Before the results came out in the elections in Israel in a live television interview Prime Minister Netanyahu said that he was considering annexing the West Bank if elected. He mentioned the United States recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights and this in itself has most probably encouraged him to officially declare Israel’s sovereignty over all of the West Bank. Discussions are now underway concerning the annexation of all parts of the West Bank. He said; “Will we move ahead to the next stage? Yes. I will extend sovereignty but I don’t distinguish between the settlement blocs and the isolated ones, because each settlement is Israeli and I will not hand it over to Palestinian sovereignty,” he said. “I will not divide Jerusalem, I will not evacuate any community and I will make sure we control the territory west of Jordan.” “I am concerned about the Israeli government, but I am also concerned about Israel’s security, and I am not going to hand over the heart of the State of Israel,” he said.
The West Bank is a territory sandwiched between Israel and Jordan named for its location: the western bank of the Jordan River. About 2.5 million Palestinians and 400,000 Jewish Israelis live there. Jordan conquered the West Bank after Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. Then Israel captured the territory from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War, but never fully annexed it into the country. So for more than 50 years, the West Bank has been controlled by Israel, but its status has been under debate. The debate is over who should control the area in the future. Palestinians, most of the international community and the Israeli left see it now as occupied Palestinian territory. They say Israel’s control is illegal and want the West Bank (or nearly all of it) to be the site of a Palestinian state. But Israel’s government says it rightfully controls the West Bank.
Who really owns the West bank? God owns it but has given it to Israel along with the whole land of Israel as their inheritance and to be for them “an everlasting possession.” (Genesis 17:8) Those who dispute Israel’s sovereignty over the West Bank are disputing with God! Already we have seen a Knee-jerk reaction from the Arab world and from the UN and the EU concerning Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights a fact which has been affirmed by President Trump. Now it would seem that Israel is flexing its muscles regarding the West Bank. Possibly Israel’s sovereignty over the West Bank will also be recognized by President Trump in his peace plan. It would seem the plan does not include dividing up Jerusalem or Israel but more so providing more aid to Palestinians. This may look good on paper but what guarantee is there that any funds allotted to the Palestinians will not go to the people but instead go to Hamas? I guess all will be revealed when ‘the peace deal’ of the century is revealed? Will America be able to oversee this aid to Gaza?
With the elections coming up in America next year things may turn out differently for Israel if President Trump is not elected. Right now Israel’s leaders are looking to America for support. But what does God say about this? “This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes the flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD. He will be like a shrub in the desert; he will not see when prosperity comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.” (Jeremiah 17:5-6)
Spiritually Israel is like a shrub in an arid desert where there is virtually no water. While Israel is a nation again according to what was prophesied in the word of God it is still dwelling in a spiritually arid desert place. God also says in his Word; “Woe to the rebellious children, declares the LORD, to those who carry out a plan, but not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin.” (Isaiah 30:1) And again it is written; “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. (Psalm 118:8) God has also said; “Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save. (Psalm 146:3) And again the LORD speaks through the prophet Isaiah; “Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?” (Isaiah 2:22)
whatever the peace plan is that President Trump will propose God is against it because Israel is still leaning on the Egypt of this world that will prove to be “a splintered staff of a reed that will pierce a man’s hand when he leans upon it for support.” (Isaiah 36:6) Israel already has a king and His Messiah and the allotment of the land for the 12 tribes of Israel has already been set by the LORD. What will it take to bring about Israel’s return to the LORD? It will take the Time of Jacob’s Trouble that God will use to lead Israel back to their Messiah and their recognition that He is their Passover Lamb who has been sacrificed for them. (Jeremiah 30:1-10) (Zechariah 12:10-14) (Revelation 1:7) (1 Corinthians 5:7)
The Arabs and the whole Islamic world for that matter, the UN and the EU may well ‘arc up’ and ‘rattle their sabres’ and call for boycotts on Israel but little do they know what God has in store for them because they have dared to raise their hand against Israel, “the apple of his eye.” (Zechariah 2:8) As God says; “This is the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. On that day people will be stricken by the Lord with great panic. They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another. Judah too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected—great quantities of gold and silver and clothing. A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.” (Zechariah 14:12-14)
They say that when the Nuclear bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that the eyes of multitudes literally melted in their sockets. The apostle Peter spoke about the Day of the LORD and he writes; “But the Day of the LORD will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be burned up… That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter 3:10, 12-13)
It is interesting the language Peter uses to describe the second Coming when he refers to “the elements will melt in the heat” or “with fervent heat.” He describes something akin to a nuclear detonation unlike anything humans can produce. How could a first century fisherman know about the splitting of the Atom, well he didn’t. In the Greek text it actually speaks about something akin to a nuclear reaction. Paul writes about this day of the LORD being the day when He avenges His persecuted people, a day when the world is judged by fire. The believers at Thessalonica were experiencing severe tribulation. The Greek word used is “Thlipsis” meaning oppression, affliction, tribulation, distress, straits, trouble, anguish and persecution and Paul wanted to reassure them about what God was going to do to those who persecute His people when the Lord Jesus comes back.
He writes; “God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might on the day he comes to be glorified in His holy people and to be marvelled at among all those who have believed.” (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10)
There is a remnant foreknown to God within Israel and within Christendom who as yet are to come to faith in the Lord Jesus, but they will ultimately come. Once they have come into the new covenant by faith in the Messiah our Lord Jesus God will gather His elect to meet the Lord Jesus in the air at His Second Coming to earth. (Matthew 24:29-31) It will be immediately “after the tribulation (thlipsis) of those days.” (vs. 29) Israel and the Church have a common destiny to co-reign with the Messiah on earth in His Messianic Kingdom. Israel and the faithful Church are like two sides of the same coin separate yet one. The Olive Tree (Israel) still stands. The natural branches connected to the Olive Tree are Jewish believers in the Messiah and the engrafted branches are Gentile believers in the Messiah. The root that spiritually nourishes the believing branches is the “root of Jesse” our Lord Jesus the Messiah. If the Olive Tree (Israel) is gone so are the branches! Romans Chapters 9-11 blows replacement theology right out of the water!
So then let the politicians come up with a dozen ‘peace plans’ for the Middle-East God will have the final say on the status of Jerusalem and that of Israel according to what He has already said in His Word the Bible. Abraham’s descendants will inherit the whole land of Israel from the River Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt and this includes the West Bank, Jordan, the Golan Heights, and Gaza. When the dust of battle finally settles Israel will remain in its place and Jerusalem will be secure! (Zechariah 14:11) So then who really owns the west bank? God owns it! He has already declared it part and parcel of Israel’s inheritance. Those who argue against this fact argue against God. In fact the whole earth and its fullness belong to the LORD. King David wrote; “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein. For He has founded it upon the seas, And established it upon the waters.” (Psalm 24:1-2)
Click on this link: https://blowthetrumpet.com.au/the-blood-covenant-part-1/