In this series we’ve looked at the chaos that has descended upon our world and wondered: Where is God’s heart in all of this? In the last installment we chronicled the beginning years of the history of the Church. What began on Pentecost as a primarily Jewish institution was soon transformed into a Gentile one. We saw what followed; the removal of Jewish practices and forms, the persecution and even violence that occurred. And then came the Crusades and the Church – the Roman Church by this time – claimed the Holy Land for itself – claiming they inherited the promises of the Old Testament made to Israel, when that nation rejected Jesus. In that, the Church violated the spirit of the scriptures.
In Genesis 12, God had told Abraham – (then still Abram) – that “I will make of you a great nation.” In Genesis 15:18 confirms the covenant. “On that day the Lord mad a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land.” [He then gives the dimensions – and they’re much larger than present day Israel.] “…from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates.” But the noteworthy thing, for our purposes, is that the Abrahamic Covenant was an unconditional covenant. (It is chronicled in Genesis 15.) Now, a covenant, a sacred agreement, was sealed when the parties pass through the middles of a sacrifice. Then, “When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram.” (Genesis 15:17-18) God alone, took the responsibility for keeping that covenant.
But the Church was so poisoned that it could no longer see the true sense of the scripture. The First Crusade devastated Jewish settlements in Germany. Jews were being murdered under the banner of the Cross. The Crusader leader Godfrey of Bouillon, ordered that no member of the Jewish race be left alive. On July 15, 1099, Crusaders herded Jews into a synagogue, locked them inside and burned them alive, all while singing “Christ We Adore Thee” as they watched. Anti-Semitism ran rampant.
This is confirmed in passage after passage. If you want to see God’s heart, look at Isaiah 14:1. (Recall that God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. “For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will still choose Israel, and settle them in their own land. The strangers will be joined with them, and they will cling to the house of Jacob.” God’s heart can be seen in Hosea 11:3-4, too. “I taught Ephraim to walk, Taking them by their arms; But they did not know that I healed them. I drew them with gentle cords, With bands of love, And I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. I stooped and fed them.” In Isaiah 62, God even addresses Israel as a husband would His beloved.
So what is God’s heart? It’s the heart of a God who will change us….cause us to walk….and give us a new heart. It is a God who will cause Israel to live in the Land. The Jewish nation was given as a gift to the Gentile nations. But the rest of the world doesn’t realize it. Isaiah 49:6 reads, “I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles, That you should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.” That’s an expression of God’s heart.
Exodus 19:6 promised Israel they would be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Recall that 1Peter 2:9 said of the Church: “You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Let us take that designation and Bless Israel. That is the Heart of God.
There it was – the prophecy of life hidden in the grave of Israel’s ancient soldiers – and found by her modern ones. It had been waiting for 2,000 years for the day when the prophecy would be fulfilled. It was a prophecy that proclaims the heart of God – as we sit on the edge of the onset of the Tribulation aka Jacob’s trouble. It declares: Hope from Hopelessness and Life from Death. No matter the chaos or the trouble or peril – GOD’S HEART DECLARES IT – HIS WORD DECLARES IT – GOD IS REAL! HIS PROMISES ARE TRUE!! HE IS COMING AGAIN!!!…..SOON!!!!