Derek Prince - Why God Wants to Restore Israel
This is an excerpt from: Israel and the Church: Parallel Restoration
Now we’re going back to Psalm 102:14 «For your servants take pleasure in her stones and show favor to her dust». That’s a mark of the servants of the Lord. They take pleasure in the stones of Jerusalem. So, any servant of the Lord who doesn’t lacks one of the distinctive marks. I first went to Jerusalem in 1942 when it was still under the British mandate, and my most permanent physical impression was two things, stones and dust. I mean, you see Jerusalem today, you have very little idea of what it was like in 1942. The mark of God’s people is they favor the stones and take pleasure in her dust.
Now, when you turn to the church in this parallel, I would say there’s a lot of stones and dust in the church. But don’t let’s be critical, let’s believe God that He favors the stones and the dust of the church. He’s not going to leave it that way but it’s easy to be critical. When I was saved, born again and filled with the Holy Spirit I was a member of the Anglican Church. I very quickly saw all the faults of the Anglican Church, which are not very good to see. I became somewhat critical. But later on I realized being critical and negative doesn’t accomplish anything. God has now given me a real love for my old church. In fact, in Jerusalem, rather to our surprise, Ruth and I find ourselves members of the Anglican Church, Christ Church, inside the walls of the old city. We love it there. I don’t mind a little liturgy, provided there’s liberty.
In fact, I think a lot of Pentecostals have their own liturgy but it isn’t written! If there is to be one I think it’s better to have it printed, but I don’t believe in staying inside. Then it says in verse 15 «…so the nations shall fear the name of the Lord and all the kings of the earth your glory». What is God’s motive in restoring His people? It’s to bring glory to His name. It’s to challenge the nations of the earth with the reality that God is God and the Bible is His Word, and God’s covenants stand forever. Then there’s a beautiful scripture, verse 16, which says: «For the Lord shall build up Zion. He shall appear in His glory». The Old King James version said «when the Lord shall build up Zion He shall appear in His glory».
What is one great sign that the Lord is getting ready to appear in glory? It is that He is rebuilding Zion. That’s the minute hand on the clock which tells us just about how near we are to midnight. Then it says in verse 17 «He shall regard the prayer of the destitute and shall not despise their prayer». Probably some of you are familiar with the fact that what’s called in Jerusalem the Western Wall, the western foundation of the temple area which is the most sacred spot on earth to which Jews have access at the present time, Jewish people go by the hundreds and write their prayer requests, roll them up and insert them in the cracks in the stones. I was there on a rather windy day once and the wind had blown quite a number of these little pieces of paper out of their cracks, but there were a lot that were still there.
I said to myself rather cynically, «There’s a lot of prayers that haven’t been answered». I felt the Lord said this to my spirit, «There is a day coming when a lot of prayers will be answered in a very short time». I’ve laid hold of that. There is a day coming, it’s the day when the Lord appears in His glory. Then verse 18 says: «This [that I've been reading] will be written for the generation to come, that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord». So the psalmist was made aware that what he was writing was not for his own time but it was for the set time when God was going to restore Zion. I believe we’re that generation. It was written for us. This is humbling and dramatic. But notice what it says, that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.
As I look back over church history and my own early experience, my conclusion is this, God’s people have been so slack for so many centuries to praise the Lord that God is going to have to create a people for one specific purpose, to praise Him. Amen. I agree brother. You said it. Bless you. Thank you. So now that’s a little picture of the time of restoration of all things, Israel being put back in their land, the church being put back in their spiritual inheritance. Frankly, if you read the book of Acts and then in the light of that look at the contemporary church in most places, with some exceptions, it’s hard to see any relationship between the two.
The book of Acts is our inheritance but, alas, for many, many centuries most of the church have been far away from their spiritual inheritance in Jesus Christ. But the good news is not only is God restoring Israel but He’s also restoring the church. I want to remind you we deserve it no more than Israel. It’s God’s grace, it’s His mercy, it’s his favor, whether it’s Jews or non Jews. I’m happy to receive the free grace and mercy of God without even trying to earn it. You know what I’ve noticed with many religious people is they feel they have to earn God’s grace and the result is they never experience it. Because, you can’t earn God’s grace. Grace is free. There’s a little couplet that always comes to my mind which says «How sovereign, wonderful and free the love of God for sinful me».
God’s love is sovereign, wonderful and free. It cannot be earned. We have a lot of people in the contemporary movement who are always claiming things. Well, there’s something to be said for some of that but but there’s one thing you can’t claim, it’s God’s love. You’ll never deserve it, all you can do is believe and receive. One of our proclamations that Ruth and I make is from 1 John 4:16, do you want to come up and say it, prove you really know it? It’s not long. We are so taken up with this proclamation: «We have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him».
Now the question that I’m asking you tonight is have you known and believed the love that God has for you? Because, there’s no other way to receive it but by believing. God said to Israel in Jeremiah 31 «I have loved you with an everlasting love, and in lovingkindness I have drawn you to myself». I look back on my own experience and I say there’s only one explanation for what God did for Derek Prince, He loved me. He still loves me and He’s going to love me forever. His love is inexhaustible, it’s unsearchable, it’s unfathomable. You just have to believe it. I want to tell you, the enemy of your soul will do everything he can to keep you from believing in the love of God. I want to say I believe in the love of God. I believe God loves me. Would you like to say that together with me? Raise your right hand and say, «I believe that God loves me». Amen! Thank you, Lord.