God's Plan for Israel

For my Christian brothers and sisters who don't believe the return of Israel to their land is a fulfillment of prophecy, or perhaps believe God is done with Israel for good, how do you explain your position in light of Joel 3?

For context, here are some excerpts from Joel Chapter 2 that show this is regarding the last days. Joel writes about the Day of The Lord in verse one and two:

¹Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy hill.

Let all who live in the land tremble,
for the day of the Lord is coming.
It is close at hand—
² a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
a large and mighty army comes,
such as never was in ancient times
nor ever will be in ages to come.

 

Then in verse 20, a possible reference to the Gog and Magog invasion:

²⁰ “I will drive the northern horde far from you,
pushing it into a parched and barren land;
its eastern ranks will drown in the Dead Sea
and its western ranks in the Mediterranean Sea.
And its stench will go up;
its smell will rise.”

 

Then to wrap up chapter 2 there is a passage that is also repeated by Luke in the book of Acts when the current stage of eschatology had just begun:

²⁸ “And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
²⁹ Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
³⁰ I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
³¹ The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
³² And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
there will be deliverance,
as the Lord has said,
even among the survivors
whom the Lord calls.

 

Throughout chapter 3 it speaks of Israel being scattered across the nations, a final judgment for the offenders and that Israel will inhabit the land of Judah (Israel) forever. I will underline the scriptures that clearly outline that this event has not happened yet and I will touch on some of them below.

The Nations Judged

3 “In those days and at that time,
when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
² I will gather all nations
and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
There I will put them on trial
for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel,
because they scattered my people among the nations
and divided up my land.
³ They cast lots for my people
and traded boys for prostitutes;
they sold girls for wine to drink.

⁴ “Now what have you against me, Tyre and Sidon and all you regions of Philistia? Are you repaying me for something I have done? If you are paying me back, I will swiftly and speedily return on your own heads what you have done. ⁵ For you took my silver and my gold and carried off my finest treasures to your temples. ⁶ You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, that you might send them far from their homeland.

⁷ “See, I am going to rouse them out of the places to which you sold them, and I will return on your own heads what you have done. ⁸ I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far away.” The Lord has spoken.

⁹ Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare for war!
Rouse the warriors!
Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.
¹⁰ Beat your plowshares into swords
and your pruning hooks into spears.
Let the weakling say,
“I am strong!”
¹¹ Come quickly, all you nations from every side,
and assemble there.

Bring down your warriors, Lord!

¹² “Let the nations be roused;
let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat,
for there I will sit
to judge all the nations on every side.
¹³ Swing the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe.
Come, trample the grapes,
for the winepress is full
and the vats overflow—
so great is their wickedness!”

¹⁴ Multitudes, multitudes
in the valley of decision!
For the day of the Lord is near
in the valley of decision.
¹⁵ The sun and moon will be darkened,
and the stars no longer shine.
¹⁶ The Lord will roar from Zion
and thunder from Jerusalem;
the earth and the heavens will tremble.
But the Lord will be a refuge for his people,
a stronghold for the people of Israel.

Blessings for God’s People

¹⁷ “Then you will know that I, the Lord your God,
dwell in Zion, my holy hill.
Jerusalem will be holy;
never again will foreigners invade her.

¹⁸ “In that day the mountains will drip new wine,
and the hills will flow with milk;
all the ravines of Judah will run with water.
A fountain will flow out of the Lord’s house
and will water the valley of acacias.
¹⁹ But Egypt will be desolate,
Edom a desert waste,
because of violence done to the people of Judah,
in whose land they shed innocent blood.
²⁰ Judah will be inhabited forever
and Jerusalem through all generations.
²¹ Shall I leave their innocent blood unavenged?
No, I will not.”

The Lord dwells in Zion!

I believe it is very clear that this passage is dealing with the last days and has not been fulfilled yet. In the passage, God is judging the nations for the mistreatment of His people, scattering them and selling them to foreign peoples. This judgment will come when God dwells in Jerusalem after He has re-established His people in Israel. In verse 17 Joel writes that never again will foreigners invade Israel. Well, Israel was invaded in 1948 and in 1973, and will be at a time yet to come (Gog and Magog invasion spoken of in Ezekiel 36-39). How could this passage already be fulfilled?

The very existence of modern day Israel after being scattered throughout the world for 2000 years and undergoing numerous attempts at her extermination is a miracle that can only be explained by God's hand. His promise endures forever.

Genesis Chapter 12:

 ¹ The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

² “I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
³ I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”

Not only does God still have a plan for the People of Israel, he has a judgment for those who have abused her. I pray that our nation is always supportive of Israel's security needs and keeps her interests in mind. 

Washington Post Article on the Temple Mount

Recently, the Washington Post released an article that does a good job presenting the current situation surrounding the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The writer explains the issues and players that factor into the most contested and sensitive place on earth. 
Many Bible and prophecy scholars believe that the Jews must rebuild their temple in order for certain end-times events to take place (such as the abomination of desolation). Here is a compilation of bible references that imply that Israel will rebuild the temple:
Bible references to a 3rd temple

The Temple Mount as it appears today

with the al-Aqsa Mosque on top
 

Interestingly, there are preparations underway to rebuild the temple. Blueprints for the temple have been created, items to be used during priestly ceremonies have been made in accordance to biblical instruction. All that is needed now is permission from The King; no man can stop His will from being done in His timing.

The WP article touches on these preparations and more can be found at the Temple Institute web site.

Update

I will continue on with my new series as I find the time, doing the research required to write a decent article about those topics takes a lot of time. Time that I don't find very frequently. So, when I have the time, I will be writing those posts about why we can trust the Bible as true. But if and when I get snippets of time I will be posting interesting (at least I think they are) articles and videos as I stumble across them. 
Thanks for reading!

New Blog Series, Part I: God's Word is Truth

God’s word is under attack today like no other time in history. The number of churches that handle the sword (cover term for Bible, for all my military friends) correctly is dwindling. Preachers use it to push their own agenda, rather than letting it push their agenda. I constantly hear non-believers decry the bible as brutal, evil, homophobic, a bunch of fairy tales, and false. And rather than investigating the truth of the Bible for themselves, even Christians try to explain away the “unpopular” or convicting passages by all kinds of very creative and illogical means. I hear people say that there are many different ways to interpret the Bible, so why should anyone insist that a certain doctrine or teaching must be interpreted a certain way? Now, granted there are certain matters of personal discretion that the Bible affords, such as drinking. We shouldn’t ostracize other believers for drinking or not drinking but just encourage them to hold to their own personal convictions from the Lord (Romans 14). Some matters of doctrine can be divisive (not the Bible’s fault but our own) if Christians aren’t careful to treat one another with love and keep things in reasonable perspective. However, the Word is very clear on all of the major teachings and should be used as a unifying source, rather than one of division. If the Bible is not taken seriously in America, supposed by many to be a Christian nation, and isn’t even held closely to by Christians, how do you suppose it is viewed in other parts of the world or by non-believers? Christians must realize that without God’s Word this world is hopeless. There would be no instruction from our creator in how we should live, govern, treat one another, and there would be no hope for anything beyond this cruel death-stricken world. Maybe if we treated the Bible how it should be treated--by doing what it says—others would recognize it as the beacon of hope that it is.

Luke 6:49

(NIV)
^{49 “}But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

I readily admit that there are very difficult passages of scripture to interpret, but I have never come across a passage or verse that I could not find a reasonable, well researched explanation for. I see people throw out Old Testament verses from Leviticus or Numbers that at first glance can be very confusing or even disturbing to our 21^st Century American worldview. I want to touch on the 3 main categories of Bible challenges that I see thrown at us today. As I am granted time, I hope to cover the following topics in individual blog posts:

Old Testament Laws

Contradictions

Miracles and Scientific/Historical Inaccuracies

I want to be fair and not pick the low hanging fruit, so if you have had difficulty with a challenging passage, topic or teaching, feel free to suggest a topic in the comment box below or on Facebook if we are friends. Same goes for my atheist/skeptic friends out there! I don’t have all the answers, but I know I can find them.

I also hope to write a post on the evidence I hold to in knowing that the Bible is true, God’s word, and the only source of truth and hope for this world.

I pray that He will strengthen our trust in Him, and that we would show others the reason for the hope we have in Him. Above all, I pray we would hear His word and obey it, placing our hope firmly on Him as our Rock and solid foundation.

And remember:

Hebrews 4:12
(NIV)
¹² For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Why no new Posts?

For all of my regular blog readers, I apologize for my updating in so long! I am in the military and I just received orders to move to a new base. This is exciting but also very time consuming and I have had no free time to put together any decent thoughts. Once things settle down I hope to get some new content out. Thanks for reading! 

“Iran two weeks away from weapons-grade uranium”: former IAEA senior official.

How does Iran play into Bible prophecy?

In Ezekiel 37-38 God tell us of Persia (now called Iran) teaming together with other surrounding nations to come against Israel in the last days. Iran has repeatedly called for Israel to be wiped off the map and seems to be set on making this happen. Only time will tell what is going to become of this issue with Iran's nuclear program, but something has to give, and soon! Here is an interesting and somewhat frightening article I read on Joel Rosenberg's blog. (http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/)

 

“Iran two weeks away from weapons-grade uranium”: former IAEA senior official.

“Iran could produce enough weapons-grade uranium to build an atomic weapon within two weeks and has, “in a certain way,” already reached the point of no return in its nuclear program, a former senior International Atomic Energy Association official said Monday,” reports the Times of Israel.

“I believe that if certain arrangements are done, it could even go down to two weeks. So there are a lot of concerns out there that Iran can hopefully now address, in this new phase, both at the P5+1 [talks between Tehran and six world powers] and with the IAEA,” former IAEA deputy director Olli Heinonen said, confirming a report released last week by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, which stated Iran could muster enough uranium for a bomb by converting all of its 20-percent enriched stockpile within 1 to 1.6 months.

Excerpts from the Times story:

Earlier on Monday, IAEA Director Yukiya Amano met in Vienna with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, Tehran’s top nuclear negotiator, ahead of two days of technical talks between Iranian representatives and the UN’s nuclear watchdog, Amano described his meeting as important in addressing ‘the outstanding issues regarding Iran’s nuclear program.’ Speaking to journalists on a conference call organized by The Israel Project, Heinonen contrived to sound optimistic and pessimistic at the same time.”

“They are forward looking,” he about the Iranian negotiators. “And I think they have realized that they don’t get away from this situation unless they answer properly the questions raised by the IAEA and concerns raised by the international community. So I’m to a certain degree hopeful. But we have to make sure that everything is covered.”

“Asked specifically if Iran had passed the ‘point of no return’ in its nuclear program, Heinonen, today a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, replied, “Yes, in a certain way. But we have to remember what are the capabilities of Iran. People have slightly different definitions of breakout capability.”

In his assessment, which appears to concur with that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a critical level is reached when the Iranians have enriched enough uranium to weapons grade, in the form of hexafluoride gas enrichment, to create a nuclear bomb.

“But you still don’t have a nuclear weapon,” Heinonen added. Preparing the highly enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb would take another month or two, “assuming that someone has all the knowledge.” After that, assembling an actual nuclear weapon that can be delivered with a ballistic missile would take perhaps another year, he said.

Iran continues to install hundreds of new advanced centrifuges every month, drastically reducing the so-called breakout time it would require in order to produce weapons-grade uranium if it decided to do so, he said.

Israel has called for Iran to be stripped of all enrichment capability, saying even low-grade uranium could be made suitable for a nuclear weapon in a short time with enough centrifuges running. “Regarding Iran, we are not impressed by the discussion surrounding the issue of 20% enrichment,” Netanyahu said Sunday, referring to reports that Tehran has been insisting on retaining the ability to enrich uranium to that level. “Its importance is superfluous as a result of the improvements the Iranians have made in the past year, which allow them to jump over the barrier of 20% enrichment and proceed directly from 3.5% enrichment to 90% within weeks, weeks at most.”

 

People These Days

What does the Bible say about the social landscape in the last days? What will society look like? How does the Bible’s description compare to what we see today?

According to 2 Timothy 3, good moral character will give way to selfishness and brutality. Look at this passage and compare it to what you hear in the news, see on your facebook feed (I must admit though, most of my FB friends are pretty awesome :), or just observe in daily life:

(NIV) But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. ² People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, ⁴ treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— ⁵ having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

Now, I don’t want to come across as a self-righteous, judgmental person, but I believe that anyone can agree that the verses above accurately describe our society. I know how easy it is to slip into the pattern we see around us!  

People pride themselves in their pride. We revel in our sin today. How often have we heard, “I want to go to hell because that’s where the party is going to be!”? Looking at the verses above, I think a lot of people today view half of those qualities as being just fine!

Our American society has become very entertainment driven. We fill our lives with whatever fits our fancy at the time; video games, television and movies dominate our younger generations in particular. Although I fully support relaxing and enjoying a reasonable amount of time of entertainment (I love watching football), we can’t substitute our momentary pleasure for God.  

Time is precious! We can either throw away hours and days on things that will not last or we can invest them in eternity. If I spend 6 hours playing a video game, what will I have to show for it the next day, week or year? Absolutely nothing. If I spend countless hours in the gym sculpting my body into the likeness of a greek god, what will I have to show for it when I grow old or when I die? Look at Arnold Schwarzenegger! Tragically, our bodies are like wildflowers, here today, gone tomorrow. But what if I spend time investing in important things? Instead of vegging out, what if I invested that time with my kids and taught them the way of the Lord? What if I spent time serving other people?

Matthew 10:42

(NIV) "And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward."

 

Let me tell you, my reward in heaven has grown exponentially since my wife and I started having  kids! My me-time is almost gone, but you know, that is actually a really good thing! I now have seemingly endless opportunities to serve my kids at every hour of the day and practice self-control :-).

 

The obesity pandemic in America is an obvious result of our lack of self-control. I am very glad that I have the opportunity to work out as a part of my job. I LOVE to eat and I am sure that if it wasn’t for getting to exercise regularly I would be overweight as well. What we need to do is find satisfaction in the bread of God’s word. This is healthy to indulge in, and is much more satisfying.

 

A recent episode here in America really stood out to me as an example of the moral decay within our society. There was a glitch in the food stamp card program and suddenly a lot of people in a certain town realized that their cards had no limit. In no time 2 Wal-Marts shelves were cleared of food with some people buying over $700 worth of groceries. I’m sure they felt as if their day had come and they deserved it. They stole because they were selfish and knew they could get away with it (they probably viewed it like winning the lotto). When I was a kid, people hesitated before accepting government aid. People were more likely to actually make sacrifices, work extra hours and try to be frugal than they are today. Obviously this is my own personal observation, but I am sure that this rings true for most people (especially the further back one remembers).     

We Christians should be a refreshing contrast to those described in this passage. We won’t be clawing our way to the top like others do, rather we should be humbling ourselves and putting Jesus at the top. And instead of building some online video game character and accomplishing amazing things in the cyber realm (which is a meaningless world of binary 1’s and 0’s), let’s invest our time and passion into being the greatest servant of the Lord and other people as we can. No one can deny that this is worthwhile. Death seems to creep up on people…let’s exhort each other to make the most of our days here on earth, and never cease in doing good.