Covenant Land Part Two

A Covenant God And A Covenant Land

Israel's Covenant Land Part Two

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

(Writer's note: This journal is NOT about the dual-covenant error issue; we plan to address that in a full message very soon! This is about the two covenants concerning Israel's land - one conditional, one unconditional!)

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

As we continue our sermon series on the land of Israel, we want to take a Biblical look in this message at the most important question of all which has been the source of all past bloodshed in the Middle East and ultimately all future bloodshed yet to be seen there as well: to whom does the land belong? The best place to turn for the answer is God’s Word:

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

Plain and simple, the land belongs to GOD. It does not belong to America; it does not belong to the European Union; it does not belong to the so-called Quartet; it does not belong to Russia; it does not belong to the Arabs and Palestinians; it does not really even belong to Israel in the sense of original ownership and ability to give it away. The land belongs to the LORD, and HE remains the only one who can rightfully give it away! Man is not the Creator, but the created. Man is accountable to God for his actions, not the other way around. Humanists seek to change that fact but the FOOL has said in his heart there is no God. When men try and tinker with covenant land through useless peace treaties and back door political deals, man is basically telling God that man has a better solution for Middle East Peace than the Lord!

The Lord promised the land of Canaan, which we know today as the land of Israel, to Abraham and his seed. That is a SCRIPTURAL promise and principle etched in eternity!

Genesis 12:7
And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.

We see in this verse instructive about the heart and character of Abraham, God’s friend. After the Lord appeared to him here, Abraham built an altar there to the Lord. An altar in the Old Covenant always represented the coming Cross of Christ, where mankind would be forever reconciled to God should he believe on the name of the only SON OF GOD – the LORD JESUS CHRIST! Scripture reveals Abraham had a heart for worship, but not just any type worship – Abraham looked for the coming Redeemer as all true Old Covenant saints did. Those in the old looked forward TO the cross; we today under the New Covenant, look BACK to the Cross. The Cross is always the center of true worship.

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.

Abraham built an altar and worshipped the God of Israel with ALL his heart, all of his mind, and with all his strength. Abraham was not worshipping according to the law, but rather, ACCORDING TO HIS FAITH! He had COVENANT FAITH in the One who had brought him into a COVENANT RELATIONSHIP – a covenant relationship with the very Creator of heaven and earth – the POSSESSOR of all things – AND THE OWNER OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL, known as Canaan.

This type of worship and faith are not recorded of too many men in human history. Abraham was one of a kind in many ways. He just didn’t have this type faith in certain special moments of crisis, but exhibited a pattern of worship that would continue his whole life. This proved to be the case when the Lord commanded him to sacrifice his son, his unique one, Isaac, as a burnt offering, a living sacrifice to God.

Genesis 22:1-2
And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. [2] And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

It is interesting and prophetic to note that when God the Father speaks to Abraham of Isaac He uses the specific word “yawkheed,” three times, each in Genesis 22:2, 12 and 15, to denote the fact it was only through his bloodline that Jacob (ISRAEL) would come, and from that same line, King David and eventually CHRIST, the MESSIAH.

Genesis 22:2
And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

Genesis 22:12
And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

Genesis 22:15-17
And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, [16] And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: [17] That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

Think about this for a second. If the hand of Abraham had not been stayed by the Lord God Himself, while offering up Isaac, then from a human standpoint, there would have been no future descendants flowing from Isaac’s loins, and no Messiah from his line to redeem the Jewish people. WHAT A TEST OF ABRAHAM’S FAITH! Abraham was being asked through FAITH, not the law, to demonstrate his complete and abiding faith in God. The Jewish Bible translates this same verse above as:

“Take your son, your UNIQUE one whom you love, Isaac, and offer him as a BURNT OFFERING, a living sacrifice to Me. Take the only possible IDOL before Me, your UNIQUE one whom you love, and bring him up onto the mountain that I will show you.”

Friend, be assured that no man before that time had his faith tested as such. Job may have had trials and tribulations, but no man before Abraham was so willingly to obey God all the way. And what we cannot forget in this story is Isaac, who willingly allowed himself to be bound and placed on the altar as a living sacrifice, in essence becoming a type of Christ, who, 2,000 years ago, did the same thing for fallen humanity and the sinful sons of Adam.

Genesis 22:4-5
Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. [5] And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, (and prostrate ourselves i.e. Jewish Bible) and come again to you,

Abraham’s faith was so great that believed God would raise the lad from the dead. Dead people do not return; they are buried and gone forever. Worship was part of Abraham’s life and he always associated worship with “sacrifice,” and “taking a position of prostration.” Not to get off the subject here but true worship today always embraces the same. What Christ did for us at the Cross must EVER be our object of worship. We don’t worship the “object,” as some human talisman, but we worship THE SACRIFICE of the LAMB OF GOD. And when we see what sin did to Him for us and in turn what He did to SIN for us as well, we can only fall down prostrate and WORSHIP HIM! We can only bow down in humble adoration and proclaim, as the song writer wrote it, “HOW GREAT OH LORD ARE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

That’s why Paul said in 1 Corinthians that NO FLESH can glory in His presence. NO FLESH can boast of anything it has accomplished. We are determined to know NOTHING but Christ and Him Crucified; glory to God! You may ask this writer, “what does all this have to do with the land of Israel?” It has EVERYTHING to do with the land, which we will get to in a moment.

Abraham worshiped God and built several altars throughout his life to honor God. The altar here on which he laid Isaac was no different. The altar at Bethel where he first met God was special because it was at the original altar he would return after he had sinned grievously by going down to Egypt. He knew in his heart he could return to the altar at Bethel, to the place where he met God, and could repent and experience the forgiveness and mercy of God.

Genesis 12:8 - And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he built an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord.

Bethel’s altar and this altar on which Isaac rested were types of the CROSS. It is at the CROSS where national Israel finds her Messiah! It is at the CROSS where the Prince of Glory, the Prince of PEACE, died 2,000 years ago and destroyed sin’s power over fallen humanity. All of Israel will be saved one day – not by keeping the Law – but by one day recognizing the One with nail prints in his hands and spear wounds in His side. She will cry, “Who did this to You?” He will then say to her, “these wounds were given to me in the house of my friend.” When that day comes, a fountain will be opened in the house of David to wash away Israel’s uncleanness and she will then inherit this land fully that God promised to Abraham so long ago.

Zech. 13:1-5 - In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. [2] And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. [3] And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the Lord: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth. [4] And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive: [5] But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth. [6] And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.

The answer to the land issue in the Middle East is the answer to the world’s problem in general – THE BLOOD OF JESUS! No people or nation can be shaped into holiness and consistently blessed by God unless a place of worship has been established in their hearts for God through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Millions believe in a “god,” but few believe in the LIVING GOD. Jesus Christ came to reveal to man the TRUTH and the WAY to the LIVING GOD, oh, Praise God. True worship is CROSS centered and CROSS focused. When Abraham worshipped, he was worshipping in prophetic terms the coming redeemer!

It was through this worship that Abraham learned to know God and His voice and ultimately learned to OBEY. True faith always makes us obey and seek to do the will of God. It may fail at times and cause us to stagger half way around the world but true faith never quits trusting GOD and wanting to hear from Him! It was because of Abraham’s obedience that through his lineage “all the nations of the world” would be blessed.

Genesis 22:18- And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

The word of God to Abraham stated here is the Abrahamic Covenant. The covenant made between God and Abraham, his son Isaac and Isaac’s son, Jacob, CANNOT and WILL NOT fail. It is based upon God upholding His everlasting promise and not the Jews keeping it. Israel was twice destroyed because of sin and twice restored. There is no other nation in history like this. The nation was reborn just as the Bible said it would happen. We are now living in the times the ancient prophets wrote about. The prophecies concerning Israel and her covenant land does not and did not stop with just the rebirth of the nation in 1948.

As we’ve stated a zillion times on this web site and quite a bit more recently: ISRAEL and Jerusalem in particular are God’s prophetic time piece! By watching events involving Jerusalem and Israel, the prophetic times we live in can be determined. The key however to understanding the modern nation of Israel and our dealings with her is to understand this covenant we write about at this moment. Abraham is the key figure of the Bible. Referred to as a “friend with God,”

God told Abraham that whoever blessed him would be blessed and whoever cursed him would be cursed. So when dealing with Abraham’s seed through Isaac and Jacob there is a blessing OR a curse. It is imperative that both individuals and nations deal with Israel according to God’s Word!

Genesis 12:2-3 - 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.

The Promise of Land to Isaac; Gifts To Ishmael

This blessing and curse does not rest on Abraham’s other lineage – the linage of Ishmael. It is clear from Scripture that Abraham had eight sons, including ISHMAEL, his first born. Ishmael came through Hagar, his concubine, who was also his wife’s Egyptian maid. However, his second son, Isaac, came through his first wife Sarah. Abraham loved Ishmael and when he worshipped the Lord he always cried to God for Ishmael’s well-being.

Genesis 17:18
And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!

God’s reply to this prayer reveals it was NOT to be Ishmael, but rather Isaac and his descendants, through whom the God of Israel would establish COVENANT promises – including the COVENANT promise of the land of Israel.

Genesis 17:18-19
And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! [19] And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.

Because Ishmael was Abraham’s son, God did not cast off Ishmael. When Hagar, Sarah’s maid, fled from her mistress in fear, the Lord told her she would have a son. The Lord prophesied about her son, giving her his name, describing his personality, and even the PLACE where he and his descendants would live

Genesis 16:11-12
And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. [12] And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

The place where Ishmael lived, EAST of his brothers, is further confirmed in Scripture:

Genesis 25:17-18
And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, an hundred and thirty and seven years: and he gave up the ghost and died; and was gathered unto his people. [18] And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria: and he died in the presence of all his brethren.

The area in which his descendants settled is the land that is occupied by the nations to the EAST of the land of Canaan: Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Yemen, Kuwait and Pakistan.

Just as the word of the Lord prophesied regarding Ishmael’s personality, so also that personality was passed down to his brothers who live there today:

Genesis 16:12
And he will be a wild <The Jewish Bible: donkey of a >man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

The Lord declared a blessing on Ishmael, but NOT the promise of the same covenant land He gave to Isaac and Jacob. Esau’s bitterness and hatred for Jacob over what Esau perceived to be the stolen birthright, which was not stolen, Esau willingly gave it up, led Esau to marry into Ishmael’s lineage.

Genesis 17:20-21
And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. [21] But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

The term “COVENANT” is NEVER mentioned as it relates to Ishmael and Esau. By divine decree, Isaac was God’s choice to be the one whom He would give His covenant promises to, including those that regarded the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession, and the promise of the coming Messiah. Jesus would not be a son of Ishmael but a son of David!

After the death of Sarah, Abraham took another wife whose name was Keturah. She bore Abraham six more sons, who are the ancestors of many of the Arab nations of our modern world, thus fulfilling the promise to Abraham further that he would be “the father of many nations.”

Genesis 25:5-6
And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. [6] But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.

Abraham gave ALL that he possessed to ISAAC, but to rest of his sons he gave gifts and SENT THEM AWAY FROM ISAAC to the land of the EAST. Take a look at a current map of Israel and look EAST. You see the Arab world that surrounds the covenant land today with so much hatred words cannot begin to describe it. But God had Abraham send his other descendants to the “land of the east,” because it was to ISAAC and HIS descendants (JACOB) the Lord would give ALL the land of Canaan – ISRAEL!

Many Earthly Covenants, One Heavenly Covenant For One Land!

As we bring this second part of this series to a close let me deal briefly with the many covenants God made concerning the land. The first one, as we’ve already discussed is the Abrahamic covenant, which concerned land given by God to Abraham. This land grant was from the Mediterranean Sea on the west to the Euphrates River on the east. On the north, the land included all of modern Lebanon, most of Syria to Egypt on the south. The land promises to Abraham is seen in Genesis 15:18.

The covenant made with Abraham was solely based upon God’s performance of the covenant. Abraham was not required to do ANYTHING. In this same passage in Genesis 15 God put Abraham to sleep and walked through blood to confirm the covenant – a prophetic picture of the coming Redeemer, the son of Abraham, would through blood, would offer Israel and the entire world salvation and eternal life – ALL strictly by just believing on Him.

Genesis 15:8-21 - And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? [9] And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. [10] And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. [11] And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away. [12] And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. [13] And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; [14] And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. [15] And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. [16] But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. [17] And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. [18] In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: [19] The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, [20] And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, [21] And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. :

Isaac too heard God’s voice concerning the land and knew it was God speaking to him. God blessed Isaac and eventually would confirm this same covenant of land and bless his son Jacob, who became Israel

Genesis 26:2-5
And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: [3] Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I swore unto Abraham thy father; [4] And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; [5] Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

And to Jacob, God spoke, confirming the same promise He had made to Jacob’s father and grandfather.
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Gen 28:15-16 - And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.

Genesis 35:11-12
And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins; [12] And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.

Gen 48:4 - And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.

After Moses died and the children of Israel were about to enter the Promised Land, Joshua was given a specific description of the land grant that God had given Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God against confirmed the everlasting covenant, this time with Joshua. The children of Israel moved into the land under this description of the area given to them – not by man – BUT BY GOD.

Joshua 1:2
Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.

Joshua 1:4
From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.

God had several reasons for making this covenant with Abraham. He wanted a people to bring forth the prophets and give the world the Bible. The nation of Israel was also to be a LIGHT to the heathen nations surrounding her. It was through Israel that the Messiah would come from the descendants of Abraham, and the land would be the place where the Messiah would be born.

Isaiah 9:6-7
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. [7] Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Micah 5:2
But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

Romans 3:2
Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

Isaiah 43:12
I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.

To Israel was given the covenants, the oracles of God, the testimony of angels and the LAW by which mankind lives today.

Romans 9:1-5 - I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, [2] That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. [3] For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: [4] Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; [5] Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

God has always linked His name with Israel. The authority of the Bible as God’s word can be put to the test through this everlasting covenant. God made this covenant with Abraham and his descendants so the peoples of the earth could see the authority of God’s Word.

Deut. 28:9-10 - The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways. [10] And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee.

The name of God was now through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, eternally linked with the nation of Israel:

Numbers 6:27
And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.

The Second Covenant

About 500 years after Abraham, God made a second covenant. This covenant had to do with the giving of the Law to Moses. The law which reflected God’s holiness was given to the children of Israel. This covenant was CONDITIONAL and based upon the requirements of the law being met by the nation.

Exodus 19:5
Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

If God’s law was obeyed, the Jews would be blessed above all people; however, if they disobeyed they would be punished. One of the punishments would be the destruction of the nation and the dispersion of the people into all the countries. In other words, the land Israel was promised through Abraham would be taken from them because of sin. Either way, the authority of God’s Word could be seen through Israel being blessed above all nations OR being cursed and dispersed into the world. Israel now reflected God’s holy name. God now had a people that the entire world could see His awesome power working through.

God’s plan of redemption of mankind was tied directly to the descendants of Abraham. In the second covenant, the blessings or the curses depended on the nation of Israel. God warned that if the people disobeyed His covenant they would be driven off the land and into all nations. The destruction of the nation would be because of sin and rebellion against God’s word. Israel DID break her covenant with God, and exactly as God warned, the nation was destroyed and the people driven into all the countries of the world. God sent prophet after prophet to warn Israel of the coming judgment. Israel rejected the message of the prophets and based on the second covenant Israel was destroyed. God KEPT HIS COVENANT. The first destruction lasted 70 years, while the second lasted nearly 1,900.

Here are the warnings in the second covenant God spoke to Israel:

Deut. 28:64
And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.

Deut. 30:1
And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee,

Leviticus 26:32-33
And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. [33] And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.

The Bible and history record that Israel failed to keep the requirements of the second covenant and was cast into the nations. In 70 A.D., the Roman army destroyed Israel, Jerusalem and the Temple. This began the great dispersion of Israel into all the nations of the world. God fulfilled His covenant with Israel to the very letter. The dispersion of the Jews was an awesome witness to the authority of God’s word. The dispersion however is only HALF the covenant. God promised to RESTORE the people back to the land and literally have the nation of Israel reborn. The awesome power of God ruling over the affairs of the nations is always illustrated by looking at God’s dealings with Israel.

We must understand today as we discuss this issue of land that the people of Israel are no different that any other people when it comes to sin. Without understanding the human heart it could be very easy to condemn Israel for failing god and rebelling against Him. If god had chosen any other people to work through, the result would have been the same. Te SIN NATURE is the same in the JEW as it is the GENTILE. Any other people would have failed! The sin nature is the same in ALL people and that is why Christ came – to destroy the power of sin in our lives – for the JEW FIRST and then the Gentile.

Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

When God made the unconditional covenant with Abraham, He did not depend on man to uphold it. The unconditional covenant freed God from depending on the weakness of man’s sinful nature to fulfill it. No matter if Israel failed, God would still work his will because of the everlasting covenant. Although Israel was to break the covenant, God said that He would never completely reject the nation and He wold always honor the everlasting covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Because of this everlasting covenant, He would and will one day totally restore the nation of Israel and bring the people back fully to the land.

Both the destruction of Israel and the restoration of the nation are awesome witnesses to the power of God as it pertains to His word. God both dispersed and promised Israel would return – and He has honored both.

Leviticus 26:42-45 - Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land. [43] The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes. [44] And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the Lord their God. [45] But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.

That is the theme of the end times. The Bible said there would be a world wide dispersion followed by a total restoration. Moses did not give a time gap between the two events:

Deut. 30:3-5
That then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee. [4] If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: [5] And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.

The same prophets sent to Israel to warn her of pending judgment promised her ultimate restoration. The prophets also foretold of the coming of Israel’s Messiah, who is also OUR MESSIAH, today – the LORD JESUS CHRIST. He will come back to earth one day physically and begin a golden age of rule on earth. But, before the Messiah returns, Israel will face greater judgment and one of her darkest times before she fully returns to God – the Great Tribulation period.

The theme of the dispersion and restoration of Israel is one of the major end time themes of all Scripture. America is not found per say in Bible prophecy without having to stretch interpretations and symbols. ISRAEL is found ALL over the pages of Bible prophecy and is written on page after page by prophet after prophet for ALL to clearly see!

As we bring this second part of this series to a close let me make this statement. Friend, it’s getting late. Israel is celebrating 58 years of being reborn as a nation on the 14th. Just the fact she is a nation lets us know the fig tree is budding once again and the time is short prior to the rapture of the church. I pray you know the Messiah of Israel today. There is not two ways to God – for either Jew or Gentile.

There is a damnable heresy being promoted right now called the “dual-covenant,” approach to God that says the Jews have a different way of being saved than Gentiles. That is a lie from the pit of hell and one we will deal with in detail in a future journal. Israel’s Messiah says HE is the way, the truth and the LIFE and NO MAN – Jew or Gentile – comes to the FATHER except through FAITH IN HIM and what He did at the Cross.

John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

We are not justified by works or keeping the law; we are justified by FAITH. FAITH in the Cross of Christ and the work Jesus accomplished there for us through His blood is the bedrock of ALL Christian belief and doctrine. I don’t care how religious you are sir, you can’t work your way into heaven. You can’t become righteous in the sight of God by keeping the law or kissing a torah. I weep over the Messianic community’s obsession with objects of their culture as being part of their faith in God. It’s blasphemy to hold up a box with a torah, carry it around and ask people to touch it as it was some type of idol. God help us. I’m not just taking a cheap shot at the Messianic community; the Protestant world is just as guilty through some of the foolishness we do as well in our services. NONE OF OUR SHOWS OF FLESHLY, FALSE RITUAL AND LITURGY IS TRUE FAITH OR TRUE WORSHIP! We must return to the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ as we near the end.

In our next journal in this series, we will take a closer look at the prophetic promises of Israel’s restoration and the current situation in Jerusalem over last year’s Gaza withdrawal and how it holds dire consequences for not only those in Israel, but America and the entire world!

I wish this writer could say as he closes that things are going to get better and be rosy and great for Israel in the near future – they’re not. The sounds of distant thunder are being heard as the world races head long toward the Great Tribulation period, the advent of the Antichrist and a time on earth Jesus said would be the worse mankind has ever seen. Jesus said that if not for the mercy of God shortening the days, NO FLESH would be saved. Neighbor that is not the screenplay of a bad Hollywood disaster movie – it’s the WORD OF God. I pray you’re heart is right with God and you’ve made your calling and election sure in HIM. It’s getting late, God bless.