WARNING – THIS BLOG COULD SERIOUSLY AFFECT YOUR MOOD AND, IF NOT MONITORED, YOUR HEALTH.
WARNING – SHOULD YOU DECIDE TO READ THIS YOU MAY BECOME ANGRY. IS YOUR FAITH STRONG ENOUGH TO PREVENT A ROOT OF BITTERNESS FROM SPRINGING UP?
The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is a dog-eat-dog situation with neither side genuinely intending to cede a single inch to the other. Jew and Palestinian: a clash of cultures. Jew and Muslim: a clash of religions. The Middle East is an Oriental muddle. Is religion the dividing issue or is it culture? The Muslim will say they cannot be separated. The Jew will say, “Ah; there is a problem” straightaway. Is the Jew in question secular or orthodox? The former is a contradiction in terms. Being a Jew means, primarily, someone who is in relationship with Jehovah (YHWH). In the New Testament sense, a true Jew is one who has the mark of God on his heart, not the surgical removal of living flesh. On the other hand, is the Muslim devoted to Allah or was he just born into a Muslim household?
So, the orthodox Jew wants the real estate known as the Holy Land because he believes that God gave it to him or her. The secular citizen (who cannot really call himself a Jew because he is ‘secular’ i.e. not a believer in God – they do not mix) rides on the shirt tails of the orthodox and claims the land is his because the God he does not honour, nor believes in for that matter, gave it to an ancestor.
Does this put the Muslim in the box seat? No. What about the Christian Palestinians? Are they to be given the land? - Yes, all you ‘Left Behind’ devotees, there are Jesus Christ-honouring believers who are Palestinian. Every Dollar, Pound, Euro or Yen that you send to support the state of Israel is a potential blow struck against your Christian Palestinian brother and sister - No, the Palestinian Christian has no sole right to that land either, because it is not about the land; God is not concerned with real estate.
The land that is now called Israel was given by God to a people who were then called upon to obey Him in all things. Israel as a whole failed in that task. Read the Old Testament - they were eventually deported: Israel (ten tribes) to Assyria and then later, Judah was dragged off to Babylon. A remnant returned and subsequently rejected their own Messiah and the same sorry story happened all over again with the sack of Jerusalem, in AD 70, acting as a historical marker.
The only true Israel is made up of the righteous of the Old Testament and the righteous of the New who have been united in Jesus Christ. There is no disconnection between the two covenants. This is the true Israel of God. Now, since the establishment of the New Covenant, if you are not born again according to the Scriptures, then you have no claim on any promise of God outside of the forgiveness of the Father that is always available to the truly penitent.
God loves the orthodox and secular Jew as much as He loves Muslims, Hindus and atheists. All are equally in need of salvation; after all, everyone has fallen short of the glory of God.
Once this fact is realized it becomes quite clear that all arguments over the so-called ‘Holy Land’ are irrelevant. The issue is not land but a Person. Man’s standing before God is wholly dependent upon his relationship with the Person of Jesus Christ.
While the Church at large bickers with the unsaved and among themselves over a piece of real estate, influencing American foreign policy in the Middle East, or attempting to, the world is charging headlong towards a Christless eternity.
To believe you are siding with God because you partner with those who support Zionism (in its various guises) is to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. True Zionism does not recognize or receive Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Therefore, every cent a Christian gives to Christian Zionism, an oxymoron, is money given in support of an ungodly vision.
The only political/social/community solution that stands any chance of resolving the Holy Land issue is as follows: the Palestinians, and the Arab/Islamic world at large, have to accept that there is an Israeli population in situ who cannot be made to disappear, no matter how hard they may wish for it or try to achieve it. The Israelis, for their part, must accept that the Palestinians have been there for century upon century and they too are not likely to dissipate like morning mist. Both groups need to grow up and accept a partnership that will benefit everyone, in a State that promises and promotes religious freedom for all.
The ultimate solution, of course, is that revival breaks out in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank and everyone gets saved and serves the King of kings - end of problem. Or is it? It would not be long before ‘flesh-dominated Christians’ birth denominationalism, sectarianism and doctrinal spats that would doubtless cause another Oriental muddle.
If Jesus Christ is not at the centre of whatever we attempt in this world then we are doomed to failure. This universal principle applies to our individual lives, our family lives, our community interactions, in business, in politics, and so on. No Christ at the centre, no reliable pivot around which all can turn in harmony. Remove the sun from our solar system and the planets will veer off course and become a danger to every other planet and moon that are also wandering without a central, pivotal point. Jesus Christ is the fulcrum, the source of necessary gravity. Place Him where He belongs and order will prevail and that order will permit prosperity (in the truly Biblical sense) and peace in every dimension of our human lives.
When we place land at the centre, conflict is the result. When the Prince of Peace is at the centre... well, you work it out.
AN INVITATION TO ALL TO VISIT THE SITES BELOW:
Visit www.biblealiveteachingministry.com
Visit www.face2facechurch.com
Visit www.neillandjennyjakins.org
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Thank God for a blog which clearly explains the necessity for Israel as a nation to accept Jesus Christ as her Messiah. There is a risk, maybe, that in stating that “true Israel is made up of the righteous of the Old Testament and the righteous of the New...there is no disconnection between the two covenants”, the impression could be created that the promises, prophecies and commandments given to Israel now apply to the Church, to born again believers, which is patently not so. God made agreements with Israel (including reference to the land) which will eventually be honoured when the nation acknowledges Jesus as her Saviour (Romans 11). There is a difference between the ‘kingdom’ message given solely to Israel and mainly in the Old Testament, and that given to born again believers, mainly in the Epistles. The former included God sovereignly selecting Israel to serve as His witness nation and to receive prophecy about her future, and the Church should not claim for herself the promises that God made to Israel. However, the message given to born again believers is far better than anything that went before – it is that every believer has Christ in him or her! God no longer has to depend on unreliable men and women to fulfill His purposes – He can depend instead upon Christ’s life in us (Colossians 3:3,4). Perhaps there is a foreshadowing of this in the unconditional, unchangeable and eternal covenant that God made with Israel and the equally undeserved, unrequested and irrevocable covenant of grace that God has made with the born again - both are based, not on the response or actions of the promised beneficiaries but entirely on God’s character, despite Israel’s blessings being temporarily postponed (Romans 11:25-27). Would we deny Israel her inheritance and her land any more than we would God’s staggering grace towards us?
ReplyDeleteA freind of a person who knows Mr Watts told me about this blog and it is intresting to me cos I have not been a Christian all my live and I like what he says and I sort of agree at first in my mind but when I read what anonymous says I kinda of get a fast heart beat inside me thinking he (or is it she) is right. My church says if you do something wrong you cant be a Christian so I dont tell them although I tell God. What I like is anonmous says about grace in every reply but I never hear about that at my church. They say if you don’t go to every meeting on Sundays and weekdays, your not a real Christian and tithing is compulsery and I have heard my minister critisize other churches. They talk about keeping the laws of the Bible but when I read those verses that anonymous put in blog 2 it was all about grace which we dont have to do nothing to get. One verse led me to Galations 3 where it says the law and faith are contrary so why do churches keep telling us to keep the laws and commandments. I hope anonmous writes some more stuff about grace cos it seems to agree with what the Bible says. I agree about Israel too although my church says they are as bad as Muslims but it says in Genesis that God made a everlasting covenent with Isreal and if thats not true how do we know the other promises God says are true?
ReplyDelete