God's everlasting love for Israel

One of the things I wanted to discuss is: What is the position of our Church with respect to Israel? Because today there is a lot of controversy regarding Israel, and even among the Christian people here in the United States for example, and in Europe, in other parts of the world, not all Christians agree on what the position should be. Regarding Israel, some say yes, Israel is a good nation, it has the right to exist like any other nation, but we don't have to be supporting them so strongly, because the Palestinians and the Arabs also have their own rights. Israel has made serious mistakes and some think, for example, that Israel unnecessarily oppresses the Palestinian people on the border near Israel where there is a kind of Palestinian-Israeli ghetto.

And some people are offended about that. There are even Jews who attack Israel for its national conduct towards the Palestinians and all this. So there's a lot of difference of opinion about this, our Church, I think most of us here here have great love and are very passionate in our support and our support for the nation of Israel, and we don't really have that ambiguity and that ambivalence with respect to Israel, and it is the official position of this Church, and I also want to strengthen you by explaining to you why we adopt that position with respect to Israel, because we need to know what we believe and why we believe it. We believe, although we are also very aware, very upright and very lovers of the Word, that perhaps they do not share such a solid and clear position with respect to Israel.

We are willing to each one as the Lord directs him to believe, but we have to teach what we believe while respecting everyone else. So why do we support Israel so much, why does the Lion of Judah have such great support for Israel? For example, today I am not going to read it, but there are many articles. Nations today do not know how to identify with all this colonialism and the changes that have occurred throughout history with the different nations, but for example I I was using an example this morning, that the Museum of Fine Arts here in Boston recently returned to the Italian government some ancient Roman artifacts and statues that had been stolen from Rome, from Israel by traffickers in archaeological things, and that had arrived As happens in many places, they do not know that they are stolen, and have been forced to return them to other museums, to other nations, Egypt.

In another time it was stolen left and right and, nobody cared about that. The same Jews had many things stolen from them during Nazism in Germany, and today they are claiming inheritances, and houses, and properties that were stolen from them, and they have had to return them to them in the International Court. So there is a recognition that despite the fact that many mistakes were made and that decades and even centuries have passed, those mistakes must be rectified and what belongs to people must be returned, legitimately. Even this very nation, the United States, has had problems with its indigenous population, the indigenous people of the United States, who had practically all their land stolen, in the 17th, 18th century, and of course the United States is very willing to say to Israel hey , you have to give back their land to the Palestinians but they are not giving back all their land to their Indians, are they?

They have put them on reservations over there, giving them arid and remote lands, and they have paid them millions and millions of dollars in reparations, but they have not said they know the land is theirs, we are going to return it to them, the same has happened in Texas, California , all those places, they stole the land from the Mexicans, and today they brand them as illegal immigrants, of course I'm not saying it, I'm not anti-United States at all, but all historians agree that this land belonged to Mexico in a brutal way, and yet, I mean, everyone has skeletons in the closet, and the United States demands that Israel return the land to Palestine and this and that.

What happens is that Israel, in the first century AD, the Romans expelled them and forbade them to return to their land, for 2,000 years, from the year 70 after Christ until 1948 when Israel was established as a nation, the Jews they have been scattered all over the world, persecuted, attacked, wounded, massacred and without a nation, their nation, hence the idea of the wandering jew all over the world. Finally, due to the massacre of six million Jews that took place in Germany, the Hebrews decided to return and reclaim that land that had been stolen from them, decades ago, they wanted to claim and return to their land, they did not know that they were also responding to some prophecies that were in the old testament, perhaps no one knew, that God would bring back his people after years and centuries of exile.

So that is what is happening in this century. The philosophy of León de Judá is based on what we read from the Old Testament, and the statements of the Apostle Paul, especially for example in the letter of the Romans. For us Christians, especially Orthodox Christians, the Scriptures constitute an illegal archaeological document that establishes the perpetual right of Jews to occupy their land, no matter what historical complexities they have suffered in the time since they were expelled from that land. There is a long documentation, undeniable, archaeological artifacts, the Bible, historical documents from other historians that clearly show that the Jewish people occupied that land for centuries and centuries, and that there was always a Jewish presence in Israel, although not many, because they were not they were not even allowed to return to Israel.

So we believe that this Bible is a legal archeological document as it is used in other cases to prove the provenance of something, the legality of something. So in Scripture there are passages that for us who believe that the Bible is the Word of God make us think that God has delegated, has delivered that land in a perpetual, irrevocable way, to the Jewish people, and that no matter what has happened In history, God has had a complex plan that has been followed until our times to return the land to that people who were exiled for their disobedience, the Hebrew prophets themselves declare it that way, and for their attitude of lack of gratitude towards God who gave them that land. Just as God gave the land to Abraham, so he told the Jews, I am going to take it away from you if you continue to idolize and sin against my name.

Look, one of the most important documents is in Genesis chapter 12, when God calls Abraham. Remember one thing, God made a pact with a man and with his offspring, God did not make a pact with Israel, Israel did not exist, there was a man named Abraham and God told him I am going to make a pact with you and all your offspring that have the rest of the story. Look at chapter 12, it says: "But the Lord had said to Abraham, get out of your land and from your kindred, and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you." Do you see that precious "land" there? The land is important, that is something so important, even the animals are very attached to their land, and there is something sacred in the land. And when God calls Abraham and tells him, look, get out of that land and go to another land, I am going to tell you where that land is, look, God is always the protagonist in this, Abraham is a Bedouin who is there and he doesn't even He hoped that God would touch him. Everything is a sovereign act of God, Abraham did not deserve that land, but for some reason God calls Abraham.

And God says: "I will make of you a great nation and I will make your name great, you will be a great nation, I will bless those who bless you and those who curse you I will curse." Why did God say that three thousand years ago, almost four thousand years ago to Abraham about I am going to bless those who bless you, curse those who curse you?, because God knew that Israel was going to be the object of curse for many people, they were going to curse him, they were going to persecute him, they were going to attack him, and he was also going to be blessed as we blessed him, the families of the Earth have been blessed with Christianity, so God was saying I am going to bless those who bless you, and all families on earth will be blessed in you.

Imagine God saying that to a Bedouin in a lonely area of the world, telling him that all the families of the earth, all the nations are going to be touched by the blessing that I am going to give you as it has been, because Abraham is our father. spiritual, he is the father of all those who live by faith. So God knew, and look at what it says I am going to bless, why do we bless Israel?, because God said I am going to bless those who bless you. Why is one of the reasons why this nation has been so blessed? It is because it has blessed Israel, it has given them refuge, but as this nation is moving further and further away from Israel, and adopting the position of many Europeans and other people, I believe that the curse will also fall on this nation if it is not taken care of.

God calls every Christian to bless, love, seek the good of Israel at all times, because there is a blessing in that, those who bless Israel are blessed. And for me to bless means to do good to a people, seek their well-being, and those who curse, there are so many Christian nations supposedly through the centuries that killed, massacred, Spain, Germany, the United States in the south and in many other parts as well. of the United States they have massacred, they have also persecuted the Jews. God says clearly, whoever persecutes you attacks the apple of my eye, you have to be very careful with that. There is a decree from God, whoever blesses and honors you will be blessed by me, whoever curses and persecutes you, I will deal with him too.

Then it says further on look below in verse 7 chapter 12 it says: "And the Lord appeared to Abraham again and said to him, to your descendants I will give this land." Here is a very important element, he tells Abraham I'm going to give you the land, but what would have happened if he had given it only to Abraham? Abraham would have had it but that's where it all ended, but he says no, it's an inheritance for your descendants too, all those who come from you and after you I am going to give them this land, okay? So the specific borders of Israel, when God says I'm going to give you this land, nobody is totally sure what the boundaries were, the borders of that land, one thing is clear and that is that the land that Israel occupies now is a little piece, a piece of land the size of New Yersey, of Rod Island for example, a minimum amount of land, is the minimum that Israel needs to survive.

And there are areas that Israel conquered in the '67 war, with the Golan Heights, Golan Heights for example, that were not originally in the treaty with England, long to explain, through which Israel was accepted as a nation, the United Nations in 47, and Israel got that land through wars that other Arab countries launched against Israel, Israel did not look for that land, it always tried to make peace with the Arabs and was attacked in 67, God gave it a victory that it's still an incredible feat, and in that land Israel was left with part of that land, one of them being the Golan Heights.

Because?. If you go to that small land, the one who controls that height controls the war, and can kill, with today's missiles, Israel for its own protection has withheld that because there have been so many terrorist attacks, so many rockets that They have thrown that they have said we need that land, we cannot trust the United Nations and all these nations because they are not trustworthy, that is the truth, those who are now in favor of Israel tomorrow may be against it and tomorrow with What are we left to defend ourselves? Israel occupies a minimal territory compared to what God gave it.

So we see, look at Genesis chapter 17, verse 8, it says there: "I will give you and your descendants, the land in which you dwell, all the land of Canaan, all the land of Canaan" we do not know everything that it was but it implies for me a very wide extension, "in inheritance" what?, perpetual. What does perpetual mean?, which has no end, means eternal, 2,000 years is not even close to perpetual, 3,000 years, 100,000 years, 50,000 years is not close to perpetual, perpetual is perpetual, it means infinite, continuous. Another thing I believe that Jerusalem, Israel also includes, I personally believe that Israel does not even have the right to negotiate with Jerusalem, Jerusalem belongs to Jehovah, it is a city loved by God, and just as a Jew did not have the right to divide his land , his inheritance, I believe that not even Israel has the right to leave for Jerusalem to have peace with the Arabs, with the Muslims. God loves Jerusalem in a special way.

Look later, I don't have time right now, Zephaniah chapter 3 verses 16 and 17, where God speaks of his love for Jerusalem. Zephaniah 3:16-17. So Genesis 17 shows us the everlasting covenant that God made with Abraham, the promise of Canaan in everlasting possession. Some will say yes Pastor but that is in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament there is no such thing, Jesus changes everything and God no longer deals with Israel but rather with the Church. But look at a passage chosen for example this morning, Luke 1, 54-55, when Mary receives the announcement that the Messiah is going to be born through her, a holy, mysterious being. Look how Mary, inspired by the Holy Spirit, rises in a hymn of praise to the Lord, and how she interprets the coming of that mysterious being, how God's love and forgiveness towards the people of Israel.

In verse 54, among the many prophecies that she is saying, she says: "He helped Israel his servant, remembering the mercy with which he spoke to our fathers, toward Abraham and his descendants forever." In other words, Mary, inspired by the Holy Spirit, says that holy being that God has to bring to earth is an expression of God's love and the fulfillment that Jehovah gave to Abraham and his servants in the pact that He made with them to always, in the enlightened mind of Mary, the coming of the messiah was a continuation of that long treatment of God with his people, not an interruption of it. This is very important because it is in the New Testament, and it is like Mary is a character, in the Old but also in the New, because it is at the very beginning of God's dealings with his Church.

So let's see all that, right? So we see that God gives Abraham and his descendants perpetually a land and establishes a deal with them. But now you say, but God loves everyone, and what about the Arabs, all those millions of Arab people?, because the Arabs are a race and they are in that part of the Middle East that we know but they are in India , in Indonesia, in the Philippines, here in the United States, they are people who have converted, just as Christianity begins in Israel but today it is in many parts of the world, and not all Christians are Jews, originally as the first were Christians. So there are many Muslims everywhere on earth, and there are billions of them.

When we say that God loves Israel, are we saying that he doesn't love Muslims, that he doesn't care about them? What we are seeing is one thing, and that is that God has a kind of preferential treatment with Israel, and with the Muslims he also has a deal, with the Arabs, why? Because the Arabs are also descendants of Abraham. Did you know that Abraham had two main sons, what were they called? Isaac and Ishmael, which was the first that Abraham had? Ishmael. By law, shouldn't Ishmael have been the heir of the promises? He was the firstborn, but God had another reasoning. Look at what Genesis 17 verses 18 to 22 says, how does God see the father of the Arabs and the father of the Jews?, 17, 18 to 22, it says here that Abraham said to God: "I hope Ishmael lives before you Abraham loved his son Ishmael.

Ishmael had been born through a servant with whom Abraham had had relations because he became impatient and could not believe that God was going to give him a son with Sarah, and he said look, lie down with this servant of ours, and Abraham said yes, yes. It's like that, you order me to do it, I'm going to do it, it's okay, right? Man is neither slow nor lazy. And he had Ishmael, but that was not the son that God had for him, it was with Sara, God gave a promise to Sara and Ishmael, that through you two, that's why Sara laughed, because she was already 90 and peak years, God give my sisters that kind of blessing, of longevity. No but, God told Sarah, you and Abraham are going to have a child, because God likes to put him in an abundance of family.

But they doubted, so Abraham had Ishmael, but that was not God's plan, the plan was originally Isaac. So Abraham has his son Ishmael and God tells him no, it will be through Isaac, and Abraham says wow, I also want you to bless and remember, have mercy on my son Ishmael, and how God responds to him, look God said to him, God replied: "Surely Sarah will have a son, and you will call his name Isaac, and I will confirm my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him." What is God doing?, he is clarifying, when God marries someone it is clear. You obey me or you obey me, and I have determined, you are going to have a son with Sara, that son is going to be through whom the blessing runs, my primordial dealings and my blessing is going to be through Sara, you, Isaac and his descendants.

But then he gives Abraham a consolation prize, and says, you know what Abraham? I am a just God and he is your son too, I am going to take care of him. You know that God is just, God is a covenant God, you know? There are big-headed children out there, but God says I'm going to bless them, because I love you, it's a hope for us too, you know?

How nice when one serves the Lord, God blesses even the big heads, God looks for them and keeps them there, stick to that faith, that is the God that I serve my brothers, he is a clear God, he is a just God , it is a God who says, look, this is what I am going to do but I am also merciful.

But look at what he says further on, "and I will confirm my pact with him, and as for Ishmael", that is, the one who will be the progenitor of the future Arab nation, because there has always been controversy about Ishmael and Isaac as a child, Ishmael always persecuted, look, this persecution between Arabs and Jews has been there from the very beginning, it is one of the things that impresses me the most, which says that Ismael used to make fun of him from a very young age, and Ismael's mother Agar always made fun of Sarah, and there was a controversy between the two of them, it was something like the controversy between Jacob and Esau, it was something visceral, spiritual, and then God wanted to bless Ishmael. And then he told him about Ishmael, I have also heard you, you know that I will attend to your cry, I will understand your father's heart with Ishmael, now remember my deal is with Isaac.

But behold, I am going to bless it and make it fruitful and multiply a lot, in case you have any doubts, I am going to bless it, I am going to prosper it. Listen to me, how God prospered the Arabs, oil, coming out of their noses and ears, very prosperous nations, very blessed. What an interesting thing, isn't it? Even those nations have been blessed, go to Dubai, go to Saudi Arabia, oil wherever you want, black gold, put them in blessing, they have multiplied, they have conquered for centuries the Arab world conquered Europe , Asia, India, they did not come to the United States because there were no planes at that time, otherwise we would still be speaking Arabic here. But the Arab people conquered many, many nations, they were blessed.

And I will make him fruitful, twelve princes will beget, and I will give him a great nation. Notice what it says here, but I will establish my pact with Isaac, so you put up with that as I throw the other one too. I am going to bless him but remember something Abraham, my pact, my dealings, my relationships will be with Isaac. You see how God works, that's why we have that attitude too, I can't be more than God or more just than God. I established my pact with Isaac, the one that Sara will give birth to you, around this time next year. So that there is no doubt which one he was referring to, the one that Sara is going to have, that is the one that I am going to bless and that is the one that is going to have my deal. Ok? So that is my position, we love the Arab people, who knows what God is dealing with the Arab people over there, but there is a unique, personal, specific, mysterious, preferential relationship that God has with Israel, and with me. That doesn't offend me at all, I'm very happy that God gives me a nap and lets me just stick with Israel a little bit, what does it matter to me, what I want is the blessing.

And you know what, Christ did die for us, and his blood has blessed and prospered us, and I'm very happy that hey, Israel has a special blessing, amen. You know, I believe that all these problems would be solved in the world if the Arabs and we, the whole world, understood that, God wanted to bless Israel in a preferential way, and if all nations accepted that, including the Arab world, I believe that the whole thing would be easier, until the world doesn't understand that, that God has a deal with these people, that by the way, brothers, now between us here, don't say this to anyone, I can't say anything about this with the Jewish brothers here, Israel has been a hard, disobedient, ungrateful people, and the prophets themselves have said it through the centuries, Israel is not a paragon of virtues brother, it is not a saint, Israel has a hard and difficult heart , and God has told him throughout history.

And many of their sufferings have been in payment for their ungratefulness, that is so, I can prove that through the Hebrew prophets, not the Gentiles. So the fact is that in some way though God has always loved that people and had a deal with them. I don't have to say that Israel is perfect to simply have to respect that God loves it and that's it, that's it. By the way, one of the dilemmas, one of the problems of the Israelite people right now, that God is leading them to a blind alley is the following. Israel is an eminently secular nation, it is not a religious nation in its government or in its culture, there is a group of believers, Hasidic Jews, and Orthodox, and all that, but the vast majority of Israel is secular, many of those Jews do not believe nor in the electric light, but how interesting that they are forced, they know that the only final justification they can offer to return to their land and their claim to the land is the Judaic scriptures.

So they see an inconsistency, no, we are a secular people but on the other hand we are also the people to whom God gave the land and that is why we can claim it, it is a contradiction and sooner or later they are going to have to deal with it, But that doesn't matter to me, what matters is that God said that these are my people and you have to love them, because if you don't, you're going to see it with me. That is ultimately, that is how I see it, and I am not going to question God because I cannot be holier or more just or more intelligent than God.

This is the last big point that I have for you, there are many prophecies in the Bible that talk about the return of Israel and the recovery of their lands that they lost in the past, many prophecies that are here. The problem is that many of these prophecies are kind of in code. There are many prophecies in the Old Testament that are fulfilled twice, once when God speaks to the exiled people in Babylon, and another because God knew that after that there would be another exile greater than the 2,000 year Babylonian exile, when the people he was going to be expelled from Israel, to all the nations where they were expelled. And so in the mind of God those two great events and those two great returns were like one thing, many of the prophets who spoke of the great return of Israel and the dispersion, I believe that they themselves did not know what they were prophesying. in reality, they spoke as if in a spiritual trance.

How many times has God spoken in prophecies to your life and you don't know what he is referring to, right? And that's how it happened with these prophets. They then spoke of a future time when God would bring his people back. With that I am finishing, let's go for example to Jeremiah chapter 30, Jeremiah chapter 30 with verse 3 for example, so that you can learn and search, I started a year ago and I'm almost done with it, I have taken all the passages of the Old and New Testaments that talk about prophecies, and I have about sixty pages of prophecies that I've transferred to that document on my computer, that talk about God's intentions regarding Israel. There are dozens and dozens of prophecies that in one way or another refer to the return of Israel to Jerusalem, to the last times, the coming of the Messiah, a number of things, but I would like to have more time, who knows if until another lame Sunday for this because it is very long.

But it is important because Israel is implicated in the end times and in the coming of Jesus Christ. Do you know where Jesus is going to land when he arrives according to the Bible, by the way?, on the Mount of Olives, and the Bible says don't ask me how this will happen, it says that the Mount will split in two and make a great valley, and there in that place is where the Lord will arrive to establish his Kingdom forever. All this is in the Scriptures and we must know these passages, that implies to me that years ago Israel had to exist, that the temple is also going to be established, it speaks of the final persecution of Israel when many nations are going to launch themselves into kill and destroy the Jews and the Lord is going to intervene to stop that final massacre of Israel and establish his Kingdom.

But there are many things, you have to know, that are full of serious implications for our time. Jeremiah 30 verse 3, for example, says here: "Because, behold, days are coming" every time I hear days are coming, on that day, that for me is code words, it means the last times, the times of the coming of Jesus , says: "For, behold, the days are coming when I will bring back the captives of my people Israel and Judah, and I will bring them to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they will enjoy it." Well one can say that Jeremiah is referring to the return of the Jews from the Babylonian exile, but there are expressions in this prophecy that suggest that it had to be something more than just that particular return, because it speaks of conditions that were not fulfilled in that return, and that it could only refer to a future day.

It says in verse 7: "Ah, how great is that day, so great that there is no other like it, a time of trouble for Jacob but from it he will be delivered." Listen to me, what is the day of the great anguish in the Bible, the great tribulation perhaps? There are passages that mix one thing with the other, that is a special time where many things are going to happen, the Antichrist, the Great Tribulation, persecution of Israel, a series of nations that are going to attack Israel, he says "On that day he says Jehovah of Israel, I will break the yoke of your neck and I will break your bonds, and foreigners will not put him in bondage again." Now either God was wrong because Israel was put into slavery many times after that, even by the Romans, or God is referring to a final, definitive time where Israel will no longer suffer any oppression, a return that will be the last return, This return is the last and everything is going to be defined here now, Israel will never again be the slave of any nation after this time.

"But they will serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them." Many times when referring to King David, he is referring to who? The Messiah who was to be born from the loins of King David, he says who I will raise up, David lived centuries ago, he had died and his bones were already made of dust, it says that they will serve Jehovah their God and David their king, there is a promise that the Jews will one day know Jehovah as their God and David as their Messiah, I could not say that so freely this morning because I had to respect my Brothers, I did not want to offend you, but what you are telling me there is that there will come a day when Israel will no longer be oppressed, and that they would finally serve the Lord, today Israel does not serve the Lord, on the contrary, it is a pagan, secular nation , and that they would also believe and serve the true God, Jesus Christ, Messiah descendant of David, right?

So look at what verse 11 says, learn brothers, don't fall asleep on me, are you with me? Amen, didn't all your energy go away in worship? Because sometimes I fear that, like we get tired of worshiping and no, let's not be like other churches over there, right? You are soldiers. He says: "Because I am with you to save you, and I will destroy all the nations among which I have scattered you, but I will not destroy you, but rather I will punish you with justice, because I will in no way leave you unpunished." God loves his people but he also punishes them, because Israel has been rebellious, right? There is another point here, Israel is not a paragon of virtue, as I said, Israel is difficult and hard-hearted, and God has punished her severely through the centuries, but still God loves them, and persists in blessing them, and where wherever they go these people prosper, they are blessed wherever they have gone, they get the land, that's why people hate them and are jealous of them.

Look across the centuries at Spain, France, England, the Jews, banks everywhere, culturally an incredibly prosperous and blessed nation, Israel has more Nobel Prize winners than any other nation in the world, I don't know if the United States , but compare a few million with 300 million people that the United States has, but despite that they are hard of heart and God blesses them wherever they go. Look at what verse 17 says: "And I will heal your wounds, says the Lord, because they called you undone, they say this is Zion that no one remembers", but look at the heart of God, verse 18: "Behold, I bring back the captives from Jacob's tents, and the city shall be built," what city?, Jerusalem, "And the city shall be built on its hill, and the temple shall be built after its shape."

Look at what it says in verse 24-30: "The fierce anger of the Lord shall not abate until he has done and fulfilled the thoughts of his heart at the end of days", in the end of days you shall understand this . There are many things that have become clear from the prophecies at this time, because today we have much greater knowledge of the entire history of Israel and its people, and all of God's dealings with them, at the end of time will be clear my purpose for you. Brothers there are so many, look at chapter 31 of this same passage from Jeremiah, it says: "At that time I will be God to all the families of Israel, and they will be my people", verse 3: "With eternal love you I have loved", hey, God has not said that to anyone, I think those words are the words of a crazy lover, God loves Israel madly, it is something that loves them, loves them, loves them.

"I have loved you with eternal love, therefore I prolonged you in mercy, I will still build you up and you will be built up oh virgin of Israel, you will still be adorned with your tambourines and you will go out in joyful dances", is like a lover in love with his girlfriend and is passionate for her. What poetic words, I don't know if you get emotional listening to this, I think that to the sisters if we husbands were to say words like that, I think Meche is listening to this sermon so I have to be careful. It says: "You will still plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria, those who plant will plant and enjoy them." Do you know one of the things that the Israelites have done? Filling the Jews with plants, all that deserted part of Israel, you travel through all that part of the Negeb desert and other parts, and you see plantations, plantations, stables and blocks, Israel, a barren land, arid town, has become one of the largest producers and exporters of fruits and vegetables from around the world and flowers included.

Listen to me, I think there is an irony in that Israel is one of the largest exporters of this in the world, there is a kind of poetic image and I did not study literature much in my student days, but Israel has planted, produces vegetables, wines, fruits of all kinds, strawberries, grapes, kiwies, it is amazing, and I see here those who plant will plant, they will enjoy them, because there will be days when the guards on Mount Ephraim will cry out, get up, and let us go up to Zion, to Jehovah our God.

Look at verse 8: "Behold, I will bring them back from the land of the North, and I will gather them from the ends of the earth, and among them blind and lame, the woman who is with child and the woman who gave birth in great company they will return here, they will go with tears but with mercy I will make them return, and I will make them walk beside streams of water, they will walk straight, they will not stumble because I am Israel for Father and Ephraim is my firstborn." When a Christian reads these words, he cannot do anything else but look almost with envy at that love that God has for Israel, and who gets involved in that? Listen to me, I think that getting involved in the struggles that Jehovah has with Israel, That's like getting into the middle of a marriage fight, let them understand each other, fight over there, I'm not going to get into that, really, those are things that we Gentiles can only look at with respect and almost holy envy, but God loves these people madly.

Look at what verse 10 says: "He who scattered Israel will gather them together and guard his flock like a shepherd; then the virgin will rejoice in the dance, the young and the old together, and I will change their weeping into joy, and I will comfort them." , I will gladden them of their pain." Wow, it goes on and on and on, that is the language that God uses for his people my brothers, and the Scriptures are full of that prophetic language everywhere. One last passage and with that I will leave you, go to Isaiah 49, 14 to 26. It says, God makes the Jews speak, it says: "But Zion said, the Lord left me, and the Lord forgot me." The Jews through 2,000 years of spread I think they have been tempted many times to say no, there is no hope for us anymore, God disowned us, they have persecuted us, they have killed us, they have harassed us, they have oppressed us , they have burned us, they have walled us in, they have cut off our heads, they have taken us from a land, and when we arrive in another land they take us from there and persecute us in that one, they kill us, burn us, bake us, make lamps out of our skins and experiments on our bodies as the Germans did, and the temptation of the Hebrew people has been to say Lord, You have abandoned me, read the writings of Eli Visel for example, about the meaning of helplessness.

There are many Jews who today do not believe in God because of what happened in the Nazi German world, they say, how is it possible that if God loves Israel, he allows something like this to happen? There is no God, impossible, and then God says but Zion said , Jehovah left me and God forgot me, and look how God responds, he says: "Will a woman forget what she gave birth to stop feeling sorry for the son of her womb? It is a question, a woman normally loves Desperately, no normal woman in her five senses forgets a product of her womb, the mother loves her son and never forgets him no matter what. Then God says: "But even if she forgets, I will never forget her." you". Even if the woman abandoned her natural instinct to take care of her child, I am not like that, even if she forgot I will never forget you.

I do not know if you see the irrevocable love of God, the unique, the passionate, and that is what leads me to love Israel and to see how God has a deal there that does not admit of change, I have here that in the palms of my hands I have you sculpted, before me are always your walls. It makes me want to cry when I read that sincerely. It's like God said I have tattooed your name on my palms, I have engraved it, and whenever I look I see your walls before my eyes. Is that something strong or not? Look at verse 7, "For now your land, devastated, ruined, and desolate, will be narrowed by the multitude of its inhabitants, and your destroyers will be driven far away." Do you know that in Israel, there is no room for people? The land is so small that the millions of Jews, Israel has to be very selective in immigration, because it is too small a people.

Do you know all the people who want to get into Israel, live in Israel? It is one of the most developed nations in the entire world of the Middle East, it is a Europe in the middle of the desert, and Israel is tiny for all the people who should be inhabiting it. You know, it is on, and on and on. Look at verse 7: “For the Lord GOD will help me, therefore I was not ashamed, therefore I set my face like a flint and I know that I will not be ashamed. , who is the adversary of my cause?, who is there to condemn me?, behold, all of them will grow old like clothing, they will be eaten by moths." All the nations that have attacked Israel are destined to be destroyed. All the nations that have attacked it have ended up in the vacuum of history.

Israel has been accused of so many things but God has always advocated on his behalf. So brothers, what I want to tell you, read all these passages from Isaiah, for example, from Jeremiah, and you will see over and over again the passion of God for his people, the pact that God made with Abraham is an unbreakable pact. It is a pact that is born from the very heart of God for his people, and that God will be in it until the last moment.

Paul in his letter to the Romans in chapter 11, tells the Christians, do not be arrogant against my people Israel, some people say that the Church has replaced Israel, the Bible is clear that we are simply a graft, but when God has dealt with the gentile people then he will restore his direct dealings with the people of Israel, and we just have to be very careful in that regard, until we see how God is going to complete all of this, God's dealings with Israel They are clear deals and we have to love Israel in the meantime and pray continually.

We are going to lower our heads, we are going to ask the Lord to bless this Word, and to give us wisdom about how to interpret these scriptures.

Father, we bless Your name Lord, we bless Your name, we thank You for Your many goodness and mercies, and we ask for understanding, Lord, on how to deal with this mystery that is the nation of Israel. Help us and give us Your wisdom, and we ask Father that You work in this time of history, and that You allow Your Christian people to know how to deal with the Arab people, with the Muslim people, with the Hebrew people, give us grace and touch our hearts. of these nations, and we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and we pray for the peace and protection of Israel, and we pray also for the peace and understanding that You are going to bring to the Arab people, the nations of the Middle East, the nations of Europe, and we ask that You cover Your people Israel and that the veil that is in their eyes be removed and that they may see You Lord as they need to see You.

Thank you for this time Lord. Bury these teachings in our hearts, enlighten us, we ask you in the name of Jesus, amen and amen.