Holy worship of the Messiah was a sweet, sweet sound in His ears as newly converted believers raised their voices in praise to King Jesus. Such rejoicing and awesome adoration is reminiscent of the day two thousand or so years ago when Yeshua Hamashiach entered through the gates of the city into Jerusalem, riding on an ass. His adoring followers celebrated His entry by waving palm branches in welcome and laying their clothes on the ground as a carpet for Him.
However, the recent outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Jerusalem has caused her enemies to focus even more intently on the destruction and total annihilation of Israel. The Light shone in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. The darkness raged in jealousy and rebellion against the God of Israel, the God of Isaac, Jacob and the God of Christendom.
Atrocities committed against innocent babes, women, children and the elderly sent shockwaves throughout Israel and the world. How could human beings behave this way? In fact, these terrorists behaved more like animals than human beings. Or, maybe that's an insult to animals.
But this was not an impulsive attack nor crimes of passion. No indeed. These deeds were planned out in detail. A booklet was found on one of the perpetrators that outlined the methodology of such torture tactics. Can you imagine? This is a deeply entrenched hatred that underlies a desire to completely rid the world of all Jews. It's a planned genocide against Israel.
Now, some might say (even some Christians) that God is using the hand of Hamas to punish Israel for their backslidings and worship of false gods. They might look back into Jewish history and note that in the past, Israel not only burned incense to false gods, but they offered up their own babies to be burned as sacrifices on the alter of Balam aka Balak. Of course, God was very angry and upset about this to the point that He allowed Israel's enemies to attack Jerusalem, destroy God's temple and take most of the Jews captive.
The main point to note is that God "allowed" it. In other words, He removed His protection from His people and their enemies did the rest. That doesn't mean that God wanted it to happen. Neither did God want the Jews to offer their babies as burnt offerings. But that happened.
What I'm saying is that we cannot and must not blame God for bad things that happen. WE KNOW WHO TO BLAME. So put blame where blame belongs: to Satan and all his demons of hell. They like to bring hell on earth. We can see that Satan exists BY HIS FRUIT. We can see his demons exist IN SOME PEOPLE. But that doesn't mean it's God's will.
GOD IS NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH. Not even the people who have dedicated themselves to terrorize innocent people.
2 Peter 3:9: "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
Repentance is not a difficult thing. It only requires that one turn away from their evil actions and turn toward God, ask for His forgiveness and also ask for God's help to do what is right. Jesus is ready and willing to forgive and even totally forget ALL OF OUR SINS. Just like that! It's a miracle. Once we turn to Christ and receive Him as our Messiah, it is FINISHED. IT'S DONE. We are completely forgiven forever by faith. That's how easy salvation is. And, ANYONE can be saved. Take a look at that previous scripture. It says God is "not willing that any should perish". That means even YOU. Even members of Hamas. Even all of Israel.
Jesus loves Israel as a nation. He loved the temple in Jerusalem. He knew that the Spirit of God His Father had once filled the temple. It grieved Him that the Pharisees were misrepresenting His Father and making merchandise of men's souls. So, He braided a whip and threw the merchants out of the temple, overturning their tables and dumping their money out on the floor. Of course, they had to kill Him after that.
Jerusalem has a long, long history. Ever since Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt, they have longed for the "Land of Milk and Honey" that God promised them. And that land did not come to them easily. They had to fight battle after battle to defeat their enemies and possess the land one inch at a time. On some occasions, they were forced to fight because their enemies would not allow them to pass peacefully through their land. At other times, God gave direct orders and Israel walked into the land by faith. When God sent them into Jericho to take it, the angels of God went with them and pushed down the walls, terrorizing the inhabitants (many of whom were giants!) so that they fled. So, you see, these were not ordinary battles born out of greed and lust like most wars. When God sent Israel into battle, it was to defeat spiritual strongholds over the land and deliver the territory back into God's hands.
Then we see that Israel turned her back on God and went "awhoring after other gods" which really broke God's heart. After all He had done for them. So sad. They began to worship the things they made with their own hands. Idol worship. Human sacrifices. What a bad example to the world.
They showed God that they could not obey Him. They could not obey even the first commandment God gave them to keep them out of harm's way. It was not a difficult request. God asked them to worship Him and Him only. What was so difficult about that? But, they couldn't do it. Why not?
Because they (just like us) were living in a FALLEN WORLD where the FALLEN ANGEL had taken over as much as he could get away with. The rebel Satan was constantly trying to thwart every step Israel took to obey and worship her God. And, it seems like he succeeded quite often in deceiving them.
However, knowing their weaknesses all too well, God provided a solution. He provided a Lamb that was sacrificed once and for all for all of humankind throughout history so that no matter how far they had fallen, there was a way out. That was called SALVATION. No more punishment for sin, no more judgement, no more Hell. Salvation is a GIFT OF GOD.
Today all of humanity is blessed with the sacrifice that Yeshua Hamashiach made when He died on the cross of Calvary. We have the Jews to thank for that. THANK YOU FOR NOT BEING PERFECT. If the Jews had not been wayward and sinful, maybe God would have chosen ONLY that nation to be saved. If they had had the faith of their father Abraham, perhaps God would have hemmed them in as a people and destroyed all their heathen enemies round about them so that only Israel would be saved. But, thank God, the Jews were SINNERS JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. So, God had to come down here on earth in the form of a man and put HIMSELF on the alter of sacrifice in JERUSALEM for ALL OF US.
We say HALLELUJAH! HOLY IS THE LAMB! Amen?
What a God! What a good God He is.
So, you may ask, "Why is Hamas being allowed to torture Jews now, burn their babies alive, cut off their heads, and take children hostage? ETC."
And, not only that, but why are the Palestinians shouting their lies so loudly that the entire world can't help but have their ears filled with the lies? Why is Israel being maligned, tortured, misrepresented, lied about, and falsely accused before the entire world? Haven't they suffered enough down throughout history being chased out of country after country?
Let's pull back the curtain and take a look at what's going on right now in the spiritual realm. Let's take a look in the Word of God. (King James Version).
Revelation Chapter 12:
1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne.
These scriptures are pretty much self-explanatory and it's not hard to see that the woman is Israel. Her baby is Jesus who came of the seed of Judas, the son of Israel. The great red dragon is some version of the devil or Satan, the fallen angel who used to be God's Right Hand Man, believe it or not... But, he, in trying to devour Jesus, caused Him to be miraculously resurrected. I guess the devil didn't know WHO he was up against.
And yet, he's dumb enough to keep trying to destroy Jesus by attacking His children and by attacking even the unregenerated children of Israel. (Now, I say that in love because if any person does NOT receive Jesus Christ as their Messiah, well, the Bible says they are going to hell. That is what the Bible says, folks.) Here's some scriptures on it:
John 3:
17 For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
So, as we know, God gave us choice. We get to choose. Of all the decisions we make throughout our lives, this one is the most important, don't you think? You can choose to serve God or you can choose to serve the devil. He's a hard taskmaster. But, if you choose to serve him, you get all the benefits of serving him. Namely Hell, misery, darkness, and death. If you serve sin and self, you reap the whirlwind. Satan is the master of destruction, violence, torture, and murder.
On a lighter note, if you decide to serve Jesus Christ, the wonderful Creator, Lamb of God, Messiah, Good Shepherd, and King of Love, you will reap the benefits. There are so many benefits, you'll just have to read the Bible to discover them all! Here's one:
John 14:
2 In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.
SWEET. If Jesus is preparing a place for you, it's going to be the most amazing place you've ever seen because He knows what you love. In fact, He knows you better than you know yourself because He created you. So, if as He says, He is preparing a place for you, be prepared to be dazzled.
Here's a little caveat on Jerusalem. Back in the days of King Saul and King David, God instructed Israel to destroy all their enemies even down to their cattle. He also told them not to intermarry with other races. However, Israel did not obey. They intermarried with other races that were idol worshippers and they had "mercy" on some of their enemies such as the Philistines who are known today as the Palestinians. (It's in the Bible, I'm not making this up.)
I know one thing that if I haven't learned anything else in my life, I have learned this: It's a whole lot easier to obey God than to disobey Him. There's no need to try to figure out "why" or reason out things with God. When He tells you to do something, you'll be a whole lot better off in the end and a whole lot happier if you just OBEY.
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