Shout, O Israel! God Loves You!

They are a minority. They always have been a minority. Moses, their first national leader, described them as “the least of all peoples” (Dt. 7:7); and that assessment remains true today, more than 3,500 years later. Among the world’s population of approximately 7 billion, they are a mere handful: 14 million to 15 million, a scant one-fifth of one percent.

In fact, they are so few in number that some cities have greater populations than there are Jewish people in the entire world.

Yet Jewish people have made an enormous impact
on the world because of a legacy that began more than 4,000 years ago when God entered into a unique relationship with
Abraham in Ur of the Chaldeans.

Though circumstances have changed,

God does not change.

He loved the Jewish people in ancient days,

and He loves them today.


Unsolicited Love
Abraham’s relationship with God was not a modification or evolution of anything else around him. It was distinct from everything.
When Abram (later called Abraham) obeyed God’s call,
he not only walked away from a sophisticated, cosmopolitan city,
but he also turned his back on the prevailing worldview
and entered into a unique relationship with the one true God.

The apostle James in the New Testament recognized this relationship: “‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’
And he was called the friend of God”
(Jas. 2:23).

No one else in Scripture can claim this title,
and God’s enduring relationship with Israel is founded on
His unsolicited friendship with Abraham.

On the basis of that friendship, God confirmed an unconditional, unilateral covenant with Abraham that would be reiterated to Abraham’s son Isaac and his grandson Jacob, the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. Confirmation of the covenant followed the cultural protocol of the day.

At God’s request,
Abraham brought a three-year-old heifer, a she-goat, and a ram, along with a turtledove and a young pigeon. As prescribed, he cut the offerings into halves and laid them in a line with each half opposite the other (Gen. 15:9–10). The ceremony, referred to as “cutting a covenant,” required the responsible parties to walk the line between the halves of the animals spread before them.

After causing a deep sleep to fall on Abraham, God alone walked the line. The Bible says God “appeared [as] a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces” (v. 17). God thereby established Himself as the sole party responsible for keeping the covenant with Abraham and subsequently with the nation of Israel.


Unending Love
The psalmist encapsulated the magnitude of the covenant:
"He remembers His covenant forever…the covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac, and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,
to Israel as an everlasting covenant”
(Ps. 105:8–10).
The Hebrew word for “remembers” is in the perfect tense, signifying a “practically pledged certainty.”1 It is a covenant validated by God’s eternality.

Later Moses, Israel’s first national leader, emphasized God’s covenant relationship with the nation and highlighted an overlooked essential. As the nation gathered at the banks of the Jordan River, preparing to enter the land God promised Abraham and his offspring through Jacob,
Moses reminded the Israelites,
​
The Lᴏʀᴅ did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lᴏʀᴅ loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers
(Dt. 7:7–8).

God’s ongoing relationship with Israel is based on more than a covenantal requirement; God voluntarily chose to love the Jewish people in perpetuity:
“For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ, who has mercy on you
(Isa. 54:10).


Unconditional Love
The Bible gives an honest account of Israel’s history—failures and all. Yet despite the nation’s waywardness, the Bible teaches that God’s love has remained constant. The prophetic book of Hosea, a chronicle of Israel’s infidelity, concludes with God’s plea, “O Israel, you are destroyed, but your help is from Me. O Israel, return to the Lord your God” (13:9; 14:1).
God pledges, “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely” (v. 4).

​
Both the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities
were a consequence of national disobedience.

Yet even while the Israelites were exiled in Babylon,

God reassured them through the earlier ministry of the

prophet Isaiah,

"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed,
for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,

Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with
My righteous right hand”
(Isa. 41:10).

Through the prophet Jeremiah, God told them, “yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you” (Jer. 31:3).
The message of God’s love for Israel runs consistently throughout the Bible.
He has vowed to fulfill His covenant to Abraham
in the last days and initiate a new covenant:

"I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more”
Quoting God’s message to Israel through the prophet Amos, the apostle Paul declared, “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them [Israel], when I take away their sins”
(Rom. 11:26–27).

Love was at the heart of God’s attitude toward Israel in the past, and it is at the heart of His attitude toward it today: “Whenever I have turned against him [Israel], my thoughts would dwell on him still, that is why my heart yearns for him; I will receive him back in love declares the Lᴏʀᴅ”
(Jer. 31:20, JPS).

God’s love will continue to characterize His dealings with Israel in the future. Looking forward to that reality in the Messianic Kingdom,
the prophet Zephaniah declared,

Sing, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O Israel!
​Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lᴏʀᴅ has taken away your judgments….You shall see disaster no more. The Lᴏʀᴅ your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing
(Zeph. 3:14–15, 17).

Just look at the modern state of Israel,
which is evidence of God's care and provision. God cares so much about unsaved people—Jewish and Gentile—that He sent Jesus to die for them, that they might be forgiven and have everlasting life.
God's love is a redeeming love.  

​
The fact that God is in the redemption business
is the main message of the
​

Good News!
​

And it is why Israel’s past has not negated its future,
and why our past does not negate our future. 


God explains the driving force in His dealings with Israel:

“But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen,
the descendants of Abraham My friend”
(Isa. 41:8).


Down through the centuries of Israel’s existence,
regardless of the circumstances,

God’s message to the Jewish people has been consistent.


He tells them now--and will tell them forever--I love you.
​and so,
​
Jesus is the Messiah

that the Jews had been anticipating for centuries!
(see Luke 2:25; 3:15).

As such, He was born into a Jewish family and was reared according to Jewish law in a Jewish town (see Luke 2:27; Galatians 4:4). Jesus selected Jewish disciples, spoke in Jewish synagogues and the Jewish temple, and traveled mostly in Jewish areas. His mission, in fulfillment of the Jewish prophets, was to the Jewish people. However, none of this means that Jesus’ ministry was limited exclusively to the Jews.

In Matthew 15,
there is an incident that, at first, seems to confirm the idea that Jesus came only for the Jews. Jesus was traveling through Tyre and Sidon, a Gentile region, and “a Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly’” (Matthew 15:22). This Gentile woman recognized Jesus as the Messiah (“Son of David”), but “Jesus did not answer a word” (verse 23). As the woman kept up her appeals, Jesus finally responded, but His words seemed to hold little hope: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel” (verse 24). However, the woman did not give up, and Jesus eventually granted her request, based on her “great faith” (verse 28).

The fact that Jesus helped the Canaanite woman,
even though His mission was to the Jews,
is a significant detail in the Gospel narrative. Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus gave other indications that
His power and compassion reached to all people.
He healed a Roman centurion’s servant (Luke 7:1–10).
He traveled through the Gentile region of the Genisis 
(Mark 5:1). 
He ministered in a Samaritan city
(John 4).


Jesus came to save everybody
(1 John 2:2).


Jesus Christ is God Himself
(John 1:1).

​
Jesus died on the cross as the payment for all our sins,
and He rose from death in resurrection
(1 Corinthians 15:3–4).

Jesus said He was the Good Shepherd,
and He predicted that His flock would be greatly expanded: “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd”
(John 10:16).

It took a while for the early church to recognize that
​salvation was available to the Gentiles.

The Jewish Christians who fled the persecution in Jerusalem
went into the Gentile regions of Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch,
but they were “spreading the word only among Jews”
(Acts 11:19).

Peter was hesitant to bring the gospel to a Gentile household,
but God made it plain that Cornelius was also one of the elect
(Acts 10).

“Is God the God of Jews only?
Is he not the God of Gentiles too?
Yes, of Gentiles too” (Romans 3:29).


Jesus is the Jewish Messiah,
but He had come to offer salvation to everybody.

The Messiah
was to be a “light for the Gentiles”
(Isaiah 42:6).

​
So call on Jesus, because “everyone who

calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”

(Acts 2:21).
​

The Temple Mount in Jerusalem
​
is the focus of ongoing
Bible history and prophecy.

This is the center of the world,
where Abraham offered up his son Isaac,
where King David purchased land and
where his son Solomon built the First Temple.

It is also where Jesus cleansed the Temple
and a poor widow gave an offering
of two copper coins that Jesus said was greater than
all the most extravagant donations. 

Ancient biblical Mount Moriah is Jerusalem’s most recognizable landscape— to the Jews it is called the Temple Mount and
​to Muslims it is the Noble Sanctuary.
​
​Since Israel re-captured the Old City of Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967, the Jewish state has maintained a fragile religious balance, and the Temple Mount is indeed the most divisive real estate in the world. 
Jewish activists for decades have been leading efforts to change the status quo as a matter of religious freedom by demanding,
​
"If Muslims can pray there, why not Jews?”

In Matthew chapter 24, Jesus was speaking to his Jewish brethren and not to the yet-to-be-formed Church. He said that in the Last Days, Israel must watch for an abomination that will take place in the Holy Place. He forewarned, “When you see standing in the Holy Place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel--let the reader understand.”
More than a quarter of the Bible is prophetic in nature; there are approximately 1,800 prophecies in both testaments combined. God has recorded much of the future as a guide for us.

​Jesus also gave a major discourse on end-time events
that’s recorded in all three of the synoptic Gospels. . .  

in Matthew Chapter 24, Mark Chapter 13 and Luke Chapter 21. 

Jesus’s disciples had asked him directly: "What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" Jesus answered with a catalogue of tumultuous signs that would lead up to His second coming, adding in
Matthew 24: 34,

​“Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass,
till all these things be fulfilled.” 

 In Jesus’s prophetic briefing (known as the Olivet Discourse),
he said that Jerusalem will be in the hands once again of the Jewish people and thus Jerusalem will be the central focus of upheavals.
Jesus prophesied in Luke 21: 24 that Jerusalem
would be “trodden down by the Gentiles,
until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” 



So the sign of all signs
that has not been present in any generation until now
is the re-emergence of the state of Israel in 1948.


God's,Word said the Jews would return,
and they did after nearly 1,900 years—such a return to a
homeland has never happened before in history.

Furthermore according to Bible prophecy, the Middle East will be in crisis in the last days. And Jesus said in Matthew 24: 34,
the generation alive at that time
"will by no means pass away till all these things take place.”  

One of the hottest end-time prophecies at the moment

is the building of a Third Temple.

This is a big topic in New Testament Bible prophecy. 
The very real possibility of a Third Temple
is a sign that no other generation has seen.
All the implements of Temple worship have already been created by industrious and devoted visionaries. 


Right now we're living in the time period between the

Second Temple that was destroyed in 70 B.C.

and the Third Temple.


Hardly a week goes by without some Temple Mount controversy for fear that the Jews will build their house of worship. 

The Hebrew prophets all proclaimed that in the last days, the exiles of Israel will return to the Promised Land and restoration of the Temple will be their greatest ambition. 
​
Ezekiel chapter 37
predicted the dry bones of the nation of Israel coming to life again
in their own land. Ezekiel 37:28 predicts,

“Then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel holy,
when my sanctuary is among them forever.”  

While Bible prophecy is unfolding before our eyes,
many blind skeptics in the Church promote erroneous replacement theology and dare to believe the lie that God has rejected the Jews and that Israel has somehow re-emerged as a political anomaly.  

Yet, we must ask: What does the Bible teach?

We find from scripture in
both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament
that God has never rejected his people Israel.


Isaiah 41:9 declares,

"You, Israel, I called you from the ends of the earth. I said,

"You are my servant’

I have chosen you and have not rejected you.”  
​

Paul wrote the Book of Romans around the theme of
how God has not rejected His people Israel. 

So just as the prophets foretold,
the Jewish people are returning to the Holy Land
from the four corners of the earth
after 19 centuries of global exile. 

We’re seeing the fulfillment of Isaiah 43: 5–6, “Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, And gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’  Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth.” 
And while all of this activity called aliyah in Hebrew is happening, preparations are well under way
to build the Third Temple.

Over a decade ago, Temple activists first began holding Passover sacrifice reenactments, and actually I can remember these activities to hasten the rebuilding of the Temple were talked about for decades. The notion of reviving Temple sacrifices has been perceived in the past in Israel as extremism that might incite Muslim retaliation. And so civil authorities refused to grant permits to hold such ceremonies in Jerusalem. The police actively prohibited attempts to bring sheep into the Old City for sacrifice. 

However, the mood is changing.  

The police and the Jerusalem municipality now reportedly view the rehearsal as another totally acceptable public happening, an event they want to see take place. Apparently even mainstream media have begun to accept Temple preparation activities not as a fringe idea but an important aspect of Jewish culture.

A Temple spokesman reportedly said, “It seems clear one day, sooner than we imagine, that the sacrifices will happen, on the Temple Mount itself, and no one will think it is an extremist event.

In truth,

anyone who reads the Bible knows this is our ongoing history.”


Rabbi Moses Maimonides, known as the Rambam, a medieval Jewish philosopher and Torah scholar, wrote that the Temple has significance first of all to reveal to mankind the divine presence of God, and secondly to facilitate the offering of sacrifices. However, since the destruction of the Second Temple, the Jewish People could no longer offer sacrifices.  In fact, more than 200 of the 613 commandments in the Torah cannot be performed without the Temple. 
The prophet Daniel, Jesus and the apostle Paul all prophesied that the future sinister figure known as the anti-messiah will defile the Third Temple before the return of Jesus. Both the prophet Daniel and Jesus referred to the Temple’s defilement as an act called the “abomination of desolation.”


In Matthew 24,

Jesus warned about the abomination that causes desolation,
spoken of through the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place,
and he added for the future generation that sees the defilement “

--let the reader understand.”


There’s a very important prophecy by the apostle Paul in Second Thessalonians 2:4,

"He [the man of lawlessness] will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s Temple, proclaiming himself to be God.” 

Christian Bible prophecy scholars say that only a man of diplomatic skill who will be accepted by both Jews and Muslims will be able to broker a plan that would allow the Jewish people to worship in a Temple on the Mount where King David originally purchased territory. But many Christian eschatologists warn that Daniel 9:27 predicts that this deal maker, better known as the antichrist, will break the peace plan. Isaiah 28:18 reportedly calls it a “covenant with death” that will be annulled.

Nevertheless there are many Israeli organizations making preparations full speed ahead for a Third Temple. One of these organizations is The Temple Institute, which has a very active Facebook page. Other organizations also have potentially viable plans. 

For example, one group proposes pitching a tabernacle-style tent on the Temple Mount that would speed up the end time scenario significantly— literally overnight— because pitching a tent is obviously much easier and less intrusive than building a building. 
Other proposals include constructing a synagogue in one of the corners of the Temple Mount platform. 

Meanwhile, several books have been written suggesting that the original site of the Temple was in the City of David near the Gihon Spring. And so construction of a Third Temple in the City of David could conceivably begin without delay and would presumably avoid the territorial controversy surrounding the Haram al Sharif.

Regardless of its future location, the future Temple's ritual garments and vessels have already been designed and created.

The Golden Menorah — the seven-branched candelabra — is on display in the Old City’s Jewish Quarter. Also ready are many Levitical musical instruments, silver trumpets and harps for worship, just as King David organized 3,000 years ago. The Temple Institute’s School is training certified, DNA-tested priests to perform Temple services and many of these services have been rehearsed. A final element, a red heifer, is being bred to be sacrificed in a Torah-prescribed ritual purification ceremony.

In fact, everything is ready for a Third Temple except its location. Since the liberation of the Temple Mount in 1967, Arabs have made great competitive efforts to claim the entire 37-acre platform calling it the Noble Sanctuary. The Muslim narrative has definitely changed with the times. A pre-state visitor’s guide to the area published by Muslim authorities in 1925 acknowledged that the territory was once the site of Solomon’s Temple. The guide clearly stated that  the site’s identity with Solomon’s Temple is “beyond dispute.”
So, in 1925 the Muslims affirmed the Biblical history that they now trying to erase.


​
Are things coming to a head? 

Recently Israel Today Magazine reported that “proponents of the Palestinian cause have tried to inflate the position of the Temple Mount in Islam, and thereby paint Israel’s sovereignty as an affront to their religion.”

But a couple years ago, a renowned Egyptian scholar and novelist acknowledged in a series of TV interviews that Jerusalem holds no particular religious significance for Muslims. In fact, Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Koran, and a growing number of Saudis on social media have taken to using a hashtag that translates as “Riyadh [the Saudi capital] is more important than Jerusalem.”

Furthermore, lately some Muslims leaders who are part of the Abraham Accords have admitted that the Temple Mount really belongs to the Jews and that Muslims should be concentrating on their holy city of Mecca.

In light of all of this, it’s appropriate to pray the prophetic words of Psalm 33: “The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. 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 He has chosen as His own inheritance.” 

Just over the past week, our planet has been
hit over and over again by major natural disasters. 


So why is this happening?  

At this moment, we are reaching the end of a summer of significant universal shifting.  Global food shortages rise as global economies plummet. After 7 months of the Russian-Ukraine war, escalating talks of nuclear provision are on the table. 

The western United States, Europe and China are all in the midst of the worst droughts that they have experienced in centuries, and meanwhile relentless flooding and wildfires have absolutely devastated other areas.  

For example, unprecedented flooding resulted in a third of the entire nation of Pakistan being under water for an extended period of time.  We could definitely use a break, but instead the past few days have brought us an extremely alarming series of historic disasters.  

​For example, the western coast of Mexico was just hit by an extremely powerful magnitude 7.6 earthquake...

A powerful earthquake struck near the coast of western Mexico on Monday on the anniversary of two devastating temblors, shaking buildings and sending residents of Mexico City scurrying onto the streets for safety.

Shortly after 1 p.m. local time, the quake registered at 7.6 magnitude by the U.S. Geological Survey hit near the coast on the border region of the states of Michoacan and Colima at a depth of around 15 km (9 miles).

Interestingly, this quake happened on the exact same date that enormous earthquakes hit Mexico in 1985 and 2017.

Is that just some sort of a bizarre coincidence?

Meanwhile, Hurricane Fiona continues to cause "catastrophic" damage in the Caribbean...

Hurricane Fiona bore down on the Dominican Republic on Monday after knocking out the power grid and unleashing floods and landslides in Puerto Rico, where the governor said the damage was 'catastrophic'.

Fiona was forecast to swipe the Dominican Republic early Monday and then northern Haiti and the Turks and Caicos Islands with the threat of heavy rain. It could threaten the far southern end of the Bahamas on Tuesday.

Hurricane warnings were posted for the Dominican Republic's eastern coast from Cabo Caucedo to Cabo Frances Viejo, and for the Turks and Caicos.

It is going to take Puerto Rico many years to recover from the utter devastation that has been caused by this exceedingly intense storm.

At the same time, "one of the worst typhoons the country has ever seen" is literally forcing millions of people to evacuate from their homes in Japan...

Nine million people have been told to evacuate their homes as Japan is battered by one of the worst typhoons the country has ever seen.

The super typhoon Nanmadol has killed two people and injured almost 90.

It hit Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan's four main islands, on Sunday morning, and is set to reach Honshu, the largest island, in the coming days.

We aren't hearing too much about this "super typhoon" in the United States, but it is truly one of the worst disasters in the modern history of Japan.

Not too far away, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake hit Taiwan on Saturday, and that was followed by a magnitude 6.8 earthquake on Sunday...

A 6.8 magnitude earthquake rattled much of Taiwan on Sunday, which followed a 6.4 magnitude earthquake Saturday, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

The magnitude 6.8 quake hit around 2:44 pm local time (0644 GMT), with an epicenter in Taitung county, a town in the eastern part of the island nation. CWB said the quake was recorded at a relatively shallow depth of 7 kilometers (4 miles).

The US Geological Survey initially reported that the quake registered a 7.2 magnitude but revised it to 6.9 -- still a higher reading than CWB's estimate.

These quakes caused quite a bit of destruction, and of course this comes at a really bad time as Taiwanese authorities feverishly prepare for a potential Chinese invasion.

Also on Saturday, Alaska was hit by a storm that was so immense that it was actually ripping homes right off of their foundations...

The western coast of Alaska was hit with historic storms on Saturday, causing extreme flooding that led to several homes being ripped from their foundations.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy of Alaska declared the crisis a disaster emergency at a Saturday press conference where he also confirmed that had been zero reported injuries.

"Just now, I verbally declared a disaster for communities impacted by the West Coast storm. SEOC (State Emergency Operations Center) has received no reports of injuries at this time. We will continue to monitor the storm and update Alaskans as much as possible," the Republican governor said.

Meanwhile, we continue to see a tremendous amount of volcanic activity all over the planet.

According to Volcano Discovery, there are 26 volcanoes that are currently erupting around the globe right now.

I have been relentlessly warning my readers that our planet is becoming increasingly unstable, and that process seems to be accelerating as we approach the final days of summer.

​In recent years a group of western Christians known as Boneh Israel
has been working with officials from the Temple Institute to search for a perfect red heifer.  A red heifer is necessary if
Temple sacrifices are to be reinstitute,

but one hasn't been seen in Israel for more than 2,000 years.  

The following comes from the official website of
the Temple Institute...

​
On Thursday, September 15, 2022, 5 PM,

5 perfect, unblemished red heifers
arrived in Israel from the USA.
A modest ceremony was held at the unloading bay of the cargo terminal at Ben Gurion airport, where the new arrivals were greeted and speeches were made by the incredible people who have put their hearts and souls and means into making this historic/prophetic day become a reality.

It would be difficult to overstate the prophetic importance of this event. 
In Numbers 19:1-10, we read about the very first time
that the ashes of a red ​heifer were used...



And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

2 This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke:

3 And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face:

4 And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times:

5 And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn:

6 And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.

7 Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even.

8 And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even.

9 And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin.

10 And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute for ever.



For ages,
we have been told that the ashes of a red heifer
would be required before
Temple sacrifices could be resumed in Jerusalem.

And a few Jewish sources are even suggesting that some ancient practices could be resumed even before a new temple is constructed now that they have these red heifers...

According to rabbis and leaders in the Orthodox community,
​these heifers could be used to reinstate many of the practices of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, even before the 3rd Temple is rebuilt.

Could it be possible that
a tabernacle could be set up
during the time that a new temple is being built?

That is certainly something to think about.

In any event, the stage is being set for the time when the Antichrist will step in and cause sacrifices to cease
halfway through the Tribulation period.

The reason why it has been so difficult to locate an acceptable red heifer until just recently is because the requirements are so strict.

First of all, an acceptable red heifer had to be unblemished.

But here in the western world, we tag the ears of calves when they are born, and the tagging creates a blemish.

Fortunately, there was a rancher in Texas that was aware of this requirement and did not tag the ears of his calves when red heifers were born.

In addition, according to Jewish tradition more than two non-red hairs would disqualify a calf.

There have been times when a calf is born 100 percent red but then develops black or white hairs as it grows older.

So that is a problem.

To determine whether a heifer is acceptable or not, a rabbi literally goes over every inch with a magnifying glass.

There are other requirements as well, but there is one in particular that I want to mention.

The red heifers that were delivered to Israel are all between five and eight months old.

But according to Jewish tradition, they must be two years and one day old to be used in a red heifer ceremony.

So they will be raised in Israel until they reach the appropriate age.

And that also means that the clock is ticking.

It will be some time in 2024
when these five red heifers reach the key age,
and they must be used then or they won't be able to be used at all.

That means that it is very, very likely that we will actually see a red heifer ceremony in Israel in 2024

for the first time in more than 2,000 years.

And I think that it is very interesting that these red heifers have arrived in Israel just as Jewish leaders are
preparing for the beginning of a new
Shemitah cycle.

According to Jewish tradition,
a new seven year Shemitah cycle
will start at sundown on September 25th. 

At that moment, literally the entire nation of Israel will shut down as Rosh Hashanah begins.

Will this be the Shemitah cycle when we see sacrifices in Jerusalem resume once again?

If so, will this also be the
​
Shemitah cycle
​
when the Antichrist steps in
and puts an end to

those sacrifices?


It should also be noted that we are also waiting for
the discovery of the Ark of the Covenant to be announced.
 
Many belive the Ark has been silently waiting under Jerusalem all these years, and once Jewish officials announce that it has been discovered that will greatly accelerate the need for either a tabernacle or a temple to house it.

Meanwhile, tensions continue to rise on the Temple Mount,
and Israeli officials are anticipating that there will
be more violence during the upcoming holidays...

A leading security official from Israel's National Security Council said on Thursday that the Hamas terror group, which has strengthened its foothold in Jerusalem in recent years, is attempting to spark a major conflict on the Temple Mount which could escalate into a widescale conflict.

"There are constant efforts by Hamas and other terror groups to escalate tensions and create a narrative that Al Aqsa Mosque [located on the Temple Mount] is in danger and to turn Jerusalem into an explosive detonator," Eyal Hulata, the head of the NSC, said during a conference at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) in Herzliya.

Hulata's warning comes after Israeli intelligence officials
recommended that Prime Minister Yair Lapid
raise the country's terror alert level to the
highest tier possible ahead of the upcoming Jewish holidays.

We live in such "interesting" times,
and I have a feeling that they will only get
even more "interesting" in the days ahead.

Many will be on "high alert" during the
Biblical festivals this year,
and I believe that we should all be
​watching Israel very closely.


​
So much is happening all at once,
​
and I believe that many prophecies will

now start to be fulfilled in rapid succession.
​

What Is the Promised Land?

In the Bible, the term “Promised Land” refers to a specific region of land that God endowed to His chosen people, as part of their heritage. (Genesis 12, Genesis 26:3, Genesis 28:13) God first gave this pledge of land to Abraham saying, “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River.” He then reiterated the vow to Abraham’s descendants until the time came for His people to claim their inheritance.

The "Promised Land" was the geographic area God declared to give to his chosen people, the offspring of Abraham. The promised land was placed in ancient Canaan, on the eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea. Numbers 34:1-12 discusses the location of the Promised Land:
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The Promised Land of Canaan“The LORD said to Moses, “Command the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter Canaan, the land that will be allotted to you as an inheritance is to have these boundaries: “Your southern side will include some of the Desert of Zin along the border of Edom. Your southern boundary will start in the east from the southern end of the Dead Sea, cross south of Scorpion Pass, continue on to Zin and go south of Kadesh Barnea. Then it will go to Hazar Addar and over to Azmon, where it will turn, join the Wadi of Egypt and end at the Mediterranean Sea. “Your western boundary will be the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. This will be your boundary on the west. “For your northern boundary, run a line from the Mediterranean Sea to Mount Hor and from Mount Hor to Lebo Hamath. Then the boundary will go to Zedad, continue to Ziphron and end at Hazar Enan. This will be your boundary on the north. “For your eastern boundary, run a line from Hazar Enan to Shepham. The boundary will go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain and continue along the slopes east of the Sea of Galilee. Then the boundary will go down along the Jordan and end at the Dead Sea. “This will be your land, with its boundaries on every side.”

For migrating herders like the Jews, having a stable home of their own would be a true blessing.

The promised land
was a place to rest from their continual wandering.

But this promise came with conditions.
First, God commanded that Israel, the name of the new nation,
had to trust and follow Him.
Second, God demanded faithful worship of Him
(Deuteronomy 7:12-15).

​Idolatry was such a grave transgression to God
that he threatened to remove them out of the promised land if they
​worshiped other gods.

Through a famine, Jacob also named Israel, went to Egypt with his family, where there was food. Over the years, the Egyptians turned the Jews into slaves for labor. After God delivered them from that slavery, he returned them to the promised land, under the guidance of Moses. However, because the people neglected to obey God's law, he made them wander in the desert for 40 years until that generation had died. 

Moses' heir Joshua finally led the people in and served as the military commander in taking over the Promised Land. Following Joshua's death, Israel was ruled by a succession of judges.

The people frequently regressed to idolize false gods and suffered due consequences. Eventually, God allowed the Babylonians to destroy the Jerusalem temple and take most of the Jews into bondage to Babylon.

Ultimately, they returned to the promised land, but under Israel's kings, devotion to God was inconsistent.

God sent prophets to remind His people to repent,
concluding with John the Baptist.


​
What Made the Promised Land Unique?

​The promised land of Canaan, eventually called Israel, was a fertile land with brooks and deep springs that gushed out into the valleys and hills.
The rich soil produced wheat and barley,
vines and fig trees,
pomegranates, and olives. There, the Israelites would lack nothing. 

Described in Scripture as “a land flowing with milk and honey,” the soil was rich for agriculture and shepherding, the mountains provided security and protection from the elements and their enemies, and the arid climate provided perfect conditions for livestock to thrive.
(Exodus 3:17; Numbers 13:27, Deuteronomy 8:6-9)

Abraham knew that he would not see God’s promised land with his own eyes. In fact, God made it clear to him that the land would not be given until four generations had passed, and that his descendants would face the hardship of slavery before they would enjoy the home God had promised.
(Genesis 15:12-16)
But Abraham held on to the promise, believing that God could and would bring His descendants into their promised land.


When Would God’s Promise Be Fulfilled? 

In preparation to fulfill the promise He’d made to Abraham and his descendants, God placed Abraham’s great-grandson, Joseph in Egypt. When a seven-year famine made it increasingly difficult for the Israelites to find food, God used Joseph’s high position under Pharoah to save His people, the Israelites, from starvation. 

After Joseph’s generation died,
the Israelites continued to thrive in Egypt.

Then, “a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. ‘Look,’ he said to his people, ‘the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they
will become even more numerous and,
if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.’” (Exodus 1:8-10)

For four hundred years the Egyptians forced God’s people into harsh and brutal slave labor, but this didn’t keep them from multiplying and spreading. In fact, the Egyptians became so fearful of Israel’s population explosion that Pharoah eventually ordered the prompt murder of all the Hebrew, newborn males. (Exodus 1:22)

Moses was among the newborn babies to be slain. However, just as God had predestined Joseph to save his people from famine, He spared Moses’s life so that He could use him to deliver Israel from Egypt’s oppression--and ultimately lead them into the land promised to Abraham’s descendants. (Exodus 2:23-25) 

After Moses led God’s people out of Egypt and through the Red Sea, the time had finally come for Israel to realize the
fulfillment of God’s long-awaited promise.

In one miraculous display after another, God had clearly shown Himself mighty to save. Now, the Israelites needed only to believe
God and follow His servant Moses into the
desert wilderness that would lead them to the promised land. 



The Faith of Joshua and the Fear of Israel

Through their deliverance from Egypt, the Israelites
had witnessed first-hand God’s provision,
His power, and His faithfulness to the promises made to their ancestors (Genesis 15:14, Exodus 15:1-21)) And God continued to provide for all their needs. As they began their journey to Canaan, God provided food and water. (Exodus 16:12-15, Exodus 15:25) He provided clothes and shoes that never wore out. (Deuteronomy 29:5) He gave them His law. (Exodus 5:6-21) And most importantly God gave the Israelites the gift of

His sheltering and guiding presence.

(Exodus 13:21)

When the Israelites reached the border of the promised land, in Kadesh Barnea, God instructed Moses to, “Send out for yourself men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites.” 

Until that time the whole region near Canaan had been inhabited by wicked nations, who were driven by idolatry (Deuteronomy 9:4). Because of the sinful nature of these nations, not because of Israel’s rightness, God determined to drive them out and turn the land over to His children.

But when Israel’s spies returned from their survey of the land, they were afraid and spread their fear to the Israelites. Instead of trusting in God’s continued deliverance and provision, the spies relied on their own flawed wisdom, based on the dangers they saw during their expedition. Their report included tales of unconquerable rulers, impossible odds, and super-human giants. (Numbers 13:32) 

Of the twelve spies, only Joshua and Caleb spoke the truth about Canaan based on God’s promise. “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” (Numbers 14:6-7).

The doubting Israelites wanted to stone Joshua and Caleb after their faith-filled report. They couldn’t imagine overcoming the odds stacked against them. They fell into deep despair and wept bitterly. Disgusted with the Israelites continued unbelief, grumbling, and complaining God considered destroying the His people with a plague (Numbers 14:11) until Moses interceded. 

Although God chose to forgive His people--their unbelief had cost them the privilege of ever entering the land of promise.
(Numbers 14:23)

Instead, they would wander the wilderness for forty years until all the adults were buried right outside the border of the promised land.

Then, their children would have a chance to prove
themselves faithful to God and enter Canaan. Only Joshua and Caleb, the two faithful spies, were exempt from God’s just punishment. 
​
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What Can We Learn from This Bible Story?

"The Israelites wilderness situation was ordained to get them ready for the promise. Unfortunately, their patterns of behavior kept them stuck for far longer than God intended,” explains Victoria Riollano. The Israelites’
continued acts of rebellion were an outward
manifestation of a much bigger issue—their lack of faith. 
​
Even though God had repeatedly demonstrated His trustworthiness to the Israelites, they allowed fear to keep them from resting in His continued provision. That same unchecked fear would eventually keep them from entering the land God had promised. 

Believers are faced with the choice between faith and fear on a regular basis. In fact, James 1:3 tells us that God tests our faith on purpose so that He can produce in us perseverance and maturity in Christ.

The good news

is that we don’t have to combat fear alone. We’re invited to cast our cares on God, and we’re promised that His perfect love casts out all fear. (1 Peter 5:7, 1 John 4:18)


The New Promised Land: Kingdom of Heaven
​
When Jesus Christ arrived in Israel, he brought a new covenant accessible to all people, Jews, and Gentiles alike. At the end of Hebrews 11, the popular "Hall of Faith" section, scripture remarks that people of the Old Testament "were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised." (Hebrews 11:39) They may have received the land, but they still looked to the future for the Messiah—that Messiah is Jesus Christ. 

The kingdom of God is now established on earth through Christ, and will be fulfilled with Israels return to the promised land, when they as a nation discover their messiah is Jesus Christ. Because Israel was entrusted with God's laws, but do not practice his laws, their inability to trust their messiah will bring the end of the age. Jesus Messiah will redeem the nation of Israel to prove he can redeem even the biggest catastrophe.

One day, at the end of the Tribulation, all of surviving Israel will “look on Me whom they have pierced” (Zech. 12:10). Israel’s repentance will be complete, and they will inhabit the future kingdom over which Christ will reign as their Messiah. Then and only then will Israel fully possess the land promised to them. God is faithful to His Word—to Israel and to us! His face is hidden from those who do not believe or trust his authorship. 

​All in God's good timing...The wandering in the wilderness will be over!

He's in the game of redemption!

Whoever believes in Christ as their Savior becomes a resident of the kingdom of God. As Jesus explained to Pontius Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Religious leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” (John 18:36)

​We will see the promised land when Israel as a nation,
​turns to the name of Yeshua, Hebrew messiah as Lord,
and ushers in the messianic kingdom for good!