|
End
Times Signs - Sign No.1
Have
you ever wondered why the tiny nation of Israel is in
the news almost every day? Why when Israel does
anything it almost certainly makes headlines? Why the
entire focus of peace in the middle east centers
around Israel ? Why Israel , what is it that's so
significant about this tiny little country about the
size of Connecticut?Well it all started with a
promise, a promise from God, and God wouldn't be God
if he did not keep his promise. The promise from God
was given about 4,000 years ago to a man named
Abraham. What was this promise and what does it have
to do with us in the 21st century? Well the promise
was:
"Leave
your country, your people and your father's household
and go to the land I will show you. 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. I will
bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I
will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed
through you." Genesis 12:1-3
So
Abraham, packed up his bags, loaded up his camels and
donkeys, left the land where he had grown up. Left the
people that he had loved all his life and left the
protection and comfort of his own Father and family.
This was a big step of faith, but he trusted God to
keep his promise and God did! Although Abraham did not
personally get to see this land himself, God fulfilled
his promise through Abraham's descendents. God led the
descendents of Abraham into a land flowing with milk
and honey. He blessed them, they prospered and grew
into a great nation. Just as God had promised. The
land, the promised land, is known today as Israel,
well part of it any way, actually the land that Israel
occupies today is just a small part of the land that
God had promised to Abraham. Even though Israel is
giving away land now, in the near future they will
obtain all the land that God promised to Abraham. But
that's another story that we will get to later.
Now,
Israel was a nation, they occupied the land. They did
not own the land, God owned the land, but you might
say that God leased the land to Israel. As with all
leases there is a lease agreement, a list of rules and
regulations that must be followed. God gave Israel a
list of rules and regulations that the people were to
abide by. As long as Israel obeyed the rules they
would be allowed to live in the land. Imagine having
God as your landlord. One rule in particular that God
gave Israel, was a rule regarding the very land
itself. The law is as follows:
'When
you enter the land I am going to give you, the land
itself must observe a Sabbath to the LORD. For six
years sow your fields, and for six years prune your
vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh
year the land is to have a Sabbath of rest, a Sabbath
to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your
vineyards. Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest
the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have
a year of rest. Whatever the land yields during the
Sabbath year will be food for you--for yourself, your
manservant and maidservant, and the hired worker and
temporary resident who live among you, as well as for
your livestock and the wild animals in your land.
Whatever the land produces may be eaten. "'Count
off seven Sabbaths of years--seven times seven
years--so that the seven Sabbaths of years amount to a
period of forty-nine years. Then have the trumpet
sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh
month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet
throughout your land. Consecrate the fiftieth year and
proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its
inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one
of you is to return to his family property and each to
his own clan. The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for
you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself
or harvest the untended vines. For it is a jubilee and
is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly
from the fields. "'In this Year of Jubilee
everyone is to return to his own property. Leviticus
25: 2-13
This
rule must have been in the fine print, because Israel
never once obeyed. The rule basically says, that
Israel could farm the land, plant and harvest their
crops and reap the bounty. They could do this for six
years, but every seventh year they had to let the land
rest. No planting, no tending of the crops, but
whatever did grow they were allowed to eat and to feed
to their animals. They were not allowed to harvest and
sell their crops. Secondly after seven of these seven
year periods (7x7=49) were completed they were to
proclaim the 50th year as a year of Jubilee.
The
year of Jubilee was a special time, it was a year of
liberty, not only for the land but also for the
people. The land again was to remain idle, no
planting, no harvesting. All slaves were to be set
free, property reverted back to the original owners,
families were reunited. God set these rules so that no
one would have excessive debt and slaves would not be
in bondage no longer than 49 years. It was also a time
for the people of Israel to give thanks and honor God
for allowing them to live and use the land. If the
people had obeyed God everything would have been just
fine, but the people of Israel became greedy and
stubborn. There would be no celebration, they were
about to get evicted.
God
being a gracious and patient landlord, put up with
Israel's disobedience and gave them chance after
chance to follow the rules he had set forth. Finally
God said enough is enough and removed the blessing and
protection that he had provided the people of Israel.
For hundreds of years they had won battle after
battle, conquering all their enemies and reaping great
riches, possessions and livestock. They were feared by
all their enemies, because even their enemies could
see that the hand of God protected the Israelites.
With the removal of God's protection, Israel soon lost
their position as a Sovereign Nation. Israel was
conquered and destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar of
Babylon for the first time in 606 BC. The cities of
Israel were laid waste and the people of Israel were
taken captive, many as slaves. Never again would they
be a Sovereign Nation, they existed in various forms
of provinces in a succession of empires: Babylon,
Media-Persia, Greece and Rome.
The
people of Israel tried to regain their previous status
and attempted many times to regroup and form their own
ruling government, but the final blow came in 70 AD.
The Roman legion under orders from Titus were
dispatched to Jerusalem to put down the latest in a
series of Israeli rebellions. Their orders were to
destroy Israel as a nation and a distinct people.
History tells us that more than a million Jews were
killed, the Jewish Temple was completely destroyed.
The survivors were scattered as slaves and were even
forbidden to assemble into groups of more than three
under penalty of death. The Jews were scattered around
the Asian and European continents, humiliated and
despised where ever they went. They remained homeless,
known as the wandering Jews, they kept to themselves.
Where ever they went they faced persecution, but they
never forgot the promise that God had made to Abraham.
They knew sometime in the future, God would fulfill
his promise and they would once again, overcome all
odds and become that Great Nation that God had
intended them to be. A nation that would be a blessing
to the whole world.
Source
: https://www.angelfire.com/ab/fullgospel/articles.html
|
