The Role of Israel in Prophecy - Part B

Now primarily this promise is fulfilled in Jesus the Messiah. In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Every single family on planet earth has access to salvation if they believe in the Lord Jesus. When God says he'll do something you can take it to the bank and today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip shows you what God says he will do through Israel. But first, here's a resource to help deepen your understanding about end times prophecy. Here are some of the titles in the End is Near series by Pastor Skip Heitzig. Israel Must Survive, Rapture Ready, and Russia's Coming Invasion. Surely the Lord God does nothing unless he reveals his secret to his servants, the prophets.

So when God is going to do something he warns his people, he sends a sign so his people will know that he's going to do something. Skip Heitzig's teaching series now has a companion study guide available to you. The End is Near guide covers all 26 messages that Skip recently presented. We can just look at the chessboard.

The pieces are all lining up in interesting fashion. The End is Near study guide includes notes, summaries, and questions for group or personal study. We need to understand the times and this study guide will aid in this effort. With your gift of $50 or more to Connect with Skip Heitzig, you will receive a copy of the End is Near study guide from Skip's in-depth 26-part series. Your gift will support the production and expansion of the Connect with Skip broadcast. Call 1-800-922-1888 or go online to connectwithskip.com.

That's 1-800-922-1888 or connectwithskip.com. Now, we're in Genesis 12 as we join Skip for the conclusion of his message, The Role of Israel in Prophecy. They have collected between 25% and 33% of all the Nobel Prizes ever awarded in science, in music, and in literature. Ever taken an aspirin? Well, then thank Friedrich Bayer who is a Jew who had a pharmaceutical company in Germany for that invention. If you've ever been vaccinated for polio, you should know that Dr. Albert Sabin and Dr. Jonas Salk, both Jews, came up with the vaccine. If you've ever gone to a dentist and he's deadened or she's deadened your gums, it's because of Dr. Albert Einhorn, a Jewish chemist who invented that substance. If you ever get a bacterial infection and take streptomycin, that's the invention of another Jewish doctor named Abraham Wachsmann.

If you have ever been tested for syphilis, and I hope you haven't, but you can thank Dr. Nusslin who developed the Wasserman test to discover that. And then when it comes to just studying the DNA and the double helix model, we have to thank Dr. James Watson and Francis Crick, both Jews, for that. And if you've ever been forgiven of your sins, it's because a Jewish Savior did it, named Yeshua. So you'll be a great nation. You'll bear a great name. Here's the third unconditional promise. You'll bring great news.

You'll bring great news. God says in verse 2, I will bless you. The end of verse 2, you shall be a blessing.

Verse 3, the end of verse 3, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Think how amazingly that promise has been kept through the conduit of the Jewish nation. Think of all the good news we would be missing if there was no nation of Israel. You know what we'd be missing?

We'd be missing this. I couldn't say, turn in your Bibles too. You wouldn't have a Bible.

They meticulously made sure by copying it with the most incredible means to make sure that it has been preserved. Without the Jews, there would be no Ten Commandments. Ten Commandments are the basis of American jurisprudence. Without the Jews, there'd be no Savior, and without the Jewish Savior, there'd be no Christianity. That's the whole premise of Romans chapter 9 in your New Testament. Now primarily, this promise is fulfilled in Jesus the Messiah. In you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Every single family on planet earth has access to salvation if they believe in the Lord Jesus. It's a promise given to anyone and to everyone. In you, all the families of the earth will be blessed.

The very word gospel means good news, great news. And it went from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. First time I went to Israel, I said I've been there 42 times, 42 times.

The first time I went, the first two times I went, I went to live there as a worker on a farm known as a kibbutz. And so here I am, a gentile German, an American of German descent, no Jewish blood at all, loving Israel with a group of young kids working on the land in Israel. And this mystified them. They're trying to figure us out, like, why are you here? I mean, we understand why we're here. We're Jewish. We kind of come, we're working the land, we're trying to make it a great place. Why are you here? What interests do you have in Israel?

Why do you love Israel? And I was asked that question a number of times, and I remember answering. I said, I love Israel because your Messiah happens to be my Savior. And in falling in love with Him, He introduced me to the people that He came through, which is you.

And they're still trying to get their heads around that. But I guess the question for you is, have you personally been blessed by the great news of Jesus Christ? It's a blessing to all the families, but don't let it just be something, oh, my family's always believed in that stuff. What about you personally?

You personally. So the good news, the great news is for you personally. So three unconditional promises. You're going to be a great nation. You'll bear a great name. You'll bring great news.

Fourth unconditional promise. You'll become a great need. You'll become a great need.

What do I mean by that? Well, look at verse three. I will bless those who bless you. Anybody here up for a blessing? Want to be blessed?

Okay. I will bless those who bless you. Bless Israel.

And God says, I will bless you. You know, some people think, well, you know, Israel, poor little Israel over there surrounded by all those people who hate them and want to drive them into the sea. Boy, Israel really needs America. Well, I understand what you mean by that in a geopolitical sense. It's always good to have friends anywhere.

But I see it the exact opposite. We need Israel. We need Israel. A few years ago, I had a conference here, an epicenter conference with Joel Rosenberg, and I had a little panel discussion. We were interviewing them and asking them a few questions, and we had leaders, pastors from Arab pastors, Jewish pastors from Israel, different parts of the land.

And I asked this question. If there's one truth you want American Christians, the church here in America, to understand, what would it be? And one of the leaders paused, collected himself, put a smile on his face, and said, well, with all due respect, what I want the American church to know and the America to know is we don't need you. We love you.

We want a partnership with you. But when it comes down to it, we are trusting the promises God gave to us, and that's good enough for us. If the whole world is against us, we trust Him. So he said, I just want you to know, we love you, but we don't need you.

And I thought, well, you know what? Based on what I'm reading here, he's absolutely right. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. And all you have to do is look at history. Look at those nations that historically have supported Israel's freedom and independence and right to exist versus nations that have come against the land of Israel. Think of the great nations of the past, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Rome, Persia, all lying in ruins, and they have something all in common.

They attacked or came against God's people. In modern times, consider Spain, Germany, Russia, who once were world powers, have become now second, third, fourth-rate nations. I'm hoping and praying the United States doesn't get added to that list.

We will get added to that list if we follow in their footsteps. So when people say, well, why do you support Israel? Always becomes this political thing. Why do you support Israel? I support Israel not because I agree with every one of their policies.

I do not. Or I agree with everything their prime minister says. Or because I want to take tours to Israel. I support Israel because of Israel's sovereign, Israel's Scriptures, and Israel's Savior. I support Israel because of the God of Israel, who made a covenant with the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, period. I love them for that covenant. Number two, they gave us the Bible. I respect that and thank them for that and honor them and support them for that. And because my Savior came from them. So I want to get blessed.

Let me ask you this. Ever met a Hittite? Anybody here met a Hittite?

Raise your hand. What about a Girgashite? When was the last time you saw a Girgashite? Any Canaanite whatsoever?

Yeah, I didn't think so. It's because they don't exist anymore. They weren't blessed. I want to be part of the blessing. I will bless those who bless you. You'll become a great need. Fifth and finally, you'll be called a great nuisance.

Now that's implied in this promise. I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you. Obviously, the implication is not everybody's going to like you, Abe, and your descendants. You're going to incur lots of flak and lots of blowback and lots of enemies.

There will be people who are going to curse you. And it's true, this great nation has seen great conflict. They're always in the news. There's always something being stirred up over there. The sons of Abraham are still struggling, Ishmael and Isaac.

When Rebecca, Isaac's wife, was pregnant and she was having pregnancy issues, it's because she had twins, Jacob and Esau. And God said, two nations are in your womb. Well, that would cause anybody discomfort if you've got two nations running around in there.

So two nations are in your womb and the older will serve the younger. But the wrestling match in the womb is still being experienced today. They're still wrestling it out. According to Leon Uris, a Jewish author, he said, Jerusalem has seen 36 wars, been reduced to ashes 17 times, has risen 18 times. The nation has heard the hoof beats of the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Egyptian war chariots. It has seen the battering rams of the Roman army, the swords of Soledad and the crusaders.

That's their history. War after war throughout the centuries in the Middle East. So this begs the question, will there ever be peace in the Middle East? Boy, I wish I could stand here as an optimist and say, oh yeah, you know, we're going to sign all these accords and shake hands and hug and everybody's going to live happily ever after.

I can't do that. But I will say this, no. There will never be peace in the Middle East until the Prince of Peace comes. Then there will be peace in the Middle East. Until then there will not be.

As was given to Daniel, desolations are determined until the end. So not until Jesus comes and sets up his kingdom, oh yeah, there'll be short periods of peace and we'll get along, they'll get along and then something will break out. But it's not because there aren't Jews and Muslims who want peace over there.

There are many who want peace and are working for it. But part of the problem is you have a Jewish nation surrounded by an Islamic belief system of other nations. Islam itself will not allow there to be peace with Israel.

I want you to hear me on this. Islam as a religion itself will not allow there to be peace with the Jewish nation. The existence, just the existence of Israel as a nation is an affront to Islam. Every country around Israel is essentially Islamic. And the reason that they say that Israel's existence is an occupation, ever heard of that term?

It's an occupation. They're occupying, the occupiers. The reason Israel is called occupiers is because these other people, Palestinians, greater Muslim world, don't even agree that Israel has a right to exist at all.

At all. Now, yes, there are moderate Muslims like there are moderate Jews. Yes, there are people who want peace. But understand this, the Quran itself fuels hatred against the Jewish people. Three times in the Quran, the holiest book of the Muslims, three times the Quran calls Jews pigs and apes.

I'll cite you the reference. Surah 265, Surah 5, verse 60, and Surah, chapter 7, verse 166. All three refer to Jews as apes and pigs. So imams will stand up at Friday prayer and often refer to Jewish people as sons of pigs and apes. In the Quran, it teaches, number one, Jews are the greatest enemies of Islam. Number two, Jewish people do not love Muslims. Number three, it's the Jews that start wars and cause trouble on the earth. And number four, Muslims are not to be friends with Jewish people.

When that's in the holy book, though not all Muslims are haters, if they want to hate, they'll find reasons to do so in their Bible. So given that, I don't see I don't see much hope for peace in the Middle East until Jesus comes. Now all that is a setup for next week's study in Ezekiel chapter 36 and 37, because what we're going to discover is that Israel's regathering to the covenant land that God gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their prosperity in that land will invite conflict. And we'll see that conflict the week after in the war of Gog and Magog.

Listen to this text. This is Zechariah chapter 12. God said through Zechariah, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling to all the surrounding nations. Just think of Hamas, Hezbollah, the PLO, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, on and on, and all the different multitude of organizations, that their primary objective is the utter total destruction of the Jewish state. And they're fueled by the largest world sponsor of terrorism, Iran.

So don't see a whole lot of smiles and hugs going on there anytime soon. In the United Nations that met, meets regularly, in the General Assembly, this happened three months ago, for every one country that voted to support Israel, three nations called the very existence of Israel a catastrophe. That's how the world is turning. Now I hope that you're not surprised by that because it makes sense. It makes sense that if Israel is indeed the center of God's prophetic plan, it would be also the center of Satan's attack.

You would expect that to happen. And so the return of the Jewish nation to the homeland in 1948 is stage one of a promised regathering that we're going to look more in depth at next time. Now what does all this mean to me?

Well, think of it this way. God keeps His promises. 4,100 years ago God made a promise to Abram and then to Abraham, same guy, different name. 4,100 years ago He made a promise, and here we are saying today 4,100 years later God's going to keep His promise.

He's already kept it. They're there. And there's more to come.

There's more to come. See, this is how I look at it. How are you going to ask anybody to sign up to believe in a God who doesn't keep His promises? Yeah, man, you ought to believe in God.

Well, why? He didn't keep His promise to Abraham, did He? Well, yes, He did actually.

Yes, He did. If God doesn't regather Israel like He said to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, then He's a liar. If God says, oh, I'm going to promise you the land, promise you the land, promise you the land, and then later on go, I've changed my mind. You know what?

I'm just going to give all that to them. That's a lie. That's not true, and it's not a truthful way to interpret Scripture. The very existence of Israel as a nation with so many enemies surrounding them is proof that God keeps His promise. We have a faithful God who made promises to Abraham, and we're seeing the fulfillment of them. I would say in a legal sense, the nation of Israel is exhibit A in the case, does God keep His promises? Well, let's see. Exhibit A, Israel, God promising the land. Well, wouldn't you know? They're there now. So, some of you are struggling with the promises that God has given to you.

You might be suffering harsh economic situation, something with your employment, something in your family, things aren't working out, you believe, but now life is hard, post-pandemic, all these complications. I want you to rest on this idea that even when God makes a promise 4,100 years ago, He keeps it. He keeps it, and you can trust His Word. There was a professor, an agnostic professor, he visited the Fiji Islands, obviously, as an agnostic and unbeliever. He goes to the Fiji Islands, and he looks around, and he notices there's crosses on buildings, there's churches and schools, and they have crosses on them. He can tell that a missionary has come, missionaries in the past have come, and this is an evangelized culture. So, the professor, you know, very arrogantly met the chief of the tribe, and he said, happy to meet you, you seem like a wise man, you have wonderful people, but it's a shame really that you've been so duped by the missionaries who came here telling you about Jesus. We know now that the Bible is a hoax. Nobody believes in it anymore. And these missionaries just pulled a fast one.

You don't need this stuff. And the tribe leader said to the professor, come here, I want to show you something. Look over there, you see that big rock over there? That's the rock where we used to smash the heads of our victims on that rock. And then below that, you see that big furnace there? That's where we used to burn our victims before we ate them. And then he said this, if it hadn't been for those missionaries and the love and the love of Jesus Christ and the gospel message that changed us from cannibals into Christians, you'd be our supper by now.

So, you better thank God, Mr. Professor, that we believe that hoax of the Bible, because you'd be dead and dinner by now. The gospel changes individuals, the gospel changes cultures. In you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. You've experienced, we've experienced that great blessing of God and the promise to Abraham. That's Skip Heitzig's message, the role of Israel in prophecy. From his series, The End is Near, find full messages as well as books, booklets, and full teaching series at connectwithskipp.com. Right now, listen as Skip shares how you can share life-changing teaching from God's unchanging word with more people around the world. God's word informs every aspect of our life with timeless wisdom from his own heart. This ministry exists to connect people around the world to God's word so they can experience the life change that comes from knowing and following Christ. Through your generosity today, you can help expand Connect with Skip Heitzig into more major U.S. cities and reach more people with the life-changing truth of the Bible. Plus, you'll keep these teachings available to you wherever you listen.

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Thank you for your generosity. Come back tomorrow as Skip dives into the question of who really owns the Holy Land, Israel. There's claim and counterclaim. So much so that no human court could ever settle the matter in a way that would be amicable to all parties. So I appeal to a higher authority and that is the Bible. And if you believe in the Bible, then the ownership of the land is settled and unambiguous.

It's His land. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast all burdens on His word. Make a connection, a connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.