Torch, Fall 1980

6 by Rev. James T. Jeremiah It has been said that the story of the Jew is the most fascinating story ever told. Certainly, the study of biblical prophecy is understandable only in the light of God's program for Israel. The history of the indestructi– ble Jew, a miracle people, is recorded in a miracle book, the Bible, and in the nation through whom came the Miracle Person, the Lord Jesus Christ. A Covenant People God made a special covenant with Israel. This covenant involved a land particularly and irrevocably promised to this people whom He has chosen for that land. In Genisis 12:7, God said to Abraham, "Unto thy seed will I give this land." Dr. John Walvoord says, 'The term land, used in the Bible, means exactly what it says. It is not talking about heaven. It is talking about a piece of real estate in the Middle East." "And the Lord said unto Abraham . . . For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever ... unto the great river, the river Euphrates ... the land wherein thou art a stranger, a// the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God" (Genesis 13:14, 15; 15:18; 17:8). In relation to these promises, Dr. Charles Stevens has well said, "Anything which God confirms by an oath is unalterable, unchangeable, and eternal." The Jew, according to God's plan, is indestructible. No one, including Pharaoh of Egypt, Hitler of Germany, or the anti– Semites in any nation, has been suc– cessful in any attempt he has made to destroy the Jew, nor do we need to fear that anyone will ever come upon the scene with sufficient power to do so. Even the antichrist will fail in his attempt. A Persecuted People Frequently, God commanded Israel to be separate from the nations among whom they lived, and He pronounced judgment when they disobeyed. In almost the last message Moses ever gave to the children of upon an immense scaffold; fagots Israel, he declared God's warning were put underneath and then set on relative to the consequences of fire. In Spain, an Inquisition was disobedience. "And the Lord shall started against the Jews. One scatter thee among all people, from specimen of torture was the "Iron the one end of the earth even unto Maiden," a crude, hollow figure of a the other . . . among these nations woman made of iron and studded shalt thou find no ease ... the Lord with long nails on the inner side. shall give thee there a trembling heart, Many Jews died in the chamber. In and failing of eyes, and sorrow of 1492, the year Columbus discovered mind . . . thou shalt fear day and night, America, all Jews were banished from and s alt have none assurance of thy Spain. In Germany, from 1933-1945, life" (Deuteronomy 28:64-67). three-fourths of the Jews in eastern Histo records show that these proph- Europe were slaughtered in the ecies have been literally fulfilled. In the great~st persecution of Jewish . . 7'"':. -·J h ·-- ·,~~ .. ·-= s ...· -·--.. '1.:"" . ·~1;¥ ..,._......, ... -·.. .,,-...... -.,~ .... ,.~.-~·-,-:.,-. mtervemng centun~~- evJS ~:.U.~u,. :~c: ., J 1~~ ...... y.;...,.. ,~.; ,,~ ......;·-..: ...:..,... ~~-- ·"·-:·s_:• ;ifi... ~:-.;~*~?il~~r; •• ~~~j~~ -"-El 11~-~ .. :.:J:·I~~: ~~t:i.oJtr ~~~~~~:: -:. ~-: :~ --- . . - . ~;;;;~::·:~~::;~,=~~~:~~=;. )! ....-:.... ~ --": .... ':~:-"' .... ::: .. ~.:;~:}.:. .. ;:·;·~:~~;·~·;·~'.: ,..~ ... -= s - --'i':t': - - -=·:.'.::.:-- ~:i: -- ·~ - .,.. :--: ... --~ - .. : .. - :~ • -::: - .. • -"- ':. -: ..-·: • -:s .... -:.:i- ....... --, ':. :· - - ... _ .....-:·-:::-.. .. '::-,··:·-ti':-.·~--·--:.... -- - - - .. :- ... - ... -· ,. ... ..... ....,!....... '. !.' ..... ---<ri1-... ... ----.}I... ........... -- ... ~ - pl.. - -::· - in every nation on J qe eart~j~'ie~- ... _: - A ~tected Pe.ople 13 AD. when _the .Roman ~r.npefor .•: _ Th<f inaestru(;:1ible Jew has been H drian made it"a'S,~ital offeac~ "for : - ~c~~~req fror;_n one end of the earth to al}' Jew to enter Jerusalem, unfitM~y- · - -theouther and is found today in every of 1948, they were without a part of the world. But Jews have not h meland of their own. lost their identity among the nations. Despised among the nations, Israel There are American Jews, British has suffered inconceivable persecu- Jews, German Jews, Italian Jews- tions. When the Romans attacked but they are Jews. It was predicted Jerusalem in 70 AD., the city was that they shall "dwell apart and shall taken and the temple destroyed. Nine not be reckoned among the nations" hundred thousand perished within a (Numbers 23:9 NAS). This prophecy month, and 100,000 Jews were taken has been literally fulfilled through a captive. Hadrian devastated Palestine period of 3,300 years to the present in 135 AD. and 580,000 Jews day. Let the Swede, German, or perished. At that time, Micah 3:12 Frenchman emigrate to the United was literally fulfilled. "Therefore shall States, and after three generations in Zion for your sake be ploughed as a the "melting pot" his nationality is field, and Jerusalem become heaps, practically erased. He is an American. and the mountain of the house as the Not so with the Jew: he retains his high places of the forest." Between racial identity. He is marked by three 1348 and 1350, the Black Death unfailing characteristics: (1) his facial swept over Europe. In Germany, the features; (2) his financial genius; (3) Jews were charged with causing it by his forefathers' names-Abraham, poisoning the wells. Terrible Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon, etc., bloodshed and carnage ensued. The are common names among our entire Jewish community in Jewish friends. Strasbourg was drawn into a square A double prophecy evident in our