Negotiation And Hardened Hearts

After that, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Let My people go, so that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.'"
But Pharaoh replied, "Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go." (Exodus 5:1-2 BSB)

Did God ask Moses to lie when He asked Moses to request for a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to Him, implying that the Israelites will return after that? No. If the Pharaoh had accepted the request, it would be so.

So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. "Go, worship the LORD your God," he said. "But who exactly will be going?"
"We will go with our young and old," Moses replied. "We will go with our sons and daughters, and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the LORD."
Then Pharaoh told them, "May the LORD be with you if I ever let you go with your little ones. Clearly you are bent on evil. No, only the men may go and worship the LORD, since that is what you have been requesting." And Moses and Aaron were driven from Pharaoh's presence. (Exodus 10:8-11 BSB)

But God hardened the Pharaoh's heart, and he kept negotiating with Moses about the terms of release. But finally, after the ten plagues, he expelled all the Israelites from his land.

This is God's pattern of negotiation. First, He will give the best offer. For those whom God did not call, their hearts will be hardened, and they will reject the best offer. Then the offer will get worse and worse until everything is taken away.

In 1948, they were offered 50% of Palestine, but they rejected the offer and fought. They would have retained Gaza and West Bank if they had not fought again in 1967. Today they are still trying to negotiate for the two-state solution. Eventually, they will have nothing.

The Gospel offered a 100% redemption if we just believe. But many hardened their hearts and refused the offer because they thought it was humiliating to admit that they are sinners and can do nothing to save themselves. But God is merciful, and some will believe and accept the offer and be saved.

But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12 NLT)

The Call of Abram

Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. (Genesis 12:1-4 KJV)

Abraham is our father in faith. Although he was commended for his faith, he did not receive what was promised. He waited and waited and finally got to own a piece of the promised land which he had to buy it from the Hittites for use as a permanent burial place.

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, without knowing where he was going. (Hebrews 11:8 BSB)

Abraham Our Father In Faith

Abram believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6 BSB)

What did Abram believe? He believed that God would make a great nation out of him. He believed and he became the father of all who believe.

Then the LORD said to Abram, "Leave your country, your kindred, and your father's household, and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you." (Genesis 12:1-3 BSB)

Do we have something to believe like Abraham? Yes. God wants us to believe that we will reign with Him for a thousand years. Do we believe in this? Or do we believe in climate change and artificial intelligence and the end of the world? Things will get worse, but the world will not end. Ultimately, Jesus will come and rule.

Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection! The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:6 BSB)

Be like Abraham. Believe in Him who is faithful.

He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:24 ESV) 

As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the presence of God, in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being what does not yet exist. (Romans 4:17 BSB)

Israel 1948 And Biblical Prophecy - 3

"Therefore, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign Lord: I am bringing you back, but not because you deserve it. I am doing it to protect my holy name, on which you brought shame while you were scattered among the nations. I will show how holy my great name is - the name on which you brought shame among the nations. And when I reveal my holiness through you before their very eyes, says the Sovereign Lord, then the nations will know that I am the Lord. For I will gather you up from all the nations and bring you home again to your land. (Ezekiel 36:22-24 NLT)

He began by saying to them, "Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled." (Luke 4:21 CSB)

Is Israel's existence today in the land of Canaan a fulfilment of God's prophesy? The Zionist Christians said yes, the Anti-Zionist Christians said no.

So how do we know who is right? Let us look into the past to see the future.

Is Jesus the fulfilment of God's prophesy on the Messiah? The Christians said yes, the Jews said no.

Why did the Jews object to Jesus as a fulfilment of God's prophesy on the Messiah? The Jews believe that the Messiah will come to rule Israel as the King. But Jesus came and partially fulfilled God's prophesy on the Messiah and then declare that He will fulfil the rest (becoming King) in a second coming. The Jews objected to the fulfilment God's prophesy on the Messiah by instalments. The Messiah must fulfil all prophecies in one go.

Why did the Anti-Zionist Christians object to Israel's existence today in the land of Canaan as a fulfilment of God's prophesy on the restoration of Israel? Anti-Zionist Christians believe that the Jews must fulfil the conditions given in Deuteronomy 30:2, that is, to obey God completely in one go before they can come back to the land of Israel. The Anti-Zionist Christians objected to the fulfilment God's prophesy on the restoration of Israel by a gradual process. It is obvious that today's Jews in the land of Canaan reject Jesus as the Messiah. They are not Christians and may even be anti-Christians since they were persecuted by European Christians for about 1000 years.

God's Will And Hardened Hearts

The Lord answered Moses, "See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. You must say whatever I command you; then Aaron your brother must declare it to Pharaoh so that he will let the Israelites go from his land. But I will harden Pharaoh's heart and multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. Pharaoh will not listen to you, but I will put my hand into Egypt and bring the military divisions of my people the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the Israelites from among them." (Exodus 7:1-5 CSB)

So Joshua took all this land - the hill country, all the Negev, all the land of Goshen, the foothills, the Arabah, and the hill country of Israel with its foothills - from Mount Halak, which ascends to Seir, as far as Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon at the foot of Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and struck them down, putting them to death. Joshua waged war with all these kings for a long time. No city made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites who inhabited Gibeon; all of them were taken in battle. For it was the Lord's intention to harden their hearts, so that they would engage Israel in battle, be completely destroyed without mercy, and be annihilated, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. (Joshua 11:16-20 CSB)

Did God ask Moses to tell a lie when He asked Moses to ask the Pharaoh for a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to God? No. If the Pharaoh had accepted the request, it would be so. But it was God's will that the Israelites were to leave Egypt. So God hardened the Pharaoh's heart and he did not accept the request. Finally after the death of all the first born in Egypt, the Pharaoh expelled all the Israelites from his land.

Likewise when the Jews were offered about 50% of Palestine in 1947 by the United Nations, they accepted. If the Arabs had also accepted it, it would be so. But it is God's will that the Jews are to get all of Palestine. He stated it in the Bible and the Koran. So He hardened the hearts of the Arabs, who now called themselves Palestinians, to fight both the Jews and Allah, until they are driven out of the land.

The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble. (Proverbs 16:4 ESV)

Anti-Zionist Theology

Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say "and to seeds," as though referring to many, but referring to one, and to your seed, who is Christ. (Galatians 3:16 CSB)

Below is taken from the website, "Why I'm Not a Christian Zionist | The Banner", which kind of summarized the anti-Zionist position:

QUOTE
God's Promises to Abraham
Christian Zionism takes the land promises of God in Genesis 12, 15, and 17 and applies them to the modern state of Israel. To Christian Zionists, this promise of land inheritance is permanent and unconditional. Therefore, despite Israel's own declared intention of being a secular state (and despite Israelis' low religious participation), modern Israel still benefits from a 4,000-year-old promise. For Zionists, the Abrahamic covenant is still active regardless of whether Israelis believe in God or not. In the Christian Zionist view - and this is key - the covenant of Christ does not replace or supplant the Jewish covenants.

Reformed theologians believe something decisive happened in Christ. His covenant affected not simply the covenant of Moses, making a new and timeless form of salvation, but also every other Jewish covenant, including Abraham's covenant. Christ fulfills the expectations of Jewish covenant life and renews the people of God rooted in the Old Testament and Judaism. Thus, Jesus is the new temple, the new Israel.

In Galatians 3:16, the apostle Paul writes, "Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring; it does not say 'And to offsprings,' as of many; but it says, 'And to your offspring,' that is, to one person, who is Christ" (NRSV). Paul argues from the singular noun in Genesis to show that the promises to Abraham point to Christ. Christ is the locus of the promise of land! The promises to Abraham have been realized in Christ. He holds everything Judaism desired, and knowing him gains access to such promises.

Jesus' homily in John 15 says the same. The Old Testament image of Israel is that of a vineyard filled with vines rooted in the soil of the Holy Land. You can see this outlined beautifully in Isaiah 5. But Jesus upends this. We see a vineyard again, but now we learn that there is one vine - Christ - and the only concern is not on gaining access to the land but being attached to him.

To think Christianly about land and promise is to think differently than Judaism. The New Testament changes the spiritual geography of God's people. The kingdom of God is tied to neither an ethnicity nor a place. Because the early Christians understood this, they carried their missionary efforts to the entire world. God loves Ephesus just as much as he loves Jerusalem. Indeed, God loves the entire world and all its people equally.

Reformed theologians are not convinced the promises to Abraham can be used politically today. The work of Christ is definitive. There is one covenant, and it is with Christ. In the zeal to promote and protect modern Israel, has Jesus been demoted?

Still, some might ask if emphasizing the centrality of Christ's covenant leads to the dismissal of Judaism and its covenants. Would this lead to anti-Judaism in the church?

No. Christ and his church are deeply rooted in Judaism. As Gentiles, we are grafted into the Jewish tree of Abraham (Rom. 11:13-24). Jesus was Jewish, and it is through the Hebrew covenants that we understand our own covenant.

Christ does not replace these covenants; rather, he fulfills them and enables the birth of God's kingdom, which includes both Jews and Gentiles. Reformed theology does not split Israel and the church; it finds rich continuity between them. Paul did not "become" a Christian; he realized the deepest meaning of his Jewishness when he chose to follow Jesus. This new, category-changing event at the heart of Christ's work cannot be diminished. It is central to New Testament faith. Some have misused this teaching and promoted a dreadful anti-Semitism. But this misuse does not mean we dismiss what the Scriptures teach. Judaism deserves our respect, and anti-Semitism should be rejected outright as an utter corruption of the gospel.

Israel, Prophecy, and Nationhood
In Christian Zionism, 1948 is not simply a political marker in history. It is a theological marker. Israel has been restored to the land in fulfillment of prophecy, Zionists say. Therefore, the establishment of modern Israel is a theologically ordained event deserving of profound Christian respect and awe.

Reformed theologians also affirm Israel's right to exist, but they are skeptical about Israel's theological claim to own the Holy Land. They point to countless times when Christians used ancient prophetic texts to interpret contemporary times with bad results. They also note that any biblical claim to nationhood must also incorporate biblical expectations of nation-building - expectations that aren't now being met.

The promise of land always comes with covenant expectations for religious life and for justice, themes echoed regularly by the prophets. Modern Israel began as a secular state. It does not reflect ancient Israel's religious or moral national aspirations as described in Scripture, and it has made choices regarding the Palestinians living within its borders that would inspire harsh criticism from Old Testament prophets such as Amos or Isaiah.

For all these reasons, Reformed theologians do not see commitment to Israel as a spiritual imperative. They are moved more by ethics than eschatology when considering any country, because no one country now enjoys a preferential place in God's economy.

History Is Coming to Its Close
Christian Zionists think Israel's national birth is the key prophetic fulfillment in counting down the end of history. They believe Israel's return fits with what else is happening in the world: moral values are in decline, an ecological crisis is looming with our oil-based economy in peril, and most importantly, there is war in the Middle East, all leading to widespread agreement among Zionists that history is reaching its end. All of this, they claim, was prophesied in Scripture.

Reformed theologians are not so catastrophic, not so sure these pronouncements are true, and they have always called for sober judgment. They worry Christian Zionists have let their zeal for prophecy and history's end drown out other, more primary Christian values.

Our chief complaint is how a desire for the end times has shaped the ethics of Christian Zionists. Building the kingdom of God has become secondary to building the kingdom of Israel. Passion for seeing Christ's second coming now comes before a passion for justice and fairness. When presented with the remarkable suffering of 4 million Palestinians living under harsh military occupation, Zionists typically stand unmoved. Negotiations that might return land to Palestinian owners are deemed to be against God's will. Some Zionist pastors have even written that natural disasters hitting the United States and killing thousands are God's punishment for political pressure put on Israel. It is this sort of theological confusion that stuns Reformed theologians.

Fidelity to Israel
For Christian Zionists, the first obligation of Christians is to study end-times prophecies and to monitor each nation's political decisions. One conviction is always held aloft: God blesses those who bless Israel and curses those who curse Israel. Nations will stand or fall based on this one creed.

Reformed theologians hear this and wonder if the message of the gospel has been lost. My first call is fidelity to Christ and his kingdom. And yet this commitment should inspire in me a deep love for Israel and a desire for its people to become what their Scriptures call them to become: a nation of priests, a light to the nations, a people in whom there is such goodness that the nations will see the glory of God and rejoice.

Jesus' Second Coming
This is the crown jewel of Christian Zionism. The birth of Israel has set the stage for the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ. Therefore, Zionists claim, any national agenda that would impede God's plan, any peace plan that weakens Israel's hold on the land, or any decision that stands in the way of this dramatic stage-setting is not a plan blessed by God.

Reformed theologians believe in the second coming too. But the chief difference is that Reformed theologians make profound investments in the world. We are not sectarian. We devote ourselves to promoting Christ's commitments here and now. We do not despair about the course of the world, and we refuse to abandon it. We still build schools and hospitals and speak to injustice and poverty.

Dwight Moody, the founder of the dispensational Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, once asked why you'd want to polish the brass on a sinking ship. Reformed theologians are not convinced the ship is sinking, and we continue to polish the brass, navigate a course, and make passengers comfortable until we are surprised by Christ's return - just as the Bible tells us we should be.

This is my ultimate concern: Christian Zionists believe in Jesus, but I wonder if they have lost the gospel. They have uncritically wed our faith to the politics of one nation, and this, as the church has learned so many times, is a prescription for disaster.
UNQUOTE

The Sins of Judah

Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols. (Jeremiah 2:11 NIV)

"My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. (Jeremiah 2:13 NIV)

"For my people are fools; they do not know me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing what is evil, but they do not know how to do what is good." (Jeremiah 4:22 CSB)

The sin of Judah was so bad that even Moses and Samuel could not intercede for them. Noah, Daniel, and Job could only save themselves and not their families. This is the state of Judah before the first exile.

Then the LORD said to me, "Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go! (Jeremiah 15:1 ESV)

Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were there, their righteousness would save no one but themselves, says the Sovereign LORD. (Ezekiel 14:14 NLT)

As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were there, they wouldn't be able to save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved by their righteousness. (Ezekiel 14:20 NLT)

There Was Never A Palestinian State

Saw this tweet:

QUOTE
#History of the "Palestinian state":
01. Before Israel there was a British mandate, not a Palestinian state.
02. Before the British mandate, there was the Ottoman Empire, not a Palestinian state.
03. Before the Ottoman Empire, there was the Islamic state of the Mamluks from Egypt, not a Palestinian state.
04. Before the Mamluks of Egypt, there was the Arab-Kurdish Ayyubid Empire, not a Palestinian state.
05. Before the Ayyubid Empire, there was the Frankish and Christian kingdom of Jerusalem, not a Palestinian state.
06. Before the Kingdom of Jerusalem, there was the Umayyad and Fatimid Empire, not a Palestinian state.
07. Before the Umayyad and Fatimid empires, there was the Byzantine Empire, not the Palestinian state.
08. Before the Byzantine Empire, there were the Sasanians, not a Palestinian state. 
09. Before the Sasanian Empire, there was the Byzantine Empire, not the Palestinian state.
10. Before the Byzantine Empire, there was the Roman Empire, not the Palestinian state.
11. Before the Roman Empire there was the Hasmonean state, not the Palestinian state. 
12. Before the Hasmonean state was the Seleucid state, not Palestinian.
13. Before the Seleucid Empire, there was the empire of Alexander the Great, not a Palestinian state.
14. Before the empire of Alexander the Great, there was the Persian empire, not the Palestinian one.
15. Before the Persian Empire was the Babylonian Empire, not a Palestinian state.
16. Before the Babylonian Empire, there were the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, not a Palestinian state. 
17. Before the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, there was the kingdom of Israel, not a Palestinian state.
18. Before the Kingdom of Israel, there was the theocracy of the twelve tribes of Israel, not a Palestinian state.
19. Before the theocracy of the twelve tribes of Israel, there was an accumulation of independent Canaanite city-kingdoms, not a Palestinian state.
In fact, this piece of land had everything, except for a Palestinian state, because there is no such nation!
Last edited 20231022 12:21 PM
UNQUOTE

History are facts. What can we do about facts? Three things. Accept it, lie about it or misinterpret it.

Last Nation To Be Converted

Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her children. (Isaiah 66:8 ESV)

"And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10 ESV)

Jews are unbelievers, just like any other unbelievers in the world. And they have a negative view of Christianity because of their persecution by the Christians. But they are different from other unbelievers in that their conversion is prophesied. They will be the last nation to be converted, at the second coming of Jesus. A nation shall be born in one day.

The gospel starts from Jerusalem and goes west and will come back to Jerusalem from the east. God has not abandoned the Jews, unlike what some Christians think.

Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob; and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins." (Romans 11:25-27 ESV)

Fact And Fiction

"The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity."
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abba Eban 21 December 1973

God Promised There Will Be No Hamas

Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence (חָמָס). (Genesis 6:11 NIV)

The word Hamas in Hebrew means 'violence'. Thus, in Genesis 6:11, God saw that the world was full of Hamas and God sent a flood to destroy the world. But God promised in Isaiah 60:18 that there will be no Hamas.

No longer will violence (חָמָס) be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise. (Isaiah 60:18 NIV)

Meaning of Hamas in Hebrew

Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence (חָמָס). (Genesis 6:11 NIV)

On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, 2023-10-07, Hamas attacked Israel. What is the meaning of Hamas in Hebrew and Arabic? According to this website 'Hebrew Word of the Day - robbery, evil-doing, Hamas - חָמָס', Hamas means 'heroism' in Arabic and 'violence' in Hebrew. Below is the quote from that website:

QUOTE
First, the transliteration 'cha' is the correct sound for the phonetic expression written in English as 'ha' such as in the name 'hamas'. It should be pronounced: 'chamas'.

It is amazing how one of the most derogatory words in the Hebrew Bible became the name of choice of the radical political religious movement that has ruled Gaza since 2007. It is both the abbreviation of the name Charakat al-Muqāwamah al-ʾIslāmiyyah (Islamic Resistance Movement) and an Arabic word that means 'enthusiasm' and 'heroism'. It's amazing that two languages that belong to the same family produce such conflicting meaning to the same name. The horrible word 'hamas' which appears 66 times in the Old Testament, makes one wonder whether Jews and Muslims really worship the same God? This ruthless organization has been involved in a vicious war against the people of Israel since its establishment in 1987. It hails the value of death over life and educates every infant it reaches to strive to become a suicide bomber. Pathetically, the main reward that is promised to every suicide bomber is purity, but in abundance - 70 virgins in heaven upon arrival as a martyr who kills Jews during a suicide mission!
UNQUOTE

No longer will violence (חָמָס) be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise. (Isaiah 60:18 NIV)

Two Perspectives on the Promised Land

Ephraim's envy will cease; Judah's harassing will end. Ephraim will no longer be envious of Judah, and Judah will not harass Ephraim. But they will swoop down on the Philistine flank to the west. Together they will plunder the people of the east. They will extend their power over Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be their subjects. (Isaiah 11:13-14 CSB)

The British made many promises in the Middle East but in the end, they left. There was no Palestinian state from the beginning. It was the Ottomans who ruled the land before the British took it. Here is the full list of Gentile invaders from the beginning - Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greek, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Mamelukes, Ottoman, British.

Palestinian's Israel problem will not be solved in their favour because God had promised the land to Israel.

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. (Zechariah 12:2 KJV)

Solomon Expected Israel to Be Exiled

"If they sin against you - and who has never sinned? - you might become angry with them and let their enemies conquer them and take them captive to their land far away or near. But in that land of exile, they might turn to you in repentance and pray, 'We have sinned, done evil, and acted wickedly.' If they turn to you with their whole heart and soul in the land of their enemies and pray toward the land you gave to their ancestors - toward this city you have chosen, and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name -  then hear their prayers and their petition from heaven where you live, and uphold their cause. Forgive your people who have sinned against you. Forgive all the offenses they have committed against you. Make their captors merciful to them, for they are your people - your special possession - whom you brought out of the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt. (1 Kings 8:46-51 NLT)

Even Solomon thought that Israel might be exiled because he knew about the prophecy of Moses.

Israel's History Pre-Written By God

When all these things happen to you - the blessings and curses I have set before you - and you come to your senses while you are in all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and all your soul by doing everything I am commanding you today, then he will restore your fortunes, have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. Even if your exiles are at the farthest horizon, he will gather you and bring you back from there. The Lord your God will bring you into the land your ancestors possessed, and you will take possession of it. He will cause you to prosper and multiply you more than he did your ancestors. The Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love him with all your heart and all your soul so that you will live. The Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you. Then you will again obey him and follow all his commands I am commanding you today. The Lord your God will make you prosper abundantly in all the work of your hands, your offspring, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your land. Indeed, the Lord will again delight in your prosperity, as he delighted in that of your ancestors, when you obey the Lord your God by keeping his commands and statutes that are written in this book of the law and return to him with all your heart and all your soul. (Deuteronomy 30:1-10 CSB)

God said that Israel will experience all the curses and blessings in Deuteronomy 28. Then they will come to their senses and return to God. Today, we are so fortunate to live in the era when this prophecy is fulfilled and Israel is restored back to the promised land.

Anybody can write a book and claim to be a prophet. Only God and create a nation and pre-write their history. Israel is the proof of God's existence.

Moreover, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: "Have you not noticed what these people are saying: 'The LORD has rejected the two families He had chosen'? So they despise My people and no longer regard them as a nation. This is what the LORD says: If I have not established My covenant with the day and the night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, then I would also reject the descendants of Jacob and of My servant David, so as not to take from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore them from captivity and will have compassion on them." (Jeremiah 33:23-26 BSB)

God Use Israel to Prove His Existence

"Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. (Ezekiel 36:22-24 ESV)

So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD. (Ezekiel 38:23 ESV)

So I will make my holy name known among my people Israel and will no longer allow it to be profaned. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel. (Ezekiel 39:7 CSB)

It is not possible to prove that God exist. So God use the existence of Israel to prove His existence.

Israel And The Promised Land

It is not because of your righteousness or uprightness of heart that you are going in to possess their land, but it is because of their wickedness that the LORD your God is driving out these nations before you, to keep the promise He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Deuteronomy 9:5 BSB)

God gave the promised land to Israel to keep the promise He swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That is why it is called the promised land.

Therefore tell the house of Israel that this is what the Lord GOD says: It is not for your sake that I will act, O house of Israel, but for My holy name, which you profaned among the nations to which you went. I will show the holiness of My great name, which has been profaned among the nations - the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when I show My holiness in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all the countries, and I will bring you back into your own land. (Ezekiel 36:22-24 BSB)

God restored Israel to the promised land in 1948 to show the holiness of His great name and to keep the promise He swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. (Malachi 3:6 KJV)

Israel-Palestinian Problem - A Secular Solution

But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel. (2 Chronicles 6:6 KJV)

Moreover, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: "Have you not noticed what these people are saying: 'The LORD has rejected the two families He had chosen'? So they despise My people and no longer regard them as a nation. This is what the LORD says: If I have not established My covenant with the day and the night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, then I would also reject the descendants of Jacob and of My servant David, so as not to take from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore them from captivity and will have compassion on them." (Jeremiah 33:23-26 BSB)

This interesting video "Who Controlled Jerusalem the Longest? - YouTube" gave us a rational basis for a secular solution to the Israel-Palestinian problem. It concluded at the end of the video that since the Muslims controlled Jerusalem for 1283 years and the Jews for 1197 years, then it ought to be a two-state solution. I think for all those people who do not believe in the Bible, he has a very good case.

But both the Jews and the Muslims will not accept the solution. Neither will the Bible believing Christians. Above all, the God who created the heavens and the earth will bring to pass all that He had purposed. God is the factor overlooked in secular solution.

On that day, when all the nations of the earth gather against her, I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who would heave it away will be severely injured. (Zechariah 12:3 BSB)

The LORD of Hosts has sworn: As I have purposed, so it will be; as I have planned it, so it will happen. (Isaiah 14:24 CSB)

I declare the end from the beginning, and from long ago what is not yet done, saying: my plan will take place, and I will do all my will. (Isaiah 46:10 CSB)

Israel Last Longer Than Sun and Moon

Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar - the LORD of hosts is his name: "If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the LORD, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever." (Jeremiah 31:35-36 ESV)

Moreover, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: "Have you not noticed what these people are saying: 'The LORD has rejected the two families He had chosen'? So they despise My people and no longer regard them as a nation. This is what the LORD says: If I have not established My covenant with the day and the night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, then I would also reject the descendants of Jacob and of My servant David, so as not to take from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore them from captivity and will have compassion on them." (Jeremiah 33:23-26 BSB)

Even when the fixed order of the sun for light by day and the moon and the stars for light by night is no longer needed, Israel will continue to exist.

The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. (Isaiah 60:19 ESV)

And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. (Revelation 21:23 ESV)

And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. (Revelation 22:5 ESV)

Do What They Liked

Before entering the promised land:
"You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you. (Deuteronomy 12:8-9 ESV)

After entering the promised land:
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. (Judges 21:25 ESV)