Little Israel

Oh little Israel. The nations of the world can't seem to figure out what to do about Israel. Such a little country in terms of land and population, yet the world is distressed over Israel. This too is a fulfillment of prophecy:

"Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it." (Zechariah 12:2-3, KJV)

God has made promises to Israel:

"I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee:" (Genesis 12:3, KJV; repeated in Numbers 24:9)

"'And I myself will be a wall of fire around it [Jerusalem],' declared the LORD [YHWH], 'and I will be its glory within.'" (Zechariah 2:5, NIV)

"For this is what the LORD Almighty says: 'After the Glorious One has sent me against the nations that have plundered you--for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye--'" (Zechariah 2:8, NIV)

"I will make known my holy name among my people Israel. I will no longer let my holy name be profaned, and the nations will know that I the LORD am the Holy One in Israel." (Ezekiel 39:7, NIV)

The world has tried to destroy Israel many times throughout history and failed...

-Babylon in 586 BC (through exile)
-Rome in 70 AD (through dispersion)
-Nazi Germany in 1940-1945 (through genocide)

After World War II, Israel was reborn within its historical territorial borders as a political and geographical nation-state in 1948, after almost 1900 years in dispersion; an event the likes of which I cannot find comparison in human history (also a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy). Since then, its surrounding neighbors have tried numerous times to wipe it out, and have failed despite vastly outnumbering it in population and military force size...

-1948 (First Arab-Israeli War): Israel vs. Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, & Syria
-1967 (The Six-Day War): Israel vs. Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, & Syria
-1973 (Yom Kippur War): Israel vs. Egypt & Syria (supported by many others)

In all of these conflicts, and others since 1948, Israel was preserved, despite overwhelming odds. In some cases, Israel's territory was enlarged. Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 prophesy of another conflict, one that hasn't happened yet but will happen in the future (and possibly soon), in which Russia (Magog), Iran (Persia), and others attack Israel and are defeated; Israel will again be preserved.

The world doesn't seem to want to learn the lesson to leave Israel alone. The Land belongs to God and He has given it to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob's descendants (the nation of Israel, descended from the 12 patriarchs).

Unfortunately, the conflict won't end until after the coming world leader (the Beast, or Antichrist) has assembled the world together in a place called Armageddon (Revelation 16:16) to make war against the remnant of Israel, having already invaded it (Daniel 11:41) and slaughtered many of its people in a holocaust worse than Hitler's (Zechariah 13:8). But the remnant of Israel will cry out for their Messiah, whom they had previously rejected, to return and save them, and will acknowledge and repent of their former rejection of Him (Zechariah 12:10, Zechariah 13:9). He will return, save Israel, defeat the Beast and his armies, and establish His kingdom.

The Word of God is reliable and true. He will keep His promises and prophecy will be fulfilled. Israel will go through difficult times in the years ahead, but it will never be completely destroyed, no matter what its enemies may think, or say, or do. It will one day be the nation, and Jerusalem will be the city, from which the King of Kings, Jesus the Christ, will rule the world.

"Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments;" (Deuteronomy 7:9, NASB)

"So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it." (Isaiah 55:11, NASB)

"For You have magnified Your word above all your name." (Psalm 138:2, NKJV)

The World Wants a Leader

The world is looking for a leader. It wants one. It is being prepared for one. It will be ready for one, when the time is right. And I believe that time is coming soon (from the perspective of history).

The world had a leader once, the last time humanity was unified. His name was Nimrod. We saw what humanity got with him. (Genesis 10:8-10, Genesis 11) Others have tried to be the world's leader: Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander, the Caesars, Napoleon, Hitler, etc. They all had their day in the sun, but never fully reigned over the entirety of the world.

The world will get its leader. The world thinks it knows what kind of leader it wants. The world will get the leader it wants; the one it is looking for and asking for. And then the world will see what happens with the kind of leader it thinks it wants. (Daniel 7:1-12, 2 Thessalonians 2, Revelation 13)

Does the world need a leader? Yes, but not in the form it is looking for/wants/thinks it needs. After the one the world finds for itself fails, it will get the one God has chosen. It will get God's design. (Daniel 7:13-28, Revelation 19)

Watch for these things, my friends. We are rushing towards eternity. Biblical prophecy is unfolding around us. The world's leader could be a long way off, or he could come during our lifetimes. (I suspect the latter.) Be prepared. But be assured that the Anointed One of God, the Lord Jesus, is coming too. And His kingdom will be established and will not fail.

In the Beginning (Genesis 1:1)

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." -Genesis 1:1 (King James Version)

When did this happen? In the beginning. The beginning of what? The beginning. The beginning of time. This is the start of time. Time began at the moment God started His work of creation. In essence, time was created. God created time along with everything else. This gives Biblical support to scientific concepts such as the "space-time continuum" and the observable, measurable nature of time as the fourth dimension, in addition to the three spatial dimensions of the physical universe. Science informs that time is a physical property and is subject to physical laws (laws of physics) such as mass, velocity, and acceleration. Time can be measured using other methods apart from the rotation of the earth on its axis (days) and its revolution around the sun (seasons and years). Time is not constant but can "speed up" or "slow down" depending upon a number of factors. The fact that God created time also indicates that He existed before time and exists outside of time. God existed before the beginning.

Who did the creating? God. The word used here for “God” in Hebrew is "'Elohiym" or "Elohim." This is the plural form of the Hebrew word "El" or "Eloah" which is the word for "God." So the passage states that God in plural form did the creating. This supports the Christian doctrine of the Trinity or Triune Godhead of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, further supported in Genesis 1:26 when God stated, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:” This is further supported in John 1:1-3 which states that “the Word” (a title for Jesus Christ) made all things. This is even further supported by Colossians 1:16 which clearly states that all things were created by and for Jesus Christ. Either way, it was God who did the creating.

What did God do here? God created. He created the heaven (“heavens” in other English translations such as the New King James, New International, and New American Standard) and the earth. All things were created by God. He did the creating. He was not created with all things as He created all things. He is not a created being. He is the Creator. He is before and superior to all things. All created things are therefore inferior to Him and owe their existence to Him. He is also the necessary thing as all things that exist were created by Him. He is the only necessary. This enters the philosophical realm of “ontology” and is the essence of the “Ontological Argument” of logical theology. He does not need anything, but all things need (or at the very least, needed) Him. According to Colossians 1:17, God (the Second Person of the Triune Godhead, God the Son) holds all things together, which means that all things still need Him in order to exist. Science informs that the “Strong Nuclear Force” is the force that holds atoms together, but the force functions by both attracting and repulsing nucleons depending upon distance. The models and equations are only partially empirical and based upon some phenomenological (somewhat philosophical) constants.

What did God create? The heaven (heavens) and the earth. The term heavens in the Bible is used for both the sky (atmosphere) and the stars (space). It is also used to refer to the dwelling place of God. The earth is the planet that humans dwell upon. So God created the earth and space and all therein. The earth and all objects in space consist of matter (atoms, molecules, periodic elements, etc.). So God created all the building blocks of the physical universe. These objects are observable and measurable by the three spatial dimensions (a combination of three of the following: breadth, depth, height, length, width). The fact that God created these things indicates that they did not always exist. Even Stephen Hawking stated that the universe has not existed forever, but had a beginning. (See the reference below.) God created the physical universe. We also already saw that He created the fourth physical dimension of time. Just as with time, this indicates that He existed before the physical universe and exists outside of the physical universe. This also implies the necessity of the existence of hyper-dimensions (more dimensions than the currently measurable three spatial and fourth time).

All that from one short verse, and the very first verse, of the Bible. To see more on this subject, including the full quote by Hawking and others, see my blog post “The Great Deception” from January, 2014.

Grace and peace to you.