Rejoice with Israel, Be Glad for Her!
JERUSALEM, Israel -- As Israelis prepare to celebrate the nations 66th Independence Day, Yom Haatzmaut, its a timely reminder that God really is watching over His Word to perform it. (
)News headlines can get even the most stouthearted down, including those with a deep and abiding faith in the Almighty.
The truth is the Bible is an infinitely more uplifting and reliable source for understanding todays headlines.
The more we see whats going on in the world from Gods perspective, the more effectively we can pray into it.
The Old Testament is more than just the history of the Jewish people. Through Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah and other Old Testament prophets, we learn about a key outworking of that plan: the re-gathering of the Jews to Israel. It's been going on in earnest since the late 1800s.
Todays worldwide upsurge of anti-Semitism has and will factor into the re-gathering, or aliyah -- immigration to Israel under the Law of Return. The fact is Israel wasnt reborn because of the Holocaust but in spite of it. Still it seems weve entered the times of the hunters.
Behold, I will send for many fishermen, says the Lord, and they shall fish them.; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill and out of the holes of the rocks. (
)The most recent example is Ukraines Jewish community, which has experienced increasing anti-Semitic incidents even before Russias invasion of eastern Ukraine. So far this year, almost twice as many Ukrainian Jews immigrated to Israel than in all of 2013, the Jewish Agency reported recently.
But why is God so intent on re-gathering the Jews to Israel? Whats behind it? Whats the purpose? The purpose is salvation. Aliyah and salvation are inexorably linked. Gods covenant with the house of Jacob is eternal.
David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes and do them. Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their childrens children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever. (
)Our calling is to pray into the re-gathering of the Jews to Israel where God will fulfill what Hes spoken.
For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. (
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