Today we are finishing our study of the Middle East with part four of this series. In this study we’ve taken a look at America’s involvement in the war in Iraq, trying to determine how we as Christians should respond to war in general and specifically to the war in Iraq.
Then, for the last two weeks we’ve been studying what the Bible has had to say about the Mideast Conflict between Israel and her Arab neighbors. First, we saw that the Jewish people were the rightful owners to the disputed Holy Land. God gave them the title to the land over 4000 years ago through an unconditional covenant He made with their forefather Abraham and later confirmed with his son Isaac and grandson Jacob. It was an everlasting covenant, meaning that it will stand forever. God will never rescind His promise to the Jews.
Then last week we turned our attention to the Arab people and saw that God had also made promises to them through their ancestor Ishmael, Abraham’s first-born son. The promises were also unconditional and have been fulfilled to the letter. And even with those promises the Arabs still want to control the land of the Jews.
I said we need to realize that the present-day land dispute is an ongoing feud between brothers that has lasted for thousands of years and actually has more to do with the hatred of the Arabs for the Jews than it does with the land. We also looked at the Palestinian refugee problem, how it came about, who the Palestinians really are, and the fact that they already have a state or country of their own.
Copies of these teachings are available on the vestibule table should you wish to review and study them more closely on your own.
Today, we will be returning our attention to the Jewish people and their reestablished nation. The modern day return of the Jews to their homeland is one of the greatest miracles of history. It is also a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. By reading the Bible we can easily see how the regathering of the Jews is all a part of God’s plan for them. But now that they are in their homeland, what happens next?
By looking at all of the problems that are occurring because of the Jewish presence in the Holy Land it makes me wonder. Why did God regather them in the first place? If the land clearly belongs to them, what about all the fighting and terrorism and suffering they are facing on a daily basis? Why doesn’t God do something about that? And what does this all mean to the Church? -- These are the question we are going to tackle today in the final study on the Mideast entitled, “The Jews Are Home, Now What?”
I. Why Did God Regather the Jews In the First Place?
The first question we’re going to try to answer is why did God regather the Jews in the first place? It’s not a question that many people ask. Most just look at the fact that there is a Jewish homeland in Israel and go from there. But as we’ve said before, the Bible is God’s revelation to us of our past, present, and future. So, if the Jews, God’s chosen people, exist as a nation once again, their must be some reason for it, and more than likely we can find that reason in the Bible. There are actually several reasons for the regathering, but today we are going to look at just two of them.
A. The Promises
One of the simplest and easiest to understand reasons for God regathering His people to their land is the fact that He promised to do so. In fact, the promise of restoration of the Jews to their homeland is the most prolific prophecy in the Old Testament. It is mentioned there more times than any other prophecy.
Deuteronomy 30: 1-5, “When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations, [2] and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, [3] then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. [4] Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. [5] He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers.”
God promised the Jews that not only would they get the land, but that He would make sure they would enjoy and live in it one day.
B. Make Himself Known
God also gives another reason for regathering His children. In Ezekiel 36 God is speaking to the prophet Ezekiel and telling him to tell the children of Israel that when He gathers them back, it won’t be because they deserve it. Read verses 22-23 with me, “Therefore say to the House of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. [23] I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.”
The entire world knows that the Jews worship God Jehovah. Yet, they have disdain for Him because of the way the Jewish people treated Him. The Israelites disobeyed, and profaned God when He gave them land and blessings. They did not honor Him or worship Him as He directed. They were hypocrites, and their lives and words contributed to the disdain that the rest of the world held Jehovah in.
The world looked at them and saw how irreverent and disrespectful and lazy they were in their worship and asked why should we worship your God and respect Him when you don’t? I think that’s the same question most people are asking today when they look at those who claim to be Christians.
So, God is saying here that I’m going to bring My children home and fulfill My promises to them, not because they’ve done anything to deserve it, but so that the world can look at what I’ve done for them and recognize Me as the One True and Holy God.
It’s the same in the lives of Christians. God doesn’t save and redeem us because of anything we have done. We don’t deserve His mercy and grace. But He gives it to us so that others will look at us and wonder what’s different about us. Why are we blessed with peace in a world of confusion? Why can we face hardships with greater strength and endurance than others around us? Why do we have a hope that seems impossible? It’s not because of anything we have done, but because of what God has done for us.
II. Why Doesn’t God Do Something?
Okay, so back to Israel. It seems obvious now that God has some pretty good reasons for returning the Jews to their land. The Bible tells us throughout its pages that the Jews are God’s chosen people. They are the apple of His eye (Zechariah 2:8). God said, “For I am a Father to Israel, And Ephraim is My firstborn” (Jeremiah 31:9).
It causes one to wonder then, why does Israel have to go through such conflict today? Suicide bombers, missile attacks, car bombs and reoccurring wars are a part of everyday life in Israel. You’d think that if they were so special to God that He would do more to protect them from their enemies, wouldn’t He?
After all in Leviticus 26:6-7 God says to the Israelites, “I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove savage beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. [7] You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you.”
A. Living In Disobedience
That doesn’t sound much like life in present-day Israel, does it? So, why doesn’t it? Why doesn’t God just give them the land, defeat their enemies, and be done with it?
Some theologians would say that is it because God has rejected Israel after they rejected His Son, their Messiah – that God has replaced Israel with the Church. But, something that has been replaced vanishes and is no longer heard of. It becomes extinct, just as Sodom and Gomorrah are eternally buried. This cannot be said of Israel.
The Apostle Paul even addressed this very issue in Romans 11:1-2, “I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. [2] God did not reject his people, who he foreknew…” God has never rejected or turned His back on Israel. Our God does not break His promises.
The reason why Israel is experiencing conflict and suffering today goes back to that Mosaic Land Covenant in Deuteronomy 28. If you remember, we’ve said that this covenant was a conditional one. The Israelites’ possession and enjoyment of their land was conditional upon their obedience to God and His commands.
Deuteronomy 28:1-2, 15, “If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his command I give you today, the Lord you God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. [2] All these blessing will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:… [15] However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:”.
The reason for the conflict and suffering occurring in present day Israel is because they are still not living in total obedience to the Lord’s commands. A majority of the Jewish people in Israel today are what I would call secular Jews. They acknowledge their religious roots, perhaps celebrate some of the Jewish festivals, but are otherwise more concerned with their everyday, worldly lifestyles. They are culturally or ethnically Jewish, but they are not religiously Jewish.
They do not worship God and obey His commandments. They are carnal Jews rather than spiritual Jews. And this is why they are not experiencing the blessings of peace and prosperity that God promised them. This is also why they do not possess the entirety of their land.
Did you know that Israel has never had possession of all of the land promised to them by God in Genesis 15– not even when their kingdom was at its largest during King Solomon’s reign? Remember the map I gave you two weeks ago that showed the borders of the land grant given to Abraham? The promised area is much larger than present-day Israel. But as God was the one who promised the Jews this land, one day they will possess all of it. And I believe God’s gathering His children home at this time in history is a sign that that day is in the not too distant future.
B. God Has Done Something
And in fact, even though the Israelis are facing persecution and conflict, God has done quite a bit for them. He has more than once, miraculously saved them from sure destruction at the hands of their enemies. The very day that Israel declared its independence it was attacked by its Arab neighbors on every side. But Israel survived and even extended her borders from five thousand square miles to eight thousand square miles.
The fact that the Jewish people still exist as a recognizable people with their own culture and language after two thousand years of being scattered among the Gentile nations of the world is also a miracle. That they continue to survive in the midst of hostile neighbors and negative world opinion is even more evidence for Divine intervention in the existence of Israel.
III. What Does This All Mean For The Church?
So, why should the Gentiles in the Church of the 21st Century be concerned about what is happening among the Jewish people in the Middle East today? Why should we be following the events in that part of the world with bated breath? Why should we be concerned about the survival of Israel or searching the Scriptures daily concerning prophecies about the Middle East? There are many reasons.
A. Proof That God Is Faithful to His Promises
The first reason is because the events in the Middle East are proof that God is faithful to His promises. God is fulfilling in detail promises that He made to the Jewish people thousands of years ago. And as we see these promises fulfilled, we can likewise be assured that God is going to fulfill every promise He has made to us.
You know, God has promised that one day soon, Jesus will appear in the heaven, the dead in Christ will be resurrected, the living believers will be caught up to meet the Lord in the sky, and both the living and dead will be given new, glorified bodies. We will return to earth with Jesus to see Him crowned as King of kings and Lord of lords. We will see the earth flooded with peace, righteousness, and justice. And we will live in the presence of our Creator forever.
And those are just a few of the marvelous promises that have been made to what the Bible calls “overcomers” – those who have placed their faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior (1 John 5:1-5). As we witness God fulfilling His promises to the Jews, our hope should soar concerning the promises God has made to us, His Church.
B. Testimony to God’s Grace
The second reason the Church should be concerned about what is going on in the Middle East is because the events occurring there are a testimony to God’s unfathomable grace. Think about it for a moment – any god created by the mind of man probably would have annihilated the Jews a long time ago. Only a God of grace would have put up with the Jews and continued to love them.
Their own prophets refer to them as a “stiff-necked,” “stubborn,” and “rebellious” people. Yet, despite their rejection to God as king of their nation, and their rejection of His Son as king of their hearts, God continues to love them and pursue them with the intention of bringing a great remnant to salvation. Now, that’s grace.
The Jews continue to this day to be witnesses of God. Their history shows what it means to have a relationship with God. When they are faithful, He blesses. When they are rebellious, He disciplines. When they repent, He forgives and forgets and starts blessing again. And so it is with any person or nation who has a relationship with God.
The Jews are currently under discipline. They have not yet repented, and they therefore do not deserve to be regathered to their homeland. They do not merit God’s love and care. But neither do you or I. The only thing any of us deserve is death and permanent separation from God. We have hope only because our God is a God of grace.
C. How God Judges Us Depends on How We Treat Israel
Third, we as the Church, and as a nation should be concerned about events in the Middle East because God has promised to judge us personally and nationally on how we treat His brethren, the Jews.
Listen to the voice of God as He speaks through His prophet Joel. Joel 3:2, “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.”
God’s Word is very clear! There will be grave consequences for the nation or nations that attempt to divide up the land of Israel. God expresses His love for Israel by saying, “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you” (Gen. 12:3). This is and always has been God’s foreign policy toward the Jewish people from the very beginning. Any man or nation that persecutes the Jewish people or the State of Israel will receive the swift judgment of God. Whatever we as a nation, or individuals, do to Israel or the Jewish people will be exactly what God will do to us.
Israel is the center of the world in God’s eyes. If we call ourselves Christians, we will also love Israel and the Jews.
D. Evidence of Jesus’ Soon Return
And finally, we should be concerned with events in the Middle East because they are evidence that Jesus is returning soon. The Bible says that Jesus will return when the Jews are back in their homeland and their capital city. It also says that it will be a time when the entire world has come together against Israel over the issue of the control of Jerusalem.
Well, the Jewish State was reestablished on May 14, 1948, and the Jews reoccupied the city of Jerusalem on June 7, 1967. Since 1991, the entire world has been pressuring the Israeli government to surrender all or part of Jerusalem. The fulfillment of these prophecies makes it clear that we are on the threshold of the Tribulation. That means the Rapture of the Church is imminent.
Jesus is at the very gates of Heaven, waiting for His Father’s command to return. We are living on borrowed time. If ever there was an hour when men should consider their personal relationship to Jesus Christ, it is today. God is saying to this generation: “Prepare for the coming of the Lord.”
Sermon Sources:
Hagee, John. “Jerusalem Countdown.” 2006
Reagan, Dr. David R. “The Middle East Crisis in Biblical Perspective.” Lion and Lamb Ministries.
Walvoord, John, and Mark Hitchcock. “Armageddon, Oil, and Terror, What the Bible Says About the Future.” 2007
