It’s all about the land – promised some 4,000 years prior (Genesis 15:18) to the descendants of Abraham, through Isaac, the son of promise (Genesis 21:12; not Ishmael (Genesis 17:18-19, Romans 9:7-9)). I find the following article, published just recently (April 16, 2016) by Reuters and authored by Maayan Lubell, very relevant to the end-of-days. Religious-Zionists are on the rise again in Israel. It was religious fervor against the Romans that ultimately led to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D. as zealots led the rebellion against the Romans in the First Jewish War. This failed rebellion as well as the two failed rebellions that followed it, resulted in the dispersion of the Jews throughout the nations until they returned to their land by act of the United Nations on May 14, 1948. It was Zionism (secular) that actually precipitated this return, beginning in the late 19th century, and fully accomplished by the deaths of some 6,000,000 Jews at the hand of Hitler in World War 2. According to the article below, it is the rising influence of Religious-Zionists in the IDF as well as in politics that will hinder the dividing of the land with the Palestinians.
Israeli Military Struggles with Growing Clout of Religious-Zionists, By Maayan Lubell, Filed
JERUSALEM – On a searing night in July 2014, Israeli troops gathered on the border with Gaza to prepare for war. Hamas militants had been firing rockets into Israel for days, and Israeli warplanes had begun bombing the Palestinian territory.
The orders for the Givati brigade, an elite infantry unit, came in a typed, single-page letter.
“History has chosen us to spearhead the fight against the terrorist Gazan enemy who curses, vilifies and abominates Israel’s God,” Colonel Ofer Winter, the unit’s commanding officer, wrote in the letter to his troops. He ended with a biblical quote promising divine protection for Israel’s warriors on the battlefield. (Read more).
In a view that I intend to develop in future posts (and the Lord willing, my next book), the dividing of the land with the Palestinians will be the trigger-pull to the Great Tribulation and the end-of-days. The rising influence and numbers of Religious-Zionists in Israel will likely be one of the touch-stones that leads to near civil war in Israel over this issue. The fight has always been over the land — the promised land. Whose is it and who is entitled to it? It is about far more than “land” in the way that most Westerners consider it. The issue is the God who promised the land and to whom is the promise, the sons of Isaac or the sons of Ishmael? The importance of the land is highlighted in a statement made in the article:
“We want a state more connected to its roots,” Bennett [head of the Jewish Home party], told Reuters. “I am a Zionist, Jewish and proud. This is my land for the past 3,800 years. That’s the set of values.”
Why is the statement “my land for the past 3,800 years” of importance? How can the land be Israel’s when almost half of the 3,800 years Israel had been dispossessed from that land?
I will gather all the nations And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; And they have divided up My land. —Joel 3:2 (NASB) (Read more about the Valley of Jehoshaphat)
Notice something very important about Joel 3:2. The gathering of the nations in the valley of Jehoshaphat has yet to occur. Neither has the dividing of the land; and, they are tied together. They are both future events. When one occurs so will the other.
Jesus come quickly.
Blessings.
Jack
