
Copyright © 2000, 2003 by Cornerstone Publishing
PO Box 26654
Minneapolis, MN 55426
First Printing – June, 2000
Second Printing – March, 2003
Newly revised electronic edition – 2007
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in case of brief quotations in critical reviews or articles.
Original book cover design – Rich Busch
Original photo montage – Carl & Karen Johnson
All scripture quotations in this publication are from the Holy Bible, New International Version.
Library of Congress Card Number: 00-105066
ISBN: 0-9623950-4-8
CP- 2000
Original publication
printed in United States of America
***
This book is dedicated
to my wife, Betsy, who has given me her
faithful love and support for the last
fifty-one years, and who has helped me
immensely in all states of manuscript
preparation.
***
I am extremely grateful to Carl Johnson,
the original publisher, who has given
his permission to make this free
electronic version available.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 Israel's Amazing Uniqueness
2 Are the Jews Really Special?
3 Seven Scenes From Holy History
4 The Rise of Islam, Its Impact Upon
Israel and the Church
5 The Lie of the Land, or How to Steal a
Heritage
6 A Feisty
Little Nation is Reborn
7 Christians in Search of Their Roots
8 Jesus Before He Became a Gentile
9 How Did a Nice Jewish Church Become
Gentile?
10 The Sickness of Anti-Semitism
11 Blessing or Cursing!
12 Is the Messiah Himself Restoring
Israel?
13 Christians Remember Zion
14 Lessons for Gentile Christians and
Churches
15 Is God a Zionist?
16 Is the Devil Angry Over Jerusalem?
17 God's Final Chapter
Historical
Time Line
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
No book of this scope
could be written without the help of
many other people. I am indebted to
Clarence H. Wagner, Jr. who assisted me
with several sections of the book and
made his personal library available to
me. I am deeply indebted to my
associates who patiently read the
manuscript and offered their
suggestions. These include Neal and
Julie George, Earl Davis, Fran Grow and,
of course, my wife who labored over the
manuscript many months.
Also, I am indebted
to Judy Stone, Anne Davis and others who
looked over various sections of the
manuscript and offered their good
advice. Certainly I wish to express my
gratitude to Edmund Lambeth, Professor
of Journalism at the University of
Missouri, for his patient assistance.
Ron Cantrell gave me great assistance in
computer graphics and design.
I am very grateful
for the constant prayer support from my
dear friends, Bill and Gloria Brereton,
without which the book may never have
come into existence.
I am especially
grateful to Dr. Marvin Wilson, Professor
of Biblical and Theological Studies at
Gordon College, Wenham, Massachusetts,
who took time from his busy year-end
schedule to carefully read this
manuscript and offer his valuable
suggestions and insights.
Most of all, I am
grateful to God who put Israel on my
heart early in 1974. It is God who has
sustained my wife and me in Israel now
for over fifteen years. It is God who
has allowed us to feed upon the heritage
of our Father Jacob and to walk upon the
land of his promise.
Perhaps this book
will be a partial release of this
spiritual burden God has placed upon me.
INTRODUCTION
Several years ago I remember speaking
about Israel at a certain church
gathering. At the close of my sermon I
was amazed to find that the pastor, who
had previously acted friendly towards
me, would no longer speak to me or even
face me. As I remember, I left that
church without receiving another word
from him. I had spoken directly from the
Bible but this man of God would have no
part of the message. Over the years in
my Israel ministry I have experienced
other such perplexing episodes.
Perhaps I should not be so amazed at
the action of this pastor. I remember in
my early ministry that I also had little
concern for Israel. It was not until God
dealt with me miraculously in 1974, that
my eyes were opened to his nation and
people. My studies of Israel since that
time, and during the fifteen years that
I have lived in the land, have been
further eye-openers. It is unfortunate
that so many millions of otherwise good
Christians remain indifferent to the
incredibly important subject of Israel.
It is now apparent that during the
lifetime of many of us, God has done a
miraculous work of restoring the nation
of Israel. We modern and postmodern
Christians now have to deal with
something that other generations have
not had to deal with. We must deal with
a partially restored Israel in our
midst. Yes, Israel has arisen from dust
and ashes, as was foretold long ago by
her prophets.
The rise of Israel is greatly
impacting the Church, and many
Christians, realizing this, are
hungering for a deeper knowledge and
understanding of Israel. It is my
purpose in this book to share a portion
of the things the Lord has shared with
me over the years.
As we seek understanding we must bear
in mind that we will never comprehend
Israel unless we first understand that
she is incredibly unique. For instance,
tiny Israel, with less than one-half of
one percent of the earth’s population,
now commands the second largest press
corps in the world. But Israel is not
just unique naturally. She is unique
spiritually. The Bible tells us that God’s
eyes are upon Israel continually.
The Jews are a special people, as is
related to us in the Bible. Just as the
Jews are unlike other people, their
history is also unlike that of others.
It may even be called "redemptive
history" or "holy
history." It is the most amazing
history in the world. Other nations have
come and gone but the Jews seem to
remain immortal. From Father Abraham; to
Moses; to Jesus; to the Holocaust and
now to the restoration of the nation, we
have a four-thousand-year span of
redemptive history.
However, because Israel is chosen by
God, the enemy has been busy. In the
last hundred years Islam has raised its
head to challenge the existence of
Israel and even the existence of the
Jewish people. Until fairly recent
times, Islam had been of slight concern
to Christians and Jews, especially those
living in the west. Yet, since the
recent Gulf Wars and especially since
the events of 9/11,
Christians have been forced to
take notice of this religion. It now
appears likely that Islam may be the
biggest spiritual threat in our world
today. It is a mortal threat not only to
Israel and Judaism, but also to
Christianity. The great Islamic battle
against Israel and the Bible seems to
have its focus in the Middle East.
However, in spite of the sworn hatred of
millions of Moslems in this area, the
nation of Israel was not only born
against incredible odds, but has
prospered for over half a century.
Modern Israel is causing us to
examine our Bibles more closely. When we
look carefully in the scripture we find
some shocking facts about our Christian
family tree. We learn that our family
tree is actually a Jewish one, as is
made clear in Romans 11:17-18. Thus we
are somehow spiritually connected to
Israel. This fact has been carefully
hidden from us almost since Apostolic
Times. It is now evident that there was
a subtle shift from a totally Jewish
Christianity of the first century to an
almost totally Gentile Christianity of
the fourth century. Now after almost
sixteen centuries the Church is left,
cut off from its rich Hebrew roots,
nurturing an animosity toward Israel and
the Jews. Instead of the heritage of
Israel, the Church is left with the
heritage of anti-Semitism. The recent,
awful Holocaust was only a natural
result of almost two thousand years of
Christian anti-Semitic teaching.
As we look more closely at our Bibles
we must ask if the ancient promise to
Abraham in Genesis 12:2-3 is still
effective? Are individuals and nations
still blessed or cursed depending upon
their treatment of Abraham and his seed,
the Jewish people? We have only to
travel quickly through history to see
many evidences of this strange fact.
When we do, we will see how Jewish
genius particularly blessed Holland,
America, and many other nations. We will
see how nations like Spain, Portugal,
England and especially the Palestinian
people have all come under a curse
because of their treatment of the Jews.
Which will it be for us? Will we receive
blessing or cursing?
Has the Church's shabby treatment of
the Jews been noticed by God? Does it
concern our Messiah? Could it be that
the Messiah is involved in Israel and is
even re-gathering the nation? There is a
great deal of biblical evidence
supporting this, especially in the
so-called "Servant Songs" of
Isaiah 41 and following. If Messiah is
gathering and restoring Israel, it
certainly places the Church in an
embarrassing and awkward position. Not
only has the Church failed to help with
this messianic work - we have positively
hindered it.
A few centuries ago, as the Bible
became available to the common reader,
the Church began to wake up. The
beginning of the Modern Christian
Zionist movement (formerly known as
Restorationism) can be traced back to
the sixteenth century Puritans. Along
the way, common people, presidents,
prime ministers, and poets spoke out for
the Jews and their homeland.
Today the rise of Israel is forcing
Christians to take another look at the
Old Testament. It is also forcing us to
take a new look at the New Testament.
New archaeological discoveries in the
land are shedding light on the whole
Bible and broadening our understanding.
The rebirth of Israel is helping us
better understand Bible prophecy,
especially that prophecy related to the
end days.
Although the ancient prophets spoke
of the redeemed someday returning to
Zion, the terminology has become
politically loaded today. Where do God
and the Bible stand in the present day
conflicts? Disregarding the world's
concepts of "political
correctness," we must look at God’s
special connection with Jerusalem and
the Jews. In no uncertain terms God
calls himself a Zionist.
How is all this working out in our
modern world? How will it all end? The
scripture is very clear that God will
deal with all nations. The time for this
dealing seems to be close at hand. There
will be a "storm before the
calm" in world events according to
the Bible. Nations will be drawn to
Israel for one "final
solution" of the world’s Jewish
problem. The Mighty God of Israel will
then intervene to fight for little
Israel in a dramatic manner. Strangely,
the Messiah will stand on the Mount of
Olives for the specific purpose of
delivering Israel from the wrath of the
nations. After God has dealt with
nations for their hatred and hypocrisy,
a wonderful era of peace, real peace,
Messianic peace, will rule in our world.
-1-
How can a
little country some fifty miles wide and
a mere one-hundred-fifty miles long keep
the world in an uproar all the time?
How can tiny
Israel be the constant focus of world
news reports, and why should such a
small place have the second largest
concentration of news bureaus in the
world? (1) Why
should the little mountain town of
Jerusalem always get a lion’s share of
world publicity?

Jerusalem’s
old and new cities
How can the Israeli people, numbering
less than seven million,
be considered such a mortal threat to
the approximately 300 million
heavily-armed Muslims in the Middle
East? And why would such an august body
as the United Nations spend a third of
its time dealing with little Israel? (2)
These
things all seem preposterous, but they
certainly attest to Israel’s amazing
uniqueness as a nation.
For instance,
just "down the road" from
Jerusalem is the great city of Cairo and
the country of Egypt. Cairo, the largest
city in Africa, has over seventeen
million people, yet it is rarely
mentioned on the evening news. However,
almost daily we hear of Jerusalem, whose
population is less than three quarters
of a million people. The world’s news
bureaus do not jostle each other for
space in Cairo or in Egypt. The city and
country have been of little concern to
the United Nations.
ISRAEL, AN INCREDIBLY TINY PLACE
The nation of Israel and its capital
city of Jerusalem are minuscule in
comparison with other nations and cities
of the world. When compared to the US,
Israel is about the size of the little
state of New Jersey. The nation of
France could hold twenty-six nations of
Israel.
Of course,
Israel should rightly be compared with
countries in her own neighborhood, the
Middle East. It is shocking when we
realize that the Middle East nations of
the Arab League are spread over five
million square miles, while Israel
consists of less than 8,000 square
miles. (3)
Israel
is so small that one can easily drive
from the biblical border cities of Dan
in the north, to Beersheba in the south,
in half a day. We have cause to pity the
Israeli jet pilots, who in a few
careless moments of maneuvers could find
themselves flying over hostile Syria or
Saudi Arabia.
Israel is tiny,
but the nation possesses a geographic,
political and spiritual importance far
out of proportion to its size.
CROSSROADS OF THE WORLD
Israel not only commands a
disproportionate amount of media
coverage, but the land is a veritable
crossroads of the world, connecting the
continents of Europe, Asia and Africa.
In ancient
times, people and armies traveled over
the roads situated in what is known as
the Fertile Crescent. This strip of
fertile land ran from Egypt to the other
great centers of Assyria and Babylonia.
This ancient super-highway system ran
directly through Israel. Thus the great
nations of the Middle East always
struggled between themselves for this
passageway.
One famous
ancient route was the Way of the Sea (Via
Maris) mentioned in Isaiah 9:1-2,
and also in Matthew 4:15-16. This
ancient road ran through Capernaum where
Jesus established a base for his
ministry. The prophet Isaiah, who lived
in the eighth century BC, prophesied
that a bright light would shine along
this highway.
Israel was not
only a land bridge from north to south,
but also from east to west. Many ancient
caravans bearing spices and other items
from the east, traveled through the
general area. Also, from the time of
Solomon, Israel had periodic access to
the Far East via the Gulf of Aqaba and
the Red Sea.
Even today,
Israel is still a world crossroads.
People from almost every nation live in
the country and millions more visit it.
The Jews themselves have returned home
from more than one hundred nations. On a
bus ride, or a stroll through the park,
one may see people reading newspapers
from virtually every corner of the
world.

Pilgrims from all
over the world come to Israel
The Jerusalem taxi drivers have the very
difficult task of communicating with
people from every language background.
It often seems that as soon as
passengers open their mouths, the
drivers are able to communicate in the
necessary tongues.
Israel is not
just a crossroads for people, but one
for birds as well. For instance, twice
each year, in spring and again in the
fall, millions of birds pass over
Israel, as they make their trips to and
from Europe, Asia and Africa. In all,
there are 121 species of migratory
birds, plus another 94 species that come
to spend the winter in Israel. There are
honey buzzards, storks, pelicans and
many more winged visitors. (4)
Some of these birds love Israel and decide to stay, much to
the chagrin of Israel's fish farmers.
LAND OF AMAZING BEAUTY AND DIVERSITY
The Bible assures us that Israel is the
most beautiful land in all the earth. In
Ezekiel 20:6 we read:
On that day
I swore to them that I would bring them
out of Egypt into a land I had
searched out
for them, a land flowing with milk and
honey, the most beautiful of all
lands.
The physical setting of Israel is not
just beautiful, but it is also extremely
interesting and diversified, as we read
in Deuteronomy 8:7-9:
For the LORD
your God is bringing you into a good
land—a land with streams and
pools of
water, with springs flowing in the
valleys and hills; a land with wheat and
barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive
oil and honey; a land where bread will
not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land
where the rocks are iron and you can
dig copper out
of the hills.
Israel has a vast diversity in its
terrain. There is cool, snow-capped
Mount Hermon in the north, reaching to
an elevation of 9,232 ft. (2,841 m.),
and there are the blistering
semi-deserts of the Negev in the south.
Also, in contrast with the heights of
Hermon are the depths of the Jordan Rift
and the Dead Sea. This body of water
marks the lowest habitable spot on
earth, at 1,312 ft. (404 m.) below sea
level.
Israel also
enjoys a great variety in climate. When
Jerusalemites are shivering in the
winter cold, they can take comfort in
the fact that they are a mere
thirty-minute drive from semi-tropical
Jericho, and the warm resorts at the
Dead Sea.
Since Israel
borders on three deserts, much of the
area to the east of its central chain of
mountains is desert of some type. This
desert runs from the areas around
Jericho to the Dead Sea, on to The
Wilderness of Zin and then to Eilat.

Wilderness area in
the Negev
The amount of rainfall in the country
ranges from about 60 inches (152
centimeters) per year on Mt. Hermon in
the north, to less than an inch (2.5
centemeters) for Eilat in the south. (5)
The central mountains of Israel may be
blasted with snow and cold in the winter
months, and yet may swelter with an
early spring heat wave. The heat wave,
or sharav, blowing in from the
desert can quickly drive temperatures
into the 90 degree F. range ( 32 C.).
In Deuteronomy
6:18, Israel is referred to as ha-eretz
ha-tovah, or "the good land."
Then again in Psalm 106:24, the Psalmist
refers to Israel as "the
pleasant land." Even in the hot
summer, there are cool, pleasant breezes
that come up from the Mediterranean in
the afternoon. In the winter, even
cities with the highest elevations like
Jerusalem and Zefat, seldom see
temperatures drop below freezing. Roses
usually bloom all winter in Jerusalem.
There are no tornadoes or hurricanes.
DIVERSITY OF FLORA AND FAUNA
The uniqueness of Israel really becomes apparent when we look at the country’s flora and fauna. Because of Israel’s geographic position, linking three continents, there is an amazing variety of plant and animal life. For instance, within the tiny land of Israel there are five distinct vegetation zones. This great variety of life has perplexed naturalists as they have labored to make the proper classifications.

Poppies blooming on
the Golan
Lambert states, "The rich variety
of vegetation zones, make it the meeting
ground of plants native to widely
differing parts of the earth, plants
with such differing origins as Siberia,
Western Europe, Inner Asia, North Africa
and East Africa." (6)
Israel
at present has some 2500 plant types.
For the sake of comparison, Egypt with
its rich Nile Delta has only 1500.
Britain has 1700, and Norway has 1335.
"No other place in the world has
such floral wealth concentrated within
such a comparatively small area." (7)
For
instance, in the Hula swampland one
might find the tropical papyrus plant
flourishing. Papyrus is an African plant
and Israel is as far north as it grows. (8)
Or at Ein Gedi on the Dead Sea one might
see the Moringa tree, which is a native
of Sudan. In the Jordan Valley alone
there are some forty varieties of
tropical flora.
In the
southernmost tip of Israel at Eilat, the
visitor is treated to a magnificent
desert climate with its special
vegetation. For instance, the Doum Palm
(Dome Mitzri - Hyphaene thebaica),
normally found in Sudan, grows around
Eilat. (9) The
Doum Palm has a distinguished look with
a trunk that forks out about mid-way up
giving it the appearance of having two
horns.
Numerous
animals have ventured in from Africa in
the south, or from Syria and points
further in the north and have made
Israel their home. For instance, the
land of Israel marks the southernmost
limit in the range of the Siberian wolf.
The little coney has come up to Israel
from Africa, and Israel and Syria mark
its northernmost limits. Israel also has
about twenty-five species of bat, from
the three continents of Europe, Asia and
Africa. (10)

A young Ibex from
the Ein Gedi area
At Eilat, the visitor will see what has been called "one of the three richest coral reefs in the world."(11) From Eilat’s underwater observatory one can see a vast array of colorful tropical fish in their natural habitat. A trip to Eilat is a thrilling and unforgettable experience.

Some of the
colorful fish and coral at Eilat
SPIRITUAL UNIQUENESS
Israel is certainly unique in the
natural sense, because of its size,
location and diversity of climate and
wild life. However, its greatest
uniqueness is in the spiritual realm. We
see this clearly reflected in the pages
of the Bible. The Bible, after all, is
our guide and authority, not only in
matters of theology, but in matters of
our everyday lives.
For centuries,
preachers and biblical expositors have
realized that the frequency of words
found in the scripture gives us some
indication as to the importance of the
subjects. As an example, Christianity
rests upon three pillars, as Paul tells
us in 1 Corinthians 13:13. The pillars
are faith, hope and love. When we check
out the frequency of these words in the
Authorized Version of the Bible, we find
that faith appears 257 times, and hope
appears 129 times. Love, being the most
important of the three, appears 310
times. This is a respectable amount of
appearances.
However when we
check out the occurrence of
"Jerusalem" in scripture we
may be amazed to learn that it appears
811 times - more than faith, hope and
love combined. Jerusalem is just one of
the many names the city is called in
scripture. Also, when we search under
the subject of "Israel," we
may be shocked to find that it appears
2565 times. We should realize by this
that "Jerusalem" and
"Israel" are subjects very
close to the heart of God.
In the
scripture, the expression "God of
Israel" appears over 200 times.
This is only one of several expressions
like "God of Jacob," and
"God of Abraham," which
connect the God of the universe closely
with the Jewish people and the land of
Israel. These are names by which God
wishes to be known. However, these names
are deemed "not politically
correct" by many in our day.
In the Bible,
we read about God’s great attachment
to the land of Israel. In Deuteronomy
11:12, we learn that "It is a
land the LORD your God cares for; the
eyes of the LORD your God are
continually on it from the beginning of
the year to its end."
We learn in
the Bible that Israel is central in God’s
plan for the earth. In Ezekiel 38:12, it
is mentioned that the land of Israel is
at the very center of the earth. The
Hebrew word used here is tabbuwr,
and in modern Hebrew it means
"navel" or
"bellybutton." The earth does
have a navel, a place where the
umbilical cord between heaven and earth
was once attached. In Revelation 21:1-4,
the Bible indicates that it will someday
be re-attached as this world undergoes a
re-creation.
In Psalm 76:1
we read, "...In Judah God is
known; his name is great in
Israel." For thousands of
years, God has been busy building a
salvation infrastructure in the land of
Israel. He has done this so that peoples
and nations the world over may fully
know him.
In a real
sense, "...He has set his
foundation on the holy mountain..."
(Psa. 87:1). God had to establish the
patterns, types, and pictures that would
help us understand his great salvation.
For instance, the Tabernacle and Temple
with all their rites help us understand
the sacrifice of Jesus. Without these
pictures we would be at a total loss to
understand.
Jerusalem,
being the very center or hub of God’s
redemptive activity, is extremely
important to him. We read in Isaiah
49:16, "See, I have engraved you
[Jerusalem] on the palms of my hands;
your walls are ever before me."
Israel and
its capital city of Jerusalem are
certain to be the focus of last-day
activity. This will transpire as sinful
man and his systems collide head-on with
God and his coming kingdom. We are
assured in scripture that God will
gather all nations to Jerusalem for
battle (Zech. 14:2). At that time the
Lord will fight for Israel and afterward
the nations of the earth will know that
the Lord is God.
CLAIMED BY THE WORLD’S LARGEST RELIGIONS
To illustrate her great spiritual
importance, Jerusalem is claimed jointly
by the religions of Judaism,
Christianity and Islam. These claims
apply not only to Jerusalem but also to
most other parts of the land. Since
these religions include more than three
billion people, we can see that
Jerusalem and Israel are extremely
important to half the world’s
population.
Jerusalem has
long been the focal point of Jewish
aspirations. Over the centuries the
Passover seder has ended with the
longing and hopeful words, "Next
year in Jerusalem!"
The Jewish
National Anthem, Ha Tikva, by
Naphtali Herz Imber, also expresses that
eternal hope within the Jewish heart in
these words translated into English:
As long
as in depth of the heart a Jewish soul
is yearning, and towards the east an eye
is still
looking to Zion, our hope is not lost
yet, the 2000-year-old hope to be a free
nation in our land, the land of Zion and
Jerusalem.
In addition to being at the very heart of the Jewish faith, Jerusalem is the cradle of Christianity. The dramas of the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus all took place in the general area of Jerusalem. The Church of the Nativity in the city of Bethlehem marks the place of Messiah’s birth. This city, which is now a part of the Palestinian Authority, is still practically a suburb of Jerusalem. The twin sites, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem’s Old City, and the Garden Tomb just outside the north city wall, both mark possible places of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

Calvary, inside the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher
In modern times, the dark clouds of
political turmoil have increased over
Israel and Jerusalem. This has been
especially true as the Jews have
returned home from the nations. Because
of Muslim political aspirations
concerning the land, Jerusalem and
Israel have taken on an increased
importance to Islam.
Although
Jerusalem’s Temple Mount has been the
location of the Dome of the Rock and Al
Aksa Mosque since the seventh century,
Jerusalem was a "backwater" so
far as its importance to Muslims until
the twentieth century. For instance, in
the thirteen hundred years that Islam
exercised general domination over
Israel, Jerusalem was never a Muslim
capital city or even an administrative
center. The administrative center was at
Ramle near the coast.
Today, because
of the increasing political struggle
over Jerusalem, Muslims are flocking in
greater numbers to the Temple Mount for
prayer and pilgrimage, although prior to
the twentieth century the Temple Mount
had not been a place of Muslim
pilgrimage. (12)
Thousands of Muslims now gather to the
area on Fridays for weekly prayers. The
religious struggle over the Temple Mount
has greatly intensified in recent years,
with occasional flare-ups of violence as
Jews and Muslims worship in close
proximity.
SITE OF PILGRIMAGE SINCE ANCIENT
TIMES
The Jewish people have made pilgrimage to Jerusalem since ancient times. According to Jewish law, each male was required to come to Jerusalem every year for the three major festivals of Passover (Pe-sach), Pentecost (Sha-vu-ot) and Tabernacles (Suk-kot) (Ex. 23:17). Since Jerusalem sits astride the mountain ridge running through the country, it was necessary to climb up to Jerusalem. The trip was dangerous and difficult. It often had to be done on foot and in the heat of the sun.

A pilgrim Psalm engraved on stone at
Jerusalem’s Old City
In our Bibles we still have recorded
many songs that were undoubtedly sung by
pilgrims as they ascended to the city
and to the Temple Mount. They were also
used in Temple worship at certain times.
These "Songs of
Ascents," or of "going
up," are very descriptive of the
journey. They begin with Psalm 120 and
continue through Psalm 134.
It is
interesting today that the process by
which one becomes a citizen of modern
Israel is called "making aliya."
In Hebrew it simply means "going
up."
|
A Psalm of "going up." Psalm 121:1-8 1
I lift up my eyes to the hills—where
does my help come from? |
In the Book of Acts we learn that great numbers of Jewish pilgrims had come to the Feast of Pentecost from many different parts of the world. After witnessing the outpouring of the Holy Spirit these pilgrims replied:
Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues! (Acts 2:8-11).
In the fourth century, after
Christianity was finally established as
the legal religion in the Roman Empire, Christian
pilgrims began to make their appearance
in Jerusalem. Even Emperor Constantine’s
mother, Helena, became a pilgrim in the
fourth century AD. It was due to her
influence that some of the great
churches were built, such as the Church
of the Holy Sepulcher and the Church of
the Nativity.
Another pilgrim
in the latter part of the fourth century
was named Egeria. Archaeologists and
Bible scholars still use her written
accounts to try and piece together the
locations of authentic biblical sites.
What a shame it is that many other
pilgrims did not visit the land and heed
the command of Psalm 48:12-13:
Walk
about Zion, go around her, count
her towers, consider well her
ramparts, view
her citadels, that
you may tell of them to the next
generation.
Today, millions of modern pilgrims journey by airliner to Israel and then travel by luxurious air-conditioned buses throughout the land. They know few of the hardships of pilgrims in earlier times. However, they are pilgrims nonetheless, with their notepads, recorders, cameras and videos. It is interesting that the bulk of these pilgrims are Christians.

Modern tourists
capture Old Jerusalem on film
A visit to the land is important for
Christians. The land of Israel has often
been called "the fifth
gospel." There are four gospels we
can read anywhere in the world, but one
we can only experience by a visit to
Israel. This "gospel" quickly
brings the other four gospels into
perspective. It does the same for the
rest of the Bible. As one enlightened
visitor remarked: "I used to see
the Bible only in black and white - now
I see it in
living color."
When one
travels about the land, the stories of
the Bible come to life. Almost
everywhere one looks or walks in Israel,
there is a contact made with the Bible
and history. One may drive past Rachel’s
Tomb near Bethlehem and be reminded that
there she died while giving birth to her
son Benjamin (Jer. 31:15; Matt. 2:18).
One may see the Temple complex and
suddenly realize the accuracy of Jesus’
prophecy that one of those original
stones would not be left upon another on
top of this Temple platform (Matt.
24:2).
The land of
Israel is no doubt the World’s biggest
"show-and- tell." God designed
it that way so that we can picture the
mysteries of his kingdom.
As millions of
pilgrims arrive in Israel and as Israel
and Jerusalem come more and more into
the spotlight of the world media, we
need to reflect much upon Israel’s
great significance. If we believe the
Bible we must admit that Israel, with
its heart in Jerusalem, is God’s
project. It is an age-old project.
In all the ages
God has had only one plan, and that plan
is that his glory and his salvation
should go forth from Israel to all
nations. As one old preacher said,
"God plans his work and works his
plan." God has never had to change
his plan, because he knew the end from
the beginning. All this gives Israel and
Jerusalem a uniqueness not possessed by
other nations or cities. Israel and
Jerusalem are truly unique in that they
are central in God’s great plan for
the earth. God himself says:
Remember the former things, those of
long ago; I am God, and there is no
other; I am
God, and there is none like
me. I make known the end from the
beginning, from ancient
times, what is
still to come. I say: My purpose will
stand, and I will do all that I
please. (Isa. 46:9-10)
STUDY QUESTIONS:
Give some reasons why God chose the physical land of Israel as a base for his redemptive work.
Is it still important
for Christians to visit Israel and
Jerusalem in this modern day?
If so, why?
Give two reasons why it might be beneficial to pray for Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6-9).
Why might Israel and Jerusalem become a "bone of contention" to nations and peoples in the future?
NOTES
1. Ramon Bennett, Philistine-
The Great Deception (Jerusalem:
Arm of Salvation, 1995) p. 181.
2. See Editorial, "The UN
Impediment," The Jerusalem Post,
9 June, 1991.
3. Leonard Davis, Myths and Facts, A
concise Record of the Arab-Israeli
Conflict (Washington, DC: Near East Report, 1984)
pp. 248-49.
4. See "Birds of Passage Pass
Over," Dispatch From Jerusalem,
September/October,1995, p. 9.
5. Facts About Israel (Jerusalem:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Information
Division, 1985), p. 5.
6. Lance Lambert, The Uniqueness of
Israel (Eastbourne: Kingsway
Publications Ltd., 1980) p. 20.
7. Goeffrey Wigoder, Israel Pocket
Library, Geography (Jerusalem: Keter
Publishing House Jerusalem Ltd, 1973) p. 137.
8. Azzaria Alon, Flowers and Trees of
the Holy Land (Printed in the Holy
Land: Palpot Ltd.,) p. 31.
9. Uzi Plitman, Clara Heyn, Avinoam
Danin and Avishai Shmidah, Plants in
Israel, trans. from Hebrew (Masada, Israel 1983)
p. 260.
10. Lambert, The Uniqueness of
Israel,
p. 24.
11. Lambert, The Uniqueness of
Israel,
p. 25.
12. Eliyahu Tal, Whose Jerusalem
(Jerusalem: International Forum for a
United Jerusalem, 1994) p. 74
-2-
Are The Jews Really Special?
For ages,
the Jews have been called "the
chosen people." How did they get
such a title? Did they make it up
themselves? The Bible has much to say
about this. In Deuteronomy 7:6, we read
this about the Jews:
For you are a
people holy to the LORD your God. The
LORD your God has
chosen you out
of all the peoples on the face of the
earth to be his people, his
treasured
possession.
So it was God who chose the Jewish
people. We might ask the question,
"Why the Jews?" They are
certainly not a plentiful people on
earth, since they number somewhat over
13 million today, or less than one half
of one percent of world population. Nor
were they the largest or greatest people
of antiquity. When we look at the Bible
in Deuteronomy 7:7, we read that quite
the opposite was the case:
The LORD did
not set his affection on you and choose
you because you were more
numerous than
other peoples, for you were the fewest
of all peoples.
THEIR CHOICE - A SOVEREIGN ACT OF GOD
The Bible makes it plain that the choice
of the Jewish people was a sovereign act
of God. God as the Creator of the
universe has the right to choose whom he
wills. In Romans 9:21, we see that he
can choose the vessels he has made,
whether men or nations, for honor or for
dishonor.
God does not
play favorites however. The sovereign
choice of Israel was for God’s own
redemptive purposes on earth. In his
wisdom he chose a family to influence
families and a nation to influence
nations. God chose Israel to introduce
his word to the world.

The menorah near
Israel’s Knesset.
Israel was called to
be a light to the nations.
Then in the fullness of time, God
allowed Israel to bring forth his
Messiah, in order that all nations could
be blessed through him. God’s choice
bore with it a great amount of
responsibility and it has resulted in an
incredible degree of suffering for the
Jewish people.
Because of this
responsibility and suffering, there are
many Jews today who would just as soon
not be the chosen people. They echo the
words of Tevye in the famous play, Fiddler
on the Roof. After Tevye heard news
about an impending persecution, he had
another of his little talks with God,
complaining to him: "I know, I know
we are the chosen people, but once in a
while can’t you choose someone
else!"
We see from the
scripture that the sovereign choice of
the Jewish people goes back to Abram, in
Genesis 12:1-3:
The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave
your country, your people and your
father’s
household and
go to the land I will show you. I will
make you into a great nation and
I will bless
you; I will make your name great, and
you will be a blessing. I will bless
those who bless
you, and whoever curses you I will
curse; and all peoples on earth
will be blessed
through you."
This divine choice of Abram and his
heirs as a redemptive family in the
earth, and later as a redemptive nation,
is documented in numerous places in
scripture. In Genesis 17:3-9 it is
repeated to Abram, whose name is then
changed to Abraham. In Genesis 26:2-5,
it is repeated to Isaac. Then in Genesis
28:13-15 it is repeated to Jacob.
References are made to this covenant in
many other places, such as Leviticus
20:26, Psalm 105:8-11 and Amos 3:2.
A UNIQUE AND SPECIAL PEOPLE
It is clear from scripture that the Jewish people are chosen in a unique and special sense. In the passage we quoted earlier in Deuteronomy 7:6, the Hebrew expression used for "special people" is am se-gu-lah. It has the meaning of "special treasure," or "peculiar or extraordinary people."

The unusual people
of Israel
Balaam, who is referred to by the Jews
as the first Gentile prophet, has this
to say about the Jews in Numbers 23:9:
From the rocky
peaks I see them, from the heights I
view them. I see a people who live
apart and do
not consider themselves one of the
nations.
Israel is
not considered a part of the nations. In
addition, we see an amazing fact about
Israel in Deuteronomy 32:8:
When the Most
High gave the nations their inheritance,
when he divided all mankind,
he set up
boundaries for the peoples according to
the number of the sons of Israel.
This is a
puzzling and astonishing verse. It seems
to mean that when the Almighty marked
out the nations of the world, he did so
in reference to the number of Jewish
people. Possibly he did this in
reference to the Jews who would live in
these very nations.
We learn more
in Psalm 148:14 about the special nature
of the Children of Israel. The Psalm
reads:
He has raised up for his people a horn,
the praise of all his saints, of Israel,
the
people close to
his heart. Praise the LORD!
Of all the people on the face of the earth, only the people of Israel are described as being close to God’s very heart. What a special place and privilege!

A people close to
God’s heart
Because of God’s redemptive choice, he
did not choose other people in the same
way he chose Israel. In Psalm 147:19-20,
we are surprised to read:
He has
revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and
decrees to Israel. He has done this
for no
other nation; they do not know his laws.
Praise the LORD.
Why does the Psalmist say, "Praise
the Lord" after making a statement
like this? It is probably because he
realized that the Jewish people would
keep God’s word intact and deliver it
safely to coming peoples throughout
history. God once said of Abraham in
Genesis 18:19:
For I
have chosen him, so that he will direct
his children and his household after him
to keep
the way of the LORD by doing what is
right and just, so that the LORD will
bring about
for Abraham what he has promised him.

The idea here may well be better
expressed in the King James Version. It
is the thought that God knew Abraham and
thus chose him. God knew that Abraham
would command his children after him
regarding the ways of the Almighty.
The idea is
still prevalent in Israel that one must
guard the commands of God and keep them
(shomer mitzvot). Many Israelis
believe that they must carefully
instruct their children to guard the
things of the Lord.
In Deuteronomy
11:19-20, the Jewish people are
commanded to teach the word of God when
they rise up, when they sit down, and
when they walk. They are also taught to
write the word of God upon their
doorposts and gates. The fulfillment of
this command can be seen today in the
many mezuzot on the doors of
Israel.

These tiny wood,
plastic, ceramic, or metal containers
have within them
a parchment with the
words of Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21.
We might wonder what would have happened
if God had given his precious word to
the nations at large. How would they
have handled the word over the last 3500
years? The answer seems to be apparent.
We Gentiles have had the word for only a
few centuries and we are already busily
corrupting it.
Consider some
of the ideas floating around about the
scriptures today. Some people are trying
to make God feminine. Others are trying
to remove every reference to Zion and
Israel in order to make the Bible
"politically correct." Thank
God that he gave the word to the Jewish
people. They have faithfully delivered
it to us intact.
CAN GOD CAST AWAY HIS
PEOPLE?
Since the
early centuries of Christianity, many
voices have proclaimed in the Church
that God is finished with the Jews. Can
such a thing be? According to this
theology the Jews failed God, so the
Lord has washed his hands of them
forever. Can God cast away his people?
The scripture is clear on this. God knew
beforehand that Israel would not be
faithful. He also knows the same thing
about us Christians. In Leviticus
26:14-43, Moses speaks in detail about
all their coming failures. Yet, in verse
44, God still says of them:
Yet in spite
of this, when they are in the land of
their enemies, I will not reject them or
abhor
them so as to destroy them completely,
breaking my covenant with them. I am
the LORD
their God.
This is a rather shocking passage of
scripture. It simply means that God has
never changed his mind about the Jews.
Still today, almost 2700 years after the
beginning of their exiles in 722 BC,
they are still his people. Those Jewish
people whom we have known, associated
with, and often persecuted are still a
special people to God. Whenever we touch
them, we touch "... the apple of
his eye" (Zech. 2:8).
God speaks to
us of their continuing special nature to
him in yet another passage. God, who is
the Creator of the vast universe above
us and the earth below,
declares in Jeremiah 31:35-37:
This is what the LORD says, he who
appoints the sun to shine by day, who
decrees the
moon and stars
to shine by night, who stirs up the sea
so that its waves roar—the
LORD Almighty
is his name: "Only if these decrees
vanish from my sight," declares
the
LORD, "will the descendants of
Israel ever cease to be a nation before
me."
This is
what the LORD says: "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.
When the
sun stops shining; when the stars stop
twinkling in the heavens; and when the
waves of the sea stop roaring, then
there might be a possibility that God
can reject his chosen people Israel.
Until that time they remain chosen and
we Christians need to get used to that
idea. The New Testament verifies this
truth to us in Romans 11:29 as Paul
assures us, "...God’s gifts
and his call are irrevocable."
|
"All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?" (American author, Mark Twain) (1) |
Paul asks and answers his own question
about the Jews in Romans 11:1-2. He is
almost aghast at the thought that God
could forsake them: "... Did God
reject his people? By no means! ...God
did not reject his people, whom he
foreknew..."
CHOSEN PEOPLE - CHOSEN LAND
God chose a unique and special people,
the people of Israel, and a unique and
special
land, the land of Israel. Once
more after two thousand years we see the
chosen people inhabiting the chosen
land.
It may surprise
many today in our modern world that God
gave this special land to his special
people. It was given to them as an
eternal inheritance. Let us look at this
eternal promise to Abraham and his heirs
in Genesis 17:8:
Also I give
to you and your descendants after you
the land in which you are a stranger,
all the land of
Canaan, as an everlasting possession;
and I will be their God.
Some have objected saying that all God’s
promises are conditional. God’s
promises do have a conditional nature
about them. Each generation may or may
not receive the benefits of these
promises and covenants, depending upon
its faithfulness or lack of it. However,
the promises themselves are eternal and
this fact is stated plainly in the above
passage and in numerous other places.
In Genesis
15:9-21, God made the covenant with
Abram to give him all the land of
Canaan, from the River of Egypt to the
Euphrates. As was the custom in ancient
times, animals were slaughtered in the
traditional fashion of a blood covenant.
The bloody parts were then laid out so
that the makers of the covenant could
pass between them. Interestingly, Abram
fell into a deep sleep and God alone
passed between the parts, signifying
that it is God alone who maintains the
covenant.
God is very
emphatic about giving the land of Israel
to his chosen people forever. Not only
do we have the "title deed"
fully written out in Genesis 17:8, but
in a real sense, the title has been
legally recorded and published in the
Bible so that the whole world can know
of its existence.
God does not
stop here. God even goes to the extreme
of swearing an oath about this. We have
reference to this oath in Genesis 24:7:
The LORD,
the God of heaven, who brought me out of
my father's household and my
native
land and who spoke to me and promised me
on oath, saying, 'To your offspring
I will
give this land...’
This must be something very
important for the God of the whole
universe, that he would swear an oath
about it. Let us pause and try to get
this incredible picture.
Imagine the
Almighty standing before all the angels,
heavenly beings, principalities, powers
and saying something like this: "I
God Almighty do solemnly swear that the
land of Israel shall be the possession
of the children of Israel forever!"
Now the Bible
tells us that there was no one greater
by whom God could swear, so he swore by
his own great name (Heb. 6:13-14).
Perhaps as in the movie O God, he
just put his hand on his own shoulder
and said, "So help me - me!"
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE ARABS?
It is important for us to notice that
God specifically did not give his land
to Ishmael or to his descendants, the
Arabs (Gen. 17:21). Of course, Muslims
everywhere look to Ishmael as their
spiritual father. This
is the core of the problem in the Middle
East today. Does it mean that God
discriminated against Ishmael, the Arabs
or the Muslims in general? Absolutely
not!
God greatly
loved Ishmael and he loves the Arabs
today. God promised to surely bless
Ishmael and multiply him into twelve
princes and to make him great (Gen.
17:18-20). In fact, God loved Ishmael so
much that he has now given him
twenty-two sovereign nations that make
up the Arab League. He has given the
Arab League over five
million square miles as compared with
only eight thousand square miles in
Israel. (2)
God
loved Ishmael so much that he made him
incredibly rich. Today, over 57 percent
of the world’s oil reserves are
located in the mostly Arab Middle
Eastern countries. (3)
God has blessed Ishmael with abundant
land and fantastic wealth, but he has
not given him Israel, and he will not do
so for all time and eternity.
Does this mean
that the Arabs cannot live in Israel? Of
course not! Some Arabs have been living
in the land since the Muslim conquest of
the seventh century. They have every
right to live in the land. However, the
issue is not one of living in the land
but of sovereignty. The Land was given
to Israel, and Israel alone must
exercise sovereignty.
The Bible makes
it clear that Gentiles may come and live
in the land and even be protected by
Israel’s laws (Ex. 12:49; Jer. 12:16).
However, we read in Exodus 20:10, that
the Gentiles, or aliens,
have the responsibility of paying
respect to Israel and acting according
to the laws and customs of the land.
If we believe
the Bible, we must believe that God is a
bit upset by what is happening today.
The land of Israel has become a
political "hot potato." There
is much agitation throughout the Middle
East for Palestinian sovereignty in the
territory of Israel. This agitation is
seen and heard constantly in the media
and it resounds in numerous foreign
capitals. In very recent times even the
US bowed down and began to promote a
sovereign Palestinian state alongside
the state of Israel. We must understand
that this Palestinian state would be
carved from the sacred mountainous
territory that was given eternally to
Israel.
Many of the
nations of the earth and their leaders
are now working feverishly to separate
the people of Israel from the land of
Israel. Through the effort known as the
"peace process" Israel has
already lost control of Shechem, Hebron,
Bethlehem and several other important
cities, as well as large tracts of open
land in its mountainous area. The
Israeli government in recent times has
even offered the Palestinians as much as
97 percent of the West Bank area only to
have the offer refused. The Arabs opted
for 100 percent. This mountainous West
Bank is prophesied to be the very area
of Israel’s return and resettlement
according to Ezekiel (36:1-15).
What will God
eventually do about this problem? In
Joel 3:2 we read these sobering verses:
I will
gather all nations and bring them down
to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I
will enter
into judgment against them concerning my
inheritance, my people Israel, for
they scattered
my people among the nations and divided
up my land.
It is clear
that judgment is coming for people and
nations who do not respect the word of God.
TODAY, GOD IS VERIFYING HIS COVENANT
If we had lived a hundred years ago we
might have had cause to wonder if God
would be true to the Jewish people. At
that time they were hopelessly scattered
over the world. The idea of a Jewish
homeland was just the dream of a few
visionaries.
However, today
God has moved with a mighty hand to
reestablish his chosen people in his
chosen land. He has restored their
cities, their farmlands, their language,
their military power, their government,
and many other things. He has done this
in spite of much interference and
outright opposition of men and nations.
In our day God has fulfilled dozens of
prophecies such as Isaiah 11:11; Isaiah
43:5-6; Jeremiah 32:15. It is now
possible to come to Israel and see for
oneself what God has done for his people.

Modern
Jerusalem
How ironic it is, that at a time like
this, a time of restoration, many are
rising up to say that God has broken his
covenant with Israel!
God’s dealing
with the Jewish people should be a cause
for great confidence among Christians.
Quite simply, if God remains faithful to
his Old Covenant people, then he will
also remain faithful to his New Covenant
people. If God is capricious with
Israel, then he could certainly act the
same way with the Church couldn’t he?
Thank God that
he is a covenant making and covenant
keeping God. In Psalm 94:14 we read:
"For the LORD will not reject his
people; he will never forsake his
inheritance."
In fact,
God’s dealing with Israel after all
these thousands of years is really a
great proof of his existence.
"There is a story of Friedrich the
Great of Prussia. He was an atheist but
had a very pious medical doctor. Once,
he demanded of his doctor: ‘Give me
proof that there is a God! But hurry up,
I have no time!’ The doctor replied
immediately: ‘The Jews, Your Majesty!’"
(4)
STUDY QUESTIONS:
Why did God choose the Jewish people above all other people?
How does this fit with the scripture in Acts 10:34-35, that God is no respecter of persons?
Are God’s promises to Israel unconditional or are they conditional and based upon Israel’s obedience?
Some Arabs have lived in the land of Israel for centuries, long before Israel became a nation in 1948. Some areas are predominately Arab. Should these Arab people now have a right to declare their own sovereignty? Give a reason for your answer.
NOTES
1.
Lance Lambert, The Uniqueness of
Israel (Eastbourne: Kingsway
Publications Ltd., 1980) p. 57.
2. Leonard J. Davis, Myths and Facts
1985, A Concise Record of the Arab-IsraeliConflict
(Washington, DC: Near East Report, 1984)
pp. 248-49.
3. MSN Encarta Encyclopedia, (Microsoft
Corp, 2007). Data for 2004.
4. Goran Larsson, "The Jews!
Your Majesty" (San Diego, CA.,
Jerusalem, Israel: Jerusalem Center for
Biblical Studies and Research,
second revised
edition, 1989) p. 37.
-3-
Seven Scenes From Holy History
The history of Israel is unlike the
history of other nations. Since Israel
is very special to God and since the
nation figures prominently in God’s
worldwide redemptive program, the
history of Israel may be more accurately
called "redemptive history,"
"salvation history," or even
"holy history."
Trying to
summarize the history of Israel is like
trying to summarize the history of the
world. Because of God’s great
redemptive plan, the Jews have been
dispersed to almost every place on this
globe. They have also lived in virtually
every time frame in recorded history.
Although the
land of Israel was given to them as
their dwelling place, they have lived
outside the land much more than they
have lived in it. This fact impacts the
study of Israel’s history to a
considerable degree.
Let us take a
quick look at the redemptive history of
Israel as we attempt to picture it in
seven critical events. These events are:
1) The call of Abram
2) Birth of the
nation (deliverance from Egypt and
giving of the law)
3) Conquest and
settlement of Canaan
4) Rise of the
Davidic kingship and its messianic
implications
5) First
dispersion and restoration, including
Daniel’s view of history
6) Coming of
the Messiah
7) Second
dispersion and restoration, including
the Holocaust
SCENE ONE: THE CALL OF ABRAM
Abram was one of the most remarkable men
this world has ever known. He was
remarkable in that he introduced the
whole pagan world to the unique and
incredible concept of the one true God.
We can imagine
that in the pagan land where Abram
lived, he often heard the screams of
babies as they were burned alive in the
fires at pagan altars. He must have
often passed the pagan temples, which
were the churches and synagogues of his
day. As he passed them, he must have
seen the open and flagrant adultery and
homosexuality, because this was the way
people worshipped their gods in Abram’s
time.

An ancient altar for
Baal worship at Megiddo
People worshipped many gods. In fact,
every nation had its own panoply of
pagan gods. Ancient Babylon, in the area
where Abraham lived, is said to have had
300 gods of heaven and another 600 of
earth. This did not count the many
spirits, who were also worshipped. (1)
The gods of the past were capricious and
demonic. Many times the gods were more
unrighteous than men.
God desired to
redeem mankind from this dismal
environment of idolatry. For God to
redeem a whole world it was necessary
for him first to redeem a man, then a
family, and finally a whole nation.
Let us look
back to the days of Abram. In his day,
what was to be the land of Israel was a
part of "the Fertile
Crescent." On one end of the
crescent was the future land of Israel,
God’s proposed redemptive base in the
world. On the other end of the crescent
was Abram, the man who would bring the
nation of Israel into being, and who
would become the redemptive
"father" of all believers
everywhere. His name, Abram (exalted
father), was thus changed to Abraham
(father of a multitude).
We read in the
Bible that Abraham was from Ur of the
Chaldees in Babylonia. He hailed from
the land of the two rivers, the Tigris
and Euphrates. Abraham first lived in Ur
and then later his family moved to Haran.
While in Haran, God called him to leave
his father’s house and his country and
to go to Canaan (Gen. 12:1-3). The time
of his journey was probably around 2000
BC, and Abraham was seventy-five years
old, a time when most people retire to
their rocking chairs.
Abraham crossed
the Euphrates, and its tributaries, and
set out for the land to which God had
called him. In so doing, he
inadvertently supplied the name to his
future people, the Hebrews. The root for
their name in the Hebrew language is aber,
and it means "to cross over."
Abraham crossed
over from his idolatrous and depraved
world to become the man of God and to
bring forth a people to God. The
followers of Abraham today, who number
into the multiplied millions, are
likewise people who "cross
over." They cross over the sea from
Egypt (flesh) into the realm of the
Spirit. They cross over the Jordan to
possess the heavenly country God has
given.
Father Abraham
arrived in Canaan with Sarah his wife,
his nephew Lot, and all their
possessions, including their servants
(Gen. 12:4-5). His first recorded visit
in the land was at Shechem (today’s
Nablus). There, by the great tree of
Moreh, among strangers, God appeared to
him and promised to give the land to his
offspring (Gen. 12:7). The everlasting
drama of the land and the man had begun.

Abraham’s Well at
Tel Sheva in southern Israel
Although Abraham was a remarkable man,
he was still very much a human being
like all the rest of us. There were
times when his faith wavered. There were
other times when he stood as a giant in
the earth. His faith must have wavered
when God told him to leave Haran and his
father’s house. Somehow, Abraham took
his nephew Lot along with him (Gen.
12:4). Lot caused Abraham much
heartache. The children of Lot, Ammon
and Moab (present day Jordan), have
continued to vex Israel to this time.
Abraham was
promised a son by faith, although he was
very old and his wife Sarah was far past
the age of childbearing. Apparently
Abraham had some slight doubts about
this promise. At Sarah’s urging he
finally took her handmaid Hagar and from
her was born Ishmael. Today, over
a billion Muslims in the world
look to Ishmael as their spiritual
father. For the last thirteen hundred
years the Muslims have bitterly
persecuted the true spiritual seed of
Abraham.
On other
occasions Abraham stood as a mighty
tower of faith. One of these occasions
particularly stands out. After Abraham
and Lot were separated, the latter was
taken captive as a result of a
Babylonian raid into the area. If
Abraham had been like most of us he
would have probably said, "Thank
God, my troubles are over. Lot has
finally gotten what he deserves!"
Abraham didn’t
react that way. He called his little
group of 318 servants together. We can
imagine that Abraham had to give some
quick instruction to those of his men
who were not trained as warriors. He
might have said something like this:
"Now guys, this is a bow, and this
is an arrow. Please remember to keep the
feathers next to you when you try to
shoot the thing!"
It was no doubt
a motley crew that Abraham had as an
army. Who would think of taking such an
army to fight one of the greatest powers
of the ancient world. But Abraham was a
man of faith in the Mighty God.
As he led his
tiny army through the brush that night
in northern Galilee, something
incredible happened. The Babylonian army
went crazy. We don’t know what they
saw or heard. I doubt if we would want
to know. They may have heard the war
cries of a million angelic soldiers and
they may have seen fiery chariots racing
through the skies. They panicked and ran
for their lives. Abraham and his men
collected the vast booty, including Lot
and all that belonged to him, and
returned home victorious.
This was to be
the first of many such strange victories
that Abraham’s people would gain
through future centuries. Little would
pagan enemies understand that they were
not just fighting against Abraham or his
seed, but against the mighty God of
Israel and his eternal redemptive
program.

Tombs of Abraham and
the Patriarchs in Hebron
(Courtesy
Israel Information Office)
Abraham became the father of Israel and
of all those who believe (Rom. 4:11).
His son Isaac carried on the redemptive
history to the next generation. After
him, Jacob carried on the tradition and
brought forth the twelve tribes of
Israel.
Through the
envy of his brothers, one of Jacob’s
sons, Joseph, was sold into Egypt as a
slave. In time, through God’s
providence, he rose to great heights of
power, becoming second only to Pharaoh.
Joseph, through prophecy, had foretold a
seven-year famine in the whole land. He
had also predicted seven years of plenty
before the famine. As a result, Joseph
was placed in charge of grain storage
and abundant provisions were laid up in
Egypt.
At last, to
stave off famine, the whole house of
Israel, some seventy souls, came to
sojourn in Egypt. The people were
treated kindly at first, but after four
hundred years, the people were made
slaves and they cried out to the God of
Abraham.
SCENE TWO: BIRTH OF THE NATION (Deliverance from Egypt and giving of
the Law)
It seemed that Moses had missed his
calling in life. He had a great
beginning, being adopted into the family
of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Now he had
fallen from grace in the Egyptian court,
and quite frankly had also fallen on bad
times. He now spent his days herding
sheep and goats on the back side of the
desert of Sinai.
Moses once
thought that he would deliver his
oppressed people from Egypt, but now
that idea must have seemed remote. Moses’
life was now well spent, seeing that he
was already about 80 years old.
However, God
had not forgotten Moses, nor had he
forgotten his people suffering down in
Egypt. God knew that the sojourn in
Egypt was necessary for the Children of
Israel. It had also been necessary for
Moses. It seems that the faithful of
every age have had to endure the
"Egypt experience." On one
occasion even Abraham had to go down
into Egypt and sojourn there for a time.
Now the whole nation of Israel was stuck
in Egypt.
It was to be a
type of God’s redemption and a
messianic type as well. God would later
speak of Jesus in Matthew 2:15 saying:
"Out of Egypt I called my son."
The separation from Egypt is pictured
throughout the scripture as a separation
from this world and a consecration to
God.
The Living God,
who had heard the cries of his captive
people, now paid a visit to lonely Moses
in the desert of Sinai. There Moses saw
the Living God, the "I Am" of
scripture. He is the only man who ever
did so and lived to tell about it.
God sent
stammering Moses along with his brother
Aaron down to Egypt to pay a call on
perhaps the most powerful monarch of the
ancient world. Moses went with the
message "Let my people Go!"
Again we need
to use our imaginations just a little as
we picture this shepherd from the back
side of the desert coming before mighty
Pharaoh. What happened when Moses
delivered this message? Pharaoh and his
whole court probably had some good belly
laughter. After this, Pharaoh said
something equivalent to "No way Mo-shea!"
Pharaoh’s
refusal was the beginning of one of the
most unusual periods in the history of
the world. God with a mighty hand began
to plague Egypt.
The story of
the deliverance from Egypt is one of the
classic dramas of all time. Never before
in history was a nation born in the
midst of another nation (Deut. 4:34).
Never before had the world seen such a
miraculous visitation with astounding
supernatural displays.
Awesome and
fearful plagues fell on Egypt. There
were plagues of blood and frogs. Mrs.
Pharaoh couldn’t go to the bathroom at
night without stepping on the squishy,
croaking things. There were gnats,
insects, pestilence, and boils. We can
imagine mighty Pharaoh waddling out
gingerly to speak to Moses, having a
boil on each foot, and perhaps another
one on the very place where he would
have sat down.
There was hail,
locusts, and darkness, devastating the
land. Finally there was the death of the
firstborn in Egypt. That night the
people of Israel were spared while Egypt’s
firstborn all died. Through Moses, God
had instructed his people to slay the
Passover lamb and place its blood on the
lintels and doorposts of their houses.
When this last plague came, the people
of Israel were spared. At that last
plague the whole house of Israel was
freed from bondage.
The whole drama
of salvation is pictured vividly in the
plagues of Egypt, particularly the
slaying of the firstborn. The slaying of
an unblemished lamb, the blood upon the
doorpost, the passing over of the death
angel and the following deliverance
would always stand out as vivid types of
God’s salvation through the Messiah.
To this day the Jews in their Passover seder
annually recount much of this salvation
history.
Later, as
Israel was leaving Egypt and as they
were in the awkward position of trying
to cross the Red Sea without boats,
Pharaoh changed his mind and pursued
them.
That night as
Moses held his staff over the sea and as
the horses of Pharaoh pawed and neighed
a short distance away, the east wind
began to blow and the sea stood up in
columns revealing the dry ground
beneath. The people of Israel then began
to pass through the sea on dry ground.
At this, one
would think that Pharaoh would have
dismounted his chariot, bowed his face
to the ground and repented of his evil.
Instead, in his insane rage, he dared
send his army after the Israelites.
When Moses and
all the people had passed through the
sea, and as the whole army of Pharaoh
was now in the midst of the sea, the
waters suddenly closed upon them. That
night there was something like twin
tidal waves coming together with such
velocity that Egyptian horses and their
riders were hurled through the air and
into the sea (Exo. 15:1).
Too often we
read the accounts of scripture without
truly getting the picture of the awesome
works of God. We need again to stop and
meditate until we can smell the sea
water and hear the cries of the
drowning.
That morning as
the bodies of Egyptians washed up on the
shores, all the women sang with
tambourines. Miriam led them in this
chorus: "Sing to the LORD, for
he is highly exalted. The horse and its
rider he has hurled into the sea" (Exo. 15:21).
Moses then led
the people which God himself describes
as "stiff necked" (Exo.
32:9) into the wilderness of Sinai. It
was there that the nation, or at least
the remnant of the nation, was molded
into the people God desired. There in
the desert God fed them daily with manna
from heaven.
In the desert they were given
commandments from the mouth of God. In
all the history of the world, no people
had ever heard God’s voice out of the
fire and smoke (Deut. 5:26). This
experience made a lasting impression
upon the Jewish people.
The generation
that came out of Egypt was not able to
enter the land of Canaan due to their
lack of faith and vision. However, the
following generation began to enter the
land that God had long before promised
to Abraham and to his children.

A wilderness area where
Israel likely ventured
(photo credit Yoni Gerrish)
SCENE THREE: CONQUEST OF CANAAN
Moses led the people forty years in the
wilderness and, finally he led them to
the Jordan River. However, God did not
permit him to lead them any further. He
did help them to experience their first
great victories in battle, as they
fought against Sihon, king of Heshbon
(today’s Jordan) and Og, the king of
Bashan (today’s Golan Heights). As a
result of these two battles the people
began to inherit the land on the east
side of the Jordan River. The tribes of
Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of
Manasseh settled in this area.
After the death
of Moses, his able assistant Joshua took
command. Joshua led the people
miraculously over the Jordan River.
Again, they walked through on dry
ground, even though the river was at
flood stage.
Joshua then led
the people in a smashing victory over
the city of Jericho. It is thought by
some today that Jericho is actually the
oldest city in the world. There is
presently even a sign to that effect on
the outskirts of the city. Even by
Joshua’s time, Jericho was heavily
fortified and virtually impossible to
conquer. Through a great miracle the
mighty walls of Jericho fell down. There
is no trace of city walls on the ancient
mound of Jericho today.
After the
miraculous victory at Jericho, Joshua
proceeded to cut the land of Canaan in
two just a few kilometers north of
Jerusalem. In swift succession he
defeated the principal cities and
centers of influence in the land of
Canaan. These cities included Ai,
Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, Gezer, Eglon,
Hebron, and Debir. Joshua accomplished
this in one campaign, because the Lord
God fought for Israel (Josh. 10:42).
Later, Joshua
fought a confederation of northern kings
led by Jabin, king of Hazor. Their
warriors were as numerous as sand on the
seashore (Josh. 11:4). Hazor was one of
the mightiest cities in Canaan and was
actually the gateway city into the land
from the north. This confederation of
kings was also defeated, and Hazor was
then burned by Joshua. The burn line
from Joshua’s time can still be seen
in this ancient city.

Ruins of ancient
Hazor
The land was then divided among the
remaining tribes and settlement was
begun. The battles for the land,
however, would continue on for many
generations. Sometime after Israel’s
settlement in the land, the Philistines,
a sea people from the area of Crete,
began to settle along the seacoast in
the Gaza area. They were destined to
become one of Israel’s greatest
antagonists.
In appraising
the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites
we must stop and marvel. Canaan was a
well-developed area with greatly
fortified cities that had been built
over many centuries. The Israelites were
a band of desert wanderers with little
skill in the type warfare required to
conquer fortified cities.
The conquest
was a series of miracles. God had
promised this land to Abraham’s seed
long before. As he had promised, God
came to fight for Israel. Even nature
was incorporated on several occasions to
fight against the Canaanites. We see
that hornets went on the offensive
against them (Josh. 24:12). Hailstones
fell from heaven (Josh. 10:11). Even
"...the stars fought, from their
courses..." against the
northern commander, Sisera (Jud. 5:20).
The entry of
Israel into the land of Canaan has been
variously set by scholars, with dates
ranging from 1550 to 1200 BC. It is
clear that the actual settlement was not
without its problems. After the death of
the great leader Joshua, the people
began to turn away from the true God to
serve the idols of the Canaanites. Swift
punishment came from God, and he allowed
them to be harassed by various enemies.
When the people cried out to God he sent
judges to deliver them from their foes.
Probably some
of the most famous of these judges were
Deborah and her military assistant Barak
(Judges chs. 4-5), who delivered Israel
from another league of Canaanite kings
in the north; Gideon (Judges chs. 6-8),
who delivered the people from the
Midianites; and Samson (Judges chs.
13-16), who began to deliver the people
from the Philistines.

The spring where
Gideon formed his small army
In time, the people of Israel began to
long for a king like the other nations.
Again, God heard their requests and gave
them their first king, Saul. Saul began
to make a serious attempt to war against
the Philistines, who were at this time
imposing their rule upon Israel. At
last, through his own disobedience, Saul
was killed in battle by the Philistines
on Mount Gilboa.
SCENE FOUR: RISE OF
THE DAVIDIC KINGDOM (and its Messianic
implications)
Even before Saul’s death God had
chosen the next king of Israel. This
time it was a man after God’s own
heart (1 Sam. 13:14). Of all the kings
who have ever ruled on this earth, David
was unique. Even as a child he was able
to play on his harp and soothe the
deranged King Saul. As a mere child he
went forth to fight mighty Goliath, the
Philistine giant. This giant was over
nine feet tall and was heavily armed.
David came against him with a sling and
stone, and with the mighty power of God.
The giant was slain and Israel won
another of her miraculous victories.
David was
gifted as a mighty warrior and leader of
men. Saul soon began to envy David, and
for many years thereafter, David and his
men hid out as fugitives in the various
wilderness areas of the country.
After the death
of Saul on Mount Gilboa, and the
humiliating defeat of Israel by the
Philistines, David became king. He first
ruled at Hebron in the south, but he
later moved to consolidate his kingdom
in Jerusalem about 998-995 BC. For the
most part, David ruled very wisely over
the people of Israel.

During his reign the kingdom was greatly expanded to include most of the land God had promised Israel. With the direct help of God he scored numerous victories over Israel’s persistent foes. For the first time, even the Philistines began to wilt away before the onslaught of David.

The City of David, at
Jerusalem’s ancient model.
David was not only a mighty warrior; he was an extremely sensitive spiritual person. While other kings of the earth, no doubt, immersed themselves in politics, David immersed himself in God. His many Psalms bear witness to this. In Psalm 63:1, David cries out:
O God, you are my God, earnestly I
seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my
body longs
for you, in a
dry and weary land where there is no
water.
Of all men on earth, David may have been
the most urgent seeker after God. He
worshipped God with a whole-hearted
devotion. He longed to dwell in God’s
house (Psa. 23:6). He danced unashamedly
before the Lord (2 Sam. 6:14). David
began a revolution in worship that has
had a tremendous affect upon Jews and
Christians alike. His Psalms have
comforted Israel and the Church for
three thousand years.
It is
interesting that as the end-days come
upon us, the style of David’s worship
is returning to the Church. We may
assume that it will also return to
Israel. This is in full accordance with
the words of the prophet:
In that
day I will restore David's fallen tent.
I will repair its broken places, restore
its
ruins, and build it as it used to be (Amos
9:11).
Once he was settled in his kingdom,
David greatly desired to build God a
house. Since the days of the wilderness
wanderings the "house" of God
had been a tabernacle or tent. David
spoke to the prophet Nathan about his
desire. However, God did not permit
David to build his house or Temple. Nathan informed David that God
desired to build a house for him
instead.
The divine
promises to King David are unique. There
has never been a king in history who
received such promises. God said to
David in 2 Samuel 7:16:
Your
house and your kingdom will endure
forever before me; your throne will be
established
forever.
Hence, we have in David the beginnings
of an eternal Messianic kingdom. It was
not just a natural kingdom, but also one
with deep spiritual implications. In
time, David the king died. Later, his
son Solomon reigned and died. Finally in
our day the natural line of David has
all but disappeared from among men. Yet,
the kingdom of David continues through
his heir, the Messiah.
The kingdom was
split in 928 BC upon the death of
Solomon. The northern section was called
Israel, and the southern section became
known as Judah. The kingdom generally
disintegrated in both these areas as the
people were prone to mix their unique
faith with that of their pagan Canaanite
neighbors.
It was in this
turbulent period that the mighty voices
of Israel’s prophets began to thunder
out, starting with those of Elijah and
Elisha.
By the eighth
century BC the voice of Israel’s
prophets reached a high water mark in
Isaiah, Micah and others. Later in 627
BC, Jeremiah began his prophetic work in
the southern kingdom of Judah.
The prophets of
Israel have had far-reaching influence
and have, over the centuries, touched
people in many nations of the earth.
SCENE FIVE: ISRAEL’S FIRST DISPERSIONS
AND HER RESTORATION (Including Daniel’s
unique view of history)
It was becoming more and more apparent that Israel was called to live in the middle of a super highway. The only way she could live there was by faith and absolute obedience to God. Unfortunately, both of these qualities were waning in the land. By 722 BC, the northern kingdom of Israel was so weakened by idolatry that it fell to the Assyrian king, Shalmaneser, and the people were carried into captivity.

Remains of the altar
to false gods that Israel constructed at
Dan
The Assyrians, who had a policy of
displacing rebellious kingdoms with
people from other conquered provinces,
brought in alien people to settle the
land. Thus, we have the beginnings of
the Samaritans. The ten northern tribes
of Israel who were dispersed in the land
of Assyria became known in history and
legend as the "Ten Lost
Tribes." Although these tribes have
disappeared from history, the prophets
still speak of their resurrection in the
end-days (Hos. 1:10-11). It is of
interest that several people groups
claiming descent from these tribes have
immigrated to Israel in recent years.
The southern
kingdom of Judah continued until it was
finally conquered by Nebuchadnezzar of
Babylonia in 586 BC. The beautiful
Temple built by Solomon, David’s son,
was destroyed and the people were also
carried away captive. However, this time
they were carried to Babylon. Unlike the
dispersion of Israel, the people of
Judah soon had an opportunity to return
and experience a restoration in the
land, just as the prophets had foretold.
In Mesopotamia
the suzerainty soon passed from Babylon
to the Media-Persian Empire. The policy
of the Persians was opposite to that of
the Assyrians and Babylonians, in that
they sought to restore captive peoples
to their native lands. In addition, God
had specifically spoken to King Cyrus
that he might let the people of Judah
return home. God had even called Cyrus
"his anointed" (Isa. 45:10).
We can be
certain that Daniel, who rose to great
power both in the Babylonian and Persian
empires, had some influence on these
events. Daniel prayed earnestly for
restoration and he also had
opportunities to speak with these kings.
|
Daniel’s unusual view of history (Daniel 2:1-49)
Daniel shares with us what must be
described as a most unusual view of
history. Daniel was close to God and was
especially gifted to see things
otherwise hidden. He was often called
upon to interpret dreams and spiritual
phenomenon to the kings of Babylon and
Persia. |
As a
result, the decree of Cyrus allowing the
exiles to return was issued in 536 BC
(Ezra 1:1-4). Shortly thereafter the
first wave of Jewish exiles began the
journey home under Zerubabbel.
We can sense
the divine favor riding upon the small
company of some forty-two thousand who
returned. Although we do not know the
names of those who preferred to remain
in Babylon, we certainly know the names
of many who came home. We even know how
many donkeys returned. There were 6,720
of them and they are recorded in God’s
book (Ezra 2:67). At this, we might
assume that it is better to be a donkey
and return home to Israel, than to
remain and be a prince in Babylon.
When we look at
this whole period, we have to marvel at
how God has worked in history. This sets
him apart from the pagan gods, who all
failed to work in history. In fact,
history worked on them. History
consigned their images to its dustbins
and their names are long since
forgotten. However, the name of the God
of Israel is an everlasting memorial (Exo.
3:15). His mighty acts have been
repeated by the lips of millions through
the ages.
Upon arrival
home, the exiles rebuilt the altar and
began also to rebuild the Temple. Their
work was greatly hindered by the
surrounding peoples in the land, and it
was finally stopped altogether by decree
of the new king. It was not until the
prophetic work of Haggai and Zechariah
in 520 BC that the work began again. The
Temple was finally completed in 516 BC.
In the latter
days of the Persian Empire, God
intervened once more in history to
elevate a young Jewess to the heights of
imperial majesty by making her Queen of
Persia. Queen Esther later found it
necessary to go before her husband, the
all-powerful monarch, in a bid to rescue
her own Jewish people from the plots of
evil Haman.
The historian
Josephus sheds some interesting light on
her visit to the king. After fasting
three days, Esther approached the king
without his bidding. In ancient Persia
this usually resulted in the death
sentence. Josephus says that as Esther
saw the king sitting on the throne and
looking sternly at her, she fainted,
whereupon the king sprang from his
throne and lifted her up, placing his
scepter in her hand and reassuring her.
(2) Esther saved her people and her
great influence may well have helped
later in re-establishing the people of
Israel in the land.
Perhaps it was
somehow a result of her influence that
two Jewish luminaries from the Persian
Empire came to give much needed
assistance to the returned exiles. The
first was Ezra the Scribe. Ezra did much
to mold Israel into the "people of
the Book," a title by which they
are known even to this day.
Later,
Nehemiah, who was cupbearer of the
Persian king Artaxerxes I, came to
Israel with the specific commission from
God to rebuild the wall of defense
around Jerusalem. He faced immense
persecution from the people of the land,
the Samaritans and Arabs. Nevertheless,
about 444 BC, the wall was
completed. Judah was at last firmly
established, awaiting the crucial period
of history leading up to the appearing
of her Messiah.
SCENE SIX: COMING OF THE MESSIAH
Israel’s most famous son was born
during the turbulent period at the turn
of the millennium. At this time, due to
the oppression of the Romans, messianic
expectations were at an extremely high
pitch. This unique period in history was
chosen by God long before and became
known as "the fullness of
time" (Gal. 4:4-5). During this
special time frame God gave his son Yeshua
(Jesus) to the world.
He was not born
in the royal palaces of Herod, but
according to the prophecy of Micah 5:2,
he was born in the nearby town of
Bethlehem. He was born in a lowly
stable. His birth and life as the Savior
of Israel and of the world are without
parallel.
The coming of
this long-awaited Messiah was God’s
utmost intervention into human history.
The Messiah was not just man, but he was
the unique combination of God and man,
or the God-man. At last, God had come to
live in his world. Jesus fulfilled the
word of Isaiah spoken many centuries
before in Isaiah 7:14, "...The
virgin will be with child and will give
birth to a son, and will call him
Immanuel" [God with us].
Jesus, or Yeshua
as he is called in the Hebrew
language, fulfilled numerous other
prophecies in the scriptures. He was
born of the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10).
He was of the house of David and heir to
that house forever (Isa. 9:7 & Luke
1:32-33)
His eternal nature is set forth in Psalm 45:6-7:
Your throne, O God, will last for
ever and ever; a scepter of justice will
be the scepter
of your
kingdom. You love righteousness and hate
wickedness; therefore God, your
God, has
set you above your companions by
anointing you with the oil of joy.
Also, in Psalm 110:1 we read:
The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit
at my right hand until I make your
enemies a
footstool
for your feet."
We do not
believe that God was talking to himself.
In these passages God was talking to his
Son, the Messiah.
The historical
events surrounding Jesus’ birth also
correspond to the Hebrew scriptures. He
was preceded by a forerunner (Isa.
40:3-5; Luke 3:2-6). According to Daniel’s
prophecy he was born prior to the
destruction of the Second Temple (Dan.
9:25-26). Even the slaughter of infants
in the Bethlehem area was foretold (Jer.
31:15; Matt. 2:16-18). After his birth
he was taken to Egypt because of the
wrath of Herod (Hos. 11:1; Matt.
2:14-15).
Years later
when Jesus began his ministry, he was
declared to be God’s son (Psa. 2:7;
Matt. 3:17). He was not another god, but
the physical manifestation of the one
true God. Jesus conducted his ministry
very much in the pattern of Moses: he
fed the people miraculously, he brought
healing to them and gave them a new law,
one to be written on their hearts. Thus
he fulfilled the word of God in
Deuteronomy 18:15:
The LORD your God will raise up for you
a prophet like me from among your own
brothers. You
must listen to him.

The Sea of Galilee where Jesus conducted
most of his ministry
Yeshua spoke in parables (Psa.
78:2-3; Matt. 13:34-35), bound up the
brokenhearted (Isa. 61:1; Luke 4:18), he
healed the blind, deaf, dumb and lame (Isa.
35:5-6; Luke 4:18-19). He was adored by
small children (Psa. 8:2; Matt. 21:15).
Although the religious leaders of his
day could remember nothing in scripture
spoken about a Messiah from Galilee
(John 7:52), he fulfilled Isaiah 9:1-2
which says:
Nevertheless,
there will be no more gloom for those
who were in distress. In the past
he
humbled the land of Zebulun and the land
of Naphtali, but in the future he will
honor Galilee
of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea,
along the Jordan— The people
walking in
darkness have seen a great light; on
those living in the land of the shadow
of death a
light has dawned.
Jesus spent a great deal of his ministry on the northern and northwestern shores of the Sea of Galilee. He even made his base at nearby Capernaum, situated on the Way of the Sea (Via Maris). At Capernaum, along that famous road, the Light of the World was manifested.

The synagogue at
Capernaum where Jesus did much teaching
(photo credit Peggy Steffel)
Unfortunately for Israel, Yeshua
was not accepted, but was in fact
rejected and despised by the leaders (Isa.
53:3; John 1:11). His good news of
salvation was not believed by them (Isa.
53:1; John 12:37), although the common
people seem to have heard him gladly.
The Jewish leaders did not know the time
of their visitation, and now it would be
hidden from their eyes (Luke 19:42-44).
Jesus was
betrayed by his close friend (Psa. 41:9;
Lk. 22:47) for thirty pieces of silver
(Zech 11:12; Matt. 26:14-15).
During his
trial before the religious court he was
abused and spat upon (Isa. 50:6; Matt.
26:67). He was tried and accused by
false witnesses (Psa. 35:11; Mk. 14:57).
To these accusations he opened not his
mouth (Isa. 53:7; Mark 15:4-5).
Later he was
crucified with criminals as the
scripture foretold (Isa. 53:12; Mark
15:27). He was pierced through his hands
and his feet (Zech. 12:10; John 20:27).
He was mocked and reproached (Psa.
22:7-8; Luke 23:35). But no bone of his
was broken (Psa. 34:20; John 19:32).
In that dark
hour on the cross, even God the Father
found it necessary to turn his face away
from him (Psa. 22:1; Matt. 27:46). Yet,
while he hung there on the cross he
prayed for his enemies (Psa. 109:4; Luke
23:34).

An ancient tomb with a
rolling stone door
After his agonizing death, the Roman
soldiers cast lots for his clothing just
as the Psalmist had spoken long before (Psa.
22:17; Matt. 27:35-36). He was then
taken from the cross and buried with the
rich as Isaiah had prophesied (Isa.
53:9; Matt. 27:57-60). He did not die as
a malefactor, but as a redeemer. Isaiah
53:5 speaks of his death in this way:
But he
was pierced for our transgressions, he
was crushed for our iniquities; the
punishment
that brought us peace was upon him, and
by his wounds we are healed.
His death was not the end. God would not
leave his Messiah in Sheol, but
he was raised from the dead (Psa. 16:10;
Mark 16:6). After appearing on many
occasions to his disciples, even to more
than five hundred followers on one
occasion, he ascended to the Father and
took his seat at the Father’s right
hand (Psa. 68:18; Mark 16:19; 1 Cor.
15:6).
It is the
fervent belief of the Church that he
will come again according to scripture.
His feet will stand again upon the Mount
of Olives at Jerusalem (Zech. 14:4). He
will come when his people can at last
speak in sincerity the words of Matthew
23:39:
For I
tell you, you will not see me again
until you say, "Blessed is he who
comes in the
name of the
Lord."

Today, as we look back on the history of two thousand years, we realize that a truly momentous event took place. We are living on a visited planet. The Almighty God, the King of the Universe, came to live on earth as a man. The shock waves of that visit continue to reverberate through the world and through history.
SCENE SEVEN: ISRAEL’S SECOND DISPERSION AND RESTORATION
Within a generation of Jesus’ death, a
disaster of immense magnitude befell
Israel. This disaster was predicted by
Jesus as he was led to his death in Luke
23:28-29:
...
Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for
me; weep for yourselves and for your
children. For
the time will come when you will say,
"Blessed are the barren women,
the
wombs that never bore and the breasts
that never nursed!"
He also spoke of this event as his disciples were admiring the beauty of the Temple. Jesus warned them sternly by saying in Luke 19:43-44:
The days
will come upon you when your enemies
will build an embankment against
you and
encircle you and hem you in on every
side. They will dash you to the ground,
you and the
children within your walls. They will
not leave one stone on another,
because you did
not recognize the time of God’s
coming to you.
During the years from AD 66-73, Israel became embroiled in a futile revolt to throw off the Roman yoke. As the revolt continued, Jerusalem was at last surrounded and shut up by the enemy. The situation became very grave for its inhabitants. The historian Josephus tells of the deaths of countless thousands from hunger. He even relates how a mother roasted her own child and dined upon it. (3)

The fortress of Masada looking down on
the Dead Sea. This was Israel’s last
stand against the Romans. One of the rectangular Roman camps can
still be seen in the right foreground.
At last the city walls were breached. Then the unthinkable happened, the beautiful Temple was set on fire and destroyed. Later the Romans proceeded to burn and sack the city. Josephus again describes the awful slaughter as one in which streams of blood ran down the streets in such volume as to actually put out the flames. (4) After the fall of Jerusalem the war lingered on until Masada, the last stronghold, fell in AD 73.

The Arch of Titus in
Rome, showing captured Temple items
brought from Jerusalem
(Courtesy Israel Information
Office)
Israel’s agony was not ended. Some
years later, Simon Bar Kokhba was
proclaimed by many to be the messiah. In
the years AD 132-135, he led a second
revolt against Rome. Once more the
Romans cruelly ended this rebellion, but
not before multiplied thousands were
killed and the slave markets glutted
once more by Jews.
At this time,
Rome was determined to put an end to
Jewish rebellions. In derision, the land
was renamed Syria Palestina. They
rebuilt the city of Jerusalem as a pagan
city and renamed it Aelia Capitolina.
Hadrian, the Roman Emperor, then
prohibited the practice of Judaism and
Jews were even forbidden to come near
the city.
After the
earlier defeat of Jerusalem in AD 70,
the Jews had made a valiant attempt to
continue on in the land. The Sanhederin
was established near the Mediterranean
coast in Yavne. From there the sages of
the Torah continued their work. After
the second revolt, however, the center
of Judaism moved to the Galilee. Rome
was determined to punish the leaders of
the revolt it was necessary for many of
them to hide out in the Galilee for
several years.
By the year
210, the work on the Mishna, the
compilation of Jewish oral tradition, was completed and soon thereafter
the first generations of Talmudic
scholars were being produced in Israel.
Nevertheless, Jewish life in the Holy
Land was a flickering candle. In a few
generations the center of Judaism would
shift from Israel to Babylon once again.
It would for the most part remain in
Gentile lands for the next fifteen
centuries.
In the early
fourth century, the Roman ruler
Constantine declared himself to be a
Christian and Christianity began to hold
sway in the Middle East. This further
encouraged the Jews to disperse to other
nations.
In the seventh
century, Islam arose and one of its
first acts was the conquest of Palestine
including Jerusalem. With the exception
of the brief interlude of the Crusades
at the turn of the first Christian
millennium, the Muslims would control
Palestine until the twentieth century.
After their
unsuccessful revolts against the Romans,
the Jews began their dispersion to the
farthest reaches of the Roman Empire.
They now began to make their homes in
places like Alexandria, Tarsus, Ephesus,
Byzantium, and Rome. By the year 300,
they had settled in all parts of the
empire except Britain. (5)
After
the fall of the Roman Empire in 476, the
Jews began to play a leading part in
world trade. They traveled to the
farthest reaches of the empire and even
as far as India and China through their
involvement in the spice trade. (6)
As the
vast areas of Europe became civilized,
the Jews settled in these areas also. In
early years a thriving Jewish
civilization flourished in Spain. The
Jews settled in France and Germany.
Unfortunately, the lot of the Jews in
"Christian" Europe would never
be secure. Although they made great and
lasting contributions to these
societies, time and time again they were
expelled from different cities and
nations.
When the new
world was discovered, a Jew was one of
the first two people to set foot upon
it. The Jews followed the wave of
discovery and colonization to the ends
of the earth and to the islands of the
sea. This in itself was a fulfillment of
prophecy. It is said in Isaiah 11:11:
In that day the
Lord will reach out his hand a second
time to reclaim the remnant that
is left
of his people from Assyria, from Lower
Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush,
from Elam, from
Babylonia, from Hamath and from the
islands of the sea.
During all their long centuries in
gentile lands the Jews suffered
persecution in many forms and were
driven from one land to another. They
suffered under Crusades, Inquisitions,
blood libels, forced conversions, forced
baptisms, pogroms, and slanders of many
types. Under Islam their lot was only
slightly improved.
In time, the
virulent anti-Semitism, which had
flourished in the Church since the
fourth century, blossomed into severe
persecution under the Nazis, beginning
in 1933. During the Holocaust that
followed, six million Jews lost their
lives. From the ashes of that greatest
of all disasters, the modern nation of
Israel began to rise once more.
After World War
II, the survivors made their way to
Palestine to join with the many others
who had come earlier from the
persecutions of Russia and other places
on the globe. The word of the Lord was
fulfilled once again:
This is what the LORD says: "The
people who survive the sword will find
favor in the
desert;
I will come to give rest to
Israel." (Jer. 31:2)
On November 29, 1947, the United Nations
approved the partition plan allowing
Israel to become a nation once more
after almost two thousand years.
Israel was
declared a state in May 1948 and
following this act she was forced into
an agonizing War of Independence with
her many Arab neighbors. At the close of
this war the nation of Israel was
successful and
once again firmly established among the
family of nations.
STUDY QUESTIONS:
How does holy history, or redemptive
history, differ from regular history?
Was it unfair for God to almost destroy Egypt in order to bring Israel out of bondage? Why?
What kind of things happened when pagan forces fought Israel in the Bible? Do you suppose such things still happen in Israel’s wars today?
What are some qualities David had that enabled him to become a type of God’s coming Messiah?
How does Daniel’s view of history differ from most views today?
In what ways were Jesus’ claims different from that of all other great religious leaders?
NOTES
1. E.A.
Wallis Budge, Babylonian Life and
History (New York: Dorset Press,
1992) p. 110.
2. William Whiston, The Works of
Josephus, Complete and Unabridged
(Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers,
Peabody, MA, 1987)
p. 301.
3. Whiston, The Works of Josephus,
Complete and Unabridged, p. 737.
4. Whiston, The Works of Josephus,
Complete and Unabridged, p.748.
5. Martin Gilbert, Jewish History
Atlas (Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa:
Steimatzky, Ltd, 1969, fourth edition
1992) p. 17.
6. Martin Gilbert, Jewish History
Atlas, p. 22.
-4-
The Rise Of Islam - Its Impact Upon
Israel And The Church
Only a few years ago Islam was of little
concern to many living in the western
world. It was thought to be a wholly
Middle Eastern problem far removed from
any effect upon westerners. However, in
the last few years, particularly since
the 1991 Gulf War, there has been a
quickening of interest in this religion.
Of course that interest was greatly
accelerated with the Islamic attacks on
the World Trade Center and the Pentagon
in September, 2001.
North Americans
are realizing now that there are some
five million Muslims living in their
midst. In fact, Muslims are now on the
verge of outnumbering Jews in North
America, making Islam the second largest
religion.
US citizens are
awaking to the fact that mosques are
rising in many of their cities, and over
800 mosques and Islamic centers are
already built in their country.
Episcopalians in the US are no doubt
shocked to find themselves outnumbered
by the Muslims. Incredibly, the shrill
cry of the muezzin is now
competing with the ringing of church
bells in many communities.
Europe is also
beginning to experience the reality of
Islam on the move. Citizens of England
are becoming aware that there are more
Muslims living there than Methodists, or
even evangelical Christians. (1)
The French are realizing that Islam is
now their second largest religion, with
far more
Muslims living in their country than
Protestants. (2) In
the Netherlands the most common boys
name has already become ‘Muhammad.’
People the
world over are being forced to
"come to grips" with this
fast-rising phenomenon. They have had to
contemplate the sobering fact that there
are now approximately 1.2 billion
Muslims in the world. Roughly one out of
every five person in the world is a
Muslim. With Islam’s rapid birthrate
and its vigorous missionary efforts, it
has now said to be the fastest growing
religion in the world.
How could a
religion develop so rapidly on the
modern scene? What are the roots and the
history of this religio