Israel: How the Follower of Christ Should Respond to Current Events

The Facts:

History of Israel

• God gave Abraham an unconditional (Genesis 12:1-3 and Genesis 15:1-18)
  • into a great nation
  • the land of Canaan

• Abraham’s descendants became the nation of .

• God gave two covenants to Israel (Exodus 19:1-7; Deuteronomy 29:1-29 and Deuteronomy 30:1-10)
  • covenant – Obey and stay, disobey and be exiled
  • covenant – If/when they disobey/be exiled God would eventually bring them back

• Two Diasporas
  • – “locally” exiled for close to 200 years
  • – “globally” exiled for over 1800 years

• 1880 – Jews start to Israel

• 1920 – Britain given a mandate for Palestine and establishes a for Jews

• 1948 – Israel declares its

is being fulfilled!

Islam

• Muhammad to be a prophet of Allah (God) and taught Allah as the one true god
• At first, to Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians (People of the Book)
• Muhammad tried to pass himself off as the but was rejected
• Muhammad said Allah had his mind about “The People of the Book” leading to persecution
• Muslims believe they are the of the promises of Abraham

Islam Judaism

Why is all this important?

• the legitimacy of the Nation of Israel (albeit a secular nation)
• what underlines the conflict between the Nation of Israel and Palestine
• the world’s hatred for Israel and the fulfillment of end-times prophecies

We need to pay attention to

What should our response be?

• Stand beside Israel by supporting their to exist
• Don’t let views get in the way
• Don’t be over war and stay focused (Matthew 24:4-14)
• Continue to

Stay on track and the Gospel!