“I will turn to Israel again”
“Soon the fullness of the Gentiles will be retained and I will turn to Israel again, to my Jewish people. They will be grafted on their own olive tree and my promise to Abraham will be gloriously fulfilled.”
This is the prophetic message that Lance Lambert recently has expressed in Jerusalem and that was made public by the Netherlands-based ‘Israel Platform’ in her Israel Newsletter. Lance Lambert stands in the gap for Israel for many years. He lives in Jerusalem since 1980 and regularly publishes messages in which he analyzes the situation in the Middle East. Lance Lambert is highly regarded in circles of pro-Israel organizations. He is especially known for his eschatological insights.
Recently Lance Lambert addressed a conference for intercessors in Jerusalem. In it he passed on the following “prophetic message”.
“It is a good thing that you intercede for Israel, that it is saved, because it is My goal to save her. I will complete the circle of Redemption that started with Abraham and My promise that a great people would emerge from him and that in him all nations of the earth would be blessed. And so it happened! Because Israel became the vehicle through which My Word came to all nations and also My salvation and the knowledge of my plan. Above all the Messiah emerged from this people. Soon the fullness of the Gentiles will be retained and I will turn to Israel again, to my Jewish people. They will be grafted on their own olive tree and My promise to Abraham will be gloriously fulfilled. Then their hardness of heart will melt, their blindness will change in sight and their suffering in shining glory. This is the goal set by Me and I will not deviate. The fulfillment will soon start. I will transform their weakness into unbelievable power and I will use this nation as the last witness for the world of which I am.
Take very seriously indeed what is happening in the Arab world. It is not good for Israel! It is not a step towards freedom and democracy but an enormous gain for militant Islam. They will try to exterminate and liquidate Israel but they will not only fail; their might and power will be broken and out of them a very large harvest of souls will be saved.
Listen to Me, I am calling you to intercessory prayer! It will not be easy. All powers of My enemy are intended to hinder these people to come to My redemption and salvation. But he will fail! That is why I am looking for people who are willing to stand in the gap, who are willing to build the wall, they that want to stand on the place of intercessory prayer.
Soon I will start with heavier judgments upon the Western countries. I will make them to naught, I will subvert them, I will grind them to powder. They will not know what hit them. It will look as if nothing is left of what I once did in those countries. Especially that super power, I will make him weak, they will no longer be super but a nation about which one laments.
Hear My word, I am calling you to intercessory prayer for those who belong to Me in those countries, that they will be saved from them! Hear this cry. My heart longs to those that belong to Me, so that they are clear in their understanding, clear in the way in which they live amid this all. Hear Me! Because I speak to you, who love me and those who thought of Me this morning; I do not desire judgment, but very serious and destructive judgment will fall on those countries. Hear My word and obey My call to intercessory prayer!”
The prophetic message of Lance Lambert
I can count Lance Lambert among my personal friends for many years now. As an independent Bible teacher I keep him in high esteem and through the years I learned a great deal from him. Whenever he was visiting The Netherlands – usually at the invitation of Christians for Israel Holland – I regularly translated for him in the past during his speaking engagements. It rejoiced my heart that he was willing to write the foreword of my book Why Israel? the English publication of Waarom Israel? that by now has been translated into more than thirty languages. Lance is one of the leaders of the Messianic Jewish congregations in Israel.
Prophetic message
Again a prophetic message came from Lance Lambert. Because he himself is so deeply rooted in the Word of God, the Bible, it cannot fail to be that the prophetic messages he sends into the world are deeply Biblical founded. And that is the way I want to look at them. Because sometimes I do not how to handle the way in which they are presented. The “I” in the first person who is talking, is apparently Jesus, or God the Father through the Holy Spirit. That is not always clear. Does the Lord speak like that today? So that the one who speaks is as it where the “mouthpiece” of the Lord Himself?
Scripture itself asks for verification of the prophets and their prophetic messages. Deuteronomy 18:21-22 says: “You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.”
Prophetic messages occurred in New Testament times as well. A man called Agabus speaks about an impending famine. Acts 11:27-28 says: “During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.)”
Verification to the Bible is necessary, as well as a sober looking at the contents of the prophetic messages – and if indeed happens what was prophesied and foretold. Having said this, now the prophetic message itself that was spoken by Lance Lambert. Keywords in it are for me: Intercessory prayer – Salvation of Israel – Covenant with Abraham – Israel as instrument of salvation – Jesus Messiah from Israel – Fullness of the Gentiles – Being grafted on their own olive tree – Twice “soon” – Arab world – Building wall of prayers – Judgments on Western nations – “That” superpower – intercessory prayer for those that belong to Me – I do not desire judgment. Elements that all occur in the Bible itself as well.
Salvation of Israel
Intercessory prayer for Israel’s salvation, Lance says. Words that immediately make you think of Romans 11:25-28: “I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:
“The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs.”
Once the Lord will give revelation concerning Jesus to “all Israel”. But only if the “fullness of the Gentiles” has come in.
The prophet Zechariah speaks about the final outpouring of the Holy Spirit in chapter 12:10-14. Under the heading “Mourning for the One They Pierced” it says: “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, and all the rest of the clans and their wives.”
In short: from highest to lowest – king, prophet, priest (the political and spiritual leadership of Israel) and even the “swearer” Simi (who may be a model of the secularized part of Israel), head by head, men and women separately: all of Israel will through this outpouring of the Holy Spirit suddenly see who Jesus really is.
Also the prophecy of the prophet Joel in Joel 2 – that partially was fulfilled in Acts 2 – will then definitively in the future be fulfilled. In the midst of apocalyptic phenomena in the end times that where not yet happening in Acts 2 – blood and fire and billows of smoke, sun eclipsed, stars falling from the sky, et cetera – the Holy Spirit is poured out on all Israel. Joel 2:28-32 says: “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.”
And that the Lord will bring that day closer very quickly now: we may surely pray for it. Because only when things are finally well between Him and His people Israel world wide peace can come. Then the prophecy from Luke 1:31-33 of the angel Gabriel to Mary will be fulfilled: “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” Praying for it is nothing short of a Biblical command. David’s throne stood in Jerusalem. And ruling in the midst of Jacob means: ruling in the midst of the twelve tribes of Israel. The ten tribes of Israel and the two tribes of Judah, who will be united then, see for example Ezekiel 37:15-28.
Praying watchmen
Being praying watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem. Scripture speaks about this too. Isaiah 62:6-7 says: “I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.” Watchmen see the dangers coming and blow the shofar, a ram’s horn, to wake up everyone and to mount the defensive positions.
Israel faces many threats. Wouter van Loon says in his commentary in the Dutch MagazineElsevier of May 14, 2011, under the heading: “Israel fears – New powers Arab world are a nightmare for the Jewish State”: “The popular revolts in the Middle East are by some exultantly called “Arabic Spring”, but Israel fears an extremist Winter.” The Dutch newspaperReformatorisch Dagblad says in its op-ed of May 12, 2011: “It was supposed to become an Arabic Spring. The sun had risen in Tunisia and Egypt. Libya and Syria were next. Optimism everywhere. But by now its lustre is gone.” Under the heading: “Syria threatens Israel with war; Egypt to aid Hamas” I read on the Dutch website Xandernieuws.nl: “ The Egyptian junta has promised the political leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, that he is allowed to move his command center from the Syrian capital Damascus to the Gaza strip. In Damascus, Bashar Assad’s confidant Rami Makhlouf has threatened that Syria will start a war against Israel to retaliate the American and European support for the rebellion in the country. Makhlouf is an international business tycoon who is on the American and European sanctions list. In to-day’s interview in the New York Times he declared that “if there is no stability here (in Syria), then there will be no stability in Israel either. Absolutely not and no one can guarantee what will happen if something happens to the regime.” And the agenda today of ISIS can be clearly seen by everyone in the whole world.
Furthermore he advised the United States of America and Europe to “not to assert great pressure on the president.” “Don’t force Syria to do something that it doesn’t want to do.” According to the senior advisor and cousin of Assad, the Syrian president is contemplating two strategic options: “War against Israel and/or send weapons and money to the West Bank and the Israeli Arabs, to be used for terror attacks against Israel.” Makhlouf would have never said this without permission from Assad. His words mean therefore that the Syrian president is using Israel as a hostage in order to survive the popular revolt in his country which according to the Turkish PM Erdogan has already cost more than one thousand lives.” And about the increase of Islamic extremism lots of things are to be found that are anything but negligible on the English website called: thereligionofpeace.com.
Judgment upon the Western nations
Lance Lambert continually speaks of increasingly heavier judgments upon the Western nations, historically the nations of Christianity. A spiritual vacuum has developed in Europe. In English I sometimes say: “we cut the root and stole the fruit”. We have cut our root spiritually and theologically, our spiritual bond with Israel and stole the fruit. We are added to Israel —into their New Covenant—engrafted (Jeremiah 31:31-34, compare Luke 22:19-20), but very soon in history, we, as Gentile believers, started to cut the Jewish root. Paul already forewarned us, when he says in Romans 11:17-18: “If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.” First we cut the root theologically and then we started to physically despise, persecute, rape and murder the Jews. Time after time. In the nations of Christianity. First we cut the root spiritually and theologically, and then we started to cut the root physically in the lands of Christendom.
Christian anti-Semitism
In the past 2000 years Jews were better off in the nations of Islam than in the lands of Christianity. The theological line of thinking called replacement-theology [the Church claiming that she replaced Israel as the chosen people of God] enabled the horrible Christian anti-Semitism to develop – and under the surface it still continues to exist in large areas of the Christian world. In Eastern Europe but also in Western Europe. It has created a climate in Europe in which in history millions of Jews could be slaughtered, time and again. Not only in the most recent great destruction, the Holocaust, but in all centuries in the nations of Christianity. Often the Church was actively involved, or stood by watching what was happening without lifting a finger. Of course with exceptions like my parents and the family of Corrie ten Boom who were hiding Jews at the risk of their own lives. Not before the Church is aware of this, repents and adopts another line of theological thinking with regard to the Jews and Israel, true cleansing and renewal can take place. Bringing forth fruits worthy of repentance, showing itself in acts of love and solidarity with the Jewish people and with the State of Israel. A process of change that has to take place not only in the leadership of the churches (fortunately it looks as if some changes are taking place in the last years since World War II in the leadership of Churches) but this must also filter through into the basis of the church. Into the “laymen”. Into the ministers, priests and pastors, preachers, the elders and deacons, commission members and “ordinary” believers. From the top down to the bottom. It could lead to a spiritual survival and renewal of faith, despite of all the decline and marginalizing of the Church in our post-Christian era.
But if this doesn’t happen, then the vacuum will be filled by other forces, powers of darkness, spirits and ideologies. As a judgment of God. As if He is saying: you didn’t like My people? I will send you other strangers, with another God. Let’s see how much you will like that. The synagogues were either destroyed or converted into museums. Mosques took their place, more and more in empty church buildings.
It reminds me of the story Lord Jesus tells about the possessed person in Luke 11:24-26 and Matthew 12:43-45. If the Holy Spirit doesn’t enter and takes control of the cleansed house that was set free from evil spirits, then the evil spirit will return. And then it takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself and the situation of that house will be worse than it was in the beginning. Europe has tasted the blessings of the Jewish-Christian roots. A distinct cleansing of the old gods and spirits has taken place. But Europe doesn’t want that anymore. The new Europe will be an enterprise of the name of man – without God or Judeo-Christian ethics.
USA
And the USA? That super power? In the Bible the USA is not mentioned. Historically the USA was a dissemination of European immigrants who built a new society on the basis of their European and Christian roots. Just like Australia, South Africa and other parts of the world. But the USA increasingly follows Europe in its spiritual decay. For the first time in history there is a president that almost openly collaborates with Islam and turns its back to Israel more and more. With all the foreseeable consequences, including for America itself. Natural disasters hit. Some say: “every anti-Israel action by the American government is followed by a natural disaster in America itself. You can synchronize your clock on it.”
Spain disappeared as a super power when it started to expel and persecute the Jews. The United Kingdom lost its status as a super power when it turned itself more and more openly against the Jews and against Israel before and after WWII. The Lord will not overlook these things. Whoever blesses Abraham will be blessed. Whoever curses Abraham will be cursed (Genesis 12:1-3). The USA – I am convinced – will implode increasingly, collapse inwardly. Not explode – but implode. The moral strength will disappear. The erosion of Christian standards and values will increasingly demand its toll. Resulting in: let the world take care of itself from now on! We are OK here. And as long as our oil- and other energy sources – are safe we are safely living in our splendid isolation behind and covered by our atomic umbrella.
Again: Europe has experienced the blessings of Christianity. Jewish-Christian roots have shaped the European civilization – and the “European” territories overseas like the USA. But Europe doesn’t want that any longer. A new empire in the name of man is on the rise. But that man is a fallen man. Sin is in his blood. He serves another master and his demonic powers of darkness. Being a plaything without even knowing it. But the Lord sees the innocently shed Jewish blood of centuries. Do we really think that the Most High has not seen it? Do we really think that He will pass this over? Then we are totally wrong. Finally His judgment will one-day follow, after an incredible time of patience. Today He is telling His Jewish people: “Go home, to the Promised Land of Israel. I am going to prepare you – despite everything that is happening – for a glorious future.” “You will no longer be the tail of the nations but the head of the nations” (Deuteronomy 28:13). “From Jerusalem, that then will be the center of the world, peace will cover the entire earth” (Isaiah 2:2-4, Micah 4:1-5). But the judgment over the nations will come before that.
John the Baptist knew about this. That is why he sent his disciples to ask Lord Jesus Matthew 11:2-15): are you really the one who we expect? So, where is the judgment upon the nations? Where is your Kingdom? Doesn’t Isaiah 35: 4- 10 say: “Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you.” THEN the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. THEN the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water; In the habitation of jackals, where each lay, There shall be grass with reeds and rushes. A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it. But it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, Shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it; It shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there, And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, And come to Zion with singing, With everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” So John says: Yes, there will come a glorious future, but FIRST vengeance of our God! First the judgment upon the ungodly nations that Messiah will execute. But where is that judgment?
First judgment on the nations and then the Kingdom! Like Isaiah 35:4-7: “say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” First revenge, retribution, judgment, a day of vengeance (Isaiah 61:2b) “and the day of vengeance of our God”. And after that the ideal state of the Kingdom. But Lord Jesus knows that between His ministry and that coming judgment there will a period of grace over the Gentile nations, for the preaching of the Gospel to all nations first. And after that the judgment upon the ungodly nations (see for instance Matthew 25:31-46) and then the Kingdom of peace and justice. Because of the return of Israel to the Promised Land we know that that period of grace over the Gentile nations is coming slowly but steadily to an end.
In short, the warnings Lance Lambert expresses contain a lot that Scripture itself speaks about. Warnings we can and must take to heart. And these warnings can and must lead towards humbling ourselves, prayer and intercession. Being aware that the return of Israel to the Promised Land in our days means that time is gaining momentum and the prophetic events will move swiftly. Birth pangs. Painful spasms that finally are hardly bearable. Until the child is born. Until the Kingdom comes. Until He comes to make all things for ever new!
