A Watchman on the Wall

1. A Watchman on the Wall “Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.” Ezekiel 33:2-6 Proclaiming what God’s word says will happen in the last days

2. During Old Testament times a watchman formed a vital part of the peoples security structure and was the vanguard every nations defense. Watchmen were posted to protect vineyards and fields during the harvest season. Watchmen were also posted on city walls and at city gates and were charged to scan the horizon for runners with messages for the king. The watchman’s primary function was to be watchful and to stay alert as he was responsible for warning the citizens of an impending attack by sounding a trumpet (a shofar). The watchman carried a heavy burden of accountability to those he was charged to protect and for the careful execution of his duties. Failure to perform his job was punishable by death. This fact carries over even to our modern age where soldiers that are assigned to guard duty can receive severe penalties (including a firing squad during wartime) for falling asleep on duty. The job is that important because many lives often depend on it! It is equally the responsibility of the Christian to alert others to what God’s word has declared will happen in the coming days so they can prepare and get right with God and accept the salvation that He has offered through His Son Jesus, before the opportunity to do so is removed forever. The first step in this process should start with demonstrating to the non-believer that the Scriptures are not simply a collection of stories and examples of morality but are indeed the actual words of God and that they are self-authenticating and inerrant. A watchman alerting the citizens by the blowing of the shofar

3. There are many reasons why true believers in Christ have come to trust and rely on the veracity of the Scriptures. One reason is the life-changing effect that the Scriptures have had on true believers as they read what God has commanded to be written down and the Holy Spirit begins to illuminate the written word in our minds and proceeds to reveal to us the righteous and holy character and nature of God. As we learn to trust God, the Holy Spirit reveals more of God’s holy nature to us. This is recorded in Romans 1:16-17 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith." We have ‘faith’ when we believe God and obey what He has commanded in His written word. As we progress in obedience, the Holy Spirit reveals more and more of God’s character and divine will, and this will continue throughout the life of the believer. This forms a portion of the process that is known as Sanctification. Saving faith is far more than simply a “belief” but is an divinely-revealed expectation of things that have been promised and are certain to come to pass in the future. It is this kind of faith (and not a blind or unfounded faith which the secularists will often assert) that declares to the believer that what God has prophesied will come to pass in the future and its certainty is guaranteed. “9Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, 10Declaring 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” Isaiah 46:9-10

4. God provides positive proof that He is God through bible prophecy because no one but God is capable of predicting the future with 100% accuracy, so when bible prophecies are fulfilled they prove the existence of the all-powerful and transcendent God that is revealed in the biblical texts. We are not talking about the so-called “prophesies” of Nostradamus or Edgar Casey, which are vaguely-written and rely on the reader to “fit” them into history, but actual historical events which are documented and verifiable. The secular world has been conditioned to reject the existence of bible prophecy and even when they read it, regardless of the textual and historical proofs, their unbelief and lack of spiritual discernment (which is supplied exclusively by the Holy Spirit) precludes them from being able to recognize or understand it. We know this to be true from 1 Corinthians 2:12-16 where it declares: “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For "who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ.” Take for example when Nicodemus came during the night seeking Jesus and inquiring about the things relating to the coming Kingdom of God. After Jesus answered his questions Nicodemus responded, “How can these things be?" “And Jesus answered and said to him, Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” With these truths in mind the genuine believer understands that just as the prophesies regarding Christ’s first coming were literally fulfilled, the prophesies of end-time events and His second coming will also be literally fulfilled! God is not a God of confusion and His word has been designed to be understood in a plain-sense and literal fashion. Many misguided individuals have inexplicably decided to employ an allegorical (metaphorical) approach to understanding the biblical texts. This technique places the reader and not the author as the arbiter of truth! But Jesus tells us in John 17:17 “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” But there are those that refuse to submit to the authority of God’s word as it has been said that if someone “tortures” any text long enough they can make it say whatever they want it to say, and in the process they become, in effect, God!

5. What most people fail to grasp is that the Scriptures teach that God has implemented two prophetic plans that will unfold during the last days. These plans include promises to “the nation of Israel” and promises to “the church”. It is critical that this distinction is realized by the reader, lest God’s promises to the church and God’s promises to Israel will likely become co-mingled and confusion will inevitably result. This fact is what forms the core of what is known as dispensational bible study. We will examine both of these prophetic plans in this study. This idea is illustrated by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 3:2-6 where he writes: “If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to youward: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel” A “mystery” in Scripture does not refer to a riddle or puzzle which must be solved but to a divinely hidden truth, now divinely revealed and usually involving a supernatural element. Some of the greater mysteries contained in Scripture include: • The mystery of Israel's blindness during this age (Romans 11:25) • The mystery of the translation (rapture) of living saints at the end of this age (1 Corinthians 15:51,52; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17) • The mystery of the church as one body in Christ, composed of Jew and Gentile (Ephesians 3:1-11; Romans 16:25; Ephesians 6:19; Colossians 4:3) • The mystery of iniquity (2 Thessalonians 2:7; Matthew 13:33) • The mystery of the church as the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:28-32) • The mysteries of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 13:3-50) • The mystery of the indwelling Christ in believers (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 1:26,27) • The mystery of Christ as the incarnate fullness of the Godhead embodied, in whom all the divine wisdom for man resides (Colossians 2:2,9; 1 Corinthians 2:7) • The mystery of the processes by which godliness is restored to man (1 Timothy 3:16) • The mystery of the seven stars (Revelation 1:20) • The mystery of Babylon (Revelation 17:5,7)

6. Dispensational Timeline Old Testament New Testament White Throne Judgment Satan Cast Out Judgment Seat of Christ Wicked Dead Are Raised Resurrection First Coming The Tower of Babel Second Coming (The Bema) Armageddon The Exodus Eternity Future New Heavens & New Earth Rapture The Flood Eternity Past Creation The Fall Satan Bound for 1000 Years 7 Years Satan’s Final Rebellion Millennial Reign of Christ Cross of Christ Wicked Dead Cast Alive Into The Lake of Fire Innocence Promise Conscience Human Government Law Church Age 3½ Years Tribulation 3½ Years Seven Seals Seven Bowls Seven Trumpets The secular world believes that time has always existed and that it will continue to exist forever. This fact is revealed by the Apostle Peter in 2 Peter 3:3-6 where he states: “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished” But God’s word teaches that God is not limited by the constraints of time and that He exists outside of time and that time was created by Him and that it had a specific beginning (at the creation of the world) and that it will one day come to an end (at the establishment of a new heavens and a new earth). On this prophetic timeline, we are currently at this position, awaiting the translation of true believers! Lake of Fire

7. The bible teaches that the nation of Israel and the city of Jerusalem will play a central role in the culmination of end-time events. The promises that God made to Abraham and his descendants have not yet been fulfilled but WILL be fulfilled during a time known as the “time of Jacob’s trouble”. God always fulfills the promises that He makes. His Holy name is resting on it! Israel: Gods Prophetic Timepiece

8. Even with a cursory study of the bibles prophetic passages it quickly becomes apparent that Israel will play a prominent role during the end-time events. This is why students of bible prophecy closely watch events in and around the nation of Israel. Probably the most significant fulfillment of prophecy in the modern era occurred on May 14, 1948 with the establishment of the nation of Israel in what was known as the land of Palestine. This event is a super-sign in God’s prophetic word and was given by God in Amos 9:14-15 where God declared: “14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 15 And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.” After being scattered by the Romans following the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. the Jews were dispersed throughout the four corners of the world. But God’s word predicted that this would not remain this way. Mysteriously, they began returning to the land of their forefathers, starting in earnest in the late 1800’s, and began to rejuvenate the land that had been laid waste by 400 years of Ottoman rule. The swamps were drained and the fields were plowed and prepared and the land was reclaimed as it had been predicted by God over 2,500 years earlier. Read the astonishing predictions in Isaiah 11:11-12; Jeremiah 23:7-8; and Ezekiel 36:24-28 where the Scriptures predicted 2,500 years before the event: “11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. 12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” “7 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; 8 But, The Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land. “24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. 25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. 28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

9. Today the land of Israel is in the process of being transformed, just as God predicted would happen, and we find that much of Israel has already become like the Garden of Eden; supplying fruit, vegetables and flowers to Europe and the rest of the world. “28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. 30 And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen. 31 Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. 32 Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. 33 Thus saith the Lord God; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded. 34 And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. 35 And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited. 36 Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the Lord build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it.” Ezekiel 36:28-36 Although this passage will be ultimately fulfilled during the Millennium, we are beginning to see the fulfillment of this prophecy today, as the Israelis have begun to inhabit parts of the biblical areas known as Judea and Samaria and have begun ‘building the ruined places’.

10. “And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.” Genesis 13:14-17 Any claim that the “Palestinians” have made against the lands that Israel currently occupies are false claims because God has declared in His inerrant word that He has already given it to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (the Jewish people) for ever – this fact is not open to discussion – as God has declared it, and His declarations cannot be rescinded.

11. However there are those that will not believe what the one true God has declared regarding the descendants of Abraham and the land He has promised to his posterity the through the line of Isaac. We must remember that Ishmael (the progenitor of the Arab people) was also a decedent of Abraham, but he was not selected by God to fulfill His covenant with Abraham. We read of this in Genesis 17:20-21 where God declares: “20 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.” And God’s word goes on to describe what the nature of Ishmael and his descendants (the Arabs) will be like in Genesis 16:11-12 “11 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.” “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed,saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.” Psalms 2:1-5 “Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee: The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah. Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison: Which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth. Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb: yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna: Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession. Omy God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind. As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire; So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm. Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O Lord. Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish: That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth. Psalms 83:1-18

12. The secular world would have you believe that the conflict in the Middle East is the responsibility of the Jewish State of Israel, but God’s word tells us that it is not Israel but the sons (descendants) of Ishmael (the Arab peoples) that actually war against God! Let’s look again at Psalms 83:4-6 “4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. 5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee: 6 The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes;” Notice in verse 4 where the text states, “let us cut them off from being a nation”. This is in direct opposition to God’s declaration that He has given the land of Israel to the Jews and that they will rule there forever. Then notice in verse 5 where the text states, “they are confederate against thee”. Meaning that they are truly warring, not against Israel, but against God! And it is for this reason that a severe judgment has been placed upon them during the coming Tribulation. This is why there will never be true peace in the Middle East because this conflict is not truly a physical conflict but a spiritual battle. The Arab nations that war against Israel are actually being supernaturally driven to war against God in an effort by “the god of this world”, Satan, to invalidate God’s promise to the Jews. We must remember that Satan desires to both execute his own ambition and to hinder every measure of the Most High all along realizing that in failure he will find no mercy, but only eternal condemnation and everlasting hellfire. Therefore he uses both direct and indirect methods and never rests in developing his machinations. His desires are clearly noted in Isaiah 14:13-15 “13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” However there are those that will not believe what the one true God has declared regarding the descendants of Abraham and the land He has promised to his posterity the through the line of Isaac. We must remember that Ishmael (the progenitor of the Arab people) was also a decedent of Abraham, but he was not selected by God to fulfill His covenant with Abraham. We read of this in Genesis 17:20-21 where God declares: “20 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.” And God’s word goes on to describe what the nature of Ishmael and his descendants (the Arabs) will be like in Genesis 16:11-12 “11 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.” “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed,saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.” Psalms 2:1-5 “Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee: The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah. Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison: Which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth. Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb: yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna: Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession. Omy God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind. As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire; So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm. Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O Lord. Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish: That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth. Psalms 83:1-18

13. In Psalm 83 we read about the groups that have been at enmity (war) with God and the nation of Israel since the times of the Patriarchs. What few people realize is that the descendants of the groups described in Psalm 83 still exist today and they occupy geographical locations that lie directly alongside the borders of present-day Israel. All of them have professed the same supernatural hatred for Israel as their forefathers. Consider the chart below. It provides a list of the groups spoken of in Psalm 83 that opposed Israel over two-millennia ago and their present-day descendants which continue to contend against Israel today. God’s word declares the reality of this condition in Ecclesiastes 1:9-10 where His word declares: “9 That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there anything of which it may be said, See, this is new? It has already been in ancient times before us.” As the biblical texts predicted, the groups described in Psalm 83 fit exactly with the groups directly bordering the nation of Israel today. All are Islamic, and all have a deep-rooted and supernatural hatred for the nation of Israel with all vowing to “push it into the sea”. The prophesy of Psalm 83 has never been fulfilled and thus we know that it is a event that will take place in the future.

14. God’s word teaches us that He has already placed a judgment upon those which continue to tyrannize and oppress His chosen people and He has declared what their fate will be. We read this chilling prophecy from the book of Obadiah where the Lord God proclaims: “15 For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. 16 For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been. 17 But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. 18 And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the Lord hath spoken it.” In verse 15 God declares that during the “day of the Lord” (the tribulation period) the heathen will receive their “reward” based on how they have treated (likely mistreated) the nation of Israel. Like Pharaoh during the time of Moses, it will be through their own actions and words that their method of destruction shall come to pass. In Verse 16 the reference to “drink” does not refer to wine but to the wrath of God! What God is saying to the Jews (“for as ye have drunk”) is that as He has chastised them for disobedience, His wrath will be kindled against those that have persecuted His chosen people and rejected Him. In this passage His decree is leveled against the “house of Esau” which are today’s Palestinians. In verse 18 God predicts that the houses of Jacob and Joseph (another name for the modern-day state of Israel) will become a fire and a flame, and the house of Esau (the modern-day Palestinians) will be devoured and permanently destroyed. We can see signs of this prophecy being fulfilled already, as Israel has become one of the world’s premier military powers and it will be through this power that the Lord will bring his judgments against the enemies of Israel and prove to the world that He, and not Allah, is the true God of the universe. It is important to note that the decedents of Esau and Ishmael mingled and thus will share a common fate in the future. According to Genesis 28:9Ishmael had a daughter named Mahalath, whom Esau married. Her name was given as Basemath in Genesis 36:3. Ishmael is regarded as the progenitor of the Arabs, and Esau as the ancestor of today’s Palestinians. “9 Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife.” Genesis 28:9

15. Their fate is outlined in Zechariah 12:6-8 where God declares through the prophet: “6 In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. 7 The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. 8 In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.” This is further expounded on in Jeremiah 25:15-16 where the text states: “15 For thus saith the Lord God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. 16 And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.” It will be through the nation of Israel that God will judge the nations of the world that have rejected Him and persecuted the “apple of His eye”, the Jews. This will eventually culminate into what the bible refers to as the battle of Armageddon and will usher in the return of Christ and the establishment of His literal thousand year reign of peace and righteousness on the earth. God has offered forgiveness to all that repent, but to those that reject God, His righteous wrath will come upon them and they shall not escape. This is why it is important that we attempt to reach as many of the lost as possible. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10:31

16. It is important to note that the Jewish people are not immune to God’s wrath and will suffer grievously for their rejection of their Messiah during the Great Tribulation. Sadly, the vast majority of Israeli citizens now subscribe to secular humanism and care little for the “God of their fathers”. This is why it is important for Christians to try to reach our Jewish friends with the reality that is Christ and tell them of the free gift of salvation that He has purchased for everyone who come to Him in humility and repentance. For in Romans 5:8-10 the Scriptures promise: “8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” God’s word declares that one day the Jewish people will indeed come back to Him and will realize their folly and will accept Christ as their Messiah and as the Son of God. This is detailed in Zechariah 12:10 “10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.” This passage will be fulfilled at the end of the Tribulation period and will bring to a close the “blindness” that the Apostle Paul spoke of in Romans 11:25-27 where he writes: “25 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.”

17. End of Part One Part Two Coming Soon: The Church and Christ’s Promises to Her