I Have Installed My King

I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. (Jeremiah 23:3)

I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs. I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set junipers in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together, so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it. (Isaiah 41:18-20)

I have been rejoicing that John has so enjoyed all the wee parties and birthday celebrations I've given him this past week. He made it clear to me, early in our marriage, that he disliked birthdays because of so many painful childhood memories. How wonderful that God has carefully, gently erased all those memories that prevented him from marking his years with joy.  This year, his 76th, he opened gifts and blew out candles and celebrated, even as the remnant of Israel came back to the Land and flourished!

John was born in 1948 and I've often wondered if our generation - the generation that was alive when the announcement came over loudspeakers that Israel had been granted statehood - might be drawn by the Spirit into the love and support of Israel.  Perhaps this is why he and I have gone back home to Israel so many times, to touch the soil, prayer-walk the land, and connect deeply with the people, forging friendships from across the globe and pouring out love-blessings on them. How grateful I am that the Lord God brought me such a faithful husband, who is a part of the remnant of Israel! Even when English words fail him he can still recite the Hebrew blessings over the bread and the wine.

I am grateful too that Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet are taking a strong stand this time and not making compromises with the evil nations who forever seek to destroy them.  Our God has written a very strong warning in his book about anyone who pushes the division of HIS Land and then brings it to pass: I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Y’hoshafat [Adonai judges]. I will enter into judgment there for my people, my heritage Isra’el, whom they scattered among the nations; then they divided my land. (Joel 3:2 CJB)

Israel is indeed a sovereign nation that has every right to defend itself in accordance with modern international law. But she has every right to defend herself based upon a much more everlasting, ancient, time-honored document: the WORD OF GOD! I tremble to think what will happen to our own country if this administration continues to push the division of the Land of Israel in order to establish this so-called "Palestinian state." I wonder if you have taken the time to research the history of this term "Palestine." It involves a fascinating turn of events in Israel's modern history, but nowhere does it actually refer to a legitimate country. If you've been wondering "Where is Palestine?" and you begin to search, I believe you will find that it exists only in the minds of the politicians who are woefully ignorant of Scripture, as well as history.  The name Palestine has always represented the world's opponents to Israel's right to possess the Land (the WHOLE Land). The Anti-Defamation League states that the phrase FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA  “would mean the dismantling of the Jewish state (from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea). It is an anti-semitic charge denying the Jewish right to self-determination, including the thorough removal of Jews from their ancestral homeland.”  

Some believe that the term Palestinian refers to the ancient Phoenicians - or Philistines. Jeremiah 47:4 says, "Because of the day that comes to plunder all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon (modern Lebanon) every helper who remains; for the LORD shall plunder the Philistines, the remnant of Caphtor," referring to Crete, a people who are not and never have been native to Israel. Originally the Greeks dubbed the land of Israel Philistia; and the Greeks and Cretes were opposed to the true Israel, in favor of Greek/Roman culture. Later the Land of Israel was named Palestine in an attempt to erase Jewish heritage. (Hasn't that always been Satan's number one objective?) It wasn't until the 1967 war in Israel that that the Arab peoples claiming to be "Palestinians" came into vogue. As Bill Cloud stated, "The term 'Palestinian' was weaponized in order to demonize Israel. The slogan 'Free Palestine!' is a fantasy designed to erase Israel's true history - much as the slogan 'Cancel Culture' is doing in America.

We know that Psalm 83 mentions the nations whose agenda is "Come let us destroy them (Israel) as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more. With one mind they plot together; they form an alliance against you - the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, of Moab and the Hagrites, Gebal, Ammon and Amalek, Philistia, with the people of Tyre. Even Assyria has joined them to lend strength to the descendents of Lot."  I was there, in Jerusalem in 2005 when the Jewish people were forced to leave their beautiful homes and lush gardens on the seacoast of Gaza in order to allow the "Palestinian people" and Hamas, their elected officials, to take over the whole strip of land. I saw these grieving, now homeless Jews, carrying away a suitcase, wandering the streets, trying to find a place to stay. It vaulted me back to the spine-chilling photos of the ghettos in Germany and Poland during WWII.

So, do I hate the people who are calling themselves Palestinian? My personal answer is, "No, I hate their agenda. I stand with those who love the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and I am against those who want to destroy them." Those are not the people, by the way, who lived all around me on the Mount of Olives when I spent months living in Jerusalem. They were Arabs living among Jews who actually love Israel, who work in the fields alongside the Jews, and who invited me into their homes for coffee and kunafa (the best pastry I've ever tasted!) 

Much of what is taking place in this horrific war is foretold in the pages of Scripture, and it is there that we find true understanding. That is why I am encouraged that Israel is finally recognizing who they are as the apple of God's eye. IDF soldiers are praying and worshiping their God in the battlefields. Secular Jews are flocking into Messianic congregations to ask "Who is this Yeshua?" God is working. God is always working to bring His Word to pass! And I am praying that Benjamin Netanyahu and his War Cabinet will continue to take a strong stand against the nations who want to divide God's Land. It seems to me that they are awakening to the Word of the Lord who says to His enemies, "The One enthroned in Heaven laughs; the LORD scoffs at them. Then He rebukes them in His anger and terrifies them in His wrath saying, 'I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.'"  (Psalm 2:4-6).

King Jesus! He will come and He will reign forever!  Let these passages from Isaiah 60 be the prayer on our lips over God's beloved people and over all who have joined themselves to Him. Let these words that He uttered through the mouth of Isaiah resound throughout the earth and awaken many peoples:
 15 “In the past you were abandoned and hated,
so that no one would even pass through you;
but now I will make you the pride of the ages,
a joy for many generations.
16 You will drink the milk of nations,
you will nurse at royal breasts
and know that I, Adonai, am your Savior,
your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Ya‘akov.
17 “For bronze I will bring you gold,
for iron I will bring you silver,
bronze in place of wood,
and iron in place of stones.
I will make shalom your governor
and righteousness your taskmaster.
18 Violence will no longer be heard in your land,
desolation or destruction within your borders;
instead, you will call your walls Salvation
and your gates Praise.
19 “No more will the sun be your light by day,
nor will moonlight shine on you;
instead Adonai will be your light forever
and your God your glory.
20 No longer will your sun go down;
your moon will no longer wane;
for Adonai will be your light forever;
your days of mourning will end.
21 All your people will be tzaddikim;
they will inherit the land forever;
they will be the branch I planted,
my handiwork, in which I take pride.
22 The smallest will grow to a thousand,
the weakest will become a mighty nation.
I, Adonai, when the right time comes,
will quickly bring it about.”

​Shabbat Shalom!