Why Celebrate Israel’s 75th

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Hey there and welcome to our Israel Answer Series on why we are celebrating Israel's 75th anniversary.

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So there are many reasons why Christians should be celebrating this occasion.

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So I'm going to share with you today just one, maybe two reasons and I ask you to stick with me.

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So first of all you need to know that celebrating Israel's 75th anniversary is celebrating a miracle of God.

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In 1948 when Israel was born it was an absolute miracle against all odds.

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This people group who had been in exile in dispersion all over the world for 2,000 years

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was returning to their ancient homeland and re-establishing sovereignty there.

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It is such an amazing, amazing story.

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No other people group had ever been in dispersion 200 years that they actually retained their

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nationhood and then actually returned to their homeland but the Jewish people had retained their

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identity, their nationhood. They were Jews and they were returning to Zion.

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It's a beautiful story, such a miraculous story but beyond that they've now survived 75 years

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of war and opposition of terrorism. They have hardly had a day of peace since their founding

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and they have survived. That once again is a miracle. When you look at the stories of the

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1948 war of independence or the 1967 Six-Day War or the 1973 Yom Kippur War when they were

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attacked by surprise on their day of fasting in the synagogues, I mean these are miracle stories

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that Israel was victorious. They not only retained their sovereignty but in two of these wars they

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gained territory. So these are miracles they have survived but more than survived the greatest

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miracle really is they have thrived and they are now emerging as a world leader. Can you imagine

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this little bitty speck of a country no bigger than the state of New Jersey is becoming a world

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leader, a country that has faced 75 years of war, an unbelievable defense budget that has kept money

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from other things in society and in investment and R&D but they are emerging as a world leader in

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innovation, technology, medicine, science, water conservation. I mean it's amazing what they're

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doing so that is a miracle and these are the many miracles that we are celebrating when we

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celebrate Israel's 75th anniversary. Now for Christians not only does this have great biblical

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meaning it means that God is behind the regathering of the Jewish people, it means that he is drawing

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them back, he is preserving their lives, he is helping them, he is blessing them, he is using

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them. So if that is true then we as Christians had better sit up and pay attention and we may have to

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rethink the way we've been approaching Israel and the Jewish people but more importantly we

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should want to get involved and now the words that God spoke to Abraham that I will bless those who

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bless you, we understand that God is at work with the Jewish people to carry out the calling that was

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given to them way back 4,000 years ago at the time of Abraham and what was that calling?

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That the people, the nation that would descend from Abraham would be a blessing to all the families

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of the earth. The apostle Paul later came and explained that verse was the first preaching

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of the gospel because it referred to the salvation through Jesus Christ. So yes they gave us the

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Messiah, they gave us the Messiah that died on the cross for us but that Messiah is returning to

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the earth one day and only then is all of this over until then all of God's covenants are still

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in place. They have not been fully fulfilled yet to Abraham, to Moses, to David the promise of an

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everlasting throne. These promises are still in play and our faithful God will fulfill them.

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So once we realize this about Israel we want to get involved, we want to bless what he is blessing,

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we want to assist just as the Hebrew prophets for saw, they for saw a day when the Jews would

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return to the land and the Gentiles would assist them and the wealth of the nations, the wealth of

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the Gentiles would actually be brought up to Jerusalem, that the Gentiles would assist in the

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rebuilding of Zion. So we are stepping into a prophetic calling when we are involved in this.

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So one great way for you to bless Israel and let them see your support, know of your prayers for

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the peace of Jerusalem is to come out for one of two events that we have coming up in May

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to celebrate Israel's 75th. You can also get involved in the ministry of the ICEJ. We are going

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to link to all of this down below in today's show notes so that you can get involved. You can bless

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those that God is blessing and those he has called us to bless. In return you can know

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that God is with you. He promises to bless you and so you can stand on that promise as well.

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So now why are we celebrating Israel's 75th? For that, WED is one of the reasons to show our support

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to Israel, to bless them, to encourage them, to let them know that on the eve of a wave of terrorism

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there were rockets lately, there's always rockets, there's always terrorism, to let them know we are

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praying for them. We are praying for the peace of Jerusalem. We bless them and we stand with them.

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Another reason for Christians to celebrate Israel's 75th is because we have been so blessed by Israel.

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Now what do I mean by that? Well, many of us have been able to make that trip to Israel, what I call

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a trip of a lifetime. If you haven't yet made that trip, I encourage you to start saving your dollars

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so that you can make it, whether it's this year or it's next year or it's 10 years from now.

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It is a trip of a lifetime. It will change your life. It will be worth every single penny.

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Pray for God's provision that you would be able to make that trip to Israel. I first made that

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trip when I was all of 19 years old and I am so grateful for it. My life was completely changed.

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Why? Well, because the Bible comes alive. Everyone says this, but I certainly experienced it.

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I was a biblical studies major in university. I loved the Bible. I studied it diligently every

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day. I was making straight A's in my classes. I absolutely loved studying the Bible. Yet when

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I got to Israel, none of that had prepared me for what was going to happen when I got to Israel.

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My Bible came alive. It stood up on two feet. It took on flesh and bones. It was so alive as I

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studied it in its geographical settings. When I saw where the events took place and I understood

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how accurate the historical accounts in the Bible were because it matched the geography or the cultural

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setting or the religious setting, the Jewish faith. I'd never been around the Jewish faith before.

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And here I am in Israel reading the Bible in its settings and seeing it so it just came alive.

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And that's what everyone says over and over and over. My Bible came alive. Now, if your Bible

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comes alive, that means that you understand, number one, how accurate it is that the stories as they're

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written there, it's not mythology. It's not just spiritual made-up stuff with made-up names.

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It's real places. And you can go there and stand there and see the real places. And you're surrounded

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by the descendants of the real people that these stories are about. And you realize it's very

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accurate. But then you're also surrounded by prophecy fulfilled. And you realize it's not just

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accurate. It's true. And every word that God spoke to Abraham and to Moses has been played out

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throughout all of history. It is absolutely true. And it's still being played out. God's promises

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to David, the Hebrew prophets, the words of Isaiah, the way he described the return of the Jews to

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their land. And it's so true and it's playing out exactly as it was written. No one could have

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orchestrated this. Believe me, no one could have orchestrated this. Only the sovereign God, the

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king of the universe, who turns the head of the king, who raises up empires and tears down empires.

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This is the God that is busy at work bringing about all of these promises, fulfilling his promises,

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and bringing about the prophetic word that's in the Bible. So going to Israel is such a blessing

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to us. But let me tell you, we should not take it for advantage. The reason we are able to freely go

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to Israel, freely visit the Christian sites, freely worship at the Christian sites. See,

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all of the archaeological remains that have been found at the Christian sites is because Israel

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is the one with sovereignty over them. Israel honors the biblical roots that are evident in

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the archaeology and the land. They take painstaking steps to uncover findings that they're catalogued

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correctly, that they're dated correctly, that they're preserved correctly, because they honor that.

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They know that this is their past that they're uncovering. Whereas on the other side, and I'm

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sorry to say, but the Muslim authorities on the Temple Mount could care less about the archaeology.

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So they take bulldozers and just have bulldozed out dirt and debris and broken up artifacts and

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thrown them out into a garbage dump. Because of that, the Israelis started what's called the

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Temple Mount Sifting Project. And they're taking the dirt that's been discarded from the Temple

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Mount, sifting it, finding every little piece and seeing if they can put it back together. Why?

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Because these findings go all the way back to the first Temple that Solomon built. And then

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there's a slew of findings from the second Temple, and they're just being destroyed and discarded.

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So we can be so grateful for Israel's care of the archaeology and that they welcome

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Christian tourism. They're not going to try to stop us from worshiping or praying or visiting the

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sites. So as a result, millions of Christians have visited Israel and have been blessed because

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of their oversight of our sites. This in itself is a really wonderful reason to say thank you,

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Israel, and to come out and to celebrate Israel's existence and to celebrate the blessing that she

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has been to the Christian community. I will say that archaeology, when I first went to Israel as a

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19-year-old, it was many years ago, archaeology was really boring, I thought. You'd go out and you'd

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look at this pile of stones and they'd say, well, now that was the palace and that was the stables

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and I'm looking at this pile of stones and I'm saying, how do you know that? I had no imagination,

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I had no idea what I was looking at, that it was just the foundations and the archaeologists,

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though, could piece it together. Well, today, for the last, I'd say, 25 years, the finds in Israel

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have been astounding and so exciting and now especially in the underground digs in Jerusalem,

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the city of David. The archaeologists have gone all the way down through the level of David down

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to the Canaanite level. They believe that they have found what could have been the altar of

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Melchizedek in the ancient, ancient city of Salem, which became the Jebusite city,

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which became Jerusalem. Now, you might be saying, well, how did they know? Well, because these

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archaeologists know what a worship site and altar looks like when it's to a pagan god,

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they know what the Canaanite altars look like. This one was very different and this one had all the

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hallmarks of worship of the one true God that we know Melchizedek served. He was king and priest to

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the one true God. So they really do believe this very well could be Melchizedek's altar. If that's

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not exciting, they have found so many things there underground in Jerusalem. You can now do an

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underground tour not only of the city of David but up around the temple mount down and you can go

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all the way down to the first temple period of Jerusalem. Archaeologists do not like to say

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that they're proving the Bible. A lot of them don't even believe the Bible to be true. But I can

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tell you they are proving the Bible every day. They don't find anything that actually contradicts the

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Bible. If there is a problem with an archaeological find, it's usually in the dating and I say,

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you just wait one day you're going to be able to better date that thing and it's going to line up

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because it's proof of the story. You're just saying it's not the right date. So all of these things

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are proving the Bible and we have Israel to thank for that. So now I invite you back here next week.

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I'm going to share with you a few more reasons why Christians should celebrate Israel's 75th. But as I

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close down below in today's show notes, we lean to information on our two Gala dinners in celebration

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of Israel's 75th. The first one is in Nashville, Tennessee on May the 7th. The second one is in

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Washington, D.C. on May the 17th. The two programs are going to be very different but actually the

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same in their exception and their excellence. So I invite you to both of them. But if you can't

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make it to both, please choose one and choose to join us. Buy your ticket today because I truly

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do expect that we will sell out. Better yet, consider doing a table sponsorship. We would love

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to have your family come sit together and have your name in the program as one of the sponsors of

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the event. These events are structured so that they're collaborative, so that we have many

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organizations and families and ministries and churches co-sponsoring so that we can show this

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is a community-wide celebration. It's not just one organization and it shows the broad-based

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support for Israel and it just makes it a much more impacting evening. So plan to join us

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May 7th in Nashville and or May 17th in Washington, D.C. I'll be at both and I want to see you as well.

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Thank you and God bless. We hope you have enjoyed this episode of Out of Zion with Susan Michael.

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Be sure to subscribe to Out of Zion now on Apple Podcasts, cpnshows.com, YouTube,

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or wherever you like to listen and learn. Out of Zion with Susan Michael is a production of ICEJ

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USA All Rights Reserved.