The voice in the wilderness (audio teaching)
The United Nations General Assembly decided on the 29th November 2012 to recognize the PLO as representative of the Palestinian people, and to grant non-member observer status to Palestine. This comes very close to recognizing the statehood of Palestine. When you look at that from a Biblical perspective you understand that this more and more invokes the judgment of God upon the nations. When we turn to the prophet Joel, we read in Joel 3:2 “I will gather all nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them, concerning my inheritance, my people Israel. For they scattered my people among the nations and divided my land.” All these division plans of the UN invoke ultimately the judgment of God. He will bring the nations to the valley of Jehoshaphat in Israel and enter into judgment with them. The judgment upon the nations.
The Kidron Valley near Jerusalem in the West Bank. A constant source of confusion is the fact that the modern name “Kidron Valley” (Nahal Kidron in Hebrew) applies to the entire length of a long wadi, which starts north of the Old City of Jerusalem and ends at the Dead Sea.
When you look at the Biblical expectancy of the coming of the Kingdom and of the coming of Messiah, the great Prince, the Son of David, then there are various elements that contain that expectancy. One of them is judgment of the ungodly nations. Another aspect is the resurrection of the dead. And there are many more aspects. When you look at Jesus, when He came into the world and He started to preach in Israel in the synagogue of Nazareth, you can read about that in Luke 4:14-19. “He went to Nazareth where He had been brought up and on the Sabbath day He went into the synagogue, as was His custom. And He stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. Unrolling it, He found the place where it is written: The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Isaiah 61:1 and 2a. Jesus does a remarkable thing here. He leaves out a part of a sentence. He stops actually in the middle of a sentence. Jesus stops at Isaiah 61:2a. He doesn’t read Isaiah 61:2b. Then He rolls up the scroll and gives it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone were fastened on Him, and He began by saying to them: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”.
So He stops by saying “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” and not yet the “day of the vengeance of our God.” It is not that the day of the vengeance of our God will not come, it will come, but not yet. The judgment on the nations will come, but not yet. The same happens when John the Baptist is in prison. And when he hears about Jesus, what Jesus is doing and preaching and the miracles happening that He is doing. He still is wondering, is this really Messiah, is this really the Prince, the coming King? So, when he heard (Matthew 11:2) in prison what Jesus was doing, he sent his disciples to ask Him: “are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”
Jesus replied with what is mentioned in Isaiah 35. The wonderful Kingdom that is coming. It even changes nature. Jesus leaves out a part of Isaiah 35. He does the same thing as He did in Luke 4:14-19. John the Baptist is wondering: is He really Messiah, because where is the judgment upon the nations? Judgment will come upon the nations, one day.
Rev Willem Glashouwer talks about the beautiful prophecy in Isaiah 35 about God’s love for Israel and the great future that awaits His people and His land. Via the books of Isaiah, Revelation, Psalms, Numbers, Jeremiah and Matthew, Rev Glashouwer reaches his conclusion based on Zachariah 12 and 14. Some nations will enter the Kingdom. Consolation is coming for the people of God, God will destroy Jerusalem’s enemies and the nation of Israel will be cleansed of idols and false prophets. Mountains will move, hard hearts will melt and the Lord will be King over all the earth. What begins with a vision of horror ends in a vision of hope. When God begins to unfold His great plan of redemption, He starts with one man, Abram. Abram obeys with nothing more to cling to but the promises of God. Promises of a great name, a great nation and a great blessing for all people. Sodom and Gomorrah experienced the full fury of God’s judgment for their grievous sins. Abraham negotiates with God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah. Ultimately, for the sake of ten righteous people in the city of Sodom God would spare the whole place for their sake. This is what Christians for Israel is all about. To be a voice of one crying in the wilderness (Mark 1:3).
Hear the entire audio teaching on:
http://www.c4israel.org/c4i/download/common/willem-glashouwer-11-12-2012.mp3
Rev. Willem J. J. Glashouwer
President Christians for Israel International
