Peace Talks Are Off Yet Again - GPL BULLETIN No 183
Graham Bacon
With Israeli elections coming up in next mid February, any talk of peace negotiations with the Palestinians has evaporated until at least mid 2009. For nigh on fifteen years now, we have been saying that there will be no two-state peace agreement because the Bible only refers to wars and conflict between Israel and her neighbours until Jesus Christ returns. “Because they have seduced my people, saying, ‘Peace!’ when there is no peace” (Ezekiel 13:10)….. “Peace, peace, when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 8:11).
These elections are just another in a long series of events that seem repeatedly to postpone, yet again, hopes for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian quarrel over land ownership. But these hopes are raised by people who won’t take God’s answer for real.
The verdict of Israeli victories in four desert wars is not accepted. The beating back of Israel’s enemies a dozen times since then is not respected. The childish games of publishing Middle East maps with no Israel depicted is not ridiculed as it should be. The violence and corruption of Hamas and Fatah administrations is rewarded with more millions of dollars of support. USA, Britain, the UN, and the European Community, time after time [fourteen fruitless visits by Condoleezza Rice alone], waste effort and money chasing hopeless shadows of peace in the Middle East.

Every major Muslim organization seeks the elimination of Israel. (Quotes) “Hamas Cleric: ‘Annihilation of Jews Is the Most Splendid Blessing”. Palestinian cleric Muhsen Abu ‘Ita told Al-Aqsa TV on July 13, 2008: “The annihilation of the Jews here in Palestine is one of the most splendid blessings for Palestine. This will be followed by a greater blessing, Allah be praised, with the establishment of a Caliphate.” (MEMRI).
Do they think he is joking? When will they learn? When will they realise that the future supremacy of Israel is unerringly written in ancient Bible prophecies? Hasn’t Israel survived enough times for somebody - anybody - to take notice? Israel grows bigger and stronger every year while the Palestinians suffer terrible hardships [Gaza under Hamas is a mess]. God’s judgment is “he who touches you touches the apple of His eye” Zechariah 2:8. Those who hurt Israel will not escape punishment.
But Israel is paying a price as well and this discomfort will continue into near calamity. How do we know? The Bible says so. Isaiah 63 makes it very clear that, sometime in the future, Israel is in grave trouble and needs saving. Divine intervention is the saviour….. “I looked and there was no one to help and I wondered that there was no one to uphold: therefore my own arm brought salvation” v.5.
There are three principles at work here:

• One is that Israel has been returned to the Holy Land and, although it will be reduced to desperate straits, it will never be dislodged. “I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them,” says the LORD your God.” Amos 8:14.
• The second is that the Jews, nationally and individually, largely have not yet accepted Jesus Christ as their Messiah and therefore are suffering hard times. They will accept Jesus later, “then they will look on me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son”. Zechariah 12:10.
• Thirdly, Israel’s destiny always has been, is, and will be in the hands of God. Their land will be the nucleus of the Kingdom of God on Earth with Jerusalem as its capital and the Jews, after recognising Jesus as their Messiah, are to play a key role in the coming kingdom. Jesus promised his disciples, “When the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” Matthew 19:28.

God continually superintends events in Israel and the coming elections are no exception. The new government had better prepare for war, not peace.

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