PTNews
April 2019
Published 10 times annually
All Bible references are from the KJV
(Examining Current Events in the Light of Bible Prophecy)
P.O. Box 13006, Roanoke, VA 24030-3006
Israel 8th Most Powerful Nation
By Mike Wingfield
For the third year in a row, Israel has been ranked as the eighth most powerful country in the world, according to a U.S. News and World report. (www.usnews.com) The report says, “the world’s most powerful countries also are the ones that consistently dominate news headlines, preoccupy policymakers, and shape global economic patterns. Their foreign policies and military budgets are tracked religiously. When they make a pledge, at least some in the international community trust they will keep it.”
The top two countries are the U.S. and China, followed by Russia, Germany, the U.K., France, Japan, and Israel. Israel ranked ahead of all of its Muslim neighbors in the Middle East – Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, and Egypt.
This report shows the results of a survey of 21,000 people from four regions, based upon each country’s leadership, economic influence, political power, strong international alliances, and military capabilities.
This report is amazing when one considers that Israel is a relatively young country – only 70 years old. Furthermore, it is incredible that Israel has been able to earn this kind of stature among the nations given its size and small population.
However, to the students of biblical prophecy this comes as no surprise. The amazing ascendancy of the nation of Israel on the world stage is a fulfillment of many biblical texts. The Lord promised the Jewish people that He would gather them from the nations of the world back to their ancient homeland and bless them in that land. This has been occurring since the beginning of the twentieth century. The world does not recognize it, but they are witnessing the powerful work of the hand of God. He promised them, “And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings; and ye shall know that I am the LORD” (Ezekiel 36:11). .pdf download
Israel is rapidly becoming a world-class leader in economics, agriculture, high-tech interventions, and military advances. Furthermore, they are a major player in medical and pharmaceutical achievements, and fresh water technologies. The eyes of the world are on little Israel.
According to the prophetic Scriptures, when the end of this age comes, a coalition of nations will attempt to invade Israel to seize its food and wealth (Ezekiel 38:12-13). And, the last war will be fought in Israel – Armageddon. The Lord has declared, “For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle” (Zechariah 14:2). However, this is quickly followed by this promise, “Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle” (Zechariah 14:3).
The nations are already being politically magnetized by Israel and the developments in the Middle East. The presence of Israel and its growing prominence on the world’s stage is by God’s design. And, according to the Bible, we have not seen anything yet. The best is yet to come!
Is Jerusalem a Jewish or Islamic City?
At the epicenter of the conflict in the Middle East is the struggle over the city of Jerusalem. On the basis of the Bible, the Jews claim that Jerusalem has been their capital since it was conquered by King David almost 3,000 years ago. For the Jewish people, Jerusalem is the center of their world. It is the political and spiritual center of the nation of Israel.
However, Muslims claim that Jerusalem is an Islamic city. According to their tradition, they claim that the Koran states their founding prophet, Mohammed, ascended to heaven on a white horse in a night vision from a mosque in Jerusalem and returned there. Therefore, in the eyes of millions of Muslims, this qualifies Jerusalem as the third most holy site in the religion of Islam – behind Mecca and Medina.
In an amazing article in the Jerusalem Post, an Iranian-born Australian Shia Muslim Imam, Mohamed Tawhidi, who is president of the Islamic Association of South Australia, claims Jerusalem is a Jewish city. In his article, Tawhidi mentions that although Jerusalem is now home to 400,000 Muslims, it should not be considered a sacred city for them.
In this article he cites the Koran and Islamic history to make his point. He rightly points out that at the time of Mohammed there were no mosques in Jerusalem. Therefore, this would make it impossible to claim that Mohammed ascended to heaven in his night vision from a mosque in Jerusalem.
Furthermore, he notes that the land called Palestine did not become an Islamic state by conversion, but by Islamic Jihad, which is a war against those who are not Muslims. He comments, “We Muslims did not enter Palestine as preachers and convert its nation into Muslims. We murdered their leaders and conducted serial massacres led by both Sunni and Shia terrorist Islamic caliphs. The citizens of Palestine may convert to Islam, but in no way can Palestine be considered Muslim land. Of course, many may dispute this position, but the fact is that the Jews were in this land long before even Christianity arose. Their ancient cultural links remain unbroken, as in the saying each Passover, ‘Next year in Jerusalem.’” (www.jpost.com)
Tawhidi continues his argument against Jerusalem being an Islamic city by showing that Mohammed did not consider it to be a sacred city for Muslims. He comments, “I do not understand the Muslim struggle for Jerusalem. Islamic laws strictly prohibit relieving oneself while facing Mecca, in fact, toilets in all Islamic countries and most Muslim homes do not face Mecca, out of respect to the holy city. Yet Bukhari [an ancient authority on Islam] reports that our Prophet Mohammad used to deliberately and repeatedly relieve himself while facing Jerusalem, even though he could have faced another direction instead.
“Does it make sense that Palestinians are dying for Jerusalem when their own beloved prophet used to prefer defecating toward it?
“Whether Palestine is Jewish land or whether Israel is a state are two completely different debates. A Muslim may reject Israel being a state, but cannot deny the fact that the entire region, including Palestine, is in fact Jewish land.” (www.jpost.com)
Obviously, most Muslims would reject the historical evidence reported by Tawhidi. The raging conflict over Jerusalem will continue until the Messiah, Jesus, returns to set the record straight. No one will be able to challenge Him. He will rule the nations from Jerusalem. After receiving Jesus as their Savior, former Muslims will enter the kingdom age and they will honor the Lord and recognize Jerusalem as the holy city of the Jewish Messiah. This will include all of the Arab Muslim nations of the Middle East (Isaiah 60:6, 7). The prophet Isaiah wrote, “The sons of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow down themselves at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 60:14).
How I long for that day to come! “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
The National Redemption of Israel
Part Two
[This article is a continuation of the March newsletter.]
Last month I introduced this biblical truth. According to the Scriptures, the nation of Israel and the Jewish people have a very special place in the heart and eternal plans of God. In His great zeal, God has determined that at the end of this age all living Jewish people will be saved. For the first time in all of human history, an entire nation will be saved! This will fulfill God’s revealed will that His people would become a spiritual light unto the Gentile nations. The Holy One of Israel has been waiting 4,000 years to bring this great plan of redemption to fruition. We are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel for this prophecy to be fulfilled.
In the final part of this article we will answer two more questions concerning this amazing redemptive work of God in His chosen people.
3. How will Israel’s national redemption take place?
As always, the Lord, as sovereign king over all of His creation, has determined what He will do, when He will do it, and how He will accomplish it. Amazingly, God has chosen to reveal to us how He will bring the Jewish people to Himself in the last days.
First, in a unique way, the Lord will “pour out” His Spirit upon the Jewish people. In a prophetic passage that is directed only to the Jewish people (see Joel 2:27), the Lord gave the following promise, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh” (Joel 2:28). This passage was partially fulfilled at the Feast of Pentecost when the church began as recorded in Acts 2. All of those who were saved and added to the church in Acts 2 were Jewish. A study of the greater details of Joel 2 reveals that the ultimate fulfillment of this promise will take place in connection with the Tribulation Period (see Joel 2:30-31). It is significant to realize that both the partial and ultimate fulfillment of this promise were given to the Jewish people. The fulfillment of this promise in Acts 2 signaled that the Lord was beginning a new aspect of His redemptive plan with the beginning of the church. The ultimate fulfillment of this promise signals that He will once again renew a unique plan of redemption for the Jewish people. This is why the Tribulation Period must be viewed from God’s perspective as a renewal of His divine work to redeem His people. This should be understood in light of the 70 sevens of years given to the prophet Daniel in Daniel 9. This entire period of time mentioned by Daniel has as its goal the full redemption of Israel (Daniel 9:24). The final seven years of this prophecy are, as explained by Jesus in Matthew 24:15-22, the same as the future Tribulation Period of seven years. This period is defined as seven years in several texts in the book of Revelation.
So, after the Rapture, the Lord will initiate His redemptive plan for the nation of Israel by pouring out the Holy Spirit upon them. This means that the Lord will flood or engulf the Jewish people with a manifestation of the presence and power of the Spirit. As a result of this, 3,000 Jewish people were saved two thousand years ago on the Feast of Pentecost (Acts 2:41). In the future, as the Tribulation Period begins, this number will be eclipsed as 144,000 Jews will be saved (Revelation 7:1-8).
In addition to pouring out the Holy Spirit upon the Jewish nation, the Lord has ordained that two very special messengers will arrive on the scene to “keep the commandments of God, and [proclaim] the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:17). These two Jewish witnesses will appear in Jerusalem on the very first day of the Tribulation Period and will continue with their unique ministry for 1,260 days – three and one-half years (Revelation 11:3). According to Malachi 4:4, 5, these two witnesses will be Moses and Elijah. We cannot begin to imagine the impact this will have upon the global Jewish population. The Lord will enable them with supernatural sign gifts, much like their previous ministries in Israel’s history (Revelation 11:5-6).
There is no doubt that the ministry of these two witnesses will be instrumental in the salvation of the 144,000 young Jewish men, 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel (Revelation 7:1-8; 14:1-5). According to Revelation 14:4, these redeemed men are “the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.” This would seem to indicate they are some of the first to be saved in the Tribulation Period, much like the 3,000 were the first to be saved at the Feast of Pentecost in Acts 2.
The salvation of these young men will be accompanied by a large group of Israelis that will call upon the Lord while in Jerusalem (Joel 2:32). Some of these will also be given special dreams and visions that will no doubt enhance the evangelism of Israel during this unique outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28-29).
According to Joel’s prophecy, all of these evangelistic efforts to bring Jews to Christ will be accompanied by powerful signs and wonders “in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke” (Joel 2:30). During his ministry to the Jewish people, the apostle Paul noted that “the Jews require a sign” (1 Corinthians 1:22).
The combination of these divine works will crush the Jewish people’s pride and drive them to repentance. As previously mentioned, this saving work of Israel will continue throughout the entire seven years of the Tribulation, culminating at Armageddon (Zechariah 12:10-13:9).
Friends, there has never been anything like the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the salvation of hundreds of thousands of Jewish people at the beginning of the Tribulation Period. This will be stunning and unprecedented. The Bible indicates this will be the greatest spiritual awakening ever been recorded in the annals of human history. We cannot begin to imagine the profound spiritual impact this will have upon the living nation of Israel!
I have often commented that I would love to be in Jerusalem to witness this great event. However, I and other true believers will be with Jesus in heaven. But, we will no doubt hear about this from some of the martyrs who arrive in heaven as mentioned in Revelation 7:9-17. This will no doubt be the reason for our great praise to the Lord in heaven as mentioned in Revelation 7:10-12. With the new arrival of these martyrs in heaven, we will join them in crying out, “Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. … Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God [forever] and ever. Amen” (Revelation 7:10, 12).
4. Why must God redeem Israel?
The answer to these kinds of questions will be found only by those who explore the pages of God’s Word to discover the heart of God. Those who are immersed in the life-long process of knowing God have discovered that the Lord who knows all things is the same God who is orchestrating all things for His own purposes. He is the One who is working “all things after the counsel of his own will” (Ephesians 1:11). If you intellectually struggle with this, you will never understand the heart of God and His revelation – the Bible. We must humbly arrive at the place where we accept what we can know and understand. Then, when we step into the fog where we cannot see so clearly, we must simply believe everything else God has said, even if it does not fit into the mold of our finite expectations of what we think God would do.
The child of God who wants to understand the Bible must leave behind self and his world when He enters into the pages of God’s holy Word. He knows that to properly interpret, understand, and correctly apply the truth of the Bible, he must rely completely upon the illumination of the Holy Spirit. Our intellect, apart from the wisdom that comes from God, is finite, deceived, and very self-centered. The Bible says, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).
When it comes to the works of God, the child of God will discover that God’s ways are infinitely higher than the ways of man. God has said, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8, 9).
God does not operate in the realm of the possible, but in the sphere of the impossible. This means that God’s ways are not conventional. God has reminded us, “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to [nothing] things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence” (1 Corinthians 1:26-29).
God does not do things in a manner like man. I have discovered that serving God is very humbling. Jesus has told us, “Without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). Do we believe that? If we did, we would hunger to be filled with the Spirit of God and we would immerse ourselves in the Word of God. We would seek the face of God and make ourselves available for His tasks at all times. We would hunger to see the hand of God all around us. We would desire to deny ourselves and always ask, “What is God doing in my world, and why is He doing it that way?” Then we would search the pages of the Bible for His answer.
Many people think they have figured out God! They treat Him like He is just a superman, rather than the Lord God Almighty! They are woefully deficient in the consideration of the greatness and holiness of God. God has asked finite man, “To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One” (Isaiah 40:25)
I marvel at the sad reality that most pastors and churches today have written off the Jewish people and the nation of Israel. Many of them believe that due to Israel’s sinful past God has permanently divorced them. They believe that God has no future purpose for them. They also believe that the church has replaced Israel as God’s chosen people. This is called “Replacement Theology.”
This deceptive doctrine traces its roots back to the first century. As previously mentioned, the early decades of the infant church were made up of mostly Jews. Then, as the apostles began to proclaim the gospel throughout the Roman Gentile world, the church became increasingly more Gentile and less Jewish. As this took place, many within and without the church began to ask the question, “Hath God cast away his people?” (Romans 11:1) The
Spirit of God caused the apostle Paul to address this question. It would be good for those who are asking this question today to read Paul’s answer, recorded in Romans 9-11. Paul’s answer is summarized, “God forbid. … God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew” (Romans 11:1, 2).
The apostle Paul’s answer to the question of God’s rejection of Israel in Romans 9-11, focuses upon two primary issues. The new Gentile converts had an unbiblical view of Israel. Furthermore, they had an unbiblical view of the church.
In Paul’s answer to the question concerning God’s work with Israel, he goes back into the Old Testament Scriptures and speaks of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Elijah, and the prophet Isaiah. He speaks of Israel’s spiritual standing according to the call of God. He explains that with Israel there never was a time when the majority of the Jewish people were saved, but God had always preserved a godly remnant among them. This was foundational truth for the Jews who had been raised in Jewish homes. They knew the Old Testament Scriptures. However, the new Gentile converts that were being called out of paganism had no prior knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures. They had no understanding of the heart of God or the eternal prophetic plan of God as clearly revealed in the Old Testament. They had no grasp of the promise of God to restore the Jewish people to their land and to redeem the entire nation of Israel at the end of this age. Therefore, without this knowledge, they looked at the circumstances of their day and concluded, God is done with Israel.
This same kind of thinking is being perpetuated today within predominately Gentile circles of Christianity. There is a deceptive thinking within the church that the New Testament believer does not need the Old Testament. Those who have this view will always be prone to theological error and grossly twisted views of God, salvation, sin, creation, prophecy, and especially Israel. The Old Testament provides a critical foundation for the understanding of the New Testament. For example, if you want to understand the book of Revelation in the New Testament, you must study the book of Daniel in the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit is the Author of both the Old and New Testaments. They are both the Word of God.
Most importantly, if you do not know the Old Testament and all of the foundational truth about the promised Messiah, then you will not be able to appreciate and grasp the New Testament teaching about who Jesus really is. That is most important, because our faith is grounded in the person of Christ. In order to be saved, you must surrender your life to the biblical Jesus, not to the one that people have conjured up in their finite minds.
In order to understand what the Bible teaches about Israel, you must have a grasp of the Old Testament truth about Israel. If your understanding of the Old Testament is deficient, then your understanding of what the Bible teaches about Israel will also be deficient.
The second area that Paul addresses in Romans 9-11 is the faulty view these early Gentile believers had about the church. It is apparent that these believers thought that God’s redemption of the church was the pinnacle of God’s redemptive work. I think that many pastors today think the same way. Their thoughts about Israel and the Jewish people are dismissed as being irrelevant to the church and what God is doing today. As Paul looks at the big picture of God’s redemptive plan he reminds us that through Israel’s temporary “fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy” (Romans 11:11). This statement does not make sense unless one has a grasp of the big picture of God’s redemptive plan that ends with the salvation of the entire living nation of Israel.
Paul also warns the New Testament believers to not “be wise in your own conceits” (Romans 11:25). Apparently, these believers were elevating the place of the church to a position of superiority over Israel. In this context, Paul uses the analogy of God’s redemptive work as being like an olive tree (Romans 11:16-24). In this analogy, believing Israel is the natural olive tree, while the church represents a wild olive branch that has been grafted into the natural olive tree. Therefore, Paul reminds the church that they do not stand alone nor are they superior to God’s redemptive plan for Israel. The church has not replaced Israel, but miraculously, we have been grafted into the life that flows from God’s redemptive plan for Israel.
God’s calling and salvation of the Jewish people has never been about them, but it has always been about His glory. God has declared, “I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory” (Isaiah 46:13). The divine hand of mercy and power has been upon the descendents of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for 4,000 years and we are at the end of this miraculous story of redemption. It is just like Satan to deceive and distract the world from this miracle. Even the church has been distracted and deceived to ignore all of this.
God is orchestrating the events in Israel and the Middle East toward the process of the full redemption of the living nation of Israel. “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” (Romans 13:11).