Why Stand With Israel? (Part 3 of 3)

This is part 3 of 3 on the series “Why Stand with Israel?” written by Rebecca J. Brimmer, International President and CEO of Bridges for Peace. May you be blessed by reading this teaching letter.

God Is Still at Work in Israel

As I mentioned earlier, Israel is the stage upon which God chose to reveal Himself to the world, as the one
true God. I haven’t found any Christians who deny this fact historically. Many, however, don’t seem to recognize that Israel is still significant to God. Living as we do, 2,000 years after the events of the Newer Testament, and around 3,000 years after the events of the Older Testament, Israel often seems irrelevant to Christians. Yet, God is still revealing Himself to the world as He fulfills His ancient promises to Israel. God is proving to the world that He is a faithful, covenant-keeping God who can be trusted to keep His word because of His faithfulness, regardless of the worthiness of the other.

“When they came to the nations, wherever they went, they profaned My holy name—when they said of them, ‘These are the people of the LORD, and yet they have gone out of His land.’ But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations wherever they went. 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”’” (Ezekiel 36:20–23).

Let’s look at a couple of ways God is revealing Himself today through Israel and the Jewish people.

God Promised to Restore the Land: “But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel, for they are about to come. For indeed I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown...The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by. So they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited’” (Ezekiel 36:8–9, 34–35). Even as little as 100 years ago, it seemed impossible for this passage to be fulfilled. Palestine (a name given to the Land of Israel as early as the fifth century AD to 1948) had become desolate after centuries of neglect under the oversight of Turkish landlords. Travelers to the area were quite dismayed by the Land of the Bible. The following are some of their testimonies.

In Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain describes the treeless desolation of the land of Palestine in the 1800s. He calls it a “blistering, naked, treeless land.” He calls the villages “ugly, cramped, squalid, uncomfortable, and filthy.” Another line reads “solitude to make one dreary; un-peopled deserts, and rusty mounds of barrenness that never, never, never do shake the glare from their harsh outlines.” One particularly descriptive sentence reads, “This stupid village of Tiberias, slumbering under its six funereal plumes of palms; yonder desolate declivity where the swine of the miracle ran down into the sea and doubtless thought it was better to swallow a devil or two and get drowned into the bargain than have to live longer in such a place.”

Nachmanides, a great Jewish scholar, visited in 1267 and described Jerusalem as “deserted and laid waste and that Judea was more destitute than Galilee.” George Sandys, son of Edwin Sandys, archbishop of York, was an English traveler, colonist, and poet. He reported in 1610 that the “land is bare of trees. The country is a vast empty ruin.” Some eyewitness accounts say that there were less than 1,000 trees in the Land and that there were not enough people living in the Land to till it! Yet, today, when you travel to Israel, you will see a different reality. The Land is being restored to its former beauty as prophesied. “I will open rivers in desolate heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water; and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar and the acacia tree, the myrtle and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the cypress tree and the pine and the box tree together; that they may see and know, and consider and understand together, that the hand of the LORD has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it” (Isaiah 41:18–20).

The Jewish people started returning to the Land in the 1800s. They began to reclaim the Land in a restoration process that continues to the present day. They drained malaria-filled swamps, planted millions of trees, irrigated desert lands, and planted the fields, growing more than enough for the needs of the inhabitants. The Land that Ezekiel once called the “glory of all lands” (20:6) is once again being restored to its former glory.

God Promised to Bring the Jewish People Back: The prophets of Israel foretold a day when the Jewish people would come back to their ancient homeland from the countries of their dispersal.

“‘I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; they shall build the waste cites and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; they shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land that I have given them,’ says the LORD your God” (Amos 9:14–15).

“When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, then they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer” (Ezekiel 39:27–28).

Today, over six million Jews live in Israel. Over three million of them came as immigrants, and many more are the children or grandchildren of immigrants. They continue to come from the countries of the world. It is estimated that there are 14 million Jewish people worldwide with the largest group residing in Israel for the first time in nearly 2,000 years. God is in the process of fulfilling His promises made through the prophets to bring His people home to Israel.

God Is Calling Us to Partner with Him

“Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, ‘Oh LORD, save Your people, the remnant of Israel’” (Jeremiah 31:7). Whenever you read the name “Jacob” in the Scriptures, it always refers to the man Jacob or the Jewish people—never the Church. So I believe God is telling Christians everywhere to do these things for the Jewish people.

• “Sing with gladness for Jacob”—Rejoice in what God is doing.

• “Shout among the chief of the nations”—Speak up on her behalf to
those who can make a difference.

• “Proclaim”—Tell what God is doing; tell Israel’s story.

• “Give praise”—Praise God for being a covenant-keeping God.

• “And say, ‘Oh LORD, save Your people’”—Pray for the complete
restoration and redemption of Israel.

At Bridges for Peace, we have many ways Christians can become involved with Israel and God’s plan to show His character and glory to the world. I hope you are actively standing with Israel. If not, check out our Web site and choose a way to partner with the Lord as He shows the world He is God on the stage of Israel.

By Rebecca J. Brimmer

International President and CEO

Bibliography

Blackaby, Henry. Experiencing God. Nashville, TN: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1989.

Brimmer, Rebecca J. Israel and the Church: God’s Road Map. Jerusalem: Bridges for Peace, 2006.

Falk, Harvey. Jesus, the Pharisee, a New Look at the Jewishness of Jesus. Eugene, OR: Wipf and
Stock Publishers, 2003.

Flusser, David. Jesus. Carlsbad, CA: Magnus Press, 1998.

Friedman, David. They Loved the Torah: What Yeshua’s First Followers Thought about the Torah.
Clarksville, MD: Messianic Jewish Publishers, 2001.

Lewis, David. Can Israel Survive in a Hostile World? Green Forest, AR: New Leaf Press,1994.

Twain, Mark. Innocents Abroad. 1869.

Wikopedia, online encyclopedia, www.wikopedia.org

Wilson, Marvin. Our Father Abraham: Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith. Grand Rapids,
MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1989.

All Scripture is taken from the New King James Version, unless otherwise noted.

Pictures:

www.israelimages.com/Naftali Hilger

www.israelimages.com/Garo Nalbandian

Many pastors, Bible teachers, and lay people have written and asked if they can use these notes for preaching and teaching. The answer is a resounding “yes”! It is our hope that the information contained herein will be disseminated over and over again, whether through the spoken word or by photocopying and redistributing these teachings. “For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:3).

For the full version of this teaching letter please visit www.bridgesforpeace.com or click on the link provided above.