Amir Tsarfati: His People?

The question is: Is Israel still His people?

Well, you know, I didn’t think that you will say something else.

But I will tell you that from the very first century, when the church was born,

it is the church, or at least people who claim to believe in Jesus,

that found a way to somehow legitimate or legitimize the descending of Israel

from the platform of God’s people to pariah, to those that God has now rejected.

And the Apostle Paul could see that coming, a very Orthodox Jew,

that actually wanted to kill Christians or any Jew that became a believer in the Messiah.

And then he took a road to Damascus experience for him to change his mind and a true birth from above.

So, in the 11th chapter of the book of Romans, a book that Paul wrote to a church he hasn’t ever visited.

And it was a book that is pure doctrine.

Of course, he visited later on, but when he wrote this in Corinth,

it was before he has ever been to Rome, pure doctrine.

And he talked about Israel in chapter 1, and in chapter 2, and in chapter 3,

and in chapter 8, and 9, and 10, and 11, and even in chapter 15.

I mean, it’s quite amazing to see the centrality of Israel in the Magna Carta of our faith.

And Paul could see, he could smell, he could sense that

there are now those people who now join the family of God that might, God forbid, think that God has no longer any plan for Israel.

And that’s why he said,

“I say then, has God cast away His people?” (Roman 11:1)

His people?

The answer is in the question.

It’s His people.

And what was the answer?

“Certainly not!” (Roman 11:1)

Paul could see that

there coming a wave, a tsunami of theologies and theological explanations to why Israel is no longer God’s people.

And of course, Paul wrote an amazing answer throughout the entire chapter, all the way to the end.

If you ever stop in the middle of chapter 11, you will never understand the heart of God.

You have to read it all the way to the end.

So let’s pray.

Father, we thank You for Your Word.

Your Word is true.

This is the truth.

And we thank You that You gave us the spirit of truth.

It leads us to all truth.

And we ask now that You will not allow us to listen to words of men, but to Your Word.

Lord, we are here to get closer to You, to know You better,

to understand Your heart and to love that which You love and hate that which You hate.

We thank You and we bless You

in the name of the Holy One of Israel, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Emmanuel,

in the name of Yeshua, our salvation, we pray.

And all of God’s people say, Amen.

So our 9/11 took place this morning.

There’s no other way for me to describe it.

How many of you are following me on Telegram?

What’s wrong with the rest of you?

So if you’re sitting next to one of those,

you need to let them know why they should get first-hand news from Israel.

To some, the question of, has God cast away His people?,

to some, the answer to that question may seem extremely obvious, of course.

So why devote an entire message to addressing this question?

Why isn’t this a rhetorical question when it ought to be?

Why is that, though we have the prophetic word confirmed, the Bible says,

we still have to address this same question that Paul did 2,000 years ago?

This is an issue that started in the time of Paul

but since then, it’s an issue that has paralleled the church’s existence until today.

And you might not believe me if I said to you,

but the vast majority of the people that call themselves Christians now a day,

believe that the church has replaced Israel.

No, I know you’re not.

I’m telling you what is out there.

I’m telling you that this is what the Catholic Church believes.

I’m telling you that’s what the Orthodox Church believes.

I’m telling you that much of the Reformed Church believe that.

Much, not all, thankfully, eyes are open.

But you will be quite amazed today.

This toxic teaching of replacement theology,

that the Lord has transferred His covenant promises given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to the church,

has a home inside the church to this very day.

You can run from it as much as you want.

I travel all around the world,

I see it everywhere I go.

Now, when was that promise to Israel established?

We all know, we go back to Genesis 12 and it says,

“1Now the Lord had said to Abram:

‘Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you.'” (Genesis 12:1)

What is the first thing that we hear?

What is the first thing He’s going to give him?

Land.

Because make no mistake, what happened this morning is about the land.

And make no mistake, it will always be about the land.

Because watch this, there first comes the land.

And then He says, “I will make you a great nation;”

And then, “I will bless you.”

There is first the land, then the seed, then the blessing.

And so when the Jewish people were out of their land,

what was the conclusion of some?

That the blessing is gone and that God has forsaken them.

And He said also,

“And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.

3I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:2-3)

He’s not talking to all the families of the earth.

He’s talking to a nation that will be a blessing to all the families of the earth.

And that’s exactly the problem.

Some people live in such insecurity, insecurity in their status in Christ,

that they think that God cannot love both.

So it’s either them or us.

Now they confuse the fact that yes, He can have a special plan for them.

But there’s no doubt they will not be saved,

no doubt, no one can be saved, unless he believes in Jesus as Lord and Savior.

No one!

In fact, this whole birth from above was something that Jesus said to whom?

And who was he?

Greek Orthodox or Roman Catholic?

He was an Orthodox Jew, a leader of the Jews,

to the Jewish people, a Jewish Messiah who claimed that He is Jew,

to the Samaritan woman, if you remember.

He said salvation is not by affiliation.

You cannot be born “born-again.”

You have to be born and then be born again.

Christianity is the only faith you cannot be born into.

What do you mean? It says Christian in my birth certificate.

That’s wrong.

It should be written sinner.

You have to understand there is…

Listen, I remember I landed in the Philippines

and I talked in the street with someone and quoted some verses,

he says, ha ha, so, are you Catholic or born-again?

And I’m like, is that a menu here?

Is there an option?

But you understand that there is no Christian who is not born-again.

There is a sinner who is not born-again.

Only when you’re born-again, you are a Christian.

I mean, somehow it feels weird to say that, but that’s the only way.

But people are like, oh, you’re so, you know, you’re full of hatred.

Like, no, I’m telling you that’s the only way to get saved.

That’s the only way.

But to the Jewish people, there is a promise.

And the promise is not that you will be in the new Jerusalem just because you’re Jews.

No, the promise is as long as the moon and the stars and the sun are there in this world,

you will not be wiped away.

You will still be a nation before Me.

As humans who live in this world, on this planet, right now, no one can destroy Israel.

And I always tell Hamas or Hezbollah or the Ayatollahs,

make weapons that destroy the sun, the moon and the stars.

Because only when they will be gone, Israel will no longer be a nation before God.

You’re wasting your energy.

Now, replacement theology is the teaching that all of the promises God made to Israel now belong to the church.

Now, you know why it’s interesting? Because they only take the blessings.

You go to Romans 1 and it says to the Jew first and then to the Greek and then they’re getting angry.

But then you need to go to Romans 2.

So what is the basis of this teaching?

Those that hold the replacement theology will seldom refer to it as such.

They will not say, I believe in that.

But their approach typically comes in one of two forms.

They say that ethnic Israel no longer serves a purpose following the finished work of Jesus

and that the church is now the people that God is working through.

The other approach is due to its disobedience through the rejection of the Messiah,

Israel forfeited its place in God’s plan.

Now, it’s very interesting, as I said, conveniently enough,

those that promote these views are quick to help themselves to God’s promises to Israel

but reluctant to inherit the curses and the warnings given to Israel in that whole process.

And that’s very interesting.

So I told you in Romans 1, it talks about,

I’m not ashamed in the gospel of Christ, remember?

To the Jew first, remember? And then to the Greek?

Look at Romans 2.

“5But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart

you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath

and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

6who ‘will render to each one according to his deeds’:”

Now look what he says,

“7eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good

seek for glory, honor, and immortality;

8but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth,

but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, 9tribulation and anguish,

on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek;”

Do we understand that it’s not only the good things that the Jews are first,

but also when God is punishing.

You see, when you drive from A to B and there’s three traffic lights,

there is the first, the second, and the third.

The first is not better than the second.

It’s just the first.

That’s how you progress from A to B–First, second, third.

Well, Christians are angry that the first is first.

They think that the first is better.

They don’t understand, it says to the Jew first and to the Greek.

This is how God progresses.

That’s how God is revealing Himself.

This is exactly how He started all over with Abraham

after humanity proved to him that when they come together,

they know nothing but to try to replace Him and make a name for themselves.

Now, how can anyone curse that which God blessed?

It’s interesting.

You can ask Balaam.

You know, this magician or false prophet or idol worshiper,

whatever you call him, or “Rent-A-Prophet.”

I mean, he was hired by the king of the Moabites, Balak.

He was hired by him to curse Israel.

It says, and then what happened?

He came to curse Israel,

(Numbers 23:7-12) “And he took up his oracle and said:

‘Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram,
From the mountains of the east.

‘Come, curse Jacob for me,
And come, denounce Israel!””

And look what he said,

“‘How shall I curse whom God has not cursed?

And how shall I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?

For from the top of the rocks I see him,
And from the hills I behold him;

There! A people dwelling alone,
Not reckoning itself among the nations.

‘Who can count the dust of Jacob,
Or number one-fourth of Israel?

Let me die the death of the righteous,
And let my end be like his!’

Then Balak said to Balaam, ‘What have you done to me?'”

I paid you money!

“‘I took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have blessed them bountifully!’

So he answered and said,

‘Must I not take heed to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth?'”

Don’t worry, later on this schmoozer did something.

And the doctrine of Balaam is not a great doctrine at all.

But I want you to know that Balak, the king of Moab,

was smart enough to identify that you cannot beat Israel in the physical realm

because God is fighting for them.

So it’s a spiritual thing.

Therefore, he invited someone to curse them, to have a spiritual act.

But he was foolish enough to stand against the God of Israel.

And that is exactly what I see.

People who think that it’s a spiritual thing and I can curse them.

But they don’t understand that they’re not fighting Israel,

they’re fighting the God of Israel.

People must ask themselves, am I a Balak?

Smart enough to identify that Israel is a spiritual topic,

but foolish enough to choose the wrong side?

Now, most often this teaching stems from those who identify with covenant theology,

which takes an allegorical approach to Israel in Bible prophecy.

It’s very interesting. I don’t understand that.

Here I am, flesh and blood, from the tribe of Judah,

born in Jerusalem after 2,000 years, the first generation of my family back in the land.

Is this allegory?

Everything He promised to the prophet, He physically fulfilled.

If you refuse to take the Bible and thereof God’s promises, therefore God promises

–literally, you will quickly remove Israel from your doctrinal framework.

And that’s the problem.

So what are the historical roots of that teaching?

Teaching like this have paralleled the church throughout the history.

Multiple early church fathers, as well as some Reformers, erred in this thinking.

Even today, many well-known teachers continue to put forth the same dangerous, unbiblical doctrine.

Let’s see some of the church fathers and what they had to say about Israel.

Look at Justin Martyr who lived between 100 and 165 AD.

He wrote: For the true spiritual Israel–a term that, by the way, is not in the Bible–

and descendants of Judah, Jacob, Isaac and Abraham…

are we who have been led to God through this crucified Christ…

Christ in Israel and Jacob, even so we are the true Israelite race.

Okay, that might sound a little innocent because that was the beginning.

Then Irenaeus from 130 to 200 (A.D.):

They who boast themselves as being the house of Jacob and the people of Israel,

are disinherited from the grace of God.

That’s it.

Then Origen who lived from 184 to 254 (A.D.):

And we say this with confidence that they will never be restored to their former condition…

And the invitation of happiness offered them by God to pass to others–the Christians!

And Augustine who lived from 354 to 430 (A.D.):

And therefore we ought to take this saying…

“and ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers,’ in Ezekiel 36,

not literally, as if they referred to Israel after the flesh,

but spiritually, as referring to the spiritual Israel.

Again, a term that is not biblical.

And following the era of the early church fathers,

by the time we approach the 7th century AD,

many Jews who became followers of Jesus were actually required to denounce their Jewish heritage by the church.

And it’s ironic because what was the first church if not a bunch of Jews?

And who was Jesus if not the Lion of the tribe of Judah, born of the tribe of Judah?

Hello?

What did some of the Reformers have to say about Israel?

Well, this guy, Martin Luther said… By the way, he started well.

He really thought that the Jews, once he exposes the corruption of the Catholic church,

the Jews will understand and they will come to faith.

But it didn’t happen.

“Set fire to their synagogues or schools,

and bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn,

so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them.

This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of our Christendom,

so that God might see that we are Christians.”

John Calvin: “Augustine is so wholly within me.”

Remember what Augustine said that he is the true Israel?

“That if I wished to write a confession of my faith,

I could do so with all fullness and satisfaction to myself out of his writings.”

He didn’t talk about Paul or Peter–Augustine.

He even said, “…Their rotten and unbending stiff-neckedness

deserves that they be oppressed unendingly and without measure or end

and that they die in their misery without the pity of anyone.”

This is crazy.

It’s not only in the 1500s and the 1600s, some teachers even today.

A very famous pastor who pastored a church in England,

a church called All Souls Church in London, John Stott, said that

“The paradox of our position is this:

true Jews today are Christians.

May I say it again?

The true Jews today are Christians.

Or if you don’t like that expression, try this one:

“The followers of the Messiah are more truly the people of Israel

than those people of Israel who reject Him.”

R.C. Sproul, Jr., not the father, he’s still alive, says,

“We believe that the church is essentially Israel.

We believe that the answer to, ‘What about the Jews?’ is here we are.”

I’m going to quote someone that in many other areas he is a great teacher.

but when it comes to Israel, there is a problem.

And that’s John Piper.

Look what he wrote.

“The promises made to Abraham, including the promise of the Land,

will be inherited as an everlasting gift only by true, spiritual Israel,

not disobedient, unbelieving Israel.

By faith in Jesus Christ, the Jewish Messiah, Gentiles become heirs of the promise of Abraham, including the promise of the Land.”

In other words, the land of Israel belongs to the Gentiles.

“Therefore, the secular state of Israel today may not claim a present divine right to the Land,

but they and we should seek a peaceful settlement not based on present divine rights,

but on international principles of justice, mercy, and practical feasibility.”

I was invited to speak with him in Amsterdam and I declined.

Because I thought, how can I, from the same pulpit,

say that Israel is still God’s people and the other one is saying they’re not anymore?

You cannot say that from the same pulpit.

Now, how does replacement theology contradict the Bible?

It contradicts basically everything.

The heart of God, the prophets, and even the apostles.

In 1 Samuel 12:22, it says:

“For the Lord will not forsake His people, for His great name’s sake,

because it has pleased the Lord to make you His people.”

In Ezekiel 33:10-11, it says:

“Therefore you, O son of man, say to the house of Israel:

‘Thus you say, “If our transgressions and our sins lie upon us,

and we pine away in them, how can we then live?”‘

Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God,

‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.

Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?'”

God is not taking pleasure in the death of Israel.

God is asking them to repent.

And He continues and continues and continues throughout history.

Why do you think in the tribulation there are two witnesses?

Where are they going to be, if not in Jerusalem?

What about 144,000? Swedish from among the Vikings or what?

These are from the tribes of Israel.

God is not done with them.

And remember, the Bible is telling us that at the very end, what’s going to happen?

All Israel will be saved.

Zechariah chapter 2, verse 8,

“For thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you;

for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.”

That’s a very, very serious thing.

Look at the history of all the enemies of Israel.

Where are they?

They’re gone.

We’re still there. Here we are.

And they can try by Hamas or Hezbollah or Iran or Russia, Sudan and Libya, Turkey.

All of them can try.

We already know the end.

They will be defeated, not by Israel, but by the God of Israel.

Now, Paul the apostle is my hero.

He was burdened for the Jewish people.

You would think that after they threw him out of the synagogue so many times in so many places,

he would just be as bitter as John Calvin was.

But he wasn’t.

Look at his heart. In Roman chapter 9:1-5, it says,

“I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying,

my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,”

Look how desperately he’s trying to tell you that what he’s about to say is super important.

I’m not lying. It’s the truth in Christ.

The Holy Spirit is telling me to say that.

“…that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.

For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, 4who are Israelites,

to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God,

and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh,

Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.”

Now, please enlighten me.

Not that a case needs to be made, but if God is done with the Jews,

why is Paul referring to their fullness in the future?

When he says in Romans 11:11-12:

“I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall?”

And what is the answer?

“Certainly not!

But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.

Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!”

Now that’s not something you write to a nation that God is already signing off and done with.

That’s written to a nation that God has a future for.

How could Paul possibly know that?

Was Paul someone who knew the Scripture?

Yes!

Yes, and Paul read Zechariah 12.

He knew that God “(I) will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem

the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced.

Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.”

Upon the 2nd coming of Jesus to this earth.

I’m not talking about the rapture right now.

The Rapture is not the second coming.

The rapture is not coming to earth, ladies and gentlemen.

He’s coming to the clouds.

He comes halfway, we go halfway.

He takes us to wherever He prepared for us.

That’s it, end of story.

But then, 7 years later, when the world is “well-done”,

Jesus is coming and behold, in Zechariah 14, behold, His saints come with Him.

We’ll be riding that horse, those white horses.

And that’s when Israel will look at Him.

That’s when Yom Kippur will be fulfilled.

See, the Jews will come together in Jerusalem to blow the trumpet on this Feast of Trumpets,

Jesus is going to come back.

They will look at Him, they will mourn and cry, Yom Kippur.

And then they will repent and enter into the Millennial Kingdom,

which is the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles.

It’s amazing.

You see, the Feasts of the Spring were fulfilled 2,000 years ago in a chronological order.

The Feast of the Fall will be fulfilled after the 70th week of Daniel, as well in a chronological order.

It’s about Israel, for Israel, in Israel and through Israel.

It’s not a festival that will be fulfilled in, I don’t know, in Salt Lake City.

Now, replacing Israel requires you to replace God’s promises also.

As I quoted earlier,

(Jeremiah 31:31-37) ““Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord,

when I will make a new covenant (the New Testament) with the house of Israel…”

When I accepted Yeshua, Jesus, I did not even read a single verse in the New Testament.

Make no mistake, God promised in the Old Testament that He’s going to give to the Jewish people a New Testament.

And we shared it with you.

And now you’re saying it’s all yours.

And it’s interesting, He says,

“…and with the house of Judah— not according…”

What is the covenant that He’s replacing?

The Abrahamic or the Mosaic?

The Mosaic.

And how do I know?

Ask me, how do you know?
(Audience: How do you know?)

I’ll tell you how do I know.

“— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers

in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt,

My covenant which they broke…”

Abraham was way before the Israelites were in Egypt.

The covenant that the New Testament came to replace is the Mosaic one.

The Abrahamic promise for Israel to be a nation

that God will bless and God will use and God will protect is still standing until today.

“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord:

I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts;” as a spiritual regeneration.

“… and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,

‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me…”

That’s a promise of national salvation.

It’s a promise of national acceptance of the new covenant,

which is in whose blood?

Exactly.

There is no other new covenant.

Jeremiah 31:31-37 says,

“Thus says the Lord,
Who gives the sun for a light by day,

The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night,

Who disturbs the sea,
And its waves roar
(The Lord of hosts is His name):

“If those ordinances depart
From before Me, says the Lord,

Then the seed of Israel shall also cease
From being a nation before Me forever.”

Okay, so what do we learn from this?

That there will be a time that Israel will no longer stand before Him.

When? Read it again.

When?

When there is no more sun, moon and stars.

Are we in agreement?

When will that happen?

When will we live in a world that has no moon, no sun and no stars?

Not the Millennial Kingdom, the New Jerusalem.

Remember, only when He makes a new heaven, new earth, new Jerusalem,

there is no more Jew or Gentile.

There’s no more Israel as a nation that needs to stand before Him.

The only criteria for the New Jerusalem is what?

That your name must be what?

Written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

You understand that when the Jews become believers,

they are no longer special.

The only way the Jews are special is when they’re not yet with Christ.

When I am … look, are you a Gentile?

Good, I’m a Jew.

Okay, in heaven, are we going to be treated differently?

Exactly.

You see, when I become a believer, there’s no more Jew or Greek, no more …

That’s it, that wall is, boom, falling.

But apart from Christ, when they’re not yet there, God is taking care of them.

God is protecting them.

God is leading them.

God is preserving them.

God sometimes punishes them.

But God has a plan for them.

And the plan that eventually, once they come to faith,

it’s no longer about their Jewish inheritance.

Now their name is written in that most important book.

And that’s it.

And in the Book of the Life of the Lamb,

there is no different ink for the Jew and another for the Gentile.

It’s all red ink with the blood of Jesus.

That’s it.

So what’s the big deal?

Is replacement theology just an in-house debate with no external consequences?

Well, poor theology will result in poor practice.

Not to dismiss the spiritual impact of some of his labors.

But Martin Luther’s theology led to the greatest onslaught of Jewish people in world history up to this point.

Without him probably even intending, look what happened.

Failing to realize God’s promises regarding the Jewish people,

Luther not only promoted the persecution of the Jewish people during his own lifetime,

but he perverted Germany’s view of the Jews for centuries to come.

Allow me to quote someone I don’t like.

In his speech in Berlin in 1924,

Adolf Hitler said:

“I believe that today I am acting in accordance with the will of Almighty God

as I announce the most important work that Christians could undertake,

and that is to be against the Jews and get rid of them once and for all.

We are doing the work of the Lord and let’s get on with it…

Martin Luther has been the greatest encouragement of my life.” He said.

“Luther was a great man.

He was a giant.

Within one blow he heralded the coming of the new dawn and the new age.

He saw clearly that the Jews need to be destroyed

and we’re only beginning to see that we need to carry this work on.”

You see that poor theology can eventually, maybe 300-400 years later, lead to poor practice.

Dr. Julius Streicher, the editor-in-chief and the founder of Der Stürmer.

Der Stürmer is the Nazi propaganda weekly magazine.

He said in the Nuremberg trials, because he was captured alive,

“I have never said anything that Martin Luther did not say.”

He basically said, look, what do you want from me?

Everything I said about the Jews, what you call anti-Jewish propaganda,

is something I learned, not from Hitler, from Martin Luther.

He’s the father of our faith in Germany.

The propaganda for the Holocaust was heavily inspired by the writings of Luther

because the Jews were no longer God’s people in his eyes.

What you think about the character and the person of God will impact the way you relate to humanity also?

Believing in replacement theology does not automatically make you an anti-Semite.

Don’t get me wrong.

But it actually makes you something, maybe even worse,

someone who denies the promises of God.

Forget about us, what about Him?

And I want to tell you, your stance on Israel matters.

It matters today, it will matter tomorrow, and it will cost you.

You understand?

It will never be easy, not on social media, not in the street,

not in much of your church surroundings and church gatherings.

It will never be easy.

But it matters.

Are you aware that God has predetermined a mass judgment specifically for how people treat Israel during the tribulation?

Do you understand that not only what people did to Israel until now,

as we enter into the tribulation, the liberty to slaughter the Jewish people will be even greater.

We, the church, we are the salt of the earth.

What is the salt? What is salt doing?

Preserving, yes, and giving taste… –I heard all about that.

But what is the main thing?

Slowing down the decay.

Do you understand that Roman soldiers that died in the battlefield and had to be carried for 2 weeks back home

were put in a sack full of salt to preserve the body until burial.

It’s not making them alive, but it’s slowing down the decay.

This world is not going to be happy, clappy, accepting Jesus.

It’s going down.

But as long as we’re here, we slowdown that process.

We are the restrainer.

There is the Holy Spirit that is in us,

He makes us the temple of the Holy Spirit.

It’s a restrainer.

Only when the restrainer is taken out of the way, the Antichrist can show his face.

And then one of the first thing he’s going to do is persecute the Jews.

To the point that Jesus tells them,

when you see the abomination of desolation that Daniel spoke about, don’t even go home to pack.

Run, flee, pray that it’s not on the Sabbath,

pray that it’s not in the wintertime, but flee, run.

And anyone who will belong to the Antichrist, by default, will be anti-Jewish and anti-Christian.

Because there will be saints during the tribulation that will accept Jesus.

And anyone who is against the Antichrist, by default, is either accepting Christ,

and if he does, he will be for the Jews.

Do you understand that?

Sometimes Siri talks to me, but…

that was not Siri’s voice.

I went to Norway the other day and we sat in a restaurant.

And lo and behold, the waitress was Siri.

I didn’t know it’s a name of a real woman.

But it’s apparently a well-known Norwegian name, Siri, so just so you know.

Now, is she Siri? That’s not Siri.

That was someone else. Okay, good.

So the Bible tells us, listen to this, are you with me?

In Joel chapter 3:1-3:

“1“For behold, in those days and at that time, When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem,

I will also gather all nations…” Say, all nations. (Audience: All nations.)

“…And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;

And I will enter into judgment with them there
On account of” –who?

Who are they?

“…Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; They have also divided up My land.

They have cast lots for My people,
Have given a boy as payment for a harlot,
And sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.”

All of that is the atrocities that the Jewish people are going to go through in the tribulation.

And God says, I’m not going to easily forget that.

And this is the parallel chapter that Pastor Bob referred to in his message this morning.

In Matthew 25:31-46,

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him,

then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations…”

Again, say, all the nations. (Audiences: All the nations.)

The same language.

“…will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another…”

And what is the criteria?

The same.

When I was sick and you took care of Me.

When I was hungry, you fed Me.

When I was thirsty, you gave Me something to drink.

When I was naked, you gave Me something to …

And they said, when did we do that?

Well, if you did that to the least of my brethren, the Jewish people,

if you did that to them, it’s as if you did that unto Me.

This is the parallel of Joel chapter 3.

Which means that not only now God is going to be very angry with those that come against Israel,

even at the end of the tribulation, any nation, any individual that came against the Jewish people will have to pay

and have to give an account for what he did to them.

Now Israel is back in the land.

So we’re without excuse.

This is the black eye that all the Reformers got in 1948.

I mean, for the longest time you could say God has forgotten about Israel

because the Jews are away from their land so there is no blessing and that’s it.

But they came back, miraculously.

Can a nation be born at once?

The Bible asks in Isaiah.

Ezekiel 36:22-24 says,

“Therefore say to the house of Israel,

‘Thus says the Lord God: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel,

but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went.

And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst;

and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,’ says the Lord God,

‘when I am hallowed in you before their eyes.

For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.”

Wow!

God says, not only that I do that for you, but I do that all the nations will see.

God is …

Israel is the way God is displaying Himself to the whole world.

In fact, most of the Jewish people are not aware of the fact that God is using them to speak to the whole world.

So, has God cast away His people?

Psalm 94:14 says:

“For the Lord will not cast off His people,
Nor will He forsake His inheritance.”

And Romans 11:1-2 says:

“I say then, has God cast away His people?

Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew.”

And the way God is dealing with Israel is definitely a mystery.

That’s why in the same chapter (Romans11:25-27) he says:

“For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery,

lest you should be wise in your own opinion,

that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

And so all Israel will be saved…”

Yes, this blindness in part has happened to Israel, but it’s temporary.

They will acknowledge Him.

Hosea 5:15 says:

“I will return again to My place
Till they acknowledge their offense.”

That means it will happen.

I’m going back and I’ll wait for them.

Jesus said, I’m not coming back to Jerusalem until you say,

Baruch haba B’Shem ADONAI.

Israel must come back to Him for Him to return to Jerusalem.

Do you understand that?

If you are saying that God is done with Israel, Jesus can never come back.

Literally, He is a liar because He said,

I won’t come back until you say, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

So, “I will return again to My place
Till they acknowledge their offense.

Then they will seek My face;
In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.” (Hosea 5:15)

See what the tribulation is going to do to Israel?

The tribulation will lead to Israel’s salvation.

Matthew 23:38-39:

“See! Your house is left to you desolate;

for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say,

‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'”

Israel is your insurance policy for God’s faithfulness, for God’s love and God’s covenant-keeping nature.

Mal-a-chee, or you call him Malachi?

He said in 3:6:

“For I am the Lord, I do not change;
Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.

God is not changing; He is the same.

And so Israel cannot be consumed.

Romans 11:28-29:

“Concerning the gospel…”

Because some Christian missionaries go to Israel,

they go to the ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods

and they’re offended that they’re not being welcomed.

And then they post videos: We were attacked.

These are 3 years old.

Ladies and gentlemen, where in the Bible it says that the Jews will gladly accept the gospel?

Look what it says:

“Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake,

but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.

For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

Amen?

Father, we thank You for Your Word.

We thank You for Your nation, Israel.

That nation is bleeding right now.

That nation is mourning right now.

That nation is confused right now.

Maybe even embarrassed right now.

Lord, we ask that You will comfort the daughter of Zion.

That You will show Your hand.

The hand of protection, the hand of judgment, the hand of comfort and the hand of blessing.

Father, I pray that Israel will more and more ask themselves:

Where is the hope?

Who is our hope?

What is our hope?

Father, we know that this is not the end of the suffering of Israel.

We know from Scripture that there will be a great war that is coming from the north.

We know from Scripture that there will be a time of deception that will lead to a false peace

that eventually will lead to the greatest persecution this nation has ever gone through, as Daniel 12 describes.

So the suffering is not over.

The trials are not over.

And as we read in Hosea, through their affliction, they will earnestly seek You.

So we’re asking that You will bring them closer to You.

You’ll open the eyes of their hearts to see the wonders of Your Word and to accept their Messiah.

Because only in Him that veil can be lifted, as in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 says.

So we thank You in advance that You will comfort Your nation, that You will protect, You will fight for Your nation.

But more so, we ask that You will shake that nation spiritually to understand that salvation is not by affiliation.

That they were told 2,000 years ago that in order to enter the Kingdom of God, one must be born from above.

We ask that You will help us to love them, support them, be there with them, comfort them,

and not ever hide from them their only hope.

As Paul said to the leaders of the Jews in the last chapter of the book of Acts,

“It is for the hope of Israel that I am bound in chains.”

Yeshua, Jesus, is their hope.

He’s the King of kings, the Lord of lords.

He’s the Great Shepherd.

He is the only hope of Israel.

And in His name and for His glory, we pray.

And all of God’s people say, Amen.

Amen.