Israel In The Headlines

Now we’re going to make our proclamation which is Psalm 129:5–6. I will be coming back to these verses later in my message.

Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion. Let them be like the grass upon the housetops, Which withers before it grows up. Amen.

Let me just say, “the grass upon the housetops” nobody in the Middle East plants grass on the roofs. Actually I discovered to my surprise that in Norway they do do that. But anyhow grass on the housetops in the Middle East is seeds that got blown there and they would sprout very quickly, but they have no root and they wither before they grow up. All those who hate Zion are going to be like that grass on the housetops. They’ll wither before they grow up. And let me predict, if there ever becomes a Palestinian state, it will be like grass on the housetops. It will wither before grows up.

How many of you this morning would like to see a prophecy from the Old Testament given about 2,500 years ago, actually fulfilled before your eyes here this morning? How many of you would like that? Well, it’s going to happen. Let me turn to Jeremiah 31:10,

“Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, And declare it in the isles afar off, [Now when it says ‘isles,’ in my version the marginal reading is ‘coastlands.’ I understand it means all the areas of the earth that border on the sea. So Florida is very definitely a coastland. And God said something is to be proclaimed in the coastlands of the earth. What is the something?] He who scattered Israel will gather him, And keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.”

So God ordained 2,500 years ago that that particular message should be proclaimed in every nation of the earth. It’s a message to the nations. “Hear this O nations...” That includes the United States. And I, today, am here proclaiming to you in South Florida, “He who scattered Israel will gather him, And will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.”

So that is a fulfillment of Jeremiah 31:10. It is being fulfilled before your eyes and in your ears today. As a matter of fact, when Ruth and I proclaim that Scripture as we do, we update it. Because when Jeremiah said, “will gather him” that was 2,500 years ago. Now we say, “Is gathering him. He who scattered Israel is gathering him and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.” “Keep” can be translated “protect.”

So there is a guarantee that no matter what political pressures and what violence erupts, God will protect regathered Israel. That doesn’t mean to say they won’t be fighting, there won’t be loss of life, there won’t be tremendous suffering, but in the midst of it all God will protect Israel as a shepherd protects his flock.

These are days when absolutely no one knows, in the natural, what will happen tomorrow in Israel. A war could break out there within 24 hours without any warning. But, no matter what happens, “He who scattered Israel is gathering him and will keep him...” Notice, the same person who scattered Israel will keep him. The one who scattered Israel was who? God. Who will keep him? God. So there is an absolute guarantee.

We have dear precious friends, Jewish friends, in Israel, believers, and naturally they are tremendously exercised about the way things are going politically. But we have to keep our eyes on that one central fact, “The one who scattered Israel is gathering him and will protect him.”

I’ve been asked to speak to you this morning on “Our Debt To Israel.” I’m not Jewish. Up to the first 25 years of my life I had very little contact with Jewish people. I had two Jewish friends in college, but they were so assimilated you could hardly realize they were Jews except for their names.

Then the Lord moved in my life sovereignly, took me to Israel and got me deeply and personally involved in Israel, and I ended up as an adopted father to a family of eight girls, of whom six were Jewish. As a matter of fact, at that time my wife, my Danish wife, was another member of the family and we had an Arab maid. So in that household there were 11 people, and I was the only male. And I was really not in any way prepared or trained for that, because I grew up as an only child without brothers or sisters. And for me girls were something of a mystery. I don’t think the are—yes they are, they remain a mystery.

However, on that basis I want to say as a Gentile, that I owe every spiritual blessing that I’ve ever received in my life to one people. That is the Jewish people. I will give you a very simple scriptural basis. If there had been no Jewish people, there would be no patriarchs, no prophets, no apostles, no Bible, and no Savior. How much salvation would any of us have without those five things? The patriarchs, the prophets, the apostles, the Bible and the Savior. So whether you want to acknowledge it our not, and some people don’t like to acknowledge it, we who are not Jewish owe every genuine spiritual blessing that we have ever received to the Jewish people.

Jesus said in John 4:22, “...salvation is of the Jews.” That’s a simple historical fact. People may get angry about it, and they do. People may seek to deny it, but it remains an incontrovertible fact. “Salvation is of the Jews.” If there would never been any Jews, none of us would ever have any salvation. We owe all our salvation to that one people, the Jewish people.

Not only are we indebted to the Jewish people here on earth, but if, by the grace of God, we ever make it to heaven we will encounter a very Jewish atmosphere, very Jewish surroundings. For instance in Revelation 5:5, when John the Revelator was taken up into heaven and was in the midst of the angels and the elders and all those who were worshiping the Lord, he heard somebody saying, “Who is worthy to take the book and open its seals and read it?” And he cried because there was no one could open this wonderful scroll. And then one of the elders said to him,

“Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to undo its seals.

So Jesus is there presented in eternity with two titles; the Root and the offspring of David, and the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Those are not temporary things that just were part of His life on earth for 33 years. They are eternal facts about our Redeemer. He is the Root and the Offspring of David. And David you remember, was a Jew. And He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Now that doesn’t mean quite as much as it should because you don’t realize the artistic implication. But the word in Hebrew for “Judah” is Yahuda. And the word for “Jew” is Yahudi. Only one letter is changed. In other words, being a Jew is from the tribe of Judah. So Jesus did not identify Himself with the Jewish people merely for 33 years. He is eternally identified with the Jewish people. And He is the Lamb upon the throne, but remember He is also the Lion. And for those who reject Him and His people, one day that Lion will roar and deal with His adversaries. It’s a very dangerous thing not to align yourself with God’s purposes for Israel.

And then in Revelation 21:12–14, we read a description of the New Jerusalem, which I believe should be the destiny of each one of us who is a committed believer. But when we get to the New Jerusalem we’re going to notice certain facts about it. It says in verse 12

The city had a great wall and high wall with twelve gates with twelve angels at the gates, and twelve names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: [So you cannot get into the New Jerusalem without passing through a Jewish name, because they’re all Jewish names. And then it says in verse 14] Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. [Those are all Jewish names.]

So the moment you approach the New Jerusalem you’re going to be confronted with 24 Jewish names. Is that going to embarrass you? I wonder how anti-Semitic people are going to fare in the New Jerusalem. Everything in the New Jerusalem shouts out loud Jewish. We as Gentiles—I’m a Gentile. You understand what a Gentile means? A lot of people don’t. Heathen are people who are not Christians. Gentiles are people that are not Jews. You can be a Christian Gentile. You see, God separated one nation for Himself—Israel, the Jewish people. And they are a people. All the rest are Gentiles. I’m a Gentile. I’m a Christian Gentile. I’m a Gentile believer in Jesus. Most of you are in the same category.

So we, as Gentiles, owe to the Jewish people every spiritual blessing that we’ve ever enjoyed. You would say, “Well, then through the course of history the Gentile Christian should have done everything possible to acknowledge their debt and repay it.” We never could repay it. But at least we could acknowledge it. The truth of the matter is the exact opposite. This is one of the most tragic facts of history.

From about the 400 A.D., although it began before that, until the present century, the greatest persecutors and bitterest enemies of the Jewish people have been professing Christians. Most of you are not really aware of the facts. There are some pages of history which the Christian church has torn out. It doesn’t read them. You need to know that the Jewish people have memorized them by heart. And when you find a certain coldness in the attitude of some Jewish people towards Christians, bear in mind there are 16 centuries of Christian anti-Semitism to explain that.

Now, I’m going to try to give you a fact. Are we ready with our overhead? Now I’m putting up the name of a book which contains a very clear thorough history of Christian anti-Semitism, and remarkably enough it was written by a Roman Catholic priest. I say remarkably, because for most Jewish people, the Catholic church is the emblem of anti-Semitism. I’ll leave it there because you might want to read it. It’s not light reading. On the other hand, it will open your eyes to things you are probably almost totally ignorant of, that are very relevant to the history of the church and to our spiritual situation. Let me say, I don’t know the author. I have no contact with the publishers. I stand to gain nothing financial from sale of that book. But, if it will do for you what it did for me, it will open your eyes to some very terrible facts. [The book is Anguish of the Jews by Edward H. Flannery]

We habitually, Christians, talk about a Christian campaign as a crusade. For my part I will never willingly use that word, because the Crusades and the Crusaders are some of the most wicked and cruel persecutors of the Jewish people. They had this concept that it was their responsibility to recapture from the Muslims the Holy places in Jerusalem. So they set out from Europe. But on the way they said, “We might as well deal with the enemies of the cross everywhere.” And so they massacred thousands of Jewish people on their way to Jerusalem. When they got to Jerusalem they dealt ruthlessly both with Muslims and the Jews. So never go to the Middle East and hold a Crusade. Because, believe me, you will not be welcome.

One of the things the Crusaders did was to gather the entire Jewish population as they could into the synagogue—men, women, children and babies—and then but the synagogue down over them. So they burned them alive in their own synagogue. And while the synagogue was burning they knelt down in a ring outside and sang the Latin hymn, Te Deum la Demus,“We Praise You O God.” That was their concept of serving God.

Now, this history of Christian anti-Semitism has a doctrinal root and it’s one of the clearest examples in history that false doctrine can produce catastrophic results. It matters whether we have correct doctrine or not. It’s not a matter of indifference.

Round about the middle of the second century, but by the end of the fourth century—by the end of the 300’s—a doctrine had been developed and more or less accepted throughout the church, that the church is the New Israel. Various people sponsored that doctrine including Augustine. So it has become a very sanctified doctrine, entrenched in Christian theology. I have to say it is totally incorrect. The church is not Israel. This is one of the biggest stumbling blocks in the way of the church.

My background is at Cambridge University. In Cambridge I am informed that at the moment there are four theological colleges, and seven Anglican churches. And only one of the churches does not hold to what’s called “Replacement Theology.” In other words, the majority of the ministers being trained in Britain are being taught that God has replaced Israel, they are no longer God’s people, and the church has become the new Israel. It just is not scriptural.

Where’s my book? Stand up and wave it. I go through all the places in the New Testament where the word “Israel” or “Israelite” is used. Not just blanket. I go through each one individually and I show that out of 76 places, there are only two where it could possibly be understood that Israel means the church. I don’t believe there is any such place. But by a perverted logic you could perhaps make two out of 76 places as an instance of where in the New Testament the word “Israel” refers to the church. I don’t believe it does. I believe there is a clear-cut distinction all the way through the New Testament. I believe this is a great source of confusion.
[The book Derek is referencing here is Destiny of Israel and the Church]

In fact, my personal feeling as a Britisher, as that true revival will never come to Britain until that lie has been canceled. I believe the destiny of Britain as a nation depends on a right understanding of Israel and God’s purposes. I believe the same could be true for the United States. I will come to that in a little while.

Also, in that book I list various places where the Bible says “God gave His oath.” He not merely spoke, but He gave His oath that He would give the land of Israel to the people of Israel for an everlasting possession by an everlasting covenant. Now if you’ve read the book, don’t answer. How many places do you think there are in the Bible where the Bible says that? Do you think there are three or four? Five or six? Maybe even ten? Do you know how many there are? 46 places in the Bible where it says, God gave His oath to give that land, and it always specifies exactly what the land is, to the descendants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for an everlasting possession by an everlasting covenant. Can you understand some of the furor that goes on in the media continually about that tiny little strip of land with a population of only five million people? And yet it really is in the news almost every day. Any where you go in the world—in Singapore, in New Zealand, Germany—it doesn’t make any difference. What is the reason? The reason is it is a vital spiritual issue. And the enemy of God and man, Satan, is fighting desperately by every means in his power to keep Israel from possessing their land.

This leads to a very serious conclusion for me. That if anybody takes a stand against the Jewish people recovering their land and their city, Jerusalem, whether or not that person knows it, he is in fact opposing the purposes of God and the return of Jesus. Because the Bible makes it abundantly clear that when Jesus comes back the Jewish people will be in their land and occupying their city, Jerusalem. So until that happens, Jesus cannot come back. The issues are not small, they’re vital, they’re extremely urgent. And I’m so concerned that so many Christians are bamboozled. I have to say, most of what you hear on the media about Israel is lies, to call it by the right name. And it’s a frightening thought that the media have so much influence that they can poison the atmosphere with their lies. I’m not going to go into the details now, but I’ve been an eye witness of these things for more than 50 years, so I’m not speaking from theory.

Now, we come to what my thinking is one of the most frightening facts of the Bible, that is that God is going to judge all other nations by the way they have treated Israel. I’m going to say that again because it’s important. God is going to judge all other nations by the way they have treated Israel and the Jewish people. Let me give you just a few examples. In Joel 3:1–2,

“For behold, in those days and at that time, When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, [Notice “I” is God. He’s speaking about the time when “I” God bring back the exiles of Israel. That is the days in which we are living. At that time God says,] I will also gather all nations, And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; [and the word Jehoshaphat means “the Lord judges”] And I will enter into judgment with them there [that’s with all nations] On account of My people, My heritage Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; They have also divided up My land.”

So when God judges the nations, and you can find another picture of this in Matthew 25 when Jesus sits on the throne of His glory, when God judges the nations He’s going to judge them on the basis of how they’ve treated Israel.

And not only that, but what they’ve done with what God calls “My land.” He calls it My land because it’s the land which God chose for Himself, but He also gave it by an everlasting covenant to Israel, so it is the land of Israel. God says He will judge the nations that have “divided up My land.”

Now there’s a modern political word that’s used for dividing up. It’s called “partitioning.” That’s exactly what it means. And God says He will judge the nations that have been responsible for dividing up the land of Israel. That’s a frightening thought. You see at the end of World War I the League of Nations gave to my nation, Britain, the responsibility of a mandate for that land. And included in the mandate was a specific statement that there was to be provided a national home for the Jewish people. In 1922, that’s just three or four years after the war ended, Winston Churchill who was then Home Secretary of Britain, with one stroke of his pen separated 78 percent of that land to become an Arab nation. It was then called Trans-Jordan, is now called Jordan. So out of the total 78 percent was gone. And no Jew is allowed to live in Jordan, whereas Arabs are all allowed to live in Israel.

Then at the end of World War II the United Nations further partitioned the land. On the 29th of November I was living in Jerusalem. At that time I vividly remember the scene. And they voted to give a certain area for a State of Israel. It was probably less than half the remaining territory. In fact, considerably less. So you could say out of the original assignment, Israel ended up with less than ten percent of the area that was assigned to them. The nations divided up the land of Israel.

You understand I’m British and I’m not ashamed of being British, although there are some things the British have done that I could wish they hadn’t done, and some of them were done in this part of the world too. But for about two hundred years, from about 1750 until about 1950 Britain had the largest world empire. One of the largest ever recorded in history.

I remember as a boy in Primary School, we used to sit and look at this map of the world and we looked at all the places that were colored pink, because they were all under the rule of Britain. Believe me, there were very few parts of the earth where there was no pink. There was lot of pink this side of the Atlantic at that time. The whole of Canada was colored pink. Some of the islands of the Caribbean, some countries in South America, much of East Asia, parts of China, like Hong Kong. I mean, you had to look very far to find somewhere that wasn’t colored pink. What I am saying is that Britain controlled one of the largest empires in human history territorially. And she controlled it for at least two hundred years. It was not a little empire. She was not a little power. In fact, when I was born she was the number one world power without any doubt.

Britain came through two world wars, the first and the second world wars, victorious. She’s survived with her empire in tact. Then in 1947 and 48, she was confronted with the issue of what to do with what they called Palestine, which was never it’s proper name. I was there at the time as a soldier in the British Army, then discharged as a civilian. So I am talking about things of which I was an eyewitness. The United Nations had voted to give this portion of land to a Jewish State. The British officials administering the territory, because of anti-Semitism which is endemic in Britain, did everything in their power short of actual warfare to prevent the State of Israel from emerging. I could go into details but it really wouldn’t serve much purpose.

So there’s this vast successful empire confronting this tiny little fledgling state which number about 600,000 persons when it came into being. What happened? Israel was born and the British Empire fell apart, without being defeated in war. Many people haven’t seen the connection, but that is cause and effect. Because the British Empire took its stand against God’s purposes for Israel, that empire dissolved. There’s no longer an empire.

Now God says in the passage that we quoted, “Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion. Let them be like the grass upon the housetops which withers before it grows up.” Notice, there’s no nationality specified in those verses. It’s an attitude towards the people and the purposes of God. To hate Zion is not nationalism. It’s being opposed to God and His purposes. And those who hate Zion will be confounded, thrown into confusion, turned back. That’s a fact. History has demonstrated it more than once, and God is perfectly prepared to do the same again. You might say, “Well, that tiny little strip of country just about four million Jews and one million plus Arabs, you mean to say that nations can be overthrown because of the attitude toward that?” My answer is definitely “Yes!” They can and will. And that does not exclude the United States.

One of the reasons God has blessed and prospered America is that they were a home of refuge for the Jewish people. But, in recent years, without going into political developments, the United States is veering closer and closer to opposing God’s purposes for the land of Israel. In the last election, not this recent one but the previous one, I refused to vote for Bush, although in many ways I would be sympathetic to the platform of his party, because Bush and Baker were both strongly anti-Semitic in their personal attitudes. Baker was responsible for some horrible statements about the Jewish people. It wasn’t officially stated as policy, but it was there as an attitude.

Now I am not a political expert. It seems to me that Clinton is not personally anti-Semitic. I may be wrong, but the State Department in the United States is dominated by Arabists, that’s people whose policy is based on exploiting the oil reserves of the Arab people in the Middle East. Consequently it isn’t really always the President who determines the policy. It’s determined by civil servants who have entrenched tenure and have a background of persistent consistent anti-Semitism. What’s going to be the result? I think it’s being determined. This may shock you, but I think the destiny of the Untied States is being determined by how it relates to Israel. You see, I don’t see the things the way—you say this great nation with 275 million people, the greatest resources in the earth and also the greatest debts. It couldn’t be that that tiny little group of people there would have an affect. I believe it could. I believe it will. I believe one essential condition for true spiritual awakening in the United States is a right attitude, a Biblical attitude toward Israel.

God said to the nations through the prophet Zechariah, “He who touches you [Israel] touches the apple of My eye.” You know what the apple of the eye is? It’s the eyeball. Nothing is more sensitive than the eyeball. We instinctively protect our eyeballs. God says, “Anybody that takes a wrong attitude and relationship toward the Jewish people is injuring God’s eyeball.” That is a frightening thought.

I want to read one passage in Isaiah 60—this is a fairly lengthy chapter—well, it’s not so long 22 verses—you’ll have to read it for yourself. But to me it is absolutely clear that when God speaks about you He’s speaking about Zion, the Jewish people, the State of Israel. And He comes up with an amazing statement, so amazing that I have often asked myself, “Do I really believe that?” But I do. Isaiah 60:12, remember this is addressed to Zion,

For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, And those nations shall be utterly ruined.

Amazing statement. You see God doesn’t always operate through the big and the dramatic. He tests us in small things. Really what’s happening at the moment in the world political scene is the nations are determining their own destiny. They don’t know it. They think they are determining the destiny of Israel. That’s not in their hands. That’s in God’s hands. What they are determining is their own destiny. Because those that will not bow their proud stubborn necks to the purposes of God concerning Israel will perish. I’ve read this verse scores of times. I’ve often asked myself, “Do I really believe it?” The answer is, “I do.” I’m going to read it again.

For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, And those nations shall be utterly ruined.

So you understand from my perspective what’s happening in the world today is the nations are determining their destiny. They’re lining up for or against. It’s interesting it’s mostly what we would call small nations that are “for.” Costa Rica has never withdrawn its embassy from Jerusalem. It’s the only nation that wouldn’t do it. People might not think that Costa Rica is very important. But God has seen that. There are other, what we would call new nations. Papua New Guinea is very pro Israel. That’s a remarkable fact. They are thousands and thousands of miles away.

A remarkable event was related to me by Lance Lambert. He had a friend who visited China some time ago, maybe 15 years ago now. A Christian friend, and he was in various prayer meetings where the Chinese Christians were praying. He didn’t understand a word of Chinese. In one meeting one man was praying so passionately, tears were gushing out of his eyes and drenching his T-shirt, and this man turned to the interpreter with him and said, “What is that man praying for?” He said, “He’s praying for Israel.” That’s a miracle. It’s supernatural. That man had no access to the kind of knowledge that would cause him to do that in the natural.

Some years back now, Ruth and I were in Kenya, a country that I know well. We encountered there Christians, African Christians, who told us, “We are praying earnestly for Israel.” That’s not because they were instructed. It’s because the Holy Spirit showed them how to pray.

Well, I think it would be good if Ruth and I were to close this as we close our evenings. We are people of, what would I say in a way, custom. You see we lead a very irregular life. Since we can remember we haven’t spent more that two and a half weeks resident in any place. I mean, it would take a long while back before we were. So our regularity comes from practices that we follow. For instance, and I’m not suggesting everybody else should do this, we always take communion together every morning. That is a kind of anchor for our day. We always pray for the money for our ministry every morning, and praise God we always get it. Sometimes at the last moment. When we go to bed at night we pray all sorts of things. Then we always pray for Israel, and then we pray for our family, and then we make our night time declaration which some of you, we’ve shared it with you in the past.

But today we’re going to show you what we proclaim for Israel. You have this in your bulletins. In fact if you want, you can join with us. We have prayed this now for a good many years, 365 times a year for say ten years is 3,650 times. You see one of the great secrets God has taught me is the power of proclamation. There is no more effective way to release the power of God’s word into a situation than proclaiming. We’ve proved that in our own lives. Neither one of us would be alive here today if we hadn’t learned to proclaim Psalm 118:17,

I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord.

That’s why we’re here. That’s why we didn’t die, by the grace of God.

So here’s one of our regular practices. Now it doesn’t mean God will lay this on the heart of everyone of you. But it wouldn’t do any harm if some of you took this up.

Let me say something else that I didn’t plan to say. This is unrehearsed and I can only just say it happened. When the International Council of our ministry was meeting in Boca Raton about a month ago, we were in prayer one day and one of our International Directors whose a New Zealander, when we finished praying he said, “For 15 or 20 minutes I had a strong impression that God was pouring into Benjamin Netanyahu a spirit of wisdom that would cause him to do things which would seem crazy to most people, but actually would bring about the fulfillment of God’s purposes.” Well, this man is a very sober man. He’s a good businessman. He owns the largest Christian bookstore in New Zealand. I respected him, but I thought you know...

Then I got a letter from a lady in Australia whom I have never met describing how God had been leading her to pray for primarily for Ron Irad (?) who is the missing prisoner of war whose been in Syrian hands since 1982. And then at the end, and she writes a very intelligent letter describing how God showed her how to pray and the things the He revealed to her. At the end she says, “And God showed me that he is giving Prime Minister Netanyahu a special kind of wisdom which would seem foolishness to everybody, but it would accomplish the purposes of God.” So that’s out of the mouths of two witnesses, completely unrelated, far separated in time and space. I have to say I find it difficult to believe and I tell you the Messianic believers in Israel find it almost impossible to believe, but I’m inclined to think that’s what God is doing. So, we’ve added that to our prayer but that’s not on this list.

Now if you want to, you can do it with us if you can find your card. Start at the top where you’ve got the Star of David and we’ll go down. If you can do it, you can do it with us. If not, just listen to us. This is our contribution to the situation in the Middle East. You say, “Well, Brother Prince, you really mean that making those proclamations can change the situation?” I do! You see, I think about Moses when God called him, you remember, to go back and deliver Israel and he was a shepherd with a staff in his hand. He said, “God, I can’t do that.” (Incidentally, when we were in Pensacola recently the pastor there prayed individually for Ruth and me and said, “Never tell God ‘I can’t’”) Anyhow, Moses said, “Well, God, I can’t do it. I don’t have anything. What have I got?” God said, “What’s that in your hand.” “Well, it’s just a staff like every shepherd carries.” “Throw it down on the ground.” And it turned into a snake and Moses fled from his own staff. He didn’t realize the power that was latent in his hand. Then he picked it up by the tail, which is the wrong way to pick a snake up, and it became a rod again. And if you study the history, that rod was all Moses needed to get Israel out of Egypt. Everything he did by stretching out that rod. So what he considered insignificant and unimportant was the key to the situation.

Now I say to you, you’ve got a rod in your hand but you don’t recognize what it is. It’s a Bible. And if you can release the power that’s in that rod it will change the history of nations. So that’s what we do. We feel it’s important. Personally I feel... Sometimes I’m very tired and sleepy and think, “Lord, maybe tonight, not...” But I always hear the Lord’s inaudible voice, “I’m counting on you.” Do you know that? Do you know the Lord is counting on us? He’s expecting things from us. So here we are. Are you there?

He who scattered Israel is gathering him and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.

Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion. Let them be like the grass upon the housetops which withers before it grows up. Destroy O Lord and divide their tongues.

That’s one of the most powerful weapons that you can ever exercise. I want to stop for a moment and say 1953, when I was pastoring in London the two giant communist empires, Russian and China, were in agreement and were preparing to crush the free world. I said, “Lord, what do I have to pray?” And He gave me this prayer, “Destroy O Lord and divide their tongues.” From that time to this, Russia and China have never been able to agree on anything significant, and their power has been strictly limited. So we’ll pray that again.

Destroy O Lord and divide their tongues. The scepter of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous.

What is the land allotted to the righteous? Israel. What’s the scepter of the wicked? Islam. All right, we’re going on.

For the Lord will not forsake His people for His great names sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make Israel His people.

Notice, it’s not because of the virtues of Israel. It’s for His names sake. That’s why. Now this next one is longer.

Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke and it was done, He commanded and it stood fast. The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. He makes the plans of the peoples of no affect. The counsel of the Lord stands forever. The plans of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. The people whom He has chosen as His own inheritance. Show your marvelous loving kindness by your right hand, oh you who save those who trust in you from those who rise up against him. Keep Israel as the apple of your eye. Hide us under the shadow of your wings from the wicked who oppress us, from our deadly enemies who surround.

And you notice that’s the other place where Israel is referred to as the apple of God’s eye. Finally the whole of Psalm 124.

“If it had not been the LORD who was on our side,” Let Israel now say— “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, When men rose up against us, Then they would have swallowed us alive, When their wrath was kindled against us; Then the waters would have overwhelmed us, The stream would have swept over our souls; Then the swollen waters Would have swept over our souls.” Blessed be the LORD, Who has not given us as prey to their teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; The snare is broken and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.

Amen. God bless you.