Prophecy Update: The Importance of Israel June 21, 2019
There has been an amazing move of God the last 200 years. We live in special times when God increased the missionary movement; Christians have reached the whole world with the gospel. The ability of Christians to use TV, Radio, Internet, Satellites, and other forms of media to spread the gospel has reached into the darkest and deepest evil nations. China cannot keep out the gospel, North Korea, the darkest of places has not been able to keep out the gospel. At the same time as this was happening, God began to fulfill His goal of bringing Israel back to her land. God is in the process of fulfilling things which He spoke about 3500 years ago. The two most important dates are 1948 and 1967. 1948 began the process of Israel becoming a nation. They declared it at that time, but they still have to conquer much of the land promised to them. God said that the reestablishment of Israel as a nation would come with war and suffering and great victories. The second date, 1967 is when Israel conquered and secured to themselves Jerusalem. God promised that Jerusalem would be the greatest source of conflict with the nations. This is what is happening today. The next few weeks we will be studying the place of Israel in prophecy and why it is important for Christians to support Israel.
Aliyah is probably not a word you are familiar with. It means the ingathering of Jews to the land of Israel by God. Israel, the land, and the ingathering of Jews is the last great witness of God to the nations. This is on our heavenly Fathers heart today and He said in Is.43:5-6, “Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, And gather you from the west. “I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar And My daughters from the ends of the earth.” This has been happening and there is more to come. Unfortunately, it is happening with a lot of conflict.
The war to end all wars was a term for the First World War of 1914–1918. Originally idealistic, it is a dream and I think that it is the introduction to the end days. It was at this time that people began crying peace, peace, when there was no peace. It was a time when Jews were going back to their land, the land of Israel. The promise of God had in fact begun to be fulfilled in 1880. The rise of Zionism in the 1800’s was a signal to Satan that God was moving in the hearts of Jews to go home and settle the land of Israel. Satan also saw the rise of Christians who were teaching prophecy and the importance of Israel and the return! Satan worked his strategy to destroy Israel before God could fulfill His plan. Just like Exodus 1, Pharaoh under the inspiration of Satan tried to destroy the nation of Israel and failed, so Satan would fail again in the 20th century. Satan tried to destroy Israel at least six times in the 20th century—all failed!
The Bible describes for us how Babylon and Rome both drove the Jews from their land. It was fulfilling Bible prophecy. God prophesied that when Israel became a nation, they would disobey Him and He would remove them from the land. Dt.4:25-28, 28:62-67. When Israel is out of their land, God promised that the land would not work so that no one could settle the land. Many nations tried to settle the Promised Land and they all failed. Crops would not grow, the land was barren, few would live there. God also prophesied that He would bring the Jews back to the land, then the land would work again. When Jews came to the land, all of a sudden it produced fruit and vegetables. This process was described in Lev.26:32-33 when it says, “and I will make the land desolate so that your enemies who settle in it shall be appalled over it. You, however I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become desolate.”
Wherever the Jews settled, they were persecuted. Here is a brief outline of how some of the nations would kick the Jews out of their lands, steal their land, money, and kill them.
Britain: The Edict of Expulsion was a royal decree issued by King Edward I of England on 18 July 1290 expelling all Jews from the Kingdom of England. Edward advised the sheriffs of all counties he wanted all Jews expelled by no later than All Saints’ Day (1st November) that year. That is a little ironic, no saint would ever have such hatred in their heart for Jews or any unbeliever. Paul had the opposite attitude in Romans 9 when he said he would give up his salvation and be accursed for the sake of his countrymen, Jews. so they could be saved!
France: During the first half of the 13th century, the attitude of the Church towards Jews hardened from disapproval to loathing. On 22 July, 1306 King Philip IV of France expelled all Jews from his kingdom.
Germany: The First Crusade (1096-1099) began an era of persecution of Jews in Germany. Entire communities, like those of Trier, Worms, Mainz and Cologne, were murdered.
Russia: In the late 19th century and early 20th century, Jews were beaten and killed and their property destroyed in government-sanctioned pogroms led by a group called the Black Hundreds. In 1882, the Russian government passed its notorious anti-Semitic “May laws” that drove Jews off their farms and forced them to live in town ghettos. Violent pogroms against the Jews erupted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a way of dealing with the “Jewish problem.” The pogroms began during a period of repression and discontent when many people blamed their problems on the Jews. Local authorities fanned these sentiments as the Jews made convenient scapegoats. Among the peasantry Jews were regarded as money-hungry shopkeepers and capitalists. Authorities viewed them as political agitators.
Spain: “In the same month in which their Majesties [Ferdinand and Isabella] issued the edict that all Jews should be driven out of the kingdom and its territories, in the same month they gave me the order to undertake with sufficient men my expedition of discovery to the Indies. So begins Christopher Columbus’s diary.” The expulsion that Columbus refers to was so cataclysmic an event that ever since, the date 1492 has been almost as important in Jewish history as in American history. On July 30 of that year, the entire Jewish community, some 200,000 people, were expelled from Spain.
Satan is inspiring his people to express three equally evil attitudes towards Jews.
Anti-Semitism is the hostility to or prejudice against Jews.
Anti-Judaism is the opposition to Torah thru Abraham and Moses. Jesus worshipped God using the grace and teaching of the Old Testament in His ministry; this is the way it should have been expressed. Jesus practice of biblical Judaism is rejected by anti-Judaiac Christians. These are the people in churches who teach that the Old Testament is not for Christians. Paul in Romans 11:1-2 says that God has not rejected His people Israel. Many in the churches have said, God has rejected Israel. While there has been substantial support of Israel from evangelical Christianity, “nevertheless, a vociferous segment has opposed any acknowledgement whereby God continues to have present covenantal interest in His ancient people.” (Future Israel pg.2)
Anti-Zionism is opposition to the establishment of the nation of Israel.
Today, being against the nation of Israel has become a way for people to express their anti-Semitic attitudes. To mask hatred of Jews behind criticism of the nation is a new form of anti-Semitism. Christian anti-Semitism always tried to dissolve Israel into Christianity. Today, the goal is to destroy the nation of Israel.
The word used for the church eliminating Israel from the plan of God is called replacement theology. It is also called supercessionism, meaning that God is done with the Jew, Israel, and Judaism. They teach that there are no promises for Israel in the Old or New Covenants. The film series we are watching covers the history of anti-Semitism. This five-part series explores the history and theology of the enduring controversy over the Jewish people, the Land of Israel, and the city of Jerusalem. Only three of the films have been produced and the fourth one is coming out this year.
The first film is called the “Great Rage.” “Throughout centuries, judenhass (German for Jew hatred) has found expression in political, religious and social contexts spanning continents and cultures without discernible cause or correlation. The Great Rage is the first installment in this five-part series, which assesses these historical expressions of Jew-hatred and grapples with the modern progression of this international rage in present-day.
There are three great mountain tops in history regarding the rage against Jews: Pagan rage, Christian rage, and Islamic rage. Chapter one called the ‘Goyim’ is about Germany and the rage against Jews in the 1930-1945. The Soviet Union collaborated with Hitler until the Germans betrayed them. Both the Nazis and the Russians equally were complicit in killing Jews. What is worse, most of Europe appeased Hitler in killing Jews and many joined in to help. Poland is one such nation and they ended up being like Haman in the book of Esther. Today we have Hamas and Iran preaching every week that they will wipe out the Jews from the earth. The fellowship of hatred is before us in our day. Please pray and stand with the Lord and His love for His people Israel. Romans 11 says it like this: vs.28 “From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers”—God will save Israel and He loves them!
