Part 1 of 6 – Israel's God-Given Destiny

Equipping God's Saints (Followers of Christ) through the Prophecies of the End Times …

There are more prophecies about the nation of Israel than almost any other nation. This next series of lessons is about Israel's God-Given Destiny. She is a “chosen nation”.

It's interesting that this little nation of Israel on the Mediterranean Sea makes up less that 1/10 of 1% of the world's population, and yet Israel is in the news day after day, week after week, month after month.

You can't really appreciate the prophecies about Israel which lie ahead of us without understanding the history of Israel. Let's go back to the beginning...

There was a man by the name of Abraham. The first 11 chapters of the Bible are devoted to 2,000 years of human history. Then comes this man, Abraham. God slams on the breaks and spends 12 chapters on one man. This shows us how important Abraham was to God in the plan of the human race.

Abraham became the father of the physical people of God upon the earth ~ The Jews, and the father of the spiritual people of God upon the earth ~ The Church. God's call to Abraham is recorded in Genesis 12: 1-3

“Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house unto a land that I will shew thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

God was calling Abraham to the Promised Land. That is the land today known as the nation of Israel. This one man is being told that every family will be blessed because of him. That gives us 2 things to remember:

1. I will bless you
2. I will bless those that bless you and curse those that curse you.

Does this still apply to the nation of Israel, the seed of Abraham, today? Actually, it does.

Let's talk about the Promised Land. There are 2 promises that God gave to Abraham.

1. The promise of the Promised Land
2. The promise of the Promised Seed

Genesis 15:12 tells us about the Promised Land:

“And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, on horror of great darkness fell upon him.”

God had told Abraham He wanted Abraham to prepare a sacrifice, lay the pieces out. When Abraham did that, that's when this darkness came on him and Abraham actually fell into a trance. Now let's look at Genesis 15: 17-18

“And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day, the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:”

Abraham had journed to the Promised Land. He was in the land of Israel when God made this promise, this unbreakable covenant saying, “unto thy seed have I given this land.” Here God gave Abraham the promise of a homeland in the nation of Israel, and He lays out the rough boundaries. From the river of Egypt in the south all the way to the Euphrates in the north.

Israel has never really had all this land except during the era of David and Solomon did they actually rule. They ruled all that land and it has not been dones since then. Israel doesn't have all that land, now, but the promise is still as valid as it has ever been.

Now let's talk about the Promised Seed in Genesis 17:19

“And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.”

This promise is being made to Abraham, who is 100 years old. Sarah is 90 years old. According to the scripture, Sarah had already gone through the change of life. For this promise to be made that she is going to have a baby after this time, it's almost as supernatural as the virgin birth that would bring forth the promised seed that God is telling Abraham about right here. Why does God do things like this? Why does God create extraordinary circumstances?

It's to get our attention. God wants to make us realize His plan is in progress. That He is doing something in the earth.

Well, sure enough, Sarah became pregnant, the baby was born and they called him Isaac. They knew this was a very special child. The whole neighborhood, everyone that knew Abraham and Sarah, I'm sure thought this was incredible. Even to the point of thinking that maybe there is something to this Abraham when he said God has given him a Promised Land and God has given him a Promised Seed.

Is God working his plan in the earth? We are going to find out as we go along that that is exactly the case. You'll want to stay tuned...

Resources: The anointing of the Holy Spirit and God Almighty, who I am accountable to. I have prayed diligently and am led to follow and support the teachings of Pastor Irvin Baxter from Endtime Ministries and his teachings of Understanding the End Times. I encourage you to visit his website at endtime.com.