Israel, God’s Chosen Land and People
Psalm 18:22-50
Psalm 18:22 – For all his judgments were before me and I did not put away his statutes from me.
Psalm 17:7 – Show Your marvelous lovingkindness, O You that saves by Your right hand them which put their trust in You from those that rise up against them.
These are prayers of David as God has extended his covenant to him. David, as we are instructed in Philippians 4:6, is letting his requests be made known to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in line with the promises and benefits of the covenant in the presence of his current day situations and politics.
Psalm 18 has a whole variety of prayers and instruction for us just as the story of Jehosaphat in 2 Chronicles 20 does.
It’s important to read the Psalms in light of the covenant.
As we face end-time challenges we stand on our Blood Covenant, move forward with confidence and trust, make our requests known with prayer and supplication, keep the Word in our hearts and minds, and move forward with the leading of the Holy Spirit.
2 Timothy 2:15 – Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
1 Corinthians 10:32 – Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks (Gentiles, Goyim, Nations) or to the church of God.
Genesis 12:2-3 – (God speaking to Abram) 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 the families of the earth shall be blessed.
Malachi 3:6 – For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Many nations that cursed and attacked Israel no longer exist, yet the sons of Jacob, Israel, still stand.
Billye Brim notes in her booklet, Judgement of the Nations for How They Treat Israel
that God’s Plan A for Israel was to live in the promised land – a land bridge for Europe, Asia, and Africa – and show and teach all the world that passed through that Jehovah is the real God.
God’s Plan B, if Israel did not obey, was to be scattered to the four corners of the earth, but be brought back in the end of days, as a sign to the nations, revealing God as in their original call.
This we see today.
The Bible speaks to three groups: the Jews (Israel, seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), the nations (goyim, Gentiles, non-Jews), and the church (If we are in Christ then we are the seed of Abraham).
As we read the word, we must remember and rightly divide to whom God is speaking. We as the church have not replaced Israel. Replacement theology is simply wrong. The Bible does tell us in 2 Corinthians 1:19 that all the promises of God are yes and amen to the glory of God through us . . . thus we can receive the same promises that God gives Israel since we are in the covenant with them, but we cannot exclude them from the fulfillment that God has for them. We are all part of a grand plan that God is working and fulfilling and we must recognize and understand that God is using Israel and will bring them in.
Sid Roth on his show, Supernatural, has written a book, They Thought for Themselves, and is sending it to every home in Israel, and many Jews are coming to know that Jesus is their Messiah.
Romans 2:4 tells us that the goodness of God leads to repentance. Christians United for Israel works to promote pro-Israeli policies by the United States government.
I liken it to caring for and supporting an aging parent who does not yet know the Lord, but because of our relationship, I’m constrained to love and assist, always hoping they will open their hearts to the Lord. We do it because we are family.
HISTORY
May 14, 1948 – Jewish State of Israel is born
May 15, 1948 – 5 Arab countries attack
1949 –War of Independence ends, but Jerusalem is divided
1956 – Sinai campaign
June 5-10, 1967 – Six Day War and Jerusalem reunited
October 6-24, 1973 – Yom Kippur War
1978 – Camp David Accords
1979 – Peace treaty with Egypt
1981 – Israel bombs nuclear reactor in Iraq
1982 – First Lebanon War
1987 – First Palestinian Intifada
1993 – Oslo Accords
1994 – Peace treaty with Jordan
1995 – Oslo II Accord
2000 – Camp David Summit, Second Palestinian Intifada
2002 – Operation Defensive Shield, Israel constructs security fence
2005 – Israel separates from Gaza
2006 – Second Lebanon War
2009 – Operation Cast Lead
2014 – Operation Protective Edge, Gaza
2015 – Palestinian Stabbing Intifada
2017 – President Trump recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital
2018 – Israel’s 70th anniversary
In all these attacks, Israel was never the aggressor.
Israel is the only nation in the world created by the express act of God.
Genesis 15:18, 17:2-8, 26:3
Genesis 17:19-21 – Then God said, “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.”
Boundaries of the State of Israel
Recorded in Numbers 34:2-15, Joshua 11:16-23; 13:1-22, Ezekiel 47:13-28; Ezek. 48
Atrocities
John Chrysotom (349-407) – renowned Archbishop of Constantinople, yet spoke horrible of the Jews in his sermons. Considered to have begun the history of Christian anti-semitism.
Crusades, 950-1350 – persecutions of Jewish people that continued for centuries. Entire Jewish communities were massacred.
Spanish Inquisition 1480-1492 – the inquisition tribunals investigated Jews they believed made a false conversion to Christianity. Then in the Edict of Expulsion (Alhambra Decree) Jews were accused of trying to draw Christians away from their faith and therefore expelled from Spain (required to leave by July 31, 1492) – those that stayed were brutally tortured and burned at the stake. Columbus’ trip was financed by Jews and he left Aug. 3, 1492 and brought Jews to a land where they could live freely.
13th-16th centuries –Spain, England, France, some German states, and Portugal expelled Jews
Martin Luther’s book “The Jews and Their Lies” 1543 – Luther was disappointed that the Jews didn’t convert as a result of his Ninety-five Theses of 1517. He stated they were no longer the chosen people but the devil’s people and advocated setting synagogues on fire, smashing their homes, forcing them into labor or expelled from Germany.
Britain expelled Jews in 1144-1290 accusing them of using the blood of Christian children for their Passover matzoh (Blood Libel). In the 1940’s they also tried to prevent Jews from returning to Israel. Yet in 1917 they won back the land from the Turks and Field Marshall Edmond Allenby took Jerusalem without a shot fired. They set aside land for a Jewish homeland – no-one cared because the land was considered worthless.
Where are the Medes and Persians, Haman and his sons, Babylonians, Amelekites, Roman Empire, Ottoman Empire, Nazis? They cursed the Jews.
We owe a great debt of gratitude to Judaism out of which we gained Christianity.
Romans 11:29-33 – For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. For as you (Gentiles) were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so these (Jews) also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
Romans 15:27 – For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their (Jews) spiritual things, their (Gentiles) duty is also to minister to them in material things.
Blessings of blessing Israel
Laban was a Syrian that Jacob worked for and finally decided to leave as Laban kept reducing his wages. Laban asked him to stay for he learned that the Lord had blessed him for Jacob’s sake.
(Genesis 30:27)
Pharoah’s Egypt was blessed by Joseph (Genesis 41)
Cornelius household the first of the Gentiles to receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 10)
Israel’s amazing accomplishments
Brilliant inventions of drip irrigation has helped her produce more food out of the desert than any other land. World leader in medical procedures, research and technologies as well as high-tech inventions, and more Nobel prizes per capita than any other nation.
Ezekiel 37:21-22 – Then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again.
David Ben Gurion proclaimed Israel’s official independence May 14, 1948. Eleven minutes later, President Harry Truman was the first leader in the world to recognize Israel as an independent state . . . and apologized for taking so long to respond.
References for this study included two booklets by John Hagee
Israel 70 Years of Miracles
Why Christians Should Support Israel…the Apple of His Eye