Out of Zion

Dr. Susan Michael: While you may be looking at the craziness of the world all around us and wondering where is God, what I am going to share with you today demonstrates our God is busy at work, working sometimes behind the scenes, but even bringing about world events. I hope it will be an encouragement to your faith, so listen in.

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Israel Answers series, connecting Israel, the Bible, and you. Join Susan Michael as she explores timely issues and current events from a scriptural perspective to equip the Christian world with a balanced biblical response. Be sure to subscribe for future episodes, which will ignite your faith and bring the Bible to light in your everyday world. Now, let’s join Susan with your Israel Answer.

Dr. Susan Michael: Do you have a personal situation that may be causing you to lose faith? I think that what I am going to share today will really ignite your faith. There is nothing better than understanding the miracle that God has brought about in the last 100 years, really even over the last 500 years, and that is the gathering of the Jewish people back to their ancient homeland from the four corners of the world. This was described in Isaiah 43:5-6: "I will bring your descendants from the east and gather you from the west. Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth."

I shared last week the story of how the Jewish people had been scattered around the world for 2,000 years, but still they had prayed and longed for a return to their Jerusalem. A small Jewish community had always lived in the land, centered mainly around some of the holy sites and holy cities such as Jerusalem and Hebron and others. In the 1800s, migrations began due to Russian persecution. Jews began to leave Russia. They built agricultural communities in the land and they turned swamps into fertile fields.

Then through a major shakeup of the world after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, the international powers at the time approved the establishment of Jewish sovereignty in their homeland. In 1947, the UN approved it, and in 1948, the modern state of Israel was formed. If I had more time, I would love to tell you all the details. It is an amazing story of how after World War I, the entire world was shaken up. Whole new nations were formed throughout the Middle East. One of them was Israel. God was busy at work.

I want to talk about this migration of Jews to the land. It is called in Hebrew Aliyah, and the term Aliyah means to ascend. It refers to both a physical and a spiritual ascent. It is really referring to the ancient Israelites when they would ascend to Jerusalem and to the temple there. They were going up physically, but the intent was to go before the Lord and to ascend spiritually into His presence. The founders of Israel chose that word to describe the immigration because they believed that this physical migration to the Holy Land is the first step in a spiritual ascent into God’s will and presence.

It is a direct fulfillment of God’s promises throughout the Hebrew prophets. After centuries of dispersion, God declared He would bring His people back from every nation where they had been scattered. He demonstrated His faithfulness to fulfill His word and His everlasting covenant with His people. Have you ever thought about it? If you were sitting there 200 years ago and you see the Jewish people are scattered throughout the earth, their small little backwater part of the large Ottoman Empire, would you have had the faith to believe that the entire world map would change and that there would be a Jewish sovereign homeland there in that ancient land of Canaan?

I don't know that I would have had the faith to believe it, but looking back now, I see what God did and it is an amazing miracle. It is such an encouragement to all of us that God is so faithful, that His word is so true, and that He will fulfill His promises. Today, millions of Jewish people have returned to the land, especially after World War II and the collapse of the Soviet Union. One million Jews have left the former Soviet Union and made their home in Israel. Yet, millions still remain outside the land of Israel.

With the recent surge in antisemitism, there is a prophetic urgency now to pray for the safety of the Jewish people wherever they may be found. There will be a surge in Aliyah, so let’s pray for those that God is drawing back to their land and that they will be able to make that journey. It is not easy transitioning to a whole new land with a whole new language and a whole new culture. Pray for the people making Aliyah.

I also want to talk about the importance of the land itself. Part of God’s covenant with the Jewish people is the land, the very land. He told Abraham, "I will lead you to a land that I will give you and I will make you a great nation and through you all the families of the earth will be blessed." It was an amazing promise and a specific piece of land. Abraham followed God and God took him to the land of Canaan. God then promised that even if the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob disobeyed Him and they lost the privilege of living on that land, it would be temporary because one day He would bring them back from the four corners of the world.

He would cause the deserts to bloom and the waste places to flourish. Since the rebirth of modern Israel in 1948, agricultural innovation has transformed a once-barren, forsaken land into a global leader in desert farming and reforestation and water management. God also promised His people would be a light to the nations, and they are sharing their technology and know-how with many countries in Africa particularly where they are suffering from great desertification and a lack of water. This is only the beginning.

We need to pray for the full restoration of the people to their land and of the land itself, that truly it will be as a desert blossoming as a rose. That leads us to the importance of the restoration of the people. God called Israel to be a light to the nations from Isaiah 49:6. Of course, that meant more than sharing agricultural technology. They are called to be a priestly people and to be a blessing to the world with the knowledge of the one true God and of His Messiah. The Hebrew prophets foretold a day when God would gather His children to the land and they would all know Him.

That is what we are talking about. A spiritual restoration. Ezekiel 36 describes this return in two stages. First is a physical return to the land. Many of them have come back even as non-believers, but then it is followed, Ezekiel says, by a spiritual restoration where they will be sprinkled with clean water, that they will be restored to their God. We are witnessing the return of the Jewish people from every country from where they have been scattered. Many are secular or nominal believers, but based on the promises of God, we know there will be an outpouring of the Spirit of grace and supplication that will bring spiritual renewal.

Many verses tell us this, Ezekiel 36 and also Zechariah 12. We can intercede and speak God’s word for this to be fulfilled. Many rabbis and religious leaders today say they are waiting for the coming of the Messiah and the redemption of the world. Some also say that the return of the Jewish people to their homeland is the first step of the flowering of redemption. Christians refer to this, of course, as the return of Jesus the Messiah in what the Apostle Peter called the restoration of all things.

The two faiths agree on what is ahead, but may not agree on the identity of the Messiah of who will come to implement this great redemption. Let us pray in alignment with Paul’s broken heart for his brethren and for this move of God Himself to His people. Let us pray for what the prophet Zechariah prophesied and described as the day when He would pour out His Spirit of grace and supplication upon the people. The reason this is so important is not just for the Jewish people or for the land of Israel; it is for the nations.

In Isaiah 11:12, Aliyah, the return of the Jews to their land, is referred to as a banner for the nations. A banner is a sign and it declares a message. This banner, God said, He will set up for the nations and will assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. God has raised His banner to the nations, and I believe that banner is declaring His faithfulness to His word, His faithfulness to His covenant in regathering His people Israel.

The message is one of character but also of timing, that now is the time. God is on the move and the nations had better pay attention. The nations had better sit up and pay attention because this one event will set off a series of events. God is on the move and He has regathered His people to the land and He is preparing for the final victory over the evil nations that come against them. It is a warning. As much as we like to rejoice over the message of the banner of God’s faithfulness, if you are not on the right side of this equation, that banner is a firm warning and it is a warning to the nations.

It is a warning that you had better line up with God and His people or you will suffer great judgment because the word of God is very clear that judgment is coming and it will be based on the nations' treatment of His people. That is why Aliyah is so important: the restoration of the people to their land, the restoration of the land—it will blossom when its people are back home—and the restoration of this people to their God. It is a banner to the nations, one declaring the greatness of our God and that warning if you oppose what He is doing.

Is that not an amazing story? I hope it encourages your faith that our God is a mighty God and His word is so true and you can stand on it. You can base your life on it. As we pray today, our prayer points are praying for a global awareness and the support from the church worldwide to align with God’s heart for the return of His people to the land. We are going to pray for safe journeys and easy integration into Israeli life and culture for those making Aliyah. We are going to pray for the blessing of the people of the land and on the land, and we are going to pray for the full physical and spiritual restoration of the people. Let’s pray.

Lord, we just stand in awe at your power and your greatness and how you declared in the very beginning exactly what we are seeing acted out in the earth today. You knew from the beginning your plan of redemption. You knew the battle that the evil one would put up against that plan, and you knew how it would all end. You knew it would end in blessing for your people. Lord, we just stand in awe. We thank you that you have shared with us all of your plans and your truths in the Bible that we are able to read it and study it and understand this as your Holy Spirit opens our eyes. We want to thank you.

Lord, I pray for churches all around the world. I pray for governments all around the world that they would come to understand that you are behind this regathering of the Jewish people and that they will align their nations and they will align their churches with what you are doing. Lord, I pray for safe journeys and easy integration for all of those making Aliyah. I know it is very difficult to completely uproot your life and move to a foreign land that speaks a different language that may even have a different culture. Lord, we pray that you help them and support them and bless them in their return.

Lord, we pray for the blessing of the people and of the land. We pray that it will blossom as a rose, that water will be rich and in abundance, that it will be green and healthy and alive as the people are returning to the land. The land was created for this people and this people was created for this land, so we pray for its full restoration. Lastly, we pray for the spiritual restoration of your people. Truly, we pray for that day when they will all know you. Lord, we pray for that day when redemption does come, what we as Christians know as the restoration of all things.

When the Messiah has come, what we would say the return of Jesus, it is all the same Bible and the same promises. We pray that they would be fulfilled. We pray for the Spirit of grace and supplication to be poured out upon your people Israel, that they will look upon you and that they will receive you, that they will welcome you, and that your purposes will be fulfilled. All of your purposes fulfilled. I just pray this in the mighty name of Jesus, the Messiah.

Please be sure and download our free gift to you. It is a free downloadable called "Ten Ways to Pray for Israel." Everything I have been covering in the last several weeks and today are all there: the prayer points, the scriptures, everything. I really encourage you to get that downloadable. If it is not down below where you are listening or watching right now, you can go to outofzionshow.com/shownotes. There you will find links to all the downloadables that we offer in this show. Please get it today and be sure to like or follow or subscribe, whatever your platform needs, so that you get notified when we release new episodes. We have one more episode to go in our "Why and How to Pray for Israel" series, so we want to see you back here next week. Please sign up, like, follow, subscribe, and God bless.

Guest (Male): We hope you have enjoyed this episode of Out of Zion with Susan Michael. Be sure to subscribe to Out of Zion now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, pray.com, Salem Web Network, Salem Life Audio. Out of Zion with Susan Michael is a production of ICEJ USA. All rights reserved.