ABOUT ISRAEL AND GOD AND HOW TO PRAY

I am now leading a weekly time to pray for Israel. I thought I'd share some notes I put together for the group with you. You might find some information here that you were not aware of before. If you live in or near Jacksonville, FL and care to join us, it is open to the city. We are praying on Fridays from 11-1 in the Prayer Tower at The River Church at 1820 Monument Avenue. We'd be happy to have you join us. Here are my notes.  P.S. that's me with the flag. It seemed appropriate to use it here.

In order to pray wisely for what might be the ultimate issues on God’s heart related to Israel, and even related to the world, we need to understand the greater picture than just today’s politics. We need to see below, to the core, to the foundation, of what causes all this commotion about Israel today. There are many people praying for the day to day events that are taking place related to Israel, and that is most necessary. But in asking God what would be on His heart to pray, it became clear that agreeing with Him on those foundational or core issues would be as helping to bring about the highest expression of the covenant promises of God to Israel which will, in fact, affect the whole world. And more importantly bring Messiah Yeshua back.

What we want to pray are those things that will impact the return of Messiah Yeshua. There are many issues involved in that. Just to name a few today: Israel is God’s time clock to see where we are on the prophetic time line, as to what is taking place that God foretold us regarding Israel.  A great deal indeed.  To really understand God we must understand His ways with Israel – correctly.  We today have inherited an understanding of much that God had given to Israel that is faulty, not just about Israel, but in other ways that have strayed from what God had given to Israel both as how to live in the highest form of life and relationship with Him than any other people on the earth, but also how He revealed Himself to and through Israel. All we understand about God, we understand through Israel.

 It is through Israel that God has revealed Himself ….as Creator, as sustainer, as Lord, as Sovereign over all things, as ultimate Redeemer. As the One to whom we are accountable. As the God who loves us (unlike idols or other gods ).  How many other ‘revelations’ of Him can you add here?

Even Paul’s message to the Gentiles was that of the Hebrew Messiah who lived a Torah-compliant life in every way.  Even that Yeshua died while being nailed a cross of wood is a fulfillment of all the sacrificial system represented, including:  ” he that is hanged is accursed of God:” (Deut. 21:23). He took the curse from all mankind that whoever comes into faith in His doing so, has new life with the Father. 

It is important to realize the extent to which God has placed Israel at the center of His Self- revelation to the world and that He continues to reveal Himself through her, even though not all Israel knows the Lord yet.  That He has brought her back into the same land after 1848 years, although still only portions of it. Israel’s land today is only a small sliver of the full promised land area and even that is being contested by her enemies.  Genesis 15 states the land Abraham’s children will ultimately inherit is a plot of land significantly larger than the current State of Israel. In that day Yehova made a covenant with Abraham, saying: ‘Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates." (Genesis 15:18) This Biblical prophecy promises the Children of Abraham all the land from the Nile River to the Euphrates River. This includes all of modern-day Jordan and Lebanon, the majority of Syria and parts of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

However, today, we see that the promise of a wide swath of land in the region is reduced to just the Land of Canaan.  Even so, God is staking Israel’s claim to that limited land:  “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, all the land of Cannan for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:8).  It is even that small portion of the land that is being contested today by the so-called ‘Palestinians’ – a fictitious term, by the way. There has never been a Palestinian people, language, history or culture. 

Palestine was a name Emperor Hadrian gave to Israel’s land 335 A.D. in his attempt to eliminate any trace of Israel’s history. Even then, the devil was trying to obliterate God’s covenant promises to Israel, so as to try to make God appear as the liar that the devil is. In Hebrew the name for Palestine was the Greek pronunciation as Hadrian called it.  It is pronounced in Hebrew as Plishteem which was also the same name of the Philistines (remember Goliath?) who were Israel’s enemies, and who became extinct. So much for bullies.  

However, since Israel was not in her land for many years, the name as Palestine, (which is the Greek pronunciation rather than the Hebrew), remained for the land of Israel for centuries always referring to the Land of the Jews, or Israel.  I have in my possession a copy of the Palestinian Post dated May 14, 1946, the day Israel was declared a nation. It later became the Jerusalem Post. Never did that name Palestine or Palestinian have anything to do with her Arab neighbors – until it was co-opted by the likes of Arafat not so long ago. A factoid is a fact that is not true until it is said so ofter than everyone begins to believe it. This is maybe the world’s biggest factoid.

Ancient Romans, as well as modern so-called Palestinians, have fulfilled the prophesy in the Hebrew Scriptures that declares: "They lay crafty plans against Your People... they say: ‘come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more'." - (Psalm 83:3-4). They failed, as did any other nation that tried to destroy them.  Israel is still alive.  For more on this topic, go to: http://www.imninalu.net/myths-pals.htm .   

COVENANT: God’s covenant(s) with God will always ‘trump’ any attempt to destroy her or obliterate the covenants. The first usage of the word “covenant” occurs in Genesis 6.18 (cf. Genesis 9.9-17) with God’s warning Noah of the coming Flood. The Hebrew word for “covenant” is בְּרִית (pronounced B’reet) and occurs 285 times in the Old Testament. The word for “covenant” in the New Testament is διαθήκη and occurs 33 times (but don’t ask me to pronounce it.)

Our highest goal is to know our God, and the best way to do that, other than personal experience with Him, is to know what He has said regarding Israel. God established all of His covenants, with the exception of the Noahic covenant, with the Jews. Biblically, “covenant theology,” is “Jewish theology” or what might better be termed “Israelology.” Christianity has no covenants. Thus, “covenant theology” with respect to Christianity is meaningless. The chart below illustrates that the covenants God established in the Old Testament applied almost exclusively to Jews. The covenants are in fact promises. For God to no fulfill His covenant promises would be to make Him a liar and too weak to accomplish His promises. We know that’s an impossibility. So we can stand on His covenant promises.  

Note here, please, that the words “new covenant” in Jeremiah 31:31 are in fact in the original Hebrew bible, “renewed covenant.”  God was not starting a new covenant with the Gentiles through Jesus. Rather He was renewing the covenant(s) He had already made with Israel, one they could no longer break because He would write it on the hearts of all  who accepted His covenant, which now the Gentiles were able to partake or enter into.

Divine Covenants	Recipient	First Declared
Noahic	All mankind	Genesis 6.18, 9.9-17
Abrahamic	Abraham (Jewish progenitor)	Genesis 12.1-3, 15.7-21
Mosaic	Jews	Exodus 20.1-17
Sabbatic	Jews	Exodus 31.12-18
Palestinian (Land)	Jews	Deuteronomy 30.1-10
Davidic	Jews (Davidic lineage)	2 Samuel 7.12-13
New	Jews	Jeremiah 31.31-34; Ezekiel 36.24-28

SEEING THE BIBLE THROUGH JEWISH EYES

Looking at the Good News through Jewish eyes, opens up a whole gamut of new interpretations of what Yeshua said and did, as fulfillment of Torah down to the least detail of His life. The original stories all originated in a Hebrew context, in a Hebrew culture. Me and the Israeli flag here is just a small symbol that what God set in place thousands of years ago still flies as a banner of the fullness of His intentions to redeem the earth. He does so by fulfilling every prophetic word in both the New and Older Bibles. So it is important that we understand just what was being said, wouldn't you think?

So we have a bit of a problem here. Our English translations are based on a translation and even yet a previous translations of that one and in the process, some misperceptions of what God intended have arisen.  Words in Hebrew often have various meanings. For instance, Bayt  can mean house, family, synagogue, school or just a building. Translators much choose one word out of several available and in doing so, often lose a wider and deeper message that is meant in Hebrew.  The results of some of these choices of words has led to misrepresentations even of God Himself as we will see.  

True meanings do not have to be a mystery to you. You can google the Hebrew meaning of almost any word and find it’s true significance.  Or go to “Ask.com” and ask there.  You can also look up the meanings of words in various study materials available [1] and see for yourself what the wider significance of what might catch your interest could be.  

Understanding the words of Yeshua, and then of Paul, from a Hebrew perspective, clears up a lot of confusing verses that, if truth be told, make little sense to us and seem a bit mysterious.  The fact is, the original gospel was communicated in Hebrew, and spoken in terms that would have been familiar to Hebrew speakers that don’t translate well. Translators sought to present the text word by word, but the problem was that there are many Hebrew idioms which word-by-word translations make Yeshua sound, well, weird.  Imagine trying to translate some of our own English idioms literally – such as “It’s killing me,” or “Eat your heart out,” or "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse” or “it’s raining cats and dogs.” What might translators think those statements, if taken literally, would seem to indicate about the culture?  You get the idea.   

The entire New Testament can really only fully be understood when we see it as coming from a Hebrew perspective.  Both the OT and the NT are highly Hebraic. Even where parts of the NT was expressed in Greek, the background is entirely Hebrew.   Take a look at how Hebrew the bible really is: 

The OT comprises approximately 78% of the entire Biblical text, more than ¾. The NT comprises only 22%.  When we add the highly Hebraic portions of the original bible material in Matthew, Mark, Luke and Acts 1:!-15:35, which is approximately 43% of the NT, to the OT, the percentage of biblical material originally written in Hebrew rises to 88%.  Or 87% if we leave out the portions of Ezra and Daniel, less than 1% of the OT, composed in Aramaic.  There are 176 OT quotations in the New Testament writings (14 OT quotations from John and 162 from Acts 15:36 to the end of the NT). To sum it up, originally the percentage of the Bible that was composed in Hebrew rises to over 90%.[2]

The assumption that the entire NT was originally communicated in Greek has led to considerable misunderstandings.  But today, scholars and pastors alike are realizing that the key to fully understand what Yeshua is saying is that Israel is that key.  Greek doesn’t get us to the true Hebrew meanings. Happily, there is quite a shift today to the study of Hebrew history and culture which is providing great insights into what the Brit Hadashah, the New Covenant, has to say.  

The gospel, like everything else, is explained in words.They define how we see everything. Our primary concern in our relationship with God is with “salvation,” isn’t it?  In Hebrew there are many synonyms for “salvation.”  The word salvation itself is little used. Only 7 times actually.  Other words express it even more powerfully, such as  “Righteousness,” one of the synonyms for “salvation.”  Zion is called “The city of righteousness" (Isaiah. 1:10).  When we are aware that the devil is behind all the persecution against Israel, and specifically against “Zionism” (which under Arab influence  regards Zionism as a hate crime according to the UN!), we can see why the enemy of God keeps trying to do away with Zion, "the city of righteousness.”  

Zion is a synonym for Jerusalem, just as righteousness is a synonym for salvation; they go together as is God's apparent intention. And the devil wants to destroy both. All that God has promised and His call for righteousness has its roots in Zion. Consider how much of the bible is centered around what took place in or around Jerusalem. Even the place where Abraham was to sacrifice his son Isaac was the location of where Jerusalem would one day stand.  As we know, God's word is immutable and the ultimate establishment of Zion in righteousness means the devil's demise, which is why he works so hard to 'inspire' antagonism against her. 

We must be careful to stand with Israel for the reason that God’s name and His calling is upon her.  Stand with Israel and you stand with God.  We are told to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem; they will prosper who love her” (Psalm 122:6).  That doesn’t mean to pray for peace with her Arab neighbors or in the eyes of the world; it means to pray for peace with God to come to every Israeli for each one to realize that the church’s persecution of Israel which has taken place, as has been inspired by the devil, is NOT the heart of God toward Israel or the Jews. The church is to make Israel, whether they are living in the land or elsewhere, jealous of their relationship with Israel's own God. And thank God, that’s  beginning to happen. Will you take a few moments each day to be one of those who pray for her?  How about now?

When we see the word righteousness, read it as also meaning salvation. .Jesus exhorts his disciples to “seek first the kingdom of heaven and His (God’s) righteousness” (Matt 6:33). Those who “hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed" (Matt 5:6), literally, "Of such people the Kingdom is made up." (See Matthew 12:18; Isaiah 42:1). Notice the change in your thinking if you replace “Salvation” where “righteousness” is mentioned. This brings up another point of concern. We have an erroneous idea, many of us, that we say a prayer and we  are “saved.” That a one time verbal expression brings us salvation that seals us in. Period.  But when we think of "seeking righteousness" we realize that it is a life-long   sanctification process. it is a situation-by-situation decision to walk with God regardless of what it is or costs us; it is a way of life, not a one-time recitation.  

Consider  the Hebrew word “judgment” or “justice” which  can also mean “salvation. A judge declares, with the bang of a gavel,whether a person is “Not guilty” as well as “Guilty.” In the same way, the verb “judge” often means “save” or even “rescue.”  When David is in trouble he cries out, “Judge me, O God.”  (Psalm 43:1). He's calling for rescue according to how he's sought to live before God. The judges of the OT were saviors or deliverers of the people, not judges in the modern sense of the word which we often think of as those who bring sentence to people who have violated the law.   

For one thing, as hopefully you are aware, the English usage of the word “law” for the “teachings” or “Instructions” in the Torah (books of Moses), is not found in all of the OT.  There is no Hebrew idea of “law” in all of Torah.  To think of the word as “law” is to make us think of God as Judge just waiting for someone to make a mistake.  How misjudged the Judge has been!   And to take it further, many think that Jesus came to save us from the wrath of Israel's God whose main activity is to always be looking for our mistakes. But.... 

Didn’t Yeshua say He came not to “judge’ the world but to save it. Not to condemn, to bring accusation, but to reveal forgiveness in the heart of His Father.  Isn’t He the exact representation according to Hebrew 1:3 of God the Father, "being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person"?  Could God be an angry wrathful God and Yeshua represent Him as gentle, compassionate, merciful and a God of covenant love and, yes, salvation?  This inconsistency has its roots in the translations that are now being rectified, thank God.

God is called “the Judge” (Judges 11:27; Is 33:22) or “the judge of all the earth” (Gen 18:25; Psalm 94:2).  “Righteousness and Judgment” are the foundations of His throne” (Psalm 89:14).  Rachel named the son that Bilhah bore Jacob “Dan” meaning “He judged” because she said, “God has judged me” (Gen 30:6), meaning God has decided in her favor, He has acted on her behalf.  Over and over the Prophet Isaiah uses judgment as a synonym for salvation and righteousness interchangeably: “Therefore judgment is far from us and righteousness does not reach us. We look for judgment but there is none. For salvation, but it is far from us…. Judgment is turned back, and righteousness stands at a distance” (Isaiah 59:9, 11, 14). It is judgement on their behalf that he was longing for.

Jesus promised his disciples that they would sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt 19:28, Luke 22:30).  Are the disciples at some future time to sit as judges meting out punishment to members of the tribes of Israel?  No, they are to be meting out deliverance as saviors. We look forward to, as the Bible describes, “the city of salvation” – Jerusalem – as the city to which the tribes of Israel will go up, and there thrones (plural) of judgment (i.e. salvation) will be set up when Yeshua returns to establish the Kingdom – “in Zion!” 

Judgment  is not always a synonym for salvation in the bible.  It can mean “destruction “or damnation.  Summing this up, we must be aware that the text is a translation from Hebrew words and concepts which may not exist in English.  Knowing this, we can decide on the basis of context which meaning of “judgment,” for instance, is meant. (See Acts 3:22, 23 and Deut.18:15, 18, 19). Make this a study of your own and see if it adjusts your understanding of how you see God. Knowing this can impact how we have unconsciously interpreted His character and nature and His ‘doings’ among men, and even in your own life. We might need to reevaluate when we see God as harsh and demanding toward Israel when when really He was Israel’s savior all along – and still is.     

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[1]  For helpful study helps, The standard look-up of definitions is the Strongs Concordance in which you can look up words in English and follow the number listed either in Hebrew (OT) or Greek (NT), even though it is somewhat cumbersome.  The best tool I have found for finding immediate definitions is the NASB Key Word Hebrew-Greek Study Bible. (It may possibly be available in NKJV.) It also has very insightful footnotes.  The One New Man Bible: Revealing Jewish Roots and Power has good footnotes and a Glossary that is extremely helpful.  And The Complete Jewish Bible, presents the Scriptures with Jewish insights and a very valuable Introduction that clears up many of the misunderstandings that English translations lean toward.   

[2]  See Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus: New Insights from a Hebraic Perspective by David Biven and Roy Blizzard, Jr.