God has a long memory
Back in the 1987 the Australian fim industry produced a memorable movie titled “The Lighthorsemen.” Who would forget the magnificent charge of 800 Aussies as they charged on horseback towards the Turkish lines at Beersheba. It was a magnificent charge and I think the best part of the movie which depicted young Aussies willing to sacrifice their lives knowing that the British armies under General Allenby needed the wells at Beersheba to water their horses so that the Brits could take Jerusalem back from the Ottoman Turks, striking a defining blow against Islam. At Beersheba the big guns fired and the machine guns transversed the ground over which the brave Aussies charged unabated. Some lost their lives but it was quite miraculous that not more Aussies died under the hail of fire from the Turkish position. God was most certainly with the Aussies that day because He loves Jerusalem and wanted to see His people libertaed from Turkish oppression. God has a long memory and does not forget what people do either for or against Israel.
An Embassy move?
According to a recent report in the Jerusalem Post Online a headline read; “Australia formally recognizes West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital” The sub header read; “Morrison said in October he was open to shifting the embassy.” The report went on to say; “Australia formally recognizes West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, reversing decades of Middle East policy, but will not move its embassy there immediately, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Saturday; “Australia now recognizes West Jerusalem, being the seat of the Knesset and many of the institutions of government, is the capital of Israel,” Morrison said. “We look forward to moving our embassy to West Jerusalem when practical,” he told reporters in Sydney.
Increasing the tension
Morrison said in October he was open to shifting Australia’s embassy from Tel Aviv. President Donald Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv in May delighted Israel, infuriated Palestinians and upset the wider Arab world and Western allies. Morrison’s unexpected announcement in October was viewed cynically because it came days before a crucial by-election in an electorate with a strong Jewish representation, a poll his party subsequently lost. It also drew criticism from Muslim-majority neighbours such as Indonesia and Malaysia, neither of whom formally recognises Israel’s right to exist. Arab countries worried that the move would unnecessarily inflame tensions in the Middle East.
Determining the status?
Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its capital, including the eastern sector that it annexed after the 1967 Middle East war, and wants all embassies based there. The international community believes Jerusalem’s status should be resolved through negotiation. The status of Jerusalem, home to sites holy to the Muslim, Jewish and Christian faiths, is one of the biggest obstacles to a peace agreement between Israel and Palestinians who want East Jerusalem recognized as the capital of a Palestinian state. Morrison said Australia would not move its embassy to West Jerusalem until the city’s final status was determined, but said trade and defence offices would be opened there. He confirmed Australia’s support for a two-state solution with a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem. “What we are saying is we’ve got to move this forward. The rancid stalemate has to be broken,” he said.”
A two state solution?
On Monday this week in the ABC Online our Prime Minister made this comment “Australia now recognises West Jerusalem, being the seat of the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) and many of the institutions of government, is the capital of Israel,” Mr Morrison said. “Furthermore, recognising our commitment to a two-state solution, the Australian Government has also resolved to acknowledge the aspirations of the Palestinian people for a future state with its capital in East Jerusalem.” On the same ABC report the Indonesian government were up in arms and saw such a move a very real threat to trade negotiations with Australia and that such a move on the part of the Australian government would threaten the security of the Islamic world in the Middle-East.
Where “the rubber hits the road”
On the surface of things it would seem that our Prime Minister Scott Morrison is all for shifting the Australian Embassy to Jerusalem as President Trump has done with the American Embassy. However, “where the rubber hits the road” it seems a compromise is taking place in our Prime Ministers thinking in relation to recognizing Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel which automatically includes East Jerusalem. Opening defence and trade offices in West Jerusalem cannot mask the fact that indirectly it seems Prime Minister Scott Morrison will not publically recognize both West and East Jerusalem together as Israel’s capital but sees only the Western part of the City as the Capital of Israel and the Eastern half as the Capital for the ‘Palestinian Arabs.’ He said that he would not move the Australian Embassy to West Jerusalem until the city’s final status was determined.
God determines the status
The status has already been determined in the Word of God and that by God Himself. What is there for our Prime Minister to determine? Added to this he confirmed and affirmed his administration’s support for a two-state solution with a Palestinian Capital in East Jerusalem. To even suggest he supports a Palestinian Capital in East Jerusalem and the so called “two-state solution from hell” shows that he either does not know, or recognize, or chooses not to know, what the Bible says about this matter of dividing up God’s Real Estate. It would seem trade with Islamic countries and political expediency is the path our Prime Minister has chosen? Clearly it shows that he and this current government do not support the Biblical fact that the whole of Jerusalem is the eternal Capital of Israel and not to be a divided city, neither is Israel a land to be “carved up” by the nations.
Palestine of Israel?
For starters, the land was never called ‘Palestine’ either by the prophets, or by the Lord Jesus, or by the apostles or by God Himself. He gave the nation its name Israel through the Patriarch Jacob. (Genesis 32:28) God gave the whole land of Israel to the Jewish people from the Wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates River to be for the nation “an everlasting possession.” (Genesis 15:17-19; 17:7-8) This included the whole of Jerusalem which King David first chose as Israel’s capital 1,000 years before the birth of the Lord Jesus. For Prime Minister Scott Morrison to suggest that East Jerusalem should be the Palestinian Capital goes against the Word of God. The Bible is clear that in the last days God will make Jerusalem “an immovable stone” and that those who seek to move Jerusalem in any way, shape or form, and this includes the status of it, will be “torn apart.” (Zechariah 12:3) Added to this God will most certainly judge the nations that seek to divide up the land with a so called “two-state” solution. (Joel 3:1-2)
The lucky country?
In His providential purposes God has seen fit to install our current Prime Minister. (Daniel 2:21) However, if Scott Morrison does not support Israel Biblically then he may well find himself losing the next election which would prove to be a disastrous thing spiritually for the people of this great country of ours as he is a born again man holding the top job in this nation. What a great privilege and responsibility he has before God to lead and to influence this nation for Biblical Christianity. We have been called “the lucky country” but if things keep going the way they are at the political level our luck will eventually run out! The only thing that will redeem this country spiritually will be a genuine Biblical revival such as was seen under the Wesley’s in England in the eighteenth century when English society at every level was radically changed for the better!
A blessing or a curse?
To disagree with or to go against what God’s Word says about Israel is to evoke God’s curse even if there is no verbal denigration or derogatory statement made publically concerning the Jewish nation. Agreeing with what God says in His Word is the pathway to blessing and this includes agreeing with what He has said about Israel. God is speaking to our Prime Minister today and to all of the leaders of the nations from the Word of God about the status of Jerusalem and Israel in these last days. God’s promise to Abraham still stands today. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:2-3)
