Israel Matters to God (Part 3)
(Isaiah 31:4-5) “For this is what the LORD has said to me: “Like a lion roaring or a young lion over its prey—and though a band of shepherds is called out against it, it is not terrified by their shouting or subdued by their clamour—so the LORD of Hosts will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and its heights. Like birds hovering overhead, so the LORD of Hosts will protect Jerusalem. He will shield it and deliver it; He will pass over it and preserve it.”
Israel as a nation was never imperialistic; neither was David Ben-Gurion a man with an imperialistic mindset when he announced to the whole world the rebirth of the nation of Israel. America is imperialistic. The United Kingdom in its heyday was imperialistic. Ancient Rome was imperialistic. Israel is anti-imperialistic. She gives away her land for peace, which she should not do according to God’s Word because the whole Land of Israel is their inheritance from the LORD, but that is another story in itself!
Israel at War:
Hours after the declaration of Israel as a nation, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Saudi Arabia joined by the Arab League of Nations all combined their forces to attack pitiful post holocaust Israel. The Jewish sector of Jerusalem was in a state of emergency and they were under a total siege. Food supplies were slim; the people for the most part just existed. In a week their diet consisted of 2 ounces of margarine and a quarter pound four ounces of dried meat to last them for a week.
Azzam Pasha, the Secretary-General of the Arab League from 1945 to 1952, declared in 1947 that were a war to take place with the proposed establishment of a Jewish state, it would lead to “a war of extermination and momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacre and the Crusades.” The quote was universally cited for decades as having been uttered on the eve of the outbreak of the attack on Israel by the Arab states several months later. Satan most certainly was behind this “war of extermination” as he was behind the Holocaust!
Haj Amin al-Husseini (1897-1974) was the Mufti (chief Muslim Islamic legal religious authority) of Jerusalem under the political authority of the British Mandate in Palestine from 1921 to 1937. He had collaborated with the Nazis and was the spiritual leader of the spiritual Muslims or those leaning towards mysticism such as we see with the Sufi Muslims, who in their worship go into a trance like state and move around together in unison. Al-Husseini said” I declare a holy war my Muslim brothers, murder the Jews, murder them all.”
When the attack came by the Arab nations they had 40 tanks whereas Israel had one broken tank. The Arabs had 200 armoured vehicles. Israel had two warplanes, whereas the Arabs had 47 warplanes. Israel had 145 projectiles or rockets. Israel was against all odds! They were totally outgunned and outmanned. However on March 10th 1949, nine months, three weeks and two days after the war had begun the Jews had a miraculous victory! You know why? Israel matters to God! She might not matter to the nations but she matters to God, more than we can ever know!
Hundreds of Prophecies:
In the Tanakh (the Old Testament scriptures) there are hundreds of prophecies we read all the time in scripture that foretell the Jews coming back to their homeland in the last days. Let’s look at some main ones.
(Jeremiah 32:37-41) “Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, in My wrath and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety. They shall be My people, and I will be their God; and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me. I will rejoice over them to do them good and will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul.”
In the time of Jeremiah God had not driven His people into exile. The exile would come with the Assyrian invasion of Israel in 722BC carrying of ten of the 12 tribes of Israel. Then in 586 BC the Babylonian invasion of Israel occurred and there was another exile for the Jews of the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Then in 70 AD there was another exile after the destruction of the temple and the decimation of Jerusalem. Then in 135 AD there was the final Jewish revolt of Simon Bar Kochba against Rome which saw the massacre and exile of millions of Jews and Jerusalem basically flattened. The city of Aelia Capitolina was a Roman colony founded during Emperor Hadrian’s visit to Judaea in 129-130 AD, centred around Jerusalem, which had been almost totally razed after the siege under the Romans. As far as the nations were concerned Israel was a nation no more.
However, God foretold through the prophets that Israel would be reborn as a nation and even though they returned to the land of Israel in unbelief their spiritual restoration would occur once they were back in the land of Israel (Ezekiel 37:1-1-14). This return happened in 1948 after almost 2,000 years of exile. They are coming back but there will be another partial exile to come (Zechariah 14:1-2). Having said this, Jeremiah is telling us that all of the surviving exiles in all of the nations will return at the very end of the age after the Messiah has returned and reigns from Jerusalem. In that day every Jew still living will be a saved Jew because God’s gifts and call are irrevocable!!! (Romans 11:25-29)
Since 1948 the Jews have been coming home. Jeremiah did not even know what he was saying. It was not important for him to know the times and season when this would happen. While the message is important the messenger isn’t. No matter what the people said about or did to Jeremiah truth is truth and when God says something is going to happen it happens! As for the day and the time this was not important for the prophet to know. He was God’s messenger and that was sufficient.
However, at times through the revelation of the Holy Spirit living on the inside of them they did search their thoughts coming from the Spirit concerning the time in the future when the Messiah would suffer, but it was not clear to them as to when this would occur. The apostle Peter tells us about this when he writes; “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who foretold the grace to come to you searched and investigated carefully, trying to determine the time and setting to which the Spirit of Messiah in them was pointing when He predicted the sufferings of Messiah and the glories to follow” ( 1 Peter 1:10-11).
God said to Jeremiah; “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you. For behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will restore from captivity My people Israel and Judah, declares the LORD. I will restore them to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they will possess it.’” These are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah” (Jeremiah 30:2-4). Jeremiah was actually prophesying a world-wide return of the Jews out of all the nations. They were going to be scattered all over the world but they are coming back today!
(Ezekiel 36:23-25) “I will show the holiness of My great name, which has been profaned among the nations—the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when I show My holiness in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all the countries, and I will bring you back into your own land. I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.” These verses describe Israel’s spiritual restoration as well as their complete national restoration.
(Isaiah 43:5-7) ““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, Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.”
God’s sons and daughters from the ends of the earth who are called by God’s name are saved Jews but also include saved Gentiles spiritually grafted into the Olive Tree Israel. The Messiah has only one body of blood-redeemed New Covenant believers and they are Jew and gentile that are one new man in Messiah (Romans 11:17-18) (Ephesians 2:11-22) (Acts 15:12-18) (Amos 9:11-12). Notice that God says; “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.” Here the LORD is speaking about the Jewish people coming back to the Land of Israel in the last days. Isaiah prophesied this return when there were no Jews in the west or the north or the south. The Jews were all in Israel at the time Isaiah prophesied their return from all of the nations on earth. Isaiah is speaking about a future event. The east speaks about the Arabian Jews immigrating; the west speaks about the European Jewish immigration. In the north speaks about Russian Jews immigrating, and in the south there would be African Jews immigrating. Israel matters to God!
Carried on Eagles Wings:
(Exodus 19:4) “You have seen for yourselves what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.”
Why does Moses use the eagle as an example of bringing the Jews home to Israel? Ancient Hebrew culture going back 2,700 years revered eagles as mighty warriors. Why did they use this analogy? Well, Eagles never turn their backs to a storm. The more the storm intensifies the higher they fly. Their sight, their flight and their fight is incredible to say the least. They have one enemy and that is the serpent. They will grab the serpent and mess with it and then fly at break-neck speed towards a rock, and as soon as they see the cliff face they turn and snap their talons and then they smash the snake’s head into the rock. The eagle cares for its young. Eagles are the only birds that carry their eaglets to safety away from predators. Other birds carry their young in their talons but eagles carry their young upon their wings. So the only way the young eaglet can be harmed is if you shoot through the old one carrying the eaglet. God says concerning Israel His wife; “I carry you on My wings. If they want to get to you then they have to go through Me!” In the Bible eagles wings are always an expression of the wonderful tenderness of God towards His children Israel because Israel matters to God!
We read in the prophet Isaiah; “Who are these who fly like clouds, like doves to their shelters?”(Isaiah 60:8). The context is the ultimate return of the Jews to Israel and their complete spiritual and national restoration in the Messiah’s Millennial Kingdom. In this context of verse 8 the Jews are carried back to Israel on eagles wings. Let’s look at this. Isaiah knew nothing about airplanes but somehow he saw them in a sense flying through the air as it were and coming back to Israel. Isaiah was just relating what God said to him. God of course inhabiting eternity where the past, the present and the future all run together, saw the Jews coming home to Israel in airplanes.
We know from God’s Word that a thousand of our years is as one day to God (2 Peter 3:8). Isaiah did not know when this would happen as he was just passing on what God told him to say to Israel about their ultimate future. He wrote down the words God told him to speak. It was not for Isaiah to know the times or the seasons of the Jews return to the Land of Israel. As soon as Israel became an established nation again in 1949 God said; “You guys are coming home!” How did this happen? Let’s look at this…
In 1949 the first return of the exiles was called “Operation Eagles Wings.” There were 49,000 Yemenite Jews airlifted from Yemen. The Yemen Arab community was totally anti-Semitic in that they placed heavy restrictions on the Jews in their communities. According to Islamic teaching all the Jews could do was to clean the sewers and carry the dung out. Yemen was so primitive back then in 1949 as they had no appliances, no tools, no vehicles and no electricity. The people of Yemen had never seen an airplane, but when the planes landed the Jews came running out crying “Eagles Wings!”
Between the years 1950-1952 Operation Ezra occurred when 150, 000 Iraqi Jews were airlifted to Israel. They had been experiencing severe persecution. Today there are no Jews in Iraq. When they saw the planes landing they cried out “Eagles Wings!”
Between the years 1960-1970 the former Soviet Union only allowed 4.000 Russian Jews the right to return. Russia was adamant in this matter and told the world 4,000 and no more, “Take it or leave it!” The United States could not interfere because they were in the middle of the Cold War with Russia. This did not stop God from intervening. God had said through the prophet Jeremiah that He “would bring Israel’s decedents up from out of the land of the north” (Jeremiah 23:7-8). North of Israel is Russia. In 1989 the Iron Curtain became a shower curtain overnight. No body predicted it. No one in the history of Germany, eastern Block Germany and Russia understood how it happened. God said “4,000 only? I don’t think so, they’re coming home!” So in 1989 when the Iron Curtain came down a record 71,000 Jews were airlifted to Israel and since 1990 well over a million Jews have come home to Israel from Russia. So far in 2023, about 43,000 Jewish immigrants have come to Israel. In 2022, 60,000 Jewish immigrants arrived, many of them fleeing the war between Russia and Ukraine. You know why? Because Israel matters to God!
In 1991 Operation Solomon was arranged and 4,000 Ethiopian Jews were airlifted from Addis Ababa. In Jeremiah 31:8 we read God saying; “See, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them will be the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labour; a great throng will return.” On one flight from Ethiopia 10 pregnant women gave birth on the plane. God is always right and very detailed in what He says and does! It is a fact that Jewish communities have been uncovered by archaeology in Portugal, the Dominican Republic, in Nigeria, Uganda, China, Italy, and Libya and in India.
In 2006 7,000 Eastern Indian Jews from the Tribe of Manasseh were airlifted to Israel after 2,700 years of Assyrian exile. God said in Deuteronomy; “Wherever you are I will find you!” In Isaiah 49:12 we read where God says concerning the return of the Jews to the Land of Israel; “See, they (the Jews) will come from afar-some from the north (Russia, Turkey), some from the west (European continent) some from the region of Sinim or Aswan (the ancient name for China). Miraculously the LORD recovered the Jews of Kaifeng in China and on 20th October 2009 the Kaifeng Jews arrived in Israel. Why care about a few Chinese Jews? Because Israel matters to God!
The Rising Spectre of Anti-Semitism:
God is going to ultimately punish those nations that divide up the Land of Israel and treat the Jews and use them for their own purposes as they would use money or other goods to purchase a prostitute. (Joel 3:1-3). The winepress of God’s wrath will see the blood of Israel’s enemies gathered against Israel in the near future flowing just outside of Jerusalem for a 180 miles (300 Kilometres) long, and as high as a horses bridle, (Joel 3:12-13) (Revelation 14:20). It will be the blood of the armies of Islam and the armies of all the nations that have joined them (Isaiah 34:5-10).
Around the world today in virtually every nation we see anti-Semitism on the rise at an alarming rate. Jews are being targeted especially in schools, University campuses and other educational institutions. Even the mainstream media is increasing in its bias towards Israel. Satan of course is behind this “Jew hatred” and it will eventually come against the faithful Body of Messiah, the faithful Church, spiritually grafted into the Olive Tree, Israel. Added to this, what Islam is doing in the Middle East towards Israel is coming to the western democracies in Europe, Great Britain, America, and Canada and even in Australia. No nation will be spared facing Islamic malevolence, barbarity and violence personified whose politicians have chosen not to side with Israel. These are the “Goat” nations that the Messiah will judge after He has returned (Matthew 25:31-46).
In the prophet Zechariah we are told that all the nations on earth will attack Jerusalem, “All is all!” They will come under the judgement of God and when the dust of battle settles Israel will still be standing while the other nations will have been “ripped to pieces” because they have sought to change the status of Jerusalem and Israel (Zechariah 12:1-4; 14:1-5). Today we see the nations globally turning against Israel. What happened on October 7th in Israel with the bloody massacre of innocent Jews by Hamas will happen in other cities around the world at the hands of Islamic Jihadists especially in Europe where the Islamic Trojan Horse is already within the walls of the cities of Europe and spreading into the other western democracies. The pro-Palestinian rallies in all of the major cities of the world are the rising spectre of the anti-Semitic persecution of the Jews. The rising animosity of non-Jews towards Jews will cause many Jews to come back to Israel.
Natural Disasters:
Just consider the natural disasters occurring in those nations today that are seeking to carve up God’s Real Estate, His land, the Land of Israel that He has bequeathed to the Jews as their inheritance!
On October 30th 1991 President Bush opening the Madrid Conference spoke about having land for peace by urging Israel to give up the land for a peaceful resolution. His basic appeal was “give up more land and you will have peace.” Bush did not understand the Biblical and spiritual implications of such a request. Now the perfect storm developed in the North Atlantic. As soon as Bush made the decision to push Israel to give up more land the largest waves ever recorded occurred in that region.
The storm in the North Atlantic travelled supernaturally. It was a thousand miles wide and travelled east to west instead of its usual west to east pattern and crashed into the New England Coast. The 35 foot waves, the biggest waves ever hit Bush’s home in Kenny Bunkport a resort town located in York County, Maine in the United States. God was not happy! Don’t you think God was sending Bush a message? What about 9/11? The destruction of the Twin Towers in New York clearly manifested the Islamic Jihad mindset. You cannot make any deals with Islam! “Babylon cannot be healed!”
On August 23rd 1992 the Madrid Conference with its agenda being land for peace moved to Washington DC as the ‘land for peace’ talks continued resuming their insistence that Israel give up land for peace. Well Hurricane Andrew hit. It was a tropical cyclone that ravaged the Bahamas, southern Florida, and south-central Louisiana and the worst natural disaster ever to hit America. Hurricane Andrew was the most expensive Atlantic hurricane in U.S. history later surpassed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Hurricane Andrew cost the U.S. $32 Billion dollars in damages. In the Talmud the Jewish teachings teach that “he who creates exiles in the Holy land will have a hundred fold exiles.”
On August 15th – 22nd in 2005 to placate the pressure from the International Community especially the United Nations and the United States, 21 Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip were unilaterally dismantled and Israeli settlers were evacuated or should we say evicted from Gush Katif inside the Gaza Strip.
The disengagement was proposed in 2003 by the then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adopted by the government in June 2004, and approved by the Knesset in February 2005 as the Disengagement Plan Implementation Law. Gush Katif was a bloc of 17 Israeli settlements in the southern Gaza Strip. The Israeli army forcibly removed the 8,500 Jewish residents or settlers from their homes after a decision from the Cabinet of Israel. The communities were demolished as part of Israel’s unilateral disengagement from Gaza. The very next day after the decision to evict the Jewish settlers from Gaza Hurricane Katrina developed in the Bahamas and hit Louisiana displacing 85,000 residents, an exact multiple of a hundred.
Today natural disasters are occurring in those nations that are anti-Semitic and especially those nations that are Islamic and hell-bent on the annihilation of the Jews and the destruction of Israel as a nation. Earlier this year Turkey and Syria were both hit by an earthquake and according to the statics of the World Health Organization 26 million people in both countries needed assistance.
The 2023 Turkish floods were a series of devastating floods that occurred in two Turkish provinces, Şanlıurfa and Adıyaman on 15 March 2023. The floods were caused by torrential rains that occurred just one month after the deadly earthquake that struck the same regions. In August this year Saudi Arabia’s Mecca, home to the Clock Tower and the Kaaba, were hit by extreme storms and rain that affected Islamic pilgrims, shuttered schools and caused chaotic scenes. Also in August this year At least 33 million people were affected by deadly flooding in Pakistan. In Turkey, Saudi Arabia and in Pakistan where they persecute Christians and are enclaves of Islamic ideology, malevolency and militancy against the Jews are no friends of Israel. According to God’s prophetic Word more natural disasters are coming, especially upon those nations that oppose Israel.
God Chose Israel:
(Deuteronomy 7:7-8) “The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh King of Egypt.”
It was God who first appeared to Abraham and took the initiative to call him out from Ur of the Chaldees to go to a land that God would show him. It was an act of faith on Abraham’s part but a faith released deep down on the inside of him by the Spirit that engaged Abraham’s inner spirit man and gave him the capacity to respond. While the Spirit of God did not do the responding He gave Abraham the ability to respond which Abraham did in faith and God accepted his faith as righteousness in His sight. In His foreknowledge of all things God already knew that Abraham would respond when called by Him.
As we read; “The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? No, for I have known him, that he may charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring about for Abraham what he has promised him” (Genesis 18:17-19).
God keeps His covenants and as He said He did not choose Israel because they were a mighty people but because they would be His nation and the channel through which He would bless all of the nations of the world. As the fewest of the people of the earth they would became a great nation in the earth, a greatness they have failed to achieve in this age but in the Messianic age after having been spiritually and nationally restored, they will achieve and be the head and not the tail of all the nations on earth that will have survived the Great Tribulation and the Second Coming of the Messiah our Lord Jesus.
The Apple of God’s Eye:
(Zechariah 2:8) “For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “After His Glory has sent Me against the nations that have plundered you— for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye—“
God has set His heart on Israel and she is His wife and He has the right to deal with her as He desires. It is not anyone’s business to tell God what He should do with Israel. To poke Israel in the eye as it were is to poke God in the eye make no mistake! Those who come against Israel come against God!!! Now we know from the Bible that God has permitted foreign armies to oppress His people when they have spiritually backslidden, however, He has done this not to destroy them or reject them as His wife, but to correct their waywardness and to bring them back to Himself in repentance. Once this happens He gets rid of those who have oppressed His wife Israel and that big time!!! Where are the ancient empires of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome today? They no longer exist as empires; however, Israel still exists as a nation since its inception with Abraham and a nation God has destined at the very end of this age to co-rule over the nations with the Messiah our Lord Jesus in the Millennial Messianic age to come after this age has passed. To this the prophets testify!
Getting the facts straight!
This care for all people is reflected even in Israel’s current war with Hamas and the Arab citizens of Gaza. What army in the world drops thousands of leaflets down upon a city telling the people to leave before the bombs comes? Israel does! Whose officers in the field seek to get the IDF soldiers under their command to try to avoid killing citizens? Israel does. However, what are they to do when Hamas in Gaza are telling its people not to leave Gaza, supposedly in honour of Allah, which in reality it isn’t. Hamas uses their people as shields. Many Hamas killers are dressing as civilians to make things even harder for the IDF on the ground to distinguish these terrorists from civilians.
If the people leave Gaza then it would be much easier for the IDF to eliminate the Hamas terrorists. Shooting rockets from schools, hospitals, and residential areas makes things very difficult for the armed forces of Israel. If anything shows the cold blooded remorseless killing machine of Hamas the massacre of Innocent Jewish men, women, husbands and wives, grandparents, young people, children and babies decapitated that occurred on October 7th shows it! You cannot make peace with Islam! “Babylon cannot be healed!”
Very little, if anything, is now said about this horrific massacre by the mainstream media news outlets and on social media platforms. Those protesting so called ‘Palestinian’ oppression by the Jews will be shocked and shaken to the core when what happened in Israel on October 7th this year will comes to western cities? What will the protesters have to say then? Already we see this sort of violence occurring in Europe and it will come to America, Canada, and Great Britain and even in Australia. North of Australia lays Indonesia, the largest populated Islamic nation in the world.
It is so easy for students on college campuses in the western democracies spurred on by their lecturers in many cases to hold demonstrations and rallies of one sort or another to protest against Israel and calling for the liberation of ‘Palestine’ from Jewish apartheid accusing the Jews as being occupiers. Those demonstrating have no knowledge of Israel’s history or the politics of Israel in relation to the Gentile nations. Added to this, they are Biblically ignorant of what God has said in His word about the Jewish people. Most of the protests are fuelled by the mainstream media with its bias news reporting and through social media. What those protesting and shouting “Ra Ra” for Palestine do not realise that once Islam has gone after the Jews they will go after the western democracies and kill the ‘Infidel’ as all are called in the Quran, being all those who do not submit to Islam.
If those protesting against Israel and calling for the establishment of a so called Palestinian State, understood the mind-set of a Muslim in Jihad affirmed in the Quran with an end time goal of an Islamic world empire, then these protestors would sing a different song! In these ‘rallies’ people’s opinions rule the day and truth is trodden underfoot! Humanistic organizations like Amnesty International and UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) fuel the fire as it rages against so called Israeli aggression. It was the citizens of Gaza that voted to be governed by Hamas and now they are reaping the results of that choice. If Gaza had stayed under Israeli rule they would have been looked after by the Israelis and far better off than they have been under “the iron heel” of Hamas, the name for violence in the Hebrew language of the Tanakh. In this rising animosity towards Jews within many cities around the world is the result of lies, ignorance of Jewish history and Biblical truth, and misinformation on social media and by the left-wing mainstream news outlets. Behind all of this is Satan who now knows that his time of murder and mayhem against the Jews is short!