Excerpt of Article, by Wim Malgo, News from Israel, Febuary 2010

In 1974, the founder of Midnight Call Ministries, Wim Malgo, posed the question in his book, ISRAEL--THE WRITING ON THE WALL (now out of print), a question that is still being asked today. Now as then,t he answer to this is highly topical. Israel will remain the writing on the wall until the return of the Messiah--News from Israel, p. 6.

There are nine glorious reasons for Israel's right to Eretz Israel, five heavenly and four earthly.

The fact that Israel's rights are in heaven and on earth makes this people the greatest mystery of all the millennium, but also the object of the hatred and miscalculation of the nations. The Jews, according to Genesis 22, are on the one hand "as the sand which is upon the sea shore"; that is her earthly calling, but on the other hand the Lord says to Abraham, "I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven"; this is her heavenly anchor. That which applied to Israel, applies to you personally; those who have their anchor in heavenly places will no longer be understood here on earth, but misunderstood, hated and persecuted.

1. The first heavenly factor is GOD HIMSELF. His exalted person guarantees Israel's right to the land. God never chooses a person without providing their clothing and habitation. God never chooses a people, as He once chose Israel, without giving them their own land. When God calls a people He also determines their land.

Let us read carefully in this connection the divine sequence in Genesis 12: 1-2, "Now the Lord had said unto Abrfam, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing."

Here the Lord speaks expressly, first of the land and then of the people. At the first calling of Israel through the Lord to Abraham, the first Jew, even the land is included.

Thirdly, the Lord then chooses the nations, "And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed" (verse 3). Wherein lies Israel's basic right to the land? It is rooted in the exalted person of the Eternal God!

In the New Testament it says in I Thess. 5:24, "Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." He has done this up to the present day.

If the fact that He who called you and will also do it makes those around you angry, this is nothing other than their guilty consciences. You are an accusation for those around you who are not rooted in the Lord. Israel is today a loud accusation for the godlessness of the nations, for she is a living proof of God. If there were no God, there would be no Israel.

2. The second heavenly reason for Israel's right to Palestine is not only God Himself, but also GOD IN HIS ACTS. This is what is upsetting the whole world. God is acting today in, through and with Israel. When much is said or written today about the "Focal point of the Middle East," they are unwittingly speaking the exact truth. God's acts and deeds are always the focal point, always central, even from a geographical point of view. His acts are central, for Eretz Israel is not only at the crossroads of three continents, but also, from a spiritual point of view, the central point. In Israel God did the most central thing of all in human history, for He was in Israel and among this people when He reconciled the world with Himself through Jesus Christ. Only Israel is therefore justified in taking possession of this land. Through the spiritual central act of God, the land and the people are inseparably one and eternally united with her God. Because, however, this new uniting of the land and p0eople is rooted in God's acts, it is a miracle, even THE miracle of the end times.

Throughout the centuries it has been said that these were the last times, and people referred to the wars, rumors of wars, floods, natural catastrophes, earthquakes, etc., according to the Word of the Lord. But one sign of the end times was missing: Israel. The return of Israel in the end times as an act of God was clearly foretold by the prophet Ezekiel. For example, "For i will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land...And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God" (Ezekiel 36:24 & 28).

For this reason the pragmatists and the politicians, the scientists and also the theologians are shaking their wise heads, because they do not understand God's acts. They cannot understand that God's acts are also His Word. What God says, He also does.

In Numbers 23:19 it says in this connection, "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of manthat he should repent; hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" We were given the Bible through Israel and the Bible is the Word of God, but along with it are also God's acts. World politics would look very different if the nations would see this [almost totally different, to put it without hyperbole or stretching it!].

3. The third heavenly reason for Israel's claim to Palestine is GOD'S GRACE. Israel's calling as the people and land of God are an inconceivable act of God's grace. When the natins failed, which was seen in the building of the tower of Babel (Genesis 11), the Lord chose in Genesis 12 an individual people. With this calling He surrounded them with His eternal grace. The calling of Israel by the living God is far stronger than the will of His enemies. The Lord says this through the prophet Isaiah, "But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away. Fear thou not; for I am with thee; be not dismayed; for I am thy God; I will strenghen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confonded; they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish" (Isaiah 41:8-11).

Then we must see and not forget that this wonderful grace of God which surrounds Israel is eternal.

Isaiah 54:7-8 & 10 tells us this, "For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer...For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shallt he covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee."

It is good and well to comfort and strengthen ourselves with such promises. We may appropriate them in the Lord Jesus Christ. But let us always remember that in the first place they are directed at Israel,for unto Israel were committed the words of God (Romans 3:2). It is a tragedy that many Christians have not grasped just how embracing and eternally valid God's grace over Israel is. They stand and stare without comprehending what is taking place in Israel today. If this wonderful grace for Israel is not recognized herself, this is only for our sakes, and for the sake of those who still have to be saved. We read this in Romans 11:28, "As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes; but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes." And in verse 25 it says, "Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in."

4. The fourth heavenly reason for Israel's claim to the land of Israel lies in God's WONDERFUL LOVE, which has continually preserved Israel and restored her. In Jeremiah 31:3 it says, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." If the Jews are loved by few people, they should know that they are loved by God. But here I hear a Christian protest, "But God loves the whole world!" This is true, but only through Israel. Let us remember the sequence in Genesis 12:1-3: first the land, then Israel as a people, and only then the nations, "...and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." I want to emphasize this: God doe snot change this sequence! I am grateful, very grateful, that God's love for Israel is infinitely stronger and more embracing than ours (cf Isaiah 49:7 & 13-26).

We often hear Christians say, "Of course I have nothing against Israel." Usually such people care nothing for Israel either! Or they say, "Certainly I want to love the Jews like any other people, even if they are no better than others. It is our duty as Christians to love them." They don't go any further. What does the Lord say, though? "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon" (Hosea 14:4-5).

5. The fifth reason for Israel's right to her homeland is GOD'S JUSTICE AND TRUTH. The measure of divine judgment upon His people is full, even if hard times await Israel. And yet the words of Isaiah 4):1-2 are already being fulfilled, "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins." The Lord will, as we see from this Word, turn away His wrath from Israel.

God is turnhing back to His people again today, and the hour is not far off when Israel will recognize her Messiah. God's truth confirms Israel's right to her land, for children who have a father have a home. Now I hear once again the Christian objection, "But the Israelites are not children of God!" You need to read your Bible, for in Romans 9:4 it says, "Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises."

The five heavenly reasons, God Himself, God in His acts, the grace of God, God's love, and God's justice and truth, result in four concrete EARTHLY REASONS:

6. Israel's right to the land of Israel lies firstly in her GEOGRAPHIC SITUATION. Where and with whom does Israel have to fight the most in our day? On her borders and aginst the nations. The more the nations on the borders fight against Israel, the more Israel's immigration quota grows, but also the more sons of Israel fall at these borders. "When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel" (Deuteronomy 32:8). The borders of Israel will come closer to the borders determined by God, which are described in Genesis 15:18, Deut. 11:24 and Joshua 1:4. Israel's right to her borders are testified to by God.

7. Let us now consider a second earthly reason for Israel's right to possess the land. This is the MILITARY SITUATION OF iSRAEL. What does the military situation have to do with Israel's claim to Palestine? The answer is that God promised Eretz Israel to the people of Israel. The military situation of Israel is, as far as mere numbers are concerned, desperate. That which is not possible according to reason, however, is being realized according to the promise of God. Reason is human; the promise is divine. The promises are not being fulfilled through military superiority, but through faith. This is how it always was in the history of Israel. When the Jewish people were about to fall, when it was practically impossible for God to fulfill His promises, then the Lord began to fulfill them.

This also applied to you who, in spite of your inferiority, believe in the Victor! The Lord says concerning the military situation of Israel in Deuteronomy 11:25, "There shall no man be able to stand before you; for the Lord your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon allt he land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you." And in Deut. 28:7 we read, "The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face; they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways."

8. The third reason is the GENETIC AND BIOLOGICAL MIRACLE OF ISRAEL in the people and the land, upon which Israel's claim to the land is founded. It is well known that the part of the Jewish people who have returned to Palestine have experienced a genetic transformation. Out of angst-ridden, intimidated people with a ghetto syndrome, determined, courageous pioneers and soldiers have come. This was a product of the centuries-old, finally realized union of the people with her land. Biology means "the study of living organisms." In Palestine such a biological miracle has taken place and is continuing to take place. As long as the Ottomans, Turks, Romans, Arabs, Crusaders or English ruled the land, it was a desert and malaria-ridden swamp. In 1948 the biological miracle began. The desert began to blossom. An inconceivable and incomprehensibe blessing now lies on this centuries-long desolate land [just look at aerial photos, for example, of Arab-controlled lands in Gaza and then right across the border at the land of Israel, they are like day and night, for the Arab Gaza territory is highly populated but desolate and like a desert, despite all the billions of aid poured in to build up the country, and yet Israel's land just a few miles away is green and productive and beautiful! It is a lush gardenland, but once was desolate desert under the Arabs for long centuries until the Jews bought the land and made it blossom. That definitely shows both the curse on the Arabs for their senseless, devilish hatred of Israel and the Jews, for God's word is true, He will bless those who bless Israel, but curse those who hate Israel.--Ed.].

This was a result of the uniting of the land with the people! [Amen!] The Lord said this through the prophet Ezekiel, "And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen...And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the weaste and desolate and ruined cities are become fence, and are inhabited" (Ezekiel 36:30 & 34-35).

9. It is not just geographical and military reasons, or genetic and biological miracles that are the reason for Israel's right to Palestine, but: the SPIRITUAL SITUATION. It is a sad fact that many Christians are blind to Israel's spiritual calling in Israel, although we are saved on the grounds of the fact that Israel exists. Just as Israel is blind for her Messiah up to the present day, a large part of the Church of Jesus Christ is blind today for the calling and future of Israel. Let us not forget that romans 11:18 is written in the present tense, "Boast not againsty the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee." It does not say "bore" but "bearest." Israel's greatest significance, calling and task stand firm, as truly as the Word of God stands!

WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN FOR US?

It is a clear pointer that we can also give as a reason for our claim to heaven one day. Have you heavenly reasons? Is it the exalted person of God Himself, in whom you have your anchor through the Lord Jesus Christ? Is it His accomplished work through His Son on Calvary's cross on which you call? Can you call upon His wonderful grace and love because you know them personally? Does this claim to the heavenly homeland have an effect on your life here on earth, just as this is the case with Israel? You ask, how? Through victory in weakness, through fertility in the spiritual desert, and through the transformation of your being, as we see this in Israel. Everywhere that is taking place before our very eyes is a clear message of God to us. It is absolutely in accordance with the Bible. It is the fulfillment of prophecy.--Wim Malgo

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