Israel & the End Times: Why Prophecy Matters Today | With Joel Rosenberg

A New Beginning presents a new book from Pastor Greg Laurie. We are offering a brand new resource called The House of David Devotional and it's based on the great Psalms of David as well as the life of David. So I'm going to put this brand new devotional in your hand so you can learn from this man of God.

Or your gift of any size at harvest.org. It's the official companion resource for the new Amazon TV series also called The House of David. God is not done with the Jewish people. Today some good news about God's chosen people. They're finding Christ as never before.

Pastor Greg Laurie speaks with his friend, author Joel Rosenberg. In 1973, we think there were fewer than 2,000 Jews on the planet who believed in Jesus as Messiah. Now there are over a million. This is the greatest moment and era of Jews coming to faith in Jesus and many many millions more listening than in all of human history. The nation Israel has been through a lot over the last few years. Those who know history and particularly biblical history know Israel's been through a lot period. What's the current state of Israel spiritually and what's God's plan for His chosen people as we move into the end times?

Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie tackles those questions with the help of his good friend New York Times bestselling author, speaker, and Bible prophecy expert, Joel Rosenberg. There is a spiritual blindness among many Jews today. And by that I mean they are not really open to embracing Jesus as the Messiah.

But that is beginning to change. The last time I interviewed my guest, Joel Rosenberg, he told me there were 15,000 Messianic Jews in Israel, which is actually quite a few. But he just told me now there is 30,000.

So it has doubled. And he estimates there are one million Messianic Jews. A Messianic Jew is a Jew who has put their faith in Jesus as a Messiah. He believes there are now a million Messianic Jews around the world.

So God is at work. And I want to explore that more together. So now we are going to welcome Joel Rosenberg. He is a New York Times bestselling author.

And he has a television program called The Rosenberg Report and also has a news site, All Israel News, another one called All Arab News. So Joel, well I tell you what, he is the guy I talk to when I want to get information about that part of the world. So let's give a warm harvest welcome to Joel as he comes. How are you?

Good to see you. So Joel, you were born, where were you born? I was born in Syracuse, New York. Yeah, so you, born in America, have gone to Israel. You've become an Israeli citizen.

You have dual citizenship. And you were there on October 7th, actually living in Jerusalem. So tell us how this has affected the nation and maybe the Jewish people in general. I don't know if you can speak for all of them, but what kind of impact has this had? And why the increase of anti-Semitism of all things in the aftermath of such a horrible attack on these folks? Well living in Israel, I've been traveling in and out for 37 years since I was an undergraduate.

And then we started the Joshua Fund, a ministry to bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus. That was 18 years ago. And then yes, we became citizens and have lived there for 10 years. And October 7th was the worst day of our entire lives.

I'm 57 years old. I've never been through anything like that. We lived through 9-11 and we were living in Washington at that time. This was just devastating because we didn't see it coming. Nobody saw it coming.

Nobody saw it coming. 1,200 Jews were murdered that day by this invasion of about 6,000 Hamas terrorists. Israel didn't see it coming. And Jews weren't just murdered.

And by the way, a couple days later I was covering Israeli President Herzog's first international press conference for the international media for all Israel News and for TBN. And he said it was the worst day of slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. Nowhere since the Holocaust had 1,200 Jews been murdered.

Not even in Israel in all of our wars. These were Jews, Israelis who were being shot to death as children in front of their parents. Parents being shot to death in front of their children. Beheadings.

A baby put in an oven alive and baked. Families huddling together and burned in their homes alive. Women raped, men raped. And then 255 hostages being taken and dragged into terror tunnels in Gaza. I'll stop there because it's a Sunday morning and people didn't sign up to hear all the atrocities. But I've taken a lot of evangelical leaders to see. There's a 47-minute classified film that the IDF put together of GoPro camera footage and some CCTV footage of Hamas terrorists doing this. I've never actually watched Demon Possession, but this is what I was watching.

And it is the most sickening and revolting and horrifying thing I have ever seen. And I've been to Auschwitz and I've been to Afghanistan and I've been to Iraq and living through it. And then every day since, there's a darkness spiritually. There's a darkness in terms of the military and Israelis who don't know, and Palestinians and Lebanese who don't know Jesus and don't have a promise of peace that passes all comprehension.

That's what we have. But that doesn't mean we're not grieving. That doesn't mean we're not up in the middle of the night unable to sleep because the grief is just so deep. Paul went through grief. Jesus went through grief. The church went through grief so that we don't get absolved of that. But we do have God saying, I will give you in those times peace and comfort that passes all comprehension. We've had that. But for a nation that doesn't have that, how are Israelis surviving?

That's the short version. But how does this all fit into the big prophetic puzzle? They're suffering all around the world, though this is one of the worst events we've heard of in recent history. But why should we as Christians care in particular about Israel and about the Jewish people? Because there's a name for it, replacement theology. They would say, well, Israel is not a fulfillment of Bible prophecy, and that only happens when the Messiah comes. And they would say that we should not be that concerned about that part of the world. And what would you say in response to that? Well, of course, I disagree with that. And we can talk about why.

And I'm happy to go there if you want. But I will say, even if somebody here or watching or listening feels that way, I would say, okay, set aside our disagreement on whether current Israel has anything to do with Bible prophecy. Just think about the Great Commission. How are you going to minister to a nation, a people that you think God has nothing to do with anymore? That's impossible.

I mean, to do it effectively. If God abandoned the Jews and replaced them with a church at the cross, because most of my team didn't get it, right? John 1. He, the Messiah, came to his own, the Jewish people, the nation of Israel, and his own received him not. But as many as did receive him, Gentiles like you, to them, to you, he gave the right to become the children of God.

But our team did fail, mostly, to get it during the time of the gospel. But if God abandoned us then, if he cut us off then, how did Paul come to faith in Jesus Christ after the cross? Why did, how did God use him to reach so many Jews and Gentiles? No, God obviously is, you know, right in the scriptures, you don't have to go to later, right in the scriptures, we can see God is not done with Jews, and then go read Romans 9, 10, and 11, and so forth.

Yes. But I would appeal to my friends who think that way, say, okay, just in terms of Jewish evangelism, just your heart and compassion, there's a nation that's grieving. So if you're trying to show compassion, and you think of Isaiah 40, comfort my people, how can Isaiah say that prophetically if, oh, well, no, God's done with us? Well, how is that comforting? Yeah.

If he's done with it, he's not done with us. And as you mentioned, now, almost, maybe a little bit over a million Jews have come to faith in Jesus, starting when? Starting in the Jesus revolution. There's a really good movie. I don't know if it's gotten to California. Are you you know, are you aware? I've heard of it. Okay. Yeah. Okay.

You should definitely you and your wife, you definitely see it. But I'm just saying, we will just say no. No, that's when my father who was raised Orthodox Jewish in Brooklyn, his family escaped out of Russia. That's when he came to faith. He came to faith in 1973. He thought he was the first Jew since the Apostle Paul, Greg, that believe that he never heard of a Jew that believed in Jesus.

He never met one. And in 1973, we think there were fewer than 2000 Jews on the planet who believed in Jesus. Now there are over a million out of a population of about 15 or 16 million Jews. So in terms of sheer numbers, and percentages, this is the greatest moment and era of Jews coming to faith in Jesus and many, many millions more listening than in all of human history.

It's exciting. Pastor Greg Laurie will have more of his discussion with Joel Rosenberg in just a moment. So many listeners have commented on the help they receive from Pastor Greg's messages, like this one. Pastor Greg, in a world of ever changing truth, I am thankful for Harvest Ministries and your commitment to preach the whole gospel. When I hear your messages, I never feel judged. But instead, I feel encouraged to adjust course if needed, based on what God's word says. Thank you for always preaching the truth. It's a blessing to know that listeners are hearing these messages and God is using his word to touch hearts. How have Pastor Greg studies impacted your life?

Would you let him know? Send an email to greg.harvest.org. That's greg.harvest.org. Well today, Pastor Greg is speaking with author and Bible prophecy expert, Joel Rosenberg. So you talk about a potentially apocalyptic situation. So it's interesting, we have Ezekiel 37 that talks about the regathering of the Jews to their homeland, which has happened.

And then we have Ezekiel 38. We read about a large force from the north of Israel, identified as Magog, marching on her. Israel seems to be isolated at this moment.

And one of the allies of Magog is called Persia, which changed their name to Iran in 1935. And we see the aggression of Iran toward Israel. And they have a hatred for America as well.

We must have missed that. And for some inexplicable reason, we've been funding them with billions of dollars. And we know that some of that money, no doubt, has gone to the funding of these proxy terrorist organizations like Hezbollah or Hamas or the Houthis. And so this is... You have to, if you've got a terrorist organization with an H in front of your name, you're going to get a lot of money. Yes.

Hezbollah, Houthis, Hamas. That seems to be the way. It seems that way. Right. So could any of these events, like let's say Israel decides to hit Iran and take out their nuclear reactor, kit her oil reserves or producing mechanisms.

This could maybe lead to a scenario like that or it may not. We don't know. But how do you see this in the big prophetic picture?

Yeah. I don't think there's enough data to say that we're heading into Ezekiel 38, 39 yet. We are in a birth pang, Matthew 24. Wars, rumors of wars, kingdom against kingdom, nation against nation. I believe that the invasion of Ukraine by Russia itself is a birth pang. It's the greatest, largest land war in Europe since World War II. I believe that six million people that died during the COVID era, I think that was part of a contraction that was part of the birth pangs.

So birth pangs are contraction, release, contraction, release. October 6, we would have said, we're going to release in Israel. We'd made peace with four Arab neighbors. We're about to make peace with the Saudis.

We're clearly in a contraction now. And if Israel wins, we will all be saying the Saudis are about to make peace. The Indonesians are about to make peace.

This will seem like, oh my gosh, and that would be a setup for Ezekiel 38 and 39 afterwards because it was the greatest era of calm, quiet, peace and prosperity in the history of the Middle East since David and Solomon. But if this thing goes sour and Russia decides to team up with Iran and Turkey, then that's a different scenario. We just don't know that yet.

And so we shouldn't try to jump and draw conclusions that they're not. Or even want it to happen. But it's going to happen. It's going to happen in God's timing.

But in light of the fact that, look, here's the bottom line. Christ is coming. As you said, the labor pains are around us.

They're getting, and as the labor pains get closer together, that means that birth is coming. And as we see these events getting closer and closer together, what should we be doing as Christians in the light of the fact that Christ could come in our lifetime? Yeah. I would say the Joshua Fund, all the Israel news, we talk about four things we want to encourage Christians to understand and do. So Joel has an organization called the Joshua Fund that he's referring to.

Yeah, it's a ministry that we started 18 years ago to educate and mobilize Christians to bless Israel and her neighbors, Palestinians and others, in the name of Jesus. And so we encourage people to do four things. Learn, pray, give and go. Part of my role is the educational side of this. This is why I'm doing this.

And I appreciate you inviting especially this weekend. And the more we understand what God is doing, what he wants to do, what the enemy is doing, it will motivate us to pray and to pray more specifically. As we pray more, we will have a heart to want to give our time, our talent and even our treasures to invest in building the kingdom and fulfilling the great commission in the epicenter in the Middle East.

And then go. Go and preach the gospel to everybody in creation. And by strengthening the Joshua Fund as just one example, this is what we're doing. We're investing in the local believers. Yes, for humanitarian relief, but also to strengthen them so they can preach the word of God and fulfill the great commission. Again, Israelis, Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, Jordanians, Iraqis and Egyptians. This is a group of people that don't know Christ.

And how are they going to say yes if they haven't even heard? And we need to strengthen the local church so that they can reach their people and hopefully fulfill the great commission in our lifetime. So as horrible as this year has been, Lynn and I and our family and our team are so grateful to be there because this is why we're there to love our neighbors and to love our enemies and to help the local believers fulfill the great commission.

Yes, that's right. You know, sometimes there's a shaking in our own life that will get our attention. There's a lady I know. She's Jewish. And we had many conversations and she was very open. She would even come to our church. But her struggle was if she professed Christ, she felt it would be like a betrayal of her upbringing.

That's one of the struggles of a Jewish person. So she struggled with that. And I kept saying to my wife, Kathy, you know, I need to have a conversation with her like one on one.

I feel she's close. And tragically, it took COVID to bring that about. She got COVID. She was very sick. She was in the hospital. I wanted to go see her. I wasn't able to. They wouldn't let me in the room.

So thankfully, a nurse held a phone right up to her face and put it on FaceTime. And I said, I know we've talked about this many times, but, you know, you're ready to enter eternity. Would you like to embrace Jesus as your Messiah? I customized it to her because she's a Jewish lady. She said I would. So I let her in a prayer that I often lead people in. But instead of just saying, Jesus, come into my life as my Savior and Lord, I had her pray as my personal Messiah. She prayed that.

And it was a beautiful moment. Maybe we're talking to somebody right now that you've had a shaking in your life and I don't need God. I don't want God. But something's happened to get your attention. And all of a sudden you're realizing, yeah, I need God and I need him now.

So what would you say to somebody that's come to that place? Because it happened for you. It happened for your father, as you mentioned. And most of the people here and are watching, it's probably happened to them. But there's also someone here or watching and it hasn't happened to yet. Maybe there's been a shaking in their life. There's been a wake up call, something to get their attention, showing them they need Jesus.

What would you say to them? I would say now is the day of salvation. That's what the Bible says, meaning you really don't know if you have another few minutes.

I mean, honestly, you just don't know. The people that woke up in Israel on that Saturday morning, they did not think this was their last breath. And we know we invested, Joshua Fund is investing in the only evangelical messianic congregation on that Gaza border. And they had been sharing the Gospel with other people.

They had been sharing the Gospel with a religious Jewish woman for years, the wife had, the wife of the pastor. And she said, look, you know, we never know how much time we have left. And so I really want to encourage you. And for a while it was like, this woman was like, I don't want to hear it anymore. I love you.

I know you love me. But enough already about this Yeshua. But about two weeks before October 7th, this woman just, the Lord just opened her heart and her eyes and she called the pastor's wife. He said, you know what you've been saying, make a decision. Don't wait. And I've done it.

And now help me grow. Two weeks later, she was murdered by Hamas at a bus station where this pastor's wife send their kids around the corner from their home to school every morning. But it was a Saturday. And they saw her face as one of these bodies, which they know she's in heaven. Because even though she didn't want to hear the Gospel, they didn't shove it down her throat.

They weren't loving and respectful. But the wife just kept sharing and kept loving and didn't take no for an answer, although gave her some space to make a decision, but said, look, it is urgent. We just never, now she didn't know. She couldn't have possibly imagined that Hamas was going to kill this friend of hers.

But thank God that she was faithful to the Gospel. So I would just say, we don't know what the next few minutes hold. Don't wait. If you know that you made, that this is the right thing, that Jesus is the Messiah, that he died on the cross, he rose again, and he's the only way to get to heaven, don't say, well, but my parents, my mother, some, you know, yeah, those are all issues you're going to have to work through. And the pastors and the team here are happy to work with people to help them grow and navigate the challenges that will come.

But don't wait. This is the moment. And this is the only moment you know that you have is right now. Well, Joel, thank you for all that you do. You're a bright light everywhere you go. Joel is, he travels all around the world. He speaks to large crowds.

He speaks one on one with all kinds of people to his seat mate and his plane flight to a leader of a nation. And you're always bold for the Gospel. And I appreciate that.

And also, in case you didn't know, he's a very gifted novelist. And I want to pray for Joel and his ministry. And then I want to pray for anybody here or watching, wherever you are. If you're ready to make that commitment to Christ, you can do it right here, right now.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for Joel and all that he does and his wife, Lynn. Thank you for his boldness for the Gospel and the light he is in so many unique and special places.

Continue to guide him, protect him, use him, empower him for your glory. And Lord, I pray now for anyone here or watching, if they don't know you yet, let this be the moment they believe. And if you want Jesus to come into your life, if you want him to forgive you of your sin, let me just lead you in a prayer similar to the one I led that lady and I spoke of. And Jesus will come into your life.

Just pray, Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner. I know that you are the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I turn from my sin and I choose to follow you from this moment forward as my Savior and Lord, my God and my friend. Thank you for hearing this prayer and I ask this now, in Jesus' name.

Amen. An important prayer today here on A New Beginning. Pastor Greg Laurie praying with those asking the Lord to forgive their sins so they can be ready for his return.

And if you've just prayed that prayer and meant those words, then your sins have been forgiven and you're a new child of God. And we want to welcome you into God's family and we want to send you an important resource to help you build a strong foundation for your faith. Let us send you Pastor Greg's New Believers Bible.

Millions have read this edition of the Bible and enjoyed the hundreds and hundreds of helps, especially for those who are new to the faith. We'll send it free of charge when you call us at 1-800-821-3300. We can take your call anytime 1-800-821-3300.

Or write A New Beginning Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514. Or just go online to harvest.org and click Know God. And Pastor Greg, we're so thankful for the work God is doing through this ministry. We're touching lives for eternity and we're really thankful for our friends who see the fruit of this ministry and invest so this work can reach even further.

Isn't that right? Absolutely. When you invest in Harvest Ministries, you're investing in the souls of men and women, boys and girls. And what is the value of a soul?

Well, let me personalize it. What's the value of your soul? What's the value of the soul of your husband, your wife, your son, or your daughter, or your mom or your dad, or your best friend?

Well, I would say you probably couldn't put a price tag on it. It's so valuable. Well listen, God says all souls are mine.

God loves us and sent his son to die on the cross to pay the price for all of our sins so we could be forgiven and come into a relationship with him. I can't think of a better investment of my resources, of my money, than in the work of the kingdom of God. So we would ask you to prayerfully consider investing in Harvest Ministries as we continue on to fulfill the Great Commission.

Yeah, that's right. And you can make your donation right now at harvest.org or write us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24-7 phone number, 1-800-821-3300. Well next time, as Pastor Greg continues his series, Jesus and You, he shows us an encounter with a giant of the faith who had his moments of doubt. What can we learn from this? Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie.