God’s way links the physical world to the spiritual world so we would understand beyond our senses. Hebrews 8:5a speaking of the Tabernacle Moses built says… “5 They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven” (NLT).

God’s love for Israel shows us God’s love for the church today… God is the same yesterday, today and forever, therefore God’s faithfulness towards Israel today should encourage us to believe God’s faithfulness towards the church.

God’s heart is for the whole world to be saved (John 3:16, 2 Peter 3:9 and 1 Tim 2:4. As Jesus came for the Jewish people, their rejection of Him meant that He opened His arms to the whole world.

When I talk about the Mountains of Israel, I am talking about the West Bank as these are one and the same region, and as I am coming from the Biblical perspective I will be referring to the Mountains of Israel. It was the Muslim people who renamed the the Mountains of Israel… the West Bank.

God promised the Mountains of Israel (“the West Bank”) to the Jewish people. The Jewish people are the descendants of Jacob, the Muslim people are the descendants of Ismael and Esau.

Ismael was Sarah’s idea (man’s plan) and Ismael was the first born out of Hagar (Sarah’s hand maiden), but Isaac was God’s idea and to make sure Abraham and Sarah knew that Isaac was God’s idea, He waited until it was physically impossible for them to have a child. Isaac was conceived out of His chosen man and woman in God’s chosen time when Abraham was 100 years old, and Sarah had well passed the age of childbearing (God’s plan).

Here is what the Bible says:

“I will confirm my covenant with you (Abraham) and your descendants after you, from generation to generation. This is the everlasting covenant: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you. And I will give the entire land of Canaan where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God.” (Genesis 7-8 NLT)

For your information, the land of Canaan in the time of the promise to Abraham stretched from the Negev (80 miles east from the river Nile) to beyond the river Jordan, one third east into Jordan.

So Abraham said to God, “May Ishmael live under your special blessing!” But God replied, “No—Sarah, your wife, will give birth to a son for you. You will name him Isaac, and I will confirm my covenant with him and his descendants as an everlasting covenant. As for Ishmael, I will bless him also, just as you have asked. I will make him extremely fruitful and multiply his descendants. He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will be confirmed with Isaac, who will be born to you and Sarah about this time next year.” (Genesis 17:18-21 NLT)

Abraham thought the promise was for Ishmael, but God made it quite clear he referred to his descendants that would come after him in the future, by faith, Isaac and Jacob. But God none the less promised fruitfulness for Ishmael.

Today we can see the fruitfulness in Ishmael’s descendants, the Arab and the Muslim countries. They have 500 times more land and they are in no less than 17 countries, and that is not all, those countries possess a majority of petrol too.

Remember… Ishmael was Sarah’s plan whereas Isaac was God’s plan.

Here is another promise of God to Joshua…

“Moses my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them. I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you— from the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, including all the land of the Hittites.’ No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.” (Joshua 1:2-5 NLT)

Israel’s land belongs to God… God’s chosen borders for His people, the Israelites, goes way beyond the Mountains of Israel.

For your information, the Euphrates river runs in the middle of modern day Iraq.

After the Diaspora (the dispersion of the Jewish people) the land became desolate until the Jewish people returned, God’s way of putting it on “hold” until the return of the Israelites…

14 I will bring my exiled people of Israel back from distant lands, and they will rebuild their ruined cities and live in them again. They will plant vineyards and gardens; they will eat their crops and drink their wine. 15 I will firmly plant them there in their own land. They will never again be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the Lord your God. (Amos 9:14-15 NLT)

God himself calls his people back to their land.

In Ezekiel 36:8 God promises that”…the Mountains of Israel will produce heavy crops of fruit for my people - for they will be coming back home again soon! (Ezekiel:36:8 NLT).

In 1948 Israel was founded…

In 1967, Israel was attacked, and in self-defence drove their enemies beyond the Jordan river.

The Mountains of Israel have never really been completely deserted by the Jewish people , even when the land became desolate, there always remained a remnant. In fact some of the Palestinian Muslims today have Jewish ancestors but had been forced to become Muslims at some point, other Arab people settled there because they were employed by the Jewish community and a lot of other Arabs were nomads, not having a fixed address.

The Jewish people and the muslim people are cousins. From the very beginning of the new state of Israel the Muslim people wanted to exterminate Israel.

This is the jealousy that caused the highest Worship angel, Lucifer, to become jealous of God and fall out of Heaven. This is the jealousy that motivated Cain to kill Abel, and this is the same jealousy that caused Esau (Gen 27:41) to desire to kill Jacob (who had his name changed to Israel by God). By the way, to the Muslims, Christians are known as the people of The Book.

So this is the test…

This test is set before each and everyone of us. When someone else is doing really well and being blessed, are we pleased for them or are we jealous of what they have. This is the test we all must pass to get into Heaven: accepting to celebrate with our brothers and sisters who were not saved for as long as we have been saved and be glad to welcome them into heaven. It is the test of the older brother in the Prodigal son who rejects the Father’s invitation to join in his brother’s celebration.

God is not restoring Israel because the Jewish people deserve it, He is restoring it for His Name’s sake and for His glory so everyone can see that the God of Israel and the God of the Christians is the only true God.

There is only one way to be saved, and it is not because we deserve anything, salvation is all God’s grace, and true grace produces a response in our hearts back towards God.

May I remind you that God’s will is that all will be saved… Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, New Age, Atheist, through Jesus. It is God’s master plan to save the whole world He created.

In 1 Tim 2:2-4 (NLT) we are asked to pray: “Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. This is good and pleases God our Saviour, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.”

I hope this has brought some light into your understanding. My prayer is that God’s will be done here on earth as it is in Heaven because our God’s will is always good, He is the only One who knows the end from the beginning. He has given us the freedom of choice. The God of the Jews and the Christians brings Life and Peace.

Sadly, some Muslims ultimately seek “Jihad” and Allah asks them to die for him, whereas our God is the One who died for us. He opened wide His arms of love on the Cross and was willing to be separated from God in our place, so we can be reconciled to our Father in Heaven, Creator of the universe. In His abandonment and dying moment He spoke about all men when He said: “Father, forgive them, they do not know what they do.”

For those who reject the Truth of God’s Word, I ask you to talk directly to God, the Creator of the universe, about this, making sure what you hear is from Him.. Hatred is not of God because God, the Creator of the universe is love… And love is the power of God on a rugged cross.

Let us pray for all those who do not know Christ, who have been deceived through hate, fear, jealousy or unbelief, that they might engage their hearts and be set free from blindness, oppression, hatred, jealousy, or deception… So be it.