Thanks for joining us on the Line of Fire.
This is Michael Brown, delighted to be with you as we continue our series on the End Times. Today our focus is on Israel. Does Israel matter today? Does the modern state of Israel connect to biblical prophecy? Should we care about what's happening in Israel today? Is there a spiritual dimension to what's happening with the hostility towards Israel and the world protests against Israel?
Is something going on spiritually that can happen? Or is Israel today like any other nation on the planet? Are there Jewish people today?
Candidates for salvation like anyone else? But with no special calling anymore since that calling, end it with the destruction of the Temple. And the only Israel that God cares about today is spiritual Israel, the church. What does the Bible actually say? We'll do our best to sort it out.
If you're not getting or equipping inspirational, informational, frontline newsletters, it comes out once a month. Because we are here for such a time as this. Let me tell you four reasons why Israel matters today.
The nation of Israel, the Jewish people. Why, from a biblical viewpoint, this is still important. Now remember, I'm not a dispensationalist. I do not believe in a pre-Trib rapture. So many times when I begin to speak on Israel, people immediately say, well, you're a dispensationalist, you're a pre-Trib rapture.
No, I don't hold to that. And I can take you back through church history, church leaders long before the rise of dispensationalism who hold to the very same views that I hold to. I can take you back to church leaders in the 1600s who spoke about the promises of the restoration of the Jewish people physically and spiritually.
I can take you to great preachers in the 1800s like J.C. Ryle and Charles Spurgeon who talked about the physical and spiritual restoration of the Jewish people back to the land and to God as things that were absolutely clearly spoken of in Scripture as clearly as anything else, if not more clearly than anything else in the Bible. So why is there such controversy over Israel? Why is it that you have movements, protest movements, boycott, divestment, sanction against Israel, protest movements on campuses and different uprisings around the world, urging nations don't stand with Israel, don't do business with Israel. While they all do business with China despite its murderous ways and they do business with other countries, with Islamic countries that mistreat their people, they do business with them, but why is Israel the especially evil one? Why is it that after the massacre of October 7, 2023, the worst shedding of Jewish blood in history in a single day since the Holocaust, why is it that within days, even within hours, there were pro-Hamas rallies around the world? Why is it within three days of the October 7 massacre, October 10, in Sydney Australia at the Sydney Opera House, Muslims were chanting, gas the Jews? Why? Why this unique hostility to Israel and the Jewish people worldwide?
What is it based on? Why is it that every nation on the earth establishes this is our capital and that's where the embassies are? Every nation that is politically involved with them has a relationship, that's where they put their embassy. Why is it the same for every nation on the earth except Israel? Israel says Jerusalem is our capital and very few, remember the controversy of Donald Trump moving the embassy to Jerusalem, very few have their embassies in Jerusalem.
Why? Why Jerusalem? Why this controversy? And why through history have Jews been so hated? You know, we learn in American history, 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
That's what we learn. If you learn Jewish history, 1492, all non-baptized Jews were expelled from Spain. Antisemitism has been the world's longest hatred and the world's most widespread hatred. There are black supremacist antisemites and white supremacist antisemites. There have been Christian antisemites, Muslim antisemites, atheist antisemites.
Why? The Jews have been blamed for just about every calamity in world history. Why do the Jews always get scapegoated?
What's going on here? For sure we've been disciplined because of sin. We're chosen by God. In Amos 3 God says, to Israel, you alone have I chosen that of all the families of the earth, therefore I'll punish you for your iniquities.
There's been a cost to be chosen and called. Remember, the people of Israel are as old as the people of India and the people of China, yet China and India are both a billion and a half strong. Maybe the Jewish population worldwide is about 15 million. So yes, we've come under divine discipline, but why the severity of the attacks that go beyond divine discipline? Why the long term and widespread hatred?
What causes it? What's going on spiritually? Number one, reason number one for the hatred of the Jewish people is that God chose Israel for a purpose and that choosing remains.
Please hear me. When God chose Israel, when he said to Abram in Genesis 12, through your seed, the whole world will be blessed and reiterated that to Isaac and Jacob and then through Balaam to the entire nation. Those who bless you will be blessed. Those who curse you will be cursed.
Numbers 24. When God did that, it did not guarantee the salvation of a single Israelite. It meant that they were called to service, to be a chosen nation, to receive the law, to be a witness nation for good or for bad.
In other words, a witness to the good laws of God, or if they sinned, a witness to the reality of God and the judgment of God. But Israel was called as a witness nation. It didn't guarantee the salvation of individual Israelites. When God said Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated and Malachi won, it didn't guarantee the salvation of all the children of Israel and damn all the descendants of Esau, the Edomites.
No, it meant that Israel was chosen for a mission, chosen for a purpose. Exodus 19, God said to Israel, even though the whole earth is mine, if you obey me, you'll be a treasured possession for me. You'll be a kingdom of priests. You'll make the knowledge of God known to the world. You'll intercede for the world. Deuteronomy 7, God said the whole earth is mine.
Everything belongs to me, but you're a treasured possession. Not because you're better than anybody else, but because I chose you, because I loved the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And that's what Paul writes in Romans 11, that even though the Jewish people now are enemies of the gospel for your sake, meaning that their rejection of the gospel has brought the gospel to you, so it's for your sake. Even though they are now enemies for your sake, as far as the gospel is concerned, as far as election. This is Paul writing about Jews who don't believe. As far as election, they are loved on account of the fathers.
Why? For the gifts and calling of God, because the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. When God gives his call, it is forever. When God gives his oath, it is forever. No matter what, it is forever. His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were unconditional.
Just go back and read them. There's the individual, if an Israelite's not circumcised, we'd be cut off. The descendant of Abraham is not circumcised. But the covenant itself and the promise of the land, God did that on his own. That was before the law.
Before the law. So, number one. Number one. Israel is hated to this day because Israel was chosen for a mission. Therefore, if you're Satan, you hate Israel. If you're Satan, you want to wipe out the Jewish people. That's the first reason.
The second reason is this. God promised that no matter what, he would preserve Israel as a people. God promised that no matter what Israel did, he would preserve Israel as a people. Read Jeremiah chapter 31, verses 35 to 37. Jeremiah 31, verses 35 to 37. There he indicates that as long as heaven and earth endure, and until we can completely measure the universe, and completely discover the foundations within the earth, go to the depths of the earth, as long as those things are in, as long as there's still sun, moon, stars, as long as the waves come and go, God will never forsake Israel for all that they have done.
Israel will continue to be a people no matter what. Have we been disciplined? Yes. Have we been scattered? Yes. Have we been preserved?
Yes. Because God promised it. If you're Satan, you want to wipe the Jewish people out.
Why? First, they were chosen with a mission. Therefore, stop Israel, stop the mission, you stop the purposes of God. Yes, they are fulfilled through the ultimate seed, Jesus, but over and over in the Old Testament, it uses seed, plural, plural, plural, plural. Paul uses it plural himself. In Galatians 3, in Romans 4 and elsewhere, he uses it plural for the offspring of Abraham. There are hundreds of verses speaking to the plural seed, the Israelites plural. God's promises to the nation remain.
And Paul says in Galatians 3, 17, the law, which comes 430 years after the promise to the patriarchs, cannot annul the promise. So, Satan wants to wipe out Israel. Why? Because the people of Israel were chosen for a mission, and that mission remains. That's number one. Number two, Satan wants to wipe the Jewish people out. Why? Because God promised to preserve us, and I say this as a Jewish person, no matter what.
If Satan can wipe us out, he makes God into a liar. There's more. First, an important announcement, and we will be right back. I'm Dr. Paul Burnett, a board-certified doctor of holistic health, and I've got some exciting news for you today about an amino acid formula scientifically shown to build lean muscle, improve strength, and reduce recovery time at any age. Dr. Robert Wolf was a researcher of muscle health who raised $20 million to fund 30 years of research, and now this formula is available in TriVita's MyoHealth.
Here is what TriVita members have to say. James H. says, I'm 60 and have experienced more solid definition of muscle, more energy, more stamina, and enhanced recovery after my workout. Now begin to imagine what you could do with more muscle, increased strength, and faster recovery. Now is the time to revitalize and rebuild the muscle, strength, and recovery of your youthful years with MyoHealth. Build lean muscle.
Improve your strength with MyoHealth. Order today and use promo code BROWN25 to receive 25% off your order. As a new customer, 100% of the proceeds from your first order will go to support the Line of Fire radio broadcast.
So call now 1-800-771-5584, 1-800-771-5584, or online at TriVita.com. Thanks, friends, for giving us your attention, for listening with an open heart and mind. I'm fully aware that there are others who passionately teach differently than I teach here, but I have no problem saying, just read the Bible. Let's keep reading the Bible. Let's all humble ourselves before God, read the Scriptures, and ask, what does it say? And where I'm wrong, Lord, may you show me, reveal it, where you're wrong, have that same attitude. We just want to grow in God.
I'm not here to say, I'm the only one that's right. But hey, if someone else has the right to get on the air, stand behind the pulpit, or write their book with their view, I certainly have the right to bring mine. And I'll give scripture for each one, just the plain sense of scripture, verse after verse after verse after verse. Okay, we're talking about why Israel still matters, as we're doing our series on the end times, why Israel still matters. So, first, God chose Israel for a purpose, therefore Satan wants to wipe the Jewish people out.
Second, God promised us that no matter what happened, he would still preserve us as a people, therefore Satan wants to destroy us and make God to a liar. Third, he promised to bring us back to the land. He promised to bring us back to the land. That's why there is so much controversy over it. Now, this does not mean that everything Israel does is perfect, everything Israel does is rife. That was not the case when God gave the children of Israel the land of Canaan and told them to drive out the Canaanites. They sinned, they messed up, different things happened, yet God gave them the land. It doesn't mean everything Israel has done today is perfect, and Israel is certainly not called to drive out the Palestinians the way the Israelites of old were called to drive out the Canaanites.
And there have been many ways for Jews and Palestinians to live side by side as one in the nation, and the main ones that have rejected those opportunities have been the Islamic leaders that have hurt their own Palestinian people. But I want to read to you from Psalm 105, and I want to ask you a question. Could God have communicated any more clearly about this? All right, Psalm 105 verse 7.
He is the Lord our God, his judgments are in all the earth. He remembers his covenant forever. So what is it? It's a covenant.
For how long? Forever. The promise he made for a thousand generations. So it's a covenant, it's a promise, it's for a thousand generations. The covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac. So it's a covenant, a promise, a covenant, an oath, he swore it, he made it, it's forever, it's for a thousand generations. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree to Israel as an everlasting covenant.
So I mean this, I would say this is pretty clear. No? It's a covenant, it's a promise, it's a covenant, it's an oath, he swore it, he confirmed it, it's a decree, it's forever, it's for a thousand generations, it's everlasting. What? Chihuahua will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit. You say, but that was all fulfilled in the Old Testament. Joshua 21 says it was fulfilled, the first king says it was fulfilled, every promise was given. Yeah, he said I'm going to give you the land.
It didn't say I'm not going to take it away. What kind of promise is that? Yeah, the promise is going to give him the land and we're going to dwell on the land and how long?
As long as the earth endures, that's the promise, that's the promise. I promise I will give you a new car tomorrow, it is a gift, I promise I will give it to you. And sure enough I come to your home, I give you the keys to the car, I say this is it, there's your car. And I said did I keep my promise or what? It's like wow, Mike Brown you kept your promise while you did.
And then the next night I just secretly come and take the car and repossess it. I kept my promise. It would be the same with Israel. He gave us the promised land and took it away or banished us for life or it doesn't belong to us anymore. No, this is an everlasting covenant, it's forever, it's for a thousand generations. And it's God's oath, it's not based on obedience. The law, Sinai Covenant, that comes after. Stay in the land if you obey, kicked out of the land if you disobey, be brought back if you repent. But God made a promise before that and he can bring us back whenever he wants to bring us back.
Now here's the deal, here's the deal. The reason there's such dispute, the reason there's such anger, the reason there's such world protest and everybody exercised about this and evil Israel, and even though Israel will do its level best to avoid civilian casualties, the Hamas terrorists and other terrorists do what they can to inflict civilian casualties and rejoice in the victory. Well the Israeli army is trained to do its best to avoid civilian casualties. Can it do better? Of course it can do better.
Every army on the planet can do better, any human being on the planet can do better. But the unequal weights and measures, the delegitimizing of Israel, the chant from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. Yes, the protester, which river, which sea? Hmm, I don't really know. Well let's take out a map and let's look. Here's the river, what river is that? That's the river Jordan to the east. Okay, what's the sea? It's the Mediterranean Sea to the west.
What's in between the river and the sea? That's the nation of Israel. You mean no more Israel, that's what you're chanting, no more Israel. Why are people so worked up over this? Because God promised the land to Israel.
You say, Dr. Brown, how could you be so ignorant? This has nothing to do with prophecy, come on. This was the UN, this was the post World War I world of dividing up the Middle East into nations and peoples. This was just Jewish initiative, that's all it was.
Nope, can't be, not possible. Why? Because God scattered us in judgment. And when he scatters, no one can gather. Just like when he blesses, no one can curse, when he curses, no one can bless. When he opens the door, no one can shut it, when he shuts the door, no one can open it. When he smites, no one can heal, when he heals, no one can smite.
When he scatters, no one can regather, when he regathers, no one can scatter. He scattered us in his judgment, would you agree? Yes, it's clear, it's scriptural. Jesus speaks of it as well in the New Testament. And who has regathered us?
Only God could. That's what Jesus says in Luke 21, 24. We'll be scattered, Jerusalem will be trodden underfoot. We'll be scattered to the nations, taken as slaves to the nations until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
Meaning, scattered until what? Until we're regathered. Jesus says it. It's clearly implied in his words there. And that's what's happened. Friend, don't let the fulfilling of prophecy in front of your eyes go unnoticed. Don't let the hand of God at work in the earth go unnoticed because some teachers told you Israel today doesn't apply or Israel's guilty of this or this or this. It's not because of Israel's goodness, it's because of God's goodness.
It's not because of Israel's faithfulness, it's because of God's faithfulness. Those are the promises. That's the God we serve. That's the reality, my friends.
That is the reality. So Satan wants to wipe the Jewish people out because we were chosen by him for a purpose, because God has promised to preserve us no matter what. And Satan wants to drive the Jewish people out of the land because God has brought us back and his name is associated with it. And last but not least, number four, the reason for the great controversy over Jerusalem and the Jewish people is because Jesus is coming back to a Jewish Jerusalem.
Zechariah 12, he beat to Eli to shed the car of a soft dual out and they will look to me. They've pierced and mourn for him. What's that speaking of a Jewish Jerusalem mourning at the return of the Messiah? Zechariah 14 says what Acts one says, his feet will touch down on the Mount of Olives. He's coming back to a literal city of God's finished with Israel. Why is Jesus coming back to Jerusalem? He's coming back to a literal city.
Don't let anyone tell you different. They are denying the plain sense of scripture. He's coming back in a literal resurrected body to a literal city, Jerusalem. And he will return when his Jewish people welcome him back. When they say, Matthew 23, Baruch haba b'shem Adonai, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And no, I will see him until Jerusalem welcomes him back because the Messiah himself said, you will not see me again until you say those words. Baruch haba b'shem Adonai, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. In other words, we welcome you King Messiah. He must be welcomed back by his own people. Jewish repentance, Acts three, will usher in the return of the Messiah. Repent, turn to God that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. The words of Peter beginning Acts three, 19, and that he may send the Messiah whom heaven must retain until the time for the restoration of all things spoken of by the prophets of long ago.
It's going to happen. That's why the ultimate battle is over the land and the people in the land. That's why the ultimate battle is to keep Jewish people out of Jerusalem, out of Jewish control of Jerusalem and away from Jesus, Yeshua, because Jewish people will welcome him back. It is written, it is so, and that's why the most important thing of all you can pray for is not just the preservation of the people of Israel or the protection of the people of Israel, but the salvation of Israel. Because Jewish people are lost like everyone else without Jesus, Yeshua.
And as a Jewish follower of Jesus, above all, I covet your prayers that God would save my people, my Jewish people from sin because without Jesus, Yeshua, we are as lost as anyone. Yes, Israel matters. Yes, Israel is a sign of the faithfulness of God on the earth. Yes, the battle to destroy Israel and destroy the Jewish people is the physical working out of the spiritual battle, spiritual realities.
Let our eyes be open to it. And that's why I urge every Christian stand with God against the devil. Stand with God against the destruction of the Jewish people. Stand with God against the desire to deprive the Jewish people of a whole man. Stand with God for a Jewish Jerusalem.
Stand with God for Jewish people to come to know Jesus. All right, this is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks so much for tuning in. Just a reminder that we are listener supported. If we have been a blessing to you, if you're being enriched in the word and prayer and your own walk with God through this broadcast, then stand with us so that we can reach many, many more and bless many, many more. Together, friends, we're making a difference. So go to thelineoffire.org, thelineoffire.org, and click donate.
