SPECIAL COFFEE BREAK

SPECIAL COFFEE BREAK
ISRAEL & THE
PSALM 83 PROPHECY
Part One
Howdy! Glad you joined me today!
I'll keep these comments short because we need to get right into today's
discussion. There are a large number of folks who've responded to this
series of Coffee Breaks on Israel - both positively and negatively. A
common thread appearing in the negative responses is predicated in a
horrendous doctrine that began to spread throughout the "structured church"
during the Dark Ages. There are two parts of this doctrine.
The first part of it alleges that the Jews crucified Jesus. That is
scripturally inaccurate. Revelation 13:8 clearly states that Jesus was "the
Lamb slain before the foundation of the earth." He chose, of His own will,
in agreement with Father and Holy Spirit, to go to the Cross even BEFORE
Adam and Eve were created. Adam's fall was no surprise to the Lord God. He
knew it was going to happen before He breathed His first breath into him,
and they [the Godhead] made preparation to redeem the human race. There was
an appointed time in history (His Story] for that to take place.
Secondly, although the religious Jews were part of the scenario which led to
Jesus' crucifixion, they were pawns in an agenda created by Satan long
before Jesus was born. The truth is that it was a religious spirit which
crucified Jesus on the Cross. Sure, it was operating in the religious Jews,
but it was also operating in Rome as well. To blame the Jews for Jesus'
death on the Cross is a deliberate distortion of history, and a deliberate
twisting of the spiritual forces that were at work. One of these days I'll
do a series of Coffee Breaks on the Nephilim Agenda - a Satanic agenda that
was at work to destroy the promised Redeemer as far back as the days of
Noah.
The driving force behind this demonic doctrine is a virulent spirit of
Anti-Semitism. The second part of the doctrine that says the Jews crucified
Jesus also says that because the Jews departed from the Lord God and
worshiped false idols, God canceled His Covenant with them; therefore,
Jesus' death on the Cross was designed to redeem "the world" and NOT the
Jews! Anyone who believes that has become the victim of an extremely racist
spirit. I won't take the time today to dig into it, but let me just
simplify it like this: ALL racism - whether the prejudice is against Blacks,
Asians, Indians, Eskimos, Arabs or Jews (or any other racial group) is
predicated and rooted in Anti-Semitism.
[Note: Anti-Semitism and racism of every ilk is - nothing more and nothing
less - rooted in a spirit of hatred against God's plan for the human race
from the day He breathed His breath into Adam and initiated the process of
creating a family for Himself - a family of beings who would be like Him,
function like Him, love like Him, think like Him and speak like Him. It
targets the Jews or Israel (or any other race or culture of people it
chooses), blames them for the world's ills (or society's ills) instead of
the true Enemy. It targets people and personalities instead of the evil
spirits that drive them, creating a special class of people to lobby
against. It frequently uses a religious spirit to conceal its hatred and
justifies itself by quoting scriptures like Romans 9:8 or I Thess. 2:14-16
and taking them out of the overall context of what the Word says.]
The corollary to this Anti-Semitic doctrine that God abandoned the Jews in
favor of the Gentiles is the idea that the Gentiles are now "God's chosen
people" and the Jews have no claim to that status anymore. What a lie!
What a perversion of the truth!
I take you back to some quotes from the last Coffee Break
"I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an
Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not
cast away his people which he foreknew." (Romans 11:1)
He goes on to say the following: "For I would not, brethren, that ye should
be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits;
that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the
Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written,
There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their
sins. (Romans 11:25-26)
Were it not for the Jews, therefore, there would be no salvation for the
rest of the world! And Jesus makes that abundantly clear in John 4:23.
OK. Time to move on.
The 83rd Psalm is one of the most unique prophecies in the Word. This was a
prayer and a prophecy of Asaph. Despite all the attacks that have come
against Israel throughout the centuries and millennia, this is one of those
wars that have never taken place - yet! Hence, when Asaph was praying this
prayer, he was seeing ten nations or tribes or peoples who had assembled
themselves against Israel with one purpose. When you listen to some of
Ahmadinejad' s rants and threats, you'd think he actually believes he can
beat the Lord God and wipe Israel off the map.
Listen to how Asaph puts it in his prayer: "They have said, Come, and let us
cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in
remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent: they are
confederate against thee."
Now Asaph lists the conspirators, and he is very specific as he names 10
nations or tribes.
"The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;
Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot."
In order to appreciate the significance of this, we need to identify each of
the nations with their modern-day counterparts.
1. Edom: This is a name given to the descendants of Esau. Their
territory was initially referred to as "the mountains of Seir" and extended
from the Gulf of Aqaba to the foot of the Dead Sea and eastward into Jordan
and Arabah (modern-day Saudi Arabia). The Greeks referred to their
rock-hewn city of Sela as "Petra" - the name by which we still know it today
in what is currently the western part of Jordan. The Edomites became a very
scattered and nomadic people, eventually making Bozrah (modern-day Basra in
Iraq) their capital until they were taken over and assimilated by the
Chaldeans.
2. The Ishmaelites: This was a people descended from Ishmael, the son
of Abraham born to the Egyptian handmaid, Hagar. Ishmael, as we know, was
sent away with his mother by command of the Lord because he was the "seed of
the flesh" and not the "seed of covenant." The angel of the Lord told Hagar
that Ishmael's descendants would have "their hand against every man, and
every man's hand against them." They initially settled in Paran, a region
lying between Canaan and the mountains of Sinai. This was a people who
scattered (as did the Edomites) across the wide deserts of northern Arabia
from the Red Sea to the Euphrates.
3. Moab: Descended from Moab, the incestuous son of Lot, these people
initially occupied Zoar, the region around the Dead Sea left in chaos by the
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and eventually began to spread over the
region east of the Jordan River until their great defeat by David. The last
historical reference to the Moabites as a people places them in what today
is southern Lebanon and southeastern Syria. Chronologically in Scripture,
we find Sanballat (who was a Moabite [Nehemiah uses the Horite description] )
doing his best to block the rebuilding of Jerusalem.
4. The Hagarenes (Hagarites): Brothers to the Ishmaelites, we have no
record of their father and they are described as descended from Hagar.
History distinguishes between them and the Ishmaelites, although they seemed
to occupy much of the same territory as their Ishmaelite brethren. Every
scriptural reference to them identifies them as a "trans-Jordanic tribe,"
and we see the tribe of Reuben soundly defeating them in battle during the
days of King Saul.
5. Gebal: Modern day Dschebel (25 miles north of Beirut, Lebanon) is
identified with this mountain-seaport. The Greeks referred to Gebal as
"Byblos"; and it was one of Syria's major seaports. There is a separate
reference to a Gebal in the Apocrypha as being in the northern part of
Arabia near Petra, but there seems to be little connection between the two.
Gebal was a "city-state" much like Monaco is today, and was among the major
city-states of Phoenicia (which today is northern Lebanon and south-western
Syria).
6. Ammon: Modern-day Amman, Jordan is a continuously occupied city for
some four-plus millennia, and it gets its name from Ammon, the other
incestuous son of Lot, Abraham's nephew. That inhabitants of Jordan, much
of whom we would know today as "Palestinians" are the descendants of Ammon
seems pretty clear. Historically, the Ammonites and Moabites were the
persistent enemies of Israel, continually trying to deprive them of their
existence in the land. I remind you of I Chronicles 20 when the Ammonites
and Moabites, along with remnants of the Amorites, came against Jehoshaphat
and the Lord routed them in such a way that they destroyed one another.
7. Amalek: These were descendants of Esau - a warring people who
principally occupied the Sinai between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea. They
were a persistent enemy of Israel for whom God decreed ultimate destruction.
Agag, the Amalekite king, tried to bribe Balaam into cursing Israel. "Agag"
seems to be a title given to each king of the Amalekites, and it was an
"Agag" whom Samuel was forced to kill when Saul disobeyed the Lord by
keeping him alive. Haman, whose conspiracy to destroy Israel in the days of
Esther, was an "Agagite" - a descendant of Agag in the days of Saul.
8. The Philistines: There is a rather oblique reference in II Samuel
which suggests that they were part of the Rephaim - one of the groups in
Scripture identified with the Nephilim in Genesis 6. In any case they
occupied the Gaza, Lebanon and south-western Syria. The Palestinian demand
to occupy the Gaza today is a very telling picture of this enemy of Israel.
I only have to remind you of the story of David and Goliath.
9. The Inhabitants of Tyre: A city-state of its own during
Old-Testament times, it was originally one of the main port cities of
Phoenicia. By the time Asaph gave his prophecy, Tyre was a Syrian
stronghold, and it remains as that to this day. Although Abraham was
sometimes referred to as a Syrian because he lived for 25 years in Haran
(modern-day spelling: Harran) before responding to the second call of the
Lord, the Syrians have been - ever since Israel began to occupy Canaan - the
enemies of Israel. I Kings 11:25 tells us that Hadad (see also I Kings
11:14), the King of Syria, was of royal Edomite lineage - a descendant of
Esau, and this explains the ongoing enmity of millennia between Syria and
Israel.
10. Assur (Asshur): This was the capital city of ancient Assyria - an
empire divided by the Medes and Persians. Syria of today gets its name from
ancient Assyria. Modern-day Asshur is in Northern Iraq, however, and its
remnant people are scattered throughout Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran.
Because they were close neighbors of the Moabites and Ammonites, Asaph tells
us in his prophecy (reading the NASB) that "they have become a help to the
children of Lot."
That's the general outline of the ten nations. Let's consolidate the
picture to modern times. What do we see? Closest to Israel, we find (1)
the Palestinians in Gaza, (2) Lebanon (under Syria's domination with
Hezbollah), (3) Syria, (4) Jordan, (5) Egypt - (the Sinai Peninsula), and
(6) Saudi Arabia. A little farther out, we have (7) Iraq, and (8) Iran.
While on today's maps (you can Google Map the region for a look at it
yourself) there are ten nations named, three of the nations are consolidated
in present-day Jordan and Syria: Moab, Ammon and the "Hagarenes." Since we
know that the Hagarites occupied much of the same territory as the
Ishmaelites, and we know that the Ishmaelites occupied at least a portion of
the Sinai, the father of the Hagarites (and I'm really speculating here)
could have been an Egyptian as Hagar was.
In any case, Israel today is surrounded by the very same enemies it faced
during Biblical times, despite the fact that in some instances we have
different names today along with consolidation. In a Coffee Break series I
did a couple years ago titled Seven Nations, Seven Letters, we talked about
the fact that ancient Israel failed to keep God's commandment to them to
literally destroy, wipe-out to the last man, woman and child, and erase
every vestige of the seven nations that occupied Canaan prior to the
conquest by Joshua.
Additionally, in the days of King Saul, Israel was commanded to obliterate
every trace of the Amalekites. He did not. As a result of their failure,
traces of these nations remained throughout the ages. We even find almost
one whole nation of the original seven still intact as a nation during
Jesus' ministry. The Greek New Testament refers to the original Girgashites
as the Gergesenes (Gergesenos) when Jesus brings deliverance to the Gadarene
demoniac.
Although we have no modern reference to the Moabites, Ammonites (except for
Amman), Amalekites, Hagarites, etc., history is clear that whatever remnant
of these tribal nations existed after their major destruction at the hands
of their enemies, that remnant was assimilated into their captor nations.
We couldn't have a clearer picture of Asaph's prophecy. Here is a perfect
description of the same enemies that surround Israel today. With the
possible exception of King Abdullah in Jordan (who as mentioned before has
attempted to moderate things with the Palestinian population which comprises
more than 70 percent of the Jordanian people) and Iraq which is endeavoring
to get its own act together, the rest of the surrounding nations have
adopted a hostile, "get rid of Israel" attitude; and Iran's Ahmajinedad has
actually declared the very words Asaph used calling for Israel's extinction.
I want to get to the meat of the prophecy in Psalm 83, but it is clear that
we won't make it there today, so let's cut this Coffee Break short and we'll
pick things up in a few days.
Before I go, however, an article of extreme interest appears on the front
page of Israel Today in the June 17th edition. The headline reads: ARE MANY
PALESTINIANS REALLY JEWS? (see:
http://www.israelto day.co.il/ tabid/178/ nid/22830/ language/ en-US/Default. aspx
)
Here are a few lines from the article: In the shadow of the conflict over
the Promised Land more and more Palestinians are disclosing the truth:
Entire families are considering conversion to Judaism. They claim that their
ancestors were forced to choose between religion (Judaism) and remaining on
the Land, and hence, they were compelled to convert to Islam. These
Palestinians are part of the seed of Israel and could be called "Palestinian
Marranos" - like the "secret Jews" of Spain in the 15th century who were
forced to convert to Christianity, but covertly remained observant Jews. By
returning to the Jewish religion and nation, they foresee a peaceful
resolution of the conflict.
With the news from this piece, a recent poll in the Jerusalem Post makes a
lot of sense. Taken on the West Bank the polls showed that 57% of the
"Palestinians" interviewed would prefer to be a part of Israel rather than a
Palestinian state. No wonder! When you have people who've been forced into
accepting Islam or die, and they become assimilated into a culture that is
antagonistic towards everything they've ever known and serve a god who is a
false god, there can't be anything but a yearning for a return to the life
and the worship their ancestors have known.
OK. There you have it for today. I'll pick up on the Psalm 83 prophecy and
its significance to today in our next Coffee Break. See you then.
As Christians we have a mandate from the Lord to bless Israel. More than
that, the cry of the Lord through Isaiah is to "give Him no rest, till He
establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth!"
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
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