Posted on 09/22/2011 9:15:24 PM PDT by pastorbillrandles
For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.(Joel 3:1-3)
At a breathtaking rate, the prophecies of scripture are being fulfilled in geopolitical events occurring right before our eyes. Nations are lining up exactly as foretold in the predictions of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Joel and the rest of the Hebrew prophets, and behaving as we were told they would , in the last days of human history.
This segment of Joel chapter three is an incredible example of this phenomenon.
* First of all Joel sets the time for the prophecy to be fulfilled “In those days and at that time, when I (the LORD) return again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem…”. This is something only possible of fulfillment since May 1948, for it was on that date that the nation of Israel was reborn after her long exile among the various gentile nations for centuries. This also was exactly what the prophets had predicted.
It is an amazing sign to the world that since 1948, from all over the world, the descendants of Abraham,Isaac and Jacob have been making aliyah, returning to the promised land. The modern Exodus has involved Jews scattered as widely as India, China, Russia, Africa and even Mongolia responding to the call to return to the land of Israel as God proclaimed they would.
Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, And declare it in the isles afar off, and say, ‘ He who scattered Israel will gather him, And keep him as a shepherd does his flock.’ (Jeremiah 31:10)
* Then the LORD will put the nations under indictment This is the meaning of the phrase, “…I will plead with them there…”. God isn’t pleading with the nations here as we understand pleading, this is legal language, He is filing charges, making a case, indeed He is bringing the nations unto the seat of judgment.
The name of the valley, “Jehoshaphat” makes this point for it means “The LORD shall judge”.
* The issue will be the treatment of His people,Israel- Though the International consensus is increasingly anti-Israel, the God of the universe is still pro-Israel. God loves his people and won’t let them go! He made a promise to Abraham and to his seed, “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you…”.
Yes indeed God has chastened his people, being a “little displeased ” with them, but the nations of the world have taken the chastisement further than the LORD intended, so now He is “Sore displeased with the nations”.
…Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased(with Israel), and they(the Nations) helped forward the affliction.(Zechariah 1:14-15)
The four indictments are as follows…
* Count 1, “they scattered my people among the nations… “, Divine judgment is coming upon the world for the centuries of anti semitic persecution, ranging from the ancient nations, all the way up to the modern era and the harsh treatment the nations have dealt to God’s chosen people. Europe and America are not innocent in this regard, obviously neither is the Arab world, nor the orient.
* Count Two, “They have parted my Land…”. The nations of the world are seeking to partition and dole out the land which God gave to Abraham,Isaac and Jacob. Whether they are constantly pressuring Israel to cede “land for peace”, or to push them back into the indefensible “pre 1967 borders”, the “kings of the World and their rulers” are trying to part the land.
About a third of the debate in the U.N. is devoted to this issue of the land, how to divide it to make room for a “two state solution”. Various Political leaders, as well as Religious, Media and other leaders use their influence to delegitimize Israel and her right to exist in the land God gave her father’s.
Even Israeli leaders would give up the land if they could, for they for the most part don’t make scripture as their claim to the land. But they can’t ever truly give up the land for it is not even their’s to dispose of as they see fit,
The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers.(Leviticus 25:23)
* Count 3 is that , “…They have cast lots for my people…”.
Only recently has it even been conceivable, let alone possible for the nations of the world to meet in a congress and literally “cast lots” over the status, fate and disposition of God’s people, Israel. The U.N. was founded a few months before the establishment of the modern state of Israel.
It is in that forum that the nations of the World meet and cast countless votes regarding the status of Jerusalem, the boundaries of Israel, the legitimacy of its claims , and votes to approve or disapprove the validity of the complaints of her malicious neighbors.
Here is an excerpt from an EretzYisrael.org report,
The United Nation’s Record vis-a-vis Israel
Prior to the Madrid Conference, of ’91, the office of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir commissioned Shai Ben-Tekoa to do a statistical analysis of U.N. voting vis-a-vis Israel. The following is a summary of Mr. Ben-Tekoa’s research.
Summary
Security Council:
175 Total Resolutions 74 Neutral 4 Against the perceived interests of an Arab state or body 97 Against Israel General Assembly:
Cumulative Number of Votes cast with/for Israel: 7,938. Cumulative Number of Votes cast against Israel: 55,642. Israel and the U.N.
* The Fourth Indictment is that the nations of the world have prostituted their own values, selling out Israel’s children to appease Moslem nations so that the supply of oil will flow. One example is the Obama administration’s “no growth” policy for Judea, which caps the number of Jews who can live in the heart of Biblical Israel, Judea.
As one Obama middle east adviser stated, “This means if a Jewish baby is born in the morning, an older Jewish person will have to leave by sundown!”.
They sold a boy for a harlot, and a girl for wine… What is a harlot? Isn’t it one for whom all is for sale, for the cause of immediate gratification, even scruples and principles are exchanged?
The West in particular has sold its vaunted values of human rights, and rule by law, selling out the Jewish people, in order to appease the Moslem world, (the world’s greatest abusers of human rights), to insure ready access to cheap crude oil. This is the wine that the world sells the only true democracy and civilised country in the middle east for.
The infinitely Holy and Righteous Judge of the earth sees all of this.
bttt
Thank The LORD that because of the lack of Jewish vote in New York recently and many in Congress who are for Israel it looks like, and let hope furiously, that the United States may veto Palestinian statehood. For the sake of our Country’s standing with The LORD I sure hope and pray that this comes to past.
bttt
( * and Jerusalem is recaptured in 1967 in the June 6 day war ( sounds like the Geneses narrative , for on the 7th day, God rested). * ) , ok, ok, before I get bashed by the mistake hunters ( as if they have never made mistakes in their lives ) ... Jerusalem was “ reunified “ or put back into Israeli control back in 1967.
God will trample out his grapes of his wrath upon the Nations.
( * The name of the valley, “Jehoshaphat” makes this point for it means “The LORD shall judge”. * ) the divine wine press.
Do you mean “ Ark “ ?
yes, sorry for the misspelling.
Wow- I never thought of that!
The Orient is all of the east- I am only going by what God told Israel how they would be treated by all nations in Deuteronomy 28:15-66
And yet all of the East has not persecuted Israelites. In fact in some places they have been treated well for millenia
Cronos I do not deny that. North,South,East or west all have exceptions to the general trend.However it is God himself who indicts “all nations” ,that is my only point.
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