Tag Archives: Issac

Israel in Bible Prophecy

THE ENEMIES OF ISRAEL-PART 4-Egypt

Leave a comment

Saul was a Jew by birth and by training, Righteous by the law, a Pharisee, and a blameless member of the tribe of Benjamin (Philippians 3: 4-6).  But he gave all that up after his conversion to Christ.  He surrendered his religiosity to the Savior.  His mind and heart had been changed by an encounter with Jesus on a lonely road to Damascus.  His intent before Jesus appeared was to take prisoner the followers of Christ. Instead, he became a preacher of Jesus as the Son of God (Acts 9:20). 

Concerned about the Jewish people and new believers in Christ, he warned the Corinth church of the failures of Israel in the desert.  He tells of those “things” that were written down so they could be forewarned of God’s promised people’s mistakes.  He directed their attention to the evil things they did after they were freed from their enemy and captors:  Egypt.  That warning message applies to modern-day followers of Jesus, too…if not more.

Now, these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters, as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 

Now, all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians 10: 9-11)

After spending 430 years in Egypt, the promised people of Abraham had been changed.  As the old saying goes, You can take the boy out of the country, but you can take the country out of the boy.  Their Egyptian habits went with them.  They looked, talked, and walked like Egyptians.  But God remembered his promise to Abraham.  He loved His people.   

Are we not the same as modern society?  Has there ever been a time when these sins have not been part of all world nations? Even more concerning is that the people of God may be indulging in the same sins as ancient Israel:

  • Lust for evil things
  • Idolaters
  • Sexual immoral
  • Tempting (disrespecting) their maker and God
  • Complaining and never happy

Enemy #1-Egypt

Since the stories of Israel’s journeys and missteps were written down for us, it would be wise to take heed lest (we) fall as they did, e.g., 23,000 fell, destroyed by serpents, destroyed by the destroyer. 

Yes. It is possible to be a promised child of God and fall.  This is the mystery of iniquity.  We are privileged to watch from our comfortable homes the 40 years of the Jews’ wanderings in the desert.  The big question for us is how can we learn to trust God by observing their failures?. Complete faith and trust in God,, regardless of the circumstances, was what they lacked.

How did the promised people land in Egypt?  It all started with the favoritism of Joseph, one of the sons of Israel (Genesis 37:3).  The entire story of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and the transition of the family from Cannan to Egypt starts in Genesis 11:27.. It continues through the end of the book of Genesis Chapter 50 and on into Numbers.  This written account is almost 80% of the Bible’s first book!  It is an example for us, something we should consider that will help us to avoid the same mistakes and thereby avoid failure and destruction. More importantly, their journeys should show us the patience, sacrifice, and love of God for His people.

Joseph’s brothers despised Joseph due to his dream of their eventual servitude to Joseph.  They became very angry and decided to kill him, but the oldest brother (Reuben) intervened. Judah recommended that Joseph be sold and spared his life by selling him to a caravan of travelers as a slave.  Joseph is resold to Potiphar in Egypt (Genesis 37: 21, 28, 36). 

The story continues with the success of Joseph in Egypt, drought and famine, and the eventual move of Israel and his 70-member family to Egypt.  A series of events started with hatred within the family and ended with dependence on a nation that would eventually turn the promised people into slaves.

In the family of God, favoritism can lead to jealousy, which can lead to hatred and the selling of an innocent soul to the slavery of Egypt.  A practice of disrespect for others in the family will destroy independence from the world’s influence and disrupt the purpose of God unless God leads the offender to repentance.  Jesus asks us to love, not hate.  This is the identifying—trait of the followers of Jesus.  Anything else disqualifies us from the family of God.

By this, all will know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another.” John 13:35

Escape from Egypt?

The children of Israel lived in Egypt for 430 years (Exodus 12:40).  Generation after generation, molded by the conveniences of city life, had turned God’s people into Egyptians even though they were in bondage.  Their uniqueness as God’s people was being wiped clean by their enemy.

But God heard their cries for independence.  He “remembered” His promise to give them Cannan.  God sent a reluctant Moses to free the Israelites. God had instructed Moses to go directly to Pharaoh; instead, he went to the children of Israel, a seemingly easier task.  They rejected the prophet and deliverer. This gave Moses an excuse, a way out as he argued with God (Exodus 6: 1-13). Moses doubted God’s power and his own abilities.  God, again, told Moses to go to Pharoah (Exodus 6:- 28-30).

Moses and Aaron went before the Pharaoh to tell him to let God’s people go free, but he was equally non-compliant, as were God’s people.  God sent ten plagues on Egypt to help change the Pharoah’s heart, but He protected His people through the last seven plagues (Exodus 8: 22-23).(Exodus 9:4) (Exodus 9:26) (Exodus 11:7). 

The final plague was the death of the firstborn among the Egyptians, even their animals (Exodus 11: 4-5).  For the children of Israel, it would require them to do something.  They were to put the blood of the unblemished sacrificial lamb over the doorposts so the destroying angel would “pass over” their home. God directed other requirements of the “Passover.” This night would begin the cycle of months beginning on the 10th day (Exodus 12: 1-11) and continuing to the 14th day.  This time would be a celebration and instruction on the plan of salvation throughout their generations.  Jesus would be pronounced hundreds of years later as the “Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29)

Disaster in the Desert

Finally, after a multitude of generations bound by their captors, the children of Israel left their captors with their livestock,  wealth from the Egyptians, and the bones of Joseph (Exodus 12: 31-36) (Exodus 13: 17-22)

Israel would take 40 years of travel to realize the promised land of Cannan.  It could have been shorter, perhaps only 30 days, had they trusted God at His word and believed the good report of the spies.  God desired their love and trust in Him alone.  Something they would fail to do for many generations to come. 

The generation that left Egypt would never see the promised land.  Only two men who trusted God at his word and those under 20 years old would receive the promise (Numbers 14: 26-32).  The others would wander in the desert for four decades lusting for evil things; they were sexually immoral, they tempted Christ, complained, and were unhappy.

Do we love and trust God?  Are we complainers sexually immoral and test Christ?  Will we fail to enter the promised land through Christ because of these things? 

 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore, consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.  Romans 11: 21-23

May God have mercy on us.

Eventually, the people of God would settle in the promised land and build a temple to the Lord despite their backsliding from God.  But it would not last forever; that magnificent tribute to the only true God built by the very wealthy King Solomon would be destroyed, and the people would be taken captive again (for 70 years) by their next enemy, Babylon.

Israel in Bible Prophecy

ENEMIES OF ISRAEL-PART 1

2 Comments

Introduction

The latest attack on Israel and the explosion of hatred by their nearest enemies, a terrorist Islamic group known as Hamas, suddenly and without warning attacked and slaughtered innocent children, women, and men of all ages, supposedly in the name of Allah. Many would agree their so-called god is a tyrant of the worst kind, likely used as an excuse by abject evil men to set a fire of hatred, murder, injury, rape, and mayhem on innocent Jewish people of all ages. Now, the fire of destruction is raining down on their heads while innocent Palestinian citizens are used as human shields and suffer because of the extreme Islamic terrorists’ evil agenda.

The nations of the earth hold their breath as Iran (suspected sponsor and overseer of the attack), other Muslim nations, China, and Russia look on with vested interest. United States naval ships are positioned to protect Israel and keep others out of the fight.

Confusing to many Americans (religious or not) is the Antisemitic protests endorsing the attack on Israel.  They have received significant news coverage across America! They are extreme left factions who have wormed their way into high government positions and have refused to comment on the atrocities, thereby endorsing the attack. A few have endorsed the campaign of hatred.  Hopefully, their political careers will be destroyed.   How shameful to endorse such hatred and brutality in a country built on acceptance of all races and cultures.

The latest atrocities are so horrendous that it is hard to describe, but I must mention the heartless beheading of babies who will never experience a life of sounds, tastes, sights, or feelings of love and warmth on this Earth. 

The surviving families’ lives were forever crippled on the morning of the Shabbat, October 7, 2023, while celebrating Shemini Atzeret, a time of re-reading the Torah and renewal of their relationship with God—a period of rededication disfigured by evil godless men.

It has led many to question why God allowed this, but it is nothing new for Israel; Eighty-two years ago, the Nazi regime, under the direction of a madman named Hitler, tried to extinguish the Jewish people and any nation that would get in his way. Millions were taken from their homes and left to die in Nazi camps or sent to the gas chambers.

Those who harbor such antisemitic feelings go back well before the holocaust of World War II.

The Meaning of Anti-Semitism

“The term anti-Semitism was coined in 1879 by the German agitator Wilhelm Marr to designate the anti-Jewish campaigns underway in central Europe at that time. Nazi anti-Semitism, which culminated in the Holocaust, had a racist dimension in that it targeted Jews because of their supposed biological characteristics—even those who had themselves converted to other religions or whose parents were converts.”-Brittanica Encyclopedia.

At the core of anti-Semitism is a hatred that predates Moses. 

A Hated Ethnicity

No ethnicity and culture of human beings are hated more than the Jewish people. Their ancient lineage has felt little peace compared to the thousands of years of captivity and atrocious persecution.  Why are they so hated?  Their enemies could verbalize many reasons, but what are these excuses based on?

 The purpose of this series is to look back at ancient records in scripture known today as the Tanak, also identified as the Old Testament by Christians, to figure out the “Why?” question and how it affects us today.  These 40 writers recorded the history of their patriarch Abraham and the conflict between his original three sons (Ishmael, Isaac, and Esau).

But the seed for hatred began long before the promises of God to Abraham.  Here, we will find hatred taking root and growing in the Middle East. Genesis to Malichi is primarily the story of Israel, but it affects us all, especially Christians.

The followers of Christ see themselves as an extension or grafted-in-vine, sharing the wisdom of God, His love, His mercy, and hopefully His guidance in maneuvering through a sin-filled planet.

Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 1 Corinthians 10:11

And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, Romans 11:17

A Tie Between Christianity and Israel

Jews and Christians worship the same God, Jehovah, and read from the Tanak (Old Testament).  The split comes over Jesus’s Messiahship and divinity as a Godhead constituent.

There is a connection between Christianity and Israel theologically and in the sharing of massive persecutions from the past.  The Christians’ persecution started in the 1st century and ran through the Dark Ages before becoming watered down, requiring a Reformation.   But Israel has experienced persecution from the time of Abraham.  The umbilical cord from ancient Israel leaves the born-again Christian with deep empathy for the Jewish people.  These ties will be explored as we review the long history of the people of God.

It appears that the pinnacle of prophecy will come as a joining of literal Israel and Spiritual Israel to become victors over the greatest of all enemies, Satan himself…The father of death and lies.

Prophecies of Persecution

Prophecies of persecution and wars that are now history provide the platform for forecasts yet to be filled as written in the Torah and from Jesus Christ and His Apostles in the New Testament.  Learning from the past gives us a better vision for the future.   

The future for Israel is prophesied in the Tanak and the New Testament, but with varying interpretations. Nevertheless, the prophecies, both good and bad, came with conditions.  This truth is the foundation for accurate interpretation and good exergies.   An example of a condition is found in the book of 2 Chronicles.  Both Jews and Christians acknowledge this promise.

“if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

The passage begins with the word “if,” putting it in a conditional state.  The “if” requires humbleness, prayer, searching, and turning away from wickedness to reap the promise. Will the promise be fulfilled if the conditions are not met? Of course not. However, as we will see, there are unconditional promises as well, e.g., the promise to never destroy the earth by flood again.

In the coming weeks, we will explore what God said about Jerusalem and the people of Israel. Questions raised by Paul about spiritual Israel and literal Israel will be reviewed.

For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God. Romans 2: 28-29

What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God (Scriptures). Romans 3: 1-2

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.  Romans 11:1

If you want to get a jump on this series, request a free book called The Fall and Rise of Jerusalem. Leave a comment, and I will get in touch with you about how to get the book to you.