Why must we pray for Israel? Part Two

Yesterday, we began to talk about the gospel of the kingdom.  When we follow the kingdom thread through scripture, we find Abram, through whom God promised (Genesis 12:3), to make a great nation and to bless.  God made a covenant with Abram; a lasting promise.  He would have a son and an heir and descendants as numerous as the stars.  God sealed His covenant with a smoking firepot moving through the pieces of sacrifice while Abram was asleep, signifying that God alone would fulfill the conditions of the covenant.  We saw that it is an everlasting covenant.  Then God marked Abraham’s people with a sign of circumcision to distinguish them as a people of the covenant so they would remember they were different from the nations, with a unique promise and purpose.

God confirmed that same covenant with Isaac in Genesis 26:1-4 and with Jacob in Genesis 28:13-15.  In Exodus 33:1-2 we see Moses bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt and heading toward the Promised Land.  In Joshua 1:2-5 God gives the borders of the territory he is to possess. We also see in I Chronicles 17:21-22, Exodus 4:22-23 and Psalm 147:19-20, that God made a Covenant with the people of Israel.  In addition, there are many scriptures that speak about Jerusalem being the place where the Son of David will have his throne.

Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain.  Zech. 8:3.  Ps 2:6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.  Ps 48:2 Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, [is] mount Zion, [on] the sides of the north, the city of the great King.  Ps 87:2  The LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.  Mic 4:2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

So, in scripture, the focus begins to come into the sights for the bull’s eye on the target.  The view of scripture becomes narrower and narrower.  The target is Israel; the bull’s eye is Jerusalem.  We begin to see that in order to restore the rulership of the earth, God picked one nation and one people through whom to establish His kingdom so that they would be an example to the other nations.  He said he will set up His throne in Jerusalem and all nations will come to worship Him there.  Jerusalem is the focal point of the battle.  Do we not see that coming into play now?  There is a struggle for Jerusalem.  Whoever controls Jerusalem will control the place of the throne.  It will ultimately come under the control of the Messianic remnant who will invite Yeshua to come and rule as king.  In the meantime, we are entering the battle of the ages--the battle of battles. 

Incidentally, there can never be peace with the Palestinians.  There might be a false peace, prophesied in the Bible, but Islam is an all encompassing, socio-economic, political, militaristic system, cloaked in a religion.  Every charter of every Islamic nation has as its goal, the establishment of Sharia law, which will be subject to no other law or religion.  Islamic law has to be dominant because its goal is to establish the Islamic Caliphate and have a one world leader under Islam.

When we understand that, we begin to get an idea of why there is so much animosity against the Jewish people and the State of Israel.  The modern day restoration of the State of Israel, even if she is not walking in righteousness or revelation, is evidence of God’s word being true.  No other nation has experienced resurrection from the dead after ceasing to exist for thousands of years.  Satan does not want the Jewish people to come into revelation of the Messiah. 

Why? Jesus tied His return to their acceptance of Him and their acknowledgement of Him as their Mashiach Nagid.  Messiah, the King.  Jesus came the first time, to take the keys of the kingdom of earth from Satan and restore the ability of mankind to extend His kingdom rule in the earth.  That is what our salvation does.  It gives entrance to the Father’s kingdom.  It restores choice.  Jesus conquered Satan and gave us back choice.  Before His victory we were powerless over evil and could not be part of the kingdom.  Now we have the restored ability to choose partnership with the Father to see Jesus enthroned.

When we receive His atonement as the sacrificial Lamb, pictured in the Passover Feast; as He becomes our Passover Lamb, we enter a new kingdom through His blood and become ambassadors with all the rights and privileges of that kingdom.  We are no longer subject to the old kingdom, but are given authority to increase His kingdom.  Jesus took the keys and gave them to the believers.  It is like Lucy in the book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  Lucy hid in a wardrobe.  As she hid there, she gradually came to understand that there was a whole new world behind the door.  It took unfolding revelation for her to see what she had stepped into.  The cross is the door to the whole new world of the Kingdom of God through which we are granted entrance, by our salvation.

Jesus is King of that kingdom.  On the cross, above his head was a sign.  There was some controversy over the wording, because the religious leaders of Jesus’ day did not want it to state what it did.  It said, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.”  That was His prophetic word.  That was what God declared about His future.  I have a question.  Is He King of the Jews now?  Do we see Him sitting on a throne and ruling and reigning?  Is that a fact on earth?  If not, then is there still something that must take place, and that we can partner in, to see that become a reality in the here and now?  When will He return?   Next time, we will find a clue...