Israel, Hamas, and End Times - Part 2 | Gary Hamrick

Blessings to Israel presents Deserting the Times, a program committed to encouraging you to view current events through the lens of the Bible. Now, in honor of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, please join us for today's program.

Why is Hamas so intent on destroying the Jewish people and wiping Israel off the map? You really could trace it all the way back to animosity in the book of Genesis. Abraham had a son of the covenant. His name was Isaac. But Abraham, in a moment of flesh, slept with Hagar, a slave woman from Egypt. It was not part of the will of God, the plan of God, and a son was born, his name was Ishmael. The descendants of Ishmael are the Arab people. The descendants of Isaac, the promise that was revealed through the child Isaac, Abraham's son, are the Jewish people. There has been animosity between the children of Ishmael and the children of Isaac since the book of Genesis. And it is basically over jealousy of the promise. In a nutshell, that's really what it is. But to be more specific ladies and gentlemen, the vitriol, the animosity, the hatred of Hamas and others like them towards the Jewish people is plain and simple. It is incited by Satan himself because antisemitism is Satanism. That's exactly what it is. Welcome to Discerning in the Times.

My name is Brian Thomas. So great to be with you once again this week. And we're going to continue our look at the nation of Israel. That voice in the opening clip was Pastor Gary Hamrick, a sermon that he gave just a week after the attack from Hamas against the nation of Israel in October of 2023. And we began last week by looking at part one of his sermon.

So we will continue this week. And again, I want to do so because a lot of the world has moved on from that event. But there is still war in Israel. There are still people suffering in Israel. And we must not forget our Jewish brothers and sisters.

And sadly, there's a lot of the church has moved on and not supportive of the nation of Israel. So we want to keep that in the forefront of people's minds. So we will return to Pastor Hamrick's sermon shortly. But before we do, I want to remind you, as we always do, that your eternal state is far more important than your current state. If you have never received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, I encourage you to do so today.

Otherwise you will spend eternity in the lake of fire separated from Almighty God. So will you please accept the gift that Jesus Christ gave us when he shed his blood at Calvary, come to him and receive our Lord on today. So again, we're going to look at the nation of Israel and what took place in October of last year, just the barbaric attack against the nation of Israel. And as I said, it grieves my heart that so much of the church is not supportive of the nation of Israel. I've heard many people say their church said nothing following the attack. And then there are reports of some churches that actually have spoken against Israel, calling them the evil occupier.

And this is all, folks, just a spiritual attack that is happening and it's been going on for ages and it's going to continue as it leads up to the return of our great Lord and King, our Messiah, Jesus Christ. And again, Pastor Gary Hamrick, where he pastors at Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia, gave a great sermon in explaining why these things are happening and how we as Christians should approach this matter. I want to share with you real quick before we get back to Pastor Hamrick that Israel is the apple of God's eye. In the book of Zechariah, chapter two, verse eight, it is revealed that the physical descendants of Abraham, the entire Jewish nation are the apple of God's eye. The verse tells us there, for thus says the Lord of hosts, he sent me after glory to the nations which plunder you for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye. So that shows how much God has a love and a special place for the nation of Israel. And when you touch Israel, when you go against Israel, you are, it's like poking your finger in the eye of God. And God told Abraham in Genesis 12 three that I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you. And we've seen it throughout history that for all who come against the nation of Israel, well, there is destruction that eventually follows. So we want to stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters. So let us now return to Pastor Gary Hamrick speaking on Israel, Hamas, and the end times.

The hatred of Jewish people is something that Satan incites among individuals, nations, and groups of people. And why, why does Satan do this? Listen to Revelation 12 verse four. It says this, and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born.

What does that speak of? It speaks of a dragon, a woman and a child. In Revelation 12 four the dragon is a picture of Satan.

The woman is a picture of Israel. The child that she gave birth to is the ultimate child of the promise who is Jesus. Satan the dragon has always stood opposed to the redemptive plan of God.

He has done everything he can to hinder, thwart, and to totally ruin in whatever way he can the redemptive plan of God that was revealed through a particular nation. And this is how God chose to do it. Humanity in its sinful condition needed a Savior to rescue all of us. God in His providence chose a single individual, Avram, Abram, who later God would change his name to Abraham. Avram was a Gentile. He wasn't a Jew.

There were no Jewish people. Abraham was living on a map what today would be Iraq. And God called this man and tapped him on the shoulder and called him to come to a land that God would give him and his descendants so that through the seed of this man a race of people, a nation of people would be born. The people of Israel, the Jewish people.

And that ultimately through this race of people would come one Jewish Messiah who would be a Savior not just for the Jews but a Savior for the entire world because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. And Satan hates the redemptive plan of God and because the redemptive plan of God was centered and located in Israel which is where the Savior was born, died, rose again, ascended from and is coming again too. Satan is doing everything he can to bring the attention of an evil world with all their hatred and animosity against this one location because it represents the covenant redemptive plan of God. And Satan has been inspiring nations and people and groups of people from the beginning of time to hate the Jewish people because they represent the ultimate redemptive plan of God. And God says in Genesis 12 3, I will bless those who bless Israel and I will curse those who curse Israel.

His eye is on this land because He chose this particular location and among these particular people through which to reveal His ultimate redemptive plan for the sake of the whole world. So if you've ever wondered why all the hatred for the Jews, why all the fuss over a little country smaller than the state of New Jersey, that's where it comes from. Anti-Semitism is Satanism. This is a spiritual war that we're seeing happening here. Well sure it's being fought in physical ways but this is a spiritual war inciting all of this.

So that's the real answer. Now I will tell you that the populist answer, okay the common narrative that you hear as to why Hamas has attacked Israel and why many Palestinians support what Hamas has done is because they believe that Israel and the Jewish people are occupying land that belongs to the Palestinian people. And thus a lot of times you'll hear especially among the protesters who are pro-Palestinian and anti-Semitic they will say that Israel are the occupiers.

You've heard them say that. They are the colonialists. And so we are just trying to take back our land. So to many today they believe that this conflict is really based on Israel's illegitimate right to the land and Hamas is trying to take it back for their own people and for Islamic cause. Which leads us now to the third question which is what is the history of the Palestinians and the land of Israel?

So let me just say this to just be clear from the beginning of answering this third question. The Jews are not occupiers. If you know your history at all the Jews are the indigenous people of the land.

They are the indigenous people of the land. They were living in this land 2100 years before anyone was ever called or referred to as Palestinian. They were there 2100 years before anyone was ever referred to as a Palestinian. And they were living in that land 2600 years before Islam was ever a religion. 2600 years before Islam was ever even a religion. Now for those who don't want to embrace or believe the Bible as an historical record of the fact that the Jews were living there thousands of years before there was a Palestinian, thousands of years before there was Islam then at least look at the archeological evidence.

Okay? Because there's an Egyptian stele which is basically a stone slab which is an ancient slab with markings on it. There's an ancient Egyptian stele from the 13th century BC that speaks of Israel by name as the land. If you are just now joining us we are continuing this week to listen to a portion of a sermon from Pastor Gary Hamrick who leads Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia. And this is a sermon that he gave the week following the October 7th attack from Hamas onto the nation of Israel.

And again we are continuing to share this because I want this to stay in the forefront of people's minds. And I think Pastor Hamrick does an excellent job of explaining this irrational hatred that we see toward the nation of Israel. What we call anti-Semitism. This hatred against God's special nation that we see throughout the world. So many people are opposed to and have again just this irrational hatred towards the Jewish nation.

And as Pastor Hamrick stated what it really boils down to is a hatred toward God. Because God made a promise to Abraham that there would be a nation of people that would descend from him. He promised them a land. And he promised that the Messiah, so God himself promised that he would come in the form of a man to the world through this nation and he did that very thing as our Lord Jesus Christ.

And then he also promised that he's coming back, he's returning to the land to rule and reign on the earth. And so Satan hates God. He hates Israel. He hates God the Son Jesus Christ. He's trying to prevent this from happening.

So that's why we see this irrational spiritual hatred toward God's special chosen people. So we want to continue to share this so that we are in tune and understand why we need to stand with and support the nation of Israel. We want to pause for a brief announcement but don't go away. Back with more from Pastor Hamrick on the other side. Again on Israel, Hamas and the end times.

You are tuned into Discerning the Times. If you believe in what we stand for, would you consider partnering with us? Our partners program is based on Genesis 12-3. I will bless those who bless you. For a recurring donation of $12.03 per month, you can help us share the message of Discerning the Times as we await our Lord's return to Israel. For more information, please visit our website, BlessingsToIsrael.com or write to us at BlessingsToIsrael.com.

Now, let's return to the conclusion of today's program. There's also a Canaanite stele from the 9th century BC that refers by name to King David as king of the land of Israel. So if you don't want to believe the Bible, then look at some of the archeological evidence because for thousands of years, it has been a well-documented fact that the Jews lived in this land as God had given it to them.

But here's what happened and here's why others claim, no this is our land. Because from 586 BC from when the Babylonians came and besieged Israel until 1948 AD when Israel reasserted its right to their homeland, for that time period 586 BC to 1948 roughly 2,500 years, during that time period the Jews were dispersed from their land. They were killed around the world. They were oppressed around the world. And for the Jews who did manage to stay living in that land of their homeland, they were dominated by another world empire. Here's the list, the Babylonians, then the Persians, then the Greeks, then the Romans, then the Byzantines, then the Arab Islamic Empire, then the Catholic Crusaders, then the Mamluks, then the Ottomans, and then the British Empire. So because of all these various empires coming in taking over the land after Jews were dispersed, they were killed, they were oppressed, it's no wonder that everybody's like no it's my land, no it's my land, no it's my land. We've got to look back at the history and realize that the Jews were there before any of this. So where then did the Palestinian people come from? Where is that word derived from? Okay here's more history for you.

Ready? AD 135. In AD 135 the Roman Emperor Hadrian in order to quash a Jewish revolt, disperse the Jews from Jerusalem, and then he renamed the entire region in Latin Palestina. Palestina he named it because that's the Latin term for the Philistines.

And why did Hadrian do that? Because the Philistines were the perennial enemies of the Jews. So Hadrian as a way to dishonor the Jewish people after this revolt that they tried to come against the Roman Empire, Hadrian quashed the revolt and said now I'm going to take away Israel from the name of your land and I'm going to name it Palestina for the Philistines as a way of dishonoring you. And from 135 AD when Hadrian decided that until 1948 when the Jews took their land back and gave it the rightful name that it had always been. From 135 AD until 1947 it was called Palestine because Hadrian renamed it and thus Arabs living in that land were known as Palestinians.

But listen check this out, so were the Jews. The Jews were also called Palestinians until 1948. If you were born in Israel say in 1947 or previously when they were still issuing birth certificates even if you were a Jew or an Arab if you were born in that land in 1947 your birth certificate said Palestinian. There's some Jews still living today with a birth certificate that says Palestinian.

Why? Because you are living in a land that Hadrian renamed in 135 AD. So the Arab people living in that region are now known as Palestinians taken from a false name that Hadrian gave the region in deference to the Philistines and in opposition to the Jews. So that's where the name comes from but listen God said in Genesis 15-18, on the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying to your descendants, to the descendants of the child of the promise of Abram, Isaac and Jacob. I have given this land from the river of Egypt to the great river to the river Euphrates. God gave the title deed of this land to the Jewish people.

Genesis 15-18, okay we're talking 4,000 years ago. Let me just take you to the back wall and go over some things on a map so everybody can orient yourselves to what we're reading there in Genesis 15-18. This is a map of the Middle Eastern region. What we just read there, what God's title deed to the Jewish people, Genesis 15-18, the land was to go from the Nile to the Euphrates River. God's original intent for the Jewish people was to occupy a territory that looked roughly like this. 300,000 square miles, 300,000 square miles is roughly what God originally intended for the Jewish people to have from the Nile River and Egypt to the Euphrates River that runs through Iraq and Syria. Israel never occupied this much land even though God had deeded this to them, Genesis 15-18.

The Jewish people never occupied this amount of land. The largest the territory got was under the rule of King David and his territory looked a little bit like this. In fact the Bible says that his territory extended up to the north into parts of what today is Turkey. This is the largest that the Jewish people ever occupied in terms of a national homeland.

Now, fast forward to more recent history because it goes from the Babylonians to the Greeks to the Romans. You have the Mamluks in there. You have the Ottoman Turks. Okay, the Ottoman Turks were occupying this land during World War I and when Great Britain helped defeat the forces that were fighting in World War I, Great Britain defeated the Ottoman Turks. Great Britain took back this territory. It was part of the British Mandate and in 1917 the Brits enforced a doctrine called the Balfour Declaration in 1917 because they understood that the Jewish people have been dispersed, scattered, killed all around the world and they needed to be able to return to their homeland. And everybody understood this was Jewish territory for 4,000 years. So in 1917 under the British Mandate they enacted the Balfour Declaration and they determined that the homeland for the Jewish people should be this.

This is the border. Of the 1917 Balfour Declaration. But in 1922 the Hussein family objected. An Arab family the Hussein said, we don't like the Jewish people having that much land.

What about us? And so in 1922 Winston Churchill was the Secretary of State over the colonies of Great Britain. He wasn't Prime Minister yet. But as Secretary of State of the colonies Winston Churchill took a crayon on a map and drew a line down the Jordan River right about here. And he just indiscriminately in order to appease the Hussein family reneged on the promise of the Balfour Declaration drew a line down the middle said the east side will be called Trans-Jordan because it is the side across the Jordan River.

The west side will be Palestine. Still Palestine until 1948. The Hussein family by the way still controls that territory which was permanently named in 1946 Jordan as it is today. King Abdullah is part of the Hussein family.

King Abdullah's full name is King Abdullah II bin al-Hussein. So that's Jordan now on the east side of the Jordan River and on the west side is Israel which in 1948 when the United Nations recognized the homeland in 1947 then May 15, 1948 the Jewish people reclaimed their land and occupied now what is just a fraction of what God originally intended. This is what God originally intended. That was the land that they ended up with. And it's gone back and forth. The borders have gone back and forth with different wars.

I'm not going to get into all that. Just wanted to give you the background to all of this because this is why I want everybody to understand when you look at history the Jews are not colonialists. This is not a colony of any nation and they're you know they're paying taxes to some other motherland okay. They are the indigenous people and they are living in this land and again not just because Great Britain said you can have the western side of the Jordan River but because God deeded this territory and much more to them in Genesis chapter 15. So that is a portion of a sermon from Pastor Gary Hamrick that he gave the week following the attack from Hamas against the nation of Israel in October of 2023 where we saw more than 1,200 Israelis killed and even today there are more than 100 that are still being held hostage. We must not forget Israel. Folks Israel is still at war.

Israel is still suffering and we must stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters and I want to challenge you as I did last week. There are many churches out there that have said nothing about Israel and there are even some that have spoken against Israel as being the occupiers the evil occupiers but we have to remember God is the one who owns everything. God is the creator of all things and God owns the world. He owns the earth. He owns the universe and God gave the land to Israel.

He has the right to do that. God can do whatever he wants and so that's what he did but Satan he hates God. Satan is like a bratty contrary child who no matter what their parent says they're going to go against it and so that is what he's doing. He's stirring people up to go against Israel because he hates God. He doesn't want Christ to return but I did a survey just an informal survey in which I just went around different Facebook pages of churches back in October and I came across church after church that posted nothing about Israel having been attacked by Hamas. I even randomly pulled sermons from different churches and church after church said nothing about what took place in Israel and it just grieves my heart but on the flip side these same churches I scrolled a little bit further back in history and I saw well they were very supportive of BLM. They're very supportive of the social justice gospel but yet they will not support the nation of Israel and folks it is a spiritual satanic deception and many churches have been given into it so I want to encourage you do not buy into the deception of replacement theology. I had someone that came across one of our messages just the other day and he sent a message to me that well this regathering in Israel is not the regathering that the Bible speaks of.

He said it's European descendants that are in the land today but I want to share with you just like I shared with him that is a deception. Don't buy into the deceptions of Satan. Satan is doing all he can to try to prevent Jesus Christ from coming back to the earth and he's trying to annihilate the Jewish people in doing so. So this irrational hatred it is because of our Lord Jesus Christ and sadly we even have leaders in our nation right in Congress.

We have people who would not condemn the beheading of babies. We have people that would not condemn the barbaric acts of Hamas and that tells you folks we're in a spiritual battle but as Zechariah 14 says Satan is not going to be able to prevent Jesus Christ from coming back. The Bible says his feet will touch the Mount of Olives and on that date he will come back to rule and reign from Jerusalem and he will rule over the earth and we will rule and reign with him those of us who have placed our faith and trust in our Lord Jesus Christ. So let us stand with Israel and continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Israel will prevail.

They will not be destroyed. The Bible declares it. So we're going to pause there for this week but we're going to come back next week and conclude Pastor Gary Hamrick's sermon on the nation of Israel. So please come back and join us as we continue to discern the times by viewing life through the lens of the Bible. Until then remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel and until the only wise God be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. Thank you for tuning in to Discerning the Times. Please come back and join us next week as we continue to encourage you to view current events through the lens of the Bible. Until next time remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel and seek first the kingdom of God.