Is prophesy exciting, or what?! I get so “pumped” by reading about what God has planned for his servants. Praise the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel that he has made a way for us to become “sons of God” through Christ! [Galatians 3:26]. And I praise God that he is in control – we do not need to be afraid of the events that are unfolding.
One of the most important events in our day involves the nation of Israel. We should watch current events of the re-born nation of Israel very carefully as we wait for Christ’s inevitable return. An understanding of God’s plan for Israel is crucial to understanding our times.
God’s covenant promise to Jacob, to give his descendents the promised land is as true today as it was 4,000 years ago:
Genesis 28:
10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it stood the LORD, and he said: "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." [emphasis mine]
In this passage we see that God’s original promise to Abraham of the land [see Genesis 12:1-3] was passed on through to Jacob. Muslims claim that the land of Israel is theirs because they claim to be descendents of Abraham through his first son Ishmael. Ishmael was born to Abraham through Hagar, Sarah’s maid-servant. However, God’s promise of the land did not flow through the lineage of Ishmael; it flows through the lineage of Abraham-Isaac-Jacob(later renamed Israel) as is confirmed by the above and other scripture verses.
In Genesis 28:15 God states to Jacob that he will bring Jacob’s descendants back into this land. After almost 4,000 years of punishment and banishment from the promised land, the return to the land occurred when the modern state of Israel was declared on May 14, 1948. The fact that the modern state of Israel was declared in one day is prophetic and significant:
Isaiah 66:
8 Who has ever heard of such a thing?
Who has ever seen such things?
Can a country be born in a day
or a nation be brought forth in a moment?
Yet no sooner is Zion in labor
than she gives birth to her children.
The birth of Israel in 1948 is described in this verse. Zion in labor, or “travailing” as the King James version writes, is descriptive of the WWII holocaust, where 6 million Jews were exterminated. Three years after the most intense persecution in history of the Jews, the nation of Israel was born in one day.
A related prophesy to the re-establishment of the nation of Israel, is Christ’s “Olivet prophesy”, or Jesus’ prophesy given to his disciples on the Mount of Olives:
Matthew 24:
32"Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. [emphasis mine]
The fig tree is used in the Bible to represent the nation of Israel. The twigs of the fig tree becoming tender and its leaves coming out is speaking of God’s fulfilled promise to Jacob and of the nation of Israel being re-established in the promised land. Israel does not currently possess most of the land that God promised to Abraham, for this land includes everything between the Nile and the Euphrates Rivers [Genesis 15:18]. The fight between the Muslim nations currently occupying this land and Israel will ignite the final battle of Armageddon. Indeed, since Israel’s re-establishment in 1948, there have been continuing military battles between Israel and its neighbours: 1948 War of Independence;1967 6-Day War; and the 1973 Yom Kippur War; to name some of the major ones. Today, it seems Israel is in the news every day. Can the end of this age be very far away?
Isn’t it, at the very least, perplexing that the whole world is so vexed over what to do with the little sliver of land we call Israel? Why can’t the nations simply follow Bush’s Two-State Solution and end the killing? The answer, as always, is in scripture. God said that people would be vexed over what to do with Israel:
Zechariah 12:2-3 (King James Version)
2Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
As I stated in the beginning of this post, this deserves repeating: praise the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel that he is in control. He has made these things known to us in advance, and we can know confidently that the world is simply following God’s predetermined plan to bring this age to a conclusion.
I gratefully acknowledge Dave Hunt’s book: “Judgment Day – Islam, Israel and the Nations” as a source of some of my information. If you haven’t read it, you’re missing out. You can get it through the Berean Call as an eBook or hard copy – and no, I am not associated with the Berean Call in any way, shape or form. I just love their ministry.
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