The Regathering Of Israel

I said just a few moments ago that today is a very unusual date, because it’s the concurrence of two of the most significant dates in this century. Because, as you probably know we have what’s called the Gregorian calendar with 365 days of the year. The Jewish people have their own calendar which doesn’t keep step with ours. So the anniversary of what took place on the 14th of May 1948 in Israel was celebrated quite a while ago according to their calendar. But today in Israel, this day is the anniversary of the day that the Jewish nation gained control of the city of Jerusalem in 1967. In Israel it’s called Jerusalem Day. So by the two calendars you get the combination of what I consider to be the two most significant dates in this century. May 1948 when Israel was reborn as a state after nineteen centuries of dispersion, and June 1967 when for the first time in nineteen centuries, the Jewish gained governmental control of the city of Jerusalem.

I was there on the first occasion. In May 1948 I was living in Jerusalem with my first wife and our adopted daughters in the city. At that particular point, having been refugees wandering through the streets of Jerusalem for several weeks, we were living in a building which is very conspicuous in modern Jerusalem. If any of you have been to Jerusalem you’re sure to know where King George Avenue is, and at the main intersection of King George Avenue, with what’s called Agron Street, there is a large building which is now a center of Conservative Judaism— that was where we were living. It was then an Assemblies of God Mission Building. And that was where we were when the state of Israel was born.

Up to that time, as you know, it had been Palestine and it had been under a British mandate for quite a number of years. On the evening of the 13th of May there was knock at our door about

nine o’clock at night. When I opened the door a British Military officer said, ‘I just want to tell you we’re moving out tonight.’ That’s the 13th of May. ‘Tomorrow you’ll be under the Jews.’ We didn’t know what would be entailed in that, but that’s what happened. The next day the Jews were the governing body of that area or Jerusalem, and a nation was born in a day. As it’s stated in Isaiah chapter 66 verse 8:

“Who has heard such a thing?
Who has seen such a thing?
Shall a nation be born in a day?”

Israel was born in day—a complete nation with a government, an army, a navy, a police force, all embryonic—but all that it takes to make a nation was born in one day. And Isaiah says, ‘Who has heard such a thing, who has seen such a thing?’ I don’t think it had ever happened in human history before, and I had gone there for quite a while with out family and I witnessed one of the major miracles of our century I believe. Let me say, I’m not Jewish. You need to know that. I’m as British as anybody here tonight. I’m not Scottish, but I’m British.

And in the next few weeks, six hundred fifty thousand Jews with very little resources, very little military supplies of any kind, defeated and turned back the much more highly armed armies of Arab nations numbering fourteen million, and I was there. I saw it happen. And I would have to say there is really no natural explanation for how it happened. But God intervened to fulfill His Word. And if you want to understand what’s happening in Israel and the Middle East, there is only one reliable source of information. It’s not the media because they are very often unreliable, but it is the Bible, the Word of God. And the Bible is more up to date than the newspapers, because they tell you what happened yesterday, the Bible tells you what’s going to happen in the days that lie ahead.

So I’m going to turn to the Bible now for the rest of this message and I’m going to try to unfold to you in simple outline the situation in the Middle East and the course that events will take. Somebody said the outlook is dark, but the up-look is bright. And I think that’s true very much in the Middle East.

First of all, in considering this—and I’m not going to consider it from a political point of view. I am not a political expert, I’m not a military expert, but from the point of view of God and His Word, I would like to begin with a well-known Scripture in Psalm 24 verse 1:

“The earth is the LORD’S and the fullness thereof,”

We need to know that. To whom does the earth belong? To God, that’s right. It belongs to Him by sovereign right of creation and He has absolute right to do what He will with any or all the parts of this earth, and no one has any right to challenge God as to what He does.

Now God has a plan and this was unfolded by Moses in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 8 and 9. This is a key verse if you want to understand what’s happening in the world today, and this goes far beyond what’s happening in the Middle East, but the Middle East is the center. I think you need to realize that. All of us tend to think about the place where we live as the center, because it’s the center for us. But scripturally and geographically, the Middle East is the center and Israel lies at the meeting point of three continents—Africa, Asia, and Europe. That’s no accident. God designed it that way. And every major event in the whole outworking of God’s redemptive plan has always been enacted in the same place—in that little strip of territory—and actually within a ten mile radius of the city of Jerusalem. Every major event in the divine plan of redemption has been enacted there. And as I point out to you, when Israel was restored there as a nation it was as if God was letting up the curtain on the final act of the drama which will take place in precisely the same place where all the other major acts have taken place. But Moses says in Deuteronomy 32 verse 8 and 9:

“When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations,
When He separated the sons of Adam,
He set the boundaries of the peoples
According to the number of the children of Israel.”

In other words, when God allotted territories to all the nations, He started from Israel. That’s where He worked out from. And then it says:

“For the LORD’S portion is His people;
Jacob is the place of His inheritance.”

So God has one particular area of the earth which is in a very special sense, His inheritance. That is the territory allotted to Jacob or to Israel. And then in Acts chapter 17 verse 26 in the New Testament, Paul is speaking to the people of Athens and he makes a very, very important statement which I’m going to read to you—not from the New King James—but from the New International Version because it’s a very clear statement of this truth. This is Acts 17:26:

“From one man He [that is, God] made every nation of men [who was the one man? Adam, that’s right.] that they should inhabit the whole earth, and He determined the time set for them and the exact places where they should live. [I’ll read that latter part again.]
He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.”

In other words, God has a place for every nation and He’s got a time where every nation shall be in its place. And if you look at the events of this century, one of the main factors is God’s time came to get the Jewish people back to the land that He had promised to give them by an everlasting covenant. Really they didn’t want to go back. In fact, I don’t claim to understand all of history, but I think the Holocaust was the way God used to uproot the Jewish people from centuries in Europe and send them back to their own land, because His time had come for them to be back in that place. God is very merciful. He’s wonderfully gracious, but He’s also ruthless. If He says He’s going to do something, you can be absolutely sure that He will do it. That applies to all of us. It doesn’t just apply to the Jewish people. Whatever God said He will do, He will do.

Now I would like to focus for the rest of this message on the significance of the regathering of the Jewish people in their own land, and I want to turn to the prophet Isaiah chapter 11 and read from verse 11, a few verses. Now we need to understand that, you’ve probably heard that some commentators divide Isaiah up into two sections—First Isaiah and Second Isaiah, and some even go as far as Third Isaiah, and the theory is that from Isaiah chapter 40 and onwards was a second prophet. And one of the reasons that is suggested is because he obviously predicted certain things which were not fulfilled in the day of the historical Isaiah. Now I have no problem about that because I believe God knows what’s going to happen in advance and through His prophets He can supernaturally reveal it. That doesn’t cause me any problems. But it causes problems to scholars who don’t believe in the supernatural power of God. And so the theory is that everything from Isaiah chapter 40 onwards was written by a later prophet who really knew what had happened and was just pretending to predict what I think is putting the Word of God on a rather low level. But the fact of the matter is that this prophecy is in Isaiah chapter 11, and no one has ever suggested that Isaiah chapter 11 was written by a later prophet. And yet in this chapter Isaiah actually looks forward to a first scattering and a first regathering of Israel and then to a second scattering and a second regathering.

The first scattering took place when Babylon captured Jerusalem, drove the Jewish people into exile. But the second scattering took place in 70 A.D. when the Romans captured Jerusalem and the Jewish people were dispersed amongst the nations and have been dispersed until this century. But Isaiah here predicts a second regathering which has taken place in our day. I have lived long enough to be an eyewitness of it myself. I’ve seen it happen in front of my eyes. So let me read these verses.

“It shall come to pass in that day”

And that phrase that day is often used at the period that makes the close of this age. Not always, but often.

“It shall come o pass in that day
That the LORD shall set His hand again the second time
To recover the remnant of His people who are left,
From Assyria and Egypt,
From Pathros and Cush,
From Elam and Shinar,
From Hammath and the islands of the sea.”

Notice God will set His hand to regather His people again the second time. This is not the regathering from the Babylonian captivity. It’s a second regathering and many of the places that are mentioned, the Jewish people were not scattered to in the first exile. And then it says:

“He [the Lord] will set up s a banner for the nations”

And always remember when it says nations that means Gentiles unless otherwise stated. All the nations except Israel.

“He will set up a banner for the nations,
And will assemble the outcasts of Israel,
And gather together the dispersed of Judah
From the four corners of the earth.”

Notice, this is a worldwide ingathering. It’s not fulfilled by the regathering after the Babylonian exile because it’s from the four corners of the earth. All the scattered Jewish people will be regathered. And remember when you read the word Judah, it’s from Judah we get the word Jew. Many people don’t realize that. The Hebrew word for Judah is Yehuda and the Hebrew word for a Jew is Yehudi. So whenever it speaks about the remnant of Judah, that means the remnant of the Jewish people. And here it says God will regather the remnant of the Jewish people from the four corners of the earth.

Ruth and I at one time studied briefly in the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, we had in our classes between us, Jews who had returned from thirty different nations. And actually during the past fifty years or so Jewish people have returned to the land of Israel from at least one hundred nations, from every part of the earth. So this Scripture has been exactly and accurately fulfilled in our days. We have seen it. Let me go on reading a little:

“The envy of Ephraim shall depart,
And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not envy Judah,
And Judah shall not harass Ephraim.”

You need to bear in mind that in the time of Isaiah Israel was divided into two rival kingdoms—the northern kingdom of Ephraim and the southern kingdom of Judah. They went into captivity separately. Ephraim was taken captive by Syria, Judah was taken captive by Babylon, and they had a separate destiny. But when they went into captivity it was as two separate kingdoms. But the Word of God says here when they are regathered there will no longer be the rivalry between the two kingdoms. They will be one kingdom once again.

It’s very interesting—in 1948 when the state was born it all came about so quickly that a lot of things hadn’t been planned, and one important thing that had not been planned was what name

to give to the state. And there were a number of different suggestions, and one that was very nearly chosen was Judea. But you see God intervened and caused it to be named Israel because, had the name Judah been given, it would have perpetuated the division as two kingdoms. So you see how totally accurate the Word of God is when we are able to apply it in the right way.

“And then it goes on in verse 14:
But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west; Together they shall plunder the people of the East;
They shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab;
And the people of Ammon shall obey them.”

Now I want to be totally objective. I’m not politically motivated. I simply want to be accurate about that, but you need to know that the word Philistine in today’s vocabulary is Palestine, the Palestinians. That’s the same word—Philistine, Palestine—in Arabic Palestine is Palestene (phonetically). And I just have to state: Whether you like it or not, whether you agree with it or not, this has been fulfilled, because they have fled, or flown down on the shoulders of the Palestinians toward the west—which is Gaza and Egypt. You may not agree with what God is doing or saying, but the fact of the matter is, it’s happened the way God said it would happen.

Now we have a lot of talk about the West Bank. Somebody said the River Jordan is a strange river because it only has one bank, the West Bank. You never hear about the east bank. But here it’s talking about the east bank, and so far from saying that Israel will give up the West Bank, it indicates that they were going to gain control over the east bank. Now you know, let’s wait and see. But that’s what it says very clearly. Let me read it again:

“They shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab;
And the people of Ammon shall obey them.”

Edom, Moab and Ammon are all parts of one nation. What’s the modern name? Jordan. Okay now, don’t in any way get angry with me. I didn’t write it, I’m not responsible for its happening. I just suggest that we better keep careful attention to what the Bible says because it’s usually right.

Now I want to give you what I believe to be the significance of this event. So far we’ve just discussed the actually outworking of the prediction. I’d like to go back to a statement made in Isaiah chapter 11 verse 12 concerning the regathering of the Jewish people. It says:

“The Lord will set up a banner for the nations…”

‘The nations,’ the Gentile nations. So Israel regathering is the Lord’s banner lifted up for the nations. When you see that, it makes a lot of sense. What is a banner? Well there’re usually two aspects to a banner. First of all, it’s something that’s lifted up to attract attention. Second, it usually carries some kind of brief message. So regathered Israel is God’s banner, first of all, lifted up to attract attention. It has certainly succeeded. I don’t know if you have ever considered that it’s remarkable that a tiny little strip of territory at the east end of the Mediterranean, smaller than many of the states of the United States, with a population of about three and a half million, is never out of the news, never. You can hardly open a newspaper any day of the week but there’s some headline about Israel. It’s not always very flattering, but it’s there. Why is that? The answer is because regathered Israel is God’s banner, and the whole world is looking at that banner. God intended it to be that way. Even the media that may be extremely negative in certain aspects, are fulfilling God’s purpose, because God wants the attention of the entire earth focused on that land. Would you agree that He’s succeeded? He certainly has. I mean, it’s amazing when you consider how small that area is. And in many ways it’s not so tremendously significant economically, politically, for its resources. Why is it the center of attention? The answer is: Its God’s banner; He lifted it up.

What is the message on the banner? What is God saying to the nations through regathered Israel? Well, I will suggest to you four things that God is saying. Now you’re free to believe this or not believe it. You’re free to agree with me or not agree with me, but this is my understanding of it, and I spent a good many years studying it and meditating on it and praying about it. However, it could be that I’m wrong. It’s happened before and you can disagree with me and still go to heaven. Isn’t that good news?

All right. Now I’m going to give you the four messages that I see on this banner. I’ll give them all and then we’ll go through them one by one. Number one, God is saying that the Bible is a true, relevant, up-to-date book. Okay? Number two, He’s saying that God keeps His covenants. Number three, He’s saying that God’s counsel stands. When God has planned something, it will happen. Number four, He’s saying that the stage is set for the close of this age. I think I’ll say those again. Number one, the Bible is a true, relevant, up-to-date book. Number two, God keeps His covenants. Number three, God’s counsel stands. Number four, the stage is set for the close of this age. All right. I think you’ll agree with me that those are the messages on the banner— they’re very important. You see, God doesn’t want any nation ignorant of these facts, because the nations are going to be judged by the Word of God. So God is giving all nations abundant evidence that His Word is true in the Bible. Whether they believe it or not is their problem, but the evidence is there for all to see.

Now I could give you at least fifty difference passages from the Hebrew prophets clearly and exactly predicting the regathering of Israel, but it would take me all night. I’m going to confine myself to three specific passages. The first is in Jeremiah chapter 30 verses 1 through 7:

“The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
‘Thus speaks the LORD God of Israel, saying ‘Write in a book for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you.”

In other words, make a permanent record because it’s going to be needed by future generations. Okay? This is the permanent record.

“‘For behold, the days are coming,’ says the LORD, ‘that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,’ says the LORD. ‘And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.’’”

Notice that God assumes responsibility for all that’s going to happen. He says, ‘He will bring it to pass.’ Now what was the land that God gave to the fathers of Israel and Judah? What land was it? We’ve called it Canaan, we’ve called it the Holy Land, today it’s called Israel. There’s nobody who needs to be ignorant about the identity of Israel. There’s no possible alternative fulfillment of that. It’s absolutely undisputable. There’s only two possibilities—you either believe it or you don’t believe it, but you can’t change its meaning.

Now a lot of people will tell you if God was really bringing Israel back there’d be peace. That’s not so. God specifically predicts the opposite. Okay? If there were peace we’d have to say the Bible is unreliable. Listen:

“Now these are the words the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah.
‘For thus says the LORD;
‘We have heard a voice of trembling,
Of fear, and not of peace.
Okay. In fact it’s going to be so terrible that it’s going to be unique:
Ask now, and see,
Whether a man is ever in labor with child? [A male.]
So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins
Like a woman in labor,
And all faces turned pale?”

The ultimate outworking of this is going to be something so terrible that even men are going to act like women in labor.

“Alas! For that day is great,
So that none is like it; [It’s going to be a unique period in history.]
And it is the time of Jacob’s trouble,
But he shall be saved out of it.”

So the return of the Jewish people to their land is not going to bring immediate peace. On the contrary, things are going to develop in such a way that they are going to be worse than they’ve ever been in Jewish history. And that’s saying quite a lot. But the promise is, Israel will be saved out of it—not from it but out of it, because has His purposes in dealing with the Jewish people. He knows how to bring them to the place where they’ll meet His conditions for Him to do what He’s promised. I hope you understand me right when I really say I’m glad the Jewish people are His responsibility. I wouldn’t know how to do it. I want to say again I’m not Jewish, but I love the Jewish people. That’s a miracle, because I didn’t love them when God saved me, by no means, and I’m glad I’ve got a Jewish wife.

All right, we’ll go on to Jeremiah chapter 32 and we’ll read verses 37 through 42. This again is the theme, The Regathering of Israel—Jeremiah 32 verse 37:

“‘Behold I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; [Notice God drove them out and God will get them back.] I will bring them back to this place”

Where’s this place? Where did Jeremiah get this message? Jerusalem. That’s right, the land of Israel. So ‘this place’ is the land of Israel.

“And I will cause them to dwell safely.
They shall be My people, and I will be their God;
‘then I will give them on heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them.”

God says, ‘I’m going to change them so radically that they’ll never depart from Me again, once they’ve been through this.

“‘And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but that they will not depart from Me.”

Now the everlasting covenant is predicted also in Jeremiah, and the writer of Hebrews says it’s the new covenant in the blood of Jesus, the Messiah. Now listen:

“Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul.”

Now I don’t believe anybody can uproot the people that God will plant with all His heart and with all His soul. Let anybody try. They will look silly. That’s my understanding. Okay. Now, this is the important verse:

“‘For thus says the LORD; ‘Just as I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them.’’”

So God said, ‘Just as every judgment that I pronounced on them through My prophets has come upon them exactly the way I pronounced it, so all the good that I promised through the same prophets will come on them.’ Now if you believe the judgment has come on them, it seems

to be totally illogical to say that the good won’t come. God says the one will come just as surely as that.

Now today the newspapers are full of all sorts of accusations and charges against the Jewish people, some of which have got a measure of justification. But I want to tell you, if you really want to know the worst about the Jewish people, don’t read the newspapers—read the prophets, because no one has ever more clearly delineated the sins of Israel of the Jewish people than their own prophets. But the same prophets that have delineated those sins have predicted their restoration. If we agree that their account of Israel’s sins are accurate, why should we doubt that their predictions of Israel’s regathering will not be accurate, too? See, it’s a matter of logic. Unfortunately, there so little logic in most people.

All right, one further prediction. Ezekiel 36, Ezekiel 36 verse 22 through 28. Now God has already been dealing with the theme of regathering, but at this point He says, ‘Don’t imagine that I’m doing it because the Jewish people deserve it.’ Lots of people say, ‘Well, the Jewish people don’t deserve it.’ God agrees with you exactly. He says they don’t deserve it. Let me ask how many of you got saved because you deserved it. If you got what you deserved you wouldn’t have been saved, would you? You see, the amazing thing is we can so clearly see the Jews don’t deserve God’s grace. Let me share something with you. They see just as clearly the Christians don’t deserve God’s grace, and they could give you historical reasons going on for hours why God shouldn’t be good to the Christians because of all the harm the Christians have done to the Jews. But God’s grace is free, and no one tells God what to do with His grace, you know that. He says, ‘I’ll do it, and I’ll do it.’ So listen, God is very careful to say, ‘You haven’t earned it.’ All right.

“‘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.’’’”

He said, ‘You have been a disgrace to Me. I’m not doing it because you’ve earned it. I’m doing it to recover the glory of My name which is identified with you.’

“‘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.’”

Now here’s a series of specific promises which are in course of being fulfilled. Some of them have been fulfilled, some of them are being fulfilled, and some are not yet fulfilled. Verse 24,

“For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.”

Whose land? Whose land? Their land. That’s right. If you read earlier in the chapter it was their land even when they were disobedient. It was their land even when they weren’t in it, because God had given it to them. The ownership of that land as far as the Bible is concerned is not a matter of dispute. It’s all settled. It was settled four thousand years ago. I’ll show you where in a little while.

All right. That’s happened. He says, ‘I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries and bring you into your own land.’ All right. If you believe in marking your Bible, say fulfilled. It’s happened. It’s happened before our eyes. I’ve been a witness of it. Verse 25:

“‘Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from your idols.”

Notice, God brings them back in uncleanness and filthiness. He says, ‘When I’ve got you back, then I’ll start to clean you up.’ I would say, myself, that that’s beginning to be fulfilled. I don’t want to go into any details—for various reasons it’s not wise for me to speak about certain things that are happening spiritually—but I would say that is beginning to happen. God is beginning to sprinkle clean water on the Jewish people in Israel. The clean water is the water of His Word. Verse 26:

“I will give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

So God says very clearly, ‘For nineteen centuries you’ve had a heart of stone.’ A heart of stone cannot respond to the Spirit of God, it’s incapable of it. But He said, ‘When I get you back, I’m going to remove the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh, and you’ll be able to respond to Me again.’

Now according to my observation, and I first visited Jerusalem in 1942 so I’ve been associated with Jerusalem for more than forty years, if you were to pinpoint a time when God began to take away the heart of stone, I would say it would be in June 1967, as a result of the Six-Day War. In the 1940s and 1950s if you were to speak to many Jewish people and mention the name of Jesus, they would spit. They had such absolute detestation of everything to do with Jesus for which much of the responsibility rests at the doors of Christians. You need to know that. If you’ve never learned the way a Jewish mind works, the number one enemy of the Jewish people in their thinking is the Christians. And if you don’t know why they’ll sit with you and give you all the historical reasons. I’m not saying that’s totally right, I’m just saying that’s the

way it is. If you don’t know that about Jewish people you really won’t get far in approaching them. You’ve got to learn what their attitude is.

Anyhow, God says He will take away the heart of stone. Now today there’s a tremendous change. It’s said that more books have been written about Jesus in Israel in the last twenty years than in any other country, and Ruth and I can bear testimony of that. We have sat and talked to Jewish people by the hour about Jesus and they want to hear more. We don’t tell them to become Christians. We simply tell them what God has done for us through Jesus. And especially when we talk about miracles, their eyes open wide and they listen with both ears. You see Paul said the Jewish people require a sign. That’s never changed—it’s still true today. I’m not saying they’re all believers. What I’m saying is that attitude has undergone in many cases a radical change. And if I were to pinpoint a date I would say 1967.

“All right we’re going on. Verse 27:
‘I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.’”

Now the My Spirit is the Holy Spirit. How many of you know that you cannot obey God without the Holy Spirit? No one can—neither Jew nor Gentile. But God says, There’s coming a time when I’ll put My Spirit in you, then you’ll be able to obey Me.’ How many of you have struggled—don’t put your hands up—but how many of you have struggled to be Christians without the Holy Spirit? I know in my case I was confirmed in the Anglican Church at the age of fifteen. I did everything I was asked to do. The Bishop of Oxford laid his hands on my head. I really wanted to be good, and I tell you what happened. The harder I tried to be good, the quicker I got bad. I’m not jesting. That’s it. I never was so bad until I tried to be good. You know why?

Because I was trying to be good in my own strength, in my own righteousness, and without the power of the Holy Spirit.

Ten years later God filled me with the Holy Spirit. It was totally different. After then, it was natural to want to be good. I didn’t have to struggle against something inside me. The same is true with the Jewish people. They have tried to obey God, Orthodox Jews, for nineteen centuries without the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t work. No one can do it, but when God puts His Spirit back it will be different.

“All right—are we going on? I’ll read just a little more—verse 28:
‘Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers…”

What land is that? Israel. Could it be any other land? Is there any other land it could be? So I have to say, you either believe it or you don’t, but there’s no third option. Let me tell you this: I didn’t read the Bible to correct God’s efforts. I don’t read the Bible to see if God’s doing the right thing. As far as I’m concerned, God always does the right thing. I might not always feel like it’s the right thing, but I wouldn’t dare to challenge God. Ascribe greatness to our God. His work is perfect and all His ways are just. Do you believe that? I do. But He starts from a totally different perspective from ours, so sometimes what He does could seem very unjust. But it isn’t.

Shall I tell you what will resolve all the problems in the Middle East? Just one thing— everybody there would bow to the Lord Jesus, the problems would be resolved in twenty-four hours: If Jew, Arab would bow and say, ‘Lord Jesus, we acknowledge You,’ all the problems would be resolved. And nothing else will resolve those problems.

“All right, let’s just deal with this last verse again.
‘Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.’”

Now that’s the end. Everything else is just working towards that, but that’s the conclusion. Be patient with God—He’s working for that end. He knows what He’s doing. He’s the only one that can handle the Jewish people, believe me, and He’s working to get them to the place where they would be able to say, ‘You are our God. We are Your people.’ Everything else is simply preliminary to that. Just trust God. He knows how to do it.

Would you take the responsibility for making that happen? Then you’d better leave it with God. I say this because so many foolish statements are made by people professing to proclaim the Bible. I don’t need to name people, but I could.

All right, those are some of the evidences that the Bible is a true, relevant, up-to-date book. The things predicted in those passages predicted about twenty-five hundred years ago are happening exactly as predicted in our lifetime. Could there be any explanation for that but that the Bible is a unique book inspired by the Spirit of God, and that its prophets had access to knowledge that could not come from any other source but God?

Okay, the next statement. God keeps His covenants. Now if you’re a Christian you need to say praise the Lord, because if God doesn’t keep His covenants, we’re in trouble. Our whole relationship with God depends on His keeping His covenant. And God made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants which He has said He will never break. Let’s turn to Genesis 17 for a moment, verses 7 and 8. The Lord appeared to Abraham and He said a lot of things, but we’ll just read these two verses.

“‘And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.
‘Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.’”

How much of the land of Canaan? All of it. For how long? For an everlasting possession by an everlasting covenant. Now either that’s true or it’s not true. And if it’s not true, then I don’t know whether we can trust the covenant that God has made with us. He doesn’t use any stronger language about that covenant than the one He made with Abraham.

And then in case there should be any misunderstanding about who Abraham’s descendants are let’s look in Genesis 35 for a moment, verses 9 and following, Genesis 35:9 and following:

“Then God appeared to Jacob again, [To who? To Jacob.]
[Verse 10] And God said to him, ‘your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.’ So He called his name Israel.
And God said to him: ‘I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body.
‘The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land.’”

To whom was it given? To Jacob. You understand why that’s important, because the Moslems claim it was given to Ishmael. The Moslems claim that Abraham sacrificed Ishmael, not Isaac. So you need to be very clear about this matter. I’m not attacking anything, I’m just pointing out that what the Koran says and what the Moslems say does not agree with the Bible. You can’t believe both. Then we’ll just turn for a moment to Psalm 105, Psalm 105 and read verse 7 and following. Psalm 105 verse 7:

“He is the LORD our God;
His judgments are in all the earth.”

In other words, when God says something it’s effective in any part of the earth. He is the God of the whole earth. He has no rivals—what He says goes everywhere. All right, now what is this related to? As I read the next few verses I want you to notice all the different words that are used to describe the commitment of God. I don’t know of any passage in the Bible where more words are used in a short space to denote a total commitment to God. Verse 8:

“He has remembered His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations,
Notice, we have three things there—covenant, word and commandment.
The covenant which He made with Abraham,
And His oath to Isaac,”

And there we have the word oath. The writer of Hebrews tells us why God gives His oath. His word would be sufficient, but sometimes He confirms it by His oath. The writer of Hebrews says that by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we should have strong confidence. So where God gives first His word and then His oath, there are two immutable things in which God cannot lie, and here we have His word and His oath. And then we go on in verse 10:

“And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, [that’s another word.]
To Israel as an everlasting covenant.”

Let me just list those words. First of all it’s a covenant, second it’s God’s word, third it’s His commandment, then it’s called the covenant once more, then we have an oath, and finally a statute and an everlasting covenant. I doubt whether you can find any passage in the Bible where so many powerful words are used to denote God’s total commitment to do something.

Now, what was He committed to do? To me this is amazing. It all centers around a little piece of territory at the east end of the Mediterranean:

“Saying, ‘To you I will give the land of Canaan
As the allotment of your inheritance.’”

I am astonished! I never cease to be amazed that Almighty God—that owns the universe and the whole earth and all nations—has gone to such extraordinary lengths to commit Himself about the destiny of a little stretch of territory at the east end of the Mediterranean. It’s amazing. If you’re not amazed, I don’t think you really see what God is saying. But in the light of what’s happened today, I think we see that God needed to be emphatic. Is that right? All right. So the regathering of Israel is proof that God keeps His covenant. He made a covenant with Abraham four thousand years ago. A lot of people have forgotten it. A lot of Abraham’s descendants have forgotten it. A lot of historians have forgotten it. A lot of Christians have forgotten it, but one person hasn’t forgotten it. Who’s that? God, that’s right. You see, it’s exciting that the events in the world today are the outworking of a covenant that God made with one man four thousand years ago. What a different perspective you have on history when you see it from that point of view.

All right, the third thing that I suggested—the regathering of Israel as a banner declares to the nations—is that God’s counsel stands. God’s plans will be carried out. We’ll look at just one Scripture, Psalm 33 verses 8 and following:

“Let all the earth fear the LORD;
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
[Why?] For He spoke, and it was done;
He commanded, and it stood fast.”

Why should we reverence the Lord? Because when He says a thing it happens. His Word stands. It’s totally reliable. Then it says in the same context:

“The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.”

God is not impressed by the plans and the counsel, the decisions of any nations when it goes contrary to Israel. The future of the Middle East is not going to be settled by the United Nations. Can you say praise the Lord? I certainly do. All right, going on, verse 12:

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.”

I see two kinds of nations there. ‘The people whom He has chosen’ is Israel. They didn’t choose Him; He chose them. Now they can’t change that. Many of them would wish to. I’ve heard many Jewish people say I wish God had never chosen us. It’s meant nothing but trouble. I don’t agree that that’s true, but that’s their attitude.

Then it says, ‘Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD.’ I believe that’s for every Gentile nation. Any nation can make the Lord their God, and every nation that does so is blessed. How about that for the future of Scotland? ‘Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.’ That decision rests with the nation. You understand? God’s choice of Israel rests with God. Every other nation has the choice either to make the Lord their God or refuse. That will determine their destiny. But the counsel of the Lord, that will stand.

Finally, the fourth statement on the banner is that God has set the stage for the close of this age. One thing the Bible makes clear: this age is coming to a close. What’s your reaction to that?

Good or bad? I say, ‘Thank God.’ I wouldn’t want this age to continue the way it is to continue forever.

All right, now this is a statement that I have to make and to substantiate another Scripture would take an hour or two, so I’m not going to try, but almost all the prophecies that describe the end of this age—and there are hundreds of them—all assume the presence of Israel as a nation in their own land. Up to 1948 none of those prophecies could have been fulfilled. 1948 set the stage for the fulfillment of all those prophecies. That’s why it’s such a vitally important date. Let me give you just two or three passages which indicate this. We turn to Luke 21. This is part of a prophetic discourse in which Jesus describes how this age is going to end, and He says in verse 24, He predicts the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman armies, and He says what will happen to the Jewish people at that time:

“And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations.”

That was exactly fulfilled in 70 A.D. About two million Jews were killed, about one million Jews were sold as slaves into all the slave markets of the ancient world. All right, now there’s a gap of about nineteen centuries in the middle of this verse. And then it says,

“And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”

So Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by Gentile nations, which was never the purpose of God. It was always the purpose of God Jerusalem should be the capital of the Jewish state. And in the period from Rome to the present time, at least ten different Gentile nations have trampled on Jerusalem, and as long as Jerusalem has been under Gentile control it has languished. It

probably reached its lowest somewhere in the beginning of the nineteenth century after nearly four hundred years of Turkish rule, and basically it was just a dump, a flee-ridden, dusty, semi ruin. But every time Jerusalem has come under Jewish control it has flourished. You see, the Jewish people view it as their responsibility to care for Jerusalem. This is something that’s fixed in their mind.

There was a Baptist preacher in the United States a couple of years ago—no more than a couple of years ago, who made a rather unwise statement. He said, ‘God doesn’t hear the prayers of Jews.’ Well, the Jewish community in the States jumped on him and they had a kind of workout and he agreed that maybe God does hear the prayers of some Jews. Later on, they had quite a good relationship actually, but Ruth and I were leading a tour to Israel at that time and a friend of ours (who’s a rabbi in Jerusalem, seventh generation, born in Jerusalem) was giving a talk to our tour group, which he used to do every time we brought a group, telling them about the Jewish perspective. And he said, ‘You need to bear in mind that from the time the Jewish people were scattered in 70 A.D., every Orthodox Jew has prayed every day for the restoration of Jerusalem.’ So he said, ‘What you see today is proof that God does hear the prayers of Jews.’

Now no Gentiles have prayed like that for the restoration of Jerusalem. It’s not laid on our hearts in the same way. It’s a Jewish responsibility. So Jesus said:

“And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until [and only until] until the times of the Gentiles have come to an end.”

Now I don’t think the times of the Gentiles have totally come to an end, because the most sacred spot in Jerusalem which is the Temple Mount, is still dominated by Moslem Arabs who won’t permit a Jew to set foot there. But Jerusalem is under governmental control of the Jewish people for the first time for nineteen centuries, and that happened by another military miracle. Just as great a miracle, I think, as the first event in 1948.

Now I wouldn’t say that’s the end of the time of Gentiles, I would say it’s like God’s minute hand is about two minutes away from midnight. There’s that much time left. Okay? Now I want you to go on reading because I want you to see what’s next on the agenda. Okay? We’ve read verse 24, verse 25 without any gap whatever, Jesus says:

“‘And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring;
‘men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
‘Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.’”

Notice the next item on the agenda after the deliverance of Jerusalem from Gentile tramping under foot is what? The coming of Jesus. You understand? That’s why I say the minute hand is about two minutes away from midnight. Okay?

Now I want to close by dealing with a practical question. If what I’ve said is true—and you’re a Bible-believing Christian so you believe what I say because it’s all straight out of the Bible without exception—what response does God require from you? Okay. Does He just expect you to go on sitting in church, singing the same hymns, or does He expect something by way of response? I believe He requires a response and I think He makes it very clear what He wants. So let’s turn to Jeremiah chapter 31 and I just want to read from verse 7 and a few verses onwards. Jeremiah 31 beginning at verse 7:

“For thus says the LORD:
‘Sing with gladness for Jacob,
And shout among the chief of the nations;
Proclaim, give praise, and say,
‘O LORD, save Your people,
The remnant of Israel!’
Behold, I will bring them from the north country, [Russia and Germany]
And gather them from the ends of the earth,
Among them the blind and the lame,
The woman with child
And the one who labors with child, together;
A great throng shall return there.”

Let me say, all that was exactly fulfilled immediately after the rebirth of the State of Israel in the years 1949 and ’50 and ’51—about seven hundred thousand Jewish immigrants returned, mostly from the Arab nations or from the displaced persons camps of Europe, and most of them were destitute. People talk about the Arab refugees who numbered about six hundred thousand, but they need to bear in mind that there were about seven hundred thousand Jewish refugees who were displaced from the Arab nations who wouldn’t tolerate their presence at all. Most of them left without any possessions or anything except the clothes they had on their backs. Israel, with very little financial resources, has absorbed seven hundred thousand. The Arabs, with the tremendous resources from their oil revenues, have done nothing for the six hundred thousand Arab refugees. That’s just by the way. All right, verse 10 is where I’m headed for:

“‘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.’’”

That’s a word to the nations. It’s a word to those who are in the isles. The other word for isles, the other translation is coastlands. How does that apply to Scotland? Scotland is, Glasgow particularly, is very definitely a part of a coastland, isn’t it? So I want to tell you tonight, this Scripture is being fulfilled in your area tonight because I am declaring to you in the coastland of Scotland that the same God who scattered Israel is gathering. Okay? From tonight onwards you are accountable to God for what you’ve heard. Is that right?

“Okay now, going back to verse 7, what response does God expect from us?
For thus says the LORD:
‘Sing with gladness for Jacob,
And shout among the chief of the nations;’”

Is Scotland one of the chief of the nations? I’m sure Scottish people say yes. And I would agree in light of the history of Scotland this contribution in many ways is almost unique.

“‘Proclaim, give praise, and say,
‘O LORD, save Your people,
The remnant of Israel!’’”

God is saving them but He says, ‘You pray for Me to do it.’ Is that right? If you say to God, ‘Save Your people,’ what are you doing? Praying. All right. If you put those verses together there are three words which begin with P that are the response that God requires—Praise, Proclaim and Prayer. And when it comes to praise, God says don’t do it too quietly—sing, shout and get really happy. Why should we be happy? Because God is fulfilling His word, and because the Jewish people to whom we owe every spiritual blessing that we have as Christians, who suffered as no other nation has suffered for nineteen centuries, are coming back into God’s kingdom. That’s good news. If you can’t thank God for that, you don’t really appreciate the spiritual inheritance. You get my little booklet Our Debt To Israel and read that.

Now I believe the best thing to do is obey God. When God’s Spirit is here we should obey Him. Pray for the Jewish people. Pray for the situation in the Middle East. It needs prayer. God bless you.