Israel...
God's Chosen people still?

Some serious thoughts on the Middle Eastern Conflict

Preface
This is another quite long article, so you might like to save it to disk. I was sent an email by a family member and asked to comment on its contents.

The response was very much larger than I originally intended, and presents problems due to the file size in being sent as an attachment to some email addresses.

Consequently I created it as a web page, with the original article in (blue) Times New Roman and my interleaved responses in (green) Helvetica.

Let us read the associated verses from Genesis 21:6-21 NRSV as well as just verse 10...

Now Sarah said, "God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me." And she said, "Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."

The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. So she said to Abraham, "Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my on Isaac."

The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. But God said to Abraham, "Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you. As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring."

So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, "Do not let me look on the death of the child." And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept.

And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, "What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him."

Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink. God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Scripture pasted here from QuickVerse for Windows (Parsons technology)

The answer for the Middle East. To even talk about the situation in Israel today, you must understand that the roots of this issue goes back over 4,500 years to Abraham. Abraham was promised by God to have a son with his elderly wife Sarah.

When God didn't answer as quickly as Abraham wanted, he decided to take matters into his own hands. So he took his wife's handmaiden Hagar, slept with her, and had a son named Ishmael.

Actually it was Sarah who encouraged Abraham to take Hagar. She later realised she had made a mistake in blaming God for her infertility, and tried to shift the blame on to Abraham, subsequently acting unfairly towards Hagar who thought and said she was better than Sarah... Read Genesis 16:1-15

Here, from the NRSV... Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian slave-girl whose name was Hagar, and Sarai said to Abram, "You see that the LORD has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my slave-girl; it may be that I shall obtain children by her." And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave-girl, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, "May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my slave-girl to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!"

But Abram said to Sarai, "Your slave-girl is in your power; do to her as you please." Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she ran away from her. The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, "Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She said, "I am running away from my mistress Sarai."

The angel of the LORD said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit to her." The angel of the LORD also said to her, "I will so greatly multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted for multitude." And the angel of the LORD said to her, "Now you have conceived and shall bear a son; you shall call him Ishmael, for the LORD has given heed to your affliction.

He shall be a wild ass of a man, with his hand against everyone, and everyone's hand against him; and he shall live at odds with all his kin." So she named the LORD who spoke to her, "You are El-roi"; for she said, "Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?" Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered. Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.

One should also not regard the descendents of Isaac as being any more righteous than those of Ishmael... history and scripture both show ongoing gross disobedience by the descendents of Isaac (the Jews) - notwithstanding all the miraculous things God did - particularly when telling them they were His chosen people.

Of course it was shortly after this, that God's promise to Abraham and Sarah WAS fulfilled and they had a son named Isaac. As you can imagine, having hiswife Sarah and son Isaac living with Hagar and Ishmael did not work outand Abraham eventually sent Hagar and Ishmael away to live somewhereelse.

If one carefully reads the scripture account, one sees that Sarah again manipulated Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away, but that is only mentionedin passing.

The interesting fact that emerges is that the Lord raised Ishmael in the wilderness and taught him animal husbandry. This suggests that the Lord requires Ishmael's descendants to be around, just like Isaac's; indeed a prophesy is made to this effect in Genesis 21:18.

It is from Isaac that the Jewish people descended. It is from Ishmael that the bulk of the Arab people descended. The Jewish people worshipping the God of the Bible. The Arab people worshipping pagan gods and ultimately adopting Islam. What is happening today is literally the byproduct of Abraham's sin 4 1/2 centuries ago!

Please let us not cast stones at those unable to defend themselves. This is all part of God's plan, it has nothing to do with anyone's sin. One needs to look at just how well (or otherwise) the descendents of Isaac worshipped the God of the bible.

Actually, it was a very poor effort by them, indeed.

I often talk about living life God's way, or using our freewill to live our way. When I deal with God's plan for marriage, I am often asked about why God allowed the great men of the bible to have multiple wives. GOD NEVER ALLOWED THIS!

No? Where was monogamy first mentioned?

The New Testament I think. I quoted at great length further up the scriptural acceptance of many wives by the great men of the bible.

This was in absolute rebellion to His plan, and whenever we decide to rebel against God's way, there will ALWAYS be consequences. We are still seeing every night on our TV the consequences of Abraham's rebellion 4500 years after the fact! Read the story of David and the consequences from his sin with Bathsheba.

How was it in rebellion to God's plan?

Correction... the story of David and Bathsheba was ACTUALLY one about a man who walked with God, then his being able to fall and lust after another man's wife, and then to repent, make restitiution, and finally to be restored to fellowship with God. It was NOT a story about multiple wives. He already had multiple wives.

Psalm 51 shows us just how much David eventually realised what his problem was, and his remorse for his behaviour, and his confession for what he had done.

Surely, the writer could not have read the whole story about David and Bathsheba if that was the conclusion he/she drew.

Read the story of Solomon and the consequences of his sin later in his life from having multiple wives.

I think it was the sin in Solomon's life that stopped his walking with God.

Remember that he had many wives and concubines right through the period when he was constructing the temple.

I don't think Solomon's matrimonial situation was against God's instructions, because if it was, God would not have allowed the temple construction and dedication to proceed. It was God's house that Solomon was building, after all.

The fact is, GOD IS NO RESPECTER OF PERSON. Even the great men of God in the bible, when they went against God's plan, PAID THE PRICE FOR THEIR REBELLION!

You can not go against God's way and not have to suffer the consequences from your choice to rebel, no matter if you are Abraham, David, Solomon, Joe in Kansas, or Sherry in California! As in all things, Jesus Christ is the only true answer to peace in this great conflict. Sadly, both sides have rejected Him. The Jewish people have rejected Him as the Messiah and the Muslims only see Him as a prophet. The only ONE who could change the hearts of men to reconcile their differences and live in peace is rejected by both sides.

while I dont see the significance of the first paragraph, I do agree with all three above

Nobody on earth knows Jesus as well as the Jewish people.

What???????????????

Ummmm the Jews crucified Jesus!

They put Him to death!

They executed him as a common criminal!

How well did THEY know Him?

He was a Jew. But even 2,000 years after His death, He is still rejected by His own people. The Muslims also know Jesus very well. They study His life and teachings, but thoroughly reject that He is the Son of God.

Come on!

The Muslims believe Jesus was just a prophet, nothing more.

If you don't "know" Jesus as "very God of very God, begotten not made", how can you possibly claim to know him at all?

Both groups have rejected the one and only person that could bring peace to this troubled area of the world. So understanding that this is a 4,500 year old conflict, between two faith groups that have rejected Christ, the answer is quite simply there will NEVER be real, lasting peace in this conflict. There will be seasons of peace, and we all pray for that today, but the only real peace will come when the Prince of Peace returns.

I agree with that statement :)

However, God is fully aware of the friction between the descendants of the two sons of Abraham. Indeed He permitted it to occur, and I suspect it is therefore part of His plan, because He created two nations in the same region from the two boys.

Bible prophecy is very subjective since it deals with future events, and the prophetic passages of the Bible can be interpreted to say many things.

I don't see it like that. If read out of context, perhaps so. I see the word as being consistent with a God the same "yesterday, today and tomorrow"

But one thing all Bible prophecy scholars agree on is that Israel will be the center of the events marking the end times.

It is on the Mount of Olives that Christ will return. It is on the plains of Armageddon that the last great battle will be fought. Israel will be the center of the action as the last days of this world as we know it unfold. That is why we should all pay close attention to the events in Israel and be aware of what is happening in that part of the world.

Let us remember that God's plans, whatever they are, shall prevail, regardless of what mankind's puny attempts may contrive in the mean time.

Our attention should closely follow each event, and that we should watch prayerfully for the coming of the bridegroom "as a thief in the night" - in other words we should not be caught unready and ill prepared to greet Him.

However, I don't believe we should even CONSIDER praying for any outcome that may be contrary to God's will - which would be very easy to do given the confused understanding that many have of the order of the end-times events.

I think we should pray that "Thy will be done" - and prayers for personal safety subject to that will are in order, as are compassionate prayers for individuals.

Let us not get drawn into uniting in prayer FOR OR AGAINST particular peoples, but just that we don't get in the way of God's eternal purposes as they unravel.

Let us remember that when God DOES gather Israel from out of the "sending away" this final time, He will do it in His timing and His manner - not ours.

It is quite possible that the present secular government in Jerusalem (Knesset) led by unbelieving Jews MAY WELL BE USED BY GOD as part of His plan of gathering at some time in the future.

Equally He may choose not to use that, and employ some other method.

But please note that His kingdom of Israel has not YET been re-established.

Why not?

Because it is an ungodly government operating on ungodly principles which are contrary to God's unchangeable ways.

I love you and care about you so much. The natural question is what can we as Christians do during this difficult time. Pray!!! My bible says the Jewish people are STILL God's chosen people.

I don't see my Bible saying that. I would like to have chapter and verse.

Ummm when God's people were taken into captivity, were they still marked for preferential treatment? I ask you, what about when they were in Egypt? Did they worship God? Did they know God? To be a chosen people, one shouldread what God actually said to Abram, and then look at how many times they were disobedient and God told the prophets that He would disown them and send them away.

Look how annoyed Jonah got about Ninevah's repentance! That was a dispersion that was actually avoided through a response to repentance.

God also seperated Israel and Judah from each other - the kingdom of Israel got carted off to captivity long before that of Judah - because of their gross unrighteousness.

What about when they went into captivity with the Assyrians?

And the captivity with the Babylonians?

And how very few of them returned after the Babylonian captivity... did the ones who prefered to stay behind and become prosperous earn the title of being chosen?

Or just those who returned with Nehemiah to rebuild the temple? Even they seemed to regret their commitment.

Does God bless those with no commitment to Him?

Did He at the time of the exodus from Egypt?

What about their demanding the building of a golden calf the moment God's prophet (Moses) turned his back and returned to the mountain to talk to his Master?

Take the destruction of Jerusalem in 71AD under the hand of the Roman general Titus who was to become the Roman emperor Vespasian... In actual fact God removed their "chosen" status at the moment the temple veil was torn from top to bottom, revealing a completely empty sanctuary - there was no ark any more in there, it had been stolen years before.

This also represented there being no need for the temple either, Christ having just made the final sacrifice as both paschal lamb without blemish (the offering) and as the High Priest (the priest doing the offering).

We read in a number of places that the gospel was then taken by the apostles (literally those "who were sent") - to the hated Gentiles, those who were not of the lineage they could all trace from "Abraham, Isaac and Jacob".

This is still going on, we are still in the "Time of the Gentiles", a time during which little gospel teaching towards Israel will actually be effective. This is very noticeable even now.

In due time, at a time of HIS chosing (not ours), God WILL RESTORE the people of Israel to chosen status. Remember Paul wrote "In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek" - in other words the Jews are no longer special.

Early Christianity was plagued with would-be Judaisers who wanted to observe special feast days, wear special clothes, perform special temple-orientated rituals and so on.

IF God had wanted the Jews to continue as a race at that time, He would have ensured the continuance of temple procedures. We are currently in what the Jews call the great "Diaspora" - the sending away of a rebellious disobedient people. God (as mentioned) had previously done this a number of times.

This is the final time it shall happen, according to scripture.

Please don't confuse the gerrymandering of votes in 1947 by the Zionist cause, whereby an artificial state called Israel was formed through the stealing of land owned for centuries by others, some being Muslims, some being Christians, with the recalling by the Lord God Almighty of a no longer disobedient race into a select status among nations.

God did not need the Ottoman Empire to fall under Lawrence Pasha and the Hashemite Emirs Abdullah and Feisal to do that.

Nor did he need the 1918 League of Nations Mandate over Syria, Iraq, TransJordan and Palestine to accomplish that.

Nor did He need Hitler's attrocities in Poland, Germany, Austria and the Balkan states to "help" Him.

Certainly he didn't need Rooseveldt's clandestine agreements with Joseph Stalin who wanted to eliminate HIS Jewish problem, nor the votes of the smaller nations in the new United Nations in 1947 to acchieve His will in restoring eretz Y'Israel to Palestinian land.

Certainly He didn't need the behind-the-back dealings of the Zionist cause in Britain and the USA who arranged for political support and confusing conflicting decisions to be made that would cause the collapse of the mandate in Palestine.

We need to understand the ACTUAL DOCUMENTED HISTORY behind the whole saga.

There are too many people who quite incorrectly associate latter-day Israel with Christianity. They aren't Christian, nor do they even believe in their God, known to them as HaShem - "The Name". They are nearly all secular non-believing people who have been taught to believe the God they do not believe in gave them someone else's land!

If they actually believed in the first 5 books of the bible - the Torah - the Law - they would know how to relationally live wherever, and how to deal with other people. But it is obvious to everyone that they are totally unrelational.

As it is they have raped the land and its inhabitants, showing no respect, mounting a reign of terror since before their state was created by act of the international parliament, and shortly after murdering the United Nations envoy (Count Bernadotte from Sweden) who was sent to supervise the hand-over to them.

Count Bernadotte's assasination was conducted by the infamous (Jewish) Stern Gang.

Before the hand-over of the western portion of Palestine to the Zionist leaders, they ensured the creation, arming and training of guerilla groups FAR WORSE than the 'Hammas' of the Palestinians.

Please read about the dreadful massacre carried out by the Jews on peaceful Palestinians, without and warning, at Deir Yasseen, in April 1948. Then read about that carried out at Qibya on 14th October 1953. That one was led by a man referred to ever since as "The Butcher". His name - Major Ariel Sharon.

Even though each one who dies rejecting Christ is eternally lost, the Jewish people remain God's chosen people. We need to pray for them. My bible says to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and that those who bless the Jewish people will be blessed. So pray for Israel, pray for the Jewish people, pray above all that they will one by one open their hearts to the truth that Jesus IS the Messiah they are looking for. Likewise, pray for the Palestinians and the other Arab countries involved. Pray that God will soften the hatred in heir hearts and allow them to see that Jesus was not just a great prophet, but that he is the LIVING SON OF GOD! Not the Allah of the Quoran, but the God of the Bible!

Did you know that the MANY PALESTINIAN CHRISTIANS refer to their God as Allah?

You see, Palestinians speak Arabic. Al in Arabic has the same root as El in Hebrew. Allah is NOT NECESSARILY the God of the Muslims.

I personally know people who address our Christian God the Father as Allah for that reason. Muslims do NOT have exclusive rights to that name. It is Arabic, not Islamic.

Do you think that God would allow His allegedly chosen people to return to their "promised land" and evict those who have already accepted His Son, stealing all their possessions?

Is that the same unchangeable God who instructed Moses how they were to live in the same promised land?

Please remember what Christ Himself said about Jerusalem... and here is a poetic paraphrase...

"Thou that stonest the prophets and killed those that were sent, when they came from the desert with the call to repent. How you hardened your heart and would never relent, now you're full of the blood of the innocent.

O Jerusalem, O Jerusalem, how often I wanted to gather you up as a hen with her young ones - but you would not. How I wanted to gather you under My wings - but you could not, you would not, repent of your sins. Weep and weep and weep and cry for Jerusalem.

O Jerusalem, O Jerusalem. Go and mourn for your temple, go and mourn for your walls. Go and growl like the dragons, go and wail as the owls, for your sin and your judgment are consummate, and your house it is left to you desolate!"

[Matt 21:9, 23:37, 27:24, John 2:20, Isaiah 59:10,11, Micah 1:8, Matt 23:38]

***You see my friend, while general peace will never be totally achieved, peace can come to one heart at a time as they accept Christ as their Savior! THAT needs to be the focus of our prayers. That during this great time of turmoil, war, and death, the message of Christ's love will reach the heart of men, women, and children on both sides. Jews and Muslim alike will hear that Jesus loves them, died for their sins, and can give them everlasting life. Let our prayer be that THIS message is heard and received above ALL ELSE!

Now I do agree with that :)

Conclusion
This article is incomplete, but it is posted to inspire thinking about the topic pending its completion. It may also be edited further.

You might like to look at other pages about this topic on this website.