The day is coming when the eyes of the Jewish people will be opened to see in living color that Jesus of Nazareth is their only Messiah and Savior. Dear reader:. In the world you will have tribulation. Because He overcame, we are overcomers. As overcomers, local believers in Israel help their neighbors overcome poverty, depression, and so much more.
FIRM exists to connect you with trusted gospel-centered work while empowering local ministries to transform lives in Israel. Through your generous gift, you can help people in Israel overcome and be spiritually transformed.
Most of the church today is ignorant of this awesome mystery. Even Paul needed to say to the Roman church in Romans For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so, all Israel will be saved, as it is written:. In these verses Paul uses several key words to prove that God plans to reveal Himself to Israel.
Thankfully, Paul tells us that this blindness is only in part and only temporary. That means, the Lord himself is her husband. And as her husband, God is so committed to Israel, that even when Israel is unfaithful to her marital vows, He will fulfill His. And God is a persistent lover. He is a jealous husband who will not be satisfied until He has won back his bride. Surely His covenant with Israel is now null and void.
We read:. Sing, O barren, you who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who have not labored with child! Isaiah This seems to be a reference to Hagar, the Egyptian gentile maid, who bore a son to Abraham while Sarah was childless. Could this be a picture of Israel and the church over the past 2, years? Over these centuries the people of Israel have struggled to survive.
And still today, the Jewish people make up 0. Spiritually speaking, the Jewish people are still in a position of barrenness. You cannot live your purpose of imaging, serving, and glorifying God while under the curse of sin. But as we read the Old Testament, things can get a bit murkier. Why did he choose the Jews if he knew they would fail him? God made Adam and Eve because he wanted a people to fellowship with, he wanted humans to reign over his creation, and he wanted them to glorify him through bearing his image.
Adam and Eve broke fellowship with God and ruined their purpose on earth when they sinned. If God would have done nothing, every human after Adam and Eve would be eternally separated from God in hell , aimless on earth, and never able to fulfill their purpose of reigning as God intended.
But God did do something. God made a way for people to be brought back into fellowship with him and empowered for his kingdom service now on earth and in the age to come.
Right after they sin, God promises a Redeemer to come through Adam and Eve who will crush the head of Satan Genesis God then makes a special covenant with Abraham Genesis , Genesis After Israel became a nation with laws and land, God then made a covenant with their king, David 2 Samuel , 1 Kings God did not choose Israel because of their greatness but because of their weakness and insignificance Deuteronomy , The whole world was being condemned and was alienated from God.
Only through Israel did God offer salvation. Right from the first covenant God made with Abraham, God made it clear that his purpose for Israel was about offering salvation to the world:.
And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. The gospel was the reason God chose Israel. So is there a deeper reason for the boycotts? It is claimed that the BDS campaign has a much wider objective; namely, the elimination of the Jewish State and should be stopped, link. But those who boycott Israel should heed the biblical warning:. Before Moses died he blessed the tribes of Israel and some of these blessings involved blessing of the sea and the land.
Israel may be seeing these blessings today enlarge map. Recent drilling has found thick oil strata in the Southern Golan Heights north-east of the Sea of Galilee. And the Negev desert has an almost unlimited underground supply of brackish water, which is being exploited for agricultural irrigation. Image: Known oil and gas fields in the Levant Basin. Oil and gas fields in grey. Thankfully, according to Bible prophecy, such disputes will be short-lived as this age rapidly comes to a close.
In fact, these future borders are almost identical to the borders of ancient Israel given to Moses in Num The borders also include Gaza, significant parts of present-day Syria and probably all of Lebanon. Are the politicians listening? This is the fundamental reason why religious Jews claim that the Land of Canaan modern Israel is their land, covenanted to them by God.
It is quite remarkable how Israel has survived attacks from overwhelming invading armies. Certainly, the evidence to date is that each time Arab nations attack Israel, they are defeated and their end-state seems worse than their first. By the end of the War of Independence the fledgling Israeli forces had defeated five invading Arab armies. In the armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and later Iraq attacked Israel, but were defeated in just six days despite the huge Arab superiority in armour, aircraft and troops.
As to the future, at the end of the age all nations will gather against Israel in an attempt to destroy her — but again God intervenes. Image: Israeli tank, They are coming from all over the world, from wherever they have been scattered amongst the nations. The picture shows the arrival of Jewish immigrants to Israel in This mass migration is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy — that towards the end of this age and just before Christ returns, God will call the children of Israel out of the nations and once more put them in their own land:.
Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone … and bring them into their own land Ezek Prophecy paints a picture of a world at peace no war with Jerusalem Zion as the focal point since Christ dwells there.
Millennial life around Jerusalem is described in some detail. It also appears that some of the Hebrew festivals are reinstated, as in the Feast of Tabernacles Zech Man will still have his daily work but there is some indication that the bias of work will be towards husbandry farming and hunting fishing rather than industrial manufacturing Ezek People will be born and will die in the Millennial earth, just as in the present age. Death is the last enemy and is not destroyed until the close of the Millennium.
After some 2, years of dispersion amongst the nations, Israel will again take on her intended role in the world:.
So the restoration of Israel will be a sign or witness to the nations that the God of Israel, the God of the Bible, the only true God, loves mankind. The center branch represents Divine light understanding from God and the six branches represent human efforts to spread this light to the Gentiles Isa Future wars against Israel will be different from previous wars. Whilst some claim that the 6-Day war in June was miraculous in that Israel overcame huge superiority in armour, aircraft and troops, future wars will certainly be unique.
These wars will directly glorify the God of Israel as He openly defeats the attacking forces. After the largely Islamic Gog-Magog war we read:. And during the final war against Israel prophecy says that God will again clearly intervene to protect His people:. God indeed intervenes in world affairs! This has been true in history and is true for the future.
At the very end of this age , are drawn from twelve tribes of Israel and sealed for their protection Rev 7. The result of their witness is a great turning to God from all the nations Rev 7.
At last, the Gentile nations acknowledge and value the unique role of the Jew:. Still others become priests and keep charge of the new Jewish temple in Jerusalem Isa Prophecy indicates that there will be several major wars against Israel in the near future, just before Christ returns to rule the earth as King Zech The so-called Gog-Magog war in Ezek results in the attackers being defeated by the intervention of the God of Israel, rather than by the armies of Israel Ezek This is in the form of extreme weather — extreme rain, hail and snow — and also by fire and brimstone similar to that which destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah Ezek The Golan Heights must be involved.
This man-God war could involve neutron bombs since these vaporize flesh at close range. Such a fate of the invaders is suggested in Zech The attackers may also be destroyed by nuclear devices since Malachi 4 refers to a time of fierce heat when invaders are burnt to ashes. Bible prophecy describes how the increasing political bias of western nations, and the increasing aggression of Arab-Muslim nations finally leads to another major war against Israel.
In fact, since prophecy is not precise, some see several major Middle East wars just before the close of this age and the Second Coming of Christ. A future invasion of northern Israel is strongly indicated in Ezek 38 and Ezek The countries involved appear to be mainly the Islamic nations surrounding Israel, possibly led by Iran and Russia. At the very end of this age prophecy indicates that all nations Gentile and Islamic will attempt a final invasion of Israel:.
This latter war appears to be unique in that it is not primarily man against man, but man against God; it is commonly known as Armageddon Rev Both invasions are defeated by the God of Israel. The real reason for the aggression is spiritual , not political or even humanitarian.
You may reject the concept of a spiritual world co-existing with the physical world, but it is a fact; Jesus Christ proved beyond doubt that the spiritual world exists. Israel is the central player in that spiritual world. He proved that too, by His resurrection from the dead. But the truth about this powerful spiritual world is blurred, corrupted and buried by spiritual forces of darkness:. In fact, the spiritual aggression shown to Israel and to the true followers of Christ will intensify towards the end of this age Rev The problem is that Israel is now occupying land previously conquered by Islam.
Muslims conquered The Levant which embraces all of Israel and much more, link in the 7th century and the land of Israel remained in Muslim hands apart from the brief Crusader period until liberated from the Muslim Turks by the British in So Islam wants the Levant back!
Today this extreme ideology is underscored by ISIL. The Levant objective falls under the general Islamic ideology of a world-wide caliphate, link. Map copyright: By No machine-readable author provided. MapMaster assumed based on copyright claims. Fundamentalist Christians believe that modern Israel, and not the church, will be central in world affairs at the close of this age.
God wants the church to call His people, wherever they are, back to Himself. This is spearheaded by the World Council of Churches WCC which has called on member churches Anglican, Methodist … to support an international boycott of Israeli settlement produce and services, link. Without doubt there is an overall bias in the UN against Israel. Between and there were 77 UN resolutions against Israel, and just one against the Palestinians, link.
How can Israel be so wrong? Israel is often accused of being the aggressor in conflicts, whereas Israel claims she wages defensive war after provocation, link. Other resolutions refer to the on-going Palestinian refugee problem, but many see this now as a political tool by Arab nations, link , link. But the UN is not all bad: in the UN began to address issues of concern to the Jewish community, particularly anti-Semitism. From the rise of Zionism to the present day, Israel has not been welcomed on the world scene.
After all, Israel is just some 8 million people living on land the size of Wales! Israel is a special nation chosen by God to be His witness in the world and to bring redemption to the world through Christ, link.
Satan knows all this and end-time prophecy underscores the attempts by Satan to eliminate Israel:. This hatred was evident in the holocaust and subsequent wars against Israel, and culminates in all nations turning against Israel at Armageddon Zech But there is hope.
Jerusalem Old City at Dawn. Image: Free Israel Photos. The deep significance of this to Jewish, Christian and Muslim beliefs makes Jerusalem one of the most contested pieces of real estate in the world. Given these historic and certain future events, we can see that the various claims on Jerusalem are actually the outworking of a spiritual battle over Jerusalem, a battle between truth and error, between the God of Israel and spiritual forces of darkness.
On the other hand, orthodox Jews claim their historic and covenant right to the city. No wonder Jerusalem will be the location of the most epic battle of history! The is a solution, but prophecy indicates that it will not occur in this present age. The Bible instructs the people of Israel how they should treat foreigners non-Jews. Old Testament Israel was commanded to love foreigners Deut This instruction is timeless and applies to Palestinian Arabs today.
Unfortunately, as long as Arab countries refuse to recognize Israel and continue to attack her, such cohabitation would seem to be impossible. But Israel will be at peace with her neighbours in the Millennium!
Most of the western world aims for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem. In reality there can be no lasting, workable two-state solution. This reflects the PA leadership position:. The problem here is that Israel has already declared Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel, and this is compounded by the Palestinian leadership which does not even recognize the Jewish State:. The Green line was an armistice line drawn up after the war under the auspices of the UN and it was intended to be temporary.
So, through Arab aggression, Israel temporarily lost land mandated to her through the Mandate for Palestine, and this was only regained in the 6-day war. That includes the West Bank. Some , Jewish settlers live in the relatively lightly populated Area C, link. There is also muted and occasional support from the UN and the EU, but this is usually outweighed by condemnation in other areas. There are 21 governmental and intergovernmental entities including the EU that financially support Israeli NGOs, link , although some of these are politically biased and represent the interests of foreign governments, link.
In contrast to other Middle Eastern countries, Israel has a western-style democracy. Whilst not perfect, this means that Israelis of all ethnic groups and religious beliefs, including Arab-Israelis, can actively participate in the election process, and all votes cast are equal in weight.
Also, Israel is one of the few places in the Middle East where Arab women may vote. The principle of the generality of the elections ensures the active right of every Israeli citizen, who is at least 18 years old, to vote and the right of every Israeli citizen, who is at least 21 years old, to be elected.
No voter ever votes for an actual person. Instead, every voter votes for a single party. The Knesset, Jerusalem. The Israeli government resides in Jerusalem. Israel is governed by a western-style multiparty parliamentary system. The government is headed by the Prime Minister, who is elected in nationwide elections for a period of four years, and an elected President who has a largely apolitical ceremonial role. The Knesset has legislative power and comprises members who are also elected for a term of four years in nationwide elections.
The electoral voting system is based on nation-wide proportional representation. Rain in the Judean desert. Bible prophecy over end-time Israel speaks of great blessings on the land. This will be in terms of abundant agricultural produce — grains, fruit and wine Ezek All this of course requires water. Over the past years Israel has engineered a national water carrier system and desalination plants, and she drains water from large aquifers under the desert.
But what of the climate? Has there been a change in rainfall? The Jewish National Fund has planted over million trees, which are known to be beneficial to the climate. For this reason, in the Chief Rabbinate of Israel urged the public to begin saying a special prayer daily to ask God to bless Israel with abundant rain enlarge image.
All over Israel, people now recite this prayer. In the last days God promises Israel:. The NWC was started in and now comprises a system of giant pipes, open canals, tunnels, reservoirs and large scale pumping stations enlarge image.
Israel also reuses treated sewage, and computerized drip irrigation and micro-sprinklers for agriculture. As Jews started returning to their homeland around the start of the 20th century, the need to combat desertification became one of national importance.
New immigrants embarked upon an extensive program of afforestation, and since almost million sub-tropical trees have been planted in all regions of Israel. Even so, Israeli farmers have come a long way since the Zionist pioneers began clearing rock-strewn fields and draining the swampland. The Mandate did not grant any national political rights to Arabs, but Article 2 did safeguard the civil and religious rights of all inhabitants of Palestine, irrespective of race or religion.
Moreover, as a direct result of Article 80, the UN cannot transfer these rights over any part of Palestine vested as they are in the Jewish People to any non-Jewish entity, such as the Palestinian Authority. The Mandate is therefore the last legally binding document regarding the West Bank and Gaza, and so Jewish settlements in these areas are fully protected by Article Sadly, this legal fact is often ignored by the UN.
The descendants of Jacob Israel were the twelve tribes of Israel and they settled in the Promised Land of Canaan enlarge map.
This settlement aligned with the boundaries God gave Israel at the time:. Few would doubt that Jews have for centuries been substantially over-represented in many fields of learning and accomplishment, notably of course is Albert Einstein. Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world, and she has the highest density of start-up companies in the world.
This is an amazing achievement bearing in mind that Jews comprise less than 0. Why such Jewish genius? It is probably a blessing from God since they are His chosen people. Recall that when Israel obeys her God then she is specially blessed:.
This is both dramatic and traumatic, but ends in glory and victory. Whilst involving the whole world, it is essentially a time of suffering for those Jews who have returned to the Promised Land. These are the Jews who are at last honoured by the nations and who glorify God and serve Him on the Millennial earth. In the early 20th century the land of Israel was a mix of many peoples representing some 50 languages and there was no common Arab identity.
In there were just 83, Jews but this increased to over 6. Today, out of thew 8. Out of the 6. So who are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?
They are of course the twelve tribes descended from Jacob whose name was changed by God to Israel. These tribes enlarge image are listed in Gen They were Hebrew Israelites. Since these tribes will once more take up their role as a witness to the nations during the Millennium Ezek 37, Ezek , it follows that they must be amongst those who are returning to the State of Israel today.
He implied that Israel will be the vortex of the nations at the end of this age and the sign of His soon return. Over the past years the nation and people of Israel have come to prominence on the world scene.
This simple fact points to the imminent return of Christ. History shows that both houses rebelled against God, and despite warnings from the prophets, both houses were eventually removed from their Promised Land.
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