Watch Israel!

 

“And He said to me, ‘You are My servant, O Israel, In whom I will be glorified.’” - Isaiah 49:3

The Olivet Discourse of Jesus is a prophetic message that is directed at Israel in particular and the Church in a secondary fashion. In the discourse Jesus mentions the Abomination of Desolation and the budding of the fig tree, both of which are particularly linked symbolically to Israel. Don’t miss the point Jesus is making here. The important thing he is stating here is that the nation of Israel is an integral part of God’s prophetic plan and therefore a barometer of where we are on the prophetic calendar. Israel is an important sign for us to examine for a number of reasons.

First, the nation of Israel is God’s tool to make Himself known to the world. In the book of Isaiah it states:

• Isaiah 43:10a – “"You are My witnesses,” says the Lord, “And My servant whom I have chosen, . . .” (See also Isaiah 43:12; 44:8)

God has chosen to use the nation of Israel to prove His existence and reveal Himself to the world. One way He has done this is through the preservation of Israel and especially the reestablishment of Israel as a nation in 1948.

Second, the nation of Israel is Gods’ tool to glorify Himself to the world. We see this in the following verses:

• Isaiah 46:13 – “I bring My righteousness near, it shall not be far off; My salvation shall not linger. And I will place salvation in Zion, For Israel My glory.”
• Isaiah 49:3 - “And He said to me, ‘You are My servant, O Israel, In whom I will be glorified.’”

In describing the events of one End Times battle, the LORD explains how He will use Isreal when through the prophet Ezekiel He states:

• Ezekiel 38:23 - “Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.” ’

Third, the nation of Israel is God’s tool to reveal Himself via prophecy. One of the proofs of God’s existence is prophecy. In Isaiah it states:

• Isaiah 46:9-10 – “ Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me,10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’”

God proves he is real and true by speaking prophetically through prophets. God has used the nation of Israel in particular to reveal Himself prophetically. The following are a few examples of God’s prophecy regarding Israel:

1. God promised a Land to Israel through their patriarch Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3; 13:15; 15:7; 26:3-5; 28:13; Leviticus 25:46; Joshua 14:9).
2. God brought Israel as a “chosen people” into this Land (Exodus 6:7-8; Deuteronomy 7:6; 14:2).
3. God warned Israel if they practiced idolatry and immorality He would evict them from the Land (Deuteronomy 9:4; 28:63; 1 Kings 9:7; 2 Chronicles 7:19-20). They persisted in sinning in this way against God and His patient grace and He did indeed allow them to be overcome by their enemies and evicted from the Land.
4. God declared Israel would be scattered throughout the earth and they were as a result of their sinfulness (Deuteronomy 28:64; 1 Kings 9:7; Nehemiah 1:8; Jeremiah 9:13-16; 44:2-17; Amos 9:9; Zechariah 7:14).
5. God warned that when Israel was scattered that they would come to be a curse and byword because of their sinfulness in forsaking God (Deuteronomy 28:37; 2 Chronicles 7:20; Jeremiah 29:18; 44:8). This has come to pass throughout history as Jews are persistently maligned and the subject of slurs, jokes and hated and persecuted perpetually.
6. Despite their being targeted by merciless persecution, God promised that His chosen people would not be utterly destroyed and would continue as an identifiable ethnic and national group (Jeremiah 30:11; 31:35-37). History has proven this to be true.
7. God promised to bring Israel back to the Promised Land in the Last Days and He did this on May 14^th, 1948 when Israel was reestablished as a nation  (Isaiah 11:11-12; Jeremiah 30:10; 31:8-12; Ezekiel 36:8-10, 22, 24, 33-38).
8. God promised that in the Last Days, Jerusalem, the capitol of Israel, would become a “cup of trembling” (KJV) and a burden to the people’s of the world (Zechariah 12:2-3, 6-8). Jerusalem and Israel a nation the size of Rhode Island, are the center of the International controversy and tension proving God’s word of prophecy to be true. [i]

On January 15^th France is hosting a conference to discuss the two state “solution” to the problem of Palestinian statehood. The likelihood is that any arrangement will be based on the pre-1967 war borders and that any decision will be aimed at unilaterally pressuring Israel to comply to this decision by surrounding her and isolating her in the court of world public opinion. All this while Islamic Palestinian sourced terror attacks continue.

Don’t think God will stand by as the world tries to carve up His Land. There are battles in the near future. I would encourage you to examine such portions of scripture as Psalm 83, Isaiah 17, Ezekiel 38 and 39. But more importantly, I would encourage you to watch and pray and look up! For our redemption is drawing nigh!

 

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[i] A good book on the role of Israel in prophecy is A Cup of Trembling by Dave Hunt, Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon, 1995.