Some Conversation About Israel

10/24/2001

Hi… Thanks for passing that article on. I DO need to mention, though, that there are some serious errors in the document—misunderstandings of the Scriptures.

Here is one quote from the article:

The land of Israel is unique and special, like no other land in the world. It is God’s land, and this fact is well documented throughout the Old Testament. Anyone who comes against Israel and her covenant land is coming into direct conflict with the Almighty God.

That’s not an honest appraisal of Biblical History, now is it?!

Nebuchadnezzar “My servant” (God’s description of the evil tyrant) was NOT “coming into direct conflict with the Almighty God” for coming against Israel. He did what He did with GOD’S APPROVAL, though Israel didn’t like it much. There are many BIBLICAL illustrations of this point. AGAIN AND AGAIN GOD HAS COME AGAINST ISRAEL—FOR HER SINS. “‘I will do a thing that will make your ears tingle!’ saith the Lord.” The article is fairly short-sighted, and cemented into human reason and earthly-realm thought, as thought about Israel often is, in these faddish days.

We’ve been to Israel, and I understand our Heritage in the depths of my inner man. BUT, this article and much thought today is superficial about the nature of Israel, what she has to come to grips with—regarding her only Messiah, and how God has always viewed the plot of ground, Israel. Fad is more common than Biblical Perspective, Biblical History, and Biblical Knowledge. Sensationalism and sentimental gullibility are so often the trademarks of those who wear God’s Name, particularly in the West. In DROVES, people drool over “Late Great Planet Earth” and “Y2K Judgment of GOD”-style prophesies and dramas, and then, when it all comes to naught, they don’t even blink—before they dishonestly go on to the next episode, without apology.

I love true Israel. I don’t love shallow and superficial viewpoints that are not consistent with the Scriptures. Some ‘o dat …is found in that article. I am NOT saying that physical Israel ought to be a Palestinian state. I am saying that the perspective in that article is far more faddish and physical-world sentimental —than Biblical. It contradicts MUCH Biblical History and Teaching, with just one quote above as an example. With more attention on MESSIAH, and “Zeal for the Father’s HOUSE consuming” us…we would not be perpetually making mistakes like this!

Oh well……. : )

In His Love,

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If the Jewish people are not “relevant,” or what God is speaking about when He speaks of His Bride, why have they endured such persecution and suffering as a nation and ethnically? (Hitler, etc.)

And there are many Scriptures that speak of God wanting “Israel” to be a nation or people to be a “light to the Gentiles and bring salvation to the ends of the earth.” If you read Isaiah 49, this whole chapter speaks of how God wants to use all of us—including “Israel”—to spread His light and set the “captives free” by His Spirit. It also addresses the restoration of Israel. In verse 22 it says “See, I will beckon to the Gentiles, I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders.” Is “your” not Israel? And in Luke 13:34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who killed the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings…”; it seems that the Father has such a “heart” for “Israel, Jerusalem, Jacob…”—I wonder just what it is that all of this is directed to.

I am not disagreeing with you. It has given me a different look at things. I just want to understand all of this. I looked in Revelation and found that “Jerusalem” here is only spoken of as the “new Jerusalem.” There is no reference to “Israel” or the “Jerusalem” I believe is spoken to in Luke 13:34. So what exactly is “Israel, Jerusalem, Jacob, His servants,” etc. in reference to??? Why have these people been the center of such “controversy” over the years? Why are so many of the Scriptures related to them?

I do believe that God does speak to us through His relationship with Israel and all that He has shown them and directed them in throughout the years, from Abraham to the birth and life of Jesus. There is much for our spiritual growth and refining process in the history and traditions of the Jewish people, the Israelites. There is so much depth and love and caring and mercy that God speaks to us through His relationship with them. For some reason He did choose this race and has used them to reach out to the nations and all peoples to the ends of the earth with His message of love and salvation. Does He want to use them and all of this in the last days???

Thanks for listening and sending the “conversational thoughts” along. : )

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Ahhhh! It is NOT that they are not “relevant”!! Those weren’t MY words or thoughts. It is simply that the COVENANT demands that they BELIEVE in their Messiah, in order to be grafted in! And the DEFINITION, according to God, of “all Israel that IS Israel”—is NOT based on shadow, but “on the Reality that is in Christ.” SO, I am ALL FOR a massive repentance on the part of many of Abrahamic physical lineage, and EXPECT this, based on what Paul has written, by the Spirit. It is a Prophecy about the end of the end, and that is SUPER. BUT, to think in EXTERNAL, and CHRIST-LESS terms…according to many, many Scriptures…is a serious mistake, and very commonplace today. BUT, I LOVE ISRAEL! : ) SO did Jesus, but they “WOULD NOT” allow Him to gather them, as a hen gathers her chicks, and He told them He was taking the Inheritance away and giving it to those who will bear its fruit. I DO look for an outbreak of wondrous conversions to the Blood of the Messiah, but as Paul and Jesus BOTH said, “His own received Him not” and their unBelief has cut them off, until they BELIEVE. THIS is the New Agreement, and NO MAN COMES TO THE FATHER, but by abandoning their lives to Him and trusting in HIS BLOOD, from the heart. There surely are many “residual effects” as I mentioned, with Ishmael, with Israel, with Einstein. God remembers All. It is simply that LINEAGE is by the FAITH of ABRAHAM, not the genetic strand…and that is what GOD, through Paul, says Israel was Destined to be. Re-read those Scriptures in the last note? And that other answer was in there too. ;) BUT, don’t misunderstand me that “Israel” doesn’t exist in God’s memory, and that it is “not relevant”—I didn’t say that! ;) It is just DIFFERENT, when seen through the eyes of the Teaching of the Spirit through Paul. The Temple was a SHADOW. The Sabbath was a SHADOW. The Sacrifices, the Feasts, the Law…were a “SHADOW”—and have great meaning as a “tutor” that points us towards Christ! They are simply not an end in themselves. THAT’S what I was saying. : )

Love in the Master,

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Thanks so much. I am hoping to get a chance to share with you all that I seem to be getting from all of this. Thanks for “listening.” God’s blessings be upon all….

Love in His Holy Name,