Tag: Israel—Chosen by God

Why Stand with Israel?

On By CarmenLeave a comment

Israel has been on my mind daily since the brutal attack on its people on October 7, 2023. I have thought incessantly about the war between Israel and its enemies—Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, Iran, etc.

Appalling events happen in war, whether intentionally or unintentionally. It has been this way throughout history, and it is better to avoid war if possible. 

This war was started because Hamas and its allies have one goal in common—annihilate the country of Israel and its people.

Israel has no alternative but to defend itself.

What would you do if someone invaded your home and tried to kill your family?

I would certainly defend mine.  

Over the last year, I have recalled important scriptures to advocate the call to support Israel and I have studied even more to help me be sure that I follow God’s word.

I have felt compelled to explain why we should support Israel.

First, it was important for me to lay some groundwork, which I have done in my previous posts, Israel—Chosen by God.

In today’s post, I will reiterate what the Bible says about God’s relationship and love for Israel, referencing His covenant with Israel and why He chose Israel. I will also restate God’s wondrous gift to mankind through Israel and conclude with His sovereignty over all creation and His promise to defend Israel against its enemies.

God’s Covenant with Israel

God’s eternal covenant with Israel is found throughout scripture and begins with God promising Abraham to make him a great nation that would bring blessings to the entire world.

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Genesis 12:1-3

It’s our support of the nation of Israel that renders blessings—especially in their time of need.

God’s Decree for Israel to Live Righteously

God chose Israel because He wanted a nation to follow His ways and receive His blessings to thrive and be a witness to other nations.

God provided specific laws for man to follow that are righteous and bring blessing.

These laws were given to Israel because He did not want them to commit the abominations of the people He rejected. (Deuteronomy 18:9-14)

This is why God gave Israel the land they inhabit today—and even more land that they failed to enter into.

Was Israel always obedient to God in following His commands?

No. It is recorded in scripture that Israel disobeyed God and followed after the customs of their neighbors. They essentially rejected God. And since He is a God of justice, He had to discipline His beloved children.

However, when Israel turned back to God, He forgave them and reestablished them as He said He would.

“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts…

Malachi 3:6

God’s Deliverance of Israel

Israel is God’s chosen people, and He will always draw them back to Him.

Israel has been attacked by other nations commencing with Assyria’s invasion in 733 BC. Since then, Israel has been under attack and its people have been scattered throughout the world.

They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

Luke 21:24

“The times of the Gentiles” refers to the period of the Gentile invasion of Israel starting with the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 586 BC and ending with the future return of Jesus Christ to earth. This return will mark Christ’s defeat of Israel’s enemies, and He will set up His kingdom in Jerusalem to rule the nations during the millennium.

God’s Gift to Mankind through Israel

God chose Israel to provide redemption through His only Son, Jesus Christ.

This forgiveness of sins is a gift to all mankind if they surrender their lives to Christ by professing their faith in Him, asking Him for forgiveness of their sins, and abiding in Him. 

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” 

John 3:16-18

The people and nations who believe in Jesus Christ are blessed through the seed of Abraham and his descendants just as God promised.

The United States of America has been blessed because of its foundation built upon Jesus Christ, because of the Jews who came here and made this their home, and because of our alliance with Israel and recognition of the reestablishment of its statehood in 1948.

Our nation indeed has many flaws and I pray that we would repent and turn back to God wholeheartedly; that we would not follow man, but God and His decrees; and that we would continue to stand by Israel—because God has ordained it. 

God’s Sovereignty over All Creation

God set His plan in action and will not be deterred. He is the creator of all things! 

The apostle Paul asserts that God is sovereign and can do what He wants, how He wants.

 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
    or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him
    that he might be repaid?”

 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Romans 11:33-36

Once you become a student of the Bible, you begin to understand why the events of today are taking place and what the future holds. There is so much information in scripture about the past, present, and future events of the world, I cannot share it all here in one post.

God makes it clear that He will never turn His back on Israel. He may chastise Israel, but He will always be watching Israel and will make good on His promise to defend His beloved nation.

If I forget you, Jerusalem,
    may my right hand forget its skill.
May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
    if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
    my highest joy.

Psalm 137:5-6

God’s Battle Against Israel’s Enemies

As stated previously, when Jesus Christ comes back to this earth, He will defend Israel by engaging in battle against Israel’s enemies and definitively defeat them.  

Behold, a day is coming for the LORD…For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle…Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward…Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him…On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea…And the LORD will be king over all the earth…But Jerusalem shall remain aloft on its site from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses. And it shall be inhabited, for there shall never again be a decree of utter destruction. Jerusalem shall dwell in security. And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. And on that day a great panic from the LORD shall fall on them, so that each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of the other…And the wealth of all the surrounding nations shall be collected, gold, silver, and garments in great abundance.                                                                                          

Zechariah 14:1-14

I take God at His Word and understand that we should stand with Israel, pray for Israel, and teach others the truth in God’s word about Israel.

May we turn our hearts, prayers, and support toward Israel and stand strong with this chosen nation of God.

And—may we also pray for the innocent Palestinians who are caught up in this war. It is pure evil for the Hamas terrorists to use their own people as shields in a time of war.

Shalom שָׁלוֹם

Below is a beautiful song that demonstrates Israel’s ongoing affliction and future hope.

Woe to My Country

Israel—Chosen by God: A Blessing to All

On By CarmenLeave a comment

The nation of Israel was chosen by God to be a blessing to all people.

In my nine previous posts, the Israel—Chosen by God series, scripture has been clear about this promise God made to Abraham, the father of Israel, and to every generation of Israel until the end of time.    

God chose Israel to be His nation, to follow His ways (which results in blessing), and to provide the ultimate blessing—a Savior.

This promise was first made to Abraham in Genesis.

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

                                                                                                             Genesis 12:1-3

This same promise was reiterated by God to Isaac, Abraham’s son of promise in Genesis 26:2-5, and later to Jacob, Isaac’s son, in Genesis 28:13-15.

Jacob’s name was changed by God to Israel when he was on his way back to Canaan. Israel means “he strived with God and prevailed.” (Genesis 32:24-31)

So, it is from the nation of Israel that the blessed promise was given to all mankind.

This promise is salvation through Jesus Christ, a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

                                                                                                           Matthew 1:1-17

Jesus’s birth was planned from the beginning of time. The Bible is about the creation of the world, sin, redemption, and defeating evil.

Jesus Christ is the center theme of the Bible and He was with God the Father at the creation of the world. (John 1:1-3)

Jesus is our redemption that was promised and prophesied throughout the Old Testament by the prophets, and He is the God man who left the throne-room in heaven and came to earth as a baby in Bethlehem of Judea in Israel.

He came to this world to teach truth, love, and forgiveness, but most importantly, to be the sacrificial Lamb.

The apostle John who walked with Jesus during His ministry here on earth testifies to this.

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

                                                                                                                 1 John 2:1-2

The only perfect human to live on this earth was destined to become the sacrifice for our sins—perfection taking on the iniquity of the whole world.

This is how God the Father planned the redemption of mankind, past, present, and future.    

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

                                                                                                               John 3:16-18

Jesus did not come to this earth to condemn it, but to save the world through drawing the lost to Himself.

He is the fulfillment of the Law given by Moses, not the replacement of the Law, as some may think.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” 

                                                                                                         Matthew 5:17-18

One of the godly men that I have followed over twenty years is John F. McArthur, pastor of Grace Community Church and host of Grace to You, national Christian media ministry.

He explains Matthew 5:17-18 stating, “Jesus was neither giving a new law nor modifying the old, but rather explaining the true significance of the moral content of Moses’ law and the rest of the OT…Christ was indicating that he is the fulfillment of the law in all its aspects. He fulfilled the moral law by keeping it perfectly…And he fulfilled the judicial law by personifying God’s perfect justice.”

McArthur further clarifies, “Christ was affirming the utter inerrancy and absolute authority of the OT as the word of God—down to the smallest stroke or letter…This should not be seen as supplanting and abrogating the OT, but as fulfilling and explicating it.”

Therefore, the ceremonial requirements of the law (Colossians 2:16-23) were fulfilled by Jesus Christ and are no longer required to be followed by Christians. However, other mandates of the law are not to be abolished and very much remain as a standard of scriptural truth in the New Testament. 

Because Jesus obeyed His Father in heaven and died for our sins—the whole world’s sins, we are resolved of our past wrongs if we surrender our lives to Him, ask Him for forgiveness of our sins, and abide in Him.

Jesus’s sacrificial love for us along with our personal acknowledgment of His deity and following Him in obedience shields us from eternal damnation.  

We are indeed blessed through Israel; if from Israel we were given Christ, what better blessing can we acknowledge?

From the twelfth chapter of Genesis, we have been called to bless Israel.

We should certainly want to because of what God has given us through the nation of Israel: Our Lord and Savior—and with Him, forgiveness, freedom, blessings, and eternal life with God.

If you have not yet surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, who gives us eternal life through His loving sacrifice, I hope you will do so today.

I will be happy to help you in making your decision for Christ in any way that I can. Send me a message in the comments and I will respond.

I hope this series has been a blessing to you and has helped you understand why we should bless Israel.

Join me next for Why Stand with Israel?

Below is a song that glorifies our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May it bless you.

“Thank You Jesus for the Blood” – Charity Gayle

Israel—Chosen by God: Jacob – Part 6

On By Carmen3 Comments

In my previous post, Israel—Chosen by God: Jacob – Part 5, we learn about some of Jacob’s sorrows after moving to Shechem.

One of these tragedies was the loss of Rachel, the love of his life. She died giving birth to their youngest son, Benjamin.

Jacob loved his children by Rachel as he was older when they were born. If you remember from a previous post, Joseph was the oldest child of Rachel—and he was Jacob’s favorite.

Joseph was hated by his jealous half-brothers because of this. When Joseph was in his teens, Jacob gave him a beautiful robe of many colors which only caused more jealousy. He would often send Joseph out to check on his older brothers when they were working in the field tending to the livestock. One day, Joseph gave his father a bad report about them making their relationship even worse.     

Joseph was a special child to whom God gave the gift of interpreting dreams. One day Joseph told his brothers about one of his dreams in which their sheaves bowed down to his. The dream was prophetically true, but his brothers did not receive it well; they understood that it meant they would bow down to him and he would reign over them.  

It is true that God gives to each of us special talents and gifts, but it’s probably best to not share them with others if it’s going to insult people and make them jealous.

Joseph was around seventeen years of age and had some learning to do.   

Once again, Jacob sent Joseph out into the field to check on his brothers, but this time they decided to get rid of him and sold him to an Ishmaelite caravan that was passing by. They, in turn, sold him into slavery to the Egyptians.

His brothers told their father that he was killed by a wild animal and showed him his robe of many colors ripped and covered in blood.

Just imagine Jacob’s response when he heard this.

And they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said, “This we have found; please identify whether it is your son’s robe or not.” And he identified it and said, “It is my son’s robe. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.” Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him.

Genesis 37:32-35

Jacob “the deceiver” was deceived by his own sons.

Some years later, there was famine in all the land except for Egypt where they had prepared for the famine by storing up grain seven years prior under Joseph’s command.

Yes, Joseph—Jacob’s beloved son, sold to the Ishmaelites by his brothers some twenty years prior.

Joseph had severe trials while in Egypt, but God was with him, and in time placed him second in command under Pharaoh. Joseph took care of all Pharaoh’s business in Egypt and was responsible for the abundance of grain in Egypt’s storehouses.

When the famine began, the Egyptians purchased grain from Joseph, and then other countries began traveling to Egypt to purchase grain to survive.

When Jacob found out that Egypt had grain for sale, he sent ten of his sons down to Egypt to purchase from them, and his brothers had to purchase from no other but Joseph.

When they met him, they bowed down to him, just as he had dreamed so many years ago.

When God gives us a vision for His purpose, He is faithful to carry it through.

Although they didn’t recognize him, he certainly recognized them, the very ones who sold him into slavery.

He did not let them know who he was and accused them of being spies. They denied being spies and told him that they came from Canaan where their father still lived with their youngest brother.  

Joseph tested his brothers by insisting they were spies and kept Simeon while he sent them away with their grain to bring Benjamin back to prove their story.

They became fearful and while talking among themselves admitted their wrong so many years ago in selling Joseph to the Ishmaelites. They understood that their sin had finally caught up to them.

When we sin, we can be sure that there will be consequences—sometimes immediately, other times it may take years.

The good news is that if we admit our sin and repent, God is faithful to forgive us and He will help us through the consequences.  

When they returned to Canaan and told their father all that had transpired, Jacob was very angry with them for mentioning Benjamin—and he was heartbroken. He was not about to allow Benjamin to go down to Egypt with them, especially being bereaved of Joseph for so many years.  

After some time, they were running out of grain again and Jacob had to allow Benjamin to go to Egypt with them, so Judah took responsibility for bringing Benjamin back to him.

When they returned to Egypt, they were invited to eat with Joseph in his house. They were afraid, but the steward of Joseph’s house put them at ease and brought Simeon out to them.

When Joseph returned home, they came to him and bowed down to him again. Joseph recognized Benjamin and inquired of their father. They told Joseph that their father Jacob was alive and well.

Then Joseph saw Benjamin and asked if he was their youngest brother, and immediately became so emotional that he had to leave the room to find a place to cry. Once he regained composure, he returned and commanded the food be served.

Joseph sat separately from his brothers because it was forbidden for Egyptians to eat with Hebrews. In fact, it was considered an abomination to the Egyptians. 

At their table, they were seated in order of birth, youngest to oldest, and they were amazed at this. In addition, Benjamin, Joseph’s brother by his mother Rachel, was given more food than the others.

Portions were taken to them from Joseph’s table, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. And they drank and were merry with him.

Genesis 43:34

I would have liked to have known what was going on in their minds when this was happening—their reaction to their table setting in birth order, Benjamin being given more food than them, and still, they had no idea who Joseph really was.  

Soon it was time for them to return to Canaan and they all started back with their grain. Joseph tested them once more by placing a silver cup in Benjamin’s sack. Then, he pursued them after they departed and accused them of stealing the silver cup. It was found in Benjamin’s bag, and Judah pleaded with Joseph to hear him out.

Judah tells him about how his father is already broken due to the loss of Benjamin’s brother, and now if he doesn’t return with Benjamin to Canaan, it will be the end of his father.  

Joseph becomes emotional and finally tells his brothers that he is the brother they sold into slavery.

The brothers are in disbelief!

I imagine Joseph saw the fear in their eyes and told them that although they meant to do him harm by their actions twenty years prior, God meant it all for good. And this good was for stored up for that particular day when Joseph could help them in a time of severe hardship.

What an amazing person to forgive such affliction. Joseph had a committed relationship to God and was willing to be used for His purposes no matter how it affected him. He was humbled in his trials in Egypt, and because he remained obedient to God, he was lifted up to a high place of power. In essence, God could trust him to do the right thing.

He tells them that the famine will continue for another five years and he has made provisions for them to travel back to Canaan to bring their father back to Egypt, that they would not succumb to poverty and he would give them all they needed to live in Egypt.

Throughout all the hardship that Jacob and Joseph endured, God had a plan. It was to preserve and strengthen Israel, to allow Israel to grow in number, and to give Israel only the best.

They could not have known all this at the time of their suffering, but God knew. He was behind the scenes working everything for the good of his chosen people. (Romans 8:28) 

We serve an amazing God!

Join me next week for the rest of Jacob’s story in Israel—Chosen by God: Jacob – Part 7.

Below is a song about how God takes care of us through trials that serve to build faith in us.

May it bless you while you walk with God.

“Good to Me” – Rhett Walker