Hi, shalom from Jerusalem, the capital of Israel!   

Here are three questions I hope you will be able to answer WITHOUT getting any help:

1. How many countries can you name?
2. How many capital cities of those countries can you name?
3. Which country and capitol does the Bible mention the most?

 

• If you could name more than 20 countries within 7 minutes I will send you a Lunch Time Prayer cap and a magnet.
• If you could name more than 10 capital cities of those countries, I will send you a cap AND a calendar AND a magnet.
• If you answered #3, I will send you a Lunch Time Prayer magnet.

(As long as supplies last) 

 

 

 I’m sure most of you included Israel and her capital Jerusalem in your list. 

Why?

Israel is one of the smallest countries in the world.  She is about the size of New Jersey in the USA.   She ‘s just a blip on the map in the Middle East.  

 

 

 

Yet even though she is so small most people have heard of both Israel and Jerusalem. 

Why?

BUT although people might know her name, many people do not know very much about Israel.  AND very often what they do know is not true.

YET every person AND every country in the world has been and is being affected in some way by Israel.

So we continue to ask,

“Why? Why? Why?”

Our answers are in the Bible starting with a man called Abraham. 

 

 GOD’S PROMISES TO ABRAHAM

Most of you probably know about Abraham.  He was a great man of faith. 

The Bible describes Abraham in many ways:

• Abraham was a friend of God.
• Abraham was the father of the Jewish people.
• Abraham was also the father of many nations.
• Abraham was considered righteous because He believed God.

Abraham is the key to our question “Why?” :

You see God made some promises to Abraham.  

Those promises are the reason why Israel is so important and significant to every other country in the world.

The promises are first mentioned in Genesis 12:2-3 & 7. God said to Abraham”:

 

“I will make you into a great nation.


I will bless you.

I will make your name great.

You will be a blessing to others.

I will bless those who bless you. 
I will put a curse on anyone who calls down a curse on you.

All nations on earth
will be blessed because of you.”

“I will give this land to your children after you.”

 

Okay, let’s look carefully at each of these promises:

 “I will make you into a great nation.
”

God was going to make a great nation from Abraham.  One great nation.  Yes Abraham would have many children and from them would come many nations, but only one nation would be unique. 

 It’s important here to understand that nation would not be better than all the other nations, but it would be special.

 This nation would have a very special relationship with God and a very special purpose in God’s plan for the world.  That nation would be God’s witness to the rest of the world. (Isaiah 43:10)   They would give witness (testimony) and BE a witness of God’s character:

His goodness

His power

His justice

His holiness

 Above all else, this nation would be a witness or proof of God’s faithfulness.  Most of the time that nation would disobey God and God would have to discipline them.  But God would never never never take His love away from them.  And that nation  continues to be a witness to God’s faithful love.

 What was, what is that nation?  Yep, Israel.

Let’s look at the next promise:

 “I will bless you.”

God promised to bless Abraham personally. Abraham became very rich and very strong.  He was very respected and many kings were afraid of him.

 “I will make your name great.”

Abraham’s name was very great then and even today we all know about Abraham.  Three religions claim him as their father: the Jews, the Muslims and the Christians!

 “You will be a blessing to others.”

Abraham was not only very rich, he was very generous to his family.  When his nephew lot was kidnapped, Abraham went to war to rescue him. Abraham won the war and got a lot of territory and he let Lot choose what part of the land he wanted.   Lot wasn’t so generous and he chose the best part!

 “I will bless those who bless you. 
I will put a curse on anyone who calls down a curse on you.” 


This is the promise that affects each of us and our nations to this very day.  It’s actually a cool promise of blessing, but also it is a warning because God judges very person and every nation by the way they treat Israel.

So what does it mean to “curse” Israel?  Well the Hebrew word means anything that makes “light” of, makes fun of, to disgrace, or to say bad things about.

Listen because this is very important.  God judges very person and every nation by the way they treat Israel.

So that means every person and every nation has a choice  – blessing from God or curses from God.  The choice is simple; it just depends on how they will treat Israel and the Jewish people. 

If a person or a nation blesses Israel and the Jewish people, God will bless them.  If they do not bless, if they choose instead to curse Israel and the Jewish people God will do the same – curse that person or that nation.  This blessing or cursing has been happening for hundreds of years.  We’ll talk more about that later.

 “All nations on earth
will be blessed because of you.”

It’s hard to imagine that this tiny country would be a blessing for the entire world – for all of time.  How can one little nation be such a huge blessing? 

 

—– JESUS —–

 

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a small village in Israel.  His mother was Jewish.  Although God was His actual father, his stepfather Joseph was also Jewish.  Both Mary and Joseph were descendants of King David, Jacob, Isaac and Abraham.

Jesus was the fulfillment of every promise God made to the Jewish people. 

Through Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, the entire world was blessed.

There were many other blessings that came from the Jewish people.  Paul gave us a partial list: the Bible and the Covenants are two of those blessings from Israel.

  “I will give this land to your children after you.”

This promise is the one that confuses so many people – the land of Israel.  

God promised Israel a particular area of land – not because of anything that Israel did, but because God loved Abraham.  And because God’s love NEVER ends, His promises will never end – even this promise about the land will never end.  It will not end because of what Israel does nor doesn’t do.  It will not end because what other people try to do.  It will never, never, never end.

Today Israel has only a small portion of that land and even what they have other nations are trying to take away!  But God warned the nations that anyone who tries to divide the land will be judged and punished. (Joel 3:1-2)

If God could break His promises to Israel, why should YOU trust Him? 

The fact that Israel still exists and Jewish people are living there is PROOF of God’s faithfulness to you and to Israel.

******

IS GOD’S CHOICE OF ISRAEL FAIR?

So now maybe you’re asking, “Is God fair to choose one man over another?  Is God fair to choose one nation over another?”

People have always been asking if God is fair? 

I can make it simple.  God can do anything He wants to do because He’s God.  The Bible says

• God’s judgments are true (perfect, fair) (Psalm 19:9)
• No one can hinder God in His judgment (Job 11:10)
• His judgments are righteous (Psalm 9:8)

When someone asked Paul that question he said:

What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.  (Romans 9:14-15)

Instead of us being jealous of Israel, it’s important to understand that God has a special purpose for every nation.  Each nation has a choice of following God’s plan and purposes.

Remember God chose YOU!  The Bible says that God chose you to know and love Him even before you were born! 

God chose us to belong to Christ before the world was created. He chose us to be holy and without blame in his eyes. He loved us. So he decided long ago to adopt us as his children. He did it because of what Jesus Christ has done. It pleased God to do it. All those things bring praise to his glorious grace. God freely gave us his grace because of the One he loves.  (Ephesians 1:4-6)

The Bible also says that God created you carefully and even wrote down every day of your life in His book.  You know how much sand there are on the beaches all over the world? Well He thinks about you more times than the number of that sand!

You created the deepest parts of my being. 
You put me together inside my mother’s body.  How you made me is amazing and wonderful. 
I praise you for that.
What you have done is wonderful.
I know that very well.

 None of my bones was hidden from you
when you made me inside my mother’s body.
That place was as dark as the deepest parts of the earth.
When you were putting me together there, your eyes saw my body even before it was formed.
You planned how many days I would live.
You wrote down the number of them in your book before I had lived through even one of them. (Psalm 139:14-16 NIrV)

 

One last word, God has a plan and purpose for your life.  Listen again to what the Apostle Paul said about YOU!

  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV)

 

So let’s not resent God’s choice of Israel for His plans, instead let’s participate in that plan.  How? Bless her by praying for her.  Rejoice when you see God fulfill His promises to her.

***********

WHO OR WHAT IS “ISRAEL?”

Maybe it’s time we make sure we understand what we mean when we talk about Israel.  It can get a bit confusing.  I’ll try to explain.

Israel is a nation.

Remember God said that He would make Abraham into a great nation. 

“Nation” is a political word.  It is a group of people with a government that makes laws.  A nation has a shared culture and a language.  A nation always has firm borders – borders that other countries recognize.  Other countries may not like those borders, but other countries recognize them.

Israel is a people – the Jewish people.

Even though Abraham had other sons, Isaac was called “the son of promise.”  Isaac would be the son through whom God would develop Israel.  Isaac had twins – Jacob and Esau, but God would bring Israel through Jacob. Jacob had twelve sons – all of them became leaders of Israel.  Soon God gave Isaac and Jacob the same promise about the land of Israel for the nation and the people of Israel.

Why did God choose Isaac instead of Ishmael?  Why did God choose Jacob instead of Essu?  Because.  God is God.  The Bible says that God can do whatever He pleases.  Fortunately because God is so good, whatever He pleases to do is also good!

Very often when God describes Himself He calls Himself, “The God of Abraham, Isaac AND Jacob. 

Eventually God changed Jacob’s name to Israel.  Soon the “Israelites” were called “Jews” from the tribe of Judah.

Throughout the Bible God makes it very clear that the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (the Jews) would always be His “chosen” people. – chosen for the purpose of being His witnesses.  Sometimes they would be sent out of the land of Israel and scattered all over the world, but they would always be His people.  Eventually God would bring them back to the land of Israel.

Israel is a land.

The meaning here is obvious.  Land means land.  When God talks about Israel or Tel Aviv or Jerusalem He means a specific place on the map.  We should not take the promises God made about the land of Israel and say that it belongs to another country or city.  Jerusalem is NOT Washington, DC or Paris, or London!

Because of God’s very special relationship and plan for Israel He doesn’t make a difference between the nation, the people or the land.  In God’s plan Israel, (the Jewish people) need to live in the land of Israel and be a nation knowing and loving Him and their Messiah Jesus.  We don’t see that happening today, which is why we are praying!

 

WHY DO SO MANY PEOPLE HATE ISRAEL?

Hatred of Israel (and the Jewish people) comes from Satan.  It started in the Garden of Eden right after Adam and Eve disobeyed and ate the forbidden fruit.  God said:

The Lord God spoke to the serpent. He said, “Because you have done this,

“I am putting a curse on you. 


You are cursed more than all of the livestock

and all of the wild animals.
You will crawl on the ground.


You will eat dust
 all of the days of your life. 

I will put hatred 
between you and the woman.

Your children (seed) and her children (Seed) will be enemies.


Her son will crush your head.

And you will crush his heel.” (NIrV)

 

The seed of Satan are all the “fallen angels,” who rebelled against God and are now called “demons.”  The demons the enemies of God, of Israel and the ultimate Seed of the woman.

Who is the seed of the woman? 

First we see that the “seed” of the woman is Israel, the Jewish people.  But the ultimate “Seed” of the woman who would come from the Jewish people and crush the head of Satan is Jesus.

 Jesus would crush the head of Satan but Satan could only crush Jesus’ heal.  You can live with a bruise on your heal, but you cannot live if your head is crushed.

When did Satan crush Jesus’ heal?  On the Cross.  When did Jesus crush the head of Satan?  When Jesus rose from the dead.  The final crushing of Satan will come later.

So Satan has always tried to destroy the Jewish people.  I guess he figured if he could get rid of the Jews then Jesus couldn’t come.  Well Jesus DID come.  But that hasn’t stopped Satan.  He’s still trying to destroy the Jews so Jesus won’t come back!

Over the thousands of years Satan did everything he could to destroy the Jewish people. 

• The Pharaoh of Egypt tried to kill all the Jewish boys
• Haman also tried to wipe out the Jewish people in his country
• King Herod also killed all the little boys when Jesus was born

People are still trying to kill all the Jewish people.  

Think about something: