He Who Watches Over Israel

“He who watches over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.” (Psalm 121:4)

Well, the ‘Israel bashing’ continues unabated. Last week a headline appeared in the New York Times which stated; “I.C.C. Rules It Has Jurisdiction to Examine Possible Israel War Crimes.” According to the report it stated; “The International Criminal Court on Friday said it has the authority to investigate alleged crimes in the occupied territories, in a ruling condemned by Israel and praised by Palestinians. The International Criminal Court on Friday determined that it has jurisdiction over the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, despite Israel’s insistence to the contrary, opening the way for an inquiry into allegations of Israeli, and Palestinian, war crimes in the region.

According to the report the ruling by the I.C.C. in The Hague came six years after the office of the court’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, began a preliminary investigation of Israeli actions in the territories, including during the devastating 50-day Gaza war of 2014. The precedent-setting decision, coming more than a year after Ms. Bensouda asked the court to confirm its jurisdiction in the area, was hailed by Palestinian leaders and human rights organizations as a step toward justice for the victims. It was excoriated by Israel as a contentious political move without valid legal basis.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said in a statement. “Today the court proved once again that it is a political body and not a judicial institution. The court ignores real war crimes and instead persecutes the state of Israel, a state with a firm democratic regime, which sanctifies the rule of law, and is not a member of the court.” He later issued a more bellicose video statement accusing the International Criminal Court of “pure anti-Semitism” while it “refuses to investigate brutal dictatorships like Iran and Syria, who commit horrific atrocities almost daily.” He also said; ““We will fight this perversion of justice with all our might,” he concluded.

In the online edition of Israel Unwired two days ago a young Israeli Arab, a former IDF commander, spoke about the real truth concerning the IDF. (See link below) The online report related to the video stated “The International Criminal Court, or the ICC, wants to investigate Israel as well as Hamas and the Palestinian Authority for war crimes. It is absurd on so many levels to investigate Israel. Is Israel a perfect country, Far from it! But if an Israeli soldier potentially commits a war crime, Israel will investigate for itself. The IDF has a moral code that soldiers must follow, and if they don’t, they will receive consequences.

What about Hamas and the PA? Their goal is to be as brutal as possible. They never investigate crimes because crimes are their standard of life. If you really want to know the truth about Israel, just ask Yoseph Haddad. He is not Jewish. But he is an Israeli Arab who was a commander in the IDF. He knows firsthand how Israel treats its enemy. He knows how Israel fights its wars. Who else sends leaflets in enemy territory to warn civilians to evacuate before bombing an area? Who else values life so much that even the lives of the other side should be spared if possible? Israel has the most humane and moral army. Why the unwarranted focus on Israel?

What about Syria using chemical weapons on its own people? What about Iran murdering its own people? Israel deserves more respect than what the world gives it.” (End of report) At present Israel is under severe pressure as the battle against the COVID-19 continues unabated and as Prime Minister Netanyahu endures a court case against him while seeking to run for the top job in the upcoming Israel elections. With Biden now ‘installed’ in the White House things do not look very good for Israel as Biden wants to re-negotiate the Iranian nuclear deal even though the US sanctions are still in place.

It is clear that in the unseen spiritual realm Satan is seeking to destroy Israel because he knows that the Second Coming of the Messiah our Lord Jesus is directly linked to God’s promises to restore Israel spiritually and nationally in the last days. If Satan can destroy Israel he thinks it will prevent the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus, but of course Satan is a defeated foe whose time is short and will never stop the Lord Jesus Second Coming to earth to establish the Messianic Millennial Kingdom.

 Another anti-Semitic movement is arising within wider Christendom teaching that the Church is going to take kingdom dominion over the nations and see them ‘Christianised” and presented to the Lord Jesus on His return. It is not a new teaching but one re-packaged from the Manifest Sons of God doctrine perpetrated by William Branham back in the 1940’s or there about, who publicly denied the Trinity and said the Trinity was of the devil.

This ‘re-packaged’ doctrine now being perpetrated in ‘the seven mountain’ doctrine of the ICAL (International Coalition of Apostolic Leadership – formerly NAR-New Apostolic Reformation) is not endorsed by the Word of God. The saints (believers) inherit the Kingdom, but only after the Lord Jesus has come back, destroyed the Antichrist, raptured and resurrected the saints, rescued Israel and set up the Messianic Kingdom after destroying all opposition. (Daniel 2:44-45; 7:18, 21-22, 25-27) So then it is only after these events Kingdom Dominion comes for the saints and not before! Those who dispute  this truth argue with the Word of God!

Looking at this kingdom dominion doctrine it has to do away with Israel’s prominence in Eschatology, the revealing of the antichrist, the coming time of Great tribulation, the persecution of the saints and the divine judgements culminating in the wrath of God. While the adherents and proponents of kingdom dominion teaching would avoid these “weightier matters of the Law,” so to speak, it is clear their ‘doctrine’ is another aspect of replacement theology.

Years ago I spoke to one of their prominent pastors in the NAR movement after one of their meetings which I had attended and asked the question; “Has your movement replaced Israel and the answer was an unequivocal yes!” Behind this doctrine lies money and power and a form of a pyramid type setup where so called ‘apostles’ and ‘prophets’ have oversight of local assemblies including their hard earned cash. Now let’s be clear. If God cannot be depended upon to keep His covenant promises in the Old Testament to nationally and spiritually restore Israel in the last days then how can we depend on Him to fulfil His promises to the Body of the Messiah in the New Testament?

According to the Word of God the faithful Body of the Messiah is spiritually connected to Israel. Abraham is the father of faith and of all who believe, whether Jew or Gentile. Both Jews and gentiles who believe in the Messiah for salvation are one new man in the Messiah and spiritual children of Abraham. (Romans 4:16-17, 22-25) The wild olive branches (Gentile believers in the Messiah) are grafted in among the natural branches (Jewish believers in the Messiah) Together they are all grafted into the olive tree being the Commonwealth of Israel and both spiritually nourished and sustained by the root, being the Messiah our Lord Jesus, “the root of Jesse.” The natural branches that have been broken off are individual Jews who reject the Messiah, not Israel as a people. (Romans 11: 15-21) (Ephesians 2:11-22)

If you ask many Christians “who was the New Covenant made with?” they will say the Church. However, the Word of God tells us that the New Covenant was made with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah, not with the Church! (Jeremiah 31:31-34) This covenant is eternal and will never be annulled. (Jeremiah 31:35-37) God always remembers His covenants! (Psalm 105:8-10) God promised Abraham and his descendants through Isaac, not Ishmael, that Abraham’s descendants would inherit the whole Land of Israel from the Wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates River and everything in between and that it would be theirs as an everlasting possession. (Genesis 15:17-21; 17:8)

God Himself named the nation Israel through the Patriarch Jacob after Jacob had wrestled through the night with the pre-existent Messiah before His incarnation centuries later. (Genesis 32:24-30) The whole idea of a Palestinian state goes contrary to the Word of God which does not change regardless of the opinions of man. (Psalm 119: 89) (Isaiah 40:8) Charles Spurgeon that great prince of preachers said; “The Word of God is the anvil upon which the hammers of men’s opinions are smashed!” Actually God’s Word is likened to a hammer that breaks the rocks to pieces. (Jeremiah 23:29)

Let the nations be in an uproar over Israel, let the ICC seek to bring false charges against Israel, Let the PA and their minions seek to endorse so called ‘criminal charges’ against Israel, let the nations roar and rattle their sabres against Israel, but God will have the final word! If those who oppose Israel, both within and without Christendom, understood the sacredness of a blood covenant God cuts with His people, they would have nothing to say. God entered into a blood covenant with Abraham and in that covenant agreement swore an oath to give the Land of Israel to be the physical and spiritual inheritance of Abraham and his descendants through Isaac. It was an irrevocable covenant where Israel was concerned. (Romans 11:29)

In the New Covenant the blood of the Messiah guaranteed the spiritual restoration of Israel, a restoration that started at Pentecost when David’s fallen tabernacle was restored spiritually. (Amos 9:11-12) (Acts 15:16-17) The Gentiles who believed in the Messiah were to be included in this covenant and share in its blessings having been grafted into Israel having been circumcised in their hearts by the Holy Spirit. (Romans 2:28-29) Having said does not do away with Israel’s national and spiritual restoration at the end of this age. At present Israel does not occupy all of the land given to them by God and the nation has not as yet been spiritually restored. At present it is a partial national restoration. However, after the Messiah reveals Himself to those Jews who have survived the time of Jacob’s Trouble, Israel will be fully restored nationally and spiritually. (Zechariah 12:10-14) (Jeremiah 30:1-10) (Ezekiel 37:1-10)

Israel is to be spiritually refined and purified as a nation because God has not given up on them or done away with them as a nation. He knows best how to deal with spiritually wayward Israel estranged by and large, from their Messiah and from the covenants of promise sealed eternally in His blood shed at the cross. God does use pagan nations to deal with His people when they turn from Him but always watches over His people for their ultimate good and neither does He slumber or sleep. (Psalm 121) He may use applied pressure and that from those who hate Israel but in the end, after God’s proposes have been accomplished though those pagan nations, He gets rid of them, and that big time! It does not pay to mess with Israel!!!

God has shed covenant blood over His people and sworn an oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the nation will ultimately “possess their possession” and “possess the gates of their enemies!” (Obadiah 1:17) (Genesis 22:17) The ICC may bring all the false and vilifying charges they like against Israel but they are also charging and vilifying the Lord who has declared that Israel is still “the apple of His eye” and the whole land of israel their spiritual and national birthright and this includes both the natural and engrafted ‘branches’ who believe in the Messiah because “God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable!” (Romans 11:29) Indeed, “He who watches over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.” (Psalm 121:4)

Link: https://www.israelunwired.com/israeli-arab-exposes-the-truth-about-israel-to-the-icc/