Immanuel.at-Forum for Discussion Discourse 1012: Looking up the biblical quotations of the "friends of Israel" in the Bible.

The following quotations (in a black frame) have been taken from the website "WÄCHTERRUF - Gebetsnetz für Deutschland" [WATCHMAN’S CALL ‒ a Prayer Network for Germany].

(Texts enclosed in a black frame are quoted from visitors to the site or other authors.)

1. “The people or race who bless Israel will experience the blessing of God themselves” (see Genesis 1-3). This is a fundamental spiritual law for the relationship of non-Jewish peoples to Israel, and it is still valid today.

Genesis 1-3 treats of the creation of the heaven and the earth (Gen 1), the creation of humanity (Gen 2) and the Fall and its consequences (Gen 3). In none of these three chapters is a single word to be found about Israel. Any correctly believing Christian familiar with the Bible knows as much. So it is a complete falsehood to refer these biblical passages to Israel. The obvious assumption is that the reader isn’t going to know the Bible anyway, and will be too lazy to check the reference.

This blessing of Jacob is actually mentioned in Gen 27,29, where we find the following passage:

Gen 27,29 May peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you; Be master of your brothers, And may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, And blessed be those who bless you." Gen 27,29;

This prophecy now refers, without any shadow of doubt, to the Millennium, the Thousand Year Kingdom of the Messiah, where the descendants of Jacob, to whom the Lord gave the name of Israel, become “chief of the nations” (Jer 31:7) ‒ in other words, a world power. But through Abraham, on the other hand, all human beings, and not just the Israelites, have received the blessing of God:

Gen 18,18 since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Gen 18,18;

Gen 22,15 ¶ Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 22,16 and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, 22,17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. 22,18 "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." Gen 22,15-18;

And in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

Gen 28,14 "Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Gen 28,14;

(Texts enclosed in a black frame are quoted from visitors to the site or other authors.)

2. “Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God” (Isa 40,1). Non-Jewish people who believe in the God of Israel are encouraged by God himself to comfort Israel. To whom could this invitation better apply than to Christians from Germany, in view of the suffering that our people inflicted on the Jewish people?

Comfort, O comfort My people, says your God. Speak kindly to Jerusalem; And call out to her, that her warfare has ended, That her iniquity has been removed.

Isa 40,1 "Comfort, O comfort My people," says your God. 40,2 "Speak kindly to Jerusalem; And call out to her, that her warfare has ended, That her iniquity has been removed, That she has received of the LORD’S hand Double for all her sins." 40,3 A voice is calling, "Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. 40,4 "Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley; 40,5 Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken." Isa 40, 1- 5;

Here the attempt is being made to persuade the Germans that they especially, as Germans, in view of the suffering “that our people inflicted on the Jewish people”, are obliged to make this kind of restitution. But this prophecy too naturally relates to the Millennium. Here it is not a matter of the guilt of the Germans, but of the guilt of Israel toward God because they delivered his Son to the cross, and still describe him as a fraud and blasphemer right up to the present day. This guilt of Israel will only be wiped away on the Second Coming of the Messiah, when they convert to their God and his Son Jesus Christ. The statement above in Isa 40,3, too, refers to the coming of the Messiah and of Elijah, who is to come before the Messiah. John the Baptist, who came in the spirit of Elijah (Lk 1:17), made the same appeal to the Jews (Lk 3:4-6).

Mic 7,18 Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in unchanging love. 7,19 He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins Into the depths of the sea. 7,20 You will give truth to Jacob And unchanging love to Abraham, Which You swore to our forefathers From the days of old. Mic 7,18-20;

(Texts enclosed in a black frame are quoted from visitors to the site or other authors.)

3. God’s eternal covenant of grace with Israel, concluded with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, remains valid to this day (see Romans 11): “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom 11:29). God’s promises of grace to Israel, especially in the Last Days, are being fulfilled before our eyes and will continue to be fulfilled. We are privileged to have a share in this if we intercede for Israel.

At present we are not even at the start of the Last Days, let alone at the end of the Last Days when all these prophecies will be fulfilled. First the dominion of the Antichrist must come and the reorganization of heaven and earth by God must take place, and only after that do we reach the Millennium, when God’s promises of grace to the Jews will be fulfilled.

Since its rejection of the Son of God, their Messiah, and their handing him over to the Romans to be crucified, Israel has no longer had any contact with its God. Right up to the present day they reject the Son of God as their Lord and Messiah. But as the Lord tells us, whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either.

Jn 14,6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. Jn 14, 6;

1Jn 2,23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. 1Jn 2,23;

Jn 8,22 So the Jews were saying, "Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?" 23 And He was saying to them, "You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 24 "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins." Jn 8,22-24;

(Texts enclosed in a black frame are quoted from visitors to the site or other authors.)

The spiritual allegiance of this German prayer movement with Israel expresses itself not least in its very name. The name “Wächterruf” [“Watchman’s Call”] is suggested by a biblical passage from Isaiah (Isa 62,6-7): “On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; All day and all night they will never keep silent. You who remind the LORD, take no rest for yourselves; And give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”

Here yet again we find a biblical passage that actually refers to the Millennium being reinterpreted to point to the present. If we look at the context before and after these two verses, we recognize that none of these descriptions can possibly fit the Jerusalem of our times.

Until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, and her salvation like a torch that is burning.

Isa 62,1 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet, until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, And her salvation like a torch that is burning. 62,2 The nations will see your righteousness, And all kings your glory; And you will be called by a new name Which the mouth of the LORD will designate. Isa 62, 1- 2;

These days there is no justice to be found in Jerusalem. The premature resignation of Ezer Weizmann and Benjamin Netanyahu (the latter now re-elected in 2010!) from the two highest offices of state, that of President and that of Prime Minister, on charges of bribery and corruption proves the contrary. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert similarly had to resign because of corruption in 2006. The last President of Israel but one, Moshe Katsav, also had to leave office because of corruption and for raping a secretary. A member of parliament and the leader of the religious Shas Party, Ariel Deri, was likewise found guilty in court of corruption and fraud.

Isa 62,8 The LORD has sworn by His right hand and by His strong arm, "I will never again give your grain as food for your enemies; Nor will foreigners drink your new wine for which you have labored." 9 But those who garner it will eat it and praise the LORD; And those who gather it will drink it in the courts of My sanctuary. Isa 62, 8- 9;

That applies to the time of the Millennium, when the Temple will be rebuilt. At the present time the Israelis would find it hard to drink new wine in the courts of the sanctuary when the sanctuary itself ‒ the Temple ‒ does not yet exist.

(Texts enclosed in a black frame are quoted from visitors to the site or other authors.)

We can take this promise, in an extended sense, as applying to our prayer for Germany. But, if in addition, we treasure in our hearts and in our intercession the original meaning of this promise, that is undoubtedly going to make our Lord particularly happy. On this note I wish for you all that you may be guided by the Holy Spirit in prayer for Germany and in prayer for the fulfillment of God’s good intentions toward Jerusalem and Israel. Yours, Harald Eckert (Chairman, Christians For Israel)

So what is supposed here to apply to Germany “in an extended sense”? The whole thing is a hypocritical and shameless falsification of the Bible, based on the assumption that readers will be unfamiliar with Scripture and will be too lazy to check the texts. It seems that not the Holy Spirit but a different spirit altogether has been in charge here.

But if we are to quote Scripture and point to Old Testament prophecies referring to Israel, the prophecy of the prophet Hosea must also be mentioned ‒ this having a special significance for Israel and Judah in the Last Days:

I will deliver the house of Judah by the LORD and will not deliver them by bow, sword, battle, horses or horsemen.

Hos 1,5 "On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel." 1,6 Then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. And the LORD said to him, "Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel, that I would ever forgive them. 1,7 "But I will have compassion on the house of Judah and deliver them by the LORD their God, and will not deliver them by bow, sword, battle, horses or horsemen." Hos 1, 5- 7;

Zech 4,6 Then he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts. Zech 4, 6;

In 1948 Israel occupied Palestine by force of arms, ‒ as we can see, contrary to the statements of Scripture and the Will of God ‒ drove out the inhabitants and established a Zionist state. They are “the house of Israel”, in the above prophecy of the prophet Hosea, on whom God will no longer have compassion, that he would ever forgive them.

It is quite a different matter with the “House of Judah” mentioned by the prophet, on whom God will have compassion and whom he will save, but not with weapons or war. These are the believing Orthodox Jews in the Diaspora, who trust in their God and humbly accept what the Almighty has allotted to them. They did not go to Israel but remained in the Diaspora as ordered by Scripture. They will only return when the prophecies come to be fulfilled, and their Messiah returns and brings them back to their land. And if the impression is not misleading, it is these same faithful Jews in the Diaspora worldwide from whose descendants a remnant will escape ‒ the remnant that will convert to their God and his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!" declares the LORD.

Jer 23,1 "Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!" declares the LORD. 23,2 Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are tending My people: "You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds," declares the LORD. 23,3 "Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. 23,4 "I will also raise up shepherds over them and they will tend them; and they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing," declares the LORD. 23,5 "Behold, the days are coming," declares the LORD, "When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land.

Discourse 1012 - Looking up the biblical quotations of the "friends of Israel" in the Bible.

The "Israel movement" in the Christian congregations / Christian Evangelical Zionism - Part 2