"You worship what you do not know,
we know what we worship,
for salvation is of the Jews."
John 4:22
Many people who are not familiar with the Bible might be surprised to hear that Jesus was Jewish, and his mother Mary was a Jew. The twelve apostles were Jews. God's story from Genesis to Revelation is all about the Jews. It began with the Jews and it will end with the Jews.
We're approaching the last of the last days, and Israel is now in the news daily. Imagine it - a nation that was destroyed two thousand years ago and its people dispersed throughout the world - is now back in our news media daily, two thousand years later.
History shows us that when a nation is conquered, after a couple of generations it will be completely assimilated into the conquering peoples. When was the last time you heard of Amelekites, Jebusites, Perizites, Phoenicians, Hittites? They all disappeared from history, having been absorbed into the nations that conquered them.
Not so with the Jews. How could a people survive 2,000 years of dispersion into every country on earth, be brought back to the very land from which they were dispersed - after 2,000 years - and speaking the same ancient language as though they had never left?
Impossible! Yes.
But that's exactly what happened.
How could a people become a modern nation, as modern as America or anywhere else -- in just one generation? The nations surrounding her have been there for thousands of years, yet they have not accomplished in thousands of years what God has accomplished in Israel in one generation!
God called out a people, the Jewish people, to demonstrate many truths about himself through them. And one of those truths is his faithfulness to his Word. He swore a covenant oath to them that after enduring his judicial punishment for those 2,000 years, HE would bring them back to the land of their fathers and totally restore them, and that all the prophecies of "the last days" would come to pass through them.
Do not think that the Middle East conflict is accidental. I used to wonder why God didn't restore the nation of Israel in some deserted place on earth where she could thrive without other nations hating her. You know - maybe in some remote area in the middle of South America or Africa? How about Newfoundland? There wouldn't be anyone there to hate her.
No, God has DELIBERATELY brought her back to the land that Satan has spent the past two thousands years preparing, surrounding her with enemies brainwashed to hate her with ceaseless plans to destroy her.
When Israel was scattered two thousand years ago, there was no Islam! Mohammed wouldn't be born for centuries to come. Islam is the creation of Satan who has succeeded in surrounding the nation of Israel with Muslims whose Satanic religion demands that they kill the Jews and drive Israel off the map. Israel's enemies surround her, 500 to 1. Does she have a chance against those odds? Not unless her God makes her victorious. The day after Israel became a nation in 1948, few in number, weak survivors of the Holocaust, she was attacked by five surrounding Arab nations who had been established for centuries. There is no way imaginable that she could survive it. Yet she did. Because the God of Israel gave the victory.
This story is not so much the conflict between Ishmael, the father of the Arabs, and Isaac the father of the Jews, though that is the source of the conflict. But more than that, it is Satan against God. And God has laid it out in such a way that Satan has every advantage, the purpose being that God's faithfulness will be undeniable when he brings to pass the total restoration that he promised Israel and which the prophets of the Old Testament foretold over and over and over again, in fact they foretold it even before Israel was ever scattered.
God shows himself as knowing the end from the beginning, prophesying beforehand what will be the outcome. Imagine the prophets prophesying the end when the scattering throughout the world hadn't even taken place yet. No other god could even come close to prophesying this because the facts on the ground said it was impossible.
Prophecy identifies the author. No other religion contains prophecy, because Satan does not know the future, except what is revealed in the Word of God. The God of Israel, and ONLY HE, proves himself by the fulfillment of ancient prophecy concerning “the last days,” prophecies which were given thousands of year beforehand.
And therefore we know he will be faithful to the promises made to believers as well. Through the atonement made for us in his Son, Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven with the promise of eternal life. Heaven forever, for all who will receive him.
God's Word is faithful. God's Word stands forever.
MORE:
"For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh,
'For this very purpose I have raised you up,
that I may show my power in you,
and that my Name may be declared in all the earth.'
Therefore he has mercy on whom he wills,
and whom he wills he hardens.
You will say to me then,
'Why does he still find fault? For who has resisted his will?'”
Romans 9:17-19
This is undoubtedly one of the more difficult passages in the Scriptures. When you read that God hardened Pharaoh's heart, your human reaction is "that's not fair!" Anticipating this very response, the Scripture goes on to address that: "Why does he still find fault, or who has resisted his will?" And at this point you're eagerly anticipating the answer... but here it is....
vs 20:
"But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God?
Will the thing formed say to him who formed it,
'Why have you made me like this?'"
And that leaves you wondering, because it seems totally unjust. In fact, I was reluctant to even address this subject because I doubted that I could persuade anyone otherwise, and I told the Lord that I need to write on something else. But the Lord prodded me that no, I am to address this...
The whole matter depends on one thing: whether or not one trusts the INTEGRITY of God.
To trust the integrity of God means that I have to lay aside my human reasoning and surrender my opinions to the God who I believe IS fair, IS righteous, and IS right in all he says and does, because he says that about himself. If I do not have that level of RESPECT, then the subject ends here.
If you do not have that level of respect, read no further for this is not for you.
If you're still with me ...let's start with the statement:
"...he who does not believe God has made Him a liar..."
1st John 5:10
Is that possible? Might God be a liar?
According to Scripture, God is THE TRUTH personified.
"I am the way, THE TRUTH, and the life..."
John 14:6
You'll say, "you're using Scripture to explain Scripture but we haven't determined the trustworthiness of Scripture."
Exactly. The decision has to be made FIRST - whether or not to trust the Word of God, the Bible. Do we believe there IS a God who created the universe? And if he did, can we believe that he watches over his Word - the most important thing to mankind? If no, then the discussion is over. Go your way. This is not for you.
If yes, we have to put aside our HUMAN REASONING and surrender it to the wisdom of the God who created us and gave us his Word. The God who breathed out galaxies and keeps them in order. When we pick and choose what we'll believe, we're putting our human thinking above the wisdom of the most high God. We're saying, in effect, "That can't be right because it doesn't seem right to me." By extension, we're saying to God, "You're wrong."
"You're wrong," to him who created the earth and the stars? To him who orders the seasons to appear each in their time? To him who designed your own DNA?
If we do not believe God, if we do not have total respect for the Word of God, we might as well pack it up and move on. If we cannot come to this level of respect for the Word of God, then we have to leave him and his Word. Put him out of our lives. It is at this point that each person has to make a decision and I challenge you right now to make that decision, and make it a lifetime decision. Accept the Word of God as truth, or leave him. Don't be lukewarm. Don't be double-minded. Make the decision today and if nay, God grants you your choice; and at the end of your life it will be shown who was the liar.
If we are to believe the Word of God we have to come to the place where we understand that it is not for us to select something from God’s Word and hold it up to the "light" of OUR understanding and then decide whether to accept it or reject it. When there is a gap between God’s Word and your understanding, you can be sure the fault lies in your understanding. We have to truly understand what he's saying when he says:
"'For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways,' says the Lord.
'For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.'"
Isaiah 55:8-9
And that's the answer. His reasoning is not inferior to our reasoning. He gives us his Word and it needs to be settled in our minds that when we come to a passage we do not understand, we put it on the shelf - knowing his Word is true and my understanding is limited.
Knowing this also: when one rejects truth, lies fill the void.
The following is the greatest presentation on this subject that I've ever seen. Watch this, and if you agree, pass it on.
"I, the Lord, speak righteousness,
I declare things that are right."
Isaiah 45:19
There is only one authority who can declare what is right and what is wrong. It is an insult to the Most High God when men usurp for themselves this privilege, declaring what they shall deem right and wrong. So when they call something right that is wrong, when they oppose the Word of Almighty God, God says “woe to them!”
"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Isaiah 5:20
God doesn't waste words. When he says "Woe," you can believe that woe will surely come. The great men of the earth will shudder under the heavy judgments to come upon the earth. They will be so severe that Scripture tells us men will seek shelter in caves because of the great judgments falling upon a rebellious and self-willed people.
"And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men,
the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man,
hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains,
and said to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us
from the face of him who sits on the throne
and from the wrath of the Lamb!'"
Revelation 6:15-16
Interestingly, there have been reports that the "elite" have built massive underground shelters to hide in, should any great calamity arise. They think they can escape, but they will find that they are no match against "the wrath of the Lamb."
The great men of the earth have usurped the authority of God and declared that any woman who finds herself pregnant may murder her child.
God says, "Thou shalt not commit murder."
The great men of the earth say that all people should be free to "love" anyone they choose, including members of the same sex.
God says it is shameful:
"Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman,
burned in their lust for one another,
men with men committing what is shameful…"
And forbidden:
"You shall not lie with a male as with a woman.
It is an abomination.
Nor shall you mate with any animal,
to defile yourself with it."
Leviticus 18:22-23
Given over to reprobate minds, they paraded their deeds with no shame:
"Were they ashamed when they
had committed abomination?
No! They were not at all ashamed;
Nor did they know how to blush."
Jeremiah 6:15
Romans 1:26-27
The great men of the earth command us to welcome Muslims within our borders.
God says:
"You shall have NO OTHER GODS before me."
Exodus 20:3
And he declares "Allah" a false god:
"Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel,
and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
‘I am the First and I am the Last;
BESIDES ME THERE IS NO GOD."
Isaiah 44:6
So what is the end of the matter?
"And all shall be ashamed who are incensed against him."
Isaiah 45:24
The men of earth elevate themselves to greater authority than their maker. They spit in the eye of God and are enraged against him, demanding that THEY will decide what is right and what is wrong. But their day is coming. They shall fall in shame.
What could be worse than standing before God after death, and hearing that one's eternity is going to be spent in torment and regret?
What could be worse?