Hip-deep in the river

Editor’s note: This post originally appeared on David’s Tent, a ministry of Israeli believers Avner and Rachel Boskey. The Boskey’s have ministered at Tabernacle of David, and we consider them trustworthy and Biblically sound.

The prophet Ezekiel was taken up by the Spirit of YHVH and transported into the future, where he gazed upon the Messianic Temple (also known in theological terms as ‘the Fourth Temple’). The God of Jacob revealed to Ezekiel that one day this House will stand on what is today called the Temple Mount, though at present the Muslim shrines of the ‘Dome of the Rock’ and the al-Aqṣā Mosque are situated there. In Ezekiel’s prophetic vision, a Millennial river will flow out from under the threshold of this Temple during the Days of Messiah:

 

  • Then [the angel] brought me back to the door of the House. And behold, water was flowing from under the threshold of the House toward the east, for the House faced east. And the water was flowing down from under, from the right side of the House, from south of the altar. And he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate, by the way facing east. And behold, water was spurting out from the south side. When the [angel] went out toward the east with a line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and he led me through the water, water reaching the ankles. Again, he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the knees. Again, he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the hips. Again, he measured a thousand. And it was a river that I could not wade across, because the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be crossed (Ezekiel 47:1-5).

 

This amazing experience was highly positive for Ezekiel. But for many people in our day, this prophetic vision of a restored Jewish people and a restored Jewish Temple is disconcerting. Truth be told, the ramifications of YHVH bringing His Jewish people back to their own land (see Ezekiel 37:12-14) and to Jerusalem make some Jews, Christians and world leaders feel distinctly ill-at-ease. Why is this so?

 

 

The God of history past is also the God of history present and future

 

Charles Dickens’ famous novel ‘A Christmas Carol’ revolves around spiritual beings bringing revelation to Ebenezer Scrooge about his past, his present and that which is ‘yet to come.’ Dickens describes how past events in our lives shape our present beliefs and behavior – and a sobering danger exists that the deceptive stamp of sin may well color our eternal destiny.

 

The prophet Zechariah describes a similar dynamic in chapters seven and eight of his book, recounting Israel’s sinful disobedience to YHVH’s commands, followed by a prophetic reminder that these attitudes and actions triggered the Exile of the Jewish people from their Promised Land. The God of Jacob then calls out to the returning remnant of His people, urging them to repent, to build the Second Temple, and to “speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judgment for peace at your gates. Also let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love perjury” (Zechariah 8:16-17).

 

Both God’s severe judgment of Exile on Israel, and His restoration of them to their Land in covenant faithfulness and love, speak volumes to us about what YHVH is doing in our own day – and what He is soon to do as His restoration process reaches a climax:

 

  • YHVH of armies says this: “It will yet turn out that peoples will come, that is, the inhabitants of many cities. The inhabitants of one city will go to another, saying, ‘Let’s go at once to plead for the favor of YHVH, and to seek YHVH of armies; I also will go.’ So many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek YHVH of armies in Jerusalem, and to plead for the favor of YHVH. YHVH of armies says this: “In those days ten people from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you’” (Zechariah 8:20-23).

 

The restoration of the Jewish people to Jerusalem is an ongoing process happening in our day. The Return to Zion has not ended with the Jewish people being brought back just to Tel Aviv or Haifa, or to Tiberias and Beersheva. The God of Jacob prophetically promises that He is bringing us back to the fullness of the biblical borders – to all of Judea and Samaria (the ‘West Bank’); to all of Gaza; to what is now northern Jordan; to the Golan Heights including what is presently Syrian-controlled territory up to the Euphrates River; to southern Lebanon; to far-eastern parts of Egypt which presently border on Gaza; and to full control of all of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount.

 

 

Let’s get the full prophetic picture

 

God’s strategy involves a total return to the whole Promised Land. Here are 18 biblical passages fleshing out that prophetic vision:

 

  • Now it came about, when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, a smoking oven and a flaming torch appeared which passed between these pieces. On that day YHVH made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land – from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the Euphrates River: the land of the Kenite, the Kenizzite, the Kadmonite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Rephaim, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Girgashite, and the Jebusite” (Genesis 15:17-21)

 

  • “I will set your boundary from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates River. For I will hand over the inhabitants of the land to you, and you will drive them out from you” (Exodus 23:31)

 

  • Then YHVH spoke to Moses, saying, “Command the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance, that is, the land of Canaan according to its borders. Your southern region shall extend from the wilderness of Zin along the side of Edom, and your southern border shall extend from the end of the Salt [Dead] Sea eastward. Then your border shall change direction . . .  to the brook of Egypt, and its termination shall be the (Mediterranean] Sea . . . As for the western border, you shall have the Great Sea, that is, [the Mediterranean] coastline; this shall be your western border . . . And this shall be your northern border: you shall draw your boundary from the Great Sea to Mount Hor. You shall draw a boundary from Mount Hor to  Levo Hamat [in Lebanon-Syria region near modern Baalbek] . . .  For your eastern border . . .  the border shall go down and reach to the slope on the east side of the Sea of Kinneret [Lake of Galilee]. And the border shall go down to the Jordan [River], and its termination shall be at the Salt [Dead] Sea. This shall be your land according to its borders on all sides.’” So, Moses commanded the sons of Israel, saying, “This is the land that you are to possess by lot, which YHVH has commanded to give to the . . . tribes (Numbers 34:1-13)

 

  • “YHVH our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn and set out on your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the Shephelah [the lowland], in the Negev, by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the Great River, the river Euphrates. See, I have placed the land before you; go in and take possession of the land which YHVH swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and their descendants after them’” (Deuteronomy 1:6-8)

 

  • Moses “also pleaded with YHVH at that time, saying, ‘Adonai YHVH! You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as Yours? Please let me cross over and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that good hill country, and Lebanon’” (Deuteronomy 3:23-25)

 

  • Then YHVH will dispossess all these nations from you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you. Every place on which the sole of your foot steps shall be yours. Your border will be from the [desert] Wilderness to Lebanon, and from the River, the river Euphrates, as far as the western [Mediterranean] Sea (Deuteronomy 11:23-24)

 

  • “Every place on which the sole of your foot steps, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. From the [desert] wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great River, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great [Mediterranean] Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory” (Joshua 1:3-4)

 

  • Now Joshua was old and advanced in years when YHVH said to him, “. . . A very large amount of the land remains to be possessed. This is the land that remains: all the regions of the Philistines and all those of the Geshurites; from . . . east of Egypt . . . the five governors of the Philistines: the [regions of] Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, Ekron; . . .  all the land of the Canaanite, [territory] that belongs to the Sidonians, as far as Aphek, . . .  and all of Lebanon, toward the east, from Ba’al Gad below Mount Hermon as far as Levo Hamat. All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon as far as Misrefot Mayim, all the Sidonians, I will drive out from the sons of Israel; only allot it to Israel as an inheritance as I have commanded you . . .  Reuben and Gad received their inheritance which Moses gave them beyond the Jordan to the east, just as Moses the servant of YHVH gave to them; from Aro’er, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, with the city which is in the middle of the valley, and all the plain of Medeba, as far as Dibon; and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, as far as the border of the sons of Ammon [region of modern Amman]; and Gilead [northern Jordan today], and the territory of the Geshurites and Maacathites, and all Mount Hermon, and all Bashan as far as Salecah [modern Salkhad in Syria]; all the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei [in modern Jordan] . . . ; for Moses struck them and drove them out (Joshua 13:1-12)

 

  • Now the lot for the tribe of the sons of Judah according to their families reached the border of Edom . . . The western border was at the Great Sea, even its coastline. This is the border around the sons of Judah according to their families . . . Now the cities at the extremity of the tribe of the sons of Judah toward the border of Edom in the south were . . . Beersheba . . . Eshtaol, Zorah, . . .  Adullam, Socoh, and Azekah . . . Ekron, with its towns and its villages; from Ekron even to the sea, all that were by the side of Ashdod, with their villages. Ashdod, its towns and its villages; Gaza, its towns and its villages, as far as the Brook of Egypt and the Great Sea, even its coastline (Joshua 15:1-48)

 

  • Now Solomon . . . was ruler over all the kings from the Euphrates River to the Land of the Philistines, and as far as the border of Egypt. And the king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees that are in the lowland (2 Chronicles 9:25-26)

 

  • And all the storage cities which Solomon had, that is, the cities for his chariots and the cities for his horsemen, and everything that it pleased Solomon to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land under his rule (1 Kings 9:19)

 

  • A Psalm of Solomon: Give the king Your judgments, God, and Your righteousness to the king’s son . . .  May he also rule from sea to sea, and from the [Euphrates] River to the ends of the earth (Psalm 72:1, 8)

 

  • The wilderness and the desert will rejoice, and the desert will shout for joy and blossom. Like the crocus it will blossom profusely and rejoice with joy and jubilation. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it – the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of YHVH, the majesty of our God (Isaiah 35:1-2)

 

  • I will build you again and you will be rebuilt, Virgin of Israel! You will take up your tambourines again, and go out to the dances of the revelers. Again, you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria [West Bank[. The planters will plant and will enjoy the fruit. For there will be a day when watchmen on the hills of Ephraim [West Bank] call out, “Arise, and let’s go up to Zion, to YHVH our God.” (Jeremiah 31:4-6)

 

  • The borders of the future Messianic Kingdom: “And this shall be the boundary of the land: on the north side, from the Great [Mediterranean] Sea . . . between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath . . . which is by the border of Hauran. The boundary shall extend from the [Mediterranean] Sea to . . .  the border of Damascus, and on the north . . . is the border of Hamath. This is the north side. The east side, from between Hauran [Syria-Jordan region], Damascus, Gilead, and the land of Israel, shall be the Jordan [River] . . .  The south side toward . . .  the Brook of Egypt and to the Great [Mediterranean] Sea . . . And the west side shall be the Great [Mediterranean] Sea . . . So you shall divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. You shall divide it by lot for an inheritance among yourselves . . . ” (Ezekiel 47:15-21)

 

  • Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you. He is righteous and endowed with salvation – humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey . . . And He will speak peace to the nations; and His dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth (Zechariah 9:9-10)

 

  • When I scatter them among the peoples, they will remember Me in distant countries, and they with their children will live and come back. I will bring them back from the land of Egypt and gather them from Assyria. And I will bring them into the land of Gilead [modern Jordan] and Lebanon until no room can be found for them (Zechariah 10:9-10)

 

  • Then those of the Negev will possess the mountain of Esau [modern south Jordan], and those of the Shephelah [south of Tel Aviv] will possess the Philistine plain [modern Gaza]. Also, they will possess the territory of Ephraim and the territory of Samaria [both in West Bank], and Benjamin will possess the territory of Gilead [northern Jordan]. And the exiles of this army of the sons of Israel, who are among the Canaanites as far as Zarephath [southern Lebanon], and the Exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad [Sardis in Turkey] will possess the cities of the Negev (Obadiah 1:19-20)

 

 These prophetic promises stir up our faith: the restoration of the Jewish people to the entirety of the Land of Israel is a future reality, one that we are walking into in our day – and one we can depend on.

 

 

The reality of restoring the kingdom to Israel

 

The God of Israel prophesied about a time when the Gentiles would be in the ascendancy. “For I will restore you to health and I will heal you of your wounds, declares YHVH, because they have called you an outcast, saying: ‘It is Zion; no one cares for her’” (Jeremiah 30:17). Messiah Yeshua referred to those days, which are now drawing to a close: “And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (Luke 21:24).

 

During these times, the nations of the Christian world for the most part neither expected nor encouraged the Return of the Jewish people to their prophesied homeland. Their attitude toward the restoration of Israel was one of unbelief and scoffing. Typical of such attitudes were the words of a British op-ed in the 1861 magazine ‘Littell’s Living Age’ titled ‘The Restoration of the Jews:’

 

  • The Jewish people “would have little motive in going to Judea, where there are no cities, no business, and no attraction of climate for them, and even if a strong religious or historic impulse drew them there, they would find endless difficulties . . . But that is not work to which the modern Jews are adapted. They . . . [have] no special aptitude for agriculture . . . The Jews would find the greatest difficulty in becoming a nation of cultivators . . .  They would find maintenance very difficult, and the development of independent political strength nearly impossible . . . We fear the Jews of England will prefer London, even in this weather, to the delicious sky of Syria; and that it will not be given to this age, which has seen so many nations rise and fall, to witness the restoration of the Jews to Palestine, and the renewal of the daily sacrifice on Mount Moriah.”

 

Both Catholic and Protestant theologians had buttressed these anti-Semitic theological foundations – the denial of Jewish restoration to their homeland – in spite of the overwhelming testimony of the Hebrew prophets to this sure future reality. John Calvin sums up this mindset in his commentary on Acts 1:6 (“So, when they had come together, they began asking Him, saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time that You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?’”):

 

  • “He showeth that the apostles were gathered together when as this question was moved, that we may know that it came not of the foolishness of one or two that it was moved, but it was moved by the common consent of them all. But marvelous is their rudeness, that when as they had been diligently instructed by the space of three whole years, they betray no less ignorance than if they had heard never a word. There are as many errors in this question [asking when Israel will be physically restored] as words . . .  They ask him as concerning a kingdom; but they dream of an earthly kingdom, which should flow with riches, with dainties, with external peace, and with such like good things. And while they assign the present time to the restoring of the same. they desire to triumph before the battle . . . They are also greatly deceived herein, in that they restrain Christ’s kingdom unto the carnal Israel, which was to be spread abroad, even unto the uttermost parts of the world . . .  But, in the meantime, they declared thereby how bad scholars they were under so good a Master. Therefore, doth Christ briefly comprehend in this short answer all the errors whereinto they fell in this their question, as I shall straightway declare”

 

The pernicious influence of Replacement Theology has extended its gnarled hand to some in our day, who deny the present Jewish Return to Zion as a benign work of God and see it only as a divine set-up for the slaughter of Israel.

 

  • Some followers of Messiah Yeshua have not seriously considered that Gaza, the West Bank and the Temple Mount are a foundational part of God’s inheritance to the Jewish people, and they stand in opposition to Israelis reclaiming full sovereignty over these areas. Though they stand hip-deep in the river of Jewish restoration, they do not recognize the ‘day of their visitation’ but rather oppose what YHVH is doing in restoring His people and the biblical borders of His Promised Land. For these deniers, the issue of resettling the Land has become like Ezekiel’s prophesied ‘hook in their jaws’ (see Ezekiel 38:2-8)

 

 

Step right up and get your divine hernia à la Zechariah 12:3!

 

Nearly all the nations on this planet are actively supporting the dividing of the Land of Israel and the City of Jerusalem, known today as ‘the two-state solution.’ The clear edges of God’s prophecies regarding the biblical borders of the Promised Land have been obscured by the influence of Replacement Theology in both Christianity and Islam. They have also been ardently opposed by leftist and ‘woke’ political movements. Even former Israeli Prime Ministers, Generals and Heads of Security Services like Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon, Ehud Olmert, Ami Ayalon, Yaakov Peri, Carmi Gillon, Yuval Diskin, Amnon Lipkin-Shahak have come out in favor of dividing the Land of Israel and the City of Jerusalem. The current Hamas War against Israel has also seen the U.S. State Department amp up it official positions, calling for a Palestinian state confederacy led by the ‘reformed’ terrorist forces of the Palestinian Authority (with ‘plastic surgery’ probably done on some Hamas leaders as well).

 

  • The prophets of Israel do not mince words, expressing the divine displeasure of YHVH regarding such moves, and His judgment on such nations and leaders

 

Here is a brief reminder of the divine perspective on these matters:

 

  • It will come about on that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will injure themselves severely. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it (Zechariah 12:3)

 

  • “I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Yehoshaphat [‘YHVH judges’]. Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations – and they have divided up My land” (Joel 3:2)

 

  • Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales. Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust. Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, nor its animals enough for a burnt offering (Isaiah 40:15-16)

 

  • But YHVH is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. The earth quakes at His wrath, and the nations cannot endure His indignation (Jeremiah 10:10)

 

  • The nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters, but He will rebuke them, and they will flee far away, and be chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind, or like whirling dust before a gale (Isaiah 17:13)

 

  • But the multitude of your enemies will become like fine dust, and the multitude of the ruthless ones like the chaff which blows away. And it will happen instantly, suddenly  (Isaiah 29:1-5)

 

 

How should we then pray?

 

  • Pray for a revelation of God’s heart regarding Israel’s prophesied restoration borders, to the leaders of Israel and the world, and obedience to that revelation

 

  • Pray for the physical rescue of the approximately 129 Israelis (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO.  Some hostages are being tortured, raped and starved (this based on testimonies of recently released hostages). Hamas is holding onto many corpses as well for bargaining power

 

  • Pray for Hamas’ cruel terror dictatorship in Gaza to be finally shattered and all chains broken off the Palestinians living there

 

  • Pray for jihadi deception, dissimulation and anti-Semitism to be uncovered and rejected by world leaders

 

  • Pray for justice, clarity, moral courage, discernment and divine strategies for Israel’s leadership in utterly destroying the jihadi threat in all of its aspects

 

  • Pray for minimal loss of life on Israel’s side and for those Gazans who are truly innocent

 

  • Pray that the outstretched arm of YHVH will not return before it brings justice to God’s enemies

 

  • Pray for the raising up of Ezekiel’s prophetic Jewish army throughout the earth

 

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212 – 1971 USA

Donations can also be made on – line (by PayPal) through: www.davidstent.org 

 

The post Hip-deep in the river appeared first on David's Tent.

Read more…

Comments are closed.