Now the Lord had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all of the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Thus we are told the Lord God Jehovah, the Great I AM spoke to his servant Abram as noted in the Torah, the Holy Bible Genesis 12:1-3.
Then the Great I AM went on to describe “the land that I will show you” in Genesis 15:18-21. Said Jehovah to Abram:
“To your descendants I have given the land from the River of Egypt as far as the great river, the River Euphrates.”
And the great Abrahamic Covenant was divinely signed, sealed and delivered. Interestingly, my fellow Americans, this PROMISED LAND has never been occupied by the Israelis or the descendants of Abraham to this day. But they will in fact so occupy one day as this fateful God of Abraham has promised.
That is a large, a very large territory which actually comprehends part of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. How that occupation will happen only the One who made the covenant knows. But it will.
It is interesting in this modern age how the so-called EVANGELICALS react to Israel and the Jewish people. The millennials, GenZ and whatever name now applies to the younger generation who may be a different form of evangelical supposedly have lesser support for Israel and even the right of the nation of Israel to exist, no matter the promises of Scripture. It seems hard to know in many ways, today, what an evangelical is or believes. The definition has changed, having become more modern, even liberal, and interpretations of the meaning of Scripture can compromise the direct and clear wording of the Torah. So much of popular sentiment, the United Nations, virtually all of the Arab nations and people the world over who are anti-Semitic, favor the Palestinians even to the point of being totally against Israel and the rights of the Jews to the land. Historically, Jews have always been persecuted, and exiled, and murdered, and even slaughtered by the millions in the Holocaust. Anti-Semitism is nothing new to them, but the reaction of the Jews and the Israelis is new. They, the current descendants of Abraham will never give up their land, never. Israel is theirs by divine right, and historically and that land and their lives will be protected and defended with incredible military strength and power. The words of Israeli’s intelligent minister Yisrael Katz state the position clearly:
“Israel will never allow nuclear weapons to be in the hands of those who threaten its existence, Syria then, and Iran today.”
In short, Israel will proactively defend against any nation which seeks its destruction and elimination. Israel bombed and destroyed nuclear plants and chemical weapons in Syria. And Lebanon (Hezbollah). And Israel will do so in Iran, sooner or later.
A recent poll was conducted of evangelicals generally and millennial evangelicals specifically. That polls showed that most evangelicals generally view Israel positively. Some 67%, or two out of three felt that way. But interestingly, only 58% of millennial evangelicals were positive about Israel. 42% were not positive and identified problems with the nation, especially their alleged aggressive treatment of Palestinians and Arabs generally. Little reference was made by the millennials to the Abrahamic Covenant or the clear promises of the Torah.
And, interestingly, 87% of all evangelicals, both older and millennial felt that it was the right thing, even the duty of Christian evangelicals to share the Gospel with the Israelis and the Jewish people. Every Jew alive knows about and has heard of Jesus the Jew from Nazareth. But the overwhelming majority view this Jesus as merely human and in no way the promised Messiah. That fundamental message, that Jesus was in fact the Savior and Messiah, in which true evangelicals believe is that which should be shared with all Jews for to evangelical Christians, that Gospel message is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant. Preach that Gospel message, go ye into the whole world and do so and as the Apostle Paul says, to the Jew first and then to the Gentile. 87% of all evangelicals believe that wholeheartedly.
But interestingly, only 32% of those evangelicals with Jewish friends have shared the Gospel with that friend in the last year. That seems a strange even inconsistent statistic for if 87% believe that the Gospel should be shared, only 32% followed through and actually did that. And even more interesting is the fact that only 35% of evangelicals with Jewish friends have prayed for the salvation of their Jewish friends in the last week. I wonder why. Witnessing and praying are the fundamentals of an evangelical belief, don’t you think? Both are required for true evangelicals.
The poll also found that 80% of evangelicals believe that God’s promise to Abraham, the Abrahamic Covenant and his descendants was permanent and eternal, for all time. 20% of evangelicals do not. But the covenant, the promises of Jehovah are permanent, eternal, non-changing and will in fact occur in due course, not on our timetable but HIS.
And more from this poll. 75% of evangelicals believe that Christians should support Israel’s claim to the land. 25% do not. I wonder how that 25% can interpret away or just ignore the very specific promise of God with regard to the land. The rightful ownership of that land was not symbolic but actual, factual, real. That land, and especially Jerusalem, the City of David, was in fact promised to Abraham and his descendants and, says the Torah, it is rightfully theirs.
At least the majority of evangelicals agree and are consistent in their support and affirmation of the rights of the Jews to the land of Israel. Surely President Trump does as well for he has recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and has ordered our United States Embassy to move there. That to me is the right thing to do. What do you think?
The Arabs generally and of course the Palestinians specifically passionately disagree. They claim Jerusalem as their capitol and that claim must be included as part of a new Palestinian state in that area. But Jerusalem has never been an Arab capitol and is not even mentioned once in the Koran. As far back as 996 B.C., David conquered Jerusalem and established the city as Israel’s capitol. That predated the Muslim capture of Jerusalem in the 16th Century A.D. by 2,500 years. That very special city and the land surrounding it have been Israeli and Jewish for almost 3,000 years! History is clear on that.
But perhaps the battle, the enmity between the seed, Jew and Arab, is itself eternal and will only be reconciled when the Messiah returns. It seems a myth of large proportion to think in terms of two states coexisting, Arab and Israeli, Muslim and Jew. Since 1948 when Israel was born, there has been no peace, even though more than $1.5 million Arabs are Israeli citizens. And it seems as though there never will be peace with warmongering entities and nations caring only for the destruction and elimination of the Jews and the return of so-called Palestine to Arab-Muslim hegemony. But the Israelis, the Jews knowing that, let the world know that the land is theirs and they will never again be destroyed or slaughtered:
NEVER AGAIN
What a fascinating time we live in, my fellow Americans, in so many ways THE END TIMES. One nuclear bomb detonated by one rogue nation or entity can set the entire world on fire. Whatever happens, we the Christians, the evangelical Christians especially should stand behind Israel and for the Jewish people. To do so incurs the blessing of God and not to do so incurs the cursing of God (Genesis 12:3). I choose with great temerity not to face the curse of God and I hope you do as well.
So, no matter the times, let us pray for the PEACE OF JERUSALEM. And that can and will happen when THE GREAT PEACEMAKER, the Messiah of God returns and makes it happen. May it be so and soon.