ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM

In order to understand the Tribulation as spoken of in Matthew:24;21, "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be," we need to study prophecy and its importance during the tribulation period. For up to 4000 years or more there has existed a people, with customs and laws distinctively their own. This people have been oppressed and carried captive to other countries, actually scattered among all the nations, many times on the verge of annihilation. The Jews are remarkable as a people, no nation can trace back its lineage as far as they. Israel's glory existed before the beginning of most nations, the nation of Israel was organized, civilized, and established as a people long before Greece or Rome, and many centuries before anyone ever thought of searching for another continent. Nations have fallen, but the Jew has outlived all her conquerors. Dispersed among the nations for centuries, without a government, yet she has never been absorbed by the nations, and never lost her identity.

God has a plan for this earth and it is dependent upon His purpose, which includes events that will occur in Israel and Jerusalem. The present Biblical time period is known as "the times of the Gentiles." Luke 21:24, And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." Jerusalem has been under Gentile control since invaded by the Babylonian Army, except for short period's of time. "The time of the Gentiles will end when Messiah comes to defeat the Gentile Armies at Armageddon. Rev. 19: 11-16, And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he has a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." The Tribulation will come about because of Israel's rejection of the Messiah. The Tribulation, the seven year, seventieth week of Daniel, is a time of preparation for Israel's restoration and conversion. Deuteronomy 4:29 & 30; "But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; For the Lord thy God is a merciful God; he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them." Zechariah 12:10, "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn." The Jew and Gentiles, and not the church will be affected by the tribulation, those affected will be those on the earth during this time, the church will already have been raptured. The Old Testament prophets speak of the Tribulation as "that day," and the "latter days," the prophet Joel calls it the "Day of the Lord." Joel 1:15, Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand." Joel 2:1, Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand;" The time of the Tribulation then is after the Church has been "caught out", and during the reign of Anti-Christ on the earth.

After the Tribulation the Jewish people will be forever delivered from Gentile Rule. The Tribulation will remove wicked people from the earth in preparation for the Messianic Kingdom. All this climaxing at the battle of Armageddon, under King Messiah. Read Revelation, the entire Chapter 19.

Until 1948 the Jews who are the legal owners of Israel and who are dispersed throughout the nations have finally begun to return home, and in larger numbers as each year goes by. No people have ever had visible tokens of the divine presence as the Jews. The Red Sea was driven back for them Exodus 14:21-22, And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. and the Jordan was parted for them. Joshua 3:14-17, And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people; And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest. That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho. And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stook firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan. A people miraculously fed in the Wilderness, Exodus 16:12-15, 12: I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God. 13: And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host. 14: And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. 15: And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat. The Jew were divinely sheltered by the Pillar of cloud and fire: Exodus 13:21-22, 21: And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: 22: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people. The walls of a city fell at the blowing of a rams horn: Joshua 6:5, 5: And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him. The Sun and moon stayed in their courses so they might have time to slay their enemies: Joshua 10:12-14, 12: Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. 13: And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. 14: And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel. 2 Kings 19:35, 35: And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

The Jews have given to the world many great men, a man of faith such as Abraham, a leader and Law Giver such as Moses, and great statesmen like Joseph in Egypt, Daniel in Babylon, a King such as David, and wise men such as Solomon. From the Jew have come the Hebrew Prophets, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel and more importantly that man that has a name above every name, who in actuality is the Ancient of Days, The beginning and the End, the Mighty God, God Incarnate, The Lord Jesus Christ!

This people, the Jew, has been preserved down through history, which is the greatest miracle of all. One of the Emblems of the Jewish Race is a Bush Burning and unconsumed. Egyptian Pharoahs, Assyrian Kings, Roman Emperors, the Crusaders, Gothic princes, the inquisitioners, all devoted their energies to the fulfilment of the purpose of Jewish extermination. If the gas chambers at auschwitz could speak, they would tell how Jews were sent from all over Europe on Hitlers orders to solve the so called Jewish Problem. Six million Jews were brought and put to death in gas chambers, they were tortured by the most diabolical methods, still the Jew remains, his preservation the miracle of history. No other people have suffered so much and survived so triumphantly.

No people can blot out the Jew. Babylonian Captivity could not. Roman domination could not, modern massares could not, the ghetto could not. The Jews have been stoned, whipped, tortured, robbed, burned, enslaved, buried alive. Jews have been persecuted and killed in England 1264, Germany in 1298, again in Germany in 1356, in Nazi Germany 1940's in Spain in 1492 which is the same year Columbus discovered America. Under all these circumstances and many more they still survived.

Hatred of the Jew is of the Devil, Satan Despises the Jew, the reason being the Jew is important to the future and very much in the promises of God.

We owe the Jewish people a great debt for out of them came the Bible, out of them came great men of God. The Jews were raised up to reaffirm, and teach that there is one God. The Jews were the writers, transmitters, and preservers of the Holy Scriptures. To them were committed the "Oracles of God." Romans 3: 1 & 2. Every page and book of the Bible was written by a Jew. The Jewish race was raised up that God through them might give the world a Saviour. Jesus was a Jew! 412 years after the flood, God called Abraham, a Shunite, from Ur of the Caldees, to be the Father of a new nation. Gen. 12:1-3, 1: Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. No where in the Bible has this promise been revolked, God's promises to Abraham were a continuous process, the promises at Ur were regarding the land and that Abraham's seed should become a great nation. At Shecham the ownership of the land was promised to Abraham and his descendants. Genesis 12:7, 7: And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him. Again At Bethel: Gen. 13:15-16, 15: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. 16: And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. And yet again at Mamre: Gen. 15:18, 18: In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: And still again the promise was made at Moriah: Genesis 22:16-17, 16: And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: 17: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

The next great event for the Jew was the Exodus with Moses sent to deliver them. They wondered in the wilderness for 40 years until under the leadership of Joshua, they crossed the Jordan and entered the promised land and took possession of it. The Jew through time were subject to different conquerors, but governed by rulers of their own race in fulfillment of the prophecy that the Sceptre should not depart from Judah until Shiloh Come.

The Lord Jesus Christ, a Jew, was born in the city of Bethlehem, David's home, of a Jewish mother. A descendant of the tribe of Judah, He never left the confines of Palestine. Jesus spoke the Hebrew dialect of his day. Jewish friend, this Jesus whom Christians adore is "bone of your bone, and flesh of your flesh." We observe the Lords supper, whose origin goes back to the last Passover feast which Jesus observed with His disciples, and which He commanded us to remember Him by the bread and wine of the Passover Table. So long as Christianity shall stand we will continue to observe this rite which commemorates to us, both the Jews deliverance from bondage of Egypt, and our deliverance from the penalty of Sin, through our Jewish Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ! If I were a Jew, I would honestly give thought to the message of the Messiah and the gospel of Christ, Romans 1:16, "For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first and also to the Greek." The Jewish people and all who are not Jews need to lay hold upon the great truth that centuries and centuries of history do not culminate in a coincidence and that the prophecies of the Old Testament do culminate in Jesus Christ.

The Jew's have rejected Christ and many Christians have disgraced Him. Both the Jew and the Gentile need to consider the claims of Jesus, and do as the Bible tells you to do, Luke 13:5, Jesus said, "I tell you, nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Acts 26:31 "BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved." When you repent and believe the Gospel the Word of God tells us the Gospel "is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes." We don't negotiate the gospel with God, we either believe it or reject it. The Gospel is a two edged sword. The Bible states "He that believeth on the son hath everlasting life." Also this same verse further states "and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." John 3:36. If you need further information on the subject of believing go back to the beginning of this web site and click on ETERNITY.

In AD 70 the Roman Armies came, Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed by Titus, at this time the Jews were scattered among the nations of the earth.

The modern state of Israel was born in 1948 and is an important sign before the Judgment of the Tribulation.Isaiah 11:11-12, 11: And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. 12: And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. This Scripture speaks of Israel's regathering in preparation for a coming Judgment. Note that in this Scripture where it says "that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people." The question is: When was the first time? It was the Babylonian Captivity. Jeremiah 16:14-15, 14: Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; 15: But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.

We see another sign of the times! Jerusalem! The current occupation by Israeli Jews, since 1967 sets the stage for prophecies that will take place during the Tribulation. Zechariah 12:2-3, 2: Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. 3: And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. We see in our day many problems involving Jerusalem, and the nations of the world, as well as those surrounding Jerusalem. Some nations view Jerusalem as the source of their problems. There are nations who wish to internationalize and legislate its future, those attempting to do this will find disaster at some point or another, as God's Judgment will fall heavy upon them.

Jerusalem is the city to watch as more and more attention is focused on her. As we see these end time events happening, we need to be watchful.

Psalm 83:3-5, 3: They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. 4: They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. 5: For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:
Psalm 79:1, 1: O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.
Isaiah 59:20, 20: And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.
Zechariah 14:4, 4: And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
Revelations 22:20, 20: He which testifieth these things saith, surely I come quicklky. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.