God's Chosen People: Jerusalem, Armageddon & World War III
March 29, 2012
By: John Barnett
Read, print, or listen to this resource on our website www.DiscoverTheBook.org
The God who recorded the beginning, that no one but Him witnessed in Genesis; is also the God gives us the ending, that no one but Him could have ever written, in Revelation.
Isn’t it amazing that God devotes 1/4th or 25% of the Bible to the indivisible union that the world’s destiny has with God’s Chosen People of Promise, Israel, Jerusalem, and the Jews? Never forget:
The Centrality of Israel In the Bible
Israel is the 3rd largest topic is the Bible right after: GodLord Himself mentioned 12,000 times (God 4094xLord 6781xplus Jesus, Christ, Spirit, etc.); and salvation (man 3323xsin 1016x/Jesus 942x); Israel is mentioned over 2900x and Jerusalem 767x. The church 111x, prayer 128x, and the cross 29x are much less mentioned.
Over 200 times God introduces Himself as the Great I am, the God of Israel (plus 17x the God of Abraham, and 25x the God of Jacob). He is not the “I was”, He is the “I AM”; and He is, His was, and has promised in the future that He will be the God of Israel.
Using just a normal Bible with no study notes (my Bible is 1100 pages long) you find that:
• 600 pages (Genesis to Song of Solomon) are Israel’s origin, history, wanderings away from God, and worship (that is 600/1100 pages or) 54%; and
• 250 pages are devoted to the prophets (Isaiah to Malachi) that speak of the doom coming first to Israel then and the world in the future (that is 250/1100 pages or) 23%; and then we get
• 110 pages devoted to the Life of Christ (Matthew to John) that lasts for (110/1100 pages or) 10% of the Bible; and then
• 120 pages devoted to the record of Acts to Jude that explains Christ's Church’s birth and mission for 120/1100 pages or 11%; and then the
• 20 pages of Revelation describing the centrality of Israel and Jerusalem in end of the world take up almost (20/1100 pages or) 2% of the Bible.
So just a simple glance at the Table of Contents of God's Word would make a reader conclude that Israel, Jerusalem, and the Jews are very important to God. He has chosen to devote fully (4/5ths or) 79% of the Bible to Israel’s origin, calling, chastisement, return, and future troubles that engulf the whole world.
And also, just the layout of the Bible that opens and closes with Israel, Jerusalem, and the Jews with the Church’s 21 % of the Word sandwiched importantly, but intentionally between the opening and closing
When the Old Testament prophets explained the future they universally began with Israel and all details revolved around Jerusalem and the Land. Each times Jesus explained how the world would end He starts with Israel, Jerusalem, and the Jewish people (Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21). Paul does the same in Romans 9-11, First and Second Thessalonians (II Th. 2:4); as does John in Revelation 11, 13, 16, 19.
God Keeps His Promises To Israel Literally
Tonight, we are on the 10th of 12 promises God made to Israel. When God makes a promise, He keeps it. We cling to Him keeping His Word, like “I will never leave you nor forsake you”, and I will come again for you”. As we open to Ezekiel 36 always remember the purpose of prophecy is for God to authenticate His identity. Prophecy is the proof that God is God alone!
Ezekiel 36 and 39 says God will restore Israel in the last days, for the sake of HIS NAME (36:20-21; 39:7, 25)
Ezekiel 36:20, 25-21 "When they came to the nations, wherever they went, they profaned My holy name—when they said of them, ‘These are the people of the LORD, and yet they have gone out of His land.’ 21 But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations wherever they went. Ezekiel 39:7, 25 So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. Then the nations shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel. 25 “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name—"
So, to understand what God meant with the 10th promise He made to Israel (concerning Jerusalem and the end of the world), we need to note how God kept His other promises He gave to Israel in His Word.
These promises identify Israel as the nation that will signal the end of days. God has verified, each time He keeps these promises that the Jews, and the nation of Israel, are His Chosen People of Promise:
This may be one of the most important studies we have ever undertaken, so feel free to trace these points and verses in your Bibles as we go along!
1. God promised Abraham: descendants who would the chosen people of God; and property for them with clearly defined boundaries in Genesis 12:1; 13:15; 15:7, 18-21. Genesis 15:7 He also said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” He renewed that promise to Abraham's son Isaac (Genesis 26:3-5), to his grandson Jacob (Genesis 28:13), and to their descendants after them forever (Leviticus 25:46; Joshua 14:9; etc.).
And that is the literal history of the Jews from any historical, secular source. So God kept His promise and fulfilled what He said LITERALLY.
2. God promised Moses that He would Divinely bring His chosen people of destiny to the Promised Land. Exodus 6:7-8 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.
And that is the literal history of the Jews from any historical, secular source. So God kept His promise and fulfilled what He said LITERALLY.
3. God stakes His future reputation on people He identified as His chosen people of destiny, the Jews, the descendents of Abraham, and He named them Israel. Deuteronomy 7:6-7 “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. 7 The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples;
And that is the literal history of the Jews from any historical, secular source. So God kept His promise and fulfilled what He said LITERALLY.
4. God promised to judge His chosen people of destiny if they forgot Him in the Promised Land. 2 Chronicles 7:20 then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples.
And that is the literal history of the Jews from any historical, secular source. So God kept His promise and fulfilled what He said LITERALLY.
5. God promised to scatter His unfaithful but chosen people of destiny from the Promised Land. Deuteronomy 28:64 Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.
And that is the literal history of the Jews from any historical, secular source. So God kept His promise and fulfilled what He said LITERALLY.
6. God promised a curse upon His unfaithful but chosen people of destiny as they wandered the world without their Promised Land. Deuteronomy 28:37 You will become a thing of horror and an object of scorn and ridicule to all the nations where the LORD will drive you.
And that is the literal history of the Jews from any historical, secular source. So God kept His promise and fulfilled what He said LITERALLY.
7. God promised to chasten His unfaithful but chosen people of destiny. My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto Him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations (Hosea 9:17).
And that is the literal history of the Jews from any historical, secular source. So God kept His promise and fulfilled what He said LITERALLY.
8. God promised to preserve His chosen people of destiny from annihilation. Jeremiah 30:11 "I am with you and will save you," declares the LORD. "Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you but only with justice; I will not let you go entirely unpunished."
And that is the literal history of the Jews from any historical, secular source. So God kept His promise and fulfilled what He said LITERALLY.
9. God promised to re-gather His chosen people of destiny back to the Promised Land. Ezekiel 36:24, 35 ‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 35 They will say, “This land that was laid waste has become like the garden of Eden; the cities that were lying in ruins, desolate and destroyed, are now fortified and inhabited.”
And that is the literal history of the Jews from any historical, secular source. So God kept His promise and fulfilled what He said LITERALLY.
God Has Kept His Word To Israel Each Time
So, how has God kept the first 9 promises? He fulfilled them exactly as He promised, with each specific detail He described in His Word, and in each case: literally.
1) God gave Abraham a son through the succeeding generations, countless descendents; and
2) God took them out Egypt and literally into the Promised Land; and
3) God conquered a literal physical Land for them by fighting alongside of them; and
4) God delivered them into literal captivity among their enemies; and
5) God saw that the Jews were literally displaced, enslaved, sold, and scattered to the ends of the earth from The Promised Land across the Middle East, by caravan to Asia and Africa, and by boat to Europe and America. There is almost no spot on earth that Jews could not be found; and
6) God allowed vicious, literal prejudice and hatred to be poured out on the Jews ever since, in every land they have settled in; and
7) God has made them feel after a while persecuted, unsettled, insecure, and homeless in every land; and
8) God has kept them from literal extermination, from planned Holocausts, and has not allowed them to go extinct; and
9) God has stirred their hearts, gathered them bit-by-bit back into their geographic Land, and has allowed them for the first time in 2600 years to have their own sovereignty over literal territorial boundaries.
So what is the next promise God made? Turn with me to the 38th book of the Bible, just a couple of pages before Matthew.
God promised to make His chosen people of destiny a source of fear for the whole world when they get back to the Promised Land in unbelief. God declared that in the last days before the Messiah's second coming, Jerusalem would become "a cup of trembling…a burdensome stone for all people" (Zechariah 12:2,3).
Zechariah 12:2-3 I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. 3 On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves.
We already saw in Ezekiel 36-39 says God will restore Israel in the last days, for the sake of HIS NAME (36:20-21; 39:7, 25).
God goes on to say that He will allow a vast coalition to come against Israel, and describes them over 3,000 years ago in terms that we can understand today. Turn with me to Psalm 83:6-8. These verses have never been fulfilled according to nearly every commentator of all eschatological views. These verses may give us an outline of that next war as a coalition of:
- Saudi Arabia
- Jordan
- Palaestinian
- Lebanon
- Iraq/Syria
- But not Egypt
They will attack Israel and seek to take over Jerusalem.
All Arabs tried in 1948 to stop the rebirth; all tried in 1967 to wipe out Israel; only some joined in 1973; but this time Egypt will sit out most likely because of the Aswan High Dam. The largest military target in the region would send a wall of water down the Nile Valley that would kill millions of Egyptians. So the biggest army bordering Israel sits out, so that leaves the Syria/Iraq alliance.
What happens? It appears from Isaiah 17 that Damascus is melted in a whirlwind (Isaiah 17:17 and Psalm 83:13 both have whirlwinds, the effect of an atomic blast).
Also Jeremiah 49 says Damascus burns.
Jerusalem is the Powder Keg
And Zechariah 12:2 says all the nations that border (savivla is surround) Israel will tremble. Finally Zechariah 12:3.
Later a weakened and divided Jerusalem is attacked.
At the time Zechariah uttered this prophecy 2500 years ago, Jerusalem lay in ruins and was surrounded by wilderness. And so it remained century after century. Zechariah's prophecy seemed to be utter madness even after Israel's rebirth in 1948. Yet today, exactly as foretold, a world of nearly 6 billion people has its eyes upon Jerusalem, fearful that the next world war, if it breaks out, will be fought over that tiny city. What an incredible fulfillment of prophecy!
Zechariah 12:2-3" I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. 3 On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves."
God is at work today in the saga of the Jews: The Jews began to return to Palestine in small numbers in the early part of the twentieth century, and then in much larger numbers after World War I and the Balfour Declaration. Jerusalem was still under British rule, however. After World War II, the Israeli nation declared its independence in 1948 and was soon recognized by most of the nations and by the United Nations. The new city of Jerusalem indeed did go back to the Jews at this time. However, the old city, including the all-important temple site on Mount Moriah, remained in the hands of the Jordanian Arabs. In the "six-day war" of 1967, Israel finally recaptured the old city of Jerusalem, and the Israelis insist they will never let it go again. As of Christmas 2000 they have retained possession of all of Jerusalem for thirty-three long years, and there is no indication at all that the Arabs are going to recapture it.
Could God be waiting for something to happen? Yet, the Lord has not come! The times of the Gentiles are still in full sway, even though Jerusalem has apparently gone back to the Jews. However, there is one exception. This exception makes all the difference and indicates with what fine lines the Holy Spirit inscripturates His Word. Jerusalem is not, in God's judgment, a collection of houses and streets, like other cities. It is a temple where God dwells, where His people approach Him through sacrifice, and where He meets with them.
Preparing for Service in the Rebuilt Temple
Tishrei 24, 5770, 12 October 09 12:13
by IsraelNN TV staff
(Israelnationalnews.com) Jews in the town of Mitzpe Yericho are taking practical steps to prepare for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, by preparing descendents of Cohanim (priests) and Levites for service. At the Mitzpe Yericho school, Temple priest hopefuls learn exactly how to conduct the daily Temple service and offer the required sacrifices.
Today is really a historical event for the Jewish people,” organizer Levi Chazan said as another part of the school was completed. “It is the beginning of the work for the Third Temple.”
The school will include an exact replica of the Temple. The latest addition to the replica was the area in which priests offered wine and water libations. The water offering was traditionally given on the Sukkot holiday, which was celebrated last week.
Festivities accompanied the completion of another step in the school's construction. Among those present was Baruch Marzel, long-time Land of Israel activist and parliamentary aide to MK Michael Ben-Ari. The timing of the work on the school is particularly appropriate due to recent Muslim riots against Jewish visits to the Temple Mount, Marzel said.
Wow, makes me get goose bumps listening to Jewish people who have not turned to Christ as their Messiah by faith, talking like they had read Christ's words and believed them. Which leads us to the application of all these truths:
What Does God Want From Me?
Christ has told us some actions any believer can take to insure eternal rewards. The following are those items Jesus loves and collects. Any investments in these areas last forever. Jesus said:
• I love missionaries that do outreach - GO! Matthew 19:29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life; Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen (NKJV)
• I multiply sacrificial gifts - GIVE! Mark 12:41-22 Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. 42 Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. 43 So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; 44 for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.” (NKJV)
• I remember humble service - SERVE! Mark 14:3-9 And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head. 4 But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted? 5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they criticized her sharply. 6 But Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me. 7 For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. 8 She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. 9 Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.” (NKJV)
• I count souls you lead to me - WIN! I Thessalonians 2:19-20 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? 20 For you are our glory and joy. Daniel 12:3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. (NKJV)
• I collect all of your prayers - PRAY! Revelation 5:8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. (NKJV)
Series: What’s Next Miracle Israel
This may be one of the most important studies we have ever undertaken, so feel free to trace these points and verses in your Bibles as we go along!
1. JEWS: God promised Abraham: descendants who would the chosen people of God; and property for them with clearly defined boundaries in Genesis 12:1; 13:15; 15:7, 18-21. Genesis 15:7 He also said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” He renewed that promise to Abraham's son Isaac (Genesis 26:3-5), to his grandson Jacob (Genesis 28:13), and to their descendants after them forever (Leviticus 25:46; Joshua 14:9; etc.).
2. PASSOVER: God promised Moses that He would Divinely bring His chosen people of destiny to the Promised Land. Exodus 6:7-8 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.
3. ISRAEL: God stakes His future reputation on people He identified as His chosen people of destiny, the Jews, the descendents of Abraham, and He named them Israel. Deuteronomy 7:6-7 “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. 7 The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples;
4. CAPTIVITY: God promised to judge His chosen people of destiny if they forgot Him in the Promised Land. 2 Chronicles 7:20 then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples.
5. DIASPORA: God promised to scatter His unfaithful but chosen people of destiny from the Promised Land. Deuteronomy 28:64 Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.
6. ANTI-SEMETISM: God promised a curse upon His unfaithful but chosen people of destiny as they wandered the world without their Promised Land. Deuteronomy 28:37 You will become a thing of horror and an object of scorn and ridicule to all the nations where the LORD will drive you.
7. CHASTENED: God promised to chasten His unfaithful but chosen people of destiny. My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto Him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations (Hosea 9:17).
8. PRESERVATION: God promised to preserve His chosen people of destiny from annihilation. Jeremiah 30:11 "I am with you and will save you," declares the LORD. "Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you but only with justice; I will not let you go entirely unpunished."
9. REGATHERED: God promised to re-gather His chosen people of destiny back to the Promised Land. Ezekiel 36:24, 35 ‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 35 They will say, “This land that was laid waste has become like the garden of Eden; the cities that were lying in ruins, desolate and destroyed, are now fortified and inhabited.”
So, how has God kept the first 9 promises? He fulfilled them exactly as He promised, literally. God gave Abraham a son through the succeeding generations, countless descendents; and God took them out Egypt and literally into the Promised Land; and God conquered a literal physical Land for them by fighting alongside of them; and God delivered them into literal captivity among their enemies; and God saw that the Jews were literally displaced, enslaved, sold, and scattered to the ends of the earth from The Promised Land across the Middle East, by caravan to Asia and Africa, and by boat to Europe and America. There is almost no spot on earth that Jews could not be found; and God allowed vicious, literal prejudice and hatred to be poured out on the Jews ever since, in every land they have settled in; and God has made them feel after a while persecuted, unsettled, insecure, and homeless in every land; and God has kept them from literal extermination, from planned Holocausts, and has not allowed them to go extinct; and God has stirred their hearts, gathered them bit-by-bit back into their geographic Land, and has allowed them for the first time in 2600 years to have their own sovereignty over literal territorial boundaries.
10. ARMAGEDDON/BUDENSOME STONE: God promised to make His chosen people of destiny a source of fear for the whole world when they get back to the Promised Land in unbelief. God declared that in the last days before the Messiah's second coming, Jerusalem would become "a cup of trembling…a burdensome stone for all people" (Zechariah 12:2,3).
11. THE TEMPLE: God has focused on 40 acres of land: As Solomon built the temple (1200x800 foot Temple Mount), God said: "I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there" (2 Chronicles 6:6). But long before this, God had first spoken through Moses: "There shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause His name to dwell there, thither shall ye bring all that I command you; your burnt-offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the LORD" (Deuteronomy 12:11). Where is ground zero: This place was not just any place in Jerusalem; it was an exact spot, chosen by God. It was on Mount Moriah (2 Chronicles 3:1) Now Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. The spot which God told David to purchase from Ornan the Jebusite and to set up the altar there (1 Chronicles 21:18) Therefore, the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David that David should go and erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. This was the same spot where Abraham had, almost a thousand years before, prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac (Genesis 22:2) Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” These 40 acres are only a short distance from Calvary itself. This spot, to the Jews and to God, is Jerusalem! And, amazingly, this one spot is the only spot in Jerusalem still controlled by Gentiles. It is on Mount Moriah that the Arabs have built their famous Dome-of-the-Rock, the second most holy place in the Muslim world. The Jews, for political or other reasons, have not yet dared to expel the Arabs from this site, raze it, and proceed to rebuild their temple, as they surely desire to do. It is apparently by this exceedingly slender thread, therefore, that the "times of the Gentiles" are still suspended. As the Lord Jesus said, "One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled" (Matthew 5:18).
12. FUTURE PLANS: God declared Israel, His Nation, would have a future agenda in God’s plan: In this context, we come to a remarkable prophecy made by Jesus Christ: 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 (Luke 21:24). Since the word "fulfilled" is the same word in the Greek as "finished," this prophecy clearly means that the times of Gentile world-rule will be ended when Jerusalem is no longer under Gentile control. But this can only be accomplished when Christ returns to banish the Gentile nations from Jerusalem and to establish His own world-kingdom capital there. Thus, the restoration of Jerusalem to the chosen people is necessarily accompanied by the coming of their Messiah to reign there. This is also clearly indicated in Zechariah 12-14 as well as other Scriptures.
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