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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
:
http://www.angelfire.com/ab/fullgospel/articles.html
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