A Covenant God, A Covenant Nation, Covenant Land

Israel's Covenant Land Part One

May 14th marks the 58th anniversary of Israel’s reformation as a nation in 1948; May 26th will mark another celebration of the unification of Jerusalem during the Six Day War of 1967. This is the first of several series of messages and studies on Israel's Covenant Land in honor of these two celebrations of God's Chosen COVENANT people! Let this writer make it clear to the reader. America’s freedom in coming years will depend a great deal on how we handle Israel!!!!! The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob neither slumbers or sleeps and He watches over Israel with tremendous zeal and love. No matter how far away from God Israel may be at the present time, there is a special place in the Father's heart for the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Those who call upon His name for Israel can be sure God will fight for Jacob’s seed - even if that is sending chastisement on America, another beloved nation in the heart of God. The future of Israel stands now on a false peace treaty but on COVENANT promises God has made regarding the land of Israel and Jerusalem. If all those who believe in Christ, Israel's Messiah, will stand in the gap, before the Lord God of Israel, and cry out to Him, He will defend His Holy Name; He will remember His Holy Covenant with Abraham regarding the land; He will reclaim His holy city, Jerusalem, rebuild His Holy Temple and redeem His people, because HE IS THE COVENANT MAKING, COVENANT KEEPING God of Israel!

By Chris McDonald

TEXT: Genesis 12:1-3
Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: [2] And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shall be a blessing: [3] And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Genesis 17:7-10
And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. [8] And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. [9] And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. [10] This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.

We had the privilege this past week of speaking and praying for Israel at the Knoxville National Day of Prayer. Israel is without a doubt the coming plumbline for the church as we draw closer and closer to the rapture. This writer's concern is more for the salvation of the Jewish people and yes the defense of Israel's right to the land. As I've stated in recent journals however, I'd rather Israel lose her land and gain her soul than gain the land and LOSE her soul! It's better for Israel to lose her land and be SAVED, than gain the land and be LOST!

Romans 11:25-29
For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. [26] And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: [27] For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. [28] As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes. [29] For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

In just a few days from now we will celebrate two historic events as it pertains to the nation of Israel. May 14th, 2006 marks the 58th anniversary of Israel’s re-formation as a nation in 1948, one of the greatest prophetic events in the 20th Century. Most if not all future Bible prophecy pertains to the nation of Israel! When she was born a new as a nation in 1948, God's prophetic time clock began to tick again!

On May 26th Israel will celebrate another major event as it pertains to Bible prophecy - the unification of Jerusalem that took place in 1967 during the Six Day War.

In July 2005, Israel as a nation came to a historic fork in the road of her existence with the events that took place in Gaza and the West Bank. Sadly, the United States pressured her into giving up tremendous amounts of covenant land to the Palestinians in an ever growing policy that if Israel can give up her land then peace will come to the Middle East. The mantra of “peace at any price,” has become a demonic noose placed around the heads of those in governmental leadership in both America and Israel. One of the primary tenants of this doctrine of “we have no choice,” gives justification to decisions that have eternal consequences for both nations - and NONE of those consequences are good! Let the reader understand that Israel's covenant land does not even really belong to her, the covenant land of Israel belongs to GOD!

Joel 3:1-3
For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, [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. [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.

Everything is negotiable on political tables these days – the land, Judea and Samaria, East Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. Tel Aviv and Haifa may be next should this trend continue. Nothing as it pertains to these regions of Bible important is holy or sacred to anyone in Israel or the United States. Israel has been pressured to believe that despite giving up her inheritance given to her by God, if she will just grant the wishes of the Arab world, peace will come to her. Those are the ideas of fools! Like Esau, who gave up his God given inheritance for a pot of soup, Israel is doing to the same today for the promise of peace. America has joined the voices of other nations around the world demanding Israel retreat. The Quartet of nations, one of which include America, is demanding it; both the U.N. and the E.U. have declared their support for Israel’s withdrawal; Israel’s own people, government and political leaders have mandated it through the results of recent elections.

In a recent article written just two weeks ago, the Quartet continues to press for a "two-state" solution:

"We must ask ourselves whether humanitarian aid is enough to bring us to the desired goal - a two-state solution - as the Road Map says," Wolfensohn concluded his latest report. He noted that in recent years the international community allocated an annual sum of some two billion dollars as aid to the Palestinians, hoping it would help build effective institutions and a thriving economy, on the way to establishing a viable state. "Are we going to give all that up now," he asks, alluding to the policy of completely boycotting the Hamas government, " or will we find a way that will allow us to work in the framework of the law and the policy, while continuing to support building a democratic and responsible administration, that can act to realize the dream of peace and security for the two peoples."

The question that comes to this writer’s mind in all of this is, “what is next?” Will those in power declare next that Israel give over her inheritance on the “mountains of Israel,” Judea and Samaria, and in East Jerusalem to a foreign god, because there is “no choice,” according to U.S. diplomats. In certain cases, America is demanding Israel return to the “Auschwitz borders,” of 1949. To many is Israel, there is truly no choice but listen to America because if Israel loses America’s support, many feel Israel is doomed. Without America, how could Israel survive as a nation? I submit to you today that Israel’s source of salvation has never been America, even though God ordained America in the beginning to the source of her protection. If America chooses to continue to do so, America will be blessed; if America refuses, then it will be AMERICA, not Israel that will be doomed! God is going to protect Israel no matter how bleak or dark it may look outwardly.

No matter how backslidden Israel may be at the present time from God, she is STILL the apple of HIS EYE and will be protected by God at all COSTS! If America abandons Israel, many feel the U.N. would announce a trade-embargo or Israel, the E.U. and all the nations of the world will support it enthusiastically, and Israel will be brought to her knees economically and die. By the GRACE OF GOD, there is a REMNANT in Israel and in America who believe they DO have a choice because there is a God who neither slumbers nor sleeps - and His name is the GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC and JACOB (ISRAEL!) There are still those this writer believes exist in this nation of America, even though we, like Israel, are backslidden in heart right now as a country, who STILL believe the words of Almighty God when He says, “THOSE WHO BLESS YOU I WILL BLESS, THOSE WHO CURSE YOU I WILL CURSE,” speaking of Abraham’s seed – the Jewish race.

Genesis 12:1-3
Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: [2] And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: [3] And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curses thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

        Let this writer make it clear to the reader. America’s freedom in coming years will depend a great deal on how our governmental leaders handle Israel!!!!! Those who call upon the Lord's name for Israel can be sure God will fight for Jacob’s seed. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob neither slumbers or sleeps and He watches over Israel with tremendous zeal and love. No matter how far away from God Israel may be at the present time, there is a special place in the Father's heart for the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Those who call upon His name for Israel can be sure God will fight for Jacob’s seed - even if that is sending chastisement on America, another beloved nation in the heart of God. The future of Israel stands not on a false peace treaty but on COVENANT promises God has made regarding the land of Israel and Jerusalem. If all those who believe in Christ, Israel's Messiah, will stand in the gap, before the Lord God of Israel, and cry out to Him, He will defend His Holy Name; He will remember His Holy Covenant with Abraham regarding the land; He will reclaim His holy city, Jerusalem, rebuild His Holy Temple and redeem His people, because HE IS THE COVENANT MAKING, COVENANT KEEPING God of Israel!

        No power on earth or heaven can stop the horrendous events about to take place on earth known as the Great Tribulation. ISRAEL will be a the epicenter of ALL these events, which were prophesied long ago by Jewish prophets. As we approach the time of testing and calamity AMERICA, as well as the rest of the world, needs to choose NOW what path they will take. In God’s wrath, He will remember mercy if we ask. Jeremiah cried in the Lamentations that the “kindnesses of the Lord never cease! His mercies never fail!”

Lament. 3:22-23
It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. [23] They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

        God’s kindness however is not extended to the wicked who reject and willfully refuse to believe in His Son, Jesus Christ! His mercy does not extend to those who rebel continually and harden their hearts against His love and grace. Make no mistake, those who reject the covenant are rejected BY the covenant!

The History of Jerusalem; Portrait of the Future

Zech. 12:1-3
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.

        History reveals that in the year 70 A.D., the Romans besieged Jerusalem and destroyed the city and the temple, killing a million Jews and dispersing those who were left throughout the nations. For almost 1,900 years Israel ceased to exist as a nation – at least in the eyes of men. The Jews were expelled from their native homeland and scattered throughout the nations as aliens. They were persecuted, reviled and hated wherever they sought refuge. History has never recorded details of a people or a nation who were removed from their native land for 1,900 years and survived as a people! Has any group of people ever sojourned as aliens among the nations of the earth and yet maintained their native language, culture, heritage, and traditions for thousands of years? NEVER, except for one exception – ISRAEL – and that my friend was not without GOD HIMSELF intervening millions of times on her behalf.

        By God’s grace Israel has survived generation after generation suffering persecution after persecution and yet maintaining their bloodlines, heritage, culture and distinction. In May of 1948, an event unparalleled in all of human history took place. The nation of Israel was resurrected from the ashes of history and once again became a nation among nations!

        There is absolutely NO human explanation or human understanding for the resurrection of the nation of Israel! Yet, in God’s eyes, nothing is impossible when it is based upon His covenant promises.

Genesis 17:7-8
And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. [8] And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

        In these verses we find many key “words,” and “phrases,” that reveal the very character and nature of God and how He keeps covenants – especially those with Abraham’s descendants:

• “I will ESTABLISH My Covenant between Me and you, and your seed (descendants) after you throughout their generation
• “As an EVERLASTING Covenant,”
• “To BE GOD to you and to your seed after you,”
• “I WILL GIVE unto you and your seed after you,”
• “ALL THE LAND OF CANAAN for an EVERLASTING possession,”
• “I WILL BE their GOD,”

        Not one word in this covenant promise to Abraham is CONDITIONAL upon Israel’s faithfulness – rather it is based upon the fact that God does not CHANGE and is always faithful to fulfill His covenant promises. Israel has been anything BUT faithful to God through the centuries. The destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 was the result of her rejection of the MESSIAH, JESUS CHRIST, God’s only Son, who came to Israel to reveal Himself to the world through Her. He came to HIS OWN, and HIS OWN received HIM NOT! When the religious of Israel rejected Christ, they were in essence rejecting the covenant God made with Abraham, David and in Christ, the NEW COVENANT; as a result disaster came to the nation.

        In a secondary covenant known as the Palestinian Covenant, God warned Israel through David that if she disobeyed He would thrust her out of the land, yet in the latter days bring her back and restore her fully when she accepted the One He sent – the Lord Jesus Christ. That day will come but not before Israel experiences the darkest time in her history known as the Tribulation period; Israel’s darkest hour will also be Planet Earth’s darkest hour!

        The Abrahamic Covenant and Palestinian Covenants are portrayals of God’s sovereignty and grace working at the same time. One covenant is based on God’s faithfulness, one on Israel’s. Both will be fulfilled when Israel accepts her Messiah at the end of the Great Tribulation period when it seems she is about to be totally destroyed at the battle of Armageddon!

        This message deals more with the UNCONDITIONAL AND EVERLASTING Covenant God made with Israel through Abraham that will be fulfilled in TOTALITY at that time! This covenant in summary basically means this:

God is the maker and keeper of this covenant with Abraham and his descendants
It is an everlasting, unbreakable covenant.
I will be GOD to YOU and YOUR offspring forever
I, GOD will GIVE all of the land of Canaan to you and your descendants as an everlasting possession.
There is a physical and SPIRITUAL connection ordained by God for ALL eternity between the land of Canaan (ISRAEL) and the JEWISH people, not the Arabs

The Offspring of Abraham

Genesis 15:3
And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

        Part of God’s covenant promise to the land was tied to Abraham’s SEED and revealed the Lord’s grace and mercy toward Abram and his descendants.

        Never forget this friend. TRUE faith persists before the Lord until the promise is fulfilled. True faith is not faith in hypo-formulas or chanting verses over and over. Those things may help one build faith but in the long run that’s not the type of faith that will get us through life. Life is so full of hurt and disappointments that many lose heart in the heat of the battle. Faith involves believing what we cannot yet see in the natural, but KNOWING in our hearts it will come to pass because it is based upon a promise of God.

        Sometimes, like Abraham, we may not even be alive to see the fruit of it! Many, according to the writer of Hebrews, died in faith, not having received the promises, but going to the graves BELIEVING in them! Praise God. So many have faith today based on Law and not grace! Abram lived before the law was given, and it is HIS FAITH and HIS OBEDIENCE that point us to CHRIST, the ULTIMATE example of FAITH and OBEDIENCE for us today! Abraham saw HIS DAY, meaning CHRIST, and was glad!

John 8:56-58
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. [57] Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? [58] Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

        Jewish people today cry out for Father Abraham not realizing that there has come ONE GREATER than Abraham, even though Abraham had great faith. Abraham saw the day of CHRIST and was GLAD, said John! Before Abraham was, JESUS WAS! Before Abraham, JESUS WAS! Before any covenant was cut, JESUS WAS THERE! God knew He would give Abram a son, who in type, would be a portrait of HIS OWN SON, JESUS CHRIST, that God would offer to Israel years in the future to fulfill the promises He made to Abraham! Had Israel accepted Jesus, all the things promised to them through Abraham would have been given at that time!

        I could write on that subject alone for days, but let’s get back to Abram’s faith. Delayed promises will always either diminish faith or strengthen faith! That statement alone is speaking to scores of people reading this journal right now! When Abram persisted before the Lord, he was not expressing unbelief, but rather his abiding faith that God would do exactly what He promised He would do! Seeing Abram’s heart and his faith, God affirmed the promise once again:

Genesis 15:4
And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.

Genesis 15:5
And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

        Then the words came that changed human history:

Genesis 15:6
And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

        It was Abram’s belief in God’s word, a type of the coming LIVING WORD, CHRIST, that was accounted as righteousness unto Him. IT WAS NOT THE LAW BECAUSE THE LAW WAS NOT YET GIVEN! This covenant that secures the possession of Israel’s land expresses God’s grace and promise that He would forever honor His word. It was because the Lord remembered this covenant of grace that He brought the Jewish people out of bondage and slavery in Egypt after 400 years as was prophesied to Abram at the time that God made the covenant with him!

Exodus 2:24-25
And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. [25] And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.

        This defining moment in eternity established both the pattern for true faith in ALL who would come after Abram and the surety of God’s covenants with Abraham’s seed. It established the pattern for both JEW and GENTILE, under ALL circumstances! Faith is not based on the information we have ‘about’ God, but rather our belief in GOD HIMSELF and what He has done through Christ and the Cross! We have absolute reliability in the PROMISES God makes to us today through Christ that were a fulfillment of those made to Abram, Moses, David, Daniel, Job and the prophets in the Old Covenant.

        Abram was not the first to be tested with the choices that we all have today, but he was the first to wait for a promised son he could not see then offer the son up when the promise came! This faith did not come quickly or easily to Abraham, no more than it comes quickly and easily to us today. Some in certain camps of the church teach that it’s just a simple confession or repetition of certain scriptures but true faith comes through true testing! And it will take this type faith to believe God for Israel’s covenant promises to be fulfilled. We need to understand that no matter how long we wait for the Lord to fulfill His promise- HE WILL FULFILL HIS PROMISE! This means the promises He made to Israel and those He makes to us on a day to day basis.

        For the Jewish people, many sit in darkness observing the law thinking that is granting favor and righteousness from God. Even some in the Messianic community

May 14, 1948: The Lord Remembers His Covenant

        After 1,900 years it would seem, as it had to nations in history, that God had forgotten Israel. Sadly, a spring of theology even crept into the church known as replacement theology stating that ALL the promises given to Israel by God through Abraham were no longer applicable to Israel any more because of her rejection of Christ. This teaching takes those promises given to National Israel and places them in the church. Yes, the Lord scattered them among the nations for nearly 1,900 years, but many forget God promised to BRING THEM BACK TO THE LAND HE GAVE ABRAHAM!

        It was God’s purpose and timing for His prophetic word to be fulfilled on May 14, 1948, after bringing His people out of the nation unto which He had scattered them and placing them in the land He had promised them as an everlasting possession, He brought forth the nation of Israel.

        One such prophetic word is found in Ezekiel 37 in the vision of dry bones. These prophetic verses, written more than 2,500 years ago by the prophet Ezekiel, pointed to the time ordained by God for the REBIRTH of the nation of Israel.

Ezekiel 37:11-14
Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. [12] Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. [13] And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, [14] And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.

        Ezekiel says clearly: “these bones are the WHOLE HOUSE OF ISRAEL.” The Lord tells Ezekiel to “prophesy,” and say to them, “I will OPEN YOUR GRAVES,” and CAUSE YOU TO COME UP OUT OF YOUR GRAVES,” and “BRING YOU UNTO THE LAND OF ISRAEL.” The prophet spoke these words in light of a 1,900 period when there was no land of Israel. The reason he said this is that in God’s eyes the nation of Israel never ceased from being a nation before Him. This writer wants to underscore something said here as well. Ezekiel did not say they shall come back to the land of Palestine, but the LAND OF ISRAEL!

        The Lord wants Israel to recognize and know that HE is the one who caused them to come up out of the graves. He is the one who put His Spirit into the, and He is the one who put breath in them for one purpose – to BRING THEM INTO THE LAND of ISRAEL and set them on their own soil once again. The fulfillment of that promise is a spring board for a more eternal promise to the world that would come through Israel – the return of Messiah Jesus to earth who will bring everlasting PEACE to a world torn in two by war and sin. Jesus is the PRINCE OF PEACE and HE is the only answer to the Middle East peace process.

        After 1,900 years God REMEMBERED His covenant with Abraham and his descendants, “to set them on their own soil again.” Then, and only then, says the God of Israel to His people:

Ezekiel 37:14
And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.

One Nation In The Land

Ezekiel 37:21-22
And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: [22] And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:

        It was by the GRACE and MERCY of God that He remembered His covenant promise to Abraham and His descendants. The Lord’s higher purpose was not just to bring them back BUT TO MAKE THEM ONE NATION, not two, IN THE LAND! Since the rebirth of Israel in 1948, by the mighty hand of God, some 6 million Jewish people have been gathered from the four corners of the earth (according to 2005 statistics), from among the nations to which they had been scattered at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple, and brought back to their land, the land of Israel – just as the WORD OF THE LORD DECLARED!

May 14, 1948 – A Prophetic Date and Time

        May 14, 1948 was chosen by God to resurrect the nation of Israel. This was not some random date or time. This date was prophesied thousands of years before in Scripture. Jewish theologian Baruch Battlestein records a tremendous truth concerning two prophetic words given in Leviticus and in Ezekiel showing that this 14th day of May in 1948 had God’s handwriting ALL OVER IT. In Leviticus we read a prophetic word of how the Lord would punish Israel SEVEN times for her sins against Him:

Leviticus 26:23-24
And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me; [24] Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.

        As a stand-alone verse this is very strange, and when applying it to the history of Israel it seems impossible to fully understand. When we read the book of Ezekiel we find another strange prophecy that leads us back to the word given to Moses in Leviticus:

Ezekiel 4:4-6
Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity. [5] For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. [6] And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.

        In this strange prophecy, Ezekiel is commanded to first lay on his left side for 390 days and then on his right side for 40 days, for a total of 430 days, as punishment for the iniquities of the house of Israel. We are told that this punishment represents one day for each year. Taken alone, the prophecies in Leviticus and Ezekiel do not take on any specific significance. However, when we combine them, the results of astonishing:

Ezekiel 4:5 – Lie on his left side – 390 days
Ezekiel 4:6 – Lie on his right side – 40 days
Add 390+40 = 430

        God decreed to Israel a total of 430 years of punishment for her sins against Him. That punishment would consist of physical removal from the land God had promised to His people. Looking back in history we know that Israel’s captivity in Babylon was exactly 70 years as prophesied by the prophet Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 25:11-12
And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
[12] And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.

Jeremiah 29:10
For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

        Therefore, the first 70 years of Israel’s punishment was completed when the Babylonian captivity ended.

        By the decree of King Cyrus, conqueror of Babylon, the Jews were set free from their captivity in the yaer 538 B.C.E. The year 538 B.C. therefore, becomes the base year with which we begin our calculations: 430 years less 70 years equal 360 years of remaining punishment to come.

        360 years of coming punishment x 7 (Israel must pay 7 times for her sins equal 2,520 years.

        Now, look at how this calculates out. 2,520 years x 360 days (Jewish calendar is a 360-day calendar) = 907,200 days. Conversion to actual years: 907,200 days/365-day calendar = 2,485 years and 5 months or 2,485.5 years and months.

        2,485.5 years -538 B.C. = 1947 years and five months.

        There is no year “0.” Consequently, from the end of year 1 B.C. the following year is 1 C.E. So we must call the year “0,” year 1 A.D., and in turn, the year 1 we must call year 2 C.E. and so on forward. Therefore, the year 1947.5 we call the year 1948.5. So exactly 2,485.5 years after 538 B.C.E., we come to the year 1948.5.

        May is the FIFTH month of the modern calendar; and on May 14th, 1948, Israel arose from the ashes of extinction to become a nation! God’s prophetic word is precise down to the exact DAY. These prophecies declare that God the Father is outside of time – HE CREATED TIME! He knows the END from the beginning. He KNEW in the ageless past that Israel would be judged centuries earlier for her rejection of Christ, and then restored as a nation in 1948. God just didn’t allow that to happen on an abstract day – HE PROPHESIED IT THOUSANDS OF YEARS EARLIER IN HIS WORD.

Isaiah 46:9-10
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, [10] Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

        That’s why the United States’ support of Israel is so vitally important to our eternal soul as a nation. When we support Israel we are believing God’s word and HONORING God’s covenant. This journal/message will continue in part two where we will take a look at who exactly does the land belong. We don't plan to answer that question in political terms, but BIBLICAL ones!

Leviticus 25:23
The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.

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The Two Covenants (Covenant Land 2)

Israel: God's Prophetic Anvil (Covenant Land 3)

A Covenant With Death and With Hell We've Made Agreement (Covenant Land 4)

The Mountains of Israel Part One (Covenant Land 5)

Israel's Return To The Land (Covenant Land 6)

The Prophetic Promise of Return (Covenant Land 7)

The Palestinian Cause And Israel's Land (Covenant Land 8)

The Times of the Gentiles (Covenant Land Series)

For a complete Bibliography of this message series click here