The Everlasting Hatred (8 page)

Ezekiel chapter 36 emphasizes the miracle of the land's restoration when God returns His people to it. The prophecy focuses on the desolate condition brought upon the land by the surrounding nations (all of them Muslim today). God warns of terrible judgment upon these Muslim nations who have “taken His land.” The fact that it is God's land is emphasized several times.

Ezekiel chapter 37 emphasizes the miracle of returning the dispersed Israelites from all the nations where they have been scattered for centuries. Ezekiel describes this miraculous national
rebirth of the people in an allegory about disjointed skeletons lying in a desert full of open graves. He interprets the scattered bones as the whole house of Israel. He reveals that the open graves are the nations where the people have been scattered. The miracle of Israel's national rebirth is illustrated by all of the bones coming out of the graves and joining together. Then sinews, muscle, and flesh come upon them—and finally, breath is breathed into them. They then stand up as a mighty army. But they are still not reborn spiritually.

Ezekiel chapter 38 reveals the momentous event of history that will finally bring the Israelites to faith in their true Messiah. It will be a massive invasion against them led by a mighty nation to the extreme north. This northern commander (who can only be Russian since they are the only nation to Israel's extreme north) will lead a confederacy of people who today are all Muslim. Chief among those named is Persia, or modern Iran.

How this all turns out will be developed in later chapters. But suffice it to say, the scenario spelled out here is all in place in our current events.

The main point of these chapters is that they show that once Israel is restored, it will never be destroyed and dispersed again, even though Ezekiel does predict that Israel will go through a war so intense that all hope of survival will be lost. It is at this point that great numbers of Israelites will turn to their true Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, and believe in Him. He will then miraculously deliver them and set up the promised kingdom of God on earth.

The creation of a special people with unconditional promises of an everlasting title deed to specific land in the Middle East has brought unique problems to the world.

The problem was greatly intensified, first, by their destruction and two thousand year dispersion throughout the whole world.
And second, by the fact they survived as a distinct people and returned to claim their ancient homeland again in the midst of the Muslims who have possessed it off and on for centuries.

There is one more unique problem created by these covenants that will bring the present world order to a catastrophic end. This will be the subject of a future chapter. But first, it must be established just exactly who are the inheritors of the covenants made to Abraham.

“God also said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites, “The LORD,
²⁵
the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.” This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.'”
²⁶

FOR SOME READERS
, this chapter's title may sound like an irrelevant question. However, Bible prophets predict that this issue will eventually become a major factor in causing the world's final conflict. So significant is this matter to Muslims that they have sought for centuries to rewrite Biblical history. They say the covenants made with Abraham were not given to his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob and then to his descendants, but rather to Ishmael and his descendants.

This ancient controversy has become more important than ever before in recent times—just as Bible prophecy predicted for the end times. Muslims have vehemently argued that neither Isaac nor Jacob were in the chosen line of descendants to whom God's covenants were confirmed. In a future chapter, I will lay out the teachings of Muslims from the Koran and Hadith about this issue—and why they dispute what the Bible clearly says. But in
this chapter, I will lay out what the Bible teaches—and how it has been confirmed in history.

It is imperative to be familiar with this aspect of Biblical history, even if you don't believe in the Bible. For as we will see, it is impossible to understand the real dynamics behind the present Arab-Israeli conflict apart from understanding these facts. The reason for this is simple. Both Islam and Israel
do believe
that the Bible is the basis of what they believe about this issue. Unfortunately, the secular media and academics don't grasp this and are therefore always wrong in their analysis of this globally important issue. And I must add, both the so-called liberal and conservative politicians fail to understand the basic causes of this world-troubling issue as well. Therefore their solutions are wrong and will not work.

The drama begins in the ancient civilization of Ur of the Chaldeans. A wealthy seventy-five-year-old-man named Abram and his barren sixty-five-year-old-wife, Sarai, were living in this advanced civilization when God called them to move to a far less advanced but more dangerous culture to receive the great promises outlined in the last chapter. I mention that Ur was an advanced civilization to emphasize that it took great faith to leave it and go to a far less developed civilization in which people lived inside fortified cities because of the dangers of robbers. Archaeologists have even found evidence of a form of air conditioning in ancient Ur. And to further test Abraham's faith, God commanded him to live in tents in this inhospitable country—not in the cities.

As I noted, Abraham knew that all of the promises he received required him to have a son. And since he and Sarai were childless at such an advanced age, he knew that it would take a miracle for this to happen.

When Abraham became eighty-six years old (eleven years
after God unconditionally promised to give him a son), he stumbled in his faith. He did what so many of us do—he became impatient and thought that God needed his help. He had not yet learned that one of the most important factors of true faith is “to wait” upon the LORD to fulfill His promises. So he tried to help God fulfill the promise about a son. Abraham applied the old saying, “God helps those who help themselves.” But there is no such verse in the Bible. In fact, the Bible teaches the opposite. God helps those who first recognize that in themselves they are helpless to produce spiritually acceptable things. We must trust God to do in and through us things that are humanly impossible.

Waiting upon the LORD requires patient, continuing trust that He will do what He says. As Isaiah promises, “But those who
wait
on the LORD shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.”
²⁷
“Waiting” means faith in the long run. It is like a distance runner, not a sprinter. The Hebrew word for “renew” means “to exchange” something. So the verse means, “Those who keep waiting upon the LORD will exchange their human strength for the LORD's strength.” Now that is worth waiting for, isn't it?

This graphically illustrates how enormous the repercussions of from some of our lapses of faith can be. Abraham's lapse faith created a family feud that has troubled our world until this present hour. Indeed, it will eventually trigger Armageddon.

In his own personal circumstances, Abram's lapse of faith short-circuited God's work in his life for a very long time. It wasn't until he became ninety-nine years old (thirteen years later) that God appeared to him again and re-confirmed all the covenants. This is the occasion when God changed Abram's name from Abram, which means “father of high places,” to Abraham, which means “father of many peoples or nations.”
²⁸
At that same time, God also changed Sarai's name, to Sarah, which means “the princess” because from her God promised would come kings and nations.

Shortly after this, three extraordinary individuals appeared to
Abraham. Apparently they had a heavenly bearing, because Abraham gave them the reverence he reserved only for deity. He bowed down to the ground before them and begged them to stay for dinner.

During the course of the meal, it became apparent to Abraham that the three heavenly beings were the LORD Himself. It was at this time the LORD specifically promised that about the same time next year Abraham's wife would bear him a son. Now Sarah by that time would be ninety years old, barren, and well beyond the age of childbearing. And Abraham would be one hundred years old, likewise beyond the age of having children.

As a matter of fact, when Sarah overheard this promise (she was hidden behind a curtain in the tent), she began laughing quietly to herself in unbelief. This is the point where the supernatural powers of the three men became revealed.
They
said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah, your wife, laugh?” Since she was out of sight and had not made a sound, Abraham exclaimed she didn't laugh.

Here is how the Bible records the incident:

So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure.” Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, ‘I did not laugh.' But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”
²⁹

This is a one of those wonderful times when God shows His sense of humor. God ordered them to name the miracle child, Isaac or
Yitzak
in Hebrew, which means “laughter.” So every time Sarah called her son “Laughter,” she was reminded that she laughed in unbelief when God promised she would bear a son.
³⁰

Abraham was overjoyed when Sarah bore to him Isaac. But Isaac's birth did present some complications; I will expand on this more in the next chapter. Through his Egyptian handmaid, Abraham already had a son named Ishmael, who was technically, therefore, Abraham's first-born—a fact that is greatly stressed by the Arabs and Muslims.

When God restated to Abraham His promise that he was going to have a son through Sarah who would be his true heir, no doubt was left as to who would be the true child of the covenant:

God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!” Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
³¹

This made it very clear who was the chosen line to whom the covenants were given and through whom God would work.

Later, when making arrangements to get Isaac an approved wife, Abraham reconfirmed his understanding as to who was the chosen son:

The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?”

“Make sure that you do not take my son back there,” Abraham said. “The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father's household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land'—he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there.

“If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.”
³²

Abraham clearly states that the land covenant belongs to Isaac. The patriarch is adamant that under no circumstances was his son to return to the land God had commanded Abraham to leave to qualify for the covenant blessings.

When Abraham made the final disposition of his estate and the blessings of the promised covenants, the Bible states, “Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac.”
³³

Here is the Biblical record of Abraham's chosen descendants through Isaac:

This is the account of Abraham's son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram (That is, Northwest Mesopotamia) and sister of Laban the Aramean.

Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD. The LORD said to her, “Two nations
are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”

When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. (Esau may mean hairy; he was also called Edom, which means red.) After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob. (Jacob means figuratively, “cheater.”) Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.
³⁴

Talk about trouble, these boys fought each other while still in the womb—and it got worse from there.

As the boys grew up, all the makings of a family civil war were present. Isaac was crazy about Esau, because he was the “out-doorsy” type and was a great hunter. He used to bring Isaac's favorite game home and make him a spicy stew. Esau was also the warrior type. Today we would call him, “A man's man.”