October 7 and the Hope of Israel

LftLD

Hear Tony Pearce speak on ‘the Hope of Israel, his Saviour in time of trouble’  Jeremiah 14.8.  Talk starts 49 minutes into the programme.  • What Israel suffered and continues to suffer as a result of that terrible day when Hamas killed 1200 Israelis and took 245 hostages into Gaza.  • The fears of the current war as it affects Israel and its Arab neighbours and Iran.  • The hope of the Messiah who has come once and is coming again as the Hope of Israel and the Arab world.  Isaiah 19.23-25.   “Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,  And declare it in the isles afar off, and say,  ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,  And keep him as a shepherd does his flock.’  For the Lord has redeemed Jacob,  And ransomed him from the hand of one stronger than he.  Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion,  Streaming to the goodness of the Lord—  For wheat and new wine and oil,  For the young of the flock and the herd;  Their souls shall be like a well-watered garden,  And they shall sorrow no more at all. Jeremiah 31.10-12   #HamasIsISIS #Hezbollah #history #iran #Israel #Jerusalem #jesus #Messiah #palestine #salvation #SignsOfTheTimes #War   https://lightforthelastdays.co.uk/articles/israel-and-the-middle-east/october-7-and-the-hope-of-israel/

Transcript

00:00Okay. We're going to have a talk for myself now. We're going to look at this whole topic

00:07we've been dealing with concerning the events of 7th of October. But also I'm tired of this

00:15talk, the hope of Israel. The hope of Israel. Okay. Find this phrase in the Bible, particularly

00:23in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 14, verse 7, using this phrase about hoping in God at

00:31a time of trouble. A hope of Israel, his savior in time of trouble. Apostle Paul also used

00:39this while he was in captivity in Rome about his faith in God and the Messiah when he said

00:44for the hope of Israel, I'm bound with this chain. If you look around the world today,

00:51you find that many people in Israel and many true followers of Jesus are in trouble because

00:56of hostile forces which are arrayed against them. And for many, hope may be in short supply.

01:01Tonight we're going to look specifically at Israel, remembering what happened a year ago

01:06on October the 7th, 2023. We see our friends in Israel in deep trouble as Hamas broke through

01:15the security fence and began to attack Israelis wherever they found them. And we find now

01:23that enemy nations are threatening destruction in a gathering storm that has afflicted the

01:29nation since that awful day when Hamas terrorists broke through the Israel supposedly secure

01:34border and 1,200 Israelis were brutally murdered and 245 taken as hostages. About 100 of whom

01:43remain in captivity to this day. We showed earlier a short film. I could have shown you

01:51the official film which the Israelis put together using footage recorded by the Hamas terrorists

01:56themselves as they committed their acts of barbarism. I didn't show it to you because

02:01it's too horrible to show. I watched part of it myself. And it was quite incredibly

02:07awful. What was really horrible about it was that they posted this on social media to proclaim

02:12proudly what they had done. Couldn't possibly show it because it was just so awful and showed

02:20such depths of depravity and sickening violence. I don't even want to describe to you. But

02:26the worst thing of all was that they were proud of what they'd done. They recorded it

02:30and posted it publicly, whereas any normal person would have wanted to cover it up in

02:34shame at such depravity. Even worse was as they were doing these awful deeds, they were

02:39shouting Allahu Akbar. Allah is great. God is great. Can you imagine what the real God

02:46in heaven felt about these people insulting his name as they murdered, raped and tortured

02:50his people? So here we are a year later, after a time of war which has brought devastation

02:56to Gaza as Israel seeks to eliminate the threat from Hamas. Sadly, we recognize that about

03:0340,000 people have been killed in Gaza. And as a result, much of the world has turned

03:07against Israel. We now have fears of the conflict escalating, already involving Hezbollah

03:15in Lebanon and other proxies of Iran in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and a danger of a full-scale

03:21war with the exchange of missiles between Iran and Israel. The situation in the West

03:27Bank is increasingly dangerous as well, and Gaza is still not resolved. In such a situation,

03:33we have to ask, is there any hope for Israel or for any of us? We sing, he that keepeth

03:39Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps, but some maybe feel that God has gone to sleep and

03:44doesn't care about us anymore. Well, we believe he does, of course. It's interesting that

03:49the Israeli national anthem is Hatikvah, which means the hope. How many people can sing Hatikvah?

04:01The words are written by a man called Naftali Hertz Imber, an English poet originally from

04:06Bohemia. The melody was written by Samuel Cohen, an immigrant from Moldova. In Hebrew,

04:13the words are Kol ob b'leibav, penima, ayin letzion sofia, od lo avda hatikvah shanot alpayim,

04:30liyat ham hofshi be'atzenu eretzion Yerushalayim. Do you want to try and sing it?

04:37Kol ob b'leibav, penima, ayin letzion sofia, od lo avda hatikvah shanot alpayim, liyat ham hofshi be'atzenu eretzion Yerushalayim. Do you want to try and sing it?

04:50Kol ob b'leibav, penima, ayin letzion sofia, od lo avda hatikvah shanot alpayim, liyat ham hofshi be'atzenu eretzion Yerushalayim.

05:16liyat ham hofshi be'atzenu eretzion Yerushalayim, liyat ham hofshi be'atzenu eretzion Yerushalayim.

05:43As long as the heart within the Jewish soul yearns towards the east and eye looks to Zion, our hope is not yet lost.

05:49Our hope is 2,000 years old to be a free people in our land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem.

05:57Those last two lines speak of the Zionist hope of a return to the land of Israel.

06:02The hope that's been there in Jewish liturgy and thought through the long years of dispersion to be a free people in the land of Zion and Jerusalem.

06:122,000-year-old hope.

06:14Since the dispersion that began with the fall of the Temple in 70 AD and has continued through years of anti-Semitism,

06:21much of it sadly from the body of people who were supposed to represent Jesus Christ,

06:25but turned him from being Yeshua HaMashiach, the Jewish Messiah, into a hateful Gentile God who hated the Jews and blamed them for the crucifixion,

06:33which the real Jesus never did.

06:36This led to the nightmare of the Holocaust and the death of six million Jews at the hands of the Nazi beast.

06:41Yet remarkably, out of the ashes of the Holocaust just three years after the end of the war,

06:46David Ben-Gurion stood in Tel Aviv and proclaimed Medinat Israel, the State of Israel, in May 1948.

06:54Immediately Arab armies attacked and were pushed back, and Israel emerged with more territory than they were given under the United Nations in the first place.

07:05This was then followed by the reunification of Jerusalem after the Six-Day War in 1967.

07:10And the Jewish people began to be a free people in our land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem.

07:17And Israel's victories in wars against much larger and better equipped Arab armies were seen by many people, both Jewish and Christian,

07:25as evidence of God's favor coming on Israel and the ancient prophecies of the Bible being fulfilled.

07:32Promises like you have in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 31, verse 10,

07:36Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, declare it in the hours afar off, and say,

07:40He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd does his flock.

07:45And Ezekiel 36, which prophesies the regathering of the Jewish people from a worldwide dispersion to the land of Israel,

07:52as the first stage of a process leading to a spiritual restoration of Israel.

07:58Ezekiel 36, for I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.

08:04And I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean.

08:07I will cleanse you from your filthiness and from your idols.

08:10I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.

08:13I will take this heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

08:17I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them.

08:22Then you should dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers.

08:25You should be my people, and I will be your God.

08:28A two-phased process, if you look at that carefully.

08:33First of all, a physical rebirth, and then a spiritual rebirth.

08:37And after the spiritual rebirth, God says, He's going to keep you in the land and bless you.

08:41And God will be your God, and you should be my people.

08:44Which means if God has started the first part of the process, He's going to complete the second part.

08:49Think that makes sense?

08:51I think so.

08:53If you look at Ezekiel, it also speaks of a time when ancient cities will be rebuilt in the land.

08:59Trees will be planted on the hills.

09:02Isaiah speaks of the desert blossoming as Israel fills the face of the earth with fruit.

09:07Zechariah speaks of them returning to Jerusalem, which will become the focal point of the conflict in the land in the last days.

09:15If you look at the history of the last 150-odd years, you can see that the Aliyah began in the 19th century,

09:22as Jewish people began to go back to the land to develop agricultural settlements,

09:27which became the kibbutzim, to plant trees, to make the desert begin to blossom,

09:32and to establish the State of Israel in 1948.

09:36And we see that Jews from around the world have been regathered to their ancient homeland, as prophesied in the Bible.

09:42And Israel has fought off attempts to destroy it by surrounding armies,

09:45and even now has a peace agreement with Egypt and Jordan,

09:49as well as the Abraham Accords giving a measure of peace with the Gulf Arab states.

09:54However, unfortunately, the idea of being a free people in our land remains contested by multitudes,

09:59who say this is not your land.

10:01This is Arab Muslim land, which will remain Islamic until the end of days.

10:07You see this statement here, which comes from Fatah.

10:11Armed resistance is the only solution to expel the occupation, says Fatah official.

10:18Fatah is the power behind the Palestinian Authority, which is supposed to be at peace with Israel.

10:23They're talking about armed resistance to push Israel out.

10:31The power in Gaza, which is actually, in one sense, fighting against Fatah, says this.

10:38Israel will exist and continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it has obliterated others before it.

10:46It tells you there's something actually written into the Islamic way of thinking,

10:51that this territory has to be Islamic, has to be ruled by Muslims,

10:55and Jews coming in should not be ruling over Muslims, they should be under the Muslims,

10:59and it should go back to being Islamic.

11:02And now they're rising up to make this claim, backed by weapons of destruction and hostile propaganda that fills the airwaves,

11:08dominates the thinking of the world, especially the UN, led by Ayatollah Khomeini in Tehran,

11:16who just last week spoke about his intention to destroy Israel.

11:21And Iran, of course, has missiles aimed at Israel surrounding it.

11:26This is actually in southern Lebanon, probably not there now, because Israel's either gone in and destroyed them,

11:33or they've fired them against Israel.

11:35But they've called what they call a ring of fire with missiles in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Iraq, in Yemen, and in Iran itself, all aimed at Israel.

11:47Iran has actually supplied Hezbollah in Lebanon with around 150,000 missiles,

11:53some of which are capable of reaching the whole of Israel.

11:56And since the Gaza war began, the attacks from Hezbollah have made much of northern Israel a no-go area,

12:04with towns and settlements abandoned and about 60,000 Israelis evacuated from their homes,

12:09some saying they'll never return again.

12:12Over the past two weeks, Israel has extended the war to Hezbollah in the north, removing its leaders and bombing its missiles.

12:20Now it's operating inside Lebanon.

12:23Its aim actually is to push back Hezbollah behind the Litani River, which is about 30 miles north of the border,

12:29and create a buffer zone along the border so Israelis can return to their towns and villages in the north.

12:37Does Israel have the right to do all of this?

12:39Many people in the world contend it,

12:42say that Israel should be the only country in the world which is receiving missiles and receiving hostility,

12:48and now to defend itself from them.

12:50And sadly, of course, there has been tremendous destruction which has come upon the Arab countries,

12:56upon Gaza, now upon Lebanon, as a result of the war which is taking place.

13:03And this has stirred up a tremendous hatred, hatred of Israel and the Jewish people,

13:07not just from the Arabs, but also here in the West and in Europe and in North America,

13:12as people come together to support the Hamas terrorists and their Iranian backers.

13:19You've got an alliance of leftists and Islamists and various people who are chanting,

13:25from the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free.

13:29What does that mean?

13:31It means from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, Palestine shall be free.

13:35In other words, there'll be no more Israel.

13:38Whether they realize it or not, they're calling for the destruction of Israel,

13:41and a massacre of the Jewish population, and the imposition of an Islamist dictatorship on the Arab people.

13:49In which case, especially the leftists who are joining this, if they were there,

13:53they'd be among the first to be for the chop.

13:58Now, at the present time, the direction is that the Israeli army has taken about 90% of Gaza's territory,

14:05including what they call the Philadelphia Corridor, which is a 12km long border with Egypt,

14:10where they found 40 tunnels connecting Gaza with Egypt.

14:14And through those tunnels, weapons have been passing through.

14:18Egypt is supposed to be at peace with Israel.

14:20One of them went under an Egyptian army base, so probably they knew it was there,

14:24but they did nothing about it.

14:28There's also an immense tunnel system, estimated around 450km in length,

14:33used by Hamas's bases for their attacks on Israel,

14:36where they store missiles, store and produce missiles to be fired at Israel.

14:41Often located under schools, near hospitals, mosques and housing,

14:46means that Hamas deliberately puts civilians at risk when Israel tries to close down this system.

14:52And that's why so many Gazans have been killed.

14:55There's a false accusation of genocide against Israel,

14:59and Israel is also accused of withholding aid, which is actually untrue.

15:05Israel has opened the way for easily enough food for everyone in Gaza to be fed.

15:11Unfortunately, Hamas has taken control of some of it and is preventing it from getting to the ordinary people.

15:21Basically, as you guess what I'm saying, the responsibility for the suffering of the civilian people

15:26lies with the terror-supporting regimes and organisations, above all the Iranian regime that supports them.

15:33Hamas is just part of the network of Iranian proxies in the Middle East,

15:36for whom this is the major reason for their existing.

15:40And Iran is openly calling for the end of the Jewish state

15:43and is equipping its proxies in the region to carry this out.

15:47Does that mean that all the people in Iran want to destroy Israel?

15:50No. I was talking to an Iranian friend.

15:52She reckons about 5% probably do support the regime, 95% oppose it.

15:57But because of the nature of the terror regime which they've imposed,

16:01they're able to do what they want.

16:04But I've read of a shopkeeper in Tehran who says,

16:08they've got us involved in this war which has nothing to do with us.

16:11They spent billions of dollars, which they should be investing in Iran,

16:15to make our country a better place in loathsome terrorists like Nasrallah.

16:19What can we do about it?

16:21If only we could get rid of this regime.

16:23And if you want to pray for one source in the Middle East,

16:26pray that the regime in Iran may be overthrown

16:29for the benefit of the Persian people, the Iranian people,

16:32as well as for Israel and for the people round about.

16:37Now, as you probably know, Israel has very advanced and effective anti-missile systems in place.

16:43One of the things I prayed for was that people who run these anti-missile systems

16:48may have skill in doing it.

16:51Imagine you're hitting a missile with a missile,

16:53like hitting a bullet with a bullet.

16:56And yet Israel has this incredible technology which is able to take them out.

17:00I think it was 200 missiles were fired at Israel in the last week from Iran.

17:06Not one of them actually hit a major target.

17:10I think one of them did get through,

17:12but the only person who was killed actually was an Arab in Jericho.

17:16So basically Israel has managed to protect itself,

17:20but it's a very dangerous situation.

17:24And Israel is now saying they're going to hit back on Iran,

17:28and then I guess Iran is going to hit back at Israel.

17:32So we need to pray that this situation, which is escalating all the time, can be held back.

17:40Also, they have missiles coming from Iraq and from Yemen,

17:44and Israel has hit Yemen,

17:46and I think the United States has also been hitting Yemen in the last few days as well.

17:51And the United States is getting involved.

17:53You've got U.S. warships and troops in the region.

17:55You've got also Russia is not directly involved at the present time,

18:00but Russia does have a base in Syria.

18:03And I read that last week Israel hit targets inside Syria,

18:06which are connected to the Iranians,

18:08which included the Haiman base, which is owned by Russia.

18:13Now in Russia at the present time doesn't seem to want to get involved,

18:18and they've got enough on their plate in Ukraine at the present time.

18:21But it's just a little token that there are all these forces gathering around,

18:27and it's incredibly dangerous.

18:32Just this morning we heard from our friend Yossi Avadia,

18:35who was in Karmiel in the north testifying of the positive spirit there is in Israel,

18:38despite the danger, how they're trusting in the Lord.

18:42It occurred to me it would only take one or two rockets to get through

18:44and hit strategic targets in Israel, and the situation could change.

18:48We really need to pray.

18:51We know also that Iran and Russia do have forces in Syria,

18:54where they're propping up Assad's regime,

18:57where they could be brought into the fray if war continues to develop.

19:01And there are rabbis and Christians who've interpreted this

19:04as being the first phase of the war of Gog and Magog,

19:07described in Ezekiel 38-39.

19:10We'll see whether that's the case, or is it even leading to Armageddon.

19:15As I said, we have a great danger of this situation in the Middle East,

19:19which has started to spiral out of control,

19:22and it appears that just about everyone is bracing for a major escalation.

19:27You've got Iran and Hezbollah threatening revenge.

19:30You've got a whole level of hatred which is being built up on both sides, one has to say,

19:37but particularly against Israel because of what's happening in the countries in the Arab world.

19:43And you have a massive hatred, and it's hard to see how this is ever going to be resolved.

19:49Israel does possess very superior weaponry,

19:53but there are great dangers from the combined forces of the so-called axis of resistance.

20:00If Hezbollah and Iran start using long-range missiles

20:04to target population centers in Tel Aviv,

20:08the Haifa Bay, where the petrochemical works there,

20:12water and electricity facilities, gas fields in the Mediterranean,

20:17IDF bases, strategic civilian infrastructure,

20:20there's a huge danger to Israel.

20:22Why we need to continue to pray for Israel.

20:26There's a major general in the IDF called Yitzhak Brick,

20:29who told the Jerusalem Post that a full-scale war with Iran and its proxies

20:32could ultimately result in the destruction of the state of Israel.

20:38Now we don't believe that's going to happen because of the prophecies,

20:41but this is a man just looking at it in a human sense of point of view,

20:46and one has to say that it's possible.

20:49One of my secular sources, a thing called Foreign Policy magazine,

20:54compared Israel today with the last days of the Crusaders about to fall to the Islamist forces.

21:00Now I'm not saying that's going to happen,

21:02but I'm just telling you that this is how, on a human level, it could happen.

21:07And we need to pray very much for Israel to stand firm and be protected in these days.

21:13On the other hand, Amir Sofati, who is a Messianic Jew and a Bible believer,

21:18sends a report and he says that Israel is dismantling the terror networks,

21:21he believes it will succeed in breaking the power of the terrorists,

21:25and that this will lead to a peacetime when the Antichrist peace treaty will come to pass

21:30before the final events of the last days take place.

21:34Now this is a fluid and rapidly changing situation,

21:37so I'm not going to be dogmatic about what's going to happen,

21:40because I don't claim to be a prophet,

21:42but we can see there are very powerful and dangerous forces

21:47which are being unleashed at this present time.

21:50And we need to pray that the Lord is going to protect Israel

21:53and preserve the nation in some form,

21:56as we see things happening which are leading towards the coming again of the Messiah.

22:02I have to say there is another factor which you need to put into account,

22:05which is the United Nations.

22:08We have here the United Nations General Assembly.

22:12It's significant that the United Nations is ramping up its attack on Israel.

22:18When Benjamin Netanyahu went to speak there and gave a very powerful and impressive speech,

22:24giving compelling reason why Israel has to take the actions it is taking against Iran and its terror proxies,

22:32most of the representatives walked out and didn't listen to him.

22:37He accused Iran of being responsible for the dire situation in the Middle East today.

22:42Most of them ignore that.

22:44He also accused the UN of hypocrisy and anti-Semitic bar because of its constant attacks on Israel.

22:50On September 19, the UN General Assembly adopted a Palestinian-drafted non-binding resolution

22:57demanding that Israel end its unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory within 12 months.

23:06It's non-binding, but it's threatening.

23:09The UN's highest court has said that Israel was occupying the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza,

23:15stripped against international law.

23:18In other words, they're saying Israel must withdraw all military forces and settlements and towns from the West Bank,

23:24which is the biblical area of Judea and Samaria,

23:27and from the capital Jerusalem, from the eastern side.

23:31In other words, they must re-divide Jerusalem.

23:34Does that remind you of anything in the scripture?

23:37Jerusalem, a burdensome stone, burdening all nations.

23:42And it reminds us also that the nations have a plan to resolve the whole situation there in the Middle East,

23:50which is a two-state solution, which on the surface seems quite reasonable.

23:55You've got a land contested between groups of people.

23:58We're just divided up, so one group has one part and one has the other part.

24:02Sounds reasonable, doesn't it? Good idea.

24:06And that's what the world wants to come out of this present conflict.

24:10Or do they want a one-state solution with Israel eliminated?

24:15In the words of the UN, quote,

24:17the only viable path towards a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East is through the two-state solution,

24:23with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security,

24:27in line with international law, the Charter of the United Nations and relevant UN resolutions.

24:35So on September the 19th, the UN General Assembly adopted its Palestine-drafted non-binding resolution

24:40demanding that Israel end its unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory within 12 months.

24:47That's within a year.

24:49So that means that Israel should withdraw military forces and settlements from the West Bank, Judea and Samaria,

24:55including the old city of Jerusalem.

24:59As we've said, Zechariah says,

25:01Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem.

25:07It shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples.

25:11All who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.

25:17Zechariah chapter 12.

25:20A number of EU countries have recognized the state of Palestine, including Ireland, Norway and Spain.

25:26The Saudis have put forward a peace plan which would bring recognition of Israel by Saudi Arabia

25:32in return for a viable Palestinian entity being set up.

25:37Said it seems like a good idea. Bring peace.

25:42Well, Prime Minister Netanyahu said giving the Palestinians a state at this time would be a reward for the massacre of October the 7th.

25:51He noted that this massacre was supported by 80% of the Palestinians, both in the West Bank and in Gaza.

25:58It would also place Israel in great danger if the Palestinian Authority takes full control over the territory of Gaza and the West Bank.

26:06The Palestinian Authority, which is supposed to be Israel's peace partner, continues to support terrorism against Israel,

26:14educates its citizens to hate the Jewish state and the Jewish people, and has the ultimate aim of destroying it.

26:23Israel remembers how in 2005 they handed over complete control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority

26:29and removed all of its Jewish settlements and its army.

26:33Hamas took over Gaza just a year later after a war with the Palestinian Authority

26:39and up to now has continued to rule Gaza, using it as a base from which to attack Israel with weapons provided by Iran.

26:47And Israel fears that the same thing will happen if they hand over the West Bank, Judea and Samaria, and Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority.

26:58They also fear that there's a long-standing PLO plan which is taken on board by the Palestinian Authority,

27:04which is ruled by Fatah, who is the political wing of the PLO,

27:08to use any territory that Israel chooses to withdraw from as a base to attack and dismantle Israel.

27:14This was the so-called ten points phase policy which was drawn up by the PLO in 1974.

27:21And they would say that this is pushing towards the Oslo Accords to create a peace plan, a peace process which would undermine and then destroy Israel.

27:32So, not such a great idea.

27:37Now Israel says that the agreement must come through negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

27:43The Palestinian Authority says that Israel must accept Israel's right to exist and drop its threats to Israel.

27:55The Palestinian Authority says Israel must abandon its settlements and East Jerusalem, the Old City.

28:04So until that happens, as far as Israel is concerned, there's no agreement.

28:10Now under the terms of the Oslo Accords, the final status agreement can only come through a negotiated settlement between the government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

28:22Despite years of negotiations towards this end, no one has ever been able to resolve this issue in a way which will satisfy Israel's desire for security

28:31and the Palestinian desire for control over the whole of the West Bank, including the Old City of Jerusalem.

28:37Because Israel sees that this would lead to its demise and the end of Jewish sovereignty in the region.

28:43Does anybody have a solution?

28:46Now recently there was an article in Time Magazine which said that because of the threat to world peace coming out of the Arab-Israeli conflict,

28:53there needs to be an international conference set up under the auspices of the UN

28:58in which all parties of the conflict are compelled to attend and made to agree to a settlement.

29:06In other words, basically the UN should take over the situation, get everybody involved, come to this conference

29:14and they have to take it or leave it. If they leave it, then basically they could be expelled from the UN or the UN could take action against them internationally.

29:21I can see that that could happen.

29:26If that is the case, if you follow through the Bible, Daniel 9, 27, the peace settlement, the seven-year treaty,

29:33that could be the way in which the Antichrist arises, brings in this peace settlement out of the present situation.

29:41So let's come back to our theme, the hope of Israel.

29:44What I've said to you so far is pretty hopeless, isn't it?

29:47Probably not filling your watch with hope.

29:50And I have to say that hope is in short supply.

29:55There are Israelis indeed who are losing hope themselves.

29:59We had supper with an Israeli who is very secular, non-religious, doesn't believe in God, certainly doesn't believe in Yeshua.

30:07We had a good opportunity to share the gospel with him.

30:10But he said that he is looking to get a Portuguese passport because he has ancestors in Portugal.

30:18In case he gets too bad in Israel and he wants to get out and go and live in Europe.

30:22I wonder how many Israelis are feeling the same.

30:25And you can understand them feeling that.

30:28On the other hand, there are many who are thinking, well, we should go to Israel and stand with Israel at this time.

30:35But it's a time when people are in great peril and in great danger.

30:40And you can understand Israelis feeling, well, basically I want to get out of this situation.

30:45There's no hope.

30:47Not advising to do that, by the way.

30:49But you can understand this as a human reaction.

30:53And about 2,600 years ago, the prophet Jeremiah felt the same way and asked the same question.

31:01He said, O hope of Israel, his savior in the time of trouble.

31:05Why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?

31:13Why should you be like a man astonished, like a mighty one who cannot save us?

31:17Yet you, Lord, are in our midst.

31:19We are called by your name.

31:21Do not leave us.

31:23Let's pray for the hope of Israel to make himself known to the people of Israel.

31:27And that he might bring them to faith in God.

31:32And ultimately, through God, through the Messiah, to salvation.

31:37Now, there are signs of a looking for the Messiah.

31:43Here's some ultra-Orthodox Jews from the Chabad movement.

31:49Gathering together to wake them in the King Messiah.

31:56They're looking for the Messiah to come as the king.

31:59And for many Orthodox Jews, the hope is that the Messiah will come and bring peace and hope to Israel.

32:05There's a rabbi called Rabbi Kaplan who wrote a book called The Real Messiah, who puts it like this.

32:10He said the Jewish concept of the Messiah is that which has been clearly developed by the prophets of the Bible.

32:15He's a leader of the Jews, strong in wisdom, power, and spirit.

32:19It's he who will bring complete redemption to the Jewish people, both spiritually and physically.

32:24Along with this, he'll bring eternal peace, love, prosperity, and moral perfection to the entire world.

32:30The Jewish Messiah is truly human in origin.

32:33He's born of ordinary human parents, and is the flesh and blood like all mortals.

32:38Obviously, that last sentence is getting at people who believe that the Messiah is Yeshua, Emmanuel, God with us.

32:48But I find it quite interesting.

32:50He's saying here that this Messiah is going to come, and they're looking for a Messiah to come and bring eternal peace, love and prosperity, and moral perfection to the entire world.

33:01Now, you've got to ask a question. There's a logical question to this.

33:05How can a purely human person, who's mortal and therefore going to die, bring about eternal peace, love, prosperity, and moral perfection to the whole world?

33:15If he's mortal, he can't bring something eternal.

33:19I actually asked this question to an Orthodox Jew, and he said, well, he's set up a system which will last, and when he dies, people will just walk in it.

33:25He said, the problem with the human race is that people don't walk in systems.

33:28They don't keep systems.

33:29Even that's the problem you have with the Torah.

33:31God gave the Torah through Moses, and then the next few hundred pages in the Bible are telling how the people didn't walk in those ways.

33:39So he's going to bring eternal peace.

33:42He's got to be there.

33:43He's got to be an eternal person to bring it about.

33:46In other words, he's got to be Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah.

33:49Now, there's another idea which is found in a book by a man called Asher Norman called 26 Reasons Why Jews Don't Believe in Jesus.

33:58This states there are six tasks which the Messiah has to accomplish.

34:02He has to have the correct genealogy, being descended from King David and King Solomon, be anointed king of Israel, return the Jewish people to Israel, rebuild the temple in Jerusalem,

34:13bring peace to the world and an end to war, and bring knowledge of God to the world.

34:19Pretty big program, isn't it?

34:23Again, you're asked the question, how is one person going to do that in one lifetime?

34:28Well, Asher Norman says, if you don't do it, then you're not the Messiah.

34:33Therefore, Jesus is not the Messiah.

34:35He says, we all know this.

34:37We know when the Messiah has come, when someone has succeeded in doing all of these things.

34:43He's actually following the teachings of a famous Jewish rabbi called Maimonides, who lived in the 12th century,

34:49who said that the Messiah has to show that he's the Messiah by completing these tasks.

34:54As a result, he said, Messiah will bring about a renewed world.

34:58He will then perfect the entire world, motivating all nations to serve God together.

35:02As it is written, I will make the peoples of pure of speech so that they will call upon the name of God and serve him with one purpose.

35:11There's a problem. How is a great man going to do all this?

35:15Especially in the present world circumstances.

35:18You've got incredible levels of hatred being unleashed against Israel.

35:22Can he bring peace to Israel and the Arab countries?

35:26Can he rebuild the temple on the Temple Mount?

35:29At the present time, if anybody touches the Dome of the Rock on the Al Asqa Mosque,

35:33it would be enough to start a jihad, a holy war against Jerusalem from the whole of the Muslim world.

35:40Can anybody of purely human origins manage to bring this about?

35:45I don't think so.

35:47In fact, I don't say so at all.

35:51Now we do have to say that the Bible does indicate there is a possibility of a temporary peace

35:56and an attempt to revive temple worship in the last days before the Messiah comes.

36:00Daniel 9.27, Isaiah 28, Isaiah 66 describe this.

36:07This will be a false peace and it will end up with disaster as it's mediated not by the true Messiah

36:12but by the false Messiah, the Antichrist.

36:15In order to receive, create the eternal peace and love which the Rabbi speaks of,

36:20the hope of Israel has to be more than a great man.

36:24He must be someone who has the whole power of God at his disposal.

36:27A divine being able to put right the mess which humans have made of the world.

36:33Now there are prophecies in the Hebrew Bible which tell you that the Messiah is just such a person.

36:38He is more than a man. He is, in fact, a divine personality.

36:43One of them is Isaiah 9.26-27.

36:48It says, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,

36:52and the government will be upon his shoulder.

36:54His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

36:59Of his government, increase of his government and peace, there'll be no end.

37:03Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice

37:08from that time forward, even forever.

37:10The seed of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this, will perform this.

37:14So you've got someone who's called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, El Gibor,

37:20Everlasting Father, Abba Lam, Prince of Peace.

37:25How can someone who's born as a child, who's given as a son, have all of those titles given to him?

37:31Unless he is all of those things. Unless he's come from God.

37:35Rabbis actually say this is a prophecy about Hezekiah.

37:39It doesn't work at all.

37:41It has to be about someone who came later in the person of Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, and had all those qualities.

37:47It says also he's going to have a kingdom, going to rule over the throne of David and have a kingdom and peace,

37:54which will have no end.

37:57What has no end?

37:59Only God has no end.

38:01Hebrew phrase, Ein Sof, God is without end.

38:04Only the kingdom of God is without end.

38:06So this one who brings in this kingdom must be more than just a human.

38:10Must be someone with divine power.

38:13Go on to Zechariah chapter 14.

38:16Describes the last battle before and the coming of the Messiah to rescue Israel at the time of the last battle,

38:22which corresponds to Armageddon in the New Testament.

38:25It says,

38:43Speaks here about the Lord coming.

38:45And if you look it up in Hebrew, it's the strongest name for God.

38:48Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh.

38:50The Tetragmaton, the name of God.

38:53Unpronounceable name.

38:55And it then says even the Lord my God.

38:58It uses Eloheinu, my God, and all the saints with him.

39:03So the Lord's going to come and he's going to stand on the Mount of Olives.

39:07I've said this before, that if he stands on the Mount of Olives with feet,

39:11I guess he's got the rest of the body as well.

39:14So the Lord comes in a body and stands on the Mount of Olives.

39:18So can God appear in a human body?

39:21As in the person of Yeshua.

39:23When he comes back again he comes and appears in a body and stands on the Mount of Olives.

39:28Then it says the Lord shall be king over all the earth.

39:30In that day its name shall be one.

39:32The Lord is one.

39:34And there'll be one God who'll be ruling over the earth.

39:37And he's given the title of the Lord.

39:39The title of Yahweh.

39:41So in these scriptures the one who's coming to deliver Israel

39:45and rule over the messianic kingdom is given the title of divinity.

39:49The mighty God, the Lord my God.

39:51He has a kingdom with no end.

39:53All human kingdoms come to an end.

39:56Only the kingdom of God has no end.

39:58He comes and stands with feet on the Mount of Olives,

40:01bringing an end to the war.

40:03Setting up the messianic kingdom.

40:07And this text uses the strongest possible terms, as I said, in the Hebrew Bible for God.

40:12And indicates the one who appears on the earth is a divine person.

40:18Has it happened before?

40:20Well, if you look at John's Gospel it tells you that in the beginning was God.

40:24In the beginning was the Word, the Word was God.

40:27And it says that the Word appeared and he dwelt amongst us and we beheld his glory.

40:32He took on flesh.

40:35Seems to me that God can appear in human form in the person of Yeshua.

40:39Now according to the Bible,

40:41the Lord says he's going to come back and rescue Israel at a time of great trouble.

40:46Trouble in the land.

40:48On that day he's going to stand on the Mount of Olives, we've read.

40:52A time of global conflict over Jerusalem.

40:56And both Jewish and Christian interpretations link this prophecy to the Lord saving Israel

41:02through the coming of the Messiah.

41:05And I would say that this tells you that the Messiah is coming.

41:09But he's more than just a great man.

41:11He is Emmanuel, God with us.

41:14He's going to come and bring in, to fulfill the fullness of the covenant which God made with Israel.

41:21First through Moses and then through the new covenant with the Messiah.

41:26In Jeremiah chapter 31 we have the words which say,

41:56So God promises he's going to make a new covenant.

41:59Make it with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

42:02There are three things which come through that covenant.

42:05One, you're going to know the Lord.

42:06Two, your sins are going to be forgiven.

42:08And God is going to write his law on your hearts, your mind.

42:16Anybody had that experience that your sins have been forgiven,

42:19you've come to know the Lord and you've had the law of God written on your hearts?

42:22A few people nodding their heads.

42:23If not, you better listen when I preach the gospel.

42:26But that's what happens when you believe in Jesus.

42:28Your sins are forgiven.

42:30You receive the Holy Spirit which writes the law of God on your heart.

42:33And you come to know the Lord.

42:35That's an opportunity which is there for everybody, whether they're Jewish or Gentile,

42:39in which God wants every person in this room and every person in Golden Screen

42:44and every person in Israel and every person in the Middle East to experience.

42:47Because God loves them all and wants them to know the Lord through Yeshua, the Messiah.

42:53So, coming to a conclusion.

42:57What's the hope of Israel? Or who is the hope of Israel?

43:03In the last chapter of the Book of Acts,

43:05which is the story of how the message of Yeshua, of the gospel,

43:10spread from Jerusalem to Judea, into the Roman world, and ultimately to the ends of the world.

43:16In the last chapter of the Book of Acts, you have the Apostle Paul.

43:21Probably the second most famous Jew in the world, after Yeshua.

43:26One who was supernaturally converted on the road to Damascus as he came to believe in Yeshua,

43:33having been an opponent.

43:35And we find in the last chapter of the Book of Acts that he's under house arrest in Rome

43:39because he's been proclaiming the good news of Yeshua as the Messiah in Jerusalem,

43:45even in the temple.

43:48And he's been arrested, and he's appealed to Caesar,

43:51and he's now in Rome, in some kind of captivity, a house arrest, waiting for his trial.

43:58And it says he called together the leaders of the Jewish community in Rome

44:02to explain his position to them.

44:04Explain about the Messiah.

44:06He said, for the hope of Israel, I'm bound with this chain.

44:11So, here's Paul.

44:13With a chain around him, and he says, for the hope of Israel, I'm bound with this chain.

44:16The hope of Israel.

44:18The hope of Israel is Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah.

44:22And he's the only one who can save us from our sins,

44:24he's the only one who can sort out the Middle East crisis,

44:26the only one who can bring peace to Israel and the surrounding Arab countries.

44:31As we see the world in a time of huge crisis, and I don't want to exaggerate it,

44:35but I don't want to underestimate either we are living in a time of immense crisis,

44:39which is coming upon Israel, upon the Middle East, and indeed upon the whole world.

44:44There are various crises coming, and they won't miss us by as well,

44:48because they're coming to attack, coming to bring crisis to this part of the world as well.

44:55Wherever you look in the world today, there is a gathering storm,

44:58and it's leading towards the time of trouble,

45:00which the Bible says will happen in the last days before Jesus returns.

45:04There's only one way to be safe in that time, that is to believe now, repent and believe in Yeshua.

45:09He's the one hope.

45:10Hope not only of Israel, but also of the whole world.

45:15And he's the only one who can sort out the Middle East crisis,

45:17and bring peace to Israel and the surrounding nations.

45:21And did you know there is a prophecy which says he's going to do just that?

45:25You go to Isaiah chapter 19 verse 23.

45:28It says,

45:29In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria,

45:32and the Assyrian will come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria,

45:36and the Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians.

45:38In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria,

45:42a blessing in the midst of the land, or in the midst of the earth actually.

45:47Whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed is Egypt my people,

45:50and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.

45:55So if we're for Israel, we're not against the Arabs, we're not against Egypt, we're not against Assyria.

46:00We want them all to come into a relationship with God through Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah.

46:06We do want them to drop their missiles and their hatred against Israel,

46:09because that's harming them as well as harming Israel.

46:13And when Jesus comes he's going to abolish all conflict, all war,

46:17and he's going to stand on the Mount of Olives,

46:20just outside Jerusalem, the place from which he ascended into heaven,

46:24coming back as the reigning king, Messiah, King of kings and Lord of lords, almighty God,

46:29to bring an end to war, to regather the surviving remnant of Israel,

46:32and cause the rebuilding of the Millennial Temple in Jerusalem.

46:37And in that day he's going to sort out the war problem as well.

46:40Isaiah chapter 2

47:06They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks,

47:11and all their horrible weapons as well.

47:13In modern times, nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

47:17neither shall they learn war anymore.

47:21The UN is not going to achieve that, the peace treaty is not going to achieve that,

47:27even the IDF is not going to achieve it, but Yeshua is.

47:31He's the only one who can do it.

47:32And when everything else fails, the one hope left for Israel and the world is Yeshua.

47:39But don't wait until everything fails, believe in Jesus now.

47:43He's the one who can save your soul, and make you ready for what's coming,

47:48and make you ready for an eternal life with him in heaven.

47:51And he's going to bring in a kingdom which has no end,

47:55because it's the kingdom of God, and it's the one which is established in the word of God,

47:59by the Lord Almighty.

48:02So believe in Yeshua, the Messiah, he's the one hope of Israel.

48:05And as we see the darkness coming on the earth,

48:08rise, shine, for your light has come, the glory of the Lord is risen upon you,

48:13and the light has come through Jesus, the Messiah.

48:16Amen.

48:18Let's just have a word of prayer.

48:20Lord, we thank you for your word, we thank you for the truth in your word,

48:23we thank you for the hope we have in Jesus, the Messiah.

48:25We pray that everyone here may accept you and believe in you,

48:31and we pray for the peace again of Jerusalem, for the people of Israel,

48:35even now as they face the threatening situation, protect them Lord,

48:40but also send your holy angels to deliver them,

48:44and to reveal also the truth concerning Yeshua, the Messiah, we pray in Jesus' name.

48:49Amen.

Category

Transcript

Recommended