Should Israel ultimately fail, then would God abandon his plan and throw away the world?

Well, the thought of this frightening possibility comes drifting back in this present urgency on the part of Pres. Clinton and the Israeli "doves" to surrender Jerusalem to Amalek.

Think of it this way: God has restored Jerusalem and the Temple Mount to Judah. The conquest in 1967 marked the third time in history that God had given his city to the Jews -- first to David (2Sm 5:7) and then to the Jews returning under Ezra and Nehemiah and then in our time to those Israeli Jews in the Six Day War which set in motion (Mt 24:34) "This generation [which] shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." OK -- but what if there are no Jews willing to hold on to this pearl of great price?

What if they all should count their calling and election not as sure but rather as worthless and toss it to the dogs?

What happens when a man is spurned by the girl he loves? Especially should that man be God and involve the place he chose to put his name!

And then what about us? What if all the years of the Bible in our midst should yield no fruit? What if all forsake the truth and all turn to Baal or simply give up?

Hope for the world rests not just with God -- we have our part too. What hope would there be had the man Messiah ben Joseph failed? What about his prospective bride -- the city he is wooing and the personnel to staff his Temple and Throne?

The Day of the LORD comes as a thief in the night -- it catches just about everyone off guard -- "they all slumbered and slept" -- perhaps because (2Thess 2:3) "that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first". But notice that there could not be a falling away had there not first been a (2Thess 2:1; Gn 49:10) "gathering together unto him" -- meaning that the Gospel had to be preached first -- meaning that Elijah had to come first (Mal 4:5-6): "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse (חרם ħerem)." [Ever consider that "the fathers" might represent the Jewish roots of our faith?]

That word there -- חרם -- it is, for example, what God pronounced against Amalek (1Sm 15:3). The lexicons define the word as meaning 'unredeemably devoted to God' and, if applied to humans, then 'consigned to sure death' (Lev 27:28-29). When God pronounces a Herem, all responsibility is removed from the men involved and total annihilation awaits. In other words (Hb 10:26-27), "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." When 'unredeemably devoted to God' we are no more responsible in the sense that there is then nothing that we can do. God takes complete charge and (Hb 10:31), "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

So notice the "lest" in (Mal 4:6) -- the Work of Elijah had better bear fruit lest God "come and smite the earth with a curse [חרם]."

And therefore, though there was prophesied a falling away first, there must still be a "remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Lest ...

My son brings up Abraham's bargaining for Sodom. God would have saved the city from its חרם (ħerem) had there been 10 righteous men. There weren't.

Israel didn't enter in because of "unbelief" -- she really didn't think God would pull it off. And so it has been with our people. The many -- most of the ministers -- have not really believed. It was too good to be true. They spied out the land and concluded that Jesus is not returning in our time. We are not going to be made kings and priests and rule with Messiah ben David in Jerusalem.

And so it is with the faint of heart in the land of Israel. Arutz-7 News (Thursday, December 28, 2000) reports that, "Barak is telling the country today why his cabinet voted to hand over the Temple Mount to the PLO late last night. Ten ministers were in favor, two were against, and two abstained." The meetings began in Washington the 1st day of Hanukkah and this was the eighth and final day no less -- and Barak a resigned prime minister and Clinton a lame duck president -- and THEY propose to throw to the wind 19 centuries of exile and "Next year in Jerusalem"?

But no -- let's not be negative! Thank God there is a remnant with a little backbone. As Arutz reports, "At the Western Wall protest, former Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel Mordechai Ben Eliyahu compared the government ministers to the 12 spies in biblical times. He said that besides two of them who voted against the agreement, the remaining ten are evildoers and traitors against Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

So folks -- while most people simply ignore what is going on in Jerusalem right now -- the fate of all the world hangs on the actions of those people!! Let us not hide our heads in the sand. And let us consider that the fate of the cosmos may hang a lot more heavily on our shoulders than we realize.

Two things Satan is fighting mightily to destroy: 1) The truth that is being restored (Mk 9:12), and 2) those valiant "right wing" Jews clinging to the city which has been restored to them.

Maybe we should pray for the redemption of Zion while there is still time (Is 55:6): "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near".

"Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the LORD bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad." (Ps 14:7)

"Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles." (Ps 25:22)

"Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad." (Ps 53:6)

"In Judah is God known: his name is great in Israel. In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion." (Ps 76:1-2)

"Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim: But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved." (Ps 78:67-68) [Remember that Aholah means 'her tabernacle' and that Aholibah means 'my tabernacle is in her'.]

"His foundation is in the holy mountains. The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah." (Ps 87:1-3)

"Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof. So the heathen shall fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth thy glory. When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer. This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD." (Ps 102:13-18; Mal 3:16-18)

"The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore. For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it." (Ps 132:11-14)

" Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities." (Ps 130:7-8)

"How shall we sing the LORD's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." (Ps 137:4-6)

All the saints could be martyred and still be restored in the resurrection. But there must be a living remnant to cry out for the Messiah (Rm 9:27-29): "Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha."

Remember this (Jer 30:7)? "Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it."

Jesus prophesied of this remnant (Mt 24:16): "Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains". There is already the TaNaKh type (2K 19:29-31; Is 37:30-32): "And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof. And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this." Also (Ezek 6:8) -- "Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries." And (Ezra 9:8) -- "And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage."

Christians think that they will be raptured to heaven while the full force of the Tribulation descends upon the Jews. They might have it backwards. When it says (Rv 12:12) -- "And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child." -- we might ask ourselves: Who brought forth the man child? The Christian Church? Or was it Bethlehem of Judah?

"But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." (Mic 5:2)

It is THIS woman who flies "into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent." (Rv 12:14)

So who does Satan go after? Rather sounds like fundamentalist Christians, doesn't it? Verse 17 -- "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." (Rv 12:17)

Saints, as I said, might be martyred and restored in the first resurrection. But why resurrect them if there's no physical remnant left alive? If there's no restored Judah to receive her King?

The responsibility is on both our shoulders. Without a remnant what good is the elect? And without an elect what good is the remnant? "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." (Mt 24:22)

Lest he come and smite the earth with a ħerem (חרם).

31 December 2000

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