Join us as Pastor John Barnett preaches the ninth in a series of messages entitled, The Miracle of Israel. See the Bible as never before through the lens of prophecy as we look at the Jews, God's chosen people, who are the roadmap showing us God's plan for the future. Let's open our Bibles to Isaiah 11. And as I share this message, and by the way, if you want to take notes and follow along, if you have this morning's bulletin near the back, the notes are in here. And I also think that they passed out a little that yellow sheet. So it's in both places or either place. But as you turn there, during the greeting time, someone came up to me and said, be careful, don't make it sound too bad or everyone will be afraid to go to Israel. And I said, you know, until the end of the earth, Israel is going to be a cup that causes trembling to the whole earth. And I just think that we are becoming aware of how it has been for centuries right now. It has been building. The world has been in opposition. In fact, I shared with you last time that from the beginning, Satan has been trying to destroy God's people. And Satan has used so many different ones. He has used the nations that surrounded Israel, the Aramean people, which are in modern-day Damascus and Syria. He used the Babylonian people, who are in modern-day Iran and Iraq. He used the Assyrian people, who are also in that same area. He used the Egyptians, who are in the same area as they are now. He used the Philistines, who are right where they were back then. Those peoples that have surrounded Israel, including the Ammonites, who are the modern-day Jordanians, always have been seeking to destroy God's people. It's just because of television, the internet, the radio, and all of the print, and the magazines, we're seeing the atrocities that they're going through. But I want you to know tonight that God has a plan and it's in Isaiah 11, 11. And I personally believe with all of my heart that what the Lord says in this 11th verse is what we are witnessing right now. That's why if you want to be excited about the veracity of this book, if you want to be overwhelmed about the God who is so precise in what He wrote in this book, Watch it unfold before your eyes. What I'm reading to you from Isaiah is 2,600 years old. What we're going to read in just a moment from Psalm 83 is 3,000 years old. And yet, every word of what those passages say is coming true right in front of our eyes in the news right now. Isaiah 11.11 says this, it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people who are left." And then it lists off all the different places that the people of God have been deposited over the centuries of the dispersions. From Assyria, that was when the northern ten tribes were carried off by Sennacherib and all of the atrocities of the destruction of the northern part of Israel called the northern tribes. which was in 722 BC. So from Assyria, from Egypt. By the way, the Egyptians were host to so many of God's people from the carrying away in the Diasporas. They would flee from the armies in Israel and they'd run back to Egypt. From Pathros and Cush, also down in Africa. From Elam and Shinar over in Mesopotamia and down in the Arabian Peninsula. From Hamath and the islands of the sea. And then it goes on to say, he will set up a banner and will assemble the outcast of Israel. And I want you to know that we saw that. It's fascinating, all the different ones that were with us these last few weeks, to see Israelis. I mean, one time, I don't remember which group it was, but we were in the upper room and all of a sudden this brigade of the army came up, because they tour around Israel too, only the thing is that the Egyptians, I mean the Israelis, always carry their weapons. And it kind of is unnerving for us Americans. We don't see weapons except in movies. But they all were carrying their machine guns. I mean, fully just their whole battle gear. And they walk around with that everywhere. And we were up there singing, Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me. And all of a sudden, they all started walking in. And what I noticed, I knew that they would have their guns. But I looked at their faces. You could see the distinctive features of so many different areas of the world in their faces. You see, the Jews are a melting pot. There are Jews that are Egyptian Jews, Russian Jews, French Jews, Ethiopian Jews, Yemeni Jews. I mean, and you see them. I mean, they were the, it looked like the United Nations, all with machine guns on in front of us, and that was the Israeli army. Because all of them carry a common ancestry through Abraham, but they come from every part of the world, just like it says here. The Lord says in verse 12, I'll set up a banner. I will assemble the outcasts of Israel. I will gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. And as I shared with you many, many weeks ago, right now there are Jews that are back in the land from 100 different nations. Well, that's what the Lord is doing. And in your notes, if you want to start writing down some notes, and let me get to your page, I want to share with you why God is doing this. And if you turn over with me to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 36, Ezekiel 36, the Lord gives a three-part battle plan for this second return, this second time coming back. His first return was under Zerubbabel, and that was when Nehemiah came, and Zerubbabel came first, and they built the temple after Babylon destroyed it, after Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it. And Zerubbabel came back, and under the preaching of Haggai, if you remember the little book of Haggai, it says, don't build your house, build the temple of the Lord. And they did, and they built this rebuilt temple, not as nice as Solomon made it. They didn't have all the gold. And then Nehemiah came and put the walls around. By the way, what's fascinating about that is you can still see the blocks of Nehemiah's wall in Jerusalem today. In fact, I don't know how many times we drove around that section. It's way outside the city now, and it's right next to the road. But you can still see the massive blocks that Nehemiah encouraged the people to replace and rebuild the walls in 52 days. But after all that, God allowed them to be sent off the second time in the Roman diaspora. And look at verse 8 of chapter 36. And this is the three R's of your notes right here. What the Lord said is, he said, I'm first going to let them be returned. And so if you want to write returned down, from exile to the land of their forefathers. And we are seeing that in our time. 1.2 million Russians, 1.2 million Russians since 1988 have left Russia and they're Russian Jews. And 1.2 million have moved to the land of Israel. I mean, that's like taking Dallas and putting it on an airplane and flying it 6,000 miles. or 4,000 miles, and resettling the city of Dallas. That's what God's done in 12 years. And that's the first R. And if you haven't written in your Bible yet, by verse 8, but you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches, and shall yield your fruit for my people Israel, for they are about to come. Israel returned. And this is just the beginning. But right now, one third of all the world's Jews, in fact, now it's up to 42% of them, are back in the land. Sharon, the prime minister, has his eye on the other 58%. And he's saying, you need to come home. You need to come home. Now, I don't think that'll happen anytime soon, because the American Jews are too comfortable and too secure. But something's going to happen which is going to make them uncomfortable and insecure in America. Miami and New York are going to have an exodus. And Phoenix and Scottsdale and Bel Air. And they're going to leave America for some reason and go back. But returned is the first one. Returned from exile to land. of their forefathers. Then secondly, it says in verse 11, I will multiply, well, verse 10, I'll multiply men upon you. This is Ezekiel 36, 10. And all the house of Israel and the cities will be inhabited and this ruins rebuilt. Oh, we saw this. In fact, just, I forget what day it was last Monday. We, our family went to the zoo, the biblical zoo. It's the most fascinating zoo I've ever seen. All of the animals mentioned in the Bible are there. I mean, I've never seen some of those animals before. All those funny names that are in the Bible, they're all there. I mean, they're moving around, making noises, and you walk around and look down at them. But for a moment, I stopped looking at all the animals of the Bible, and I looked up on the tops of the mountains. And the top of every mountain surrounding Jerusalem, you can see huge cranes. And you can see literally thousands of huge, beautiful apartment condos. being built. I mean on top of every mountain. Now look what it says. I will multiply verse 10 upon you all the house of Israel. All of it. That's why I think that that they're going to keep coming. The other 58 percent for some reason. And the city shall be inhabited in the ruins rebuilt. I mean literally this has never happened in history. In fact there are more people living in Jerusalem now than ever lived any time in all the history of the world. More today than ever ever. and they're rebuilding the ruins of the former habitations. In fact, as we were, the kids were playing in Noah's Ark, they've rebuilt Noah's Ark, and while they were playing in Noah's Ark, Bonnie and I stood on the deck of Noah's Ark and looked up, and at the top of the hills are all the cities that are ringing Jerusalem, and all the way down the hills, Bonnie says, look at that, you can see the terraces, the 4,000 year old terraces. What's a terrace? It's where they pile stones and fill in dirt on the mountainside so they can farm all the way up. It's like steps going up mountains. And you could see the terraces where the Israelis in the time of David all the way through the time of Christ had had their olive groves and their grape arbors. And there were the ruins of 4,000 years of habitation by the children of Israel. And at the top of the hill were the cities being rebuilt with the giant cranes even working while we were there in the zoo and pouring cement and building apartments as fast as they could. So the second R is restored to the land. And if you want to write that in your notes, number two is they would be restored to the land. And that's from verse 9 of Ezekiel 36 all the way down through verse 15. And it says, for indeed, I am for you, verse 9, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. Right now, more than half of all the flowers that are sold in Europe come from Israel. That land is tilled and sown. They grow citrus fruit that they can't reproduce even at Caltech in California. Even Imperial Valley, one of the most fertile spots on the planet, does not equal the fertility of the land of Israel. And the only thing you can say is it has nothing to do with fertilizer, drip irrigation, or plastic, or anything else. It's God. In fact, someone asked me, Jan asked me, she said, were you all worn out in Israel? I said, no, I always feel healthier over there. There's something about it because you're physically closer to the Lord. Spiritually, we're as close anywhere, but physically, you're close to the Lord. There's just something about that land that makes plants grow better and makes the Bible clearer and makes you feel healthier. But it says, restored, verse 11, I'll multiply you on you, man and beast, and they shall increase and bear young, and I'll make you inhabited. Bear young? Did you know the average Israeli family right now They're starting to run 8 to 10 children in their families. We're talking about the observant Jews. I mean, their families are multiplying like mad. That's why the population is growing so fast over there. And they're bearing young and the land is multiplying. I will make you inhabited as in former times, verse 11 says. They're surpassing that in Jerusalem and doing better for you than at your beginnings. And that's happening too. I mean, everything in the physical sense is better. Spiritually, they're dead and totally in the dark. But spiritually, though they're in the dark, physically, they're just building and growing. But then look at verse 16, because that's the third R. They would be, first of all, returned, secondly, restored. This is the at future, starting in verse 16. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, When the house of Israel dwelt in their land, they defiled it. Therefore, verse 18, I poured my fury. Verse 19, I scattered them. Verse 20, when they came to the nations, wherever they went, they profaned my holy name. Look at this. These are the people, the end of verse 20, of the Lord, and they have gone out of his land. And the people of Israel were a mockery to God. Everywhere they went, people said, those are the wandering Jews because God threw them out of their land. But look at this, verse 24. but I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all countries and bring you into your own land. And look at verse 25, because we're getting close to a verse you've heard me quote a hundred times at communion services. I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. And look at verse 26. A new heart also I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you. That is yet future in Israel. Israel, that verse 8 says, will be returned to the land, verses 9 through 15 says, will be restored to the land. Israel, at a yet future time, will be redeemed and renewed and will be actually born again by the power of God. That has not happened. They're far from it right now. Well, let me just read to you, as you flip over to the backside of your notes. I'm going to give you this summary after I give you a little bit of news. If you want to turn in your Bibles to Isaiah, well, let's go to Psalm 83. And I want to make sure you get all this marked. I did this in the Kidron Valley with everyone and alluded to it when we began this series. But I want to show you what's shaping up right now in the news. In fact, last Sunday, we were going to church in Jerusalem. It's a huge church. It's the Messianic congregation of Jerusalem. It's called King of Kings. And there were hundreds of people there. I'd say downstairs, 500, and I couldn't see how many were up in the balcony. Maybe another 150 or so. A vibrant, very exciting, it's an interesting church. It's a cross between a verse-by-verse, evangelical, Bible, Dallas Seminary, John MacArthur kind of church. And then it's a messianic church with all the messianic kind of trappings. And then it's a little bit like, oh, are you charismatic, you know? And so, I mean, you talk about an unusual service. We're sitting in the back and they're alternating between explaining the Greek tenses and hopping in the aisles. I mean, it was really, in fact, some of our little buddies were hopping with them. I mean, they really get into that Havanagila singing. But it was interesting. We were staying in the old city of Jerusalem inside the walls. In fact, our room was actually inside of Herod's palace that the Magi came to. The wise men, remember, looking for Jesus. We were staying inside the palace. Now, of course, it's all been knocked down and rebuilt, but we were actually inside of it, which was kind of exciting to think about in biblical times. But we were in the old city. We were in the center of Jerusalem. We were going to church just outside the walls in the King of Kings church. And the pastor got up and said, I know all of you are a little frightened, he said, because The ground has been trembling today, but he says, our God's a great refuge. Don't be afraid. And Bonnie and I looked at each other, and I says, what are they talking about? I mean, afraid of what? Well, we didn't know is last Sunday. And it really hasn't been detailed in the news. But last Sunday, the tanks that everybody on the tour saw in those trailers were all on the tops of the hills of Jerusalem. And they went into that Jala, the Israeli army, and actually attacked them for all of the shooting that's been going on. And a lot of the people, the Christians, live there. And so when you have a 50 ton or a 70 ton, how much will they weigh tank, driving along, it actually shakes buildings. It's like a dinosaur walking. And when one shoots and the shell explodes, it shakes the buildings too. It's kind of like thunderstorms here. And so that had been going on and yet we were there. We didn't even, nothing shook where we were because that's how localized those shakings are. But what we saw happening is what's in Psalm 83. And I just want you to mark this in your minds and underline this as we study tonight because Psalm 83, I believe, is a prophetic look at an event yet future. If you study, and I have, I've looked at both Kyle and Dalich, the Hebrew scholars. You look at the Dallas Seminary Knowledge Commentary. You look at all the prophetic commentaries, even the great Peter Wolfe's Millennial Bible, where he traces every eschatological verse in the Bible. And all of them concur and conclude that the events from verse 5 down through verse 13 have never happened in history. This event hasn't happened. It's a future event. And so what we're seeing right now in the newspapers is the preparation for this event. And this event is going to be the attack on Jerusalem, the Islamic attack to try and dislodge the Jewish people from Jerusalem. And I'll explain to you why they want to do that in just a moment. But let's read the details. It says, verse 3, they have taken crafty counsel against your people. They've consulted together against your sheltered ones. They've said, come and let us cut them off from being a nation that the name of Israel may be remembered no more." Here's a little background. If you've ever studied the Quran, that's the holy book of Islam, Islam believes and Muhammad believed that the Islamic people had superseded the first two peoples of God. The first people of God were the Jewish people. They went into idolatry. God set them aside and destroyed them, never to return. They were the first people of God. Christianity came along and got into this Trinitarian stuff, which we believe, the triunity of God, which Islam does not believe. And that was why God set us aside. And now he has raised up, according to them, Allah has raised up Islam to be the true successor to Judaism and Christianity. Now that's, that is That's not interpretation, that's actual what it says in the Quran. It says that they are the succession, the supercession, they have gone beyond us, and they are the people of God for the world. Well, that's why this is so relevant, because the name of Israel should be remembered no more, because the Quran says that the Jews will never again be a nation. It says that in that book. It says that the Jews will never again rule over anyone, especially not the Muslims. And right now, the military presence of Israel reigns over two mosques, Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa. And also every other minaret in Israel is under the domination of the Israeli army. And so they have declared that the rebirth of Israel in 1948 is a catastrophe. In Arabic, it's called Nakba, N-A-Q-B-A, Nakba. the catastrophe. And therefore, right now, they are, verse 3, taking crafty counsel against your people. There have recently been, if you follow the news, a big conference in Amman. There's another Arab League meeting that's just met this week. The Arab League met. And you know what they said? They said, if the European community does not do something about Israel, the violence that you see on your televisions in Israel will spread to Europe. You know what that was called? Kind of like when your parents say, if you do that again, you will get We call that a what? Threat. The Islamic League, the Arab League, threatened Europe. They said, right now, there are more mosques in Britain than there are Protestant churches. Would you like to have the Islamic people of Britain? A couple weeks ago, did you see all the stuff in the streets, you know, the fight? They said, would you like to see hundreds of thousands of people doing that in Britain? France? France had colonies in Africa. There are literally millions of Arabs living in France. Would you like to have those Arabs revolting in the street? We can call them up. Italy, again, with a lot of ties to Northern Africa. Do you want the hundreds of thousands of Muslim people in Italy to start going into the streets? Greece. It went right down the line. It went around the entire basin of the Mediterranean. The Arab League said, if you don't contain Israel's aggression, they call it. We will send out the call for jihad to Europe. You see the Crafty Council? They're trying to cut off, verse 4, the name of Israel. And verse 5, they've consulted together with one consent. They form a confederacy against you. And then it lists off the confederacy. And this sounds like the meeting that was in Jordan two weeks ago. Let me read it to you. And if you haven't marked your Bibles, when I started this series, I said it. And some of you didn't write fast enough. You've asked me to repeat it, so I'll repeat it tonight. Verse 6, the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, that's modern day Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia that holds the bulk of the world's oil and the oil wealth, trillions of dollars. That's the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites. The Ishmaelites were the caravaning people that came from the Saudi area and would bring the goods from the furthest reaches of the Arab states to the coast of the Mediterranean. So that would be a way 3,000 years ago described Saudi Arabia. Then, verse 7, I mean, the end of verse 6, Moab, who I shared with you, remember Ruth this morning? Eighth book of the Bible. Moab, the descendants of Lot, who settled right along the east side of the Jordan, which is in modern-day Jordan, the country of Jordan. The Hagrites also lived in Jordan. Gebel, Ammon, that's the capital of Jordan. and Amalek, or the Amalekites. That's like saying five counties of Oklahoma, and that we would be talking about Oklahoma. These are the five people groups that live in modern-day Jordan. So in your Bible, if you're a marker, Saudi Arabia is the first half of verse six. The second half of verse six and the first half of verse seven is Jordan. Then, verse seven continues, Philistia. Every one of the old Pentapolis cities of the Philistines is the modern-day PLO hotbed. It's the Palestinian area, Philistia. So that's identifiable. That's the PLO group with the inhabitants of Tyre. What is that? That's South Lebanon. That's where the PLO has been just fomenting strife and rocketing Israel. So we have South Lebanon mentioned, which is interesting. When this was written, South Lebanon was the group of people sending the material to build the temple for the God's people. See, this event never happened. South Lebanon never was an adversary of Israel. Never. Until now, modern times. Look at the next one. Verse 8, Assyria. They've always been a problem, but modern times, Assyria has joined with them, it says. And that's modern day Syria. And since the death of their leader and his ascension of his son, Iraq and Syria have lined up. The modern day state of Syria, which are the Arameans of the Bible, Ben-Hadad, remember Naaman, the guy with leprosy, that's Syria. And the Assyrians, which is modern-day Iraq. That's the last link there. So the Saudis, verse 6, the end of verse 6 and the start of verse 7, the Jordanians. Verse 7 continues, the PLO, the Lebanon at the end of verse 7, and then Syria and Iraq is in verse 8. And they have helped the children of Lot. which is referring again to the Moabites and the Amalekites. Well, what's that? Those are listing off every adversary of Israel that borders the nation. If you just take a map, that lists all of them except for one. You know, in 1948, there was one nation that wasn't named that always was there fighting Israel, and that's Egypt. In 1956, it was Egypt that led the pact. In 1967, it was Egypt that led the pact. In 1973, it was Egypt that led the pack. But you know what? They're noticeably absent from this list. Egypt has been very quiet. And I shared with you at the beginning of this series, it's probably because they know that the Israeli fighter bombers can reach the Aswan Dam. And it is only about 22 or 21 minutes, and much less with a missile, before the largest military target in the Middle East, the Aswan High Dam, could be hit. And within about 120 minutes, millions of people would drown as a 300 foot high wall of water would wash down the Nile Valley, where 80% of all the 60 million Egyptians live. So with that in mind, the Egyptians have sat on the sidelines. But all the rest of these people attack. Well, what's going to happen, real quickly, turn over to Isaiah 17. And I want you to mark this, because you might see beginnings of it in the news on Tuesday. Let me read to you what the Syrians are saying. The Syrian, this is from the newspaper this morning, OK? Syrian dictator Bashar Assad made the following anti-Semitic comments, which are being published after his recent visit with Pope John Paul II in Damascus. This is what he said. Killing Jews is a duty for Arabs. He publicly said that. Killing Jews is the duty of every Arab. That was his public comment. We live in a tradition of martyrdom, he said. When I see a Jew before me, I kill him. And if every Arab did this, it would be the end of the Jews. And the Pope is sitting next to him and never said a word. Never said, violence is wrong. Murder is wrong. Those are God's people. He just sat there. You know how he sits and just kind of smiles. quietly. And here's Assad saying, if you see a Jew, kill him. It's your duty. Continuing, he said this. He said that the Palestinians are going to take back the sacred sites from these Jews who were fought by Jesus Christ. Assad said this. He mentions our Lord Jesus in a public statement on television. He said, those Jews who were fought by Jesus Christ, Jesus who uncovered their hypocrisy and crimes, he said, those Jews who slaughtered the children without mercy, who murdered the prophets and the children, and who even betrayed and murdered Jesus Christ. And the Jews were crying for him to be crucified. But it's the Romans that killed him. But of course, they don't have their history correct. So just this week, Assad blamed Israel for murdering and torturing the Palestinians, just like they murdered and tortured Jesus Christ. What he doesn't comment on is the fact that Jesus Christ was a Jew. And he calls himself the King of the Jews. And he said he's going to sit on the throne of David in Jerusalem. They don't comment on that. It's interesting that at Christmas, the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein made a similar appeal to Christians and said to them on Christmas Eve in Baghdad that the principles of Islam and the teachings of Jesus Christ make it imperative on us to take the road that satisfies God. This is Saddam Hussein preaching. And that road is jihad, the destruction of Israel. Well, all that means that what you see in Psalm 83 is going to happen, and that starts in Isaiah 17. And let me show you a couple of verses in Isaiah 17, then we'll go to Jeremiah 49. But Isaiah 17 says that when this group, this confederacy, marches against Jerusalem, which could be any time, It can't be this week because Jordan has to capitulate. Right now Jordan is still honoring its agreements with Israel. Jordan has to become hostile, but what's happened is the Jordanians are now starting to shoot tear gas against their own people because the Jordanians are starting to march against their government in support of the Iraqis. When Jordan capitulates and Saddam Hussein can use Jordan as a highway to get to Israel, then you're going to see Psalm 83 happen. What happens when Psalm 83 occurs? Isaiah 17, verse 1, this is the burden against Damascus. Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city. Read the Encyclopedia Britannica. Damascus has not ceased from being a city for 7,000 years. Now, probably it's more like 5,500, but who's counting? But it's been a continuously inhabited city. A caravan stop from ages past, from right after the flood. But Damascus will cease from being a city. What will happen? Look at the end of verse 13. It will be, the nations will rush like the rushing of many waters, but God will rebuke them and they will flee far away and be chased like the chaff on the mountains before the wind." Look at this, like a rolling thing before the what? Whirlwind. Now, go back to Psalm 83 for a second. I want you to see something because God puts little clues in. What does it say in Psalm 83? Let me show you. In Psalm 83, verse 13. The same verse as Isaiah 17. Isn't that interesting? But look at Psalm 83, 13. Oh God, make them like the whirlwind, like the chaff before the wind, as a fire that burns the woods and sets the mountains on fire. Isn't that fascinating? Now, turn over to Jeremiah 49. Here's the last one we'll be turning to tonight. Jeremiah 49, the same thing is repeated. In Jeremiah 49, in verse 23, God says this, and by the way, the ringleader right now of the rhetoric against Israel is Syria. Syria has the most at stake. Syria is financially in trouble. Their army is corroded and rusting. They don't have any money. They don't have oil. All they have is the money that the oil people give them. And so they're really desperate. They don't want to appear weak. And so Syria will probably initiate the attack on Israel. And so look what the Lord says in Jeremiah 49 against Damascus. Verse 24, Damascus has grown feeble. She begins to flee. Verse 27, I will kindle a fire on the wall of Damascus and it shall consume. Literally, that Hebrew word means melt the palace walls. What is going to happen? Probably this rhetoric we hear in the news is going to consummate in a moving of all the nations that surround Israel. In fact, what's fascinating, and I don't want you to turn there, because I said you couldn't turn anywhere else, but I'm going to turn to Zechariah, because Zechariah says something. It says, behold, I will make all the nations surrounding. And the Hebrew word is very precise. Saviv means touching. It says in Zechariah 12 verse 2, every nation that borders on Israel will reel and stagger with fear. Every nation that borders on Israel. What borders on Israel? Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, down at Eilat, Saudi Arabia. If Jordan opens their borders, Assyria or Iraq. Every one of them, it says, will stagger and reel. And it says a whirlwind will go through. What is that? Well, right now, the world's nuclear arsenals are as such. America is number one the most. Russia is number two. Number three, interestingly enough, is either France or Great Britain or Israel. They're not sure. Because the Israelis have been making nonstop nuclear warheads for 20 years. So right now, it's the US, the Soviet Union, either France, Britain, or Israel. And it seems like Isaiah and Jeremiah and Zechariah and the psalmists say that for the first time since 1945, when the jihad strikes Jerusalem, before they get there, Israel will melt Damascus. There's only one thing that can melt a city, and we know what that is. And in our time, what was said 3,000 years ago, 2,600 years ago, is coming to pass. From the building cranes, which ring the mountains around Jerusalem, to the hundred nations of the world which have been regathered, to the whirlwind which is going to destroy. that land. Well, real quickly in your notes let me just give you the fill in the blanks in four minutes and we have to go. Number one, Israel's rebirth is God's testimony to the world. This is just a review to remind you and that was Ezekiel 36 where we just read. Israel's rebirth is God's testimony to this world and I hope when you read the papers you realize that. Number two, Israel's second return is final. God says the second time I'm going to restore them not ever again. They're not going to leave. We're living in that final time, however long the last generation is. Number three, Israel is not ready for God today. And how we saw that while we were over there, there is a resistance to anything about the Lord. In fact, Many of our group, I don't know if they told you, but many people in our group witnessed the fact of the Orthodox Jews with their long locks of hair, wearing their fur headdresses and their black outfits. When they would walk by our group, they would spit right on the ground. Why? Because they hate evangelical Christians more than they do Muslims. Because we remind them of the cross. They're not ready for the Gospel right now. Israel is not ready for God today. Number four, Israel is the Lord's land. It's the Lord's land. He says that over and over again. He said, it's my land. It's my holy land. It's my glorious land. It's my land. And biblical Christians should honor the people that live there, God's people as the Lord's people. Number five, the church needs to maintain a biblical orientation. By the way, do you know where Muhammad got his ideas for the Quran? Did you know? Read in history. Mohammed, who wrote the Quran, who declared a jihad, a destruction, never to let the Israel return to their land, never let them ever reign over anybody, to always be Jews, Jewish slaves. Do you know where Mohammed got that? History records that he attended church in Damascus and in Antioch and got it from the preachers of the day who in Christ's church were preaching the Jews were Christ killers and could never rise to power again. In fact, there are whole sections of the Quran that are quotations from sermons that Muhammad heard as he went to Christian churches who didn't have point five, a biblical orientation. They did not know the scriptures. They did not know prophecy. They did not follow God's word. And because just as today, and by the way, at a mainline evangelical Bible college, Not too many months ago, there was a speaker in their chapel that was a Palestinian who was saying, God is through with the Jews. God has no future for the Jews. And the Bible factory, not one person stood up and disagreed with them. And this person preached those lies in a Bible college here in America. And no one said anything about it. We need to have and maintain a biblical orientation. Number six. Israel is God's key to unlock true world peace. If you want to have peace, pray for peace in Jerusalem, and there will be peace in Jerusalem until the Prince of Peace comes and stands in Mount of Olives. And so basically when we pray for peace in Jerusalem, we're saying, Lord, come quickly, come back. Because Israel is God's key to unlock number six. true world peace. Number seven, Israel's enemies are fighting God's plan, Israel's enemies. And every time, and if Tuesday, if Nakba day, catastrophe day, is what they planned, it's going to be another example of God's enemies rising up and fighting against God's plan. And we should really pray, the Christians over there, are really struggling in Israel. In fact, we've heard some sad things. There are even families that are not staying together, that they're sending members of their family back to the states because there's just so much tension over there right now. And so we have to pray for their peace and for their comfort. But finally, number eight, and this is our conclusion, Christ's second coming is to a regathered nation in the Lord's land. So the more we see people returning to Israel, the more we see them building cities in Judea and Samaria, the more we see Jerusalem being ringed with towns, the more we can say, even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus, because Jesus will return to Israel in its land, in cities, and Jerusalem being overflowing with inhabitants.