May 13, 2015 - A. V. Rauf
All For One and One For All: God +1 = The Majority (Updated!)
Having launched this website for just four months and counting, I remember telling a friend of mine that practically every post is time sensitive and relevant.
This website has just surpassed over 50 posts a week ago! Although it may seem tedious, it is well worth the effort to sift through each post to read its contents. Honestly. Yet for your convenience I am updating yet another post that was published 2 months ago………….
Expectancy and watchfulness should be the attitude of our lives as we look forward to the return of the LORD. The Church has been told to not only wait for Him, but to also watch for Him. Although we are not told when the LORD will come, the Bible clearly gives us a rather complete picture of the state of affairs and the march of events that will transpire after the LORD sets in motion the various phases of His imminent return.
Joel 3:2—I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
God is very adamant about His spoken Word.
Isaiah 55:11— So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
Furthermore, Scriptures tell us that God exalts His word above His name:
Psalm 138:2— I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
As the psalmist turns to the temple to worship he writes in Ps. 138:2: “For thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name name.” God’s Word is His communication, His promise, the revelation of Himself to His people. It is to be a lamp to our feet in a dark and fallen world, without it we would have no way to know God or how to do God’s will.
In reference to the very first Scripture on this post, God’s Word is very clear: the Lord Almighty will judge ALL nations who divide the Land of Israel.
Nevertheless, international pressure on Israel to carve up the Holy Land like Edward Scissor-hands on a soft pumpkin continue as the nations are calling for Israel to withdraw to the 1967 borders. Nearly every world leader — and certainly every American president since 1967, when Jerusalem was recognized as the capital of Israel — has demanded Israel give up significant amounts of territory within Judea, Samaria, and the Golan Heights in order to create a sovereign Palestinian state side by side with Israel and make peace with Syria. Keep in mind that we are a part of the generation that has seen Jerusalem come to international significance being recognized as the city in Israel by all nations.
If the plan is approved, it will ultimately force Israel to give up more of its land, to divide Jerusalem, and eventually return it to indefensible borders. This would be a grave mistake. It would severely jeopardize Israeli national security. It would do so in direct defiance of the Holy Scriptures. And it may draw the judgment of the Lord Almighty against the United States and all other countries involved in the process.
It is being reported that our current administration has now given the long awaited “green light” to European governments to file a UN Security Council motion proclaiming an independent Palestinian state. Senior US officials reportedly collaborated with their French counterparts in Paris last week to sketch out the general outline of this motion.
It is also being reported that they began addressing such questions as the area of the Palestinian state, its borders, security arrangements between Israel and the Palestinians and whether or not to set a hard-and-fast timeline for implementation, or phrase the resolution as a general declaration of intent.
And now just a few days removed from Yom Yerushalayim, or Jerusalem Day, where Israel will be celebrating the reunification of Jerusalem by crowds parading blue and white through downtown Jerusalem, comes this startling declaration:
The Vatican has now officially recognized the state of Palestine in a new treaty this week, drawing criticism from Jerusalem. The treaty was finalized Wednesday but still has to be signed. It is very obvious now that the Vatican has switched its diplomatic relations from the Palestinian Liberation Organization to the state of Palestine.
This treaty is the first legal document negotiated between the Vatican and the Palestinian state and constitutes an official recognition.
Zechariah 12:1-9— The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. 2 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. 3 And in that day will I 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. 4 In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness. 5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of hosts their God. 6 In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. 7 The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. 8 In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them. 9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
Historically, we know that the nations have repeatedly divided the Land of Israel. Prophetically, we know they will continue to do so until the Day of the Lord comes. (Please see my previous post on “The Day of the LORD”)
The Lord is going to gather all the nations – not some of the nations….not a few of the nations….the text says “all” of the nations…He will gather them to the Valley of Jehoshaphat….the valley of judgment…what we know today as the Kidron Valley which is located in……… Jerusalem.
Joel 3:2-5; 19-21—I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. 3 And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink. 4 Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head; 5 Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things; Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. 20 But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. 21 For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the Lord dwelleth in Zion.
The Lord is going to judge the nations for at least four reasons:
1. For scattering Israel and the Jewish people among the nations (Joel 3:2)
2. For dividing up the land of Israel, which the Lord describes as “My land” (Joel 3:2)
3.For stealing treasures from the Lord (perhaps from the 3rd Temple which will be built in the very near future), and from Israel. (Joel 3:5)
4. For murdering Jews and shedding Jewish blood. (Joel 3:19, 21)
It also must be clearly understood that Israel will NOT allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. They have stated that repeatedly. They know that they may have to defend themselves alone without help from their “closest” ally who may have turned its back on Israel.
In his speech to Congress, Netanyahu promised that “if Israel has to stand alone, she will stand” and he also pretty much hinted that Israel will attempt to neutralize the nuclear ambitions of its most dangerous enemy, Iran with or without America’s approval. When she does, maybe even this year, you will see war develop between the surrounding countries and Israel as Iran will use its proxies of Hezbollah and Hamas and possibly start the Psalm 83 war. Perhaps this may lead to Ezekiel 38-39. The end result may be a forced peace with Jerusalem being divided. And now the Unites States of America and the Vatican have declared their intention for recognizing a state of Palestine which will most likely result in the dividing of Jerusalem.
Furthermore, the frightening scenario that will most likely play out according to the Scriptures is that the only friend that ultimately reaches out to her, will be the Antichrist. He will give Israel a temporary peace.
Daniel 9:27—And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
But, three and a half years later (Mid-Trib), the Antichrist replicates what the Jews well remember in their history from the days of Antiochus concerning the desecration of the Temple. At that point the Antichrist betrays them.
God’s Word must be taken in to consideration here:
Currently, there is a growing disparity between the nations of the world and Israel. It’s most unfortunate that our own country is going to grow in its disparity from Israel as well. Currently in existence are policies going back several administrations that have forced Israel to do things that they didn’t want to do, things such as the giving up of land that God has directly said that no one is to force them to relinquish.
The United Nations, the United States, the European Union ,the Arab League, the Palestinian Authority, heck even the Government of Israel must clearly take heed to what God’s Word is clearly stating.
It is CLEARLY evident and PAINSTAKINGLY obvious now that Israel is being set to take center stage concerning Bible prophecy and the end times. She will be alone. But God + 1 = The Majority.
And if Israel is about to take center stage, where does that put the true Church in God’s timetable?
Luke 21:28-36—And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. 29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; 30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. 31 So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. 32 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. 33 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. 34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. 35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.