Paul Luckraft reviews 'Israel: Covenants and Kingdom' and 'Why Israel?'

Willem Glashouwer is the President of Christians for Israel International and a regular speaker in this country. Here are two of his most important books, available from Christian Friends of Israel.

Israel: Covenants and Kingdom (2016, 184 pages, available from CFI for £9)

Here is a book that will enhance anyone’s understanding of these crucial concepts. Every chapter is divided into shorter sections, each of which makes a valuable contribution to the overall argument, that God’s relationship with Israel is based upon love for them and faithfulness to his own word.

The establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 brought a fresh challenge to Replacement Theology and those who taught it. Was God keeping his covenants with the Jewish people after all, and if so, how are we to view the overarching biblical concept of the Kingdom of God? This book tackles these issues in a way that will reassure those with a heart for Israel and a mind for God’s word.

After an introductory chapter, the next three explore the scriptural basis of covenant from Creation to Abraham and onwards through his line, culminating in the promise in Jeremiah of a new covenant. These chapters conclude with a summary of the covenants God has made, including their everlasting and unconditional nature where appropriate.

Here the author names seven, at this point omitting the one with Noah but including separate ones on the land, Jerusalem and one he calls the ‘covenant of peace’. This may seem contrary to the more standard approach of five main covenants, but as there are several other covenants which surround these central ones, this is not something to be critical of as his analysis is generally in line with other books on this topic.

Throughout these chapters we get fascinating glimpses of other factors which may be less familiar, for instance the nature of Nimrod and his role at the outset of ‘Babylon’ or Babel, and also a more modern reference to Turkey and President Erdogan within the context of Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38-39).

God’s relationship with Israel is based upon love for them and faithfulness to his own word.

In chapter five the author turns his attention to his other great theme: Kingdom. He explains this was not a new idea which emerged with the Church, the signs were already there through Israel, though it did become more apparent when Jesus was present on earth. What binds all these elements together is the promise of Gabriel to Mary that her son would be given the throne of David and he will reign forever. The concept of Kingdom is therefore linked to the covenants and must be seen as bigger than just ‘the Church’.

Later chapters cover other important issues. The history, relevance and future of Jerusalem is thoroughly explored including a well-balanced discussion on the possibility of a re-built temple. Part of the concluding chapter tackles the key question of ‘Palestine’. The answer is rather concise but, as in the book as a whole, the author presents facts and conveys a sense of reality about the situation.

Overall the book is well researched and based upon a scholarly approach without being too formal or over-academic. The case is clearly made, that God’s choice of Israel is irrevocable and that he will bless all nations through her. He will bring her Messiah back to this world to fulfil all his promises.

Why Israel? (2012, 216 pages, available from CFI for £10)

An initial glance at the contents might suggest much in common between this book and the one above. For instance, chapter two on the covenants covers the same material – but this later book also expands upon the earlier one. In fact, there is so much more in ‘Why Israel?’ to make it a worthwhile purchase in its own right, including two lengthy appendices, one on’ Jews and Church History’ (40 pages) and another on ‘Jerusalem Chronology’ (16 pages).

Chapters three to five explore three key ‘untils’. The first is in Matthew 23:39, “You will not see me again until you say ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’”. The others are “until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (Luke 21:24) and “until the full number of the Gentiles has come in” (Rom 11:25). The main point made here is that ‘until’ is not the same as ‘unless’ – these things will happen! Moreover, ‘until’ implies a ‘before’ and an ‘after’ which are vital components of what is being promised. Overall, three fascinating chapters.

There is so much more in ‘Why Israel?’ to make it a worthwhile purchase in its own right.

Later chapters cover the roots of anti-Semitism, the Land of Israel (including the Balfour declaration and the British role), and Jerusalem and the Temple. There is also a chapter on aliyah. He asks ‘how does the Lord bring the Jews home?’ and answers with “Israel is on her way to glory and is being brought home by the non-Jews, the Gentiles. By you and me!” (p153). A wonderful thought, but also a challenge!

But the main challenge of the book is spelled out earlier: “God loves Israel as His first-born son, and Jesus, His only-begotten Son, was a Jew. Are you sure that you really love the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Israel? Or are you loving your own concept of God?” (p17).

Any book with a question as a title must provide an answer as you read it. In this case you will be left in no doubt by the end of the biblical significance of Israel and the Jewish people today.

The peace that dare not speak its name: untold story of Arab-Jewish reconciliation.

A shaft of fresh revelation dawned on me after watching the extraordinary YouTube clip featuring former terrorist Mosab Hassan Yousef berating Palestinian delegates at the UN for betraying their own people and fanning the flames of the conflict with Israel.

I can see now that British and other Western media – by censoring what is not on their agenda – are partly responsible for the continuing violence in the Middle East. Let me explain.

Son of Hamas Switches Allegiance

Yousef, son of Hamas founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, switched allegiance to Israel’s Shin Bet security service after witnessing the torture of fellow prisoners by their own (Arab-Muslim) people. He discovered, to his great surprise, that his Israeli interrogators were friendly and caring.

And later, in the midst of working undercover on their behalf, and saving many lives in the process by tipping off police about planned atrocities, he had a ‘Damascus Road’ experience in which met and came to love the Jewish Messiah after taking up an invitation to study the Bible at Jerusalem’s iconic YMCA – the invitation was handed to him outside the famous Damascus Gate, one of the entrances to the walled Old City.

But his life was now in double jeopardy – as if being a spy for Israel wasn’t dangerous enough, he was also forsaking his Islamic faith to follow Jesus. He was eventually forced to flee to America, where he is now courageously campaigning to spread the truth about Israel to a world media all too keen to swallow the ongoing propaganda denying Jewish connection to the territory.

‘Son of Hamas’ Mosab Hassan Yousef switched allegiance to Israel’s security service, and later came to love the Jewish Messiah.

Countering Vicious Lies

And so it was that he found himself as guest speaker for UN Watch¹ as he addressed delegates to the UN Human Rights Council last week.² As the Palestinian Authority delegation reacted with shock and irritation, he accused them of committing human rights abuses against their own people, describing the PA as “the greatest enemy of the Palestinian people”, adding: “If Israel did not exist, you would have no-one to blame.”

Damascus Gate, Jerusalem. See Photo Credits.Before Yousef spoke, country after country spewed attacks against Israel, accusing them of being a genocidal, apartheid state. But Yousef silenced them all when he accused the Palestinian leadership of being hypocrites.

“Where does your legitimacy come from?” he asked them. “The Palestinian people did not elect you and they did not appoint you to represent them. Your accountability is not to your own people. This is evidenced by your own total violation of their human rights. You kidnap Palestinian students from campus and torture them in your jails. You torture your political rivals. The suffering of the Palestinian people is the outcome of your selfish political interests.”³

And they used Israel as a scapegoat, he added.

Only One Peace Process

Yousef has found peace with the Jews, and with all men, through his relationship with Christ, having been reconciled both to God and man through his death on the cross (see Eph 2:14). His best-selling book, Son of Hamas,⁴ is still available in bookstores.

I have written widely about men like him who have come to love and honour the Jews, not through a political peace process involving endless negotiations and compromises, but through what Jesus did for all men as he took their sins and nailed them to the cross, thereby bringing an end to their enmity with one another – especially between Jew and Arab, descendants of Isaac and Ishmael, the sons of Abraham.

Yousef has found peace with the Jews, and with all men, through his relationship with Christ.

After attending a conference at Christ Church, Jerusalem, I wrote all about it in my book, Peace in Jerusalem, and continue to write about this precious subject as it lies at the very heart of the gospel which brings reconciliation between God and man and between Jew and Gentile.

Christ Church, Jerusalem. Photo: Charles Gardner.With my own eyes, I witnessed Jew and Arab embracing one another as they shared communion, representing the body and blood of the Lord who brought them together through his mercy and grace. In doing so, I also witnessed the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy: “For to us…a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders. And he will be called…Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6).

The Best Story Never Told

As a journalist of more than 40 years, I can spot a good story – and this, I reckoned, was the best story that has never been told: the answer to peace in the Middle East, and indeed the world. Over a two-week period, I offered my daily copy (free) to mainstream (Fleet Street) newspapers in the UK, but didn’t even receive the courtesy of a single reply to my emails.

Nevertheless, the inspiring stories were widely circulated to news outlets on four continents. So that’s why I say that the British media are partly responsible for the lack of progress in the Middle East, which has got considerably more violent since that 2014 gathering.

But it was so refreshing that historian AN Wilson tackled the ridiculous lengths to which political correctness has been taken in last Saturday’s Daily Mail,⁶ describing it as reflecting a “new dark age of intolerance”. Though not claiming to be a believer himself, he spoke up for those Christians who are treated with incredulity for believing, for instance, that abortion and sexual promiscuity are wrong.

Yet it is still very non-PC for our media to take an uncompromising stand on the Christian faith that underpins our nation with thousands of years of history, justice, innovation, education and care. It usually falls to others, these days, to spell out in no uncertain terms the total relevance to our world of the Lord Jesus Christ, who made it absolutely clear that he was not one of many options for guiding us to Heaven’s domain when he said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no-one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Notes

1 UN Watch is a Geneva-based NGO whose stated mission is “to monitor the performance of the United Nations by the yardstick of its own Charter”.

2 Jerusalem News Network, 29 September 2017, quoting Arutz-7.

3 Watch the full video here.

4 Written with Ron Brackin and published by Tyndale Momentum.

5 Daily Mail, 30 September 2017.

Thanks also to David Soakell of Christian Friends of Israel and South African friend Suzette van Rooyen.

 Israel is responsible for the Law as well as the Land.

As the earth is ravaged by an unprecedented series of natural disasters, accompanied with threats of war and terror, world leaders have been presented with a heavenly vision.

In challenging the ‘fake history’ of those who deny Jewish links with Israel’s holiest sites, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu has sounded a clarion call for the United Nations to acknowledge the divine authority of the world’s greatest book – the Bible.¹

Three times he referenced the Bible in a powerful speech to the UN in which he claimed that Israel’s right to exist and prosper as a nation is rooted in God’s word.

Referring to July’s declaration of Hebron’s Tomb of the Patriarchs as a Palestinian World Heritage Site, he said you won’t read the true facts of its history in the latest UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) report.

Weightier Publication

“But you can read about it in a somewhat weightier publication – it’s called the Bible,” he mocked, adding that it was “a great read”, that he read it every week, and that they could purchase it from Amazon.²

Bibi must also seek to apply the Law – that is, the Lord’s teaching on ethical matters – to his domain.

How refreshing that at least one nation’s leader takes his stand on the Bible, though it is entirely appropriate as Bibi leads the people who gave it to us! As well as a sacred book written by divine authority, it is also an historical record which validates Israel’s claim to the Promised Land they now occupy. 

But in making such a divine claim for the territory, Bibi must also seek to apply the Law – that is, the Lord’s teaching on ethical matters – to his domain.

He is right in saying that the words of the Prophet Isaiah – that God called Israel to be a light to the nations – is being fulfilled as the tiny Jewish state becomes a rising power. But their call “to bring salvation to the ends of the earth” (Isa 49:6) must mean more than hi-tech innovation and being good neighbours through their search-and-rescue teams sent to disaster areas and medics tending to wounded Syrians on their northern border, though we praise God for all that.

Rife with Immorality

Israel is nevertheless rife with immorality – and I am thinking particularly about abortion, a killing of innocents that echoes previous turning points in Israel’s (and the world’s) history at the time of Moses and of Jesus. I appreciate that its practice in modern Israel is less prevalent than in most parts of the West,³ but some 650,000 children⁴ have nevertheless been denied life in a country that gave God’s law to the world, including the commandment ‘Thou shall not kill’.

Paradoxically, the killing of innocents has accompanied the greatest rescues mankind has witnessed.

In the UK, shockingly, nine million babies have been murdered in the 50 years since the passing of the Abortion Act, originally designed to prevent backstreet abortions and meant to apply only where a mother’s life was threatened. Now it is virtually a case of abortion-on-demand as further calls are made for relaxing the law. 

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists President Lesley Regan believes terminations should be the same as any other medical procedure, requiring consent from only one doctor, just as if they were having a bunion removed. But the fact that 650 doctors have signed a petition against it is very encouraging.⁵

Massacre of Infants

Paradoxically, the killing of innocents has accompanied the greatest rescues mankind has witnessed. Moses survived the edict of the Egyptian Pharaoh calling for the slaughter of all Hebrew babies to lead his people out of slavery to the Promised Land. Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah, survived King Herod’s massacre of infants – ironically by fleeing with his family to Egypt in response to God’s warning – to bring salvation to the world through his sacrificial death on a Roman cross outside Jerusalem.

Moses also received the Law of God; now Jesus writes the Law on our hearts (Ezek 36:26; Jer 31:33). Moses was hidden among the bulrushes of the Nile and became the saviour of his people; Jesus was raised in the backwaters of Nazareth but became the Saviour of the world as he brought true freedom to all who would trust in his redeeming blood (John 8:36).

The Knesset was voting on an abortion law at the very same time that we were discussing Torah.

My colleague, Clifford Denton, tells me of a conference held in Israel in 1996 at which Messianic leaders gathered to discuss the Jewish roots of Christianity. “Unknown to me until afterwards,” he said, “it turned out that the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) was voting on an abortion law at the very same time that we were discussing Torah (the Law of Moses). In fact the Knesset was struck by lightning at that very time.”

Messiah’s Second Coming

With innocents around the world being butchered as never before, the Messiah is about to be revealed to the nations.

Jesus indicated that his coming again would be as in the days of Noah (Luke 17:26) when the world was full of violence (Gen 6:13). Today, terrorism stalks the planet as unbelievable cruelty mars even supposedly ‘enlightened’ societies, while nuclear holocausts have become a distinct possibility with both North Korea and Iran making ominous noises. And all this while nations reel under the ferocious effects of earthquakes and hurricanes – also spoken of as signs of the Messiah’s imminent return (Luke 21:25-28), especially when they follow in rapid succession and with increasing severity, as on a woman with labour pains (Matt 24:8).

The day is coming when the killing of the innocents will give way to the glorious return of the Son of Man.

Of the three major Jewish feasts, Jesus has fulfilled both Passover and Shavuot (Pentecost). Many Bible commentators believe he will soon fulfil the Feast of Tabernacles (shortly to be celebrated throughout the Jewish world) when he returns to reign from Jerusalem. The One who protects his people, and provides for them, as he did in the wilderness so long ago, will finally bring in the harvest of those who believe in him as he comes to ‘tabernacle’ (or livemake his dwelling) among us (see John 1:14).

The day is coming – very soon, it seems – when the killing of the innocents will give way to the glorious return of the Son of Man “coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (Luke 21:27) to avenge every wrong as he passes judgment on a cruel world.

Israel – you are truly called to be a light to the nations, and indeed you have impressed so far with many marvellous inventions. But the brightest light is the fulfilment of the Law through Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus Messiah), who brings hope, not despair; and life, not death.

Notes

1 Christians United for Israel, 21 September 2017.

2 Ibid.

3 Among European nations, only Croatia has a lower abortion rate than Israel, according to the Jerusalem Post on 31 March 2015. And on 14 January 2014 the Times of Israel reported that, despite liberal policies on the issue, the nation’s abortion rate had been declining for the previous quarter-century, dropping 21% since 1990 to 20,063 in 2012 (or 117 for every 1,000 live births).

4 Johnston’s Archive compiled by Wm Robert Johnston, last updated 25 February 2017.

5 Daily Mail, 22 September 2017.

Anti-Semitic ‘bullets’ fly at annual Labour Party conference.

On the day we heard news of the killing of three Israelis by a Palestinian gunman in the West Bank, the UK media was also reporting on anti-Semitic ‘bullets’ being fired at the annual conference of Her Majesty’s official Opposition.

Anti-Israel sentiment has been simmering in Britain’s Labour Party ever since hard-leftist Jeremy Corbyn took over as leader two years ago.

He had earlier promised to deal with it, but little if anything has been done and things got out of hand in Brighton, an otherwise gentle seaside resort designed for rest and refreshment.

One speaker suggested Labour should be free to debate whether the Holocaust had happened.

Amid reports of intimidation of a leading BBC correspondent, activists applauded panellists at a fringe meeting who likened supporters of Israel to Nazis. Delegates even demanded expulsion from the party of the Jewish Labour Movement and Labour Friends of Israel – one speaker suggested Labour should be free to debate whether the Holocaust had happened!¹

Clearly, anti-Semitism is still a big problem in Mr Corbyn’s party more than a year after he pledged to get to grips with the issue. Even the chairman of the parliamentary Labour Party, John Cryer, said he had tweets from party members which made his hair stand on end and were “redolent of the 1930s”.²

‘Natural’ Party for Britain’s Jews

All the more shocking is the fact that, until recently, Labour has been the ‘natural’ party for Britain’s 290,000 Jews – but no longer. So what has happened? Well, it was also once the natural party for Methodists and other non-conformist Christians who had emerged from the awakening of biblical truths following the Reformation sparked by Martin Luther 500 years ago.

After all, Labour was founded on the Christian ethics of men like Keir Hardie who were keen to translate the good neighbourliness and social justice taught by the Gospel into the lives of ordinary working people. Indeed, members still pride themselves on being ‘caring’ individuals, which is one reason, no doubt, why minorities such as the Jewish community felt at home among them. But in reality, the heart and passion of their message has been lost in Marxist dogma and ideology, far removed from the freedom from such ‘slavery’ expressed in the Bible.

Mr Corbyn said he wanted a ‘kinder politics’, but instead we have a bunch of bully-boys replicating the behaviour of the Palestinian Authority.

Put simply, God has been thrown out of the party window. At the same conference two years ago, Mr Corbyn said he wanted a ‘kinder politics’,³ but instead we have a bunch of bully-boys replicating the behaviour of the Palestinian Authority brainwashing their children to hate Jews.

Born into the caring world of Christianity, Labour has brought much good to society – most notably through the National Health Service which became the envy of the world – but has made the disastrous mistake of devouring the hand that has fed it (ideologically speaking). Worst of all, Labour has turned on the nation that brought God to the world, specifically through the Bible and the Jewish Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ!

Ridiculously Misinformed

And in berating Zionists as Nazis, they are ridiculously misinformed. For example, Israeli search-and-rescue teams are helping island communities shattered by the recent hurricanes, and their medics are tending to the wounds of those caught up in the Syrian civil war. In fact, dozens of Syrian civilians have written letters of gratitude to Israel and its defence forces. One 27-year-old Syrian woman wrote: “We thought that Israel was our enemy, but we realized that it’s good to us. I want to thank the hospitals in Israel and the Israeli army for all its help to the…Syrian children.”

A 30-year-old married man wrote: “After seven years of revolution in which we have lost lives and blood, there was nowhere for the wounded Syrians to go and receive treatment. I am grateful to the State of Israel for the help it provided to all the wounded people of Syria.”⁴

Was this how Nazis behaved in World War II?

‘What we are seeing is really dangerous…deeply sinister, nasty and quite frightening.’

Conservative MP Andrew Percy, who has also been a target of anti-Semitism, said of the shenanigans in Brighton: “What we are seeing is really dangerous. There is a cult of personality around Jeremy Corbyn that will not allow any questioning of him or his views. It is deeply sinister, nasty and quite frightening.”⁵

Another Tory MP, Sheryll Murray, had swastikas daubed on her General Election posters earlier this year.

These are the antics that remind us of Nazism, not the perfectly reasonable aspirations of Zionists seeking to secure the world’s only refuge for the Jewish people.

Confusing Ideological Alliance

What we are seeing, in fact, is a somewhat confusing ideological alliance been the Marxist-oriented hard left and the anti-Semitic rhetoric of the far-right Islamists who wish to drive Israel into the sea. Whatever you care to call this mish-mash of dogmas, they reflect long discredited, old-style, totalitarian regimes in which no other view is tolerated outside of what is judged to be politically correct.

This lack of tolerance is becoming endemic on our university campuses and is extremely worrying for the future of our democracy, with a vast swathe of young people very nearly sending Jeremy Corbyn – ‘friend’ of Palestinian terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah – to No. 10 Downing Street.

The God-haters are on the march; they’ve already dismantled the banners of truth and justice that launched the Labour movement.

Is this the kind of Orwellian police state the millennials really want? When will we wake up and smell the coffee?

God Help Us!

The God-haters are on the march; they’ve already dismantled the banners of truth and justice that launched the Labour movement, and decent people across the country sit idly by letting it all happen.

Journalists have joked about the way in which much of our youth have heaped Messiah-like status on Jeremy Corbyn, and even remarked on the fact he has the same initials as Jesus Christ. The trouble is that it’s not funny.

It’s so obvious that we need to restore the place of God in our society. Have we not learnt any lessons from the disastrous experiments of China, the Soviet Union, Venezuela and North Korea? Apparently not, because – in the very English, gentrified surroundings of Brighton, a Soviet-style UK is assembling before our very eyes.

God help us! And I mean, only God can help us!

Notes

1 Daily Mail, 26 September 2017.

2 Ibid.

3 He had urged delegates: “Cut out the personal abuse, cut out the cyber-bullying and especially the misogynistic abuse online and let’s get on with bringing real values back into politics.” BBC News, 29 September 2015.

4 Bridges for Peace, 15 September 2017.

5 Daily Mail, 26 September 2017.

Tracking developments in Iran.

President Trump’s speech to the United Nations this week heightened tensions in East Asia, when he declared that the USA will “totally destroy” North Korea if US interests are threatened by the rogue state led by Kim Jong-un.¹ The rest of the world has watched anxiously as Kim’s antics have threatened global peace, while Japan has protested vehemently as rockets have been fired over its territory.

But could all this attention to North Korea be something of a red herring, diverting the eyes of the world away from a much greater and more imminent threat: Iran?

For alert, Bible-believing Christians, this should come as no surprise. After all, it is Iran, not North Korea, that is named in Scripture as a key player in the end times drama set to unfold around Israel.

A Vibrant History

The region we know today as Iran has a long and fascinating history stretching right back to the early chapters of Genesis.² The Iranian plateau was first dominated by the Elamites (descended from Noah’s son Shem), who were eventually subsumed into larger empires, including those of the Assyrians and Babylonians. When Babylon fell to Cyrus the Great in 539 BC, the first Persian empire rose to prominence for around 200 years, becoming one of the largest empires in history.

‘Persia’, as the region became known,³ did not always set itself against God’s people Israel. Cyrus the Great, for instance, released the Jews from Babylonian captivity and allowed them to return to their land. The sparing of the Jewish people from the genocidal plans of Haman (perhaps a type of the Ayatollahs to come), as told in the Book of Esther, took place under the rule of the Persian King Xerxes nearly a century later. And Nehemiah oversaw the re-building of Jerusalem’s walls thanks to the support of Xerxes’ successor, Artaxerxes.

‘Persia’ has not always set itself against God’s people Israel.

After the Persian empire was overtaken by Alexander the Great, the region passed from one empire to another until the rise of Islam in the 7^th Century AD. This blotted out the territory’s pagan religious heritage,⁴ consolidating it under the distinctive influence of Shia Islam which has, for the most part, dominated it ever since.

The Making of Modern Iran

Fast forward to the start of the 20^th Century, and the Iranian plateau became a battle-ground as Britain and Russia competed for its oil reserves. After World War I Iran became a sovereign, secular nation, changing its name formally from ‘Persia’ in 1935.

The Islamic Revolution of 1979.Iran fought alongside the Allies against Germany and Russia during World War II, and afterwards entered into a long-term, positive relationship with the USA and Western Europe, exchanging oil for military and economic aid. It was this positive relationship with the West, and Iran’s increasing modernisation and secularisation, however, that fomented deep criticism from Islamic clerics, leading to an Islamist uprising in 1979.

The revolution, led by Ayatollah Khomeini (not to be confused with the current Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khameini), toppled the secular Shah, sieged the American embassy and replaced Western-friendly Iran with the fundamentalist Shia theocracy we see today. Iranian relations with the USA deteriorated rapidly as the US was recast as ‘The Great Satan’ and Israel ‘The Little Satan’. As its relations with the USA were upturned, so Iran’s connections with Russia also reversed – from bad to good. In fact, Iran has received long-term aid and investment from Russia since 1989.

From the 1980s onwards, Iran became involved in seeding anti-Semitic terrorism and has been outspoken about its intent to wipe Israel off the map (cf. Psalm 83:2, 4). It has even erected an audacious countdown clock in central Tehran giving Israel 25 years left to exist,⁵ whilst Iranian officials boasts that they could bring this deadline forward at any time. Last year a senior Iranian military commander threatened that Iran’s ballistic missiles, famously emblazoned with ‘Israel must be wiped off the earth’, could “raze the Zionist regime in less than eight minutes”.⁶

Iran’s positive relationship with the West collapsed after the Islamist uprising of 1979.

Iran’s Nuclear Capabilities

If Iran makes headlines in the West today, however, it is usually because of controversy surrounding its nuclear programme. It began developing nuclear capacity for peaceful purposes in the 1950s with US and Western European help. Following the 1979 revolution, these partnerships collapsed and Iran switched over to Russian expertise.

Soon after 2000, international suspicion was aroused that Iran’s nuclear activity may involve uranium enrichment for weapons. Investigations were followed by sanctions, but no amount of international pressure halted this activity.

Ayatollah Khameini, Iran's current Supreme Leader. See Photo Credits.In 2015, in a deal brokered by Obama, sanctions were eased in return for Iran’s agreement to “redesign, convert and reduce its nuclear facilities” and accept enhanced monitoring from external bodies.⁷ The deal was welcomed by most world leaders, except Israeli PM Netanyahu, who insisted that Iran could not be trusted and should be made to dismantle its nuclear facilities, not simply limit or convert them.

He declared at the time that "Such a deal would not block Iran’s path to the bomb. It would pave it"⁸ and assured the international community that safety would not be guaranteed until Iran’s regional aggression was curtailed and its vow to annihilate Israel rescinded. Indeed, only recently an Iranian official boasted that the country’s nuclear enrichment facilities could be back up and running in five days if the Obama deal is scrapped by President Trump.⁹

Greater Threat Than ISIS

Since the beginning of the 21^st Century, therefore, a fascinating global picture has been emerging. Every day we seem to move closer to the war depicted in Ezekiel 38-39, which prophesies a ‘last days’ alliance between Russia, Iran, Ethiopia, Libya and Turkey coming against Israel and being utterly destroyed by Divine intervention.

Since the so-called ‘Arab spring’ of 2011, many Arab states have experienced instability or descended into civil war – yet Iran has been growing in power, investing in regional power struggles to its own advantage.¹⁰ Meanwhile, Israel has been watching with a wary eye.

Now, Iraq and Lebanon are acknowledged Iranian proxies¹¹ and Syria lies in ruins. The American and European concern to eradicate ISIS will further clear the path for Iran’s ascendancy, with experts warning that this will present a far greater threat to global stability than ISIS ever did.

Every day we seem to move closer to the war depicted in Ezekiel 38-39.

Indeed, there is a growing Iranian presence around Israel’s borders, with the US recently agreeing to allow Iran-sponsored militias within 10km of the Golan Heights.¹² Iran is making no secret of its agenda, its flag joining a host of others on a hill overlooking Israel’s northernmost town, Metulla. Nearby, a sinister poster depicting Ayatollah Khomeini’s face glowering over the Dome of the Rock reads “We are coming” in Hebrew and Arabic.¹³

Meanwhile, strong connections exist between Iran and North Korea, as journalist Melanie Phillips notes: “Iranian scientists and military brass have been reliably tracked to North Korea inspecting or witnessing its nuclear weapons programme development; and…almost certainly Tehran has outsourced some if not much of [its] programme to Pyongyang.”¹⁴ She argues that the current brouhaha with North Korea is actually a ‘dry run’ for Iran, testing out international responses for signs of weakness.

Where Next?

The biblical jigsaw puzzle is on the way to completion, but we are not there yet. Iran still has a complex relationship with Russia, which has its own regional agendas and is still open to working with Israel. Furthermore, the prophesied alliance with Turkey is yet to materialise.

However, the general trend in the region is clear to see: unchecked Iran consolidating its power, investing in strategic military operations and alliances to extend its reach westwards, obsessed with annihilating Israel. With all the fuss about North Korea – which may or may not yet prove to be a red herring – let’s not ignore the word of Scripture being fulfilled before our very eyes.

References

1 Read the full transcript here. 

2 The historical information in this article owes a significant debt to Darrell Young’s 2004 survey of Iranian history, found here.

3 The name ‘Persia’ comes from the Greek ‘Persis’, a Hellenised form of ‘Pars’ (a region in southern Iran), whereas the term ‘Mede’ was used for those who settled in the centre and north of the region.

4 The region’s religious heritage involves a blend of the Zoroastrianism of the Medes and Persians and the Hellenistic religion of the Greeks. But Medes and Persians are mentioned in Acts 2:9 as being present at Pentecost and the giving of the Holy Spirit – and so may well have been among the first Christians. Today, Christians in Iran make up a sizeable minority – though many are secret believers.

5 Iran Sets Up Clock Counting Down to Israel’s Destruction in 2040. United with Israel, 26 June 2017.

6 Iranian commander: We can destroy Israel 'in under 8 minutes'. Times of Israel, 22 May 2016.

7 Iran nuclear deal framework, Wikipedia.

8 Toosi, N and Gass, N. Netanyahu warns of nuclear arms race. Politico, 3 April 2015.

9 Iran could make weapons-grade uranium within 5 days, nuclear chief claims. Jerusalem Post, 23 August 2017.

10 For instance, Iran has been known to fund Shia militias to fight against ISIS (which is Sunni), whilst also funding ISIS terror attacks against civilians in the West. It is now reportedly recruiting ex-ISIS fighters out of Mosul into its own regime.

11 Last week former Israeli defence minister Moshe Ya’alon described Lebanon as “kidnapped by a terrorist organization [i.e. Hezbollah] operated by another country [i.e. Iran], but the reality is that the international community has become used to the world order and does not deal with it”.

12 Winer, S. US to let Iranian-backed militias within 10 km of Golan Heights — report. Times of Israel, 31 August 2017.

13 Frantzmann, S. Iranian flag joins array of enemy symbols planted on Lebanon border. Jerusalem Post, 28 June 2017.

14 Phillips, M. The Iranian symptom of the West's auto-immune disease. 4 September 2017.

70 years on, the Dead Sea Scrolls still back up the Bible’s divine authorship.

The threats of the North Korean dictator are frightening indeed, and could well ignite a nuclear war, but they are part of a bigger picture of worldwide rebellion against the God of Creation.

On a more specific front, they’re a smokescreen for a potential Armageddon in the Middle East as Russian-backed Iran and its allies move dangerously close to Israel’s borders.

Only last week (7 September) Israel carried out a daring air strike against an Iranian-run weapons factory in the heart of Syria, severely damaging (if not destroying) the facility where chemical and biological munitions as well as medium-range missiles are being developed.¹ Syria has in turn warned about “dangerous repercussions”.²

The strike took place exactly 10 years after Israel – the only country in recent years that has stood up to North Korea until now – destroyed a Syrian nuclear reactor being built with the help of the rogue regime.

British politicians, while appalled by the antics of Kim Jong-un, are nevertheless shaking their fists at God in their own way as, with their atheist agenda, they question the existence of a Divine order. Like the serpent in the Garden of Eden (see Gen 3:1), they pose the subtle question: “Did God really create man and woman to procreate?”

Last week Israel carried out a daring air strike against an Iranian-run weapons factory in Syria, 10 years after a similar strike on a nuclear reactor.

Proving Israel’s Claim to the Land

At the centre of the earth today stands a small Jewish state. And what the world interprets as an ideological battle over a piece of land the size of Wales is in effect an Arab-Muslim challenge to the God of Israel, revealed to us through his Son Jesus Christ.

Their claim that the land does not belong to the Jews despite thousands of years of historical, archeological and biblical evidence was decisively countered by the 1947 discovery – 70 years ago - on the shores of the Dead Sea of ancient scrolls proving Jewish connection to the territory well before the emergence of Islam. This was recognised as such by the United Nations that same year.

The findings in caves at Qumran included the entire original text of the Book of Isaiah, over 2,500 years old. This was found intact among hundreds of parchment scrolls hidden in the desert cliffs³ exactly as it is recorded in modern times – no Chinese whispers here, but God’s authentic hand.

There is no doubt that the unearthing of these scrolls – along with much more archeological evidence – fully vindicated Israel’s claim to the land, quite apart from other political and biblical factors.

Battle Over Who God Is

At the heart of all the sabre-rattling going on now is a battle – not really over whether there is a God, but over who he is. And the Judeo-Christian position that formed the basis of Western civilisation is that he is the God of Israel. When Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, threatened Jerusalem with destruction in ancient times (2 Kings 18 and 19), Judah’s King Hezekiah prayed to the ‘God of Israel’ and the result was a resounding defeat for their enemies. The emphasis of his prayer was that his Lord would demonstrate that he alone was God (2 Kings 19:14-19).

What the world interprets as an ideological battle over a piece of land the size of Wales is in effect an Arab-Muslim challenge to the God of Israel.

Similar threats are heard today from those opposed to Israel. The former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, has been denied the chance “to promote dialogue and a better understanding of the Palestinian narrative” in the UK Parliament thanks, it seems, to an 18,000-strong petition.⁴ But the barefaced nerve of a man who has called for the destruction of Britain to attempt to infiltrate its Parliament with his poisonous lies takes some beating.

This man represents the same ideological ethos as Islamic State. We are investing so much in the prevention of terror, yet are pathetically slow to recognise such threats to our democracy. ‘We all worship the same God,’ I hear so many naïve people say – even in church pews. But Sheikh Sabri says that when he enters the Al-Aqsa Mosque (on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount) he is “filled with rage toward the Jews”.⁵

Contrast this with Jesus’ command to love our enemies and pray for our persecutors (Matt 5:44). As the Sheikh makes clear, Islam is a death cult committed to the destruction of ‘infidels’. “The Muslim loves death and martyrdom,” he says.

Absurd Accusations

Part of the ‘Palestinian narrative’ is that Israel is guilty of human rights violations and of being an apartheid state. But the absurdity of these accusations is underlined by the emergence of a transgender Arab Christian from Nazareth as a new secret weapon against BDS, the boycott Israel campaign. Talleen Abu Hana, winner of the first Miss Trans Israel pageant, was guest of honour at the Israeli Embassy in Washington during LGBT Pride month.⁶

At the heart of all the sabre-rattling going on now is a battle – not really over whether there is a God, but over who he is.

Abu declared: “I’m happy to be Israeli because being Israeli means being truly free.” And when an American journalist questioned Israel’s record on human rights, she replied: “Are you crazy? In what other country in the Middle East can I live my life openly.”

Most Christians, including myself, do not agree with her lifestyle choice, but far more distasteful is the rank hypocrisy behind much liberal thought which sets politically correct agendas that are inevitably contradictory.

The Fig Tree and the Olive Tree

The olive tree symbolises Israel as a nation under God.In any case, Israel’s restoration – according to biblical prophecy – is not yet complete. A restoration to the land (i.e. a political re-birth) is what we are witnessing today; this will be followed by a restoration to their Lord and Messiah, which is in the process of happening but still in the early stages.

One line of theological thought sees the fig tree (Matt 24:32) as a symbol of political Israel while the olive tree is seen as representing a return to its original purpose as a nation under God.
The fig tree is certainly blossoming as Israel becomes a powerful nation once more, but many of its inhabitants are still in rebellion against the Almighty.

Christians are privileged to have been grafted into the natural olive tree of Israel (Rom 11:11-24). But the day is coming when all Israel will finally turn to their Messiah (Rom 11:26). All the hordes of hell are trying to stop that happening – hence the current battle – because it will usher in the Lord of Glory who will crush the enemies of Israel and rule over the earth from Jerusalem for a thousand years of peace.

Notes

1 Amir Tsarfati, Behold Israel update, YouTube, 7 September 2017.

2 IDF attacks Syrian chemical weapons base. United with Israel, 7 September 2017.

3 Drosnin, M, 1997. The Bible Code. Orion, p91.

4 BREAKING: Extremist former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem to visit UK Parliament. Christians United for Israel, 31 August. Also VICTORY! Islamic extremist sheikh DENIED entry to UK. Christians United for Israel, 5 September 2017.

5 Ibid, 31 August.

6 Israel Today, Aug/Sept 2017.

The wind of the Spirit is the key solution for the nations.

Winds of change are once more blowing across Africa. And as South Africa’s Tshego Motaung has well illustrated, it is her own country that is again resisting the phenomenon.

When British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan made his famous ‘Winds of Change’ speech to the Cape Town Parliament in 1960, he was talking of the reality of national liberation sweeping the continent.¹

South Africa’s political elite, however, were in denial of it, resisting the inevitable for 30 years until God intervened in answer to much prayer – specifically in Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk being reconciled through their common faith in Jesus Christ.²

Now there is a new movement of change, writer and political economist Tshego points out – a growing recognition of God’s purposes for Israel among African nations. And the irony is that the black majority government of South Africa is actually moving in the opposite direction again, downgrading their ties with the Jewish state while being taken in by Palestinian propaganda.

Fulfilment for Isaiah 19?

Nevertheless, Tshego is clearly excited by the fulfilment of ancient prophecies as African nations forge closer ties with Israel. As MC for the recent Africa Israel Chamber of Commerce (AICC) pre-launch event in Johannesburg, Tshego³ was reminded of the Isaiah 19 prophecy of a time when a highway of reconciliation would link Egypt, Israel and Assyria (Isa 19:23-25).

And she believes that what was described at the time (700 BC) as Egypt refers to most of what we know as Africa today.

“Initiatives like the AICC are some of the tools for bringing fulfillment to these prophecies,” she wrote in a recent online article for Gateway News (South Africa).⁴ “However, it is fascinating to notice how the current South African political leaders are acting in the same way their predecessors did in 1960, when they resisted the winds of change.”

There is a new movement of change sweeping Africa – a growing recognition of God’s purposes for Israel.

A further irony, in my opinion, is that a huge swathe of churches in South Africa are pro-Israel – and are in fact in revival because of that (as I believe the two are directly connected). The wind of the Holy Spirit is clearly blowing across the nation - what other explanation is there for nearly two million people turning up to a prayer meeting on a farmer’s field on 22 June this year?⁵ But the political leaders are trying to avoid the spiritual climate by sinking their heads in the South African sand (of which there is plenty). Like true believers down the ages, the country’s Christians are being counter-cultural and we should pray that their courage will not fail them at this desperate hour.

It is worth remembering that the Church also led the way for change in the apartheid era. Through much prayer and witness and a determination not to back down, they eventually won the battle. If the pattern is repeated today, political leaders will undoubtedly succumb. Perhaps it’s just a matter of when – not whether – the South African government repents; not only of its corruption, but of its anti-Israel stance.

Winds of Change – for Good and Ill

Winds of change have also blown through Britain since the 1960s – and on the whole they have wreaked havoc (rather as Hurricane Harvey has done in the USA) as family life has been seriously undermined and the Church has remained largely silent.

As the social structure of the UK continues to collapse, my prayer is that we will cease to resist the wind of the Spirit that is willing and wanting to rebuild our shattered society. The wind that blew on the Day of Pentecost changed the world (see Acts 2:2). Jesus spoke of a blowing of the wind, and of our response to it, when referring to the need for people to be “born again” in order to enter the Kingdom of God (John 3:8). This wind also came in the form of Jesus breathing on his disciples (John 20:22).

Winds of change have also blown through Britain since the 1960s – and on the whole they have wreaked havoc.

But the blowing of wind can also be negative, as I’ve intimated with my reference to havoc-wreaking hurricanes. St Paul writes about those who are easily led being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine (Eph 4:14) and when Jesus summed up his amazing Sermon on the Mount, he talked of destructive winds that would topple houses of thought and ideology built on the sand of lies and propaganda (Matt 7:24-27).

Word and Spirit Together

There is a growing movement dedicated to a coming together of the Word and Spirit in our churches which I believe holds out a very precious hope of future restoration. Too many of our churches (in the UK at least) favour one over the other, concentrating on preaching the Bible on the one hand or emphasising the gifts of the Spirit on the other. But many are now recognising that the time has come to weave both streams together.

The result, certainly according to legendary early 20^th Century evangelist Smith Wigglesworth in an extraordinary prophecy made shortly before his death in 1947, will be spiritually explosive.

He said at the time:

When the Word and the Spirit come together, there will be the biggest move of the Holy Spirit that the nation, and indeed the world, has ever seen. It will mark the beginning of a revival that will eclipse anything that has been witnessed within these shores – even the Wesleyan and Welsh revivals of former years. The outpouring of God’s Spirit will flow over from the United Kingdom to mainland Europe and, from there, will begin a missionary move to the ends of the earth.⁶

Notes

1 Harold Macmillan actually said: “The wind of change is blowing through the continent. Whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact.”

2 See elsewhere in this issue.

3 Tshego Motaung holds an MA in Global Political Economy from Sussex University, has spent years in corporate South Africa and also worked as Trade and Investment advisor for UK Trade and Investment.

4 Motaung, T. Winds of change blowing again in Africa, but will SA get it? Gateway News, 4 August 2017.

5 The actual estimate is 1.7 million.

6 See the full word here. See also Cooper, J, 2015. When the Spirit and Word Collide. River Publishing.

What he said resulted in the reformation of a nation.

One can easily be excused for not having heard of Azariah before. He appears once in the Old Testament for a few brief moments, during which he delivers a short message, before disappearing. However, what he said resulted in the reformation of a nation.

His few words were power-packed, not because of natural ability or personal charisma, but because ‘the Spirit of God came upon him’. He could have borrowed the words of one of the greatest of all the prophets, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach...” (Isa 61:1).

A Banishing Change

Azariah came at a critical time in Judah’s history. The days described as the ‘golden age of Israel’ were but a memory. Solomon had been succeeded by his son, Rehoboam. The nation became divided during his reign and, after ruling for seventeen years, his epitaph was, “He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the Lord” (2 Chron 12:14). He was succeeded by his son Abijah, who followed in his father's footsteps, and in his short three-year reign, “committed all the sins his father had done before him; his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God” (1 Kings 15:3).

There then came a refreshing change, when his son Asa took the throne. Asa was to be king of Judah For 41 years. He did what “was right in the eyes of the Lord” (1 Kings 15:11). He started to rid the nation of its idolatry, expelled those guilty of sexual perversion, and deposed the queen mother because of her blatant idolatry.

Azariah’s few words were power-packed, not because of natural ability or personal charisma, but because ‘the Spirit of God came upon him’.

While he was in the process of purging the nation, the task still unfinished, he was met by the prophet Azariah. Azariah brought a message from God of encouragement, commendation and comfort, but also of warning. He said:

Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him he will forsake you. For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and without the law. But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them.

In those days it was not safe to travel about, for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil. One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another, because God was troubling them with every kind of distress. But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded. (2 Chronicles 15:2-7)

That’s it, end of message. It was first addressed to Asa personally, and then to the nation. First to the leader, then to the people. Here is God's recipe for blessing any leader, and any nation. It is completely up to date. It could be delivered to any national leader, and any nation; to the Prime Minister of this land, or the President of the United States; to every king or queen, every dictator, and also to you and me personally.

Let us consider the word and apply it.

Listen

When God speaks it is important to look for two things: first what God says he will do, and second what God tells us to do. The first thing he wants is to get our attention. With a multitude of voices we need to hear and recognise his voice, and to obey. What is the message? Put God first. If God is first, then God is with you. If you forsake God, he will forsake you. And if God is not with us we're in trouble.

When God speaks, look for two things: first what God says he will do, and second what God tells us to do.

This is the truth that Jesus taught: “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt 6:33, emphasis added). It is the truth that Asa’s great-grandfather taught, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people” (Prov 14:34).

The failure to put God first is the cause of every personal or national failure. What a wonderful promise the prophet gave to the king and nation, ’If you seek him, he will be found by you,’ Again, this truth is confirmed by Jesus: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matt 7:7-8, emphasis added). The choice is presented: “if you seek him”…”if you forsake him”…”the Lord is with you when you are with him”.

Learn

The prophet encouraged Asa to learn from the history of his own nation. When Israel forsook God, and his word was not being taught, and God's standard set before the people, there was nothing but trouble. It wasn’t safe to travel. There was turmoil, chaos and confusion. There was international conflict and inter-city strife, and “every kind of distress”. Who was causing all these disasters? Who was responsible? It was God!! The prophet stated it clearly, “God was troubling them” (2 Chron 15:6).

They were learning by experience that when a people forsake God, he forsakes them. However, the good news is that when ungodliness is acknowledged and confessed and repented of, and the people seek the Lord, God in his great mercy, grace and compassion is found by them, and he delivers them from all their fears.

What lessons can we learn from our own history? When God was acknowledged in this land, it prospered. In World War Two, when we faced defeat and distress, and the nation was called to prayer to seek God, God heard and delivered us.

Today we are in great need yet how often do we hear national leaders declaring our need of God? How often do we hear God acknowledged at all? Without God we are doomed. Thank God for all his faithful people, for his church who acknowledge him day by day, who intercede, who pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven”! People who look to the future with hope knowing, as Isaac Watts did, that:

Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
Does his successive journeys run,
His Kingdom stretch from shore to shore
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.

Today we are in great need yet how often do we hear national leaders declaring our need of God?

Look

Having looked to the past, Asa is encouraged to look to the present and to the future. Irrespective of the mistakes others have made, the personal word comes ‘as for you’. There must be for Asa, and for you and me, the personal application of God’s word to us.

At the end of his life, Joshua resolved: “as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15). “As for you…be strong” and remember what Moses sang: “The Lord is my strength and song, he has become my salvation” (Ex 15:2). Be strong…don't give up…keep going. Asa had started a good work, but there was still much to do.

Look to the future, “your work will be rewarded”. In spite of opposition, discouragement and obstacles: when you are with God, God is with you. When you seek him he will be found by you. Be of good courage, there is only one direction, forward.

Liberation

Asa heard the prophet and obeyed the message. He took courage, returned to the unfinished task with all his heart, destroyed the idols, repaired the altar of the Lord, assembled the people together, and unitedly entered into a covenant with God to seek him (2 Chron 15).

The result was great joy among the people, and rest to the land. News of God's blessing spread and large numbers of people came to join them. The verdict on Asa's life was that, “Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life” (2 Chron 15:17).

Listen…the Lord is with you, when you are with him…be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.

Originally published in Prophecy Today, 1999, Vol 15(2).

The significance of Israel’s restoration in the light of world events.

While spending time in north London looking after my mum this summer, I was once again inspired by a verdant overhanging fig tree almost blocking my path as I walked (and ran) around Hampstead Heath. Laden with ripening fruit, it was another reminder of one of the most significant events of our time, largely missed by most people – including Christians.

In speaking to his disciples about Israel’s restoration and of his own return to reign on earth, Jesus said one of the signs of his imminent return was “when the fig tree blossoms…” (Matthew 24:32f) The fig tree is a biblical symbol of Israel.¹

Expectations of Revival

For the past 40 years there have been expectations of revival in Britain. There is certainly a need for one! My understanding is that, along with much trouble and strife, there will be revival in the last days. Joel prophesied that the Spirit would be poured out on all flesh (Joel 2:28). That was partly fulfilled at Pentecost, but its final fulfilment is yet to come, although Asia, Africa, the Far East and South America have already witnessed great outpourings of heavenly rain in recent decades.

But who in the church is preparing for the great revival prophesied for Israel? God has not forgotten them, nor has he replaced them with the Church as some preachers suggest. He has made an everlasting covenant with Israel – with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants.

God’s Faithfulness

Covenants are not meant to be broken; a disciple of Christ who expects God to go back on his word has completely misunderstood his character! If Israel is cut off from God because of unfaithfulness, what chance has the Church with all her backsliding over the centuries – especially in terms of persecution of the Jewish people? No, God will never reject his chosen ones. “Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done,” declares the Lord (Jeremiah 31:37).

The New Covenant received by Jeremiah is not addressed to the Church, but only to Israel!

The New Covenant received by Jeremiah is not addressed to the Church, but only to Israel! “The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” (Jeremiah 31:31). Earlier in the same chapter, he declares his “everlasting love” for his chosen people whom he vows to restore – to their land, which would once more become fruitful he says: “I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow” (v13).

Look at Israel

Christians need to take a closer look at Israel and God’s dealings with his chosen people which enables us to understand what he is doing in the world today. The very existence of the State of Israel is a testimony to the faithfulness of God in keeping his promises. The New Testament tells us that the day will come when all Israel will accept Jesus as Lord and Messiah. Paul writes, “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so, all Israel will be saved” (Rom 11:25-26).

Many people in Israel today are secular humanists rather than followers of the faith of their forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Some 200,000 recently marched through the streets of Tel Aviv in support of Gay Pride. But the fig tree is blossoming: a nation has been rebuilt from a barren wasteland and is now supplying the world with fruit. It is a global leader in technology, using their agricultural genius to help African and other countries, and even using their medical expertise to heal their ‘enemies’ as they tend to the wounds of Syrian soldiers wounded in the civil war that rages on their northern border.

Messianic Jews

The real clue to the future lies in the growing number of Messianic Jews – those who have recognised Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew) as their Messiah. Despite the high price paid by Jewish believers in Jesus (being cut off from their families in many cases), they keep ‘coming home’, like the Prodigal Son – not only in Israel but throughout the world.

Yet the fig tree is still only a bud, not yet in full blossom; soon to be laden with fruit, like the one in Hampstead’s Spring Path (pictured).

The Church really does need to ‘watch’ Israel, especially the growth of Messianic Judaism, for it is key to the unfolding events leading up to the second coming of Christ. It is also key to understanding the loving-kindness, forbearance and longsuffering of our God, who watches over his word to see it fulfilled (Jeremiah 1:12).

Yet the fig tree is still only a bud, not yet in full blossom; soon to be laden with fruit.

Dreams and Visions

Sadly, many Christians can’t see what Israel has to do with them; they seem to forget that we worship the God of Israel. Many Jews and Arabs are having dreams and visions of Jesus as he reveals himself to the children of Abraham, as Joseph revealed himself to his brothers in Egypt. This surely underscores the truth that Jesus holds the answer to world peace.

Even on the war front, there are lessons to be learnt. The ongoing tension on the Temple Mount, for instance, needs to be understood as a spiritual battle, representing on a grand scale what Christians are taught to expect in their individual lives.

Ignorance of Israel will leave your faith weakened while knowledge of Israel, even in its present largely unrepentant state, will edify your soul as you realise afresh that you can trust in the One and only Saviour of the world, who is a covenant keeping God who never breaks his promises.

The Budding Fig-tree

Some date the budding of the fig tree from the year 1967, fifty years ago, when Israel recaptured the Old City of Jerusalem for the first time in 2,000 years, thereby ending (in the understanding of some) the ‘trampling down of Jerusalem by the Gentiles’ spoken of by our Lord (Luke 21:24).

The One and only Saviour of the world is a covenant keeping God who never breaks his promises.

It’s an interesting point that 1967 is generally also regarded as the year the Messianic Movement began in earnest, coinciding with the start of the Charismatic Movement that brought a restoration of the gifts of the Holy Spirit to the old historic churches.

The feast of Pentecost (known to Jews as Shavuot) is still seen in Israel as a celebration of the Law received by Moses, which of course is now ‘written on our hearts’ through the work of the Holy Spirit in accordance with Ezekiel 36:26f. It seems that there is a ‘golden’ thread holding together this Trinitarian truth.

So, in this golden year of celebrations, make sure that ‘Jerusalem the Golden’ lightens up your understanding of the Scriptures and of God’s wonderful – though sometimes mysterious – ways.

References 

¹ Dr Clifford Denton goes a step farther and interprets the budding of the fig tree as a restoration in Israel of the authority to interpret Torah. See, for example 

Christians ascend Welsh heights in support of Israel.