Rocks and Water

I love rocks. Perhaps it's weird to be fascinated by rocks, but I am. I recently came home with a bunch of  Rocky Mountain stones, now displayed in a bowl.  I also brought home stunning rocks from Israel last year.  And when I visit a certain mission in the Baja, I always try to get down to the beach for an hour or so and hunt for rocks. The rocks down there - pounded over and over again by the strong waves - are smooth, beautiful, unique, and... well, I digress.


Rocks from the Baja shore




 Awhile back, I wrote a post on our Messiah, the Chief Cornerstone of our faith.  If you missed it, you can find it here.

I was listening to a sermon by Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel the other day.  He was talking about the connection of Moses striking the rock in the wilderness to the crucifixion.  It is fascinating.

In Exodus 17, the children of Israel were exceedingly thirsty and they let Moses know in no uncertain terms, through whining and complaining.  In Exodus 17:6, the Lord responded "Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.  So out of the rock flowed living water, and the thirst of the Israelites was temporarily quenched.

Later on, in Numbers 20, the children of Israel were again exceedingly thirsty, and again they loudly let Moses know of their thirst.  This time, the Lord God told Moses to SPEAK to the rock.  However, Moses in his frustration with the people of Israel, struck the rock twice.  This got him in BIG TROUBLE with the Lord, enough so that he was banned from entering the Promised Land.

Why was the Lord so upset with Moses?  Was it simply because Moses did not obey a seemingly random command specifically enough?  Or was there a reason that the Lord wanted Moses to SPEAK to the rock instead of STRIKE it?

When Yeshua was crucified, the soldiers approached Him to break His legs to  hurry along his death.  But when they saw that He was already dead, one of the soldiers plunged his spear into His side, and out flowed blood and water.  (See John 19:34).  Moses striking the rock the first time in the wilderness is a snapshot of this very event.  But the striking of the "Rock" only had to happen once.  When Yeshua died to take on the sin of mankind, it was once and for all.  (see Romans 6:10, Hebrews 7:27, 9:12, 10:10).  We now can speak to the Rock, who took on our sin when He died.  He does not have to be struck, ever again.

Water in Israel is very important.  Since biblical times, there have been three kinds of drinking water:  cistern water, well water, and living water.  Of course, the most desirable of these was living water... water that moved. 

While I was in Israel last year in late spring, the Jordan river was flowing rapidly near its source on Mount Hermon.  I filled my water bottle with it  and drank deeply... it was very refreshing!  (I brought home a bottle of this water, and I still have it.  I don't think it can be called living water anymore, after sitting for a year in a plastic bottle!)

When Yeshua met with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, He told her “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,  but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

During the Feast of Tabernacles in John 7:37-38,  Yeshua repeats this idea to a much larger crowd:  On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

The physical thirst of the Israelites in the wilderness is a snapshot of our spiritual thirst, which only Yeshua can satisfy.



The waters of En Gedi, an oasis in the desert near the Dead Sea

Israel, The Big Picture - Part 2

In my last post, I looked at the ancient history of God's chosen people, and the theology behind God's everlasting covenant with Abraham.  If you missed it, you can click here to read it first.

In part 2, I will address the more recent history of the Jewish people and the rise of Zionism, beginning in Israel circa 70 AD.

Rome expelled the Jews in 70 AD, following a Jewish rebellion that began in 66.  Jerusalem was leveled, the temple destroyed, and many were killed or carried off into slavery in the Roman Empire.  Many more escaped into other parts of Israel.  Rabbi Yochanan ben Zachai was a Pharisee who was carried out of Jerusalem in a coffin and escaped to the town of Yavne (on the Mediterranean coast) where he established a school of Judaism. 

Since the very center of Judaism, the temple, was destroyed, many precepts had to be re-written.  Thus was born Rabbinic Judaism, a religion of good works and not blood sacrifice and atonement.  The ancient sages then wrote the mishna and the gemarra, which is 18,000 pages of oral commentary (called the Talmud) on the first five books of the scriptures - the Torah.  The remainder of the Tanakh (which we call the Old Testament, the writings and the prophets) are not widely studied in Judaism, even today.

Interestingly, the sect of Sadduccees did not focus mainly on the Torah the way the Pharisees did.  They included the writings and the prophets in their studies.  But at the fall of Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin (made up of Sadduccees) was disbanded and scattered.  The writings and the prophets contain most of the prophecies regarding the coming Messiah.

A group of Jewish people celebrate the Torah in Jerusalem

In 132 AD, a rebellion began in Judea led by bar Kochba.  Rabbi Akiva called him the Messiah, so believers in Yeshua distanced themselves from this rebellion.  Rome was not amused by the rebellion, and in 135 AD, violently and completely crushed the rebellion, killing many and driving most remaining Jews from the land.  Emperor Hadrian renamed Jerusalem and called it Aelia Capitolina, and renamed the holy land Syria Palestina, after the ancient and no-longer-existing enemies of the Jews - the Philistines.  From this event stems the modern day name of "Palestine."

The Jews were thus dispersed to the four corners of the earth, where they were persecuted everywhere they went.    They were forcibly converted to Christianity, expelled from lands where they settled, and killed in large numbers.  These three concepts continued throughout history, and can be described as such:

• You have no right to live among us as Jews
• You have no right to live among us
• You have no right to live

In 325 AD, Constantine had a supposed conversion to Christianity, and then he persecuted the Jews, outlawing the celebration of biblical feasts and Saturday Sabbath.

The crusades saw the deaths of many Jews in both Europe and the Middle East.  Indiscriminate crusaders murdered whole villages of Jews en route to the Holy Land.

The Spanish Inquisition, begun in 1492 (sound like a familiar year?), went after the Jewish people of Spain and lasted over 300 years.  (Spain had just driven the Moors - Muslims from North Africa - out of the country, and Ferdinand and Isabella decided they wanted Spain to be 100% Catholic).  Jews had lived and thrived in Spain for centuries, and suddenly everything changed for them.   It followed the typical pattern of Jewish persecution:  forced conversion, expulsion, and finally, murder.  Napoleon finally put a stop to the Inquisition in the early 1800s.

The Jews of the middle ages were blamed for the Black Death (never mind that Jewish people died of the plague, too).  Lies were circulated that Jews killed Christian children to use their blood to make matzah - this is called blood libel.  As ridiculous as this accusation is, it still circulates today among anti-semitic circles. 

Additionally, numerous racial expulsions took place against the Jews throughout the Middle Ages from European countries.

European expulsions and resettlement of Jewish people

During the Reformation, Martin Luther hoped to convert Jews en masse by removing the Catholic dogma.  When they did not respond as he had hoped, he turned on them, even going so far as publishing a work called “On the Jews and their Lies.”  I will not repeat the content here, but you can do an internet search and read it for yourself.  Prepare to be appalled if you do.

Pogroms were frequent in Eastern Europe, where villages of Jews were attacked and they were killed or driven out.  Have you seen Fiddler on the Roof?  Although that was a fictitious depiction of a pogrom and expulsion in Russia, these things happened frequently! 

Fiddler statue in Netanya, Israel

A mysterious work of fiction arose in the late 1800s which was hijacked by an anonymous writer and re-written to accuse the Jews of trying to take over the world.  The new title was “The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.”  This book is still widely circulated and believed today, especially in middle Eastern countries.  Henry Ford was a big fan of this book and required his employees to read it.  He refused to hire Jewish people in his factories.

Unfortunately, this fictitious book is still widely read (and believed) today.

The holocaust of World War II didn’t just arise out of nowhere.  In my previous post, I discussed Replacement Theology that was introduced by some of the early church fathers...  the idea that God is done with the Jews and even hates them.  This thread of anti-semitism winds through history and connects ancient hatred of the Jews to modern hatred of the Jews.  And guess who is behind it?  The one who knows his time is short.  Satan knows that the culmination of earthly, human history takes place in Jerusalem, with the Jewish people back in their land.  Since he already knows he is going to lose, he is pulling out all the stops to thwart God's plan.

The idea of Zionism began to take form in the late 1800s after a bloody and tragic Jewish history.  In France, a Jewish man in the French military, Alfred Dreyfus, was wrongfully accused of treason, simply because he was Jewish.  The scandal was covered by a journalist named Theodor Herzl.  Herzl witnessed mass rallies in Paris following the Dreyfus trial, where many chanted "Death to the Jews!" Herzl became convinced that the Jewish people must remove themselves from Europe and create their own state so that they could live freely and without fear of persecution.

The first Zionist congress took place in Basel, Switzerland in 1897.  Jewish people began moving to the Holy Land.  (An earlier influx of Jews to Palestine had taken place in the 1200s, and Jews and Arabs lived side by side in peace for hundreds of years).

World War I began.  A chemical called acetone was needed to make bombs, and was mainly available from Germany.  A Russian-born chemist living in Great Britain named Chaim Weizmann developed an acetone substitute that greatly contributed to the ultimate victory of the Allies.  The Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Turks lost the war.

As spoils of war, the Ottoman Empire was carved up among the Allies.  The Ottoman Turks had been rulers over most of the Middle East, including Palestine, for almost 500 years.  Syria and Lebanon were placed under French rule, and Palestine became part of the British Mandate.

Britian was grateful to Chaim Weizmann for his contribution to the war effort.  Foreign secretary Arthur Balfour asked what Britian could do for him.  Weizmann declared that his people were in desperate need of a homeland.   Thus, the Balfour Declaration was issued in November of 1917, which said,

 Jewish immigration to the Holy Land increased.  Not liking what was taking place, Haj Amin al Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, began inciting riots of Arabs against the Jews.  Suddenly, two people groups who had lived together for the most part in peace for a long time became enemies. 

Muslim rioting, incited by al Husseini, increased throughout the 1920s and 30s, causing Great Britian to try and appease the Arabs living there, just as they were appeasing Adolf Hitler in Europe.  In 1922, 77 percent of the original land of Palestine was given to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a sovereign Arab nation.  Initially called Trans-Jordan because it was located across the Jordan river, the name was shortened to simply Jordan.  People tend to forget that today there already IS a sovereign Arab nation in the land which was called Palestine for so many centuries.

The pink area is modern-day Jordan, given to Saudi Arabia in 1922.

In 1939, Great Britian issued the MacDonald White Papers, which reneged on their 1917 promise of a Jewish homeland.  Just when the Jews needed refuge the most from the upcoming holocaust, it was denied them.   Jewish immigration to Palestine was stopped.

What followed was the murder of 6 million European Jews. 

In the aftermath of World War 2, the horrors of the holocaust were brought to the forefront.  The United Nations was formed, and in 1947 it drew up a plan called “Partition,” which split the remaining 23 percent of Palestine into two nations:  one for Arabs, and one for Jews.  The Jews gladly accepted; the Arabs flatly refused.

 

Had the Arabs accepted the UN Partition plan in 1947, their land today would be the yellow portion.

 On May 14, 1948, the British Mandate of Palestine ended and the sovereign nation of Israel was formed. President Harry S. Truman sent a congratulatory telegram to Israel, which was read as the national anthem of Ha Tikvah was played. 

Isaiah 66:8 says, Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, She gave birth to her children.  The context of this scripture is the last days.

The very day after Israeli Statehood was proclaimed, the infant country was invaded by six surrounding Arab countries: Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq, who threatened to push Israel into the sea.  The 1948 War of Independence was a miraculous war – the Israelis had almost no weapons to fight with, yet they prevailed.  There were 640,000 Jewish people in Israel, surrounded by 80 million Arabs in the attacking countries. 

Sadly, the Jewish quarter of the old city of Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jews were forced out.  Jordan took control of East Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria (which they called the "West Bank," a nickname for the area west of the Jordan River) and Egypt took control of Gaza.  For nineteen years the Jews had no access to the Old City or the temple mount.  But Israel was once again a sovereign state, for the first time in thousands of years. 

Many Arabs (about 700,000) on the Israel side of partition either fled their homes or were forced out by defending IDF troops during the Arab attack of 1948.  The Arab leadership promised that they could come back to their homes after Israel was pushed into the sea, and even promised that they could take over vacated Jewish homes.  However, since Israel prevailed in the war, those people became refugees and were not allowed back into Israel.  Many moved to other countries or settled into refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, and Jordan.  Today, the great-grandchildren of these original refugees still call themselves refugees - about 5 million of them, and are demanding "right of return" (which would have devastating effects on the State of Israel).  No other Arab country will take them in and give them citizenship, even though the surrounding Arab nations have an area 650 times as large as Israel.  It is more politically expedient for them to leave these people as refugees and blame it on Israel. 

The strange thing about the Arab refugee situation is that about an equal number of Jews were then kicked out of surrounding Arab countries, where they had had a presence for hundreds, if not thousands of years.  The difference is that tiny Israel took them in and gave them a home.  It is very strange that so many of these countries have no Jews living there anymore, and yet Israel has about 1,500,000 Arabs who have full Israeli citizenship – those who did not flee when the Arabs attacked.

Fast forward to 1967.  The countries surrounding Israel were flexing their muscles and preparing once again to invade as they mobilized tanks and planes.  Israel pre-emptively struck, demolishing the Egyptian air force and decimating Jordan and Syria in what is called the Six Day War.  The Jordanians withdrew from Jerusalem, and the holy city was reunified under Jewish rule for the first time in thousands of years.  The Jews also gained control over the West Bank from Jordan, Gaza from Egypt, and the Golan Heights from Syria.  For some reason, the Jews allowed the Arabs to maintain control of the Temple Mount.  They were just happy to have access to the Western Wall, or as we call it in the west, the Wailing Wall.  

Here is something to consider.  Between the years of 1948 and 1967, no move was made to create a sovereign nation called "Palestine" by the Arabic people living in the Arab-controlled areas. Perhaps it is because those areas were under the control of Arab nations.  The push for a separate state only began after Jewish control was established. Keep that thought in mind as we continue our journey through modern history.  (The PLO, or Palestine Liberation Organization, was begun in 1964 and sought to regain the land that had become the sovereign state of Israel, not to create a country called Palestine in the Arab-controlled lands).

The next war took place in 1973.  Syria and Egypt led an attack of Israel on the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur.  Israel, still a bit overconfident from their miraculous win in 1967, was caught by surprise and nearly defeated.  A tiny remnant of the military that was on duty managed to hold off attackers until the rest of the army could be mobilized.  The United States then came to the aid of Israel, which ticked off the Arabs and initiated the oil embargo of 1973.  I still remember the long lines at the gas station when I was a kid… I just never knew what was behind them.

The 1980s saw Israel embroiled in a minor war with Lebanon.  In 1993, the first Intifada (uprising) began with a big increase in Palestinian terrorism against Israel.

The second intifada began in 2000 after a visit to the Temple Mount by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.  The Arab world went crazy with rioting and terrorism.  The second intifada was directly responsible for the building of the “wall” by Israel around the areas of the West Bank, along with many checkpoints.  Because of the checkpoints and the wall, you will frequently hear accusations leveled at Israel for being an “apartheid” state in the media.  But since the creation of the security wall beginning in 2008, incidents of suicide bombers attacking Israel has dropped by a whopping 90 percent.

I don't deny that conditions for the residents of the Palestinian areas are bad.  They are.  What I do deny is that Israel is responsible for those conditions.  Israel has a right and a duty to protect her citizens.  The conditions are a direct result of the Palestinian leaders, such as al Husseini and Yasser Arafat, who for decades encouraged acts of terror against the people of Israel.  The anti-Jewish rhetoric that is taught to small children in Palestinian schools is appalling.  God holds leaders to a higher standard, with good reason.  It's human nature - people tend to follow their leaders.

The modern-day “peace process” began under President George Bush Senior at a conference in Madrid.  This “peace process” always has to do with Israel giving up “land for peace.”  In 2005, 15,000 Israelis living in Gaza were “disengaged” (expelled) by their own government, which was trying to appease the strong arm tactics of the United States, the UN, and the Arab nations.  It didn’t work.  Since then, thousands of rockets have been launched from Gaza into southern Israel.  All that “land for peace” does is buy the Arabs time before their next set of demands. 

FYI, when reading an article on Israel, certain key words will tell you if the article has an anti-Israeli bias, such as “apartheid,” “ethnic cleansing,” “Occupied Territories,” or “illegal settlements.”

 So why is this all happening?  Why is there such worldwide attention on a place that is about one-fifth the size of Florida?  We know that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the powers and principalities of the evil one, who happens to hate the plan of God and will do everything he can to stop that plan.  He wants to see that Israel does not survive; so that Yeshua cannot return, save His brethren, and set up His thousand year kingdom in Jerusalem.   

The millennial kingdom will be centered in Jerusalem

Some people say that the modern State of Israel is a secular state, and therefore could not be God bringing the Jewish people back to the land.  However, scripture shows in numerous places that Israel would be gathered to the land in a state of unbelief, and that the Lord would reveal Himself en masse to the nation at His return. 

Zechariah 12:10 says, in the context of the last days, that they will look upon Him who they have pierced and mourn.  Yeshua says in Matthew 23, “You will not see me again UNTIL you say blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”  (quoting Psalm 118). Ezekiel shows an allegory of the dry bones coming out of the graves BEFORE coming back to life.  Romans 11 confirms that God is not done with His chosen people, and that someday all Israel will be saved. 

The Jewish people are a living testimony of a faithful God.  No other people group has survived as a distinct people group once kicked out of their country - for even a generation.  Over 300 years ago, King Louis XIV of France asked Blaise Pascal, the great Christian philosopher, to give him proof of God. Pascal answered, “Why the Jews, your Majesty, the Jews!”

That the Jewish nation—such a tiny group of people—survived two thousand years of exile and persecution was nothing short of a supernatural phenomenon. Pascal wasn’t the only one who was so amazed by the survival of the Jewish people. Other thinkers, philosophers and historians have noticed something unusual about the Jews.  If God was done with the Jewish people as a nation, as Replacement Theology teaches, then why would He have bothered preserving them as a set-apart people?  What would have been His point?

Jewish people worshipping at the Western Wall in Jerusalem

 God has miraculously preserved the Jewish people throughout the centuries, in spite of severe persecution, because of the unconditional covenant made with Abraham thousands of years ago.  “Then all will know that I am the Lord.”

Israel - The Big Picture, Part 1

It has come to my attention lately, through several emails from friends, that the Church is either confused or badly misinformed about the role of Israel today in God’s plan.  So why is Israel important?

In this post, which will be rather long, I will be looking at the Biblical and historical background of Israel.  Part 2 will look at the rise of modern Zionism since the mid 1800s and the formation of the State of Israel.  You may or may not agree with my conclusions, but I encourage you to stay in the Word and pray for God to give you understanding.  I am not your ultimate authority, He is.

God’s plan for mankind, especially the culmination, is centered on Israel.  Many in the church have a hard time with this, but it’s true.  When Yeshua returns to earth, it will be to Jerusalem.  He will set up His millennial kingdom there.

Satan knows this, and is doing everything in his power to stop the plan of God from happening.

Israel begins with a promise to Abram, later called Abraham.  (Israel was still a twinkle in Abraham’s eye, so to speak).  Technically, the redemptive seed was promised way back in the garden after the fall.  But it was through Abraham that God really began to unfold His purposes.

Gen 12:3 tells us God’s promise to Abraham, and it is also a promise to us:  I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.  This blessing was repeated for Isaac in Genesis 17:19, and Jacob in Genesis 27:29.  Jacob’s name was later called Israel.

In Genesis 15, God made an unconditional covenant with Abraham.  The sealing of the covenant involved the cutting of the animals.  God alone passed through and consumed those pieces with fire, which tells us that this covenant is unconditional.  

Genesis 15:18-19 says, And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying:  “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates (and then goes on to list all the tribes that currently lived in the land). 

This promise is reiterated again in Psalm 105:9-11 - The covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac, and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan as the allotment of your inheritance.”

Gen 17:7 also tells us this will be an everlasting covenant.  This covenant has never been rescinded!  God keeps His promises!

The nation of Israel was forged in Egypt from the 12 sons of Jacob (Israel), and then delivered out of bondage.  In scripture, Egypt represents sin.  The Passover and exodus out of Egypt is a picture of redemption from our sin.

The Israelites were led into the wilderness and given the covenant at Sinai – the law, or Torah.  Its purpose was to demonstrate their own sinfulness – falling short of God’s perfect standard.  No one was able to perfectly keep it.  This covenant was conditional, temporary, and required obedience to it. Deuteronomy 30 talks about the blessing or cursing in regard to keeping God’s commandments.  But this was NOT an everlasting covenant.  Someone was to come Who would fulfill it perfectly.

Jeremiah confirms this when he prophesied the new covenant.  Jer 31:31-33 says “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

So after Israel left Egypt, they wandered in the wilderness 40 years due to their fear of entering the Promised Land.  They finally took the land, and began living there and being governed by judges.  But they wanted to be like other countries, so they cried out for a king.  Israel was then ruled by kings Saul, David, and Solomon respectively.

After King Solomon, the Israelites split into two kingdoms, the north and the south.  The northern kingdom, Israel, fell into idolatry first and were scattered.  The southern kingdom of Judah remained for another hundred or so years but also succumbed to idolatry.  They were sent to  Babylon for 70 years, and then brought back miraculously through Cyrus, king of Persia (who was mentioned BY NAME hundreds of years before he was even born, by Isaiah in chapters 44 and 45).

The Jews came back from Babylon because God keeps His promises.  And, they needed to be back in the land to bring forth the Savior, who was to be born in Bethlehem as prophesied.

The new covenant came, fulfilling the temporary covenant made at Sinai, which Yeshua instituted at the Passover meal the night before His death, and then sealed it with His blood on the cross.  The new covenant was made with Israel and Judah, exactly as foretold by Jeremiah.

Yeshua perfectly fulfilled every single command of the Torah.  Because He did not fall short, or sin, He was able to pay our penalty for us.  In doing so, He BECAME the law… it is trust in HIS redemptive work that saves us.  He is the fulfillment of Jeremiah 31.  (Yeshua did not come to start a new religion called Christianity.  He was the Jewish Messiah who came to fulfill God’s singular plan of redemption for the entire world.)

The new covenant was rejected by the Jewish leaders, and therefore by most of the Jewish people.  (This is why leaders are held to a higher standard – people tend to be sheeple and follow their leaders blindly.)  However, many people thought for themselves… the entire early church was Jewish… thousands of them.

Just as the Jews were punished for disobedience to the Sinai covenant by being sent to Babylon for 70 years, as a nation, they were also punished for rejection of the new covenant.  Since the new covenant was a much bigger and higher covenant, so too was the punishment for its rejection.  Instead of 70 years, the Jews were dispersed throughout the four corners of the earth, where they remained for nearly two millennia.

But because of the everlasting Abrahamic covenant, they will be [and are being] brought back.  Just as they were brought back to fulfill God’s purposes in the FIRST visitation of the Messiah, so too will they be brought back to fulfill God’s purposes for the SECOND visitation of Messiah.  And that is exactly what is happening today!

The Book of Amos is filled with judgments on Judah and Israel.  Most of it is rather depressing.  However, the very last two verses – Amos 9:14-15 says,

I will bring back the captives of My people Israel;

They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them;
They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them.
I will plant them in their land,
And NO LONGER shall they be pulled up
From the land I have given them,”
Says the Lord your God.

Did you catch that?  NO LONGER?  This cannot mean the Babylonian exile, because they were exiled again after that. 

So where is the church in all this?

A change began to occur in the all-Jewish church beginning in Acts 10.  The kingdom of God began to be offered to Gentiles!  This was unheard of in the Jewish culture!  The Torah had kept the Jews separate from Gentiles, for the most part. 

The Jerusalem Council convened in Acts 15 to decide what to do with all these Gentiles that wanted to follow Yeshua, and the consensus was, yep, let those Gentiles come in.  Ephesians 2:12 says, speaking to Gentiles, that at that time you 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.

Romans 11 then gives us a great picture of the Gentiles being grafted into the olive tree of Israel, and warns us not to be arrogant toward the branches that were broken off. 

Unfortunately, arrogance did happen.  Some of the early gentile church fathers began teaching that God was done with Israel.  Origen and Chrysostoam both spoke against the Jews.  This is called Replacement Theology – the idea that God hates the Jews and is finished with them, and that all His promises are now for the Gentile church.  This was picked up by the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, and carried right into the Reformation with Martin Luther, who said some terrible things about the Jews.  He wrote a treatise called “On the Jews and Their Lies.”  You can google it to see what it said, but prepare to be disgusted if you've never seen it before.

How did/do these teachers of Replacement Theology miss Romans 11?  Look at verses 1-2: I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has NOT cast away His people whom He foreknew. 

Verses 11 and 12 tell us:  I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, HOW MUCH MORE  their fullness!

Verse 26 says ,

And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

“The Deliverer will come out of Zion,
And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
For this is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins.”  (Paul is quoting Isaiah 59:20)

Sadly, there is still an anti-Israel sentiment that is pervasive even today in many, many churches.  Some are adopting boycotts of any Israeli-made goods.  At a recent IHOP [International House of Prayer] conference we attended, there were people protesting the Israeli treatment of the Palestinian people and handing out postcards of what they call the “apartheid” wall (more information on all of this in part 2).

Is this what God wants for His church?  Let me give you a few passages to consider and meditate on.

Again, read Genesis 12:3 - I will bless those who bless you, and he who curses you I will curse… this is part of the everlasting covenant.  This applies to us today! 

And by the way, two different words are used in this verse for “curse” in Hebrew.  The word arar means just what it says, to curse.  The other word, qalal, means “to treat lightly, to ignore, to lightly esteem.”  The NET Bible translation sticks pretty close to the original language:  I will bless those who bless you, but the one who treats you lightly I must curse…

Deuteronomy 32:9-10 says [speaking of Israel],

 For the Lord’s portion is His people;
Jacob is the place of His inheritance.  
 “He found him in a desert land
And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness;
He encircled him, He instructed him,
He kept him as the apple of His eye.”

Now that we know WHO the “Apple of my eye” is, let’s look at Zechariah 2:8 - For thus says the Lord of hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you [Israel] touches the apple of His eye.

The “apple” is the pupil – one of the most sensitive parts of the body.  It’s like poking God in the eye when you lightly esteem His chosen people.

I love this one - Isaiah 40:1-2

“Comfort, yes, comfort My people!”  says your God.
“Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her,
That her warfare is ended,
That her iniquity is pardoned;
For she has received from the Lord’s hand
Double for all her sins.”

Exactly who is God talking to in this passage?  To Israel, to comfort herself?  I don’t think so!  Comfort MY people says YOUR God.  The word for comfort is menachem, which is also one of the Hebrew words for the Holy Spirit – the comforter.  The Word is addressing Holy Spirit-filled believers here!  The Ten Boom family understood this verse as they reached out to God’s people before and during World War II.

See how Yeshua weeps over His people in Matthew 23:37, knowing what was coming for them:

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!  See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more UNTIL you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!  (Until means that something is coming).

This same end-time context is carried over to Matthew 25, beginning in verse 34:

Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:  for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;  I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?  When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?  Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’  And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these MY BRETHREN you did it to Me.’  

He is literally talking about His close kinsmen here – the Jewish people.  What follows is the separation of the sheep and the goats.  In this case, you want to be a sheep!

Think about the prodigal son story of Luke 15 (which the NET version beautifully calls the Story of the Compassionate Father).  The church historically has acted very much like the older, arrogant brother.  Yet the loving and compassionate Father is waiting, waiting for his wayward son longingly.

God will put different people groups on your heart.  For me, it is Mexico and India. But keeping Romans 1:16 in mind puts things in proper perspective: For I am not ashamed of the gospel of the Messiah, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 

On Paul’s journeys, he ALWAYS went to the Jews first.  God blesses that and gives His increase all over the world.

Moishe Rosen, founder of Jews for Jesus, was accused in a radio interview that in his ministry, for every Jew that was saved, five gentiles come to faith.  His response… “well, what do you want me to do?  Throw them back?”

In closing, do you want to be blessed?  Bless Israel! 

Bless them prayerfully, financially, physically – however you can!  Make some Jewish friends.  Seek them out.  Love them unconditionally, regardless of whether they receive Yeshua as their savior or not. 

Ruth, the Gentile from Moab, attached herself to Israel.  The passage “your people shall be my people” makes a lovely wedding sentiment, but that isn’t what Ruth was talking about.  Did God bless her for her attachment to Israel?  Ruth the Moabite became the great grandmother of King David, and thus helped bring about the first coming of the Messiah through her faithful alliance.  Could it be that by attaching ourselves to Israel today, we Gentiles can help bring about the second coming of the Messiah?

Psalm 122:6 says, Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:  May they prosper who love you.

For part two,  a look at modern Israel, please click here.