Israel and the Church

Although the book of Revelation is almost entirely about the future, there is, in the passage above, a brief recapitulation of history. The woman can only be Israel. The man-child, of course, is the Messiah. The red dragon is none other than Satan himself. Indeed, later in this same chapter, he is described as “the great dragon… that old serpent called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." The picture is of Satan's past and future determination to destroy, first of all, the Messiah, and having failed that, to destroy Israel and all Christians as well.

Satan waited long and apprehensively for the virgin birth of the promised One. Here was the Messiah who would be his antagonist in the battle for control of the universe. As we have already seen, that inconceivable cosmic warfare began with Lucifer's rebellion against God eons ago. The Messiah's coming was first promised by God to Adam and Eve immediately after their sin and just before their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Interestingly enough, it was to Satan, who had communicated to Eve through a serpent, that God spoke on this occasion:

And I will put enmity between thee [the serpent] and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it [the seed of the woman, i.e., Messiah] shall bruise [literally crush] thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel (Genesis 3:15).

Our introductory verses from Revelation 12 depict Satan down through history, waiting, watching for the birth of the Messiah, poised to destroy Him. One such Satanically inspired attempt was made upon the child Jesus by King Herod when, after learning of His birth, he sent his soldiers to kill all the male infants in Bethlehem and the surrounding countryside (Matthew 2:16-18). That slaughter of the innocents fulfilled yet another prophecy by Jeremiah (31:15). There is no mystery about these prophecies if we allow the Bible to speak for and to interpret itself.

Self-Serving "Translations"

Here we must issue a word of caution. Unfortunately, some cults have tampered with the biblical text to promote their own peculiar doctrines. Obviously, any teachings that require an alteration of God's Word for their support are not authentic. The Jehovah's Witnesses are an example. They deny so much biblical doctrine, including the deity of Christ and salvation by grace through faith, that they have found it necessary to produce their own New World Translation. It is not a translation from the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts but a self-serving perversion, as a comparison with numerous other more widely accepted translations will quickly reveal. Their proprietary "Bible" was explicitly designed to support their peculiar heresies.

The Catholic Douay Bible is another case in point. In its attempt to glorify Mary, it has long rendered this passage from Genesis as follows: "I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel." So Mary, not the Messiah, is presented as the one who will destroy Satan. The marginal note says, "In art, Mary is frequently pictured with her foot on the head of a serpent." Demonic Apparitions of "Mary"

Indeed, in one of the numerous demonic impersonations embraced by Roman Catholics, "Mary" appeared to Catherine Laboure in November 18:30, in Paris as the "woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars" (Revelation 12:1). This apparition substituted Mary for Israel. Moreover, this counterfeit "Mary" appeared standing with her foot upon a serpent's head, which she crushed beneath her heel. The vision gave seemingly miraculous support to Rome's dishonest rendering of Genesis

3:15. While some modern Catholic translations have in recent times corrected this verse, the teaching that Mary is the one who crushes the serpent's head remains solidly entrenched in Roman Catholicism.

Catherine Laboure's vision has been preserved in a medal minted in 1832, to be worn by the Roman Catholic faithful around the neck for protection. The medal depicts "Mary" as Catherine saw her, crushing the serpent's head. Obviously the apparition, now known as "Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal," was not the true Mary of the Bible, for it perverted the Scripture and gave to Mary a power and a work that belong to Christ alone.

Whether Catherine hallucinated, made up the whole story, or was deceived by a demon impersonating Mary is irrelevant.

The fact is that this heretical picture of Mary is honored as the truth by the Roman Catholic Church to this day. This favorite 274 • ISRAEL, THE MESSIAH, AND THE CHURCH

medal, to which many miracles have been credited, has been worn by scores of millions of Catholics around the world. It continues to rank in popularity and official Church recognition next to the rosary and the scapular of "Our Lady of Mount Carmel."

Of course, the Bible does not honor Mary, nor does the real Mary claim it. There are no prophecies in the Old Testament about the coming of the woman, but there are scores of prophecies concerning the coming of the "seed of the woman," i.e., the virgin-born Messiah, as we have already seen. He has come once and defeated Satan by dying for our sins upon the cross. He must come again. This time He will confront Antichrist face-to-face and destroy this Satan-em-powered impersonation of evil and his worldwide kingdom. (2 Thessalonians 2:8).

Antichrist and the Dragon

In Revelation 13, John clarifies that the dragon (Satan) is the real power and the Antichrist is his puppet. He puts it like this:

All the world wondered after the beast [Antichrist].

And they [the whole world] worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast.... All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him (Revelation 13:3,4,8).

This time of "great tribulation," as it is called, will be the most horrible period the earth has ever experienced or ever will thereafter (Matthew 24:21). The scourge of Nazism and communism and the unspeakable terror and devastation that numerous evil dictatorships with their death camps have brought to the earth will pale by comparison.

The description of the dragon with seven heads and ten horns, presented at the beginning of this chapter, is most instructive. In Daniel 7:7, we also meet a beast with ten horns.

We are told that it represents the fourth world empire, Rome. Verse 24 declares that the ten horns "are ten kings ISRAEL, THE MESSIAH, AND THE CHURCH • 275

that shall arise." These are the same ten kings encountered in Daniel 2, represented by the ten toes on the image. Since they did not reign over the ancient Roman Empire, they must be involved with it in its revived form. It is specifically "in the days of those kings" that Christ will return to earth to destroy the Antichrist and the revived Roman Empire and to establish His millennial kingdom on David's throne.

In Revelation, chapters 13 and 17, we meet this beast again; it is described more fully as having seven heads as well as ten horns. That beast, as we shall see, represents both the Antichrist and the revived Roman Empire, over which he will rule. We are told in Daniel 8:24 that his power is not his own. It comes from Satan, according to Revelation 13:2. This fact is reinforced by the similarity in the description of the Dragon (Satan) and the Beast, who have seven heads and ten horns. This striking similarity tells us that the Antichrist and his kingdom will be controlled and empowered by Satan.

Israel's Strategic Role

(Satan) and the Beast, both of whom have seven heads and ten horns. This striking similarity tells us that Satan will control and empower the Antichrist and his kingdom.

Israel's Strategic Role

Getting back to Revelation 12, the dragon, having failed to destroy the man-child, hates and persecutes the rest of her seed—i.e., Christians and Jews. We have noted that there has been, down through history, an unmistakably diabolical element in the persecution of Jews around the world. There can be no doubt that Satan has attempted to inspire their enemies to destroy them so that the Messiah could not come into the world.

That the Jews, because of their physical relationship to the Messiah, would have to be preserved unto the "last days" and brought back to their land is at the very heart of most prophecies in the Bible. Unfortunately, despite their preservation to this day, the prophets with one voice warned that the worst time for Jews around the world lies ahead. It will be even worse than the holocaust in Nazi Germany-the time of "Jacob's trouble" (Jeremiah 30:7) to which we have already referred.

Only a remnant will survive.

Revelation 12 presents a picture of God's preservation of that remnant of Israel for "a time, times and half a time" (three and a half years) during the last half of Daniel's seventieth week, called the Great Tribulation. Daniel 7:25 speaks of this "time and times and the dividing of time" as the period during which the Antichrist controls the world. Satan will be in control, for he is the one who gives this beast of a man—yes, the Antichrist is shown as a beast-his power.

Suppose Satan had succeeded in exterminating the Jews.

Couldn't God have started over with other people? No, that would be impossible. The forces of darkness would have remained in control of this earth.

God had committed Himself to bring the Messiah into the world through the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, through the tribe of Judah and specifically from the line of King David. The prophets had declared that it would be so. If those prophecies were not fulfilled, God would be a liar.

Moreover, it would have been proved that God had lost control of history and of His universe. Satan would have been the winner by default. No wonder Jews have been persecuted and attempts made to annihilate them, not only by Hitler but at other times in history as well!

It takes little insight to recognize in past and present events the fact that Satan is still determined to destroy Israel. Why?

What good would it do now after Christ has come and has defeated Satan on the cross? Here we discover one of many reasons why one cannot, as is becoming increasingly popular, declare that God is finished with Israel and that the Church has taken her place.

The fact that Satan is still determined to destroy Israel. Why?

What good would it do now after Christ has come and has defeated Satan on the cross? Here, we discover one of many reasons why one cannot, as is becoming increasingly popular, declare that God is finished with Israel and that the Church has taken her place.

The Necessity of Israel's Survival

Christ is coming back, is He not? That was His clear promise. But what would be the purpose of Christ’s return to the earth if God is finished with Israel? He has promised to take the Church out of this world to heaven, so what further interest would Christ have in this earth if Israel no longer had any part in prophecy?

Of course, Christ is coming to confront and destroy the Antichrist. But why? He comes to destroy Antichrist's kingdom and set up His millennial reign.

Where will His throne be? New York? Washington, D.C.? London? Paris? Berlin? Moscow? Indeed not. It will be in Jerusalem, where He will reign over the people of Israel on the throne of His Father David.

The Jewish people scattered all over the earth must have survived as an identifiable ethnic unit and must be together in the promised land when the Messiah returns. It can't be otherwise. The prophets have declared it unequivocally and repeatedly.

The survival of the Jews as a national and ethnic group brought back into their land in the "last days" is absolutely essential to Christ's Second Coming. And so it will be. The Jews have been preserved as God promised.

Hitler failed in his "final solution to the Jewish problem." The Arabs have failed repeatedly to wipe out Israel.

The attempts will continue, for if Satan can succeed in destroying the Jews, he will have achieved at least a stalemate with God. The Bible's major prophecies, which all pertain to Israel back in her land when Messiah returns, could not be fulfilled. God would be proved a liar who had lost control of His universe. Thus, fulfilling the prophecies concerning Israel is crucial for God in His battle with Satan.

Replacing Israel

Despite the clarity of the prophecies we have mentioned, there is a growing movement, even among evangelicals today, to deny that Israel any longer has any part in prophecy. Yes, it is allowed; the Jews may come to Christ for salvation and become part of the Church just as Gentiles may—but as a nation, they have no place any longer in God's program. They have been rejected and cut off because they crucified their Messiah.

2 goes this diabolical theory. By that reasoning, there is no chance whatsoever to the fact that the nation of Israel is once again in her own land and that Jews are gathering in unprecedented numbers from around the world. We have been robbed of major verifiable evidence for the existence of God and that the Bible is His Word.

The further consequences are equally devastating. Thousands of verses must be ripped out of God's Word, mutilating it beyond recognition. "Spiritualizing" the prophecies concerning Israel to make them apply to the church is no better, for it strips Scripture of its literal application and thus of its strength.

Nearly every prophecy concerning the Second Coming is directly tied to Israel as a nation and to the land she must inhabit when her Messiah returns. The angels said that Jesus would come back to the Mount of Olives. When and why?

Certainly not at the Rapture. He doesn't come there to catch away His bride, composed of the redeemed from every nation scattered all over the earth.

Neither the Mount of Olives nor the land of Israel has any special significance for the Church. Christ would have no reason to return to Israel unless His people were there and unless He intended to occupy the throne of David and rule over them from Jerusalem. The prophets repeatedly stated that He would do so as a solemn promise from God. Those prophecies must and will be fulfilled at the Second Coming-and are unrelated to the Rapture.

The Importance of the Land of Israel

Those who insist that the Church has replaced Israel often argue that there are no references in the New Testament to Israel restored to her land, and therefore, such promises from the Old Testament are no longer of any effect. That statement simply isn't true. When he told Mary that she would give birth to the Messiah, the angel Gabriel declared explicitly that this One would reign "upon the throne of his father David." Here is a New Testament reference to Israel restored to her land and a reaffirmation of the promise to David concerning the messianic kingdom.

Other New Testament references to Israel's future in her land concern Armageddon (Revelation 16:16; 19:17-21) and Christ's rescue of Israel. Moreover, Christ, who is acknowledged as "the King of Israel" by His disciples (John 1:49; 12:13), promised the twelve that they would reign with Him over "the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matthew19:28; Revelation 20:4, etc.)-obviously in the land of Israel.

The message of the angels at Christ's ascension, to which we have referred, was another New Testament reference to the land. They declared that He would return to the Mount of Olives outside Jerusalem. That statement reaffirmed Zechariah 14:4, which is all about the land of Israel. Furthermore, promises such as Jeremiah 31:35-37, which we have earlier quoted, hardly need to be reaffirmed!

Why does Jesus come back to the land of Israel? Surely it is not because the Church inhabits that land! He comes to rescue Israel at Armageddon. God’s ancient people must have been reestablished there for that to be the case. How, then, dare anyone say that Israel's national presence in her land today means nothing!