Thoughts which Israel Should Consider before it Continues down this path

I would like to say that before I start this discourse that I believe the Jewish people, the descendants of Jacob, are the Scriptural heirs to the promised land, the nation of Israel and the land it now exists in are its cultural, historical, and Biblically promised home.
My prayer is that peace will come to Israel as per the Scriptural references found in the Prophets and Torah.
I understand that the religious Jewish community is still looking for their Biblical Messiah while myself, being a Christian, believe I have already found Him in the personhood of Jesus the Christ.
My desire is that the Jewish people would come to a more spiritual relationship to the Almighty and HIS Holy Spirit which is said to convict the world, including the Jewish people, of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.
As with Paul I would prefer that they come to a knowledge and understanding of the man Jesus and His teachings, of His love and His sacrifice. Although I have discussed Scripture with some Jewish friends in the States I do not judge them for their choice to believe as they do, it is their human right to do so as free men and women, nor do I try to impress upon them that if they do not believe as I do that they will burn in hell. I have told them where the Scriptures mention the ideas and concept of faith in the New Testament and I allow them to decide for themselves, and with that same respect they allow me the same respect.

With that said some of our discussions have led to prophecy throughout the Old Testament, including the Prophets and the Torah and when I present some beliefs I have about what Israel is currently experiencing in their timeline in nationhood they just remain silent and shake their head in agreement.
Not because they necessarily agree but out of respect for my opinions.
They have occasionally corrected me on certain interpretations and word usage but in general I am trying to apply the Scriptural verses in a more spiritual application than what they generally have considered as their view is primarily historical in nature, I understand there are various other branches within the Jewish Community that do apply a more spiritual meaning to Scripture but I’ve been told most of those groups also make use of traditions and various cultural applications as well such as the writings which were delivered by the Rabbi’s during their Babylonian captivity, and other writings contained in the Talmud and various writings of historical Rabbi’s.

Reading the Scripture and from secular historical evidence it can be discerned that ancient Israel, at various times in its existence as a nation under the judges and the kings, fell away in their faith and their nation and people were judged accordingly for their faithlessness.

Jeremiah 1:16  And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.
Jeremiah 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.
Jeremiah 3:2  Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
Jeremiah 4:14  O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?
Jeremiah 4:18  Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart.
Jeremiah 6:7  As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness: violence and spoil is heard in her; before me continually is grief and wounds.

 

 

Also I would recommend that the people of Israel remember the curses that come from disobedience to the Scriptures, here are some of those curses as listed in the Torah in the book of Deuteronomy Chapter 28.

15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
17 Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.
18 Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
19 Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
20 The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.
21 The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.
22 The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.
23 And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.
24 The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
25 The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.
26 And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.
27 The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.
28 The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:
29 And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.
30 Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.
31 Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them.
32 Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand.
33 The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway:
34 So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.

These reasons and actions by the Creator in judging a people whom HE has chosen as HIS own special family are abundantly clear, because of their perpetual backsliding and falling away from their faith in HIM alone.

Jeremiah 3:6 The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.
Jeremiah 3:8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
Jeremiah 3:11 And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
Jeremiah 3:12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.
Jeremiah 3:14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
Jeremiah 3:22 Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
Jeremiah 8:5 Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
Jeremiah 31:22 How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the LORD hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man.
Jeremiah 49:4 Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me?
Hosea 4:16 For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place.
Hosea 11:7 And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.

Also in the Book of Numbers we read about how personal sins can affect the entire nation as in Chapter 32.

13 And the LORD’S anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the LORD, was consumed.
14 And, behold, ye are risen up in your fathers’ stead, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of the LORD toward Israel.
15 For if ye turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and ye shall destroy all this people.

I believe most are aware of the sins of the fathers after they came out of Egypt, how their unbelief and stubbornness caused them to wander for forty years in the desert, how Moses got frustrated and struck the stone three times instead of just once as directed by the Almighty and thereby sinning it cost him his right to enter the promised land, yet he was forgiven and continued on as leader and prophet of Israel.
Nor do I need to say anything about the sins of David which caused judgment to fall upon Israel nor of Solomon and his herd of wives and lovers who led his heart astray and the end result of the splitting of the nation.
Scripture is resplendent with examples and stories of where the chosen families of GOD fell away, in Amos chapter 2:4 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked: we can read the causes, they kept not his commandments and despised HIS laws.

Now this is not to critique the Jewish nation as a whole, it is only in reference to the national sins as recorded in the Holy Scriptures and which clarify that combined personal sins do directly affect the national morality of a nation.
In our day we are seeing story after story of how the nation of Israel is becoming or has become a secular nation, how the sodomites are parading through the streets and are being glorified for their so-called lifestyle, which is nothing more than sin and wickedness.
The combined sins of the people who reside in Israel is building again toward the direction of judgment, their sins are becoming manifest and they are proudly showing off their evil without being ashamed. Jeremiah 6:15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.

The promises of the Divine cannot be broken, HIS word to the fathers of Israel hold true today as they will always remain true for all eternity.
Isaiah 41:8 But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
Isaiah 41:9 Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
Isaiah 43:10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
We can find throughout Scripture where the LORD has chosen Israel as HIS people, HE has promised that if they fall away judgment would come, HE also promised to forgive them if they return to HIM. HE also promised to protect them from the nations who desire to destroy them, Zecheriah 2:8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.

If Israel continues down this road of so-called secularism, denying the Laws of GOD, showing their sins before the world to see then it is evident in Scripture that judgment will follow.
I would ask and I do pray that the nation and people of Israel return to the faith of their fathers, to relearn the Sacred Scriptures which guided their relationship with the Divine in their beginnings because if they refuse then judgement will surely follow just as it has throughout their history as a people and nation.

In the following Scripture we read what some refer to as the Oracle of Damascus. Many Christians pray that this Oracle would come to pass because it leads to the imminent return of Jesus the Christ. Here is Isaiah Chapter 17.

1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
3 The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the LORD of hosts.
4 And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.
5 And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim.
6 ¶ Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the LORD God of Israel.
7 At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.
8 And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.
9 ¶ In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.
10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:
11 In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
12 ¶ Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
14 And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.

Here we see that Damascus has become a ruinous heap, nothing but dust and ash so to speak.
Many Christians believe in the pre-tribulational rapture theory, myself I do not subscribe to that opinion and often refer to myself as a pre-wrather. That being said, those who hold the pre-trib view of interpreting scripture believe that the Oracle of Damascus leads to the Gog-Magog conflict, which I think it does as well, but they tend to believe they will be raptured or taken away before all or most of this occurs.
I do not concur with that opinion and after reading the above chapter I would say it is not something I am wanting to see happen. Primarily because of the suffering and death that follows with any conflict, but with an apprehension that most forget to read the remaining verses.
In verse four we read this, “4 And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.” also in verse nine, “…. and there shall be desolation.”.
It would appear that after this Damascus Oracle is completed that there will be hunger in the land of Israel, that there will be desolation around and in Israel although there will be those who do repent and come back to the faith of their fathers.
The actions of war have happened throughout human history and will not stop until the Almighty says the times are at an end and the new earth is created. Yet war is never a glorious thing to behold let alone to participate in, the human suffering, damages, and costs on all levels associated with conflicts leave damage to people for decades and can have unforeseen consequences that do not appear for generations, both on a personal, national, and international scale.
Those who glory in hating their neighbor and who desire the death of other human beings to me are some of the worse kinds of people, forgetting that every person is created in the image of the Divine.
In Hosea 6:6 we read this, For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. Also here we read about the mercy and forgiveness of the Almighty, Ezekiel 33:11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
Mercy is a virtue which the old world does not know unless it is pushed at them by the Divine. The world says to kill your enemies yet our Creator finds no pleasure in the death of the wicked, whether Jew or Gentile. When it is all said and done and the Divine is ruling this old world then we read this, Malachi 1:11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts.
Damascus is going to fall in its appointed time and by those to whom it is appointed to do it. Just as the Gog-Magog conflict is going to be for its appointed time but myself, I do not think we as a people or a world should be rushing into any of these conflicts because of the damage done to humanity and the world as a whole.

Judgment will come, in GOD’s time, not on our timing.

Israel and the Christian communities need to understand that judgment is coming, at what time I do not know, only the Creator knows for sure.
HE finds no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that they should repent and be saved.

Now with that said I do not even want to imply that Israel does not have the right of self defense, they do as any other nation on earth does, they do show an intense amount of restraint when dealing with the terrorists surrounding them, they do show mercy to their enemies in conflicts, their military has shown itself to be an excellent model which other nations should emulate. I commend the IDF for their abilities and their fortitude in battling their enemies in the past, present, and in the future conflicts that are surely going to arise. May the Almighty bless and keep everyone of your men and women in arms and safe. I do also commend the national government of Israel in most things they do in regards to their restraint and understanding concerning the nations surrounding them, they do show compassion to other nations, at times being the first to offer assistance to poverty stricken nations, the first to volunteer to help those peoples struck with natural disasters or war. With these outward expressions of goodness it cannot be denied that Israel is both faithful in most regards to their Creator, showing the same compassion for others as HE showed to them.
The condemnation comes when there is open and public rebellion against the Laws of the Almighty and outright public wickedness being flaunted in the face of your GOD, family, and nation. These actions alone as well as the secularization of your nation is going to draw your people away from their faith and lead to judgement.

Judgment will come if you continue in your sins, just as it did with your fathers, the only thing the Lord is impressing upon my heart here are these verses in Isaiah chapter 48 , 9 ¶ For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.
10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
11 For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.

For HIS names sake HE may defer HIS anger for a time, but you are treading on very shallow ground here with allowing sin and wickedness to flaunt itself through your nation.

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