(Editing in progress)
I have been thinking a lot about Israel as we are watching things unfold with the peace deal, war etc. from the pages of scripture and over the last few years I have had a check in my spirit about how we think about Israel. I know that this is a hot potato topic, for good reason, and I want to hear the Lord’s voice on it. I had to ask myself if I had been taught of the Lord about Israel or from man, and I realized that most of my teaching has been indoctrination from the church and not what the Lord has taught by His Spirit, so I began searching.
Word About Israel:
First, from my experience in Israel, I know the Lord’s heart
for His people there. I experienced it especially in 2007. That was the trip
that marked me, and it was also when He showed me that we were going into the
third day of His return and the one new man (Jew and Gentile) coming together
to be His dwelling by the Spirit. He said that is actually the third temple,
God’s dwelling among us and not a building.
He showed me that
Israel was and is a modern day spiritual metaphor. Not ONLY a metaphor, but
what we see happening in Israel is happening spiritually to believers in Christ.
Not to get too into that here, but the Zionist movement at the turn of the 19th
century (late 1800s?) corresponded with world revivals, 1948 saw major
outpourings and revivals, the Six Day War in 1967 was also a massive revival
and charismatic renewal/outpouring. Now, Israel faces division of their land
and is literally fighting a 7 front battle as believers are facing all of the
above as we prepare to fully “take the land” our spiritual inheritance in
Christ. What I heard was that if we look at Israel, we can see what is
happening spiritually to all of us.
What Does It Mean to Bless Israel:
I didn’t mean to get into all of that but there it is. That
said, back to what it means for me to bless Israel. This has been my question.
I was reading Zephaniah yesterday morning and again seeing God’s dealing with
Isreal both then and prophesies for the second advent of Christ. You know how
much of the prophesies are both partial fulfillment and future fulfillment
(last days). The pattern is that when Israel was faithful God gave them peace,
and when they entered into idolatry, mixture, etc. he thrust them out of the
good land. Many of the prophesies of the Babylonian captivity fall into the
partial fulfillment with a later, last days fulfillment according to these
prophetic scriptures of the “day of the Lord” and “last day.” (Not that this makes it right, at all, but most commentator who are believers agree with the partial fulfillment/later fulfillment views as do I right now.) What does it mean to “bless Israel?” How would the church have prayed for
Israel during the days of the Babylonian attacks? When Israel is in unbelief
and idolatry, the Lord brings them to humility by allowing them to be defeated,
just like He does with believers spiritually. That humbles us and we turn back
to him until we learn obedience.
I thought of Jesus’s words to his people that because they
did not recognize their visitation (accept Messiah) that destruction would come
upon them. He said that you will not see me until you say blessed is he that
comes in the name of the Lord. They said those words as he entered Jerusalem
but then rejected him-so that would be a later day, at his second advent when
he appears to save them from the Antichrist.
So how would the church have prayed when the Romans destroyed
Israel? Granted, I don't want to be a Roman helping to destroy Israel because they got their "reward" after God used them to discipline Israel. But what did blessing look like? How can I align with God's heart in prayer right now? As
I ponder these questions, I am concluding that we have to look at these things through
the lens of the Holy Spirit and not man’s ideas of blessing. We want to see
them always win. We want Israel to have the land that God gave them, but that
isn’t what God means by blessing them. I am seeing that their land is a
blessing for obeying Him, first under the Old Covenant and now under the New, faith
in their Savior.
One reason that I feel a sense of alarm about Israel is that
they are going to align with the Antichrist before a remnant trusts in Jesus Christ. If we are
looking at all of this as mere men applauding their winning and taking more of
the land back, what happens when this alignment with the AC occurs? When do we say “Ok, now
they are in bed with the Antichrist so we aren’t going to go along with this
alignment?” That is one concern and why I feel a sense of warning to discern
and hear the Lord.
Secondly, we all know that Israel looks to the U.S to give
them help. Trump as much as says we are saving them, or rather, he says that he
is saving them. But this violates every pattern in scripture. I saw this again
in Zephaniah. Asa and other Kings brought Israel into judgment and correction
for looking to Syria, Assyria and Babylon for help (I think Babylon was one of
them.) These Kings would give them silver and gold for their support and help
and then God would allow these nations to oppress Israel and cast them out of
the land because they didn’t stay themselves upon the Lord. I know that was a
run on sentence. God always gave them over to the things that we trust in
saying, “Let your idols save you.” That’s how we learn.
Now, we are told the U.S is special (some sort of special
consecration to God) and so it’s a good thing that Israel is looking to the U.S
as if that pleases the Lord. I know we consider that the U.S showing support is
always a blessing, and it may be, but for Israel to depend on other nations
always got them into trouble with God, for He wasn’t trusted nor glorified. So,
this too violates the pattern in scripture. Israel is repeatedly warned to NOT
align with other nations, but only God Himself. In fact, it’s this very
aligning with other nations that causes them to be betrayed by the man of sin
in the last day. They make a covenant with death and hell, they are in
agreement.
Ther verse to bless
those who bless you and curse those who curse you is interpreted to mean that
we support Israel in gaining back their land and conquering their enemies and
we really don’t generally talk about their coming to faith in Christ. But I
look at the word and see that this blessing is connected to Israel’s obedience.
God uses suffering and trials to humble us so that we will call on his name. I
guess this is the crux: what if winning more of the land back and having peace
leaves most of the Jewish people in Israel in unbelief, secure in their rejection
of God? I guess I am asking if this is
the blessing? Is it good for Isael to win or is it good for Israel to turn to
God? What does it mean to bless Israel?
Revelation calls
Jerusalem “Sodom and Gomorrah” spiritually. God doesn’t bless us when we are in
sin. Paul says that Israel was blinded for a time so that they too will know
the tender mercies of God. In Romans he describes how we were enemies of God but
experience God’s mercies by being brought near, and now Israel too gets to know
God’s mercies by first rejecting Jesus and later accepting Him.
So the focus is on a remnant of God’s people, Israel, coming
to faith in Christ. And I am praying through this, but God talks about nations
but he is dealing with souls, and that much is clear even when we talk about
Israel. Nations aren’t saved, souls are saved as far as I can see in scripture.
Zephaniah and other prophetic books
speaks of God bringing a remnant through the trials, only those who are meek,
poor, and those who “wait” upon God. Paul speaks of Israel coming to faith as
well, but it don’t see Paul saying Israel will take the land and we should seek
for that because that is the blessing. I
am starting to conclude that this view is another mistake driven by human sympathies
and human views of what is good rather than teaching from the Lord to His
people. I think the more we all learn to find the Lord’s heart and mind in the
secret place, the more we will have true unity in the faith. As Tozier says, if
all the piano’s are tuning to the same fork, there will be unity. John 17 speaks
of oneness with the Father, not each other; the latter flows from the former.
The pattern in scripture: God allows nations to overcome
Israel to bring Israel back to him and then he uses Israel to overcome nations
to bring those nations to Himself so that all are saved. God wants to save
souls, not establish nations. Or does He? That is my question, Lord, are you
wanting me to pray and support Israel having a certain territory as if this is your
righteous will, or is it something else and perhaps much bigger than this? When
believers think like mere men, along the lines of what the world
loves/values/cherishes we miss the mark as the religious community missed the
mark when Christ came the first time. They were thinking like men, in sympathy
with the world (or the devil you could say). There were living in the physical
realm and Jesus was speaking of spiritual things, establishing a spiritual, and
eternal, kingdom. This world will burn in fire and pass away, Peter reminds us
so well. Put your eyes on things above. Set you hope fully on the appearing of
the Lord and let this world system go, for it is passing away. Some teach this
world system as it now appears will be sanctified and redeemed but that’s not
what the word teaches. They are being primed for Antichrist to offer his world
of peace and security, the golden age, not ushered in by Christ, but a false Christ,
a deceiver. He will come in peace,
wheeling and dealing and Isarel will trust in him, but suddenly destruction
will come upon them. But I digress as always.
Does blessing Israel
mean showing support for all that Israel does or is that thinking like a man? Could
it even be a trap? Most positions are arrived at slowly, like the frog in the
pot. It’s good to look down the road a bit and see where it is going. But the same scripture that declares a
blessing for blessing Israel also declares a curse for Israel’s
disobedience-but the curse leads to the blessing of repentance. God conquers us
to bless us, it says.
I am searching this
out and know He will make it clear, but I am in the middle of the search right
now. Again, I am concerned because I want to walk in obedience, and because it’s
easy to see a trap here. We know Israel will accept Antichrist when he comes
speaking peace, so if we just always go along with Israel what will happen when
they make an agreement with the lawless one? It’s hard to imagine all of a sudden
pivoting and much easier to imagine that a trap has been set for many in the church
to be deceived.
You know my views on Trump, and all of the blind support
that most of the church shows him because he has been decreed as the anointed
one absolutely concerns me, but I am not really focused on that aspect right
now. I am just seeking understanding. (That said, the way that his followers
are able to overlook, deny, minimize and generally “trust the plan” in the same
way that we trust the Lord despite how things may appear is a grave danger for
the body of Christ.)
I also want to add that Hamas has always been and will
always be a terrorist organization. The radical Islamists, Iran, and whoever else
is with them are religiously dedicated to Israel’s destruction, and I do throw
my support behind Israel. Just as a thinking human, Israel is the civilized nation. I am not at all flying
the Palestinian flag. The Palestinian problem was created by the Muslim
countries that refused to help them in 1948 to make Israel appear to be the “bad
guy.” That is my bias here, just to be clear about that!
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