"For Zion's sake I will not hold My peace, And for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, And her salvation as a lamp that burns. The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, And all kings your glory."
(Isaiah 62:1-2)
This verse in Isaiah is talking about the 1,000 year millennial reign of Christ.
which commences following the second coming of Jesus, after the resurrection of the saints and battle of Armageddon. Christ will return to Israel and set up His throne where He will rule over all the earth. Jesus will rule from the throne of David on Mount Zion, not only as the King over all the earth, but as the king of the Jews.
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest:
and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever;
and of his kingdom there shall be no end. (Luke 1:32-33)
Is the rule of Jesus going to end after 1,000 years? No. After 1,000 years the curse of sin will be lifted from the earth. There will be a new heaven and a new earth with a new city of Jerusalem. Christs reign will continue on forever but the lineage of mankind will come to a full stop.
One of the reasons why I believe that Christians ought to support Zionism is because the existence of a nation of Israel for Jewish people is a necessity for the fulfillment of Bible Prophecy. All of the prophesies concerning the last days and the second coming of Jesus depend on this fact: That there be a Jewish Israel and Jerusalem and Temple.
THE ROMAN GENOCIDE OF THE JEWS
The Romans committed genocide against the Jews in the first century. They destroyed the temple, burned the city and slaughtered all of the men, women and children who were in Jerusalem. Not only did Rome attempt to eradicate the Jews but they also tried to destroy any remembrance of them or the connection between them and Jerusalem by literally wiping Israel off the map by replacing the name Judea with Palestine.
ISRAEL REGATHERED
The greatest evidence that we are living in the last days is that the Bible prophesied that God would regather the Jewish people from nations all over the world and bring them back to Jerusalem.
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. (Isaiah 11:11)
One chapter earlier Isaiah prophesied about the Jews first regathering to Israel. After Nebuchadnezzar ransacked Jerusalem in 587 BC he enslaved the Jewish people making them walk a thousand mile trail of tears to serve the Babylonians in Babylon. Isaiah and Jeremiah had warned Israel to repent so that God might show them mercy and prevent this destruction and enslavement but the people did not listen. Isaiah went on to prophesy that not only would they be removed from Jerusalem but that God would regather them to Jerusalem in Isaiah chapter 10 verse 20-27.
[20] And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
[21] The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.
(Isaiah 10:20-21)
So after their captivity in Babylon they returned to Israel, rebuilt the Temple and became one of the great civilizations of ancient times all so that at the height of Israel’s glory the Messiah would come just as the prophet Daniel and others had prophesied.
GOD'S JUDGMENT ON ISRAEL FOR REJECTING JESUS
Jesus sat down with his disciples shortly before he was crucified and told them of the judgment that was soon to come on Israel.
[1] And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
[2] And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. (Matthew 24:1-2)
Josephus says, War, book vii. c. 1: "Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the whole city and temple, τ, except the three towers, and a part of the western wall, and these were spared; but, for all the rest of the wall, it was laid so completely even with the ground, by those who dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe it had ever been inhabited."
Maimonides, a Jewish rabbi, recorded "On that ninth day of the month Ab, fatal for vengeance, the wicked Turnus Rufus, of the children of Edom, ploughed up the temple, and the places round about it, that the saying might be fulfilled, Zion shall be ploughed as a field."
Which by the way was a prophecy of Micah and recorded in chapter 3 of the book of Micah, verse 12.
For the next 1800 years the Jews would be a nation without a land. A people dispersed and persecuted all over the world. There have been many genocides and attempts to destroy the Jewish people. Not only by Barbarians and Muslims but by Christians in Christian lands by Christian kings. The most recent and notable being the holocaust. The Jews were singled out above any other ethnicity for destruction by Hitler and the Nazi’s.
I believe this was the Devil’s attempt to destroy them for If the Devil can destroy the Jewish people then the prophecies of God could not be fulfilled.
Instead, God used the holocaust to create world sympathy for the Jewish people and out of the ashes of Hitler’s phoenix the nation of Israel rose once again fulfilling that prophecy in Isaiah 11:11 that the Lord would regather the Jewish people a second time.
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. (Isaiah 11:11)
With the Jews regathered to Judea and in Jerusalem once again the stage is now set for the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jerusalem is center stage in all the prophecies of these final days.
It is in Jerusalem where the Antichrist will sit in the temple and declare himself God and order that all the people of the world worship him.
And it is right outside Jerusalem where the armies of the Islamic nations will gather in the valley of Megiddon to fight against Jesus Christ as he returns to Jerusalem to conquer the Antichrist and set up his rule over all the world.
BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON
This is called the Battle of Armageddon named for the valley of Megiddon where the battle against Satan and the forces of the Antichrist fight against the Lord Jesus and the Host of Heaven.
[12] And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
[13] And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
[14] For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
[15] Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
[16] And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. (Revelation of John 16:12-16
The Battle of Armageddon is then described in Revelation chapter 19. This chapter is all about the second coming of Christ.
THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB
The First Event spoken of in Chapter 19 is the marriage supper of the Lamb. As Jesus returns at his second coming the church and the saints of old are resurrected to meet him in the air. Revelation 19 verse 7-9 says:
[7] Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. [8] And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. [9] And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. (Revelation of John 19:7-9)
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:27
This is the resurrection of believers spoken of in 1 Corinthians chapter 15
[22] For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
[23] But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
[24] Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
(I Corinthians 15:22-24)
So at the Coming of Christ the dead in Christ shall be made alive. A few verses later it describes this resurrection that happens at the second coming of Jesus Christ:
[51] Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
[52] In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (I Corinthians 15:51-52)
This resurrection of believers at the second coming of Christ is also spoken of in the book of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4
[14] For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
[15] For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
[16] For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
[17] Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
(I Thessalonians 4:14-17)
What evidence is there that this resurrection happens at the second coming of Jesus? Revelation chapter 20 says so.
[6] Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
[7] And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, (Revelation of John 20:6-7)
There is no "rapture" or resurrection of believers until the second coming. The living and dead will meet Jesus in the air as he comes to fight the battle of Armageddon. EVERY EYE SHALL SEE HIM
Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him,
and they also which pierced him:
and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.
Even so, Amen. (Revelation of John 1:7
Who is the Bible speaking of when it says, “they also which pierced him”?
This is a reference to the Jews who do not believe in the Messiah. Even the Jewish prophet Zechariah prophesied that as a nation of people the Jewish nation will be blind to the truth of Jesus Christ until the very end when he returns and they see Him coming in the clouds.
[9] And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
[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.
[11] In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. (Zechariah 12:9-11)
The valley of Megiddon: The same event foretold in the book of Revelation. The battle of Armageddon taking place when Christ returns and every eye is going to see him.
Zechariah makes it woefully clear that the official Jewish religion, Judaism will be blind to the truth of the gospel until they see him return in the clouds.
Why will the Jews mourn when the Messiah returns? Why wouldn’t they rejoice?
They will mourn because they will suddenly realize that their religion has been wrong for the past 2000 years and that the Jewish religion nailed the Son of God to the cross.
THE BIBLE SAYS THAT THE JEWS KILLED JESUS
The Jewish leaders and the mob in Jerusalem the day Jesus was crucified took the blame for the execution of Jesus on themselves and their posterity.
Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.
(Matthew 27:25)
The Apostle Paul; himself a Jew but one converted to faith in Christ said not only did the Jews kill Jesus but they killed their own prophets and they do not please God.
[14] For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:
[15] Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: I Thessalonians 2:14-15)
When Jesus died on the cross it was Judaism that Died. God ripped the one foot thick veil in the temple in two as He departed from their now spiritually dead religion.
God gave them a miraculous sign: On the third day Christ rose from the grave as he prophesied and yet the Jews rejected the testimony of hundreds who saw him.
Still God gave Israel time to repent. He sent His Holy Ghost to anoint the Jewish church but the Jewish religion then rejected not only Jesus Christ but the Spirit of God.
ICHABOD:
God removed their candlestick. Their temple. Their sacrifice and country, scattering them to the four corners of the earth and yet they remained a people.
God has regathered them now but not because of their false religion but in spite of it that God’s prophetic plan will be fulfilled through them.
THE JEWISH TEMPLE AND ANIMAL SACRIFICE
The Jews will soon get a peace accord which will allow them to rebuild their Temple. They are already preparing to once again begin the practice of animal sacrifice but God will not allow it to go on. The Prophet Daniel in Daniel chapter nine tells us that the Antichrist will stop the animal sacrifice when he comes to be worshiped in the Temple.
And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (Daniel 9:27)
The temple will be rebuilt by the Jews and they will begin the animal sacrifice but God will use the Antichrist to abolish their animal sacrifice just as He used the Romans to put an end to it 19 centuries ago. The re-establishment of animal sacrifice will be a slap in the face to Christ who was sacrificed once for all time! Animal sacrifice is a rejection of the cross of Christ and His finished work of atonement.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
(Hebrews 10:4
By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:10)
Animal sacrifice never brought Israel forgiveness of sin. The purpose of the sacrifice in the Old Testament was to be a bloody illustration that the wages of sin is death. There is a universal law stated in Scripture that
"without the shedding of blood there can be no remission" (Hebrews 9:22)
The only blood that is able to wash away sin must come from the perfect lamb of God.
When John the Baptist first saw Jesus he shouted, "Behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." (John 1:29)
SUMMARY
In times past Christians have abused and persecuted the Jewish people. Many think they are the root of every evil in the world. Today Israel teeters on the edge of nuclear annihilation as the world is aflame in a frenzy of hatred. The atheists want them destroyed. The Muslims want them annihilated.
This time it is the Christian world standing up for their defense. Why?
Because God is not finished with them and they exist to prove the glory of God.
In the final three and a half years before Christ returns it will be Jews who lead the rebellion against the Antichrist. 144,000 gospel evangelists : 12 thousand from each of the 12 tribes of Israel will preach the Gospel message to the world and reject the mark of the beast.
The two witnesses who will preach against the Antichrist are Jewish and they will bravely warn the world.
Those of us who believe in Christ should not persecute or despise or hate the Jewish people. Their rebellion has cost them centuries of suffering and the suffering is not over yet.
God has not given up on the nation of Israel and His Word tells us that the day is coming when all of the Jewish people will be followers of Jesus Christ.
Even though the Jews tried many time to kill the Apostle Paul many times, his prayer for them was that they all be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.
One day soon...they will.
Here is the dilemma. The state of Israel is not a Christian state. Three quarters of the population are ethnically Jewish but twenty five percent of these Jews are atheists and the vast majority of Jews in Israel consider themselves "traditionalists." They sort of keep some of the traditions of Jewish culture and religion, those things that create a sense of community but only 12% consider themselves to be religious. Only 8% are ultra-orthodox.
There are only 10-20 thousand Christian Jews in Israel. So from a religious perspective why should Christians support a nation led and populated by secularists who according to the Bible killed their own and the world's messiah and Son of God?
[14] For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: [15] Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: [16] Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost. (I Thessalonians 2:14-16)
When the Jews rejected the Messiah, God gave the nation of Israel a short time to repent. They refused to turn to God so the Lord allowed the Roman Army to put an end to their practice of animal sacrifice and to destroy the Temple and to scatter the remaining remnants of Israel to suffer in gentile nations and yet Israel did not repent through all of these judgments.
God could not allow the false worship to continue on in His Name after sending His Son Jesus to be the true sacrifice as the sinless Lamb of God. The blood of animals cannot atone for sin. God took our sin upon himself by coming in the form of a man and subjecting himself in that way to a death on the cross. One Sacrifice for all time.
Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. (Revelation of John 1:7
The state of Israel is not a Christian state. Three quarters of the population are ethnically Jewish but twenty five percent of these Jews are atheists and the vast majority of Jews in Israel consider themselves "traditionalists." They keep some of the traditions of Jewish culture and religion because those things create a sense of being "Jewish" but only 12% consider themselves to be religious. Only 8% are ultra-orthodox.
There are only 10-20 thousand Christian Jews in Israel. So from a religious perspective why should Christians support a nation led and populated by secularists who according to the Bible rejected and killed the Messiah?
[14] For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: [15] Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: [16] Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost. (I Thessalonians 2:14-16)
When the Jews rejected the Messiah, God gave the nation of Israel a short time to repent. They refused to turn to God so the Lord allowed the Roman Army to put an end to their practice of animal sacrifice and to destroy the Temple and to scatter the remaining remnants of Israel to suffer in gentile nations and yet Israel did not repent through all of these judgments.
God could not allow the false worship and blood sacrifice to continue on in His Name after sending His Son Jesus to be the only sacrifice as the sinless Lamb of God. The blood of animals cannot atone for sin. God took our sin upon himself by coming in the form of a man and subjecting himself in that way to a death on the cross. One Sacrifice for all time.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. (Hebrews 10:4
Animal sacrifice never brought Israel forgiveness of sin. The purpose of the sacrifice was to be a bloody illustration that the wages of sin is death. There is a universal law stated in Scripture that "without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sin." (Hebrews 9:22)
The only blood that is able to wash away sin must come from the perfect lamb of God. When John the Baptist first saw Jesus he shouted, "Behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." (John 1:29)
[9] And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
[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.
[11] In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. (Zechariah 12:9-11)
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