“Why The Jews?” Pt. 2
Zechariah 8
In 518 B.C. the prophet envisioned a day when Zion or Israel would be a place of:
· The return of God’s passion. Vs. 1-3
· The repentance of God’s people. Vs. 4-8
· The reliance on God’s prosperity. Vs.12
· The realization of God’s Promise. Vs. 13
Well this vision would take some time to be fulfilled. Over the centuries the Jews came and went with the ocean’s tide. Never being able to claim this vision – until 1948. Since that time, never again will the Jews be gone from their land again.
This prophecy has a two-fold fulfillment…
· Verses 1-19 are now being fulfilled since 1948.
· Verses 20-23 will be fulfilled in the millennium.
1. The Hatred Towards Zionism.
“Zion” = the mountain on which ancient Israel was built.
Today, the word “Zionism” or “Zionist” is such a loaded word and really a buzzword for many in the world for hate. It seems that in the last 20 years Zionism is a threat to many religions and governments around the world today!
Who is a Zionist? God’s people who want to return to their homeland of Israel.
Fact: The modern Zionist movement was started in 1894 and founded by Theodor Herzl, a Hungarian Jew.
He thought this would help stop the hatred towards the Jews and give them a place to live so they end their living with non-Jews. Ever since then, much of the world has struggled with “Zionism” and the thought of giving them any place to call their own!
Martin Luther King Jr. said in 1967, “You declare, my friends, that you do not hate the Jews, you are merely anti-Zionists. And may I say, let the truth ring forth from the highest mountaintops. Let it echo through the valleys of God’s green earth. When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews. Zionism is nothing than the dream and ideal of the Jewish people retuning to live in their own land.”
Key: The hatred of Zionism is based on the Zionist’s standard of life, system of theology and the spread of democracy!
The late Senator and former Ambassador to the U.N., Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, “For Israel is a democracy and it is simply the fact that despotism will seek whatever opportunities come to hand to destroy that which threatens them most, which is democracy.”
These Jews believe in holiness and separation, and the tradition of Rabbinical Law.
I think it could be proofed that the treatment and hatred of the Jews can serve as a barometer of humanities morality! Jewish hatred starts with them but doesn’t end there! Because Zionism teaches a moral standard for one to live by - the world hates this! Case in point: orthodox Christianity.
Over the past 40 years the 10 commandments that God gave the Jews have gone from 10 suggestions to now 10 offenses - Something is terribly wrong in the world!
May I also say that with is one reason why “America bashing” is going on in many parts of the world including the United Nations! Because we live by the principle of freedoms and not the power of fear - this is a threat to many nations and governments around the world.
Our President sees the world very black and white with very little gray area, where much of the world is just the opposite! This is frightening to me as a Pastor!
Eleven hours after 9/11, President Bush said to America from the Oval Office, “Today our nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature…pray to a power greater than any of us, who had spoken through the ages in Psalm 23, even though I walk through the valley of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.”
Will you notice…that America and Israel are often identified as the same enemy?
2. God’s Blessings To The Supporter of Israel.
Zechariah 2:8 “For this is what the Lord Almighty says, “After he has honored me and has sent me against the nations that have plundered you – for whoever touched you (Israel) touches the apple of His eye.” NIV
America for over 227 years has blessed the people of Israel. And for that God has blessed us in ways that no nation has ever been in the history of civilization!
Consider The Deep Roots America Has For The Jews:
· Near the beginning of the American Revolution, when the colonial soldiers were dressed poorly and starving to near death on the battlefield, a Jewish banker Hyman Salomon, collected 1 million dollars from European Jews. He presented this gift to General George Washington so the all the soldiers could have new uniforms and shoes!
Washington later showed his gratitude, he had engraved on the U.S. dollar a memorial to the Jewish people.
The back of the bill has 13 stars that make up Star of David. Notice that glory around it…the presence of God in the tabernacle in Jerusalem!
No other nation as any reverence to Israel on there currency!
·Benjamin Franklin was the one who suggested that the Great Seal of the United States bear the likeness of Moses raising his staff to divide the waters of the Red Sea.
Jefferson wanted the seal to show the children of Israel marching through the wilderness following rays from the rays of fire.
The final decision was the Great Seal included 1) the pyramid (Egypt) 2) An eagle (for protection) 3) rays of fire and clouds (divine leadership).
· President George Washington was a supporter of the Jews in America when he said in letter to the Jews in Rhode Island in 1790, “For happily the Government of the United States, which gives bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens…May the Children of the stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the Inhabitants; while every one shall sit under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”
· The 2nd President of the U.S. was John Adams. He wrote to Thomas Jefferson about his admiration for the Jews, “I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize man than any other nation.”
He later wrote to a Jew saying, “…Your nation be admitted to all the privileges of every country of the world. This country has done much. I wish it may do more, and annul every narrow idea in religion, government and commerce.”
At the end of his life he stated, “For I really wish the Jews again in Judea an independent nation.”
· We know that the 10 Bill of Rights that we cherish as Americans came by example of the 10 commandments!
The list goes on and on with the influence Israel has had on America.
Genesis 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse…”
Unfortunately over the last 50 years we have sent a mixed to Israel. Different Presidents have had blessed the Jews and cursed the Jews.
Over the years America has married two brothers. One is the Jew and the second is the Arab. This is a huge topic that I can’t even begin to go into today! But warning…If America is not careful how it treats Israel Genesis 12: 3 could come upon us over night!
What American politician were these words spoken to? “You might be president one day. You will make mistakes, and God will forgive you. But God will never forgive you if you abandon the State of Israel.” …Pastor Vaught of Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock Arkansas, spoken to then Governor Bill Clinton who was a member.
Just a side note: When President Clinton was worn into office in his second term the scripture used to wear him into office was Galatians 6:8 “For he that soweth to his flesh shall reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall reap life.”
The 6 Reasons Israel Has The Right and The Title Deed To Their Land.
1. Because of all of the archeological evidence.
Every time there is a dig in Israel, it does nothing but support the fact that Israelis have had a presence there for 3,000 years. They have been there for a long time.
· The coins, the cities, the pottery, the culture.
There is no mistaking the fact that Israelis have been present in that land for 3,000 years.
· It predates any claims that other peoples in the regions may have.
The first Israelis are in fact descended from the original Israelites.
The ancient Philistines are extinct. Many other ancient peoples are extinct. They do not have the unbroken line to this date that the Israelis have. Even the Egyptians of today are not racial Egyptians of 2,000, 3,000 years ago. They are primarily an Arab people. The land is called Egypt, but they are not the same racial and ethnic stock as the old Egyptians of the ancient world.
2. Because History Supports it Completely.
We know there has been an Israel up until the time of the Roman Empire. The Romans conquered the land. Israel had no homeland, although Jews were allowed to live there.
They were driven from the land in two dispersions in the last 2000 years:
· One was in 70 A.D.
· The other was in 135 A.D.
There was always a Jewish presence in the land, but the Turks, who took over about 700 years ago and ruled the land up until about World War I, had control. Then the British conquered the land. The Turks entered World War I on the side of Germany. The British knew they had to do something to punish Turkey, and also to break up that empire that was going to be a part of the whole effort of Germany in World War I.
So the British sent troops against the Turks in the Holy Land. One of the generals who was leading the British armies was a man named Allenby. Allenby was a Bible-believing Christian. He carried a Bible with him everywhere he went and he knew the significance of Jerusalem.
The night before the attack against Jerusalem to drive out the Turks, Allenby prayed that God would allow him to capture the city without doing damage to the holy places. That day, Allenby sent World War I biplanes over the city of Jerusalem to do a reconnaissance mission. You have to understand that the Turks had at that time never seen an airplane. So there they were, flying around. They looked in the sky and saw these fascinating inventions and did not know what they were, and they were terrified by them. Then they were told they were going to be opposed by a man named Allenby the next day, which means, in their language, "man sent from God’’ or "prophet from God.’’ They dared not fight against a prophet from God, so the next morning, when Allenby went to take Jerusalem; he went in and captured it without firing a single shot.
The British at that time said they were going to give the Jewish people a homeland. That is all a part of history. It is all written down in history. They were gratified that the Jewish people, the bankers, came through and helped finance the war.
The homeland that Britain said it would set aside consisted of all of what is now Israel and all of what was then the nation of Jordan - the whole thing. That was what Britain promised to give the Jews in 1917.
The land was not able to sustain a large population of people. It just did not have the development it needed to handle those people, and the land was not really wanted by anybody. Nobody really wanted this land. It was considered to be worthless land.
Mark Twain said as he took a tour of Israel in 1867. This is how he described that land. He said: “A desolate country whose soil is rich enough but is given over wholly to weeds. A silent, mournful expanse. We never saw a human being on the whole route. There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.”
Where was this great Palestinian nation? It did not exist. It was not there. Palestinians were not there. Palestine was a region named by the Romans, but at that time it was under the control of Turkey, and there was no large mass of people there because the land would not support them.
That was 1913.
The French author Voltaire described Palestine as "A hopeless, dreary place.’’ In short, under the Turks the land suffered from neglect and low population. That is a historic fact.
Both Jews and Arabs populated the nation because the land came to prosper when Jews came back and began to reclaim it. Historically, they began to reclaim it. If there had never been any archaeological evidence to support the rights of the Israelis to the territory, it is also important to recognize that other nations in the area have no longstanding claim to the country either.
Did you know that Saudi Arabia was not created until 1913, Lebanon until 1920? Iraq did not exist as a nation until 1932, Syria until 1941; the borders of Jordan were established in 1946 and Kuwait in 1961.
Any of these nations that would say Israel is only a recent arrival would have to deny their own rights as recent arrivals as well. They did not exist as countries. They were all under the control of the Turks. Historically, Israel gained its independence in 1948.
3. Israel today is a modern marvel of agriculture.
Israel is able to bring more food out of a desert environment than any other country in the world. The Arab nations ought to make Israel their friend and import technology from Israel that would allow all the Middle East, not just Israel, to become an exporter of food. Israel has unarguable success in its agriculture.
4. On the grounds of humanitarian concerns.
You see, there were 6 million Jews slaughtered in Europe in World War II. The persecution against the Jews had been very strong in Russia since the advent of communism. It was against them even before then under the Czars. These people have a right to their homeland. If we are not going to allow them a homeland in the Middle East, then where? What other nation on Earth is going to cede territory, is going to give up land?
They are not asking for a great deal. The whole nation of Israel would fit into Oklahoma seven times. It would fit into the Georgia seven times. They are not asking for a great deal. The whole nation of Israel is very small. It is a nation that, up until the time that claims started coming in, was not desired by anybody.
5. Because Israel is a Strategic Ally of the United States.
Whether we realize it or not, Israel is a detriment, an impediment, to certain groups hostile to democracies and hostile to what we believe in, hostile to that which makes us the greatest nation in the history of the world. They have kept them from taking complete control of the Middle East.
If it were not for Israel, they would overrun the region. They are our strategic ally. It is good to know we have a friend in the Middle East on whom we can count.
Did you know that Israel votes with us in the United Nations more than England- more than any other country in the world?
Key: Since its independence in 1948, Israel has fought four wars:
The war in 1948 and 1949 - that was the war for independence - the war in 1956, the Sinai campaign; the Six-Day War in 1967; and in 1973, the Yom Kippur War with Egypt and Syria.
You have to understand that in all four cases, Israel was attacked. They were not the aggressor. Also, they won all four wars against impossible odds. They are great warriors.
6. Because God said This Land Belongs to Israel.
Genesis 13:14-17
That is God talking. The Bible says that Abram removed his tent and came and dwelt in the plain of Hebron, and built there an altar before the Lord.
Hebron is in the West Bank. It is at this place where God appeared to Abram and said, "I am giving you this land,’’ - the West Bank. This is not a political battle at all. It is a contest over whether or not the word of God is true.
Eight years ago on the lawn of the White House, Yitzhak Rabin shook hands with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. It was a historic occasion. It was a tragic occasion. At that time, the official policy of the Government of Israel began to be, "Let us appease the terrorists. Let us begin to trade the land for peace." This process continued unabated up until last year.
Then at Camp David, in the summer of 2000, then Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Barak offered the most generous concessions to Yasser Arafat that had ever been laid on the table. He offered him more than 90 percent of all the West Bank territory, sovereign control of it.
And he also did the unthinkable. He even spoke of dividing Jerusalem and allowing the Palestinians to have their capital there in the East. Yasser Arafat stormed out of the meeting.
Why did he storm out of the meeting? Everything he had said he wanted was offered there. It was put into his hands. Why did he storm out of the meeting?
Because Arafat really didn’t want just the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, he wanted the crown Jewel – Jerusalem! And then the Jews drove into the sea!
In September 1995 Yasser Arafat declared, "By Allah I swear that the Palestinian people are prepared to sacrifice the last boy and the last girl so that the Palestinian flag will be flown over the walls, the churches, and the mosques of Jerusalem."
