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A CONTROVERSY IN ZION
Because of current world events concerning
the middle east I am beginning a new series of messages on the subject of Israel and Bible prophecy concerning Jerusalem.
People are asking the question, Why has there been so much bitterness and fighting
going on in the middle east and why is there so much contention over the city of Jerusalem, why is Jerusalem so important
to Muslims and those of the Islamic religion and the world? Well, if we are going to get a true and unbiased
understanding of the current situation in the middle east we have to go back and examine history and we must understand what
the Bible says about Israel and Jerusalem because the Holy Bible contains the inspired Word of God Almighty. The
Bible states that Israel is God’s chosen people. We will see that God has a controversy with Israel
and He also has a controversy with the nations of the world.
Part of the reason there is so much fighting and confusion
going on about the middle east is because Satan, who is the god of this world system, has deceived the minds and hearts of
the nations. Satan wants to rule the earth and he wants to be worshiped by the world. This
is why he was kicked out of heaven in the first place. The prophet Isaiah spoke concerning Lucifer saying, “How art thou
fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which did weaken
the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt
my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend
above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down
to hell, to the sides of the pit.” Isaiah 14:12-15
Where did Satan go after he was kicked out of heaven?
In the book of Revelation we read:
“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his
angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast
out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth…Woe
to the inhibiters of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath,
because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” Revelation 12:7-12 Satan has accomplished one important step
in his plan for world domination. He has caused the world to reject the truth of the Holy Bible, God’s
Word. When people have hardened their hearts against the truth, they can easily be deceived into believing
a lie. “Now
the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits,
and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron…”
I Timothy 4:1,2
The world is now being prepared by Satan to receive his representative on this earth, which is the antichrist.
Satan is a spiritual being and needs a body to be able to substitute himself as Israel’s messiah in the place
of Jesus Christ. Israel rejected Jesus Christ at His first coming even though the prophets prophesied that
He would come and do the things that He did during His earthly ministry. Israel is still waiting for their
messiah to come and bring peace to the world. The great apostle Paul had this to say concerning the antichrist:
"And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy
with the brightness of His coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and
lying wonders, an with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love
of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them srong delusion, that they should believe
a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." II
Thessalonians 2:8-12
The
word “controversy” used in the King James Bible is translated from the original Hebrew word “siyach”
which means an uttered or spoken complaint or cause. We can see from today’s news headlines,
and from the past since Israel became a nation again in 1948, that the world has a controversy or
complaint against Israel concerning it’s right to be in the land that the world calls Palestine. Israel
has a complaint against the world that that is their ancient home land and that they are not being treated fairly as a sovereign
nation compared with the other nations of the world. Israel has been under constant attach from the neighboring
countries since coming back into their home land.
God has a controversy with Israel because of their unbelief and rebellion and with the nations of the world because
of their hatred and treatment of Israel. In the Old Testament we read, “Hear ye, O mountains, the
Lord’s controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the Lord hath a controversy with his people, and He
will plead with Israel.” Micah 6:2 “But to Israel He saith, ALL DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED FORTH MY
HANDS UNTO A DISOBEDIENT AND GAINSAYING PEOPLE.” Romans 10:21 “For it is the day of the Lord’s
vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.” Isaiah 34:8 “A noise shall
come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, He will plead with all flesh; He will
give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord.” Jeremiah 25:31
To see who is right or wrong concerning
the controversy that exists because of Israel we must look at the Biblical history of God’s chosen people.
God spoke to Abraham one day saying, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s
house, unto a land that I will shew thee, and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name
great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall
all families of the earth be blessed.” Genesis 12:1-3 The Bible states that Abraham went forth
into the land of Canaan and that the Canaanite people were in the land at that time. The Lord then appeared
unto Abraham (whose name was Abram at that time) and said, “Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he
an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.” Genesis 12:5-7 We should understand
that Canaan was the fourth son of Ham. After the flood, Noah and his sons, Ham, Shem and Japheth went out
of the ark and Noah began to cultivate the ground, and he planted a vineyard. He then drank of the wine
and became drunk and was uncovered and laying naked in his tent. Ham came in and saw his father’s
nakedness and told his brothers outside. The bible says that Shem and Japheth did not look on their father’s
nakedness but, went into the tent backwards and covered Noah with a garment.
Remember, when
Adam and Eve sinned, God saw that they were naked and covered them with animal skins. Nakedness is symbolic
of sin and unrighteousness in the Bible. It is interesting to note that in His letters to the seven churches
Jesus had this to say to the church of the Laodiceans, “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would
thou were cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out
of My mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest
not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked…” Revelation 3:14-19 Back to the story of
Noah, when he had woke up from his drunkenness and knew what his younger son (Ham) had done to him, he said, “Cursed
be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of
Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.” Genesis 9:25-27
So we can now understand better why God told
Abram to go in and possess the land of Canaan. As we read in Genesis 12:5-7 God promised
to give the land of Canaan to Abram and his seed. Unger’ Bible dictionary states that Canaan was
the ancient name was is now known as Palestine. It covers all Palestine west of the Jordan.
This territory was situated between the great ancient empires of the Tigris-Euphrates and Halys Rivers on the one hand
and the great Egyptian empire of the Nile on the other. Israel completed their conquest and capture of the land of
Canaan after God sent Moses to deliver them from their slavery in Egypt. We can read about the conquest
of Canaan in the Old Testament book of Joshua. God repeated to Moses the promise made to Abraham by saying,
“Get thee up into this mountain Ab’-a-rim, unto mount Ne’-bo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over
against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession…”
Deuteronomy 32:49
God does not forget His promises to His people and if He says something it will come to pass regardless of what man
might try to do to stop or hinder it.
After Moses died, God spoke to Joshua, the son of Nun,
Moses’ minister, saying, “Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan,
thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every
place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you as I said unto Moses. From
the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea
toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.” Joshua 1:1-6
Right here we need to pause and look at a
map of present day Israel and compare the land they now live on with what God promised them in the Bible. It
is estimated that ancient Canaan includes all of modern day Jordan, Lebanon, Gaza and parts of Egypt, Syria,
Saudi Arabia and Iraq. In other words, Israel’s present conflict with the Palestinians over land
is already settled in the Bible. The only nation or people on earth that God made a covenant with to give
land to was the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which is Israel. Israel is God’s chosen
people to bring forth the holy seed of promise, Jesus Christ, by whom all the nations of the world have been blessed who have
put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ for the salvation of their souls.
It is true that
not all people of Jewish heritage will be saved and enter into the kingdom of God, but a remnant will be saved and inherit
the promises that God made with Abraham. Somebody might ask the question, why did God choose
Israel? God answered that question Himself in Deuteronomy 7:1-11, 9:1-7. We can now begin to see that those in this
world today who are trying to force and pressure the Israeli government to divide their land with the Palestinian people (who
are the descendants of Ishmael, not Isaac) and those who hate the Jewish people and seek to destroy them are making a big
mistake and they are placing themselves in the terrifying position of fighting against God, the almighty creator of this universe.
The Bible tells us that they will be cursed by God. Ultimately, hell and the lake of fire will be
their eternal reward (Luke 13:24-30, 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).
The world should know and understand that Jerusalem was and
is the eternal capital of Israel and God has special plans for the city. This is where the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was
crucified. This is where the first and second temples were built in which God’s glory resided.
The famous ark of the covenant was housed in the temple in Jerusalem before it’s destruction by the Roman armies
in A.D. 70. Jerusalem is called mount Zion in the Bible and has great spiritual significance to God and
the Jewish people. In the Old Testament 1 Chronicles 11th chapter we read that king David conquered
Jerusalem and defeated the Jebusites who inhabited the land at that time and the Bible says, “And David and all Israel
went to Jerusalem, which is Je’-bus; where the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land. And the
inhabitants of Je’-bus said to David, Thou shalt not come hither. Nevertheless David took the castle
of Zion, which is the city of David…And David dwelt in the castle; therefore they called it the city of David.”
David was the one who when he was young slew the giant Goliath. He is known as Israel’s greatest
king. In the book of Acts chapter 13 we read:
“…He
raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also He gave testimony, and said, I HAVE FOUND DAVID THE SON OF JESSE,
A MAN AFTER MINE OWN HEART, WHICH SHALL FULFIL ALL MY WILL.” Of this man’s seed hath God according
to His promise raised unto Israel a Savior, Jesus…”
It is sad that many in the world today do not understand that
Bible prophecy is being fulfilled concerning Israel and Jerusalem. God has not forgotten or forsaken His
chosen people. Let us look at some of the prophecies concerning Israel and Jerusalem:“Again the Word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying,
Thus saith the Lord of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury.
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…Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will
save My people from the east country, and from the west country; And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst
of Jerusalem: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.” Zechariah
8:1-8
Judging by today’s headlines it seems that just about the whole world has turned against Israel and everyone
is in agreement that Israel must divide Jerusalem with the Palestinians for a two state solution for peace to exist in the
middle east. The Bible, long ago by the mouth of the prophets, predicts that the whole world would be against
Israel in the last days:
“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the
siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And 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.
The Bible also makes it clear that God will fight for and defend Israel from her enemies and a remnant of Israel
will be saved to inherit the promised land forever.
“I say then, hath God cast away His people? God forbid. For I also am an
Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away His people which He
foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? How he maketh intercession to
God against Israel , saying, LORD, THEY HAVE KILLED THY PROPHETS, AND DIGGED DOWN THINE ALTARS; AND I AM LEFT ALONE, AND THEY
SEEK MY LIFE. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I HAVE RESERVERED TO MYSELF
SEVEN THOUSAND MEN, WHO HAVE NOT BOWED THE KNEE TO THE IMAGE OF BAAL. Even so then at this present time
also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” Romans 11:1-5 “The Lord also shall save the tents
of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves
against Judah. In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among
them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as god, as the angel of the Lord before them.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against
Jerusalem.” Zechariah 12:2-9 “…Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till
we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed:
and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.”
Revelation 7:3,4
In conclusion, the Bible makes it very clear that Israel and the world will go through a time of great trouble
and distress because of their unbelief and rebellion. It will take place during the last 7 years of history
before Christ returns to set up His kingdom on this earth in Jerusalem for a 1,000 year period of peace. A
remnant of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will be saved and inherit the land that God promised to Abraham and
his seed forever. The church of Jesus Christ by faith has been adopted into the family of Abraham and will
also inherit the promises that God made to Abraham.
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