Jentezen Franklin - Revealing Israel's Destiny - Part 1
Welcome, everyone to a very special edition of Kingdom Connection, and I'm so glad to have a live audience with me today. I think they're live. I think... that was not a clap button that you just heard, that's real, living people. And we just wanted to come into your home today. I really just wanted you to take your Bible, if you are there in an apartment or home, or wherever you're watching this from. And I wanna go into how prophetic the times are that we're living in. We're seeing the signs of the times of the coming of the Lord, all around us and one of them, one of the greatest things that God is doing is He is bringing in to focus, again, in a major prophetic way, the nation of Israel.
And so, today, I'm going to talk to you about, "Israel in Prophecy". It is an amazing thing when you understand the uniqueness of the nation of Israel. This is what the Bible says in 1 Chronicles 17:21. David was praying, and he says these powerful words. "Who is like your nation Israel, one nation, God went to redeem for himself as a people". God said, "The difference between the nation of Israel and every other nation is God set out to redeem them from other nations". He said, "I choose this tiny nation". The size of about the state of New Jersey. "It'll be surrounded and it'll be that land all over the world that I could've chosen, but I choose that piece of real estate and that land, and I'm going to give it to my people. And there will be no other nation and no other people like them".
In Exodus 19:6, and why does that matter to you? Why does that matter to you? Because you've gotta remember God told Abraham, "As the stars as heaven, and as the sands of the seashore, so shall your seed be". Meaning, what you reproduce, the covenant that I'm making with you, Abraham, it will have stars in heaven, meaning, spiritual Israel, the body of Christ, the church, of every kindred, of every tongue, of every nation, of every nationality. But He said, and there will be the sands of the seashore, that is the natural Israel, the nation of Israel. Natural Israel, the Jewish people. So, the Jewish people are the sands of Abraham's vision and the stars are the church, you and I, the believers who have come and been engrafted through the blood of Jesus Christ, into God's ultimate plan.
So, as I teach this, I want you to not just think about what I'm saying about the nation of Israel, but as is true for the nation of Israel and the Jewish people, so is true for spiritual Israel, the body of Christ and the church, you and I. So, this is a parallel that cannot be separated. What God says for natural Israel, He says for spiritual Israel, precious and powerful promises. And in Exodus 19:6, God promises something to Moses. He said, "You shall be to me," this is under the Old Covenant, but we know Jesus made this a reality under the new covenant, "You shall be unto me," God's saying this to Moses, "A kingdom of priest and a holy nation".
Paul in Romans 9:4-5, lists distinctive features of the Jews in Israel. And he just begins to lay them out, he says, "Who are the Israelites"? And then, he says, "This is what they are to God". And this is under the New Covenant. This is the New Testament, Romans 9, to whom God has adopted, and you and I have been adopted. But God said, "That nation of Israel, I have adopted. And I've given them my glory. I placed my glory upon that nation, and I made a covenant with that nation. And I've given them the law of Moses. I chose that nation to manifest my character and who I am". And then, He said, "I have the priestly service that I have established". All the priesthood. It was established through the Jewish, the Israelites, and the promises of God, all the patriarchs are from that stock, and from that land.
So, when you think about it, it was the Jewish people who brought the Savior of the world to you and to I. God said, "I choose that bloodline, and that people". And I know that we need to understand that you cannot disconnect your faith and your belief from the nation of Israel, and the Jewish people. God has called us, especially in times like these to stand with the nation of Israel and with the Jewish people. And we are unashamedly a pro-Israel nation. That does not mean we do not love the Palestinians, that does not mean that we do not give aid and pray for, and support in every biblical way we can, the Arab nations.
I have in my churches that God has made me a shepherd of, so many wonderful people. I have Palestinians in our congregation, I have Iranians in our congregation, I have Egyptians. One of our worship leaders is an Egyptian, who's been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. One of my pastor's wives is a Palestinian, who is a born again, spirit filled believer. You know, they're only one, around 1,000 Christians in Gaza, in Palestine. And we forget about those people who are in harms way. We need to pray for those people and pray for the women and the children, and the innocent people that God would preserve and spare lives. I mean, they're probably are better Christians than a lot of us because for them to live as Christians with terrorists, and Hamas and killers all around them, and unashamedly say, "I'm a born again Christian, who follows a Jewish Messiah named Jesus".
So, we need to understand how powerful the nation of Israel is in God's prophetic plan. And salvation, this verse is the most astounding verse to me in the New Testament. John 4:22, as to why we should support the nation of Israel, because John 4:22, this woman, this Samaritan woman is there and Jesus starts talking to her. And she says, "My fathers worshipped in this mountain". And Jesus said, "Your fathers worship, and they didn't know what they were worshipping". But then He makes this profound statement in verse 22, he says, "But salvation is of the Jews". Five breathtaking words. No Jews, no salvation. "What does that mean? How do you say that? That almost... Be careful, pastor. I don't know about that".
Well, let's just be very practical. Without the Jewish people and the nation of Israel, there would be no Apostles, there would no Apostle Paul. There would be no New Testament because everyone of the writers of the New Testament were Jews. There would be no patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Ezekiel, Isaiah, you would have none of those, none of those dynamic teachings that have changed our lives, without the Jewish people and the nation of Israel. There would be no Bible, there would no prophets, there would be no Savior, there would be no salvation.
All of our spiritual blessings, this is why I get emotional. Because when I see students and I see people walking down the streets in New York City and screaming death to Israel, and Jewish people even in America, afraid to even let anybody know that they are Jewish because they're afraid they will be harmed and even a culture on the universities in America that is antisemitic. Something in the life, and the spirit, and in the heart of the believers across the nation and around the world needs to be stirred up in an hour like this to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and for those precious people. We owe them. The uniqueness of Israel is Israel's history was completely from beginning to end foretold in prophesy. No other nation is found like that in this book we call the word of God.
There are 16 predictions concerning the nation of Israel in scripture. It begins when Israel was not even a nation and God's prophesying through His prophets saying, that they would go into slavery into Egypt. And then, it says that they would come out of slavery, and this is another prophesy with the wealth of Egypt. Well, that happened just like God said, "By the blood of the lamb". And they came out and the Bible said, "God put favor on 'em and they gave their wealth". Why? Because God had a plan to build a city called Jerusalem and a nation called Israel. God said that they would take possession of the land of Canaan before they were ever even a people. Abraham hadn't even had a baby yet, and Sarah had... And he never has, but Sarah had not had a baby yet, and God said, "They will possess the land of Canaan".
What is the land of Canaan? Right where they're fighting right now. God said, they will possess it and does that mean God doesn't love the other people? Absolutely loves them, He gave His only begotten son for whole world. But I'm a Gentile and I have to understand God can choose who He wants. He can use people where He wants, how He wants, and He does not ask for your permission or my permission and you can wrestle with God, and meddle, and argue, and say, but what about this and what about that? Your arms are too short to box with God. So, what you have to do is, you have to say, "I just trust the God of all earth will do right. He's a just God, He's a good God".
And this is what He said in Genesis 12:3. And I see some young people here, young college students and so on. If you don't remember any other verse besides John 3:16, I want you to remember this one, and it's real easy to memorize, Genesis 12:3, just say, 1-2-3, and you got that one. Genesis 12:3, God said, "I will bless the family, I will bless the nation, I will bless the individual, I will bless the church. I will bless those that bless Israel, and I will curse those that curse Israel". I'mma tell you, I'm not exaggerating one bit. When the Lord opened up my eyes to that... And I've always loved Israel, and we were taught in church to love Israel so, that was nothing new to me. But I guess, about 15 or 20 years ago something clicked with me, and the Lord said, "When you favor what I have favored, and you bless what I have blessed, there will come back..."
And I didn't do it for blessing, I did it because God touched me and I knew I was called to do it, just like you all. And we began to bless the nation of Israel. We began to build fortified playschools, and bomb shelters, and synagogues, and fire stations, and fire houses and buy fire trucks, and we didn't know what we were doing. I look back on it now, I didn't understand, but right in the area where God told us to go down on the Gaza strip, there's a massive wall there and there's a very isolated group of people, it's the very spot where the terrorists blew up the wall and started moving in. And they killed 40 children in that little town. Many of them go to the school that we built there. That is fortified steel, and a bomb shelter. And we build a fire station there and we put fire trucks there, and all of that was God saving lives and there's no question.
And my point to that is this, when we begin to do that that's when God began to pour out an acceleration of blessing on this ministry. Thirteen predictions have taken place, the desolation, or the destruction of the first temple is another one. Solomon built. The destruction of the second temple that Herod built, Jesus Christ, Himself in Luke 24, prophesied that the Roman empire would crumble and there would not be left one stone on top of the other in Jerusalem. The persecution from the Gentiles, the re-gathering from all nations. Israel was scattered, all of this is prophesied... Here's my point, 13 predictions, that's an 81% fulfillment of prediction. Thirteen out of sixteen have happened and only three have not happened, but this is what is amazing concerning the times in which we're living.
And when you turn on the television, you're watching the war between Hamas and Israel right now. You need to understand that there are three predictions that have not taken place. Thirteen, miraculously have been fulfilled. And what are those three? The three that have not been fulfilled is He said that, He would gather all nations to war against Israel. That has not happened yet, but look at what we're seeing. We're seeing Iran, which is Persia. Again, it's not the precious people, it's evil spiritual wickedness in high government places that rule those areas and cause them to hate Israel.
But you see, and this is all in the book of Ezekiel 38, you see Russia, Gog and Magog, you see Iran, which is Persia. You see Turkey, who just met and are threatening. They have a radical new leader in Turkey, who is saying that they will get in war. And then, you have the kings of the east, China, North Korea. China is loving what is taking place. You have Putin, who is so hateful toward America because we have been aiding the Ukraine. And so now, he goes and gets with Iran and you see how we're moving towards all nations. And they're not focused over somewhere else in the part of the world. On one little area of planet earth, the size of New Jersey. All of it's gonna come down to World War III. It's happening even as we speak. The other thing is God said, "I'll cause a supernatural revelation in Zechariah 12 to come to the Jewish people".
Right now they're blinded according to Romans 11, they cannot see. Even though they're there, they do not believe Jesus Christ is Messiah, but things will get so bad and they will look so hopeless, and be so surrounded by millions and millions of armies. Two hundred million men army. How does that happen? Nations come together. It is happening, and I don't know how soon, I don't know what's gonna happen next, but what I'm trying to get you to understand, if you're watching this telecast, is you don't have as much time as you think you have. You don't understand that the next thing that is gonna happen before that war comes to pass, according to the scripture in 1 Corinthians 15:52, and 1 Thessalonians 4:16.
The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye. The church will be raptured, will be caught up, and we'll meet the Lord in the air and we'll go and then we'll begin the great tribulation. God's plan for Israel is they shall possess the land. And He says, "When I put them back in that land", one of the prophets, Isaiah said, "I'm going to put them back in the land a second time, my hand will set them in the land a second time". What is that about? And let me close with this. The first time that God set 'em in the land, they were taken into Babylonian captivity by Nebuchadnezzar and his army. The city was destroyed. God said, "I'll set them back in the land a second time".
And that happened on May 14, 1948. When the nation of Israel was reborn and suddenly, God's time clock began to accelerate in a way we can't even imagine. He said in Matthew 24, "The generation that sees the reviving of the fig tree," What happened? World War II, Hitler, you remember? And the people were so decimated and emaciated, the pictures of the Holocaust, as they were starved to death, all their wealth was taken, but God sovereignly moved and fulfilled Isaiah 66, in a day, a nation will be born, because the nation of Israel, through the United Nations was given that land. And that fulfilled, perhaps the greatest prophesy, even greater than bringing Israel out of Egyptian bondage is one that happened in the generation in which you are a part.
And Jesus said that generation will not pass away... The generation according to Psalm 90 is 70 years, maybe 80, if by strength or they could live a little longer. So, He leaves it, and "When is Jesus coming, Pastor Franklin"? Of the day and the hour, no man knows, but Jesus said, "I'll let you know the season. When you know the fig tree," the nation of Israel, "being reborn know that the time is near and my hand is on the door. I'm about to open the door that John saw and say", He said, "I looked up and I saw a door in heaven, and it said, 'Come up here.'" Hallelujah.
Are you ready? Are you ready for the coming of the Lord? You're sitting there watching me. Something in you saying, "I know I'm not ready". You may be backslid, you may be far from God, you may be, your family may be falling to pieces, your marriage may be in bad, bad shape today, and you know your family is lost and it's been a long time since you've even felt God's presence. But for some reason today, you're watching me on this telecast, and I wanna tell you, get ready. I'm wanting to tell you, it's time to be ready. I wanna tell you that this is the hour that you can know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and be ready for His soon return. And I wanna pray for you today. Pray this prayer right where you are. Everybody in this room repeat after me:
Lord Jesus, I believe You are the Messiah.. You are God. And I give you my life. I believe you died. You took my sins. You took my curse and you nailed it to the cross when you died on that cross. And you rose three days later and today, I receive you as my Lord and Savior. Wash me in your blood". Say this, "Lord, help me and my family to be ready for your soon return. Help me to stand and know who you are and what you have in Jesus name, amen.