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Israel and the Nations (Part 2) <<
By Harald Eckert
We can say that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit over all flesh was prophecied and was going to be a New Testament phenomenon. It speaks about things happening in NT times.
In Acts chapter 3 verse 1 we read something very interesting: “For behold in those days and at that time…” Let’s stop here for a moment. In which days and at what time? In the days in which the Holy Spirit is poured out on all flesh. In other words, the prophet says, whatever is described next will happen in that time frame. Those days and those times. We can actually read it as follows: ‘in New Testament days and New Testament times’. “For behold, in New Testament times when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem.” Another question: When were those times that the captives of Judah and Jerusalem have been brought back? It is now! And it’s happening before our eyes!
It was not in Roman times for at that time they were dispersed, it was not in Byzantine times or in the time of the Crusaders, and it was not in the time of the Ottoman Empire. It started at the end of the Ottoman period. It basically started in the 20th century and has accelerated in the last 20 years especially from Russia and the east. 1.3 Million Jews have been brought to the land of Israel. They come from Ethiopia, they come from the north, from the south, from the east, from the west. They come from the ends of the earth and from the furthest islands of the earth. The largest inhabited island furthest away from Jerusalem, is New Zealand. I personally know some Jews from New Zealand who have made aliyah to Israel.
So, it refers to our times. We read again: “For behold, in New Testament days and New Testament times when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem..” and here it comes: “I will also gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat”. So, in New Testament times and to be more precise, towards the end of New Testament times, in the times when the captives of Judah and Jerusalem are brought back to the land of Israel, there will be a gathering of the nations. A gathering of the nations in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Other translators refer to it as the Valley of Decision. We read about this in clear terms in verse 14: “Multitudes, multitudes in the Valley of Decision. For the Day of the Lord is near in the Valley of Decision” Then we read: “The sun and the moon will grow dark. The stars will diminish their brightness…” These words are clear for those who have eyes to see, for those who have ears to hear. These are crystal clear references to the times in which we are living. The End Times. The time immediately before the return of Jesus. There will be a gathering of the nations. They will gather around Jerusalem and there God will have to judge them on the basis of Genesis 12 verse 3.
What are the criteria for the judgment of the nations? We find this mentioned in Joel directly after what we’ve read so far in the beginning of chapter 3. I shall repeat verses 1-2 before I continue: “Behold, in those New Testament days and that New testament time, in that time, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem (which is our times and time) I will also gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, which is the Valley of Decision, and I will enter into judgment with them there on account of My people, My heritage, Israel.”
Regarding the three reasons for God’s judgment of the nations, the prophet is precise and specific. They will be judged in respect of what they did with the Jewish people. The people of Israel whom they – and that is the first reason – have scattered amongst the nations. In the second instance, they have also divided My land and thirdly, they have cast lots for my people. Number one and two are pretty clear. Number three possibly needs to be explained.
Number one speaks about the ‘scattering of the Jewish people’. Historically speaking and in the first instance, it happened when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and when the large dispersion took place in 70 AD, and in 135 AD. The two rivals were crushed and scattered as also prophesied by Jesus in His End Time discourses: the scattering of the Jewish people among all the nations. It happened one to two generations after Jesus’ time but subsequently they were scattered repeatedly. They were driven out of Great Britain at the end of the 13th century. At the end of the 16th century they were driven out of Spain and Portugal. In Germany they were driven out of regions by regional leaders and kings and dukes and earls. Sometimes they were invited to settle for a generation or two and then driven out again. They drove them out time and again from different parts of Germany as well as from Eastern- and Western Europe. France drove them out at the end of the 14th century. There were dispersions in Romania, Poland, there were pogroms here and there. The dispersion is not limited to the Roman times but is an integral part of European history. If there is no repentance and no redemption, then we as Europeans should be very concerned about the fate of our nations in the light of the history that lies behind us. Countries outside Europe, such as Africa, of course, has a different history in that respect.
The second criteria, namely the ‘division of the land’, is a current and acute matter. There is pressure on Gaza, Judea, Samaria and even Jerusalem to be divided and those who are putting pressure on Israel to do so, are on a collision course with the Word of God as it is spelled out here. There is grave danger in what the United States of America, the European Union and all the other nations are doing in order to add to the pressure on Israel to divide the land. It is dangerous for both Israel and those they give in to. We have to pray for Israel that they will remain strong and steadfast. This is the second criteria for judgment.
The third and last one mentioned here is ‘casting lots for My people’. This has been well explained in prophetic language: “You have given a boy as payment for a harlot and sold a girl for wine that they may drink”. What is meant by this prophetic language? I would suggest that what is meant is this: Jewish lives have been regarded to be worth little by the nations. They were completely worthless during the Holocaust in Germany and wherever Germany was in charge. A prostitute was worth more than the life of a Jewish man or woman. And that is what is being referred to here. A Jewish life was not worth more than the fee it cost to go into a harlot or the price of a bottle of wine that could be consumed within an hour. Jewish life is treated cheaply. These are thus the three criteria for judging the nations: Scattering the Jewish people, dividing the land and esteeming and treating Jewish life cheaply.
The prophet Zechariah is more precise and gives a framework and context. We read in Zechariah chapter 12 verse 9: “It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem”. It is evident in this verse that the prophet Zechariah talks about exactly the same thing: The gathering of the nations against Jerusalem and then the judgment of the nations that have gathered against Jerusalem. It cross-references with Joel 3.
Now, let us take a closer look at the overall scenario. It is written in Zechariah 12:2-3: “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.” Zechariah 12: 9-10: It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced.”
Zechariah 13:1: “In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.”
Zechariah 14:2-4: “For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; The city shall be taken, The houses rifled, And the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then the LORD will go forth And fight against those nations, As He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives.”
Wow, what a scenario! What a picture. Let me rephrase this in order for us to better understand the deeper meaning.. Phase one: that’s chapter 12 verse 2. It speaks of the surrounding nations and about Jerusalem being a cup of trembling. There are different ways to understand that cup but in the language of the prophets in antique times, a cup of trembling was more or less generally understood to be a cup of wine which contained poison or drugs. It caused the most terrible lunacy. It was also a way for someone to take their own life as Socrates did or to take to take the life of someone else. It was a common way to kill a king or an unpleasant person. Cup of trembling. Cup of poisoned or drugged wine that causes you to lose your mind. Causes you to become crazy, irrational, furious and difficult to deal with. Jerusalem becomes that cup for the surrounding nations. Does that ring a bell? Have you been watching the news and reading the newspapers?
The surrounding nations are irrational. They are in a state of mind that is impossible to handle with Western diplomacy. Their state of mind prevents all rational dialogue. If you read about the uproar resulting from publication of the Mohammed cartoons in Denmark - not that I think publishing them was a particularly clever thing to do - but the response was absolutely irrational and, dare I say it, almost demonic. The type of fury that it unleashed from the neighboring Islamic-Arabic countries, including Iran, was absolutely irrational. Jerusalem is that prophetic ‘cup of trembling’ or ‘cup of fury’ that causes you to lose your mind if you drink from it. And the full power and the full involvement of the conflict is still before us. Conflict around Jerusalem.
Regarding the neighboring nations, they are characterized by being irrational. Being out of their minds concerning the issue of Jerusalem. That’s verse 2. Now, in verse 3 we have a different description. Jerusalem is again referred to but in this instance not only the surrounding nations are referred to, but all the nations. It’s the next phase. It’s the phase we are coming up to vey quickly in my understanding.
And then a different picture is used to represent Jerusalem. It is not the cup of trembling any more. Now it’s a heavy, burdensome stone. A stone that someone wants to displace. As far as I understand prophetic language in this instance, it’s a border stone. And the nations of the world are united in their effort to change a border stone that God Himself has set there. God has set this stone. God has set, revived and repopulated Jerusalem. God has given back dignity to Jerusalem. He is rebuilding Jerusalem back to its original status, calling and meaning to the world. When we read Isaiah 62 – pray for Jerusalem and He has set watchmen around the walls of Jerusalem – we are to pray for the promises of God concerning Jerusalem to come into completion, fulfillment and fruition. And “Jerusalem” means, in the first instance, the physical city Jerusalem.
This is what’s happening in our time. A hundred years ago Jerusalem was a meaningless city in the desert of Judea and apart from religion, politically speaking, it was completely irrelevant to the 20,000 or 30,000 inhabitants. Not of any relevance, apart from religious reasons to anybody. Newspapers in the 1880’s or the 1890’s would refer to Jerusalem once or twice a year. And then it was a territorial report. That’s it. Completely opposite to today.
But.. what are the nations up to? They want to change the status of Jerusalem. God has given Jerusalem the status of a priestly city, a prophetic city, the city of the Great King who will return to Jerusalem and more precisely, to the Mount of Olives, as we’ve just read. And the nations do not like that status. They want to change that status. They want to internationalize and divide it, or whatever they have in mind. And that, in prophetic language, is changing the significance of the stone that God has set in Jerusalem. They want to change that stone. But God has said that whoever tries to put that stone, which is very heavy, in some other place, will be wounded. And that is exactly what is meant when it says in verse 9: ‘it shall be that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem’. There will be judgment for peoples, tribes and nations who try to change the status that God has set as a cornerstone, as a boundary stone. Whoever tries to change that, will be injured.
This is the context of time within which we are living. It is written in verse 10 that one day, in the middle of this End Time conflict, the spirit of grace and supplication will be poured out. The Holy Spirit will be poured out on the whole nations. On the surrounding nations and all nations. In a very special and unique way. And they will see Him whom they have pierced. And the fountain will open up, cleansing of sin and of unrighteousness. (Zechariah 13:1) It is the same fountain that cleanses us from our uncleanness. That is the blood of Jesus.
But then the turmoil and conflict continues. And from what I understand in chapter 13, there is a cleansing within the Jewish people. I do not understand how 100% of the Israeli population will be saved in an instant, but there will be a national revival and a collective salvation. Israel will have a future. Israel is the ONLY nation in the world that has a Biblical promise about an eternal future. All the other nations are in danger... are in question. We don’t know yet. Depending on how they treat Israel, they will have a future or their national identity will be wiped out. As it has been in the past with many nations. Many nations that were there in Biblical times are no longer there. They have been removed. That is judgment.
Having a national identity in the redeemed way is a blessing dear friends! It is not easy sometimes for us as Europeans to grasp, but it is a blessing to live in peace with your national identity. As much as it is a blessing to have peace with your gender identity. To have peace about being a male of female is a blessing. It’s good. If you have peace within your family heritage its good and it’s a blessing. If you find peace in your national identity, it’s a blessing. If you do not have peace, it is difficult. I know what I’m talking about as a German. I came to these things in digesting our history and my personal connection with that history. It’s not nice to be restless about your identity on whatever level. So healing for the nations, that is spoken about in Revelations 22, is what I desire for my German people. I really do! And for all the peoples as far as I am concerned. But that will depend on how the German people treat Israel and the Jewish people both now and in the End Times.
The story ends when, as the nations gather around Jerusalem, Jesus himself will return and make an end to the battle. In the first part of chapter 14 we read about the judgment Jesus will bring those nations into and in the second part of the chapter we read about Jesus’ redemptive acts as King in Jerusalem. That is the scenario.
I am convinced that there is one New Testament reference, although not many see it and I’m not sure how you are going to handle it, but let’s go to Matthew chapter 25. I think it’s evident where I’m heading to… The judgment of the nations in verse 31-33: ‘When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left’. I think most of us are familiar with this parable but I also think most of us probably struggle with the full implication of this parable. At least, I did for quite a while. I really struggled with it and did not fully understand it. When reading through this familiar parable, it is quite easy to see it from the point of compassion for the weak, the poor, the naked, lonely and imprisoned.
Although I want to ensure you that none of that is irrelevant, I do want to suggest that it is not the complete meaning of the parable. In my understanding it is not even the core meaning. You see, many people, and even scholars, treat the contents of this parable of the goat and sheep on the same level as the parable of the Good Samaritan. They come to more or less the same conclusion by saying that the lesson Jesus taught in both the parables, is to be kind and love your neighbor as yourself. Yes, it is relevant and important but that is not all there is to it. Maybe it is not even the most important aspect.
Why did Jesus start the way he did? Why did He start talking about the Son of Man’s second coming in glory and all the holy angels with Him? That He will sit on his Throne of Glory which, in this instance, becomes a Throne of Judgment for those nations in question? This speaks about the second coming of Christ. That is a very clear indication you see. The parables of the Ten Virgins and the “sheep” and “goat” nations have to be seen in the context of what is spoken about in chapters 23 and 24. There Jesus talks about the birth pangs of the End Times. Diseases, upheaval and all the thing you are familiar with. Then it continues with the two parables: what to expect and how to behave in the End Times. I suggest that in the parable of the Ten Virgins He speaks about individual behavior while the parable of the sheep and goat nations refer to collective behavior. About how the nations should behave in End Times in view of the coming judgment, of the Valley of Jehoshaphat and in view of the Valley of Decision that is before them.
You see, when the Bible speaks about judgment of the nations from all the Old Testament references it is absolutely clear that is almost always has to do with how the nations treat Israel. I am convinced that this parable of Jesus builds upon the Old Testament revelation in respect of Israel and the nations especially as far as the End Times and judgment of the nations are concerned. There is a whole line of Biblical revelation that starts with Genesis 12, in the context of Genesis 9 to 12, and it runs through the Old Testament. Joel and Zechariah are the most prominent and explicit examples of this. You could go to almost any prophet and find indications within that context.
Now, why should that not be relevant in New Testament times? The nations remain relevant right up to the end. Even to the last eon that we have knowledge of (Revelation 22). Therefore, in my view, when talking about judgment in an End Time context, Jesus builds upon, and refers back to, the line of revelation and teaching of the Old Testament in respect of Israel and the nations of the Old Testament.
Let me conclude. There is an immediate question that arises when we talk about these things. On the one hand the Bible speaks about all nations being judged or coming into the Valley of Jehoshaphat and on the other hand, it talks about “sheep” and “goat” nations which imply that there is an opportunity for being spared of the judgment. How does it then fit together? I would like to give you my own personal understanding and opinion and that is how it should be taken and evaluated: I believe that there is a representation of the family of nations that is called the UN. We have recent history about how the UN can become active militarily and a prime example would be the first war against Saddam Hussein after his invasion of Kuwait. That is the first time that there was not only a UN resolution or a resolution of the Security Council and then of the Plenum. It was the first time that the UN said that a resolution is not enough. That action must be taken. And then what happened next? The vote was cast. The next question was who should participate against Saddam Hussein and Iraq and I think 13 nations participated militarily. My point is that individual nations will have a choice when it comes to the decision how to treat Israel, and in particular the question of Jerusalem. But it will take courage to go against the tide of world opinion. Will your nation have that courage when the time of decision comes? And will you, as an individual Christian in your nation, have played your role in encouraging your government to stand on the side of God’s people and His holy city?