Last night I had an opportunity to meet the Prime Minister of Israel. It all happened in a dream – one of those lifelike, ordered dreams that stayed vividly with me on awaking.
Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed us into his office with a firm handshake and a genuine, if not broad, smile. Lines on his face spoke to the weight of the load he carries for the nation he was elected to lead.
He talked briefly but sincerely, expressing his appreciation to us as Christian friends and encouraging us to continue waging the battle for truth as ambassadors for Israel in an overwhelmingly hostile gentile world. Then he concisely stated his government’s positions on the three major issues facing Israel: the threat of a nuclear Iran – which Netanyahu took a moment to stress Israel would never permit to obtain a nuclear weapon; the instability of the present-day Middle East that is Israel’s neighborhood – including the Syrian civil war and its potential impact on Israel; and the peace process towards a two-state solution – which the Israeli reiterated he is committed to for the sake of both his people and the Palestinian Arabs.
His message was short, focused, intense and sober. He wanted us to ‘get’ what he was saying.
Responding, our spokesman conveyed the group’s greetings, formally expressing our appreciation to the prime minister for seeing us, and concluding with our heartfelt hope that his nation would be able to finally secure a lasting and meaningful peace. We could not end without telling this man that we were optimistic because we believed in the trustworthiness of the Word of the LORD God of Israel.
Netanyahu surprised us by inviting a question or two – something we had been briefed beforehand was unlikely to happen as his time was so tight.
Caught momentarily off guard, the group sat in awkward silence before one or two made general supportive comments about what the premier had said.
Then I heard myself weigh in:
“Sir, you are clearly a realist when it comes to the so-called peace process. But does your religious faith as a Jew permit you to hand over pieces of your Promised Land to the Arabs?
His eyes held mine as he replied: “I hear what you’re saying, but which parts of the ‘Promised Land’ specifically do you mean? What are its demarcations? Where are its borders?”
Seeing me hesitate he went on: “You see, there is no hard and fast delineation of the actual boundaries of the land. The Bible describes its reaches in four places – two of them sweeping, one more detailed and the fourth one having to do with how things will be at the end of days (and,” he smiled, “who is to say we are living in that period right now?) In Israel today, around 70 percent of the population lives within the coastal plain between Tel Aviv and Haifa. This is not land the Arabs are demanding, nor are they asking for the Galilee, or the Negev.
“So just how much of all the land are we to settle on for Israel going forward? Would it be that terrible if we gave some away to buy an elusive peace?
“And take Jerusalem. Where does it begin and where does it end? The area of the tiny village King David conquered and made his capital 3000 years ago comprises just a fraction of the Jerusalem of today. Likewise, the precincts of the city of the Second Temple period – at the time of Christ – lie mostly within the walls of the Old City and beneath its streets – a very small part of modern-day Jerusalem.
“Much more recently than that, the neighborhoods that today make this the largest city in the country were added in just the last 46 years. Which means that more than 95 percent of what today is Jerusalem never existed when this city became the capital of the Jewish people.
“We can give the ‘Palestinians’ everything they demand in Jerusalem, and still hold onto the Jerusalem that is mostly Jewish.”
Silence for a second, and the heads of a few of my fellow Christians nodded in agreement around me. Astonishing how rational sounding arguments can sway people, I thought. But to me, the response was obvious.
“With the greatest respect, Sir, you are clearly a pragmatist who feels restricted to working within the confines of ‘the art of the possible.’
“But putting aside for a moment a glaring fact that I don’t have to tell you, which is that the people you are considering giving this territory to have never shown an interest in making real peace with you, and are in fact repeatedly on record as affirming their intention to use whatever land they get given as a springboard from which to destroy the rest of Israel…
“You know what,” I interrupted myself, “let’s not go there. If you’ll bear with me a minute, may I take the ball out of the enemy’s court and keep it firmly in your own, in the court and parameters of the Jewish people?
“It is according to the God of the JEWISH Bible – the writings billions of non-Jews hold sacred and which we received from your Jewish people – that this land in its entirety belongs exclusively to you forever. Not that God’s entrusting of the land into your care was primarily for Israel’s sake – although of course without it you would not have the celebrated and pivotal history that you do.
“But you were given the Land of Israel in sacred trust in order that God’s involvement on the stage of human history could be manifest as He always planned it to be.
“In fact, Israel is the stage of HIS story: God gave Israel this land because this land IN Israel’s possession is the platform on which the Almighty’s purpose to redeem mankind and all of creation has been playing out. And it is destined to continue playing out in this land, under Israel, until we get to the glorious final act.
“Mr Prime Minister, the Almighty HAS demarcated the boundaries of the land He bequeathed to the descendants of your forebears. He describes these borders in Genesis, Exodus, Numbers and Ezekiel. He gave His word to Abraham that all the land visible from the mountains of Samaria (that the world calls part of ‘the West Bank’) – as far north and south and east and west as his eyes could see – was being given to him and his seed through Jacob as an everlasting possession.
“It is to this land that He has restored you and will continue to restore you until every Jew on earth who is meant to be here will call Israel his/her home. Until this happens, redemption cannot and will not come to our world.
“So Israel – the people and the land – is the trustee of this salvation plan.”
“And Jerusalem? Why is it, Mr Netanyahu, that your people have been praying to God every day for centuries to return you to Jerusalem? Why have Jews made the declaration of faith at 2000 Passover feasts, “Next year in Jerusalem?”
“What is it about this city that makes it special? Is it just the repository of the early, formative part of your history? Is it that Jerusalem has large and flourishing Jewish neighborhoods where you can mingle and enjoy the spiritual camaraderie of your co-religionists, marveling together at the miracle of your restoration finally to the ancient city of David?
“Of course, Jerusalem is not special just because it is a hilly city with winding valleys through which Jewish kings and priests once walked. It is not just special as a memorial for Second Temple Period Jewry that was decimated inside and around its walls by the Roman army 2000 years ago. It is not even special just because of the faith of generations of Jews who prayed for and believed in their return to Jerusalem.
“What makes Jerusalem special is not that it’s a modern metropolis with striking golden limestone walls and gleaming modern high-rises and a light-rail system, with synagogues on every corner and bustling Jewish life on its streets, with its Knesset building, Supreme Court and Mossad offices perched on top of Government Hill.
“No Sir! What makes Jerusalem special, matchless, irreplaceable, is a mountain at the heart of this city, a mountain – in reality more of a hill – that IS the heart of this city. It is that mountain that the God who named Himself after you – the God of Israel! – earmarked as the place of His Throne, where He chose to place His name. It is this mountain that makes Jerusalem, Jerusalem.
“Unfortunately for your ‘two state solution,’ this mountain is at the center of that part of Jerusalem the Arabs are demanding for the capital of their State of Palestine.
(“I have a secret to whisper in your ear, Mr Prime Minister. If you want a respite from the war, if you want your people to enjoy a period of peace and tranquility, then all you need offer to the Palestinian Arabs is exclusive control over the Temple Mount itself. Try it and see.)
“You asked whether it would be so terrible if you gave some of the land and some of Jerusalem away to buy an elusive peace?
“Mr Prime Minister, if you allow American Secretary of State John Kerry to impose his plan on Israel; if you recognize the ‘1967 borders’ as the borders of a future State of Palestine, with ‘east Jerusalem’ as its capital; if you sign Israel onto this because of the unrelenting pressure of your ‘good friend’ the United States and the rest of the world, because you feel it pragmatic to do so for now, because you are a ‘realist’ who ‘knows’ that Israel has to secure its ‘place among the nations;’ if you bend and do this thing which in your heart of hearts you know will serve the purposes of your enemies at the expense of your nation – it will be beyond terrible. It will be a disaster.”
With that I came wide awake. As I swung my feet onto the floor it felt like I had literally just left the PMO.
Of course, had I really been with the Prime Minister of Israel I would not have been allowed to express a fraction of all of that. Not because he doesn’t want to hear these things (in my experience he is not a closed-minded man), but because he just does not have that much time on his hands.
But there is one more thing I would want to send him if I could, a memo conveyed in the same forthright spirit – motivated by love and concern – as the message that was sent to the great Jewish Queen of Persia centuries ago when her people faced terrible danger:
“Mr Prime Minister, do not think in your heart that you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you buckle at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place…
“Yet who knows whether you have come to the Prime Minister’s Office for such a time as this?”
My God give me no rest as a Watchman for Israel, and may I give Him no rest until He makes Israel and Jerusalem it’s capital, a praise throughout the whole earth. Standing firm in His Word. Thank you for this heartfelt comments above, it only causes me to petition heaven even more!
IN RESPONSE TO THIS ARTICLE ONE OF MY READERS WROTE: I shared your dream with those whom I post and your dream has been called into question as to the validity of it. It was stated that this sounds more like an intellectual discourse based on your prior knowledge and experience of Israel and the Jews. I would be grateful for your comments.
MY RESPONSE: It always surprises me (and often gets under my skin) when people who don’t like a message attack it in a round about way instead of responding to its essence. The essence is, that the regathered Jewish people – brought back to their land and to Jerusalem by the Almighty in fulfilment of His Word, and hated by the Enemy because they are the people of God, is under massive attack from the other side. (And for a Christian there can only be two sides – the Kingdom of God, which the restoration of Israel is preparatory to seeing come on earth as it is in Heaven – and the kingdom of the Enemy.) Satan has spilled the blood of millions of Jews and he is out to see many more killed. Against all of his forces in the spiritual and physical world, this little nation stands virtually alone.
“Intellectual discourse?” The dream was real, vivid, got me out of bed and to my desk in the dead of night to bang out the main thrust of everything that I saw and heard. Of course it is written as an “Op-ed” article, and so it is rounded out to be readable. And yes, it is fleshed out too to make sure that what was in my mind when I was “speaking to Netanyahu” and what I understood from “his words to me” was clear.
Nothing was fabricated; and no attempt was made by me to pretend I experienced something that I did not.
Israel stands on the edge of a precipice – the whole world united to push her over the side, many Christians pushing right along with the world, and even those who say they love and support Israel clinging to a “Pre-Trib Rapture” escape hope that leaves the Jews here to go through more torment without us….
Quite frankly I am not inclined to have little side debates about my “prior knowledge and experience of Israel and the Jews.” With God’s help I will fight tooth and nail to expose the massive deception and seduction that is whittling away what little committed love and solidarity the precious treasure that is Israel has in this God-hating world.
My prayer is that the Lord will put into the hearts of millions of us who love Him the passion to give ourselves no rest, and to give Him no rest, until He establishes Jerusalem and makes her a praise in the earth – which she will be when our wonderful Lord comes back to her – soon.