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Mark
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« on: January 28, 2017, 11:31:27 pm » |
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This is from As America Has Done To Israel by John McTernan. I really recommend it.
Jerusalem, God’s Anvil
Anvil: an iron or steel block on which objects are hammered into shape
In that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it
shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. (Zechariah 12:3)
The rebirth of the nation of Israel has been a very slow process, starting in the 1880s and continuing
until today. At times, this process has seemed to stop, only to be suddenly accelerated again by a worldshaking
event.
Jews leaving Russia and trickling back to Israel did not seem significant at first. Then came World War
I and the Balfour Declaration in 1917. Like an explosion, World War I prepared the land for the return.
The period between world wars was one of tension and terrorism. There was no apparent move of God
toward fulfilling the covenant, but then came World War II and the Nazi Holocaust. These events set the
stage for hundreds of thousands of Jews to flee back to Israel. World War II prepared the people for the
land.
Then came the rebirth of the nation on May 14, 1948, and the immediate war that followed. The war
ended with Israeli independence, but Jerusalem a divided city. Once again there was a period of tension
and terrorism. For twenty years, there seemed to be no end to the fighting. Next came the Six Day War of
1967 and like a bolt of lightning, Jerusalem was the united capital of Israel. Since 1967, there has been a
major war, fighting in Lebanon, continuing terrorist attacks, and several intifadas against Israel.
Starting in September 2000, a low-grade war started over Jerusalem. This war was a continuation of
the fighting that started in the 1920s. Although the fighting and terrorism appear endless, there will be an
end. Terrorism and fighting seem to occur between all the major moves of God to restore Israel. The
terrorism and fighting against Israel will continue up to the next major event, which may be the rebuilding
of the temple in Jerusalem.
Jerusalem was united nearly forty years ago. Now, the focus of tension is over Jerusalem and the
Temple Mount area. The Bible states that the possession of Jerusalem will be the cause of the last great
world war. The issues involving Jerusalem will draw all the nations of the world into battle. God is going
to use Jerusalem as an anvil against the nations of the world. In September 2000, the Temple Mount
became the scene of bloody combat. This could be the fuse that ignites the last world war.
God is moving to fulfill the promises of His everlasting covenant, but human observers need patience.
God moved very slowly in fulfilling the promise. Looking back to 1917, it is clear that the Israelis have
made tremendous progress as a people and nation. Millions of Jews have returned home. Israel is a
nation, and Jerusalem is its capital. Israel is a mighty military power with a powerful economy. Hebrew
is the national language. In God’s time, He will fulfill the rest of the covenant promises. Israel will
rebuild a temple in Jerusalem in the near future. It is just a matter of time.
No group or country has been able to stop the rebirth and development of the nation. Israel is truly like
an anvil, and nations are broken that try to destroy God’s everlasting covenant. In watching God at work,
great patience is required.
The restoration has taken over a century to get this far, but God has His own agenda and timetable.
Watching Jerusalem and the intifada that started in September 2000 over the Temple Mount, one sees that
God’s timetable may be accelerating. Remember, Jesus Christ said that Jerusalem was the key to the
timetable.
And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and
Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. (Luke 21:24)
With the rebirth of Israel and Jerusalem as the capital, this nation becomes an anvil for false views of
God and Bible doctrine. Most religions of the world do not recognize God’s everlasting covenant with
Israel. Some believe the Jews had a covenant, but they believe it is no longer in effect.
God is using the restoration of Israel to show that His word is literal. The rebirth of Israel confronts
false teaching, false doctrine, and false prophets. Israel becomes an anvil, breaking many false doctrines
and misunderstandings about the Bible.
Islam
The Islamic religion does not recognize the covenant with Isaac and Jacob but instead believes God
made the covenant with Abraham and Ishmael. The Bible actually states that the everlasting covenant was
not with Ishmael but with Isaac; however, Islam refuses to accept the authority of the Bible and insists the
covenant was with Ishmael. The Bible verses to show this follow:
God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will
establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for
Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him
exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I
establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. (Genesis 17:19–21,
emphasis added)
Muslims controlled Palestine for most of the time since 638 yet could not prevent the restoration of
Israel. Muslims fought Israel in 1948, 1967, and 1973, followed by continual strife right up to our present
day. Yet the Muslim nations failed to destroy Israel. This tension between Israel and the Koran can never
be peacefully resolved. For Muslims to recognize the nation of Israel would be an admission that their
beliefs are wrong.
The Koran does not mention Jerusalem, and it does not mention the rebirth of the nation of Israel. The
Bible mentions Jerusalem 811 times. The rebirth of Israel is on page after page in the Bible, while the
Koran is silent. The rebirth of Israel shows the authority of the Bible as the Word of God, and is proof that
the Koran and Mohammed are incorrect. For this reason, there will always be tension between Israel and
Islam. This tension will not last forever, however.
There is a huge confrontation on the horizon between the Holy God of the Bible and Islam. The heart of
the confrontation is Jewish control of Jerusalem. God is using Israel as an anvil against Islam. When the
Islamic nations come against Israel and Jerusalem, God will judge them. This destruction will lead them
to realize the Bible is the Word of God, and the holy God of Israel is the true God.
Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and
they shall know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 38:23)
Christian Replacement Theology
God is also using Israel as an anvil against false teachings within the Christian church. There are false
doctrines called dominion theology, covenant theology, and preterism. These doctrines are fluid and have
many branches, but there is one basic tenet they all hold: the Christian church has now replaced Israel in
the everlasting covenant with Abraham.
These doctrines hold that God has no future plan for the nation of Israel, and that when the Roman
armies destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD, it ended the everlasting covenant. Israel then fell
under the curse of the law, and all the blessings in the Bible now belong to the church. The church now is
the seed of Abraham.
These doctrines are in stark contrast to what prophet after prophet stated in the Bible. Jeremiah, for
example, stated that the Lord will never cast off all Israel for sin. Jeremiah claimed that the nation of
Israel will remain forever, and God will never cast them all away.
Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the
stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; the Lord of hosts is his
name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease
from being a nation before me for ever. Thus saith the Lord; If heaven above can be measured, and the
foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they
have done, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 31:35–37)
The book of Ezekiel records that God dispersed Israel into all nations because of sin, but God would
one day bring them back because of His holy name—not because of their righteousness. The nation of
Israel exists today only because of the holy name of the God of Israel.
I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their
way and according to their doings I judged them….But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of
Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went….Thus saith the Lord God; I do not this for
your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen,
whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen….For I will
take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own
land….And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be
your God. (Ezekiel 36:19, 21–24, 28)
Zechariah prophesied the restoration of Israel, but said that when the people return, it will be in
unbelief toward God and the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. The prophet showed that God will restore
Jerusalem, and that He will judge the nations for trying to destroy Jerusalem. At the time of this judgment,
Israel then turns to belief in the Lord Jesus: “…and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and
they shall mourn for him” (Zechariah 12:10). Israel is in unbelief today, just as Zechariah stated would
happen. The day of their restoration to the Lord God of Israel remains yet in the future:
It shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of
supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one
mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
(Zechariah 12:9–10)
God is using the rebirth of Israel to prove the replacement doctrines incorrect. Just as Moses and the
prophets wrote, the physical descendants of Abraham have returned and restored the nation. In the Bible,
Jerusalem literally means the city of Jerusalem, and Israel means Israel; one cannot spiritualize it to mean
the church. Islam and replacement theology both refuse to believe the Bible about the restoration of Israel
and Jerusalem. These combined false beliefs failed to prevent the restoration of Israel.
If this restoration of Israel is not of God, then what is it? The restoration of modern Israel fulfills the
prophecies of the Bible. It comes down to the final authority: is the final authority a man-made doctrine
like replacement theology or Islam, or the Bible with its clear verses that establish the restoration of
Israel? The restoration of Israel smashes replacement theology. The foundation of replacement theology
rests upon unbelief in God’s word. This is a serious error that leads to consequences with God, including
spiritual blindness.
To try and get around the error of the replacement and covenant theology, some believers in these
doctrines have gone so far as to say that the Jews in Israel are not real Jews. When the Tsar was killing
“Jews” in the Russian pogroms, no one said, “Stop! They are not real Jews.” When the Nazis were killing
the Jews, no one said to Hitler, “Stop! They are not real Jews.” Now, when these same Jews go back to
Israel, they are accused of not being real Jews.
God is using the rebirth of Israel to cut through false and incorrect views of His word. The promise of
God in the Bible is crystal clear on page after page. Man-made doctrines and false prophets have tried to
alter this covenant, but in the latter day God has made the truth clear for all to see. God is very serious
about His word. “Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform
it” (Jeremiah 1:12).
Belief in false doctrines concerning the literalness of the rebirth of Israel blinds people to the work of
God that is occurring right before their eyes. God is moving to fulfill His word, and millions cannot see it.
It is sad that believers in Jesus Christ, because of false doctrine, are actually against the work of God.
Replacement theology and Islamic theology are in agreement against Israel. They both refuse to recognize
that Israel exists because of the everlasting covenant.
It is a grave thing to be on the wrong side of God when He is defending His everlasting covenant. The
wrong doctrine can cause apathy toward Israel and the Jews, leading to failure to pray for and support
Israel in a time of crisis. This incorrect doctrine blinds a person’s ability to recognize God’s judgment
falling on America for forcing Israel to divide the covenant land. Therefore, this person is spiritually
unable to intercede for America as it faces judgment.
God is very serious about the land and covenant. The Lord God of Israel will literally use Jerusalem
as an anvil to destroy the nations that come against it. Jerusalem will draw the nations like a moth to a
light. Multitudes of people have rejected God and the Bible, and this rebellion will cause the nations to
come against God’s anvil. God has warned beforehand about what will happen when armies try to destroy
Israel and take Jerusalem. The entire world will see the mighty power of God as He uses Israel as His
anvil.
God is using the rebirth of Israel to expose false prophets and false doctrines and to have a literal
witness on the earth to the authority of His Word. It is important that one’s faith be in accord with the truth
of the Bible. God’s Word has been tested in the furnace of the earth, and the Bible has proven itself to be
like pure gold and silver. The everlasting covenant has been tested now for four thousand years of history.
It is in effect for all to see. God is faithful to His Word and promises.
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