It seems that whenever you look or listen to the world news, Israel is always depicted as the "bad guy".  They are depicted as the fault of most of the problems in the Middle East.  And instead of diminishing, the treats and accusations are increasing.

Let's go back to the beginning of the Bible and look at a few things.

We begin with God making the universe.  He made the world, He made the animals and He made man and woman.  What did He tell Adam?  "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷ but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die." (Genesis 2:16b-17  NIV)

So at this point, Adam was obedient to the Lord.  I would assume that he was somewhat content, but the Lord saw that it was not good for him to be alone so He made a woman for him – Eve (Genesis 2:21-25).  Adam was still obedient to the Lord and passed on the "rules" that the Lord had given him to Eve. 

Sometime before the following, Satan (assumed to have been the angel Lucifer) had a falling out with the Lord.  He wanted to place himself above the Lord God Almighty (see Isaiah 14:12-21).    So he was cast out of heaven to the Earth.  He was angry with God.  He became a murderer and the father of lies (see John 8:44).  And because God loves his creations (us) and Satan does not like God, one way to get back at God is to go after those that God loves – God's creations that have the power to reason and make up their own minds – people – us – humans.

In the Garden of Eden Satan took the form of a serpent and tempted Eve to eat of the tree in the middle of the garden (the tree of knowledge of good and evil).  God had told them that they would die if they ate it, but the serpent told them they would not die, but would know good and evil.  So Eve took a bite of the "forbidden fruit".  She then talked Adam into trying it.  That was not a wise decision. 

So Adam and Eve didn't die at that point.  They did gain the knowledge of good and evil.  But their bodies started to age.  This is something that they never knew in the Garden of Eden.  They also lost something else – the communion with God that they had in the Garden. 

But the Lord wasn't through with mankind because of what Adam and Eve did.  The Lord made a provision where mankind could regain the communion with God that we once had.  When God reprimanded the serpent, He said the woman's seed would bruise the serpent's head, even though the serpent would bruise the heel of the woman's seed  (Genesis 4:14-15).

Because of their disobedience Adam and Eve were removed from the Garden of Eden and had to work for a living.  They would also die, that is their bodies would die.  This is something that they had no knowledge of before except when God told them that they would die if they ate of the tree in the middle of the garden.

But even as the Lord drove them from the Garden, He still loved them and made provisions for them to be cleansed from the sin of disobedience to the Lord.  Satan would be punished for what he had done (Genesis 3:15).

But down through the ages, there have been people who have tried to be obedient to the Lord:  Noah, Moses, Abraham, Esther, various prophets and many others.

One of the greatest was Abram, who the Lord later called Abraham.  Abram was obedient to the Lord.  (see Genesis 12:1 to 25:1-11).

The blessings that the Lord gave Abraham and his descendants are found throughout the Old Testament.  

Abraham was faithful to the Lord.  The Lord told Abram (before his name was changed to Abraham) to leave the country where he was living and go with his family to a place that the Lord would show him.  The Lord didn't even tell him where it was at the time.  The Lord also told him that He would make a great nation of Abram and that he would be blessed.  (Genesis 12:1-5).

So Abram just took off because the Lord told him too.  He didn't know where he was going, just that he was going because the Lord told him to.  But he was obedient to the Lord.

Later, the Lord gave Abraham a promise where He told him he would be heir to many many people – as many as the stars in the sky.    6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. (see Genesis 15:5-6  NIV).  The Lord also gave him a prophecy about his seed (his people) (Genesis 15:13-16). 

Then the Lord made a covenant with Abram telling him the borders of the land that the Lord will give his seed (Genesis 15:18-21). 

Abrams son Ishmael was born.  However, Ishmael was not the offspring of Abram and Sarai, he was the offspring of Abram and their handmade Hagar. 

The Lord told Abraham (after his name was changed to Abraham in Genesis 17:5) that His covenant was to be made through Isaac, Sarah (Sarai's name is changed to Sarah in Genesis 17:15) and Abraham's future child.   Sarah was 90 years old at this time and Abraham was 99 years old (Genesis 17:17,24).  Now when Abraham was told that he and Sarah would have a child, he laughed at the thought of a 99 year old man and a 90 year old woman having a child.  But he eventually believed the Lord.  Isaac was not even conceived at this time, but was born about a year later (Genesis 17:21). 

So the covenant was to be through Isaac, not Ishmael.  However, the Lord did bless Ishmael (Genesis 17:20) because of Abraham. 

This promise given to Abraham was repeated to his son Isaac in Genesis 26:3-5.  The reason the Lord gave for giving him the promise was 5 because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions. (Genesis 26:5)

The Lord also told this promise to Abraham's grandson, Jacob in Genesis 28:13b-14.

The provision that the Lord made to us humans to restore communion with God was to be through Jesus Christ, God's only Son.  Up to the time that Jesus Christ was born and a little after, Satan tried his best to destroy the blood-line leading up to Jesus' birth. 

Can you imagine how Satan must feel when he sees the Lord blessing these people?  Satan can see all the blessings and prophesies for Israel and the Jewish people and it drives him nuts.  So he tries to either wipe them out as described in the book of Esther or the 2^nd World War or the present time in the Middle East or he tries to discredit them.  The Muslim countries are saying that they want to wipe Israel off the face of the map.  In fact, the PLO maps do not even show Israel on them. 

Through Abraham, the Jews were blessed and became His chosen people (Deuteronomy 7:6-7).  Because they were His chosen people, Satan has tried very hard to eliminate them from the living.  After Jesus was crucified and ascended into Heaven, Satan has continued to try to eliminate them, but now he is also going after the Christians.  This is especially true today because time is so very short before Jesus comes again.  So Satan is on the "warpath". 

Down through the ages there have been those who have believed in the Lord and obeyed His word.  The whole world was blessed when Jesus came through the Jews to teach us more clearly how we should adhere to the Word.  Some listened and some didn't.  So there were believers who believed that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah that was foretold (who were later called Christians) and there were those who didn't (the Jews who were not Christians).

Jesus was born into a Jewish family.  He came to the Jews first.  His ministry was to the Jews.  But the Jews (as a whole) rejected Him and crucified Him.  Many of the Jews did accept Jesus, however not enough to sway all of the Jewish people.  So some of Jesus' disciples took the gospel to the non-Jews who, later, became known as Christians. 

This is pretty much as it is today.  The Christians believe in the one God – the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  The Christians believe that Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man.  He was God living among men for a short time.  In other words, Jesus Christ is our Messiah.   The Jews are still awaiting the Messiah.  So they do not believe that Jesus Christ is their Messiah.

 So because Christians do believe that Jesus Christ is their Messiah, they have a way to regain full communion with God the Father.  Jesus Christ said that He and the Father are one (John 10:30).  Jesus also said that there is only one way to the Father and that is through Jesus Christ.  6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."  (John 14:6).

 So because there is only one way to the Father (through Jesus Christ) and the Christians know about it, then an enemy of God (Satan) would want to discredit Christians or eliminate them.  So Satan will try to sway all Christians away from belief in Jesus as their Savior or sway the rest of the world to not believe the Christians because he knows this will hurt God the Father.  The Jews believe in the same God that the Christians believe in and they will eventually come to realize that they crucified their Savior (Zechariah 12:10-14).  At this time they will come, as a whole nation, to realize that they crucified the Savior that they had been looking for all this years. 

After Jesus ascended up to Heaven, the Christians were left to tell the Good News of Jesus Christ to the rest of the world.  This is pretty much the way it is today.  The Christians are sending missionaries throughout the world to tell the good news to those who have not heard it yet. 

So what does this have to do with the Jews?

If we look at Israel now, it's a small country, only slightly larger than the size of the state of New Jersey.  What land they still have they are being told to give away.  How could this be a fulfillment of God's promise? 

But . . .

God did NOT forget His promise that He made to Abraham – for it was an everlasting promise.  It was made to Abraham and his offspring through Isaac.

So today, the Jews are being persecuted and so are the Christians.  Why?

Are the Jews perfect?   No.

Are those in Israel all doing the right thing?  No.

Are the Christians all perfect and doing the right things?  No.

So what is the constant here? 

God made a covenant with Abraham many many years ago.  Why? 

Because Abraham was obedient to the Lord.   6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. (see Genesis 15:5-6  NIV)

This was again affirmed to Isaac.  4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, g 5 because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions^. (Genesis 26:4-5)

The key word here is obedient or obedience.  We, today, have been blessed by the fact that Abram/Abraham was obedient to the Lord and believed Him.  Wow!  The Lord still honors His promise from thousands of years ago.  Now that's really something! 

Let's take a look at the promise that the Lord gave Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3.

The Lord had said to Abram, "Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you.

• 2 "I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you;
• I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. ⁱ
• 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
• and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
• The promise says:
• The Lord will make Abraham into a great nation (v2)
• The Lord will bless Abraham. (v2)
• The Lord will make Abraham's name great and he will be a blessing. (v2)
• The Lord will bless those who bless Abraham (v3)
• The Lord will curse those who curse Abraham (v3)
• All the people on earth will be blessed through Abraham. (v3)

• Again to Abraham in Genesis 15:5-6   5 He took him outside and said, "Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be^.

• The promise says:
• Abraham's offspring would be as many as the stars in the sky.

• Again to Abraham's son Isaac in Genesis 26:3b-5:   ^3bFor to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. ⁴ I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, ^{g 5} because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.

 The promise says:

• The Lord gave all the lands that He told Abraham about to Isaac and his descendants. (v3)
• The Lord confirmed His oath that He swore to Abraham. (v3)
• The Lord will make Isaac's descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. (v4)
• Isaac's descendants will be given all the lands told about. (v4)
• All the nations of the earth will be blessed through Isaac's offspring. (v4)

• Again to Abraham's grandson Jacob in Genesis 28:13b-14:    ^13bI will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. ¹⁴ Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.

• The promise says:
• Jacob and his descendants would get the land where he was (v13)
• Jacob's descendants would be as numerous as the dust of the earth (v14)
• Jacob's descendants would cover the whole earth (v14)
• All peoples on the earth would be blessed through Jacob and his offspring. (v14)

• Wow!  Not that's a lot of promises for the Lord to keep.  They're not all completed yet either.  Just look at the promises that the Lord made.  Why did the Lord pick a really small nation like Israel?

 See Deuteronomy 7:7-8

But Satan still wants to get back at God.  The only way to hurt the Lord is to keep people from reaping the blessing from His promise.  Satan has tried this several times in the past and even the present.  Since the promise comes through the Jews, getting rid of the Jews would get rid of the promise.  Keep in mind that the promise is to ALL the people on earth.  So understanding what Jesus did for each one of us is important to be able to tell others.  If we die before accepting Jesus as our Savior than we will not take part in the blessing. 

So the 2 major components in being saved are:

Maintaining the Jews to maintain the blessing that was given to Abraham thousands of years ago.

• Maintaining the Christians who are distributing the blessing of the Good News to others throughout the world. 

• Getting rid of either one (entirely) is a losing situation for us.  But we know that won't happen.  God said what the boundaries of Israel would be and that the Jews would be much more numerous than they are now.  So the promise has not been completely fulfilled.

It's hard to believe that the Israelites will be as numerous as the stars in the sky.  But that's what the Lord said.

Presently Israel is only a tiny country a little larger than the size of the state of New Jersey.  They are being told to give up much of their land – to give up the land they seized in the 1967 war.  So they won the land fair and square.  Never before has a nation that has won land in a war situation been told to give back the land that was won.  This is just unheard of.

 But Satan will continue to try to eradicate the Jews and Christians until he is taken out of the picture.  He knows  scripture better than most of us and can twist it around to sound like what he want us to believe.  He has deceived many people and will deceive many more before the end.  But those who keep their eyes on the Lord will not believe the lies that Satan will use to try to deceive us. 

   So let's get back to the original question:  Why are Jews and Christians at odds with the rest of the world?   It's very simple.  Jews and Christians believe in the same God.  Christians have come to the knowledge of what Jesus Christ has done for them.  Jesus was obedient to the Father and paid the penalty for our sins.  Christians accept this fact.  Jews believe in the same God and will eventually come to realize that He is the Messiah that they've been waiting for all these years.(Zechariah 12:10-14)

22 Who is the liar?  It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ.  Such a person is the antichrist - denying the Father and the Son. 23  No one who denies the Son has the Father, whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.  (I John 2:22-23)

    So the turmoil in the world today is a Spiritual battle between Satan and God the Father.  Satan is pulling out all the stops and will stop at nothing to pull people away from the one true God.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and what He said in the Bible..

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