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The connection between Israel and the Nations and why we need to pray
for Israel:
Israel’s destiny
has always been intertwined with God’s purposes for every other nation. In fact,
the Bible states
that God has established a relationship between the location of Israel and the
inheritance of every other nation.
When the Most High
divided their inheritance to the nations, When He separated the sons of Adam, He
set the
boundaries of the peoples. According to the number of the children of Israel.
For the LORD’s portion is
His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance.
(Deuteronomy 32:8-9)
According to the
Bible, Israel’s portion of land on the earth in some way influences the
inheritance of every other nation. Therefore, it is a very serious matter for
the nations to exert pressure on Israel to give up land
to her enemies. In the book of the prophet Joel, God says that He will judge the
nations that divide the land of Israel. Most people long for peace in the Middle
East with an end to terror and bloodshed. However, real peace is the result of
changed hearts and not necessarily changed borders. There is a great danger in
trying to put a political “band aid”
on a deep spiritual wound. This is a biblical warning to political leaders of
world powers in our day:
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, And bring them down to the Valley
of Jehoshaphat; And I will enter into judgment
with them there. On account of My people, My heritage Israel, Whom they have
scattered among the
nations; They have also divided up My land.
(Joel 3:1-2)
The great tsunami
of God’s purposes throughout the nations will reach its conclusion in Jerusalem.
That’s where the gospel began, the great prophets spoke, and King David set up
his throne. That’s where Jesus died and rose from the dead and that’s where the
Lord will return at the end of history. Spiritual watchmen in Israel are
prophetically holding up a banner to be seen by all believers in every nation.
The banner reads, “Finish Line.” Israel is prophetically positioned at the end
of the long race to bring the gospel to all the world, and at the end of
the Jewish people’s prolonged wandering among the nations. The massive currents
of God’s redemptive plans are converging on Israel and the city of Jerusalem.
Who will catch the flow of these events and ride them
toward their fulfillment? The turbulence of these final waves is daunting. The
Nation of Israel is destined to be a part of the rise and fall of many as we
progress into the end-times.
“Behold,
I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples,
when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that
day
that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would
heave it
away will surely be cut in peaces, though all nations of the earth are
gathered against it”
(Zechariah 12:2-3)
According to the
prophet, the Spirit of the Lord will reach out to the Jewish people with the
testimony of Jesus the Messiah. God will bring them to great repentance followed
by national revival.
“And I will pour
out 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 have pierced; they
will mourn for Him as one mourns
for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn”
(Zechariah 12:10)
In the
future, the nations will be drawn to Jerusalem, accepting God’s choice of Israel
and rejoicing together in the feast of the final harvest! Rain is essential for
crops to survive and grow. It will be given to obedient nations that come to
worship the God of Israel. In the Bible, rain is a symbol of the Holy Spirit
which is poured out by
God in order to bring a rich spiritual harvest
“And
it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came
against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of
hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of
the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the
LORD of hosts, on
them there will be no rain”
(Zechariah 14:16-17)
The great end-time
tsunami of God’s purposes is more than worldwide revival. It is the power of
God’s presence sweeping through all the nations in order to fulfill His purposes
which were set in place before the world was made. The fulfillment of God’s
prophetic plans for Israel and the nations brings glory to Him among all the
peoples
of the world. When the tidal wave of God’s purposes completes its circling of
the globe and reaches its conclusion in Israel, the whole earth will see the
glory of God.
“I
bring My righteousness near, it shall not be far off; My salvation shall not
linger. And I will place salvation in Zion, For Israel My glory”
(Isaiah 46:13)
(Source: God’s
Tsunami – Peter Tsukahira)
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