“ God used Judaism to prepare The Roman Empire which almost encompassed the entire world on earth of that day. He used the Jews to prepare the way spiritually, to till the soil, how? The Jews were ultimately by the time even of Jesus Christ’s, scattered throughout the Roman empire. Over ten million Jews lived in the Roman Empire. It was hard not to find 10 to 100 synagogues throughout the Eastern Empire that was then ruled by the Partheons. There were again another ten million Jews left over from the ten lost tribes of Israel and the Babylonian Captivity of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. There were 20 million Jews embedded within these pagans’ societies. If you were a man or woman of conscience and you were appalled at the demon worship, the pagan worship and even the worship of emperors. What alternative was available before Jesus? There was one, and was the Jewish Synagogue. And by the millions, gentiles from every tribe, name, kingdom and tongue within the Roman Empire and within the Eastern empires of the Partheons, joined with Jews by worshiping on Saturday, on the Sabbath day with Jews and listened to the ten commandments, and listened to the teachings of the Tanakh (the Old Testament). They were to be a channel of blessing as
Romans 9: 4:
------------------
All of those were transferred then when Jesus came. Where did Paul and Sylus and the other Christian Jewish believers go? They went to the synagogue in city after city – yes they were often rejected, they were stoned, imprisoned, beaten, but they went on bravely into the next city because Jesus Christ had commissioned them. Who were those people? They were the people who mostly responded them, besides just the Jews’ they were gentiles who were known and referred to in the New Testament as the proselitizers by the gate. There were gentiles who’d come to join in the only moral teachings in their cities. It was then held at the synagogue, ONE GOD, the Ten Commandments, the Truth and WE (OR WHO?) could worship the true God and follow our conscience without worshipping pagan idols. And so the Jewish synagogue which was scattered throughout the whole Roman and Parthian empires and twenty million Jews acted as a seabed for Christianity at that time.
We are told in in Romans 11 that God’s plan is that the Jews bear witness to the rest of the nations. Paul, speaking to the Gentile Christians who after a period of time, the gentiles outnumbered the Jews who were Christian, especially outside of Israel. He then said to them in Romans 11:25-26 :
“ 25I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.”
The truth is while most of Israel rejected Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah, there were millions over the centuries who did accept him. And Paul tells us, there’s coming the day when all Israel will see him and believe in him. These are just some of the important factors that God teaches us about the critical role of Israel. (Israel’s role in Bible prophesy)
God prophesied in multiple places throughout the Old and New testament that Israel would be reborn in 1948. In fact Ezequiel in chapter 4: 4-6 literally predicted in that amazing prophecy when he lay on his side for 390 days and 40 days, he actually predicted the return of the Jews to their land, the ending of the worldwide dispersion of the Jews on May 15, 1948.
The rebirth of Israel was unprecedented in Israel. How did it take place?
A great Israeli chemist, a man who was a brilliant scientist, who became the first President of Israel that May during World War I.. When England was running out of explosives because of German U-boats surrounding and blockading that small island nation, he was asked by the King (King George V of England 1865 – 1936), to invent a way locally that they could come out with explosives. And he found a way, using nuts that were growing in England to produce a chemical to allow them to produce the explosives that were needed to be used in ammunitions to allow them to win World War I. At the end of that war, the king asked him what he wanted, thinking he’d want money or a place in the House of Laws. This great man who became the first President of Israel (Chemist Dr. Chaim Weizmann). What he said was this:
“Let my people have a nation”. As one of the key victors of WWI, who won against the German and their allies the Turks. The Turks ruled an area of the Ottoman Empire of about 500 million square miles. Most of it incredibly ruled poorly at that time.
Britain and France primarily under the treaty of Versailles, divided the Ottoman Empire creating nations, there were Arab nations for the first time in history. They had not been any nations before that. Iraq was created in 1921, immediately following the end of WWI. Not only Iraq, but Syria –in the area of British mandate of Palestine. For 30 yrs, Britain was to sort of rule over it, and to help it along , but with an absolute commitment in law and Britain would assure there would be unlimited Jewish immigration for all the nations, to -------- Palestine to have a Jewish National homeland.
The BALFOUR DECLARATION, (November 2, 1917) was signed by Lord Balfour, who was the head of Britain’s foreign offices:
“His majesty’s government views with favor the establishment in Palestine of a National home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this objective, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non Jewish communities in Palestine of the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”
That Balfour Declaration, was not only endorsed by the Council of the League of Nations in 1924, which was the U.N. of the day, it was endorsed by the USA, Canada, Britain, even by some of the new Arab nations endorsed it. Because at that time many of the Arab nations leaders believed that it would be advantageous to have the Jews come back, because they knew the land was desolate. There was no industry, no land agriculture and so was created the British mandate for 30yrs from 1918 – 1948.
Britain was supposed to allow unlimited immigration by Jews, but they quickly changed their mind, as the Arabs protested and Britain was desperate to got oil from the Arab nations, Britain broke its word, broke the law and started putting obstacles in the face of Jews who wanted to go to Palestine. Unfortunately, unfairly, unevenly Britain allowed unlimited Arab immigration to come in from Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and in fact if you go to various Arab villages in Israel today, the names of the people will tell you the names of the villages of those countries where they came from. The tragedy was the Jews were not allowed to come back. And many of the Jews who were slaughtered in the holocaust , six million, many of them would have escaped their death had they been allowed to go to Palestine. Whose land does it belong to? Out of the 5 million square miles of territory that the Ottoman Turkish Empire owned and was distributed by Britain and France primarily.
How much did the Arabs get? Arabs received 99.8% of the land was given to the Arab nations who are independent, they got all the oil. The Jews? They were given 1/5 of 1% of the land. A little sliver of land on the Mediterranean., 8000 sq. miles. So when the demand is made now that Israel should give up land for peace, one has to really take it with ------a grain of salt because they only got one five hundredth of the land that the Arabs got.
What happened when Israel was created in 1948? The United Nations had come up with a treaty that divided even the limited amount of the Jewish National Homeland that was left between the Arabs and the Jews. The Jews occupied regretfully but they did accept.
The Arabs said NO, and they launched an invasion the day Israel was created and the British withdrew on May 14, 1948 at midnight that night.
May 15, 1948 Israel was proclaimed a nation, five Arab armies invaded and attacked and attempted to destroy it before it was hardly born. What happened? The Arab nations surrounded Israel invited the Arabs living in Israel to flee, to become refugees. Why? Because they were so confident that they’d come in and without any Arabs around they’d slaughter all the Jewish population and then they told the Arabs “after you’ve left, in a few weeks you’ll come back and you’ll have all the land and all the buildings”. Here’s what was said by the Near East Arabic Radio on April 3rd 1948:
(This was thru an Arabic radio broadcast):
“IT MUST not be forgotten that the Arab Higher Committee encouraged the refugees to flee their homes in Jaffa, Haifa, and Jerusalem, and that certain leaders make political capital out of their miserable situation….” – RADIO BROADCAST BY NEAR EAST ARABIC RADIO – April 3, 1948”
Did you know that there were Jewish appeals to ask the Arabs as neighbors to stay and not flee? Because hey said they would protect them and they would not have to hurt at all. The Jewish Haifa Workers Council in 1948 issued an appeal:
“Do not fear, do not destroy your homes with your own hands, do not bring upon yourself this tragedy by unnecessary evacuation and self imposed burdens….In this city, yours and ours, Haifa, the gates are open for work, and life and peace for you and your families. “ (THE JEWISH HAIFA WORKERS COUNCIL issued 1948)
Tragically, almost 450,000 fled and thus was created the tragedy. In 1950, April 17, the Arab National Committee of Haifa wrote a memo to Arab governments saying :
“The Removal of the Arab inhabitants was voluntary and was carried out at our request… the Arab delegation proudly asked for the evacuation of the Arabs and their removal to the neighboring Arab countries”
Where does the hatred come from? It goes back 4000yrs to Ishmael and Isaac.
Psalm 83, “King David prophesied that in the last days there would come as Arab nations to surround Israel to become confederate against her and to plan to wipe out Israel from being a nation. He names prophetically 3000yrs ago, every single one of those nations that come against Israel in the last days.
What about the right of return of the refugees that is demanded by the Palestinians P.L.O? Palestinian Authority, Hamas, and the Arab nations. On the face of it, it seems reasonable—shouldn’t refugees return from where they left? Even in their case that they left voluntarily? When the Jews asked them to stay? Well, historically there were tens of millions of refugees after WWII Polish people who were living in Germany, who had fled., others who had fled, others who had moved from Germany to Poland back and forth, tens of millions who left.
Did you now that there was never the slightest demand that these refugees be returned to their former homeland? Rather the new nations where they lived and settled were given them citizenship and now they are great citizens industrious in those lands.
There was only one case, in Palestine, where the Arab nations and the Palestinian people demanded that they not be settled in Lebanon and Syria, in Saudi Arabia in Egypt, all those lands that are 500 times the size of Israel, where they speak the same language and have the same culture and in fact are related to them. But NO, the demand was :
We have to come back an the U.N. and the world has supported that absolutely unprecedented historical plea.
Today, here’s what happened as we examine what the purpose of the right of return is.
Muhammad Saled ed-Din , Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt in 1949 said”
“Let it therefore be known and appreciated that, in demanding the restoration for the refugees to Palestine, the Arabs intend that they shall return as masters of the homeland, and not as slaves. More explicitly “they intend to annihilated to the state of Israel”.
They intend to overpopulate within the current state of Israel so that they have a clearly majority of Arabs against the Jews and replace Israel as the only Jewish state of the world.
The Arabs have 21 nations, enormous amounts of territory in all , but now they want the elimination of Israel. The truth it will not happen. The truth is that God has an unshakeable covenant with Israel. He brought them back to the land exactly in 1948 as prophesied by Ezequiel 4:46. The language of Hebrew was restored as Zephaniah 3: 9 said it would be. The Ethiopian Jews have returned as Zephaniah 3:10 said it would. Israel is getting ready to rebuild the temple as Jesus himself spoke of the abomination of desolation standing n the holy place, the Holy Temple in the future. Prophecy after prophecy is been fulfilled and God has said clearly, repeatedly that when HE brought Israel back in the land they would never again be exiled. God asked us Christians to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. We are to pray for the Arabs, both Muslim and Christian. Many of the Christian Arabs are in a very unpleasant situation, under persecution in the Middle East today.
Ezequiel 48 “The strangers of the land, the Arabs, will receive and inheritance amongst the twelve tribes of Israel”
Some day Peace is coming, but we must know that Israel will never be destroyed.
No matter the threats of the President of Iran, on all the Arab nations who come as a threat. Israel will stand because Israel is the people of God. The chosen people who received the Holy Scriptures preserved them, and transmitted them to us throughout the world today.”
(Grant Jeffrey).
(The above, Israel and the Middle East conflict summarized by scholar Grant Jeffrey).
Who is Grant Jeffrey? He is recognized as one of the leading teachers on Bible prophecy and an intelligent defender of our Christian faith. He is the chairman of Frontier Research Publications, Inc., a leading publisher of books, tapes and videos. Grant's 25 best selling books have resulted in millions of sales during the last twenty years. Numerous publishers including Bantam, Harper Collins, Zondervan, Word, Tyndale have printed his books in 24 languages throughout the world. He appears frequently on TV and radio throughout the world. During the last two decades he has been the main speaker in hundreds of prophecy conferences around the world. Grant and his wife Kaye have been in full time ministry since 1988.
