Settling the Palestinian Question
By Dr. Paul Fedena
Exodus 15:11-15 Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? 12) Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. 13) Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy h habitation. 14) The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. 15) Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away.
THESIS: To settle biblically the ‘Palestinian’ question.
INTRO.: A. Why should the U.S. support Israel against Abbas, the Arabs and the ‘Palestinians’? Who really should be in the land the news media refers to as “Palestine”? Who are the “Palestinians”? (Aarafat wasn’t even a “Palestinian”? He was an Egyptian married to a Roman Catholic!) [“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?” Jer.13:23a] Don’t they have some “rights” to the land also? Why can’t the Jews and Arabs both live in the land peacefully? (They can and have and do when Israel controls the land!) But no Jew can live in peace in any Arab land – in fact they are not even permitted to live in an Arab land period!
B. “Palestine” or “Palestina” in our text includes all the “LAND of Canaan.” Israel was to OCCUPY the LAND of Palestine, the Sinai, Lebanon, parts of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, the East Bank and Damascus! “How do I know? The Bible tells me so!” The burning issue is just that: will you accept the Bible as the final authority in “SETTLING THE PALESTINIAN QUESTION?” The whole issue today is about a piece of real estate roughly the size of New Jersey! What’s the big deal?
I. THE LAND IS HOLY:
Zechariah 2:10-12 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD. And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee. And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.
A. God Told Moses It Was Holy:
Exodus 3:5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
1. This was Moses’ call to lead the people into the LAND of the Canaanites.
2. He was standing on mount Horeb or Sinai.
ILLUS.: The word “holy” means something set apart or sanctified. It is related to words like “hallow,” “halo,” “hail,” “heil” “health” etc. and refers to something in perfect condition, complete or in good shape. In the N.T. the word is applied to a place, a child, a Book, brethren, “men of God,” an angel, a mount, a city, apostles, and a priesthood (which has nothing to do with bachelors running around in Halloween costumes!).
B. God Told Joshua It Was Holy:
Joshua 5:15 And the captain of the LORD’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.
NOTE: Anything God declares holy costs something! The land will be paid for in blood! The inhabitants (Canaanites) will have to die. If Israel fails to rid the land of its inhabitants, they will have their own blood shed. The choice is theirs.
Ultimately this land will be completely cleansed of unbelief by blood shed of unimaginable proportions in the battle of Armageddon. After that battle the land will be finally occupied as God promised Abraham and the Millennial reign of Christ will begin.
Joshua 6:21 And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.
Joshua 10:40 So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel commanded.
Joshua 11:14 And all the spoil of these cities, and the cattle, the children of Israel took for a prey unto themselves; but every man they smote with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, neither left they any to breathe.
1. This was Joshua, the general of the Lord’s army OCCUPYING the Land God told him was holy and was his and belonged to the 12 tribes of Israel.
2. The land was the “land of Canaan” spoken of earlier.
3. Even Rahab the Canaanite recognized the land was given to Israel.
Joshua 2:9-10 And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.
ILLUS.: Only one piece of land is called “holy” on earth: Israel (– not Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Italy (!) or America). One Book is called “holy” and that is the Bible (not the Quran, the Bhagavad-gita, the Book of Mormon, the Shastas, Puranas, or the sayings of Buddha, Confucius or Mohammed!) Only one city is called “holy” & that is NOT Rome w/St. Peter’s Cathedral, Wash. D.C. w/the National Cathedral, Salt Lake City w/the Mormon Temple or Mecca with the Ka’bah). There is only one mount called “holy” and that is not Mt Rushmore, Mt. Everest, or Mt. Surabachi – it is Mt. Zion, situated in the holy city Jerusalem where the Mosque of Omar or the Dome of the Rock stands today and sits on ground God designated as “holy” – so it is profaning or defiling “holy ground” and it will have to go!
Psalms 132:13 For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation.
Psalms 78:67-68 Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim: But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.
Isaiah 40:15-17 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing… All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
ILLUS.: The Bible is NOT a book about religion, it is a book about history, government, geography (and redemption)! That history record is focused on one piece of geography – Israel! Nations are mentioned generally only as they relate to or impact upon that one nation. So history & geography play a primary role in this holy Book. It is the history (past, present & future) of a land called Israel & designated as “holy” by God. It deals with that piece of geography from which the 3 major religions of the world were spawned: Judaism, Christianity & Islam.
This piece of real estate will determine the outcome of man’s history globally and heralds ahead of time the total destruction of every political, religious and scientific institution and system devised by man.
Jeremiah 30:11 For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, andwill not leave thee altogether unpunished.
II. THE LAND BELONGS TO THE JEWS:
A. God Says So!
ILLUS.: In His Holy Book written 480 years before Mohammed, the pedophile, married a 9 yr. old girl (!), God declared that the Land was given to His people, Israel, through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel)! Not to the sons of Ishmael.
Genesis 15:18-21 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
Genesis 13:14-17 And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.
Genesis 17:8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
Genesis 22:16-18 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. (You plant seed in the land!)
Genesis 24:7 The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.
B. Muhammad Said So!
1. The Quran (Sura 5:21 & 7:161) declares that the land of Palestine belongs to the 12 tribes of Jacob or Israel!
2. The land of “Palestinians” is never “the land of Palestine” but rather “the land of Canaan” and its inhabitants are always called “Canaanites.”
ILLUS.: The only kingdom or State that ever existed in “the land of Canaan” after 33 of its kings were slaughtered (Josh. 12) was a Jewish State – the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
All genuine “PALESTINIANS” since 1400 B.C. are JEWS. Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and Greeks conquered Palestine; but none of them set up a kingdom or a state there. The Romans had it until they were replaced by the Turks, and the Turks never put up any kingdom or state there; neither did the British when they took it from the Turks in 1917! That’s HISTORY and any Muslim history book that changes that is just like Muhammad’s book: philosophical and religious fairy tales! – Ruckman, The Holy Scriptures vs. the Holy Koran
III. THE LAND WILL BE RULED BY A KING:
ILLUS.: No peace will ever come to earth until it comes on that holy city in that holy land and that will not happen until a holy temple is rebuilt on that holy mount when the holy nation accepts the King called “The Holy One of Israel Whom God has appointed and anointed. Israel will not be allowed to have their land, Temple or government until they stop rejecting the Holy Scriptures and their own “law and the prophets” and Moses (the Law) and Elijah (the prophets) show up again as the two witnesses in Jerusalem during the Tribulation. (One will be resurrected [after dying] and the other will return [having never died!] after being kept alive for 2700+ years!)
A. Which King? Christ or Antichrist?
1. Before the true King shows up the counterfeit will rule the earth.
2. When the true King shows up the counterfeit and his kingdom will be blasted away!
2 Thessalonians 2:8-12 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
B. Which Kingdom? The Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven?
1. Christ spoke of 2 kingdoms: one spiritual and heavenly & the other physical & earthly.
2. The Kingdom of God is spiritual and can only be entered into by birth.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
3. The Kingdom of heaven is physical, earthly and millennial.
ILLUS.: It should be obvious that “heaven” & “God” are different. Birds don’t fly in God. Mars or Saturn don’t convince men of sin! The Kingdom of Heaven is heaven’s rule on earth.
John 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. (The word “now” is missing from all the new Amillennial versions of Scripture!)
Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Matthew 6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
CONCL.: Israel’s King and Kingdom will indeed come and it will be a holy reign because the Holy One of Israel will rule (government) over them and the world. He will sit on the throne in the holy city, in the holy Temple, in the holy land, using the holy Scriptures as His law book, to rule over a holy priesthood and nation. He will indeed “SETTLE THE PALESTINIAN QUESTION” forever!
Believers today are called “holy.” Anything that is holy is paid for at great cost and has great value. You are positionally holy if you are saved. You have been purchased with His blood! Are you practically holy?! Does your life match your position? Are you living up to your reputation? Christ purchased you and you are “bought with a price.” You are “not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold…but with the precious blood of Christ.” 1 Pet. 1:18, 19 Therefore He has a prior claim on our lives and we are to “glorify God in (our) body, and in (our) spirit which are God’s.” 1 Cor. 6:19, 20
The Bible settles the Palestinian question, and also settles the question of how a believer is to live. How do YOU live?!
By Dr. Paul Fedena
Exodus 15:11-15 Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? 12) Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. 13) Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy h habitation. 14) The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. 15) Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away.
THESIS: To settle biblically the ‘Palestinian’ question.
INTRO.: A. Why should the U.S. support Israel against Abbas, the Arabs and the ‘Palestinians’? Who really should be in the land the news media refers to as “Palestine”? Who are the “Palestinians”? (Aarafat wasn’t even a “Palestinian”? He was an Egyptian married to a Roman Catholic!) [“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?” Jer.13:23a] Don’t they have some “rights” to the land also? Why can’t the Jews and Arabs both live in the land peacefully? (They can and have and do when Israel controls the land!) But no Jew can live in peace in any Arab land – in fact they are not even permitted to live in an Arab land period!
B. “Palestine” or “Palestina” in our text includes all the “LAND of Canaan.” Israel was to OCCUPY the LAND of Palestine, the Sinai, Lebanon, parts of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, the East Bank and Damascus! “How do I know? The Bible tells me so!” The burning issue is just that: will you accept the Bible as the final authority in “SETTLING THE PALESTINIAN QUESTION?” The whole issue today is about a piece of real estate roughly the size of New Jersey! What’s the big deal?
I. THE LAND IS HOLY:
Zechariah 2:10-12 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD. And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee. And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.
A. God Told Moses It Was Holy:
Exodus 3:5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
1. This was Moses’ call to lead the people into the LAND of the Canaanites.
2. He was standing on mount Horeb or Sinai.
ILLUS.: The word “holy” means something set apart or sanctified. It is related to words like “hallow,” “halo,” “hail,” “heil” “health” etc. and refers to something in perfect condition, complete or in good shape. In the N.T. the word is applied to a place, a child, a Book, brethren, “men of God,” an angel, a mount, a city, apostles, and a priesthood (which has nothing to do with bachelors running around in Halloween costumes!).
B. God Told Joshua It Was Holy:
Joshua 5:15 And the captain of the LORD’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.
NOTE: Anything God declares holy costs something! The land will be paid for in blood! The inhabitants (Canaanites) will have to die. If Israel fails to rid the land of its inhabitants, they will have their own blood shed. The choice is theirs.
Ultimately this land will be completely cleansed of unbelief by blood shed of unimaginable proportions in the battle of Armageddon. After that battle the land will be finally occupied as God promised Abraham and the Millennial reign of Christ will begin.
Joshua 6:21 And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.
Joshua 10:40 So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel commanded.
Joshua 11:14 And all the spoil of these cities, and the cattle, the children of Israel took for a prey unto themselves; but every man they smote with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, neither left they any to breathe.
1. This was Joshua, the general of the Lord’s army OCCUPYING the Land God told him was holy and was his and belonged to the 12 tribes of Israel.
2. The land was the “land of Canaan” spoken of earlier.
3. Even Rahab the Canaanite recognized the land was given to Israel.
Joshua 2:9-10 And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.
ILLUS.: Only one piece of land is called “holy” on earth: Israel (– not Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Italy (!) or America). One Book is called “holy” and that is the Bible (not the Quran, the Bhagavad-gita, the Book of Mormon, the Shastas, Puranas, or the sayings of Buddha, Confucius or Mohammed!) Only one city is called “holy” & that is NOT Rome w/St. Peter’s Cathedral, Wash. D.C. w/the National Cathedral, Salt Lake City w/the Mormon Temple or Mecca with the Ka’bah). There is only one mount called “holy” and that is not Mt Rushmore, Mt. Everest, or Mt. Surabachi – it is Mt. Zion, situated in the holy city Jerusalem where the Mosque of Omar or the Dome of the Rock stands today and sits on ground God designated as “holy” – so it is profaning or defiling “holy ground” and it will have to go!
Psalms 132:13 For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation.
Psalms 78:67-68 Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim: But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.
Isaiah 40:15-17 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing… All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
ILLUS.: The Bible is NOT a book about religion, it is a book about history, government, geography (and redemption)! That history record is focused on one piece of geography – Israel! Nations are mentioned generally only as they relate to or impact upon that one nation. So history & geography play a primary role in this holy Book. It is the history (past, present & future) of a land called Israel & designated as “holy” by God. It deals with that piece of geography from which the 3 major religions of the world were spawned: Judaism, Christianity & Islam.
This piece of real estate will determine the outcome of man’s history globally and heralds ahead of time the total destruction of every political, religious and scientific institution and system devised by man.
Jeremiah 30:11 For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, andwill not leave thee altogether unpunished.
II. THE LAND BELONGS TO THE JEWS:
A. God Says So!
ILLUS.: In His Holy Book written 480 years before Mohammed, the pedophile, married a 9 yr. old girl (!), God declared that the Land was given to His people, Israel, through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel)! Not to the sons of Ishmael.
Genesis 15:18-21 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
Genesis 13:14-17 And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.
Genesis 17:8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
Genesis 22:16-18 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. (You plant seed in the land!)
Genesis 24:7 The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.
B. Muhammad Said So!
1. The Quran (Sura 5:21 & 7:161) declares that the land of Palestine belongs to the 12 tribes of Jacob or Israel!
2. The land of “Palestinians” is never “the land of Palestine” but rather “the land of Canaan” and its inhabitants are always called “Canaanites.”
ILLUS.: The only kingdom or State that ever existed in “the land of Canaan” after 33 of its kings were slaughtered (Josh. 12) was a Jewish State – the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
All genuine “PALESTINIANS” since 1400 B.C. are JEWS. Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and Greeks conquered Palestine; but none of them set up a kingdom or a state there. The Romans had it until they were replaced by the Turks, and the Turks never put up any kingdom or state there; neither did the British when they took it from the Turks in 1917! That’s HISTORY and any Muslim history book that changes that is just like Muhammad’s book: philosophical and religious fairy tales! – Ruckman, The Holy Scriptures vs. the Holy Koran
III. THE LAND WILL BE RULED BY A KING:
ILLUS.: No peace will ever come to earth until it comes on that holy city in that holy land and that will not happen until a holy temple is rebuilt on that holy mount when the holy nation accepts the King called “The Holy One of Israel Whom God has appointed and anointed. Israel will not be allowed to have their land, Temple or government until they stop rejecting the Holy Scriptures and their own “law and the prophets” and Moses (the Law) and Elijah (the prophets) show up again as the two witnesses in Jerusalem during the Tribulation. (One will be resurrected [after dying] and the other will return [having never died!] after being kept alive for 2700+ years!)
A. Which King? Christ or Antichrist?
1. Before the true King shows up the counterfeit will rule the earth.
2. When the true King shows up the counterfeit and his kingdom will be blasted away!
2 Thessalonians 2:8-12 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
B. Which Kingdom? The Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven?
1. Christ spoke of 2 kingdoms: one spiritual and heavenly & the other physical & earthly.
2. The Kingdom of God is spiritual and can only be entered into by birth.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
3. The Kingdom of heaven is physical, earthly and millennial.
ILLUS.: It should be obvious that “heaven” & “God” are different. Birds don’t fly in God. Mars or Saturn don’t convince men of sin! The Kingdom of Heaven is heaven’s rule on earth.
John 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. (The word “now” is missing from all the new Amillennial versions of Scripture!)
Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Matthew 6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
CONCL.: Israel’s King and Kingdom will indeed come and it will be a holy reign because the Holy One of Israel will rule (government) over them and the world. He will sit on the throne in the holy city, in the holy Temple, in the holy land, using the holy Scriptures as His law book, to rule over a holy priesthood and nation. He will indeed “SETTLE THE PALESTINIAN QUESTION” forever!
Believers today are called “holy.” Anything that is holy is paid for at great cost and has great value. You are positionally holy if you are saved. You have been purchased with His blood! Are you practically holy?! Does your life match your position? Are you living up to your reputation? Christ purchased you and you are “bought with a price.” You are “not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold…but with the precious blood of Christ.” 1 Pet. 1:18, 19 Therefore He has a prior claim on our lives and we are to “glorify God in (our) body, and in (our) spirit which are God’s.” 1 Cor. 6:19, 20
The Bible settles the Palestinian question, and also settles the question of how a believer is to live. How do YOU live?!
![THESIS: To settle biblically the ‘Palestinian’ question. INTRO.: A. Why should the U.S. support Israel against Abbas, the Arabs and the ‘Palestinians’? Who really should be in the land the news media refers to as “Palestine”? Who are the “Palestinians”? (Aarafat wasn’t even a “Palestinian”? He was an Egyptian married to a Roman Catholic!) [“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?” Jer.13:23a] Don’t they have some “rights” to the land also? Why can’t the Jews and Arabs both live in the land peacefully? (They can and have and do when Israel controls the land!) But no Jew can live in peace in any Arab land – in fact they are not even permitted to live in an Arab land period!B. “Palestine” or “Palestina” in our text includes all the “LAND of Canaan.” Israel was to OCCUPY the LAND of Palestine, the Sinai, Lebanon, parts of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, the East Bank and Damascus! “How do I know? The Bible tells me so!” The burning issue is just that: will you accept the Bible as the final authority in “SETTLING THE PALESTINIAN QUESTION?” The whole issue today is about a piece of real estate roughly the size of New Jersey! What’s the big deal?I. THE LAND IS HOLY: Zechariah 2:10-12 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD. And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee. And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.A. God Told Moses It Was Holy:Exodus 3:5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.1. This was Moses’ call to lead the people into the LAND of the Canaanites.2. He was standing on mount Horeb or Sinai.ILLUS.: The word “holy” means something set apart or sanctified. It is related to words like “hallow,” “halo,” “hail,” “heil” “health” etc. and refers to something in perfect condition, complete or in good shape. In the N.T. the word is applied to a place, a child, a Book, brethren, “men of God,” an angel, a mount, a city, apostles, and a priesthood (which has nothing to do with bachelors running around in Halloween costumes!).B. God Told Joshua It Was Holy:Joshua 5:15 And the captain of the LORD’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.NOTE: Anything God declares holy costs something! The land will be paid for in blood! The inhabitants (Canaanites) will have to die. If Israel fails to rid the land of its inhabitants, they will have their own blood shed. The choice is theirs.Ultimately this land will be completely cleansed of unbelief by blood shed of unimaginable proportions in the battle of Armageddon. After that battle the land will be finally occupied as God promised Abraham and the Millennial reign of Christ will begin.Joshua 6:21 And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.Joshua 10:40 So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel commanded.Joshua 11:14 And all the spoil of these cities, and the cattle, the children of Israel took for a prey unto themselves; but every man they smote with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, neither left they any to breathe. 1. This was Joshua, the general of the Lord’s army OCCUPYING the Land God told him was holy and was his and belonged to the 12 tribes of Israel.2. The land was the “land of Canaan” spoken of earlier.3. Even Rahab the Canaanite recognized the land was given to Israel.Joshua 2:9-10 And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.ILLUS.: Only one piece of land is called “holy” on earth: Israel (– not Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Italy (!) or America). One Book is called “holy” and that is the Bible (not the Quran, the Bhagavad-gita, the Book of Mormon, the Shastas, Puranas, or the sayings of Buddha, Confucius or Mohammed!) Only one city is called “holy” & that is NOT Rome w/St. Peter’s Cathedral, Wash. D.C. w/the National Cathedral, Salt Lake City w/the Mormon Temple or Mecca with the Ka’bah). There is only one mount called “holy” and that is not Mt Rushmore, Mt. Everest, or Mt. Surabachi – it is Mt. Zion, situated in the holy city Jerusalem where the Mosque of Omar or the Dome of the Rock stands today and sits on ground God designated as “holy” – so it is profaning or defiling “holy ground” and it will have to go!Psalms 132:13 For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation.Psalms 78:67-68 Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim: But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.Isaiah 40:15-17 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing… All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.ILLUS.: The Bible is NOT a book about religion, it is a book about history, government, geography (and redemption)! That history record is focused on one piece of geography – Israel! Nations are mentioned generally only as they relate to or impact upon that one nation. So history & geography play a primary role in this holy Book. It is the history (past, present & future) of a land called Israel & designated as “holy” by God. It deals with that piece of geography from which the 3 major religions of the world were spawned: Judaism, Christianity & Islam.This piece of real estate will determine the outcome of man’s history globally and heralds ahead of time the total destruction of every political, religious and scientific institution and system devised by man.Jeremiah 30:11 For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, andwill not leave thee altogether unpunished.II. THE LAND BELONGS TO THE JEWS:A. God Says So!ILLUS.: In His Holy Book written 480 years before Mohammed, the pedophile, married a 9 yr. old girl (!), God declared that the Land was given to His people, Israel, through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel)! Not to the sons of Ishmael.Genesis 15:18-21 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.Genesis 13:14-17 And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.Genesis 17:8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.Genesis 22:16-18 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. (You plant seed in the land!)Genesis 24:7 The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.B. Muhammad Said So!1. The Quran (Sura 5:21 & 7:161) declares that the land of Palestine belongs to the 12 tribes of Jacob or Israel!2. The land of “Palestinians” is never “the land of Palestine” but rather “the land of Canaan” and its inhabitants are always called “Canaanites.”ILLUS.: The only kingdom or State that ever existed in “the land of Canaan” after 33 of its kings were slaughtered (Josh. 12) was a Jewish State – the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.All genuine “PALESTINIANS” since 1400 B.C. are JEWS. Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and Greeks conquered Palestine; but none of them set up a kingdom or a state there. The Romans had it until they were replaced by the Turks, and the Turks never put up any kingdom or state there; neither did the British when they took it from the Turks in 1917! That’s HISTORY and any Muslim history book that changes that is just like Muhammad’s book: philosophical and religious fairy tales! – Ruckman, The Holy Scriptures vs. the Holy KoranIII. THE LAND WILL BE RULED BY A KING:ILLUS.: No peace will ever come to earth until it comes on that holy city in that holy land and that will not happen until a holy temple is rebuilt on that holy mount when the holy nation accepts the King called “The Holy One of Israel Whom God has appointed and anointed. Israel will not be allowed to have their land, Temple or government until they stop rejecting the Holy Scriptures and their own “law and the prophets” and Moses (the Law) and Elijah (the prophets) show up again as the two witnesses in Jerusalem during the Tribulation. (One will be resurrected [after dying] and the other will return [having never died!] after being kept alive for 2700+ years!)A. Which King? Christ or Antichrist?1. Before the true King shows up the counterfeit will rule the earth.2. When the true King shows up the counterfeit and his kingdom will be blasted away!2 Thessalonians 2:8-12 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.B. Which Kingdom? The Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven?1. Christ spoke of 2 kingdoms: one spiritual and heavenly & the other physical & earthly.2. The Kingdom of God is spiritual and can only be entered into by birth.John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.3. The Kingdom of heaven is physical, earthly and millennial.ILLUS.: It should be obvious that “heaven” & “God” are different. Birds don’t fly in God. Mars or Saturn don’t convince men of sin! The Kingdom of Heaven is heaven’s rule on earth.John 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. (The word “now” is missing from all the new Amillennial versions of Scripture!)Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.Matthew 6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.CONCL.: Israel’s King and Kingdom will indeed come and it will be a holy reign because the Holy One of Israel will rule (government) over them and the world. He will sit on the throne in the holy city, in the holy Temple, in the holy land, using the holy Scriptures as His law book, to rule over a holy priesthood and nation. He will indeed “SETTLE THE PALESTINIAN QUESTION” forever!Believers today are called “holy.” Anything that is holy is paid for at great cost and has great value. You are positionally holy if you are saved. You have been purchased with His blood! Are you practically holy?! Does your life match your position? Are you living up to your reputation? Christ purchased you and you are “bought with a price.” You are “not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold…but with the precious blood of Christ.” 1 Pet. 1:18, 19 Therefore He has a prior claim on our lives and we are to “glorify God in (our) body, and in (our) spirit which are God’s.” 1 Cor. 6:19, 20 The Bible settles the Palestinian question, and also settles the question of how a believer is to live. How do YOU live?!](http://pastorfedena.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/israel.png){kind=link}