Jentezen Franklin - Revealing Israel's Destiny - Part 3
Wow. We're so glad that you've joined us today. We're coming to you from Alpharetta, Georgia where we're opening up a new campus soon and you'll hear more about that. But I wanted to come in because of the signs of the times that are taking place all around us. I feel an urgency and a need to teach the body of Christ all that I can, with any influence that I have, the importance of standing with and supporting the nation of Israel. I wanna say something strong right now, when a church, when a nation, or when a family decides to bless the nation of Israel, there is absolutely a supernatural blessing that will come upon that church, that nation, or that family or individual that makes the decision to bless what God has blessed.
Genesis 12:3, "I will bless those who bless you," on the other hand, "I will curse you," it goes on to say, "I will curse those that curse you, Israel". The Pharaoh in Egypt in Joseph's time, understood this concept of blessing Israel. Let me show you why. I don't know if he knew exactly what he was doing, but he kicked in the principle of when you find in favor and bless what God has blessed in favor, a blessing will come on you. The Bible said, "Joseph and the Jewish people were given by Pharaoh the richest farming land in Egypt called Goshen".
It was the most prosperous, fruitful part of Egypt and there was only one reason why a heathen Pharaoh king would do that. It was because Joseph had interpreted the dream, and had told the king of Egypt that famine was coming and told him how to get through it, not only get through it but thrive, not just survive, thrive in a time of economic disaster. And he was so grateful because Joseph told him to store up corn for seven years, and then he got people to sell their real estate and give it to the king of Egypt and he became the richest man on planet earth with the mightiest army, and Egypt had the strongest economy on the planet.
This is not even debatable, it's historical facts. Because a nation... Because of that, this man felt, this Pharaoh said, "I'm going to bless you, Joseph and your descendants," which would ultimately become the nation of Israel. Egypt became so powerful because the leadership of that nation blessed the Jewish people. God, help us to have leadership in Washington, D.C. and in every nation that never turns their back on the nation of Israel.
When Joseph and Mary fled from Herod when he was killing all the first born, you remember Joseph and Mary? I'm talking about another Joseph now, Joseph, the stepfather of Jesus and Mary the virgin. They fled somewhere, they fled to Egypt, why? Because they knew that there was someone who would favor the Messiah, the Jewish child that they were carrying. When Joseph and that family of 70 fled, the family of 70 grew and multiplied in Egypt for 430 years. Listen to me carefully, Egypt was the womb for Israel. As long as Pharaoh was blessing Israel, Egypt was blessed, it was the mightiest army, it was the richest nation, it had unbelievable success in every way.
But the text says in Genesis, "There arose another Pharaoh in Egypt," after that one passed away, "Who knew not Joseph or his God". And he said, "I will curse those people, they're growing too fast. they're becoming too populous. I'm gonna knock them out. I'm gonna stop them". And he even told the handmaidens, "If it's a male child, kill it when it's born right from the womb". He began to curse the Jewish people. He enslaved the Jewish people. He made their lives miserable. If you don't hear anything else, if you're watching me, wherever you're watching me, I'm telling you the secret to blessed life and favor of God. What you do to the Jewish people, God will do to you. What you do to the nation of Israel, God will do to you.
Pharaoh drowned the Jewish sons in the Nile River, so God drowned the Egyptian army and Pharaoh in the Red Sea. The most powerful dictator in the world was washed up with his chariots and his army and economic collapse happened when the Pharaoh decided, leadership of a nation decided to curse Israel, and they never have recovered from that thing yet. God loves the Egyptians, we love the Egyptians. I'm not talking about people here, that all of us are the same in God's eyes. I'm talking about spiritual principles that you need to understand. And most of the time, it's wicked leadership that causes the people to suffer.
Whether it's in Haiti, or wherever it is, I've seen one thing, when people are suffering, it's demonic, wicked leadership, just like what we're seeing in the Middle East right now with the Palestinian people. Hamas are evil, demonic, demonically inspired terrorists and the people suffer because of it. You have to bless Israel. I want you to understand that because Pharaoh persecuted Israel and the Jewish people, God sent ten plagues and wiped out the economy. The wealth and military power of Egypt disappeared overnight. The same thing happened with the Babylonian empire. Nebuchadnezzar was powerful and invaded Israel and wiped out the nation of Israel. Took 10,000 young people who were the brightest and the sharpest, took 'em back to Babylon, used their talents and gifts to build his own nation and God saw it and God said, "I'm gonna wipe the..."
And the Babylonian empire is gone. Same thing happened to the Roman Empire. They crucified the seed, Jesus, and that nation was gone. Same thing happened to Nazi, the Nazi empire and Hitler. He decided to curse what God had blessed and God said, "I'll bless those that bless you, Israel, but if you wanna put 'em in the concentration camps, if you wanna put the Jews and murder six million of them, then I will curse those that curse Israel". Be careful what you say on social media, be careful what you say just 'cause everybody's on the bandwagon. Know the Bible, know the word of God, live by the scriptures more than you live by what's popular or what the latest fad is. The Jewish people have given us the word of God. The Jewish people have given us the patriarchs.
In Romans 11 under the New Testament, it says this, it says, it's a warning to Christians, "Do not boast against a tree's roots," because the roots of our Christianity are, it comes from Judaism. And He said, "Don't get to a point, body of Christ, where you think that Israel is just", and this is pretty much theology in many, many pulpits, "They're just nothing, they're just another land and they're just another people". He said, listen to Romans, the Apostle Paul puts it brilliantly, he says, "The branches don't support the roots". He said, "The roots support the branches". And you can't have Christianity without Judaism and you're not to act like you... I know it's all in Christ.
There's no bigger preacher about the name of Jesus and how I feel about who Jesus is, but I also know that I cannot curse the roots just because I've been the engrafted branch that's producing fruit right now. And then, he goes on and he says in John 4:22, Jesus said "The reason you don't curse them is because salvation is of the Jews". How in the world do we praise the Jews of the past, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and we curse the Jews of the present? It's the same stock. It's the same lineage. We ignore the Jews that are alive and get very write songs, God. "I'm praying to the God of Abraham..."
Folks, I'm trying to get you to understand, you can't be a Christian and not understand all of this whole book. When Jesus comes back, He's not coming back to New York city. He's not coming back to Washington, D.C. I'm not talking about the rapture, that happens and then there's the second return where He will physically come back. He's not gon' come back to London, England. He's not gonna come back to Sydney, Australia. He's gonna come back to those old, rocky hills of the Mount of Olives and He'll touch down there and He's gonna set up His kingdom in Jerusalem, Israel.
When you read the Old Testament, it's God's will concealed. But when you read the New Testament, it's God's will revealed. Joseph and Jesus both have the same Hebrew root word name. Joseph of the Old Testament is the same in Hebrew as Jesus of the New Testament. The word "Joseph" means "Savior". Joseph saved the world from starvation. Jesus saved the world from sin and Satan. Joseph was his father's favorite son, that's why he made him a coat of many colors. Jesus was His father's only begotten son. Joseph was rejected by his own brothers. They threw him in a pit. Jesus went into His own and His own received Him not. Joseph was left in a pit for dead and Jesus was thrown into a grave and left for dead. But Joseph was raised from the pit and put in the palace at the right hand of Pharaoh, the most powerful man in the world.
And Jesus was raised from the grave and put at the right hand of the Father with a name that has been given to him above every other one. And then, when you understand Zechariah 12:10, you'll understand when Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, it was a big moment. How did his brothers... Joseph, you remember the story of Joseph? You'll remember how that his brothers did him so wrong and he goes to Egypt and he ends up having the keys to the corn and he's powerful.
How in the world did he get to where he was? And the Bible said, "When the famine hit, Joseph's brothers came looking for bread and he disguised himself". He wore Egyptian clothes, he had the Egyptian culture all over him. He looked like an Egyptian and his own brothers because he had, I'm sure he had changed over a 20 year period or ever how long it was, 13 years maybe, but he had changed and they didn't even recognize him, they probably didn't get to get that close to him. And when they saw him, they didn't even recognize. But it was on the third visit, they came one time, two times, and then they came back on the third visit and on the third visit, Joseph went behind the curtain, and he broke, and he wept, and he took his disguise off, and he showed them who he was, and they began to weep.
Well, this ought to bless you. There have been three times that God has allowed Israel to be visited. Joshua took 'em over into the promise land, first time. Cyrus said, the king of Babylon, "Go back," after 70 years, "Go back and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, and the temple and all that you wanna do". After 70 years, that's the second visit. And what I'm wanting you to understand is there's a third visit and I believe it began in 1948. I believe when the nation of Israel was so scattered all over the world, this is in Ezekiel 36, it was a prophecy that they would be scattered, the Jewish people would be scattered all over the world. And then, it comes in even clearer prophecy in Ezekiel 37 because in that moment, Ezekiel sees a valley of dry bones, he sees a nation so decimated that it looks like that it's an army and bones are strown all over that valley.
And the Bible said he was asked a question, "Can these bones ever live again? Can this nation ever come to life again"? They're so scattered, what is that about? World War II, Hitler, after the holocaust, they were scattered all over the world, but something in the hearts, and by the way, this is in Ezekiel 36, God said, "I'll put it in their heart and they'll wanna start coming back to the land, they'll wanna start coming back to the nation". But there was no Israel, how would they do that?
Isaiah 66, "A nation will be born in a day". United Nations voted on it and said, "Give 'em their own land, these poor, pitiful people. They look like a valley of dry bones. I doubt it'll make it, I doubt they'll make it. They're so scattered, they're so messed up, they're so emaciated, they're so destroyed, they've been in the concentration camps, they've lost all their wealth, they have nothing. They probably won't make it, but give 'em the land". It was the third visit. But I wanna tell you, when God started resurrecting Israel, and this is so important, especially when you watch the news today. This is why this war that's going on that you see, they should read Ezekiel 37 because when the prophets saw the third and final time that God would raise the nation up, He did not raise them up as beat up victims.
He raised them up and He said, "And I saw bone come to bone, I saw breath come into the bone, flesh come on the", and he said, "And I saw a mighty army". That was the description he gave. In other words, those bunch of people who have been brutalized and put into Egyptian slavery, and put into Babylonian slavery, and they should have been wiped out and Hitler tried to wipe 'em out, everybody hates them. And it's still going on even now because the anti-Christ is anti-Christ and anti-Semitic. And if you're part of that spirit, you're probably gon' be anti-Bible and anti-Christian. Who's on the Lord's side? He said, "I saw a mighty army being raised up". I believe that the haters of Israel better realize they're not a bunch of victims anymore.
And I conclude with this, there's coming a day according to Zechariah 12:10, after the third visit, that's when... And it's interesting, before he revealed himself to the Jews, to his brothers, a type of the Jewish people, Messiah, showing himself, the Bible said he dismissed the Egyptians. He said, "Go away, Gentiles. Go away". That is a picture in the Old Testament of right before revival hits the nation of Israel and they see Jesus for who they really are because right now, He's disguised to them. Zechariah 12:10 said, "And when they see him", I gotta finish that part. Right before this happens, there's gonna be a disappearance of the Christian church. Are you hearing me? That's called "The catching away, the Rapture".
1 Thessalonians 4, now listen to what's gonna happen immediately after. The anti-Christ will come on the scene for three and a half years, chaos, the Bible calls it, "The Great Tribulation". The economy will collapse, he'll set up one world economy, you won't be able buy or sell, according to Revelation 14, without the mark of the beast 666, somehow. They didn't have all this computer stuff and all that when the writer saw this. And I used to hear the old preachers preach on this and I thought, "That's the craziest thing". Now, after COVID, they're in major cities. I was in Washington, D.C. and I couldn't get a meal 'cause I didn't take the shot. I had to show 'em my card to be... I said, "I'm hungry, I just got off a plane". They said, "Sorry, you got the card"?
The same is true in Los Angeles, same is true all over the place. And it was a trial run. I'm not against or for it, I'm just, this is my body, you do what you want to do with your body, I'll do what I wanna do with mine. I'm not saying it's wrong or right. Some of my family did take it, some of 'em didn't. I'm just telling you the bottom line is this, we're seeing it, one world currency, one world government. Even America is being diminished more and more and more and more as a superpower. You see these allegiances in one world religion. "Bow your knee or we'll cut your head off. Bow your knee and take the mark of the beast or you won't be able to buy or sell," according to Revelation.
So, what's gonna happen to those Jewish people three and a half years into that kind of environment? And you see the anti-semitism now raising its head. Multiply massively and they will be the most hated people on the earth and God will draw all nations to come destroy Israel. And in that moment, Zechariah 12:10, "And they will see Him whom they have pierced," crucified, "And they will weep as one who weeps for their own son seven days". Why? Because they'll see the scars on His body and they'll know He, Jesus, is the Messiah. Well, our time is gone, but I know that I know that I know you're watching this program today for a divine purpose. You don't have to be here during all of that.
One out of every thirty verses in the New Testament is saying "He's coming, be ready". It is a direct reflection or a prophecy concerning Messiah is coming, one out of thirty. Imagine going on a trip and every 30 miles you see a sign, let's say a 1,000-mile trip and every 30 miles you see a sign saying, "It's coming, it's coming, it's coming". You might ought to take note. If you read the New Testament, it's not just about going to Heaven someday. He's coming again, are you ready? Pray this prayer with me, pray it over your family, pray it over... Think of people that you have influence with, are you witnessing? Do you feel the need to tell others? Do you feel? Are they ready? Is your brother, your sister, your mom, your dad? It's time to get ready for the soon return of Jesus Christ. Pray this prayer:
Lord Jesus, I give you my life. I surrender to you. I believe that your blood, it was perfect blood, it was innocent blood, it was sinless blood, it washes me, it cleanses me. It covers me and my family. And I just plead your blood over me and my family. Help us to be washed in it and be overcomers through it. By the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, in Jesus' name. Amen.