ISRAEL & THE PSALM 83 PROPHECY Part Two
Good Morning, Good Morning!
There are a few folks who’ve suggested that I am a “Christian Zionist” – not understanding the term “Zionist.” The term “Zionism” really began in England a century or more ago referring to the intent and the (then) budding movement among members of the British government to see Israel restored to its God-covenanted homeland. But the term “Zionism” has far deeper roots than just the political or geographical concepts suggest. I’ll get back to this in a moment. First of all, let me take a minute to explain some rules concerning Biblical prophecy.
As nearly any Hebrew scholar will tell you, there are not less than seven layers of interpretation to the Word of God. I won’t take the time today to lay out each of those layers, but suffice it to say that interpretation and understanding begins with the surface meaning of the words. Underneath the surface there are core meanings rooted in pictures that no single word or translation can possibly convey. In some instances, because the meanings have their roots in the Hebrew culture and thought processes, certain phrases tend to convey expressions that are totally lost in modern western thought.
Thus, attempts in our western society to interpret Scripture solely on the basis of our English translations (or Spanish, or German, or French, or whatever) of the Hebrew or Greek – those translations resulting in over-simplistic single words or phrases which fail to capture the essence of Hebrew thought – fail miserably, often leaving the reader with a poor interpretation of what the Holy Spirit is saying.
I have cited in the past, for example, my translation from the Song of Solomon which constitutes non-stop Hebrew metaphors from its opening passage to the very end of the Song. A recurring phrase which appears in the Song of Solomon (1:5), “I am black,” also appears in Jeremiah’s prophecy. It has nothing to do with the color of one’s skin. It is an expression of woe, of weariness, of spiritual exhaustion; and it is based in a fundamental understanding built into every single individual (whether they realize it or not) that because we are created in the image of God; that like Adam was, so are we in need of a counterpart – an “other self.”
The world has trivialized this into a search for “one’s soul-mate,” but the “soul-mate” concept misses completely the spiritual nature God invested in us and expressed in the Song of Solomon as “my sister, my spouse.” This phrase much more literally translates out of its metaphorical usage into “my counterpart, my other self,” – in other words, “my beloved!”
The expression, “I am black,” is rooted in the specific weariness that comes from a life-long and fruitless search for the husband or wife specifically designed by God to fulfill and complete you in such a way that you become a complete being. Eve completed Adam, but Adam also completed her. She was his beloved! He was her beloved!
When Jeremiah used this phrase, he was speaking on behalf of the Lord God, who was expressing His weariness in His search and crying out for the return of His beloved – that people whom He had created for Himself. They had left Him to bond with other gods and He was crying out through His prophets to return to Him.
When the Lord gave Della to me, He completed me. The “search” in my being for my counterpart (something which happens deep in one’s spirit, often well below any conscious level) ended with Della. She fulfills me, she completes me, she is what I am not, and I am what she is not. Together we are one: one whole being! She is a whole lot more than my “soul mate”: she is my counterpart, my other self, my beloved!
Anyway, I’ve said all that to say that to try and interpret prophetic utterances from Scripture based solely on the surface meaning is to completely miss the “hidden Manna” revealed in layer after layer after layer of the Word. None of these layers are exclusive to themselves, nor does any layer contradict or negate in any way the surface meaning.
I may be taking you around a 40-acre field in order to get to Psalm 83, but bear with me. This is a significant prophecy and it is important to lay proper foundations for understanding.
It is of prime importance to first remember that these prophecies – both Old and New Testaments – were given by Jews whose understanding was rooted in the seven-layers of God’s Word.
Secondly, let’s remember that they were (in nearly every instance) prophesying to a Jewish audience who knew exactly where they were coming from. Thus the prophecies were made specifically to the Jews. They were the first recipients of those prophecies and God was speaking directly to them, promising what He would do for them as a covenant-keeping God.
Here’s the catch. Saying that they were the first recipients is not the same as saying they were the only recipients. The prophet Joel made a very specific prophecy which Peter quoted on the Day of Pentecost. Peter applied the prophecy to 17 nationalities or groups of people who heard their languages being spoken by newly Spirit-baptized men and women.
“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.” (Joel 2:28-32)
When Peter was preaching to the multitudes on the Day of Pentecost – a multitude that included the aforementioned 17 nationalities (non-Jews) – he made the following amplification to Joel’s prophecy: “For the promise [of the Holy Spirit] is to and for you and your children, and to and for all that are far away, [even] to and for as many as the Lord our God invites and bids to come to Himself.” (Acts 2:39 – Amplified Version)
The NLT puts it like this: “This promise is to you, and to your children, even to the Gentiles and to people far in the future—all who have been called by the Lord our God.”
You see the specificity here, don’t you? The promise is made first to the Jews: then it is to the Gentiles (the nations of the earth).
One of the problems with modern translators and folks who’ve been programmed with traditional western thought is that they have somehow replaced the notion of these prophecies applying to the Jews with the idea that they only (or mostly) apply to the body of Christ. We sometimes refer to this as “replacement theology.” Prophecies that were meant first for the Jews somehow now don’t apply to the Jews in this theology.
A corollary doctrine is that of “cessationism.” This teaching relegates prophecies such as Peter’s prophecy in Acts 2:39 to the past. The idea is that such utterances “applied to the Jews and to the early church, but it died out with the apostles.”
This is why so many prophecies and so many scriptures often get taken out of context to prove some religious doctrine. The western mindset we’ve all grown up with really is an enemy to the Truth of God’s Word. It does its best to separate things out into some kind of logical order – logical, that is, by western thinking. End time doctrines, especially, suffer from this mindset. It’s why we have “pre-Trib, mid-Trib and post-Trib” doctrines concerning the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word is not taken as a whole message: it gets separated into “dispensations” and segments instead of seeing it as one single message from beginning to end.
The Word of God stands intact for all generations! It was true yesterday. It is true today. And it will be true tomorrow!
Getting back to “Zionism,” one needs to realize that Zion was originally the fortress that Shem built after the flood. It was the fortress and the hill that David re-captured from the Jebusites (after they had taken it over following Shem’s death) when he restored Jerusalem to the Israelites. It was the place where he erected his simple tabernacle consisting of a tent (with flaps open) and the Ark of the Covenant on display for all Israel to see. It was the place where he established the continuous ministry of praise and worship.
Zion represented the covenant of marriage that the Lord made with His people. In Psalm 2, David prophesies of the coming Messiah when he writes, “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” This was not about him, although he ruled from Zion: it was about an everlasting covenant that God had made – one that would be exhibited through His people Israel, and made available to the whole earth.
Consider another of David’s prophecies – and Israel had not been carried away into captivity when he wrote this: “Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.” (Psalm 53:6)
Then there’s this one: “For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession. The seed also of his servants shall inherit it: and they that love his name shall dwell therein.” (Psalm 69:35-36)
There are something like 150 separate prophecies concerning Zion throughout the Old Testament which refer to the coming of the Messiah, the restoration of Israel as a nation, the unification of Jerusalem and the gathering together of all the tribes of Israel to their homeland after being scattered by the Lord.
Zionism really – at its heart – is the cry for the salvation and restoration of Israel according to the promises of God. So, to answer those who speak negatively about “Zionists” and “Christian Zionism,” I am in every respect a Zionist. I believe God’s Word. I believe that Israel is being – and MUST BE – restored according to the promises God has made to the Jews. God’s covenant with them was that He absolutely would restore them as a nation and as a people in the earth!
I am a “Christian Zionist” also because I believe in the multi-layered pictures contained in these prophecies. I believe in a completed and fulfilled Bride of Christ consisting of both Jews and Christians – the counterpart and “other self” of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not possible to separate Israel and the body of Christ – and yet, paradoxically, they are distinct. It is one of the unique aspects of the “hidden Manna” contained in the seven layers of the Word.
So why, then, this focus on modern Israel? Why is there such importance on the restoration of the Jewish homeland, the unification of Jerusalem, and the gathering together of the scattered tribes of Israel from throughout the world? What does that have to do with us as Christians and the body of Christ as a whole?
Everything!
What happens in and with Israel is a direct prophetic correlation to what God is doing in the earth! It is a picture of the in-gathering together, the great harvest of souls for the Kingdom of God and the Lord Jesus Christ taking place around the earth even as we speak. It is the fulfilling of Paul’s prophecy in Ephesians 1:18-19: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” (NASB)
Israel, the Jews AND the Gentiles (nations of the earth) represent His inheritance! That inheritance is so multi-faceted and multi-layered as to defy description.
That (finally! Whewww!!) brings us to the prophetic Word of Asaph in Psalm 83.
He begins with a cry to the Lord to execute judgment on His enemies! Notice that Asaph does not refer to them as the enemies of Israel: these are God’s enemies – and that is an important distinction. The Holy Spirit is interceding through Asaph in a prophetic word of an event to come.
Do you remember what Isaiah prophesied towards the end of his years? “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.” (Isaiah 65:24-25)
So Asaph is preparing the stage in the realm of the Spirit long before this event is to unfold. Take a quick look at Romans 8:26-27: “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”
So it is the Holy Spirit who is praying/prophesying through Asaph who couldn’t possibly know in the natural the events to unfold or know how to pray for something he has never seen or conceived. And Asaph accordingly, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, is making intercession for God’s people according to the will of God! I cannot overemphasize the importance of this.
And how do the enemies of the Lord take counsel against Him and conspire against the Almighty? “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.”
This is a time-honored practice of Satan and is one of his classic military tactics against God. He has no way to counter God Himself in person so he comes against God’s people – and especially those who’ve been chosen by Him – whether it be Israel or believers today.
We’ve already talked about the ten nations in the previous Coffee Break, but for the sake of review, here they are again: (1) Edom [Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq], (2) The Ishmaelites [the Sinai to Iraq], (3) Moab [Lebanon, Syria, Jordan], (4) The Hagarites [Jordan to the Sinai], (5) Gebal [Lebanon], (6) Ammon [Jordan – the Palestinians], (7) Amalek [The Sinai, western Saudi Arabia], (8) The Philistines [Gaza, the Palestinians], (9) Tyre [Lebanon, southwestern Syria], and (10) Assur (Asshur - Assyria) [Syria, southern Turkey, northern Iraq].
We have here a description of a confederacy aligned against Israel the likes of which has never happened in history. We all know what happened when Jordan, Syria and Egypt (then known as the UAE) came against Israel with their combined firepower and military might in June of 1967. It was a sweeping victory for Israel that went down in the annals of military history, and it was another example of God’s miraculous defense of a very tiny nation whose existence has never left the center of His love and focus.
And it is that love of God for His people upon which Asaph leans in his prophetic prayer. He sees a time in history when the ten aforementioned nations or tribes assemble themselves together with a unified purpose: Israel’s annihilation and extermination from the earth. That time is not yet, but we are quickly approaching it.
Iraq has no interest in Israel at the moment. The government of Iraq is focused entirely on reentering the world community and rejoining the world economy as a sovereign nation without the restraints and sanctions it has suffered since Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1991. That doesn’t mean that Iraq couldn’t or won’t join other Arab nations in the years ahead in their hatred of the Jews. Jews are not currently welcome in Iraq, and there is much persecution of Christians ongoing there despite (or maybe because of) a huge move of the Holy Spirit taking place among the Iraqis.
Secondly, Jordan has a peace treaty with Israel and King Abdullah has no immediate interest in abrogating that treaty. He lacks both the will and the military might to be of much assistance in a conspiracy, as much as he might like to participate. However, the current turmoil in Jordan and the reshaping of Jordanian politics and its government in the next two years could radically alter things.
Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, the Gaza and Saudi Arabia are no friends of Israel, and Ahmadinejad’s threats from Iran could well force things in Iraq and Jordan to unravel more quickly than the current scenes there suggest. The upheavals in Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia are priming those nations and people in such a way as to portend Asaph’s prophecy.
That brings us to the way Asaph prayed against the enemies of the Lord. There’s simply too much to share to add to today’s Coffee Break, so let’s save that for one more in the next few days.
As Christians we have a mandate from the Lord to bless Israel. Those who bless Israel are blessed and become a blessing themselves. God’s promise to Abraham was, “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.”
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
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Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: ISRAEL & THE PSALM 83 PROPHECY, Part One
ISRAEL & THE PSALM 83 PROPHECY, Part One
Howdy! Glad you joined me today!
I’ll keep these comments short because we need to get right into today’s discussion. There are a large number of folks who’ve responded to this series of Coffee Breaks on Israel – both positively and negatively. A common thread appearing in the negative responses is predicated in a horrendous doctrine that began to spread throughout the “structured church” during the Dark Ages. There are two parts of this doctrine.
The first part of it alleges that the Jews crucified Jesus. That is scripturally inaccurate.
Revelation 13:8 clearly states that Jesus was “the Lamb slain before the foundation of the earth.” He chose, of His own will, in agreement with Father and Holy Spirit, to go to the Cross even BEFORE Adam and Eve were created. Adam’s fall was no surprise to the Lord God. He knew it was going to happen before He breathed His first breath into him, and they [the Godhead] made preparation to redeem the human race. There was an appointed time in history (His Story] for that to take place.
Secondly, although the religious Jews were part of the scenario which led to Jesus’ crucifixion, they were pawns in an agenda created by Satan long before Jesus was born. The truth is that it was a religious spirit which crucified Jesus on the Cross. Sure, it was operating in the religious Jews, but it was also operating in Rome as well. To blame the Jews for Jesus’ death on the Cross is a deliberate distortion of history, and a deliberate twisting of the spiritual forces that were at work. One of these days I’ll do a series of Coffee Breaks on the Nephilim Agenda – a Satanic agenda that was at work to destroy the promised Redeemer as far back as the days of Noah.
The driving force behind this demonic doctrine is a virulent spirit of Anti-Semitism. The second part of the doctrine that says the Jews crucified Jesus also says that because the Jews departed from the Lord God and worshiped false idols, God canceled His Covenant with them; therefore, Jesus’ death on the Cross was designed to redeem “the world” and NOT the Jews! Anyone who believes that has become the victim of an extremely racist spirit. I won’t take the time today to dig into it, but let me just simplify it like this: ALL racism – whether the prejudice is against Blacks, Asians, Indians, Eskimos, Arabs or Jews (or any other racial group) is predicated and rooted in Anti-Semitism.
[Note: Anti-Semitism and racism of every ilk is – nothing more and nothing less – rooted in a spirit of hatred against God’s plan for the human race from the day He breathed His breath into Adam and initiated the process of creating a family for Himself – a family of beings who would be like Him, function like Him, love like Him, think like Him and speak like Him. It targets the Jews or Israel (or any other race or culture of people it chooses), blames them for the world’s ills (or society’s ills) instead of the true Enemy. It targets people and personalities instead of the evil spirits that drive them, creating a special class of people to lobby against. It frequently uses a religious spirit to conceal its hatred and justifies itself by quoting scriptures like Romans 9:8 or I Thess. 2:14-16 and taking them out of the overall context of what the Word says.]
The corollary to this Anti-Semitic doctrine that God abandoned the Jews in favor of the
Gentiles is the idea that the Gentiles are now “God’s chosen people” and the Jews have no claim to that status anymore. What a lie! What a perversion of the truth!
I take you back to some quotes from the last Coffee Break
“I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew.” (Romans 11:1)
He goes on to say the following: “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. 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: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. (Romans 11:25-26)
Were it not for the Jews, therefore, there would be no salvation for the rest of the world! And Jesus makes that abundantly clear in John 4:23.
OK. Time to move on.
The 83rd Psalm is one of the most unique prophecies in the Word. This was a prayer and a prophecy of Asaph. Despite all the attacks that have come against Israel throughout the centuries and millennia, this is one of those wars that have never taken place – yet! Hence, when Asaph was praying this prayer, he was seeing ten nations or tribes or peoples who had assembled themselves against Israel with one purpose. When you listen to some of Ahmadinejad’s rants and threats, you’d think he actually believes he can beat the Lord God and wipe Israel off the map.
Listen to how Asaph puts it in his prayer: “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.”
Now Asaph lists the conspirators, and he is very specific as he names 10 nations or tribes.
“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.”
In order to appreciate the significance of this, we need to identify each of the nations with their modern-day counterparts.
1. Edom: This is a name given to the descendants of Esau. Their territory was initially referred to as “the mountains of Seir” and extended from the Gulf of Aqaba to the foot of the Dead Sea and eastward into Jordan and Arabah (modern-day Saudi Arabia). The Greeks referred to their rock-hewn city of Sela as “Petra” – the name by which we still know it today in what is currently the western part of Jordan. The Edomites became a very scattered and nomadic people, eventually making Bozrah (modern-day Basra in Iraq) their capital until they were taken over and assimilated by the Chaldeans.
2. The Ishmaelites: This was a people descended from Ishmael, the son of Abraham born to the Egyptian handmaid, Hagar. Ishmael, as we know, was sent away with his mother by command of the Lord because he was the “seed of the flesh” and not the “seed of covenant.” The angel of the Lord told Hagar that Ishmael’s descendants would have “their hand against every man, and every man’s hand against them.” They initially settled in Paran, a region lying between Canaan and the mountains of Sinai. This was a people who scattered (as did the Edomites) across the wide deserts of northern Arabia from the Red Sea to the Euphrates.
3. Moab: Descended from Moab, the incestuous son of Lot, these people initially occupied Zoar, the region around the Dead Sea left in chaos by the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and eventually began to spread over the region east of the Jordan River until their great defeat by David. The last historical reference to the Moabites as a people places them in what today is southern Lebanon and southeastern Syria. Chronologically in Scripture, we find Sanballat (who was a Moabite [Nehemiah uses the Horite description]) doing his best to block the rebuilding of Jerusalem.
4. The Hagarenes (Hagarites): Brothers to the Ishmaelites, we have no record of their father and they are described as descended from Hagar. History distinguishes between them and the Ishmaelites, although they seemed to occupy much of the same territory as their Ishmaelite brethren. Every scriptural reference to them identifies them as a “trans-Jordanic tribe,” and we see the tribe of Reuben soundly defeating them in battle during the days of King Saul.
5. Gebal: Modern day Dschebel (25 miles north of Beirut, Lebanon) is identified with this mountain-seaport. The Greeks referred to Gebal as “Byblos”; and it was one of Syria’s major seaports. There is a separate reference to a Gebal in the Apocrypha as being in the northern part of Arabia near Petra, but there seems to be little connection between the two. Gebal was a “city-state” much like Monaco is today, and was among the major city-states of Phoenicia (which today is northern Lebanon and south-western Syria).
6. Ammon: Modern-day Amman, Jordan is a continuously occupied city for some four-plus millennia, and it gets its name from Ammon, the other incestuous son of Lot, Abraham’s nephew. That inhabitants of Jordan, much of whom we would know today as “Palestinians” are the descendants of Ammon seems pretty clear. Historically, the Ammonites and Moabites were the persistent enemies of Israel, continually trying to deprive them of their existence in the land. I remind you of I Chronicles 20 when the Ammonites and Moabites, along with remnants of the Amorites, came against Jehoshaphat and the Lord routed them in such a way that they destroyed one another.
7. Amalek: These were descendants of Esau – a warring people who principally occupied the Sinai between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea. They were a persistent enemy of Israel for whom God decreed ultimate destruction. Agag, the Amalekite king, tried to bribe Balaam into cursing Israel. “Agag” seems to be a title given to each king of the Amalekites, and it was an “Agag” whom Samuel was forced to kill when Saul disobeyed the Lord by keeping him alive. Haman, whose conspiracy to destroy Israel in the days of Esther, was an “Agagite” – a descendant of Agag in the days of Saul.
8. The Philistines: There is a rather oblique reference in II Samuel which suggests that they were part of the Rephaim – one of the groups in Scripture identified with the Nephilim in Genesis 6. In any case they occupied the Gaza, Lebanon and south-western Syria. The Palestinian demand to occupy the Gaza today is a very telling picture of this enemy of Israel. I only have to remind you of the story of David and Goliath.
9. The Inhabitants of Tyre: A city-state of its own during Old-Testament times, it was originally one of the main port cities of Phoenicia. By the time Asaph gave his prophecy, Tyre was a Syrian stronghold, and it remains as that to this day. Although Abraham was sometimes referred to as a Syrian because he lived for 25 years in Haran (modern-day spelling: Harran) before responding to the second call of the Lord, the Syrians have been – ever since Israel began to occupy Canaan – the enemies of Israel. I Kings 11:25 tells us that Hadad (see also I Kings 11:14), the King of Syria, was of royal Edomite lineage – a descendant of Esau, and this explains the ongoing enmity of millennia between Syria and Israel.
10. Assur (Asshur): This was the capital city of ancient Assyria – an empire divided by the Medes and Persians. Syria of today gets its name from ancient Assyria. Modern-day Asshur is in Northern Iraq, however, and its remnant people are scattered throughout Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran. Because they were close neighbors of the Moabites and Ammonites, Asaph tells us in his prophecy (reading the NASB) that “they have become a help to the children of Lot.”
That’s the general outline of the ten nations. Let’s consolidate the picture to modern times. What do we see? Closest to Israel, we find (1) the Palestinians in Gaza, (2) Lebanon (under Syria’s domination with Hezbollah), (3) Syria, (4) Jordan, (5) Egypt - (the Sinai Peninsula), and (6) Saudi Arabia. A little farther out, we have (7) Iraq, and (8) Iran. While on today’s maps (you can Google Map the region for a look at it yourself) there are ten nations named, three of the nations are consolidated in present-day Jordan and Syria: Moab, Ammon and the “Hagarenes.” Since we know that the Hagarites occupied much of the same territory as the Ishmaelites, and we know that the Ishmaelites occupied at least a portion of the Sinai, the father of the Hagarites (and I’m really speculating here) could have been an Egyptian as Hagar was.
In any case, Israel today is surrounded by the very same enemies it faced during Biblical times, despite the fact that in some instances we have different names today along with consolidation. In a Coffee Break series I did a couple years ago titled Seven Nations, Seven Letters, we talked about the fact that ancient Israel failed to keep God’s commandment to them to literally destroy, wipe-out to the last man, woman and child, and erase every vestige of the seven nations that occupied Canaan prior to the conquest by Joshua.
Additionally, in the days of King Saul, Israel was commanded to obliterate every trace of the Amalekites. He did not. As a result of their failure, traces of these nations remained throughout the ages. We even find almost one whole nation of the original seven still intact as a nation during Jesus’ ministry. The Greek New Testament refers to the original Girgashites as the Gergesenes (Gergesenos) when Jesus brings deliverance to the Gadarene demoniac.
Although we have no modern reference to the Moabites, Ammonites (except for Amman), Amalekites, Hagarites, etc., history is clear that whatever remnant of these tribal nations existed after their major destruction at the hands of their enemies, that remnant was assimilated into their captor nations.
We couldn’t have a clearer picture of Asaph’s prophecy. Here is a perfect description of the same enemies that surround Israel today. With the possible exception of King Abdullah in Jordan (who as mentioned before has attempted to moderate things with the Palestinian population which comprises more than 70 percent of the Jordanian people) and Iraq which is endeavoring to get its own act together, the rest of the surrounding nations have adopted a hostile, “get rid of Israel” attitude; and Iran’s Ahmajinedad has actually declared the very words Asaph used calling for Israel’s extinction.
I want to get to the meat of the prophecy in Psalm 83, but it is clear that we won’t make it there today, so let’s cut this Coffee Break short and we’ll pick things up in a few days.
Before I go, however, an article of extreme interest appears on the front page of Israel Today in the June 17th edition. The headline reads: ARE MANY PALESTINIANS REALLY JEWS? (see: http://www.israeltoday.co.il/tabid/178/nid/22830/language/en-US/Default.aspx)
Here are a few lines from the article: In the shadow of the conflict over the Promised Land more and more Palestinians are disclosing the truth: Entire families are considering conversion to Judaism. They claim that their ancestors were forced to choose between religion (Judaism) and remaining on the Land, and hence, they were compelled to convert to Islam. These Palestinians are part of the seed of Israel and could be called “Palestinian Marranos” - like the “secret Jews” of Spain in the 15th century who were forced to convert to Christianity, but covertly remained observant Jews. By returning to the Jewish religion and nation, they foresee a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
With the news from this piece, a recent poll in the Jerusalem Post makes a lot of sense. Taken on the West Bank the polls showed that 57% of the “Palestinians” interviewed would prefer to be a part of Israel rather than a Palestinian state. No wonder! When you have people who’ve been forced into accepting Islam or die, and they become assimilated into a culture that is antagonistic towards everything they’ve ever known and serve a god who is a false god, there can’t be anything but a yearning for a return to the life and the worship their ancestors have known.
OK. There you have it for today. I’ll pick up on the Psalm 83 prophecy and its significance to today in our next Coffee Break. See you then.
As Christians we have a mandate from the Lord to bless Israel. More than that, the cry of the Lord through Isaiah is to “give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth!”
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
709 South 7th Street
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
(509) 515-0133
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted – provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are now available at http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/ and are being slowly added at http://www.AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit http://www.RiverWorshipCenter.org.
Howdy! Glad you joined me today!
I’ll keep these comments short because we need to get right into today’s discussion. There are a large number of folks who’ve responded to this series of Coffee Breaks on Israel – both positively and negatively. A common thread appearing in the negative responses is predicated in a horrendous doctrine that began to spread throughout the “structured church” during the Dark Ages. There are two parts of this doctrine.
The first part of it alleges that the Jews crucified Jesus. That is scripturally inaccurate.
Revelation 13:8 clearly states that Jesus was “the Lamb slain before the foundation of the earth.” He chose, of His own will, in agreement with Father and Holy Spirit, to go to the Cross even BEFORE Adam and Eve were created. Adam’s fall was no surprise to the Lord God. He knew it was going to happen before He breathed His first breath into him, and they [the Godhead] made preparation to redeem the human race. There was an appointed time in history (His Story] for that to take place.
Secondly, although the religious Jews were part of the scenario which led to Jesus’ crucifixion, they were pawns in an agenda created by Satan long before Jesus was born. The truth is that it was a religious spirit which crucified Jesus on the Cross. Sure, it was operating in the religious Jews, but it was also operating in Rome as well. To blame the Jews for Jesus’ death on the Cross is a deliberate distortion of history, and a deliberate twisting of the spiritual forces that were at work. One of these days I’ll do a series of Coffee Breaks on the Nephilim Agenda – a Satanic agenda that was at work to destroy the promised Redeemer as far back as the days of Noah.
The driving force behind this demonic doctrine is a virulent spirit of Anti-Semitism. The second part of the doctrine that says the Jews crucified Jesus also says that because the Jews departed from the Lord God and worshiped false idols, God canceled His Covenant with them; therefore, Jesus’ death on the Cross was designed to redeem “the world” and NOT the Jews! Anyone who believes that has become the victim of an extremely racist spirit. I won’t take the time today to dig into it, but let me just simplify it like this: ALL racism – whether the prejudice is against Blacks, Asians, Indians, Eskimos, Arabs or Jews (or any other racial group) is predicated and rooted in Anti-Semitism.
[Note: Anti-Semitism and racism of every ilk is – nothing more and nothing less – rooted in a spirit of hatred against God’s plan for the human race from the day He breathed His breath into Adam and initiated the process of creating a family for Himself – a family of beings who would be like Him, function like Him, love like Him, think like Him and speak like Him. It targets the Jews or Israel (or any other race or culture of people it chooses), blames them for the world’s ills (or society’s ills) instead of the true Enemy. It targets people and personalities instead of the evil spirits that drive them, creating a special class of people to lobby against. It frequently uses a religious spirit to conceal its hatred and justifies itself by quoting scriptures like Romans 9:8 or I Thess. 2:14-16 and taking them out of the overall context of what the Word says.]
The corollary to this Anti-Semitic doctrine that God abandoned the Jews in favor of the
Gentiles is the idea that the Gentiles are now “God’s chosen people” and the Jews have no claim to that status anymore. What a lie! What a perversion of the truth!
I take you back to some quotes from the last Coffee Break
“I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew.” (Romans 11:1)
He goes on to say the following: “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. 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: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. (Romans 11:25-26)
Were it not for the Jews, therefore, there would be no salvation for the rest of the world! And Jesus makes that abundantly clear in John 4:23.
OK. Time to move on.
The 83rd Psalm is one of the most unique prophecies in the Word. This was a prayer and a prophecy of Asaph. Despite all the attacks that have come against Israel throughout the centuries and millennia, this is one of those wars that have never taken place – yet! Hence, when Asaph was praying this prayer, he was seeing ten nations or tribes or peoples who had assembled themselves against Israel with one purpose. When you listen to some of Ahmadinejad’s rants and threats, you’d think he actually believes he can beat the Lord God and wipe Israel off the map.
Listen to how Asaph puts it in his prayer: “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.”
Now Asaph lists the conspirators, and he is very specific as he names 10 nations or tribes.
“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.”
In order to appreciate the significance of this, we need to identify each of the nations with their modern-day counterparts.
1. Edom: This is a name given to the descendants of Esau. Their territory was initially referred to as “the mountains of Seir” and extended from the Gulf of Aqaba to the foot of the Dead Sea and eastward into Jordan and Arabah (modern-day Saudi Arabia). The Greeks referred to their rock-hewn city of Sela as “Petra” – the name by which we still know it today in what is currently the western part of Jordan. The Edomites became a very scattered and nomadic people, eventually making Bozrah (modern-day Basra in Iraq) their capital until they were taken over and assimilated by the Chaldeans.
2. The Ishmaelites: This was a people descended from Ishmael, the son of Abraham born to the Egyptian handmaid, Hagar. Ishmael, as we know, was sent away with his mother by command of the Lord because he was the “seed of the flesh” and not the “seed of covenant.” The angel of the Lord told Hagar that Ishmael’s descendants would have “their hand against every man, and every man’s hand against them.” They initially settled in Paran, a region lying between Canaan and the mountains of Sinai. This was a people who scattered (as did the Edomites) across the wide deserts of northern Arabia from the Red Sea to the Euphrates.
3. Moab: Descended from Moab, the incestuous son of Lot, these people initially occupied Zoar, the region around the Dead Sea left in chaos by the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and eventually began to spread over the region east of the Jordan River until their great defeat by David. The last historical reference to the Moabites as a people places them in what today is southern Lebanon and southeastern Syria. Chronologically in Scripture, we find Sanballat (who was a Moabite [Nehemiah uses the Horite description]) doing his best to block the rebuilding of Jerusalem.
4. The Hagarenes (Hagarites): Brothers to the Ishmaelites, we have no record of their father and they are described as descended from Hagar. History distinguishes between them and the Ishmaelites, although they seemed to occupy much of the same territory as their Ishmaelite brethren. Every scriptural reference to them identifies them as a “trans-Jordanic tribe,” and we see the tribe of Reuben soundly defeating them in battle during the days of King Saul.
5. Gebal: Modern day Dschebel (25 miles north of Beirut, Lebanon) is identified with this mountain-seaport. The Greeks referred to Gebal as “Byblos”; and it was one of Syria’s major seaports. There is a separate reference to a Gebal in the Apocrypha as being in the northern part of Arabia near Petra, but there seems to be little connection between the two. Gebal was a “city-state” much like Monaco is today, and was among the major city-states of Phoenicia (which today is northern Lebanon and south-western Syria).
6. Ammon: Modern-day Amman, Jordan is a continuously occupied city for some four-plus millennia, and it gets its name from Ammon, the other incestuous son of Lot, Abraham’s nephew. That inhabitants of Jordan, much of whom we would know today as “Palestinians” are the descendants of Ammon seems pretty clear. Historically, the Ammonites and Moabites were the persistent enemies of Israel, continually trying to deprive them of their existence in the land. I remind you of I Chronicles 20 when the Ammonites and Moabites, along with remnants of the Amorites, came against Jehoshaphat and the Lord routed them in such a way that they destroyed one another.
7. Amalek: These were descendants of Esau – a warring people who principally occupied the Sinai between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea. They were a persistent enemy of Israel for whom God decreed ultimate destruction. Agag, the Amalekite king, tried to bribe Balaam into cursing Israel. “Agag” seems to be a title given to each king of the Amalekites, and it was an “Agag” whom Samuel was forced to kill when Saul disobeyed the Lord by keeping him alive. Haman, whose conspiracy to destroy Israel in the days of Esther, was an “Agagite” – a descendant of Agag in the days of Saul.
8. The Philistines: There is a rather oblique reference in II Samuel which suggests that they were part of the Rephaim – one of the groups in Scripture identified with the Nephilim in Genesis 6. In any case they occupied the Gaza, Lebanon and south-western Syria. The Palestinian demand to occupy the Gaza today is a very telling picture of this enemy of Israel. I only have to remind you of the story of David and Goliath.
9. The Inhabitants of Tyre: A city-state of its own during Old-Testament times, it was originally one of the main port cities of Phoenicia. By the time Asaph gave his prophecy, Tyre was a Syrian stronghold, and it remains as that to this day. Although Abraham was sometimes referred to as a Syrian because he lived for 25 years in Haran (modern-day spelling: Harran) before responding to the second call of the Lord, the Syrians have been – ever since Israel began to occupy Canaan – the enemies of Israel. I Kings 11:25 tells us that Hadad (see also I Kings 11:14), the King of Syria, was of royal Edomite lineage – a descendant of Esau, and this explains the ongoing enmity of millennia between Syria and Israel.
10. Assur (Asshur): This was the capital city of ancient Assyria – an empire divided by the Medes and Persians. Syria of today gets its name from ancient Assyria. Modern-day Asshur is in Northern Iraq, however, and its remnant people are scattered throughout Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran. Because they were close neighbors of the Moabites and Ammonites, Asaph tells us in his prophecy (reading the NASB) that “they have become a help to the children of Lot.”
That’s the general outline of the ten nations. Let’s consolidate the picture to modern times. What do we see? Closest to Israel, we find (1) the Palestinians in Gaza, (2) Lebanon (under Syria’s domination with Hezbollah), (3) Syria, (4) Jordan, (5) Egypt - (the Sinai Peninsula), and (6) Saudi Arabia. A little farther out, we have (7) Iraq, and (8) Iran. While on today’s maps (you can Google Map the region for a look at it yourself) there are ten nations named, three of the nations are consolidated in present-day Jordan and Syria: Moab, Ammon and the “Hagarenes.” Since we know that the Hagarites occupied much of the same territory as the Ishmaelites, and we know that the Ishmaelites occupied at least a portion of the Sinai, the father of the Hagarites (and I’m really speculating here) could have been an Egyptian as Hagar was.
In any case, Israel today is surrounded by the very same enemies it faced during Biblical times, despite the fact that in some instances we have different names today along with consolidation. In a Coffee Break series I did a couple years ago titled Seven Nations, Seven Letters, we talked about the fact that ancient Israel failed to keep God’s commandment to them to literally destroy, wipe-out to the last man, woman and child, and erase every vestige of the seven nations that occupied Canaan prior to the conquest by Joshua.
Additionally, in the days of King Saul, Israel was commanded to obliterate every trace of the Amalekites. He did not. As a result of their failure, traces of these nations remained throughout the ages. We even find almost one whole nation of the original seven still intact as a nation during Jesus’ ministry. The Greek New Testament refers to the original Girgashites as the Gergesenes (Gergesenos) when Jesus brings deliverance to the Gadarene demoniac.
Although we have no modern reference to the Moabites, Ammonites (except for Amman), Amalekites, Hagarites, etc., history is clear that whatever remnant of these tribal nations existed after their major destruction at the hands of their enemies, that remnant was assimilated into their captor nations.
We couldn’t have a clearer picture of Asaph’s prophecy. Here is a perfect description of the same enemies that surround Israel today. With the possible exception of King Abdullah in Jordan (who as mentioned before has attempted to moderate things with the Palestinian population which comprises more than 70 percent of the Jordanian people) and Iraq which is endeavoring to get its own act together, the rest of the surrounding nations have adopted a hostile, “get rid of Israel” attitude; and Iran’s Ahmajinedad has actually declared the very words Asaph used calling for Israel’s extinction.
I want to get to the meat of the prophecy in Psalm 83, but it is clear that we won’t make it there today, so let’s cut this Coffee Break short and we’ll pick things up in a few days.
Before I go, however, an article of extreme interest appears on the front page of Israel Today in the June 17th edition. The headline reads: ARE MANY PALESTINIANS REALLY JEWS? (see: http://www.israeltoday.co.il/tabid/178/nid/22830/language/en-US/Default.aspx)
Here are a few lines from the article: In the shadow of the conflict over the Promised Land more and more Palestinians are disclosing the truth: Entire families are considering conversion to Judaism. They claim that their ancestors were forced to choose between religion (Judaism) and remaining on the Land, and hence, they were compelled to convert to Islam. These Palestinians are part of the seed of Israel and could be called “Palestinian Marranos” - like the “secret Jews” of Spain in the 15th century who were forced to convert to Christianity, but covertly remained observant Jews. By returning to the Jewish religion and nation, they foresee a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
With the news from this piece, a recent poll in the Jerusalem Post makes a lot of sense. Taken on the West Bank the polls showed that 57% of the “Palestinians” interviewed would prefer to be a part of Israel rather than a Palestinian state. No wonder! When you have people who’ve been forced into accepting Islam or die, and they become assimilated into a culture that is antagonistic towards everything they’ve ever known and serve a god who is a false god, there can’t be anything but a yearning for a return to the life and the worship their ancestors have known.
OK. There you have it for today. I’ll pick up on the Psalm 83 prophecy and its significance to today in our next Coffee Break. See you then.
As Christians we have a mandate from the Lord to bless Israel. More than that, the cry of the Lord through Isaiah is to “give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth!”
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
709 South 7th Street
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
(509) 515-0133
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted – provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are now available at http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/ and are being slowly added at http://www.AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit http://www.RiverWorshipCenter.org.
Monday, June 6, 2011
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: ISRAEL'S DESTINY
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: ISRAEL’S DESTINY
Greetings! Salutations, too!
Before we get started with today’s discussion, let me finish our last discussion with a few comments. And, by the way, thanks to Rich and DeAngela Warren, we have a really nice new French Press. It makes roughly 38 ounces of the best coffee you’ve ever had, and I’ve got a mix of Double-Roasted French and some medium-roasted Swedish coffee (again thanks to Rich and DeAngela) steeping in it as we speak. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and join me in a cup.
As Elliott Green notes in his legal argument (see http://www.think-israel.org/green.sanremo.html),
The San Remo decision for the Jewish National Home was ratified by the League of Nations in 1922 and endorsed by a joint resolution of the United States Congress that same year, with a more official US endorsement coming in the Anglo-American Convention on Palestine (proclaimed 1925).
When the UN was founded in 1945, it reaffirmed through its Charter the existing territorial rights of peoples as they had been before the war (Article 80). This applied of course to the Jewish National Home. However, many or most people today are either not aware that the whole country constituted the Jewish National Home, or believe that the UN had somehow eliminated this status and, in any case, had fixed legal boundaries for Israel through the 1947 Partition Resolution. Yet the 1947 resolution was passed by the General Assembly. And all General Assembly resolutions on political issues are merely recommendations.
The UN Charter states, defining the powers of the various UN bodies: "The General Assembly may discuss any questions relating to the maintenance of international peace and security... and... may make recommendations with regard to any such question" (Article 11; also see Arts. 10, 12, 13, 14). Only the Security Council can make binding resolutions, according to the Charter.
Now the Partition Plan, in a not uncommon display of political irrealism, recommended two states in the former mandatory Palestine west of the Jordan, one Jewish and one Arab, plus a special status for Jerusalem (The British had separated Transjordan unilaterally from the Jewish National Home in 1922, although not de jure). The Holy City was to be an internationally governed corpus separatum. While the Jewish leadership accepted the Plan, the Arab governments and local Arab leadership universally rejected it. After the war had begun the UN made no effort to prevent the invasion of the country by Arab states, to prevent Arab attacks on Jews within the country or to eliminate the Arab siege of the Jews in Jerusalem, a city where Jews had been the majority at least since 1870. Thus Israel did not feel bound by the Partition recommendation. Professor Eugene Rostow, an authority on international law, has pointed out that the Arab war on Israel of 1947-49, "made the Partition Plan irrelevant."
The demand, therefore, by the current administration in the White House (operating in agreement with the demands of the Arab League) that Israel return to the lines originally outlined by the partition of 1947-1949 ignores completely the fact that lands being illegally occupied by the Palestinians were legitimately restored to Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. For anyone – our nation’s leaders especially – to demand that Israel give those lands back in exchange for peace is illogical and hypocritical. Once you start down that road, one could logically argue that the United States should give back Texas and California to Mexico (and there are a group of radicals – La Raza, for example – who are pushing for just that!)
It simply flies in the face of reason! That’s never going to happen, and any effort at a government level to begin negotiating such an action would be regarded as treason. By the same token, for the U.S. – or any other national entity – to presuppose that Israel should surrender territory won by the blood of its soldiers and its citizens, and (more than that) territory given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by God as an everlasting inheritance (the Hebrew text renders the word “o’lam” eternity, or: eternity of eternities, perpetual, to a point in time beyond the vanishing point [Gesenius] – see Genesis 17:8,19 – is arrogant beyond words!
Getting back to the San Remo Accord, it is important to understand that nothing has changed since that charter was given for the reestablishment of the Jewish homeland. No legally binding action of any kind has taken place which abrogated that charter. The fact that the Arab nations refused to agree to a two-state solution recommended by the United Nations negated the whole idea of a separate “Palestine.”
There has never been a nation or state recognized internationally as Palestine – just a designated region of the Middle East. Politically speaking, Israel has agreed conceptually to a Palestinian state, but that agreement has always been founded upon the basic tenet that the Arab peoples who call themselves “Palestinians” must agree to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. The “Palestinians” have never agreed to recognize Israel as a Jewish state – ever!
Although Israel was already legally entitled to what was being referred to as “the West Bank,” “Gaza,” the Sinai and “the Golan” under the San Remo Accord, when Egypt, Jordan and Syria attacked Israel in 1967, Israel won those territories by right of conquest; and they both legally and by right of war have the absolute claim to those lands. Any suggestion to the contrary is based in utter ignorance of the laws, charters and internationally recognized claims of war.
We could take this argument farther, but that pretty much covers it. Let’s talk now about Israel’s destiny.
The Scripture actually speaks of four Israels. If that sounds really strange, let me explain.
1. The first Israel we would describe as “Political or Secular Israel.” This is represented by the governing leadership – the political structure that governs the nation’s day-to-day activities. This leadership is (to quote Carl Gallups) “thoroughly secularized and Godless.” This Israel simply reflects the sin nature in the same way that political or secular leadership of other nations is sinful and Godless.
2. The second is “Religious Israel.” This is that part of the people or nation that practices Orthodox Judaism. Jesus often addressed the religious people of that era – the Scribes and Pharisees – rebuking them for their adherence to legalistic obedience while utterly ignoring the spiritual nature of their whole existence as a people.
3. Third is the geographical land that God gave by covenant to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Prophecies abound throughout Scripture – both Old and New Testaments – in which geographical Israel plays an important role. Many of the O.T. prophets prophesied the day when Israel – the people – would be restored to their land, and their land to them.
4. And fourth is what we could call “Spiritual Israel.” Paul goes to great lengths in Romans to lay out the picture of the Israel of God’s destiny, describing it as those Jews (or Israelites) who accept Yeshua HaMaschiach (Jesus (the) Christ), along with the grafted-in peoples of all the nations of the world who also turn from their idols to worship Him.
It is important to make a distinction here before we continue.
Isaiah often prophesied of and to Jerusalem and in so doing, prophesying to Israel (the nation) as a whole. But he made a clear distinction (just as David did) between Jerusalem (the city) and Zion, where his Tabernacle sat (as the place of intimacy, the place of God’s Parousia) His immediate presence. Jerusalem was the larger picture of God’s people. Zion was the picture of a holy, set apart, always-in-tune-with-Him people whom Jesus likened to the five wise virgins.
While Jerusalem always represented God’s people as a whole, Zion was the place where David established his Tabernacle. It was the place of continuous praise, worship, prayer and intercession, all taking place before the Ark of the Covenant, which represented the marriage between the Lord and His Chosen and Called-Out Bride.
There are numerous references to Zion as “the city of David” – a phrase which many have taken to apply to Jerusalem as a whole. However, what gets missed in the translation from Hebrew is the fact that Zion (tsiyon in Hebrew) actually means: a conspicuous place, a monument or guiding pillar. The term, Zion, was initially meant to apply to the place of David’s Tabernacle. David’s Tabernacle was set on a high place so that Israel could see it as a visible reference – a mark of God’s presence and covenant in and with the land. David’s appointment of the families of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun became a visual and audible representation of the seven-lamped Golden Candlestick. The Golden Candlestick (in Moses’ Tabernacle) signified the worship of a loving Bride with its flames of passion burning day and night.
The name, Jerusalem, is a compound name with two root words: yeru, [yaru] [yarush] (Jerus), meaning: foundations (or: to found or establish); and: Salem, shalam [shalom], meaning: peace, safety, to be complete, to be prosperous, to be restored, restitution. We reduce it to: “the foundations of peace.”
You may recall that this city was first established by Shem, the son of Noah. It began as a citadel in the years after the great flood. Shem built it as a city and a place of safety for his bride, and named it Salem. He occupied this citadel and exerted righteous influence throughout the land of Canaan and much of the Middle East for roughly 500 years. (It’s not a wonder, therefore, that they referred to him as being without father or mother, without beginning or ending of days! He outlived many generations.)
Because of his act of tracking down Nimrod with a band of twelve men following the scattering of people at Babel, killing Nimrod, cutting his body up into twelve pieces and sending a piece to each of the rulers in the region with the message “Thus shall it be done to those who rise up against God,” the inhabitants of the land began to refer to him as Malkiy – Tsedeq (the King of Right or Righteousness). We have his name Anglicized as “Melchizedek.”
Following Shem’s death in the year that Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt, the descendants of Canaan’s son, Jerus, (Canaan was the firstborn son of Ham, Shem’s brother) moved into the citadel and began to occupy it. Because Jerus had developed a military tactic of crushing the grain fields of his enemies and rendering the grains unplantable for a new crop, his sons renamed him from “Jerus” to “Jebus,” which means “crushing.” Thus the city of Salem became known throughout some five-to-six centuries as “Jebus” (the city of the Jebusites) until David captured it. Once David had the city, and once the Tabernacle of David occupied Zion, the city became known forever as Jerusalem – Yerushalayim.
We thus have two distinct characteristics within Jerusalem – that of the city and its occupants, and that of Zion as the place of David’s Tabernacle, and ultimately Solomon’s Temple (on the adjoining hill).
Jerusalem became known as “the city of God,” (i.e., the City of God’s people). Zion was distinguished within the city as the place of covenant, the place of intimacy, the place of praise and worship.
You therefore have a people of God; and within that people is a smaller, more intimate group of people near to the heart of God whose entire existence revolves about seeing that His heart’s desires are met and fulfilled. It has become the picture of the body of Christ at large – we often refer to it in error as “the Church” – and within that larger body is a small segment, a remnant if you will, of people prophetic Scriptures identify as “the Bride.” (I won’t take the time in this discussion to deal with this subject at length since it would take us too far afield from our central point.)
I’ve said all that to say this, Israel’s future and destiny are spoken of prophetically throughout the Word. Let’s address the geographical land of Israel, the Jewish people, and Jerusalem to begin with.
Isaiah 62:1-4: For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the nations and peoples (Gentiles) shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name (shem: character, makeup, personality), which the mouth of the LORD shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.
Isaiah 65:8-10: Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all. And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there. And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.
It is important to remember that Isaiah is prophesying directly to Israel. While there certainly is a spiritual relevance to these prophecies that applies to the body of Christ, and to the Bride in this day, that is only one part of the picture. Israel was Isaiah’s focus, and he is literally covering the different parts of the nation in these words.
He first addresses the people AND the city of Jerusalem (For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness); he then speaks to the land (neither shall thy land any more be termed desolate). This prophetic word all by itself makes clear that Jerusalem will never be given over to an Arab nation or people as its capital.
Now Isaiah addresses some of the geographical aspects of the land of Israel when he says, “I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.” While Isaiah refers to the “seed out of Jacob” he literally speaks to all the territory that God promised to Abraham – and that’s a whole lot more than Israel currently occupies! “Judah” is modern-day “Judea and Samaria” in the West Bank.
Next he refers to opposite sides of the country: Sharon, which is a 30-mile stretch of land bordering the Mediterranean beginning just south of modern-day Haifa and extending south toward Netanya; and the “Valley of Achor” which runs along both sides of the Jordan River (both East and West Bank) and encompasses the area formerly occupied by the ancient city of Jericho.
I’m running short of time today so let’s get to the pictures of both religious (Orthodox Judaism) and spiritual Israel.
Consider Paul’s statement as Romans 11 begins: “I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew.”
Clearly God has not forsaken His people. Paul was a Pharisee, a member of Orthodox Judaism, before his Damascus road experience. Now he speaks to Israel’s redemption – AND to ours as the seed of Abraham by faith!
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. 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: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. (Romans 11:25-31)
Thus, Paul makes it abundantly clear that religious Israel was allowed to go into a place of spiritual blindness so that the rest of the world (the Gentiles) could have access to the mercy and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. But that period of blindness was only for a season – not for all time!
Here’s how Jesus put it: “And they (the Jews as a whole) shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” (Luke 21:24)
Without taking a lot of time to deal with the subject (it really is lengthy when you get into it) John speaks of two groups of 144,000 in Revelation.
The first group is seen as a metaphor for Israel itself: And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. (Revelation 7:4)
The second group John describes as being “redeemed from among men.” And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. (Revelation 14:3-4)
The number, 144,000, is a Hebrew metaphor. It is a prophetic picture. It is 12 taken to completion. Throughout Scripture you see the number twelve appearing many times. It essentially describes a group of people in training and processing and preparation to rule. You see it in Israel, and you see it in the body of Christ at large. The 144,000 represents the completion of that training and preparation.
The two groups that John sees in Revelation, therefore, describe the completed Bride of Christ – a portion made from a trained and prepared Israel and a portion made from those grafted into Christ from among every nation and language as the seed of Abraham by faith.
Thus the destiny of Israel is our destiny as committed and sold-out believers in Jesus Christ. We are inseparable! Israel was God’s original pattern people for the world. Despite the nation’s fall into sin and departure from serving God, He would not forsake them nor abolish His covenant with them. Thus their redemption is taking place – even as we speak. I’m told by friends in Israel that an increasing number of Jewish Rabbis are coming to the recognition that Yeshua HaMaschiach was and is their promised redeemer, and that number of Rabbis is approaching the 50% level. The Lord IS going to show Himself strong on Israel’s behalf, and the nation will turn to Him!
Jesus is returning for a sold-out, committed, processed-in-the-fire, spot- and wrinkle-free Bride. That’s a people – Jews included – who DO KNOW THEIR GOD, who are strong and will do exploits! (See Daniel 11:32)
We’ve got one more Coffee Break to do on Israel: ISRAEL AND THE PSALM 83 PROPHECY. See you again, soon.
As Christians we have a mandate from the Lord to bless Israel. More than that, the cry of the Lord through Isaiah is to “give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth!”
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
709 South 7th Street
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
(509) 515-0133
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted – provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are now available at http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/ and are being slowly added at http://www.AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit http://www.RiverWorshipCenter.org.
Greetings! Salutations, too!
Before we get started with today’s discussion, let me finish our last discussion with a few comments. And, by the way, thanks to Rich and DeAngela Warren, we have a really nice new French Press. It makes roughly 38 ounces of the best coffee you’ve ever had, and I’ve got a mix of Double-Roasted French and some medium-roasted Swedish coffee (again thanks to Rich and DeAngela) steeping in it as we speak. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and join me in a cup.
As Elliott Green notes in his legal argument (see http://www.think-israel.org/green.sanremo.html),
The San Remo decision for the Jewish National Home was ratified by the League of Nations in 1922 and endorsed by a joint resolution of the United States Congress that same year, with a more official US endorsement coming in the Anglo-American Convention on Palestine (proclaimed 1925).
When the UN was founded in 1945, it reaffirmed through its Charter the existing territorial rights of peoples as they had been before the war (Article 80). This applied of course to the Jewish National Home. However, many or most people today are either not aware that the whole country constituted the Jewish National Home, or believe that the UN had somehow eliminated this status and, in any case, had fixed legal boundaries for Israel through the 1947 Partition Resolution. Yet the 1947 resolution was passed by the General Assembly. And all General Assembly resolutions on political issues are merely recommendations.
The UN Charter states, defining the powers of the various UN bodies: "The General Assembly may discuss any questions relating to the maintenance of international peace and security... and... may make recommendations with regard to any such question" (Article 11; also see Arts. 10, 12, 13, 14). Only the Security Council can make binding resolutions, according to the Charter.
Now the Partition Plan, in a not uncommon display of political irrealism, recommended two states in the former mandatory Palestine west of the Jordan, one Jewish and one Arab, plus a special status for Jerusalem (The British had separated Transjordan unilaterally from the Jewish National Home in 1922, although not de jure). The Holy City was to be an internationally governed corpus separatum. While the Jewish leadership accepted the Plan, the Arab governments and local Arab leadership universally rejected it. After the war had begun the UN made no effort to prevent the invasion of the country by Arab states, to prevent Arab attacks on Jews within the country or to eliminate the Arab siege of the Jews in Jerusalem, a city where Jews had been the majority at least since 1870. Thus Israel did not feel bound by the Partition recommendation. Professor Eugene Rostow, an authority on international law, has pointed out that the Arab war on Israel of 1947-49, "made the Partition Plan irrelevant."
The demand, therefore, by the current administration in the White House (operating in agreement with the demands of the Arab League) that Israel return to the lines originally outlined by the partition of 1947-1949 ignores completely the fact that lands being illegally occupied by the Palestinians were legitimately restored to Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. For anyone – our nation’s leaders especially – to demand that Israel give those lands back in exchange for peace is illogical and hypocritical. Once you start down that road, one could logically argue that the United States should give back Texas and California to Mexico (and there are a group of radicals – La Raza, for example – who are pushing for just that!)
It simply flies in the face of reason! That’s never going to happen, and any effort at a government level to begin negotiating such an action would be regarded as treason. By the same token, for the U.S. – or any other national entity – to presuppose that Israel should surrender territory won by the blood of its soldiers and its citizens, and (more than that) territory given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by God as an everlasting inheritance (the Hebrew text renders the word “o’lam” eternity, or: eternity of eternities, perpetual, to a point in time beyond the vanishing point [Gesenius] – see Genesis 17:8,19 – is arrogant beyond words!
Getting back to the San Remo Accord, it is important to understand that nothing has changed since that charter was given for the reestablishment of the Jewish homeland. No legally binding action of any kind has taken place which abrogated that charter. The fact that the Arab nations refused to agree to a two-state solution recommended by the United Nations negated the whole idea of a separate “Palestine.”
There has never been a nation or state recognized internationally as Palestine – just a designated region of the Middle East. Politically speaking, Israel has agreed conceptually to a Palestinian state, but that agreement has always been founded upon the basic tenet that the Arab peoples who call themselves “Palestinians” must agree to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. The “Palestinians” have never agreed to recognize Israel as a Jewish state – ever!
Although Israel was already legally entitled to what was being referred to as “the West Bank,” “Gaza,” the Sinai and “the Golan” under the San Remo Accord, when Egypt, Jordan and Syria attacked Israel in 1967, Israel won those territories by right of conquest; and they both legally and by right of war have the absolute claim to those lands. Any suggestion to the contrary is based in utter ignorance of the laws, charters and internationally recognized claims of war.
We could take this argument farther, but that pretty much covers it. Let’s talk now about Israel’s destiny.
The Scripture actually speaks of four Israels. If that sounds really strange, let me explain.
1. The first Israel we would describe as “Political or Secular Israel.” This is represented by the governing leadership – the political structure that governs the nation’s day-to-day activities. This leadership is (to quote Carl Gallups) “thoroughly secularized and Godless.” This Israel simply reflects the sin nature in the same way that political or secular leadership of other nations is sinful and Godless.
2. The second is “Religious Israel.” This is that part of the people or nation that practices Orthodox Judaism. Jesus often addressed the religious people of that era – the Scribes and Pharisees – rebuking them for their adherence to legalistic obedience while utterly ignoring the spiritual nature of their whole existence as a people.
3. Third is the geographical land that God gave by covenant to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Prophecies abound throughout Scripture – both Old and New Testaments – in which geographical Israel plays an important role. Many of the O.T. prophets prophesied the day when Israel – the people – would be restored to their land, and their land to them.
4. And fourth is what we could call “Spiritual Israel.” Paul goes to great lengths in Romans to lay out the picture of the Israel of God’s destiny, describing it as those Jews (or Israelites) who accept Yeshua HaMaschiach (Jesus (the) Christ), along with the grafted-in peoples of all the nations of the world who also turn from their idols to worship Him.
It is important to make a distinction here before we continue.
Isaiah often prophesied of and to Jerusalem and in so doing, prophesying to Israel (the nation) as a whole. But he made a clear distinction (just as David did) between Jerusalem (the city) and Zion, where his Tabernacle sat (as the place of intimacy, the place of God’s Parousia) His immediate presence. Jerusalem was the larger picture of God’s people. Zion was the picture of a holy, set apart, always-in-tune-with-Him people whom Jesus likened to the five wise virgins.
While Jerusalem always represented God’s people as a whole, Zion was the place where David established his Tabernacle. It was the place of continuous praise, worship, prayer and intercession, all taking place before the Ark of the Covenant, which represented the marriage between the Lord and His Chosen and Called-Out Bride.
There are numerous references to Zion as “the city of David” – a phrase which many have taken to apply to Jerusalem as a whole. However, what gets missed in the translation from Hebrew is the fact that Zion (tsiyon in Hebrew) actually means: a conspicuous place, a monument or guiding pillar. The term, Zion, was initially meant to apply to the place of David’s Tabernacle. David’s Tabernacle was set on a high place so that Israel could see it as a visible reference – a mark of God’s presence and covenant in and with the land. David’s appointment of the families of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun became a visual and audible representation of the seven-lamped Golden Candlestick. The Golden Candlestick (in Moses’ Tabernacle) signified the worship of a loving Bride with its flames of passion burning day and night.
The name, Jerusalem, is a compound name with two root words: yeru, [yaru] [yarush] (Jerus), meaning: foundations (or: to found or establish); and: Salem, shalam [shalom], meaning: peace, safety, to be complete, to be prosperous, to be restored, restitution. We reduce it to: “the foundations of peace.”
You may recall that this city was first established by Shem, the son of Noah. It began as a citadel in the years after the great flood. Shem built it as a city and a place of safety for his bride, and named it Salem. He occupied this citadel and exerted righteous influence throughout the land of Canaan and much of the Middle East for roughly 500 years. (It’s not a wonder, therefore, that they referred to him as being without father or mother, without beginning or ending of days! He outlived many generations.)
Because of his act of tracking down Nimrod with a band of twelve men following the scattering of people at Babel, killing Nimrod, cutting his body up into twelve pieces and sending a piece to each of the rulers in the region with the message “Thus shall it be done to those who rise up against God,” the inhabitants of the land began to refer to him as Malkiy – Tsedeq (the King of Right or Righteousness). We have his name Anglicized as “Melchizedek.”
Following Shem’s death in the year that Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt, the descendants of Canaan’s son, Jerus, (Canaan was the firstborn son of Ham, Shem’s brother) moved into the citadel and began to occupy it. Because Jerus had developed a military tactic of crushing the grain fields of his enemies and rendering the grains unplantable for a new crop, his sons renamed him from “Jerus” to “Jebus,” which means “crushing.” Thus the city of Salem became known throughout some five-to-six centuries as “Jebus” (the city of the Jebusites) until David captured it. Once David had the city, and once the Tabernacle of David occupied Zion, the city became known forever as Jerusalem – Yerushalayim.
We thus have two distinct characteristics within Jerusalem – that of the city and its occupants, and that of Zion as the place of David’s Tabernacle, and ultimately Solomon’s Temple (on the adjoining hill).
Jerusalem became known as “the city of God,” (i.e., the City of God’s people). Zion was distinguished within the city as the place of covenant, the place of intimacy, the place of praise and worship.
You therefore have a people of God; and within that people is a smaller, more intimate group of people near to the heart of God whose entire existence revolves about seeing that His heart’s desires are met and fulfilled. It has become the picture of the body of Christ at large – we often refer to it in error as “the Church” – and within that larger body is a small segment, a remnant if you will, of people prophetic Scriptures identify as “the Bride.” (I won’t take the time in this discussion to deal with this subject at length since it would take us too far afield from our central point.)
I’ve said all that to say this, Israel’s future and destiny are spoken of prophetically throughout the Word. Let’s address the geographical land of Israel, the Jewish people, and Jerusalem to begin with.
Isaiah 62:1-4: For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the nations and peoples (Gentiles) shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name (shem: character, makeup, personality), which the mouth of the LORD shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.
Isaiah 65:8-10: Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all. And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there. And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.
It is important to remember that Isaiah is prophesying directly to Israel. While there certainly is a spiritual relevance to these prophecies that applies to the body of Christ, and to the Bride in this day, that is only one part of the picture. Israel was Isaiah’s focus, and he is literally covering the different parts of the nation in these words.
He first addresses the people AND the city of Jerusalem (For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness); he then speaks to the land (neither shall thy land any more be termed desolate). This prophetic word all by itself makes clear that Jerusalem will never be given over to an Arab nation or people as its capital.
Now Isaiah addresses some of the geographical aspects of the land of Israel when he says, “I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.” While Isaiah refers to the “seed out of Jacob” he literally speaks to all the territory that God promised to Abraham – and that’s a whole lot more than Israel currently occupies! “Judah” is modern-day “Judea and Samaria” in the West Bank.
Next he refers to opposite sides of the country: Sharon, which is a 30-mile stretch of land bordering the Mediterranean beginning just south of modern-day Haifa and extending south toward Netanya; and the “Valley of Achor” which runs along both sides of the Jordan River (both East and West Bank) and encompasses the area formerly occupied by the ancient city of Jericho.
I’m running short of time today so let’s get to the pictures of both religious (Orthodox Judaism) and spiritual Israel.
Consider Paul’s statement as Romans 11 begins: “I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew.”
Clearly God has not forsaken His people. Paul was a Pharisee, a member of Orthodox Judaism, before his Damascus road experience. Now he speaks to Israel’s redemption – AND to ours as the seed of Abraham by faith!
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. 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: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. (Romans 11:25-31)
Thus, Paul makes it abundantly clear that religious Israel was allowed to go into a place of spiritual blindness so that the rest of the world (the Gentiles) could have access to the mercy and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. But that period of blindness was only for a season – not for all time!
Here’s how Jesus put it: “And they (the Jews as a whole) shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” (Luke 21:24)
Without taking a lot of time to deal with the subject (it really is lengthy when you get into it) John speaks of two groups of 144,000 in Revelation.
The first group is seen as a metaphor for Israel itself: And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. (Revelation 7:4)
The second group John describes as being “redeemed from among men.” And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. (Revelation 14:3-4)
The number, 144,000, is a Hebrew metaphor. It is a prophetic picture. It is 12 taken to completion. Throughout Scripture you see the number twelve appearing many times. It essentially describes a group of people in training and processing and preparation to rule. You see it in Israel, and you see it in the body of Christ at large. The 144,000 represents the completion of that training and preparation.
The two groups that John sees in Revelation, therefore, describe the completed Bride of Christ – a portion made from a trained and prepared Israel and a portion made from those grafted into Christ from among every nation and language as the seed of Abraham by faith.
Thus the destiny of Israel is our destiny as committed and sold-out believers in Jesus Christ. We are inseparable! Israel was God’s original pattern people for the world. Despite the nation’s fall into sin and departure from serving God, He would not forsake them nor abolish His covenant with them. Thus their redemption is taking place – even as we speak. I’m told by friends in Israel that an increasing number of Jewish Rabbis are coming to the recognition that Yeshua HaMaschiach was and is their promised redeemer, and that number of Rabbis is approaching the 50% level. The Lord IS going to show Himself strong on Israel’s behalf, and the nation will turn to Him!
Jesus is returning for a sold-out, committed, processed-in-the-fire, spot- and wrinkle-free Bride. That’s a people – Jews included – who DO KNOW THEIR GOD, who are strong and will do exploits! (See Daniel 11:32)
We’ve got one more Coffee Break to do on Israel: ISRAEL AND THE PSALM 83 PROPHECY. See you again, soon.
As Christians we have a mandate from the Lord to bless Israel. More than that, the cry of the Lord through Isaiah is to “give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth!”
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
709 South 7th Street
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
(509) 515-0133
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted – provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are now available at http://regnersrangers.multiply.com/journal/ and are being slowly added at http://www.AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit http://www.RiverWorshipCenter.org.
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