Derek Prince - When Nations Turn Against Israel
This is an excerpt from: Pressures, Tests & Challenges
Now let’s go to the fourth category in Matthew 25, which is the sheep and the goat nations. Starting at verse 31 now. When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then [that’s number eleven] He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. The King will say to those on His right hand, Then [that’s 'then' number fourteen] ‘Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food I was thirsty and you gave me drink I was a stranger and you took me in. I was naked and you clothed me I was sick and you visited me I was in prison and you came to me.’
Then [number fifteen] the righteous will answer Him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in or naked and clothe you? Or when did we see you sick or in prison, and come to you? And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you in as much as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren you did it to me.’
Then [number sixteen], He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels - some of the strongest words that Jesus ever uttered - for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not take me in, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’
Then [number seventeen] they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you?’ Then He will answer them ‘Assuredly, I say to you in as much as you did not do it to one of the least of these you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. In order to understand that, it’s very important to recognize that it’s a follow on from Joel 3. This gives us the setting.
Joel 3:1–2. The Lord says: For behold in those days and at that time when I bring back the captives [or the exiles] of Judah and Jerusalem. So notice this is looking forward to the days in which we are living, when the Lord is bringing back the Jewish captives from all over the world. From more than one hundred nations Jews have returned to the land of Israel in the last fifty or sixty years. I was in a class in the Hebrew University, a language class, and I discovered there were people in my class that had returned from thirty different nations. It’s stupendous; the human mind can hardly take in what’s involved. So, this is the time of the situation. It refers to the regathering of the Jewish people in the land of Israel.
Then the Lord says this, verse 2: I will also gather all nations, [and that’s the word for Gentiles, goyim, if you know what the Jews speak about Gentiles] I will bring them down to the valley at Jehoshaphat [and Jehoshaphat means 'the Lord judges'] and I will enter into judgment with them there, on account of my people, my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. They have also divided up my land. Now we’re talking about the judgment of the nations at the close of this present age. God says, I will judge them on the basis of how they’ve treated the Jews and the land of Israel. That’s important to know. He says, They have divided up my land. Remember it’s first and foremost God’s land. Secondly, it belongs to the Jewish people, because God gave it to them by an everlasting covenant for an everlasting possession.
It doesn’t matter who’s in it, the ownership does not change. It belongs to God and to the Jews. God is not restoring them because they deserve it, let me hasten to add that, He’s very clear about that. It's not for your sake, but for My holy name’s sake, that’s what God says. But notice the second charge against the nations is, they’ve divided up My land. Do you know what dividing up is in modern political language? Partition. They have partitioned my land. Now, in 1920 or thereabouts, the League of Nations assigned to Britain a mandate for the land of Israel both side of the Jordan. The terms of the mandate were to provide a national home for the Jewish people. In 1922, with a stroke of his pen, Winston Churchill signed away seventy-six percent of that land to an Arab nation, then called Trans-Jordan, now called Jordan, and in that territory no Jew is permitted to live. So they have divided up the land seventy-six percent to twenty-four percent.
In 1947 the United Nations, the successor to the League of Nations, arranged a scheme by which they were to divide up the land. So out of the remaining twenty-four percent Israel would get maybe ten percent and fourteen percent would go to the Arabs. What are they guilty of? Dividing up God’s land. And those nations are going to have to answer for it. I’m British by birth and I was living in the land of Israel when partition took place and when the state of Israel was born. I’m an eyewitness to these things. I will say that short of open warfare, the British administration did everything in their power to prevent the birth of the state of Israel. Do you know what happened? Israel was born and the British empire fell apart. Without ever losing a major war, the only one they really lost was with the colonists in America. The only major war. Their empire disintegrated, why? Because they sinned against Israel and their land. This shows you that God takes it seriously.
Now, going back to this parable in Matthew 25. Jesus sitting on His throne of judgment, His throne as King on earth. He’s been sharing His Father’s throne up till now. Now He has His own throne on earth, the throne of His glory, the throne of His kingdom. And on that throne He judges all the nations that are gathered before Him, the Gentiles. He doesn’t gather the Jews, I’ll explain why in a little while. There’s only one basis, only one basis: how they’ve treated the brothers of Jesus. In the light of Joel it’s absolutely sure that what that means is the Jewish people. Remember that in Revelation chapters 4 and 5, John had a vision of a scroll that had to be opened and no one was able to open it. He was weeping and one of the elders said to him, Don’t weep. The Lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed to open it. And John looked around expecting to see a lion and what did he see? A slain lamb. That’s where the power is, brothers and sisters, it’s in the life that’s given over to God.
The title of Jesus in eternity is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Judah is the name from which we get the word Jew. In Hebrew Judah is Yehuda and Jew is Yehudi. See, it’s only one syllable different. So bear in mind that Jesus did not become a Jew simply for thirty-three and a half years. He eternally identified Himself with the Jewish people. That’s His title, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Now you may dislike that, but you can’t change it. Because God didn’t ask your opinion. He didn’t ask mine, either. But I’ve learned it’s safer to agree with God. I tell you, when you see anti-Semitism rampant throughout the earth and not least in America, we’d better take careful heed to our own attitudes because we’re going to be judged. It’s clear to me from this picture of Jews without clothing, without food, without shelter, in prison, sick, there’s going to be a tremendous worldwide upsurge of anti-Semitism which you can already feel the currents of it. God is going to permit it.
David Pawson who is a friend of mine said once, Whenever the Jews aim to settle down in any Gentile nation, God always permits anti-Semitism to arise because that’s not their home. God said in Ezekiel 37, At a certain time, my people, you’re like dry bones scattered in the valleys. But I’m going to open your graves and bring you out of your graves and bring you to your own land. I tell some Jewish believers here, and I have many friends here, I say it’s wonderful that you’ve come to believe in Jesus. You’ve got out of the grave, but you haven’t got out of the cemetery. There’s only one place that Jews are appointed to live. That’s in the land of Israel. We have a dear friend, I won’t give you his name. But he was like most - the only adult Jewish believers I’ve ever met have all come by way of the occult, I think without exception. So there he was, as a Jew in the land of Israel, a hippie with his hair down to his waist. And he tried to start a kibbutz for organic farming.
So the Jewish agency said, Fine, if you can get ten other people start, but he never could. He was totally disillusioned with Israel and their land. He went back to the United States where he was born, married a beautiful wife and got saved. Totally saved, by faith in Jesus. And God said to him one day, You are a Jew, this is not your home. And from then onwards he knew he had to move back. Those are true words; if you are a Jew, this is not your home. You can have a good time here and enjoy some of the so-called comforts and luxuries. But I’m not sure that you’ll be able to enjoy them for long. I think a change is coming. I don’t tell anybody what to do, but I think you should give careful consideration to the meaning of this parable. So what happened? Listen to what happened to the goat nations who didn’t show mercy. It doesn’t say actually they persecuted them, they just didn’t show mercy.
Verse 41: The King will say also to those on the left hand ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’ I have never read anywhere more fearful words of condemnation than those. Depart from Me, you cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. And notice the lake of fire was never prepared for human beings. We don’t have to go there; the devil and his angels have no choice. We only go if we make the wrong choice. Then He said to the others in verse 34: Come you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. So the decisive issue was who was going to be admitted to the kingdom, who was going to be excluded. This is the kingdom of Jesus on earth, His earthly kingdom. The nations that pass the test, but were not part of the church, will be admitted to that kingdom on earth.