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Shomrim (Watchmen) "On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set Watchmen.." |
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WHOSE REPORT WILL YOU BELIEVE ?
“ However God said…..” Genesis 17:19
Many people and political leaders are seeking a peaceful solution to the ongoing ancient family feud in the Middle East. The current “two- state” solution which involves the giving up of some of Israel’s land for peace has been fraught with bloodshed and heartache.
Abraham also tried to intervene in this initial domestic/political dispute when he said to God, ”Oh that Ishmael (son of Hagar & himself) might live before you! However, God said, “No. Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting (Hebrew- “brit”) covenant and with his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes and I will make him a great nation”( Gen. 17:20). “But My covenant I will establish with Isaac whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.”(vs.21).
God also declares in Genesis 17:8, “I give to you (Abraham) and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger. All the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession.”
Regarding the age- old domestic conflict between Hagar and Sarah, please read the following scriptures, “So he (Abraham) went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived her mistress (Sarai) became despised in her (Hagar’s) eyes.(Gen.16:4). As for Sarai, she brought this family matter to Abram and ultimately before God(through her husband) as noted in the following Bible passage. “Then Sarai said to Abram,” My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her (Hagar’s) eyes. The Lord judge between you and me.”
God responded by sending the Angel of the Lord to track down the fleeing Hagar in the wilderness. The Angel told her that she was to return to her mistress and submit herself under her hand and that the Lord would multiply her descendants exceedingly. In Gen. 16:11 The Angel of the Lord said that the lord had heard her affliction and would give her a son named Ishmael. The Angel also prophesied in verse 11 that, “ He (Ishmael) shall be a wild man. His hand shall be against every man and every man against him and he shall dwell in the presence of his brethren.”
Abraham obeyed the voice of the lord and as a sign of this covenant circumcised in the flesh himself, his offspring as well as his male household employees to fulfill the terms of this everlasting land covenant.
Apostle Paul in the New Covenant (Hebrew “Brit Hadisha”) further elaborates on the issue of the significance of the two covenants one by the bondswoman (Hagar) and the other with a free woman (Sarah). He points out that Isaac was the supernatural seed- child of promise (born miraculously of two aged parents beyond childbearing years). And just as now, Paul highlights the spiritual battle that ensues around the issue of who owns the covenant land. He says in Galatians 4:29, “ But as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now.”
The prophet Jeremiah gives a word in Jeremiah 31:10,
“Hear the Word of the lord O nations And declare in the isles afar and say
He who scattered Israel will gather him And keep him as a shepherd does his
flock.”
In obedience to the Lord’s voice, Jeremiah purchased a field in Anathoth from Hanamel in the country of Benjamin for seventeen shekels of silver (signed, sealed and witnessed) in the eighteenth year of King Nebuchadnezar. This prophetic act was done in obedience to the lord. In verse 15 – the Lord of Hosts, the Ha Shem (Lord) of Israel said, Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land” and in vs. 40 He goes on to declare “ I will make with them an everlasting covenant and I will not turn from doing them good.”
As the lord says in Jeremiah 32:27, “ Behold I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? “How easy it is for us to forget the sovereign nature of the Lord in the affairs of man throughout history. Our secular mindsets and teachings have convinced us that our political decisions should be made outside the scope of Biblical teaching. And sadly many believers have turned to the voice of reason but God warns us that The Lord’s ways are not our ways.
Apostle Paul challenges us ( believers in the Way) to examine all doctrines being taught using the Holy Spirit and the entire written Word (Old & New covenant) as our plumb line and he commended the Bereans in his day for this Biblical approach. Israel is the prophesied ripe fig tree talked about by Yeshua (Jesus) in Matthew 24. However, many people believe that the church has replaced Israel. It would be wise to keep the promises that apply to the nation of Israel in their proper context thereby avoiding much confusion and serious error.
The Bible clearly states that the Lord’s promise to
Abraham was unconditional, literal and forever. This means it applies now! In
Genesis13, God said to Abraham “The LORD said
to Abram after Lot had parted from him, "Lift up your eyes from where you
are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will
give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust
of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could
be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving
it to you."
(Gen. 13:14-17) Very specifically and literally Genesis 15;18-20 states “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates- the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites." It is important to remember here that the descendants being referred to in this land covenant applies to the seed of Abraham/Isaac’s descendants ( the miraculous child of promise) and not to Ishmael’s. Many people in the church and in Israel have not remembered what God said to Abraham as outlined earlier in this article. (Genesis 17:19,21). As it says in God’s Word - we are not to add or subtract from His Holy Scriptures. Many people in the church are being erroneously taught on this important end time issue. God has not changed his mind about His land which He calls Beulah land. Since He is the creator and the Potter - does He not have the right to deed the land to whomever he wishes? To tamper with His will regarding His land is no small spiritual matter.
The deed title to the promised Land was given to Isaac from his father Abraham. In Genesis 26:3 God promises Isaac saying,”Dwell in this land and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants. I give all these lands and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham, your father”. This literal title (land) deed to the Promised Land was subsequently handed off to Jacob from Isaac his father. In Gen. 28:13 , God confirmed to Jacob,” I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.”
Some people believe that God’s promise to Abraham was conditional. However, in the context of the Torah (Old Testament) a blood covenant was considered to be the most binding agreement as opposed to the ancient shoe or salt covenant. The blood covenant within this context was permanent and unconditional.
Genesis 15 recounts the process of this blood land covenant whereby Abraham saw a smoking oven and a burning torch(symbolic of the Shekinah glory of the Lord) passing between the pieces of slain animals. (Gen. 15:17) In verse 18 God affirms that he has given this land to Abraham’s descendants. However some people teach that this covenant was with Ishmael since he was also a descendant of Abraham. However the Scripture is very clear as already shown earlier in this article that the land covenant was only made by God to Abraham through Isaac( the supernatural seed of Promise) and through Jacob who became Israel and to his descendants forever!(Gen.17:19,21)
In Psalm 89: 30-37, God again adamantly affirms the nature of His unconditional promise.
“If His (Israel’s) sons forsake My law
And do not walk in my judgment
If they break My commandments
Then I will visit their transgressions with a rod
And their iniquity with stripes
Nevertheless My loving kindness I will not utterly take from him
Nor allow My faithfulness to fail
My covenant I will not break
Nor alter the Word that has gone out of My lips
Once I have sworn by My Holiness
I will not lie to David
His seed shall endure forever
And his throne as the sun before Me
It shall be established forever like the moon
Even like the faithful witness in the sky.”
And so just like with the Noahadic covenant (wherein the rainbow was sent into the sky to remind us of the Lord’s promise) – so too the Lord used the moon to remind us of His Abrahamic covenant through the descendants of Isaac (the miraculous child of Promise).
In the above quoted Psalm, God makes it crystal clear that this covenant does not depend on the righteous behavior of Israel but rather hangs on His faithfulness. He says that the moon acts as witness speaking to all men in all generations. The word Babylon means confusion. The Lord tries to eliminate any misinterpretation of this land contract by saying that He swears on his own Holy character. So, is God a liar?
Many people/leaders in the church and Israel today are confused about what to believe about the Middle East Peace process . There are secular political solutions s being expressed . However , if we declare ourselves to be followers of the Way, believers in the Holy Scriptures (cover to cover) should not our minds be renewed with what God has to say on specific matters including the issue of Jerusalem and His Beulah land . Has God changed His mind?
So as it says in the Word, in the Last days many will cry peace, peace where there is no peace. It also says that deep deception will cover the earth and that many of the very elect may be deceived. Many nations will come up against the goad and be dashed to pieces.
In Matthew 25, Jesus (Rabbi Yeshua) teaches about the end of days and in verses 31- 46 he talks about the time when the Son of Man will judge the nations. Some will be judged by Him as a goat nation or a sheep nation - this passage has often been misinterpreted. What he is really talking about is the issue of how believers have treated His brethren (Greek- adelphos) – meaning having the same national ancestor, belonging to the same people or countryman, those from the womb or his brothers by blood. So how have we as believers in Yeshua our Messiah been looking after His kin while he is away. Have we been praying in agreement with His Word about the land crisis in the Middle East? Have we helped those being persecuted for His(God or Yeshua Jesus) name’s sake? Have we fed the holocaust survivors who have endured persecution (25 % live in poverty in Israel)”? Have we stood up for His land in agreement with His covenant in our congregations? Another good question is - how do we feel about what happened in Gush Kaitf with the expulsion of Israeli citizens?
In the book of Revelation, chapter 18:4, God warns His people to come out of Babylon to avoid the judgment of plagues coming upon the world. As Passover (Pesach) approaches many Christians do not acknowledge their Biblical roots and their need to repent and get out of spiritual Egypt. They live and partake of a religious /world system full of unbiblical teachings coming under false doctrines. It is time for the Bride of Yeshua Messiah to come out of deception , confusion and apathy regarding the Word and Israel as it is in God’s eyes. We are in a valley of decision, a kairos moment.
The question is :Whose report about the covenant land of Israel will we ultimately believe and whose side will we stand with? Despite what Martin Luther taught, the book of James still applies. We are saved by Grace but faith without works is dead. Jesus talked about how he would spit out the Laeodician church for its luke warmness. Come out of her my people – a bride unspotted and unwrinkled. Israel and God’s land covenant is a Big deal!!!!
Samanna.