Out of Zion

Dr. Susan Michael: Today we're going to talk about how to pray for God's purposes to be fulfilled in Israel. You might think, "Well, how do we know God's promises? What are His purposes?" Stay tuned. We're going to talk about that today.

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 and biblical response. Be sure to subscribe for future episodes, which will ignite your faith and bring the Bible to life in your everyday world. Now, let's join Susan with your Israel Answers.

Dr. Susan Michael: How do we know God's purposes for Israel? They are clearly laid down in His covenants. In Genesis 17:7, it says, "I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for an everlasting covenant." God is referring here to His covenant with Abraham. That covenant wasn't just with Abraham; it was with his descendants, and it was forever. It was an eternal covenant.

It is so important for us to understand that God's covenant with Abraham and his descendants after him was unconditional. It wasn't conditioned upon them doing anything. God made promises to Abraham. He promised him a land, a great nation of descendants after him, and a global mission. That mission was to be a blessing to all the families of the earth.

The only condition was He said, "If you will follow Me." Abraham got up that day and he followed God to the land that the Lord showed him. So it's an unconditional covenant. After Abraham, his descendants became the twelve tribes of Israel. They later ended up in slavery in Egypt.

Four hundred years after the days of Abraham, think about that. The United States is going to celebrate its 250th anniversary next year. That's a lot of years. Four hundred is even more. So don't be surprised to know that the descendants of Abraham may not have really understood about Abraham's God or known Him. They didn't have a temple then, or a tabernacle. They didn't have priests or the law. They didn't have anything except a tradition that was passed down from generation to generation about the God of Abraham, their forefather.

After slavery in Egypt, God had to meet with them out in the Sinai desert and reveal Himself to them. He cut a covenant with them, the Mosaic covenant. You can liken it to a marriage. He proposed to the descendants of Abraham and He said, "If you'll be My people, I will be your God and you will walk with Me, and this is how you're going to live and how you're going to walk in fellowship with Me."

But if you go after other gods, which for a marriage would be like adultery, then you will no longer be able to enjoy the benefits of our relationship. That included the right to live on the land. I want to be very clear here that even though they may disobey and they may be taken off the land into exile, the land was still theirs. They just didn't have the right to live on it until they were in right relationship with their God.

In the book of Deuteronomy, there is a review of the story in the Sinai and God's covenant with His people. It's known as the covenant of love. God loved His people and He was wooing them to be His people, and they agreed to it. At the very end of the book of Deuteronomy, in the 30th chapter, God promises that even if they are exiled to the four corners of the earth, one day He would bring them back to their land. It would be in fulfillment of the promises He had made to Abraham.

After that, we have the Davidic covenant where God once again unconditionally tells David He's going to establish a throne that is eternal. His descendants would sit on that throne eternally. We see the fulfillment of that in Jesus, but it has not yet been established fully on earth. Then we have the New Covenant talked about in Jeremiah 31.

It's interesting, a lot of Christians have the idea that the New Covenant replaces some other covenant, but actually the word "new" can be translated as "renewed." It's very clear in Jeremiah 31 that this renewed covenant was with the house of Israel and Judah. When you hear a preacher say the New Covenant was for the world and the Mosaic covenant was for Israel, no, the New Covenant was also for Israel.

We see Jesus, the one who initiated the New Covenant through His death and His blood, but it has not yet fully been implemented on earth. Nevertheless, God did that covenant. It was not up to Israel; it was up to God. He said He would cut that covenant and He sent His Son, Jesus, to initiate it. These covenants are all still in play. None of them have been fully fulfilled or implemented.

But God has promised to fulfill them, and He will. His name is on the line here. His reputation is at stake if He doesn't fulfill these promises and He's not a faithful God. That's why in 1 Samuel 12:22 it says, "For the Lord will not forsake His people for His great name's sake." God's reputation is on the line here with Israel.

I want to say a quick word about the prophets. The prophets did not receive some totally separate or new revelation that was spoken over and above God's word to their forefathers. The prophets just announced the timing or the arrival of something that God had promised in a covenant. They were very in tune with the Lord. They were very spiritual and they heard from the Lord, but they were observing Israel.

When they saw them fall into idolatry generation after generation, they knew judgment was coming. They were able to pronounce it's actually at the door because they did know that from the Lord, but they didn't come up with new concepts. These were all founded in the covenants and in the law.

I want now to quote to you a prophet, the Hebrew prophet of Isaiah. I like to call the days in which we live the days of Isaiah. The book of Isaiah is just amazing. There are 66 chapters in the book of Isaiah, just like there are 66 books in the Bible, the Old Testament and New Testament. That may just be a coincidence of history because man is the one that divided the book up into chapters.

It's interesting that the first 39 chapters of Isaiah, and there are 39 books in the Old Testament, are all about this falling into the sin and the judgment that was coming, and judgment that Isaiah watched arrive. Then, beginning in chapter 40, so there's 27 chapters then from 40 to 66, and there are 27 books in the New Testament.

In chapter 40 of Isaiah, the prophet begins to announce a complete, whole new era. It's like the first half of the book was this one era, and now in chapter 40 he announces a whole new era. It begins with "Comfort, comfort my people. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem that her warfare is over, that she has paid double for her sins." God is announcing here that this is the beginning of a whole new season, a whole new approach between Me and My people.

It goes on to say to prepare the way of the Lord and be as a voice crying out in the wilderness. It says, "But what shall I cry?" And the answer is that all flesh is like grass. The grass withers, the flower fades. There's really no hope; man's just going to come and go. But it says the word of our God stands forever. That is the message of the hour: that God's word is true, He is faithful to fulfill His word, and we can base our life on it. God's word is sure, and it will be fulfilled.

For today's prayer time, I want to focus on Isaiah chapter 60 through 62. This is in that new era where God is beginning to work with His people in a whole new way. I love chapter 60 because it really does describe what I believe are the days in which we live. It starts out that there's deep darkness over the earth and deep darkness over the peoples, but it says the Lord's light and His glory will be upon you.

Who's the prophet speaking to here? He's speaking to the children of Israel. Of course, we can tap into that for our own lives as we are grafted in, and it's the same God. But he says here to the people of Israel that Gentiles will come to your light. This is the light of God that is shining on them and through them in the last days. Gentiles will be drawn to your light and kings will come to you.

He says your sons and your daughters will be gathered to you. He says even the Gentiles will help bring them, the ships of Tarshish will bring them. It says foreigners will help to build up Zion, and the wealth of the nations will come up to Jerusalem. All this is in chapter 60. I just want you to know you are the Gentile invited to be part of blessing Zion as described in Isaiah 60.

In partnership with the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, you can do all of that. You can assist in what's called Aliyah, the return of the Jewish people to their homeland. We have assisted almost 200,000 Jews on their way home in the last 30 years. You can assist in building up Zion through practical assistance, through emotionally building up the people with encouragement and your prayers.

Through advocacy out in the nations, you can be building up the strength of Israel by advocating for them, speaking up on their behalf. Isaiah 62 begins with this: "For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns." That's speaking out.

Also in prayer, Isaiah 62 verses 6 through 7 says, "I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, and give Him no rest until He establishes and He makes Jerusalem a praise in all the earth." What is that talking about? That's talking about all of His promises and purposes are fulfilled, and we have that end-time promise that His presence will be in Jerusalem and all the nations will come up to Jerusalem to worship Him.

That's what it's all about, and we are to pray persistently night and day until we see Him do that. Lastly, you can be a part of bringing the wealth of the nations up to Jerusalem just through your own donations to the work of the ICEJ. Today we're going to pray for Israel. We're going to pray for the purposes to be fulfilled, and we're going to pray for the fulfillment of these verses in Isaiah.

We're going to pray specifically for their fulfillment through the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem because we are there daily fulfilling this call of being a voice of comfort, of solidarity, of prophetic witness to Israel on behalf of the global church. We do it through humanitarian aid, through biblical education, and through advocacy. We speak hope to Jerusalem. We defend Israel all around the world. We have a presence in over 90 nations, and we are part of that preparing the way of the Lord.

We have birthed an army of intercessors all around the world that pray daily, 24/7. I want to invite you today to pray for this ministry and to consider how you might be involved in prayer as we bring this series to a close. We're going to pray for the voice of comfort to be even louder, for many churches and individuals to join this ministry of comfort to the people of Israel. Will you join me in prayer?

Lord, we just want to thank You for this amazing roadmap that You have laid out in Your word through Your covenants with Your people. It's just a prophetic roadmap, and as we study these covenants and then we study the prophets that are proclaiming these covenants and the promises that they contain, we come to understand the days in which we live and the calling that is upon us as the church of Jesus Christ.

These are the days of Isaiah 60. It is a day of darkness around the world, but that's not stopping You. Your light is shining and You are like a beacon of light onto Israel. It's becoming the center of the world stage, and that's good and that's bad. We have those that hate her and are coming against her. But Lord, we see Your light beginning to shine there. We know that You are bringing Your sons and daughters home.

We know that You are bringing the wealth of the Gentiles up to Jerusalem, that You are raising up foreigners to help build Zion, and we thank You for the privilege of being able to be a part of that work through the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. Now we pray, Lord, that You would enlarge this ministry and this organization. It already has a reach into 183 countries.

Lord, we pray for those final 10 countries recognized by the United Nations, that even in those final 10, we will raise up those that are intercessors that are standing on the walls of Jerusalem, that are speaking up night and day on behalf of Your people, that are blessing Israel. Lord, all these nations will begin to come up year after year. They've already been doing it for 46 years, but we pray, Lord, that one day at the Feast of Tabernacles, we will be able to say every single nation on earth is represented here today and has a remnant from that country standing with Israel.

Lord, what a day that will be. This is the roadmap You've laid out ahead of us. Lord, bless the work of the ICEJ. I ask You to bless all those who have joined us in prayer for these five weeks. Lord, that You will just burn in their heart to pray daily for the peace of Jerusalem as watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem until they see all of Your plans and Your purposes and Your promises fulfilled. I pray it in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank You. Amen.

I just want to remind you now that we have a free downloadable on 10 ways to pray for Israel. Wherever you're listening from today, down below there may be a link to that downloadable. If not, just go to outofzionshow.com/shownotes. In the shownotes, you'll find links to any of our offers, but this one is the offer, 10 ways to pray for Israel.

I want you to get that downloadable because at the end of it, we give you links to all of our different prayer initiatives so that you can join them and you can be one of those watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem through the ministry of the ICEJ. Before we go, don't forget to like, follow, or subscribe, whatever your platform calls for, so that you'll continue to hear from us when we put up new teachings each and every week. With that, I close our how to pray series and I say, 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 OnePlace, Salem Life Audio. Out of Zion with Susan Michael is a production of ICEJ USA. All rights reserved.