Will God’s Land be Divided?
In June this year, the United Nations will vote on the future of Judea and Samaria. The expectation is that a majority of member states will advise to take this part of the holy land from Israel.
The nations of the world use different terms to refer to this territory. They call it the ‘West Bank’ or ‘the Occupied Territories’ or the ‘Palestinian Territories’.
It formed part of the Mandate for Palestine (1922-1948), in which a Jewish homeland was to be established. When the Arabs did not accept the so-called partition plan in 1947 (because they did not want to recognise a Jewish state), the Arabs invaded and Jordan occupied the area in the ensuing war. Jordan’s occupation and subsequent annexation was only recognised by Great Britain and Pakistan, lasting until 1967. When numerous Arab states attacked Jerusalem that year in another attempt to wipe Israel off the map, Israel conquered the area—and more. Israel was prepared to give up the area of Judea and Samaria in exchange for peace and recognition, but their offers were repeatedly refused. You may wonder why the ‘now so desired’ Palestinian state was not formed between 1948 and 1967? One reason is that the so-called Palestinian people had yet to be born.
The heartland of Israel
In the Bible the Promised Land is referred to as God’s inheritance. In fact, it does not even belong to the people of Israel (Leviticus 25:23). Therefore, they cannot do whatever they want there. It is given to God’s people to live there in the presence of God and to honour Him. It is God’s bridgehead on earth, the centre of the world where God’s Kingdom will one day come, and the temple will be a house of prayer for all nations. The sages of Zion say that it is the site of paradise. That does indeed seem to be the case. There are various allusions to it in the Bible. Isaiah 51, for example, speaks of the land that was destroyed and will once again become the Garden of Eden (Isaiah 51:4). God calls it the navel of the earth (Ezekiel 38:12).
“The biblical heart of Israel is deeply connected to the identity of the Jewish state.”
The Promised Land is holy, different from the rest of the world, God’s eyes are constantly upon it (Deuteronomy 11:12). You could say that the land has three degrees of holiness: First, there is the desert in the south with the Dead Sea and Galilee, the north with the sources of the Jordan and the lake and Mount Hermon, and the coastal strip with Jaffa and Caesarea. Second, you have the heartland of Israel where famous places from biblical history are situated: Gilgal, Bethel, Hebron, the town with the graves of Abraham and Sarah and the other patriarchs and matriarchs, Bethlehem, where Ruth lived, and David was born. There also are the mountain of the curse and of the blessing, Gerizim, where Joshua recited God’s commandments to the tribes of Israel, Sichem and Shilo, where the tabernacle once stood and where the young Samuel served God. In short, the biblical heart of Israel is deeply connected to the identity of the Jewish state. But third, the holiest of all, is Jerusalem, the city of the great King.
Topographical Map of Israel. Cutout of terrain model of the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Copyright: Central Intelligence Agency 1994 | Photo: Library of Congress Geography and Map Division
Zion
When the Palestinian territories are discussed, many Christians probably do not realise that the old city of Jerusalem is also part of the territory that the UN wants to give to the Palestinians. Isaiah and Jeremiah spoke there, God’s house on earth was there, on the Temple Mount. The Mount of Olives is where the Messiah will return. Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead there, the Holy Spirit was poured out there, God’s Kingdom will come there and the heavenly Jerusalem will descend to earth. No other place is so holy and important. Soon there will be no Jews allowed there! Because a Palestinian state will be an apartheid state.
This is a spiritual war. After Auschwitz, the destruction of God’s people, the city around which the future of the world revolves must now be torn out of God’s land. That is the plan of the ruler of the world.
God knows
The Lord knows His people’s age-old longing for Zion: “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill… if I do not raise up Jerusalem, my joy is not full”
(Psalm 137:5,6).
Yet one of Israel’s prophets prophesies that the land will be divided by the nations. Joel writes that God speaks of “My land that they have divided” (Joel 3:2). And the Lord says that the nations will try to remove Jerusalem from its place (Zechariah 12:1-6).
We live in an extremely prophetic time, God asks us what we will do now that the world is plotting all of this, and we wonder what the Lord will do. Will He break the counsel of the nations and frustrate the thoughts of the peoples? (Psalm 33:10). Or are we on the threshold of a new era and will the Holy One of Israel appear in His glory before the gates of Zion? (Zech. 14:4 and 5).
