Jentezen Franklin - Israel In Prophecy - Part 2
I am preaching this morning on "Israel In Prophecy", Israel In Prophecy. When I talk about Israel, I want you to draw parallel between natural Israel and spiritual Israel. There are two Israel's, there's natural Israel and the Jewish people and the holy land, but the Bible also says there's spiritual Israel which is the church, the body of Christ, you and I, the believers who have been engrafted into the heritage tree by the blood of Jesus Christ. And so, every promise, everything that you read about the nation of Israel and the Jewish people that God promises, He has made even greater promises and covenant, a covenant that is even greater through Jesus Christ for you and I and for your family and my family.
When you look at how powerful Israel is now, it's a miracle of God. Half of the resolutions the UN has passed, over half are negative about Israel and yet they continue to grow and prosper. They're surrounded with enemies, yet they continue to grow and exist and prosper. Jesus in Mathew 23, in His farewell speech to Jerusalem, he said, "I'm weeping over Jerusalem. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who stoned the prophets and you killed and I'm weeping. How often I would've gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks, but you were not willing". But I don't want you to think that God's through with them because the Apostle Paul answers that question in the book of Romans in the 10th, and 11th, and 12th chapter, he says, "Has God cast away Israel? Is God done with Israel"? He said, "I won't come again, I won't speak to you, I won't come back to you. You're gonna go through".
It even says, these words are in the book of Romans, Paul said they are blinded, the Jewish people. How can they see and live in the holy land and not see Messiah Jesus? They don't believe in Jesus, Jewish people do not believe Jesus is God, they do not believe it, they do not receive Him. Why? Because their eyes are blinded. In the Bible Paul used that word, but he said, "I won't come again, you will not see me anymore until I hear you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.'" What is that about? That's when He's coming back. Now, there's the rapture, that will happen before all of this happens and then the Great Tribulation, and at the end of the Great Tribulation, Jesus Christ is coming back on a white horse, and He's bringing all of us with Him.
And I wanna read it, I want you to see it. And in that moment when they see Him, when they see Him and He comes down to earth and they see His wounds, this is what will happen in Zechariah 12:10, "And I will pour out on the house of Israel, the spirit of grace and supplication and they will look on me whom they have pierced to crucify, and they will mourn for Him as one who mourns for his only son". They're gonna, the word "Mourn" means "Repent". They're gonna cry out, they're gonna realize, Oh my God, He was the one, Jesus is Messiah, He is our Messiah, He is the one. Because He was wounded for our transgressions and pierced for our iniquities. They're gonna... The blood, the scales are gonna come off and thousands and hundreds of thousands of Jewish people will be converted and believe in Jesus Christ and bow their knees. It's going to happen. He said, "They'll look on me whom they pierced, and they'll repent".
There is the reestablishment of Jerusalem, it's already happened. There is the return of Jesus Christ, it's going to happen, and there is the revelation of Jesus Christ for the Jewish people, they are the three that have yet to happen. What the devil fears the most is the return of Jesus Christ. The Jews must be in Jerusalem for Jesus Christ to come back. The Jews must be there in the holy land, and this is why Satan is stirring up the nations of the world to hate that land and hate that people, and now it's even becoming almost like it was in World War II where you can say whatever you wanna say, antisemitism is very, very, very much on the move and accepted. Why? Because Jesus must come back when the Jews are in Jerusalem and have the holy land, and Satan knows that. He wants to wipe 'em off the face of the earth. God, help the USA not to be on the wrong side.
I wanna give you this verse, Deuteronomy 7:6-7, "For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure. Above all the peoples of the face of the earth," that's the parallel of the Christian too, "A special treasure above all the peoples of the earth". verse 7, "The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you, Israel," Jewish people and the church, "because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all the people".
I want you to understand that God doesn't love us because we're valuable, we're valuable because He loves us. Israel was God created, God decreed, God loved, God called, God elected, and God protected. Israel has a special purpose and that is to bring Messiah to the world, the church has a purpose to bring Messiah, Jesus, to the world. Israel is under special protection according to Jeremiah 31:35. God says you would have to destroy the sun, the moon, and the stars, you would have to destroy all... The one who gives the light of day, the God of the armies of Heaven says, "If you can destroy the stars and the light and the sea and wipe it all out, then you can attack and defeat Israel once I put 'em back in that land a second time".
What He's saying is they're under special protection and the power that regulates the sun, the moon, and the stars, you can no more destroy Israel than you can destroy the universe. They're a special people with a special purpose, with a special protection and lastly, it is a special place. Israel was a special place and God put His people in that special place. And God, out of all of the whole earth said, "I choose that place called Israel," and He called it, "My holy land". And then He said, "I choose that city in that land, my holy city, Jerusalem". And then He said, "I choose that one hill in that city that's in that land," and that's the same hill that Abraham offered Isaac, that's the same hill that Solomon built the first temple and that is the same hill that Jesus will come back and possess, and He will rule and reign for a 1,000 year millennium and then the great white throne judgement.
Let me conclude with this, what is going to happen next is the rapture of the church and then there will come on the scenes, standing in the shadows of history, is a man known as the anti-Christ, Revelation 12:13 gives, and I just wanna, I wanna take my time and I'm gonna do this 'cause I wanna do it. In Revelation 12, and I wanna put up verse 1, "I saw a dragon". He said in verse 1, "There appeared a woman clothed," everybody say, "Woman". That woman is the nation of Israel. "How do you know that"? Verse 2, "She was with child and she was in labor, she was bringing Messiah". Israel is the woman, the baby is Messiah. Verse 3, "And I saw a red dragon and he wanted," it goes on to say, "He wanted to devour that child".
Now, what I wanna point out to you is simply this, he wanted to devour that child. And verse 13, "When the dragon saw that the woman gave birth to the child," notice the words, "He persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child". Who is the woman? Israel, the nation of Israel, the Jewish people. And what is the dragon doing? Ever since that nation brought Messiah, they have been persecuted. Look at it again in verse 17, "And the dragon was enraged with the woman". Who's the woman? Israel, Israel. "And he went to make war," Notice the specific, "With the rest of her offspring," her descendants. Do you understand what you're watching on the news is Revelation being unfolded right in front of your eyes? I really gon' mess with you now.
Okay, and what happens is pretty amazing. Because he says, "The dragon's enraged," and then the next part of the verse, chapter 13, he begins to describe the anti-Christ ultimately. The anti-Christ comes on the scene out of seething seas, unrest, out of control, social agitation, like a sea, he said, "I saw this beast come out". The beast, he's called the man of sin, he's called the son of perdition, the little horn. And out of this social multitudes of people, nations, social agitation comes to rise in Revelation 13:1 of the beast, the anti-Christ. His attributes are described as his father is the dragon, his family is the collective evil of world empires, his fortune is the power and authority of Satan, the beast is Satan's superman.
His seductive appeal is described in Revelation 13, "His appearance will amaze the world". What will happen is according to Revelation 13:3, he will be mortally wounded in his head and he will be healed from that. Literally what will take place is he will look like he's dead and have a wound, and Satan, because He had to have a snake in the garden, he cannot legally come as a spirit, he has to possess a body, and Satan in that moment will step into his body and he will be, the anti-Christ will be Satan in skin. And "The world will wonder after him," the scripture said, "They'll marvel, they'll wonder after this wound, after", he will literally be possessed and have a physical, just like a mockery of the incarnation of Christ through, he will come into the earth in that moment and take possession of that body that is known as the anti-Christ and the world will marvel at the signs and the wonders, and out of that will come enforced worship...
It goes on to say. I believe it will be the spirit of Islam and you either bow, because this anti-Christ is anti Christ and is anti-Semitic, and he's anti-Christian and he's anti-Bible. Lastly, he will control the wealth. And how will this happen? In verse 16, in verse 16 of Revelation 13 he said, "And he calls his own both small and great, rich and poor, free and slaved, to receive that mark in the right hand or their foreheads". next verse, "That no one can buy or sell except one who receive the mark in the name of beast and the number of his name. Here is wisdom, let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast for it is the number of a man".
His number is 666. The only question left now is will you be here for that? You can be saved during the Great Tribulation, but it'll cost you your life and you cannot take the mark of the beast or you won't be able to buy and sell and have food, you'll have to hide. And you're either following the lamb or you're gonna follow the beast. And he says in that same sequence of Revelation 12:13-14, "And whosoever's name was not found in the book of life," there will come the great judgment, great white throne judgment, and I won't be there, and I hope none of you under the sound of my voice and listening to me will there because I settled out of court. I settled it in an altar, Rocky Mountain, North Carolina, and I don't have to plead my case, I'll plead the blood. And the judge will come with a hammer and say, "Worthy is the lamb, he's clean, open the pearly gates and let him into a city where there will never be a tear, pain, sorrow, death".
What about you? Are you ready for the coming, the eminent return of Jesus Christ? All those prophesies have happened, and there are just a handful that are left, and one of 'em is the rapture of the church. And in an hour you think not, He's coming, be ready. I'm gonna ask you not to move in and out, just stand to your feet. Every head bowed, every eye closed. If you would say, "Pastor Jentezen, I need to be ready, I need to repent, I need to follow the Lamb, I need to give my heart to Jesus Christ today. Pray for me. I want to be washed, I want to be cleansed, I want eternal life, I want to know joy unspeakable and full of glory". And boy, I need to conclude this thing soon on preaching on Heaven 'cause you've heard all the bad news but we cannot even imagine the good that God has laid up for His own. Oh my God, oh my Lord. Eyes haven't seen and ears haven't heard.
Don't miss it, don't miss it, don't die and go to hell, don't be left behind, be ready. "Pastor, I wanna be ready, I wanna get right with God". If that's you, boldly raise your hand right where you're standing. I want the Christians to pray right now. I see your hand, I see your hand. Raise it unashamed high, high. That's it, that's it, all over the room at every campus, if the Lord is speaking to you, and I see so many hands, just get out of your seat and come down and stand at the front of the building. We want you to come forward, we still believe... I don't know, I still believe it takes something, it breaks something off of you when you step out by faith and say, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I'm not ashamed of Jesus".
Here they come, clap your hands, church. They're getting ready, they're getting ready. "In the last days, I'll pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy," and that's what's happening. Come on, come on, come on, don't resist Him, don't say, "Another day". Don't say, "He delays His coming, I've got plenty of time".
Come this morning. If the spirit is drawing you, come, come, come, the spirit says come. Beautiful, beautiful, come on. They're still coming. Clap your hands, church. This is more important than anything. This is more important than anything. Precious souls, precious souls. Come on, come on, come on, come home to Jesus. Come home, you've been running too long. You know it's real, you know, you know you need to get right this morning. Don't put it off another service, don't put it off another day. Come on. Bless you, God bless you, son, God bless you, son. Come on. Come on, that's somebody's son, that's somebody's daughter, that's somebody's grandchild, that's somebody's husband, that's somebody's wife, that's somebody's child, Hallelujah.
Oh Lord, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Come on, come on, come on, you know you need to walk down that aisle, you know you need to humble yourself, you know you need Jesus like you've never needed Him before. And the reason you're here, listen to me carefully, the reason you walked down that aisle is because the Holy Spirit dealt with you and God spoke to you. If you never hear Him again, He spoke to you this morning and He said, "I love you. I'll save you, I'll redeem you, I have a purpose and a plan. I'll protect you, I'll keep you. Just like I keep Israel, I'll keep you. I'll keep you".
So, right now, we're gonna pray this prayer and I want everybody in the room at every campus to pray it with me, pray out loud and as I pray it, I speak it over your families that are in the grill in our stages at every campus, we have pictures of families that we started during the fast this year, God save our families. This ought to give you a burden for the lost loved ones and friends that don't know Jesus. This ought to give you a move in your heart to tell somebody about Jesus. Now, raise your hand high all over the room and down front, pray this prayer, say:
Lord Jesus I give you my life. I believe that you Jesus are the savior of the world. You have a plan. You're a great God of mercy and goodness and I receive you as my savior. You died, you carried the cross, you bled and died for me and you rose again to give me eternal life and the hope of Heaven, and I receive it right now by faith. Write my name In the book of life. I receive you as my Lord and savior in Jesus' mighty name, I am a child of God.