“Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited.” (Isaiah 54:2-3)
“It’s time to apply the Israeli law and write another glorious chapter in the history of Zionism. These territories are where the Jewish nation was born and grew.” Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to the Knesset on May 17, 2020, announcing his new government’s intention to extend Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and all Jewish cities and towns in Samaria and Judea.
As Christians, we should get right in behind him and pray that he will be able to do this.
Concerning Israel – the thriving, resurrected Jewish nation in its homeland, and the incessant, multifaceted battles they face – too many Christians will not pray beyond, “Thy will be done.”
So often we shy away from specific petitions; stay with sweet, syrupy prayers. There seems to be an insecurity; a fear, perhaps, of being thought presumptuous; berated for behaving as if we know what God’s will is.
Are not His ways higher than ours?
Unquestionably.
Yet, clearly there are times when God does share His intentions with us; when He leaves no doubt as to what His perfect, predestined purpose actually is; so that we not only can, but should, engage the battle with fierce, zealous, “salty” prayers.
For those who see the Bible as the God’s indisputable Word, there is no reason to equivocate over how and what to specifically pray in these very days.
Scripture tells us that it is God Who – for nearly 140 years now – has been gathering the people of Israel back from the four corners of the earth; and it is God Who is restoring their ancestral land to them – piece by piece.
Under His oversight they came, they bought, they farmed and they fought.
It’s time for them to take the next piece.
These parts of the land – and all the rest – are Israel’s by Divine decree. Their presence there is also – in hard, cold, historical fact, upheld by international law. (The loud, incessant bleating that Israel’s presence in Judea, and Samaria, in Jerusalem and on the Golan Heights contravenes international law are simply baseless.)
We may, we must, pray for the new government in Jerusalem to extend Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and over all those places where the returning Jews have “put their feet” (established communities) in their heartland.
Strengthening the conviction on this is the spiritual identity of all those working to try and stop this Israeli move.
One way we recognise Israel’s enemies is by their lexicon.
They use terms like “Palestine” and “the Palestinians”; “the West Bank”; “Eastern Jerusalem”; “Israeli occupation of Arab lands”; “Illegal Jewish settlements”; “Israeli Land Grabs”; etc.
Wall-to-wall, these forces have been rallying against Israel’s sovereignty plans – which it calls “annexation”.
Here they are:
The Palestinian Authority (aka PLO) – here, here and here. Jordan – here. The Islamic world – Arab and non-Arab – here and here. The European Union – here and here. The United Nations – here and here.
US Democrats – here, here, here and here.
Specific countries: France, the UK, Russia, China,
The self-styled “Elders”, Newsweek, Liberal Christian leaders, other Liberal Groups and self-hating Leftist Jewish organisations.
And who is on the other side – on the LORD’s side?
The Trump Administration, and Israel.