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Overview
Bible prophecy clearly reveals that immediately prior to the rapture of the Church, four powerful kings will race onto the stage of world history. Pastor Hagee reveals who they are, where they come from, and what they signify. Learn why Hagee believes that we are in the beginning stages of World War III, and how this will eventually take us to the Battle of Armageddon. Pastor Hagee vividly describes the key players that signify the King is coming!
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781683972068 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Worthy |
| Publication date: | 09/18/2018 |
| Sold by: | Hachette Digital, Inc. |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 384 |
| Sales rank: | 306,115 |
| File size: | 3 MB |
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CHAPTER 1
ISRAEL — SEVENTY YEARS OF MIRACLES
Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain. Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth ... Mount Zion, the city of the Great King. (Psalm 48:1–2 NIV)
Ancient charts show Jerusalem as the center of the world, and for the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic faiths, this mapping certainly holds true. Historian Simon Montefiore exquisitely describes this unique city: "Jerusalem is the house of the one God, the capital of two peoples, the temple of three religions and she is the only city to exist twice — in heaven and on earth: the peerless grace of the terrestrial is as nothing to the glories of the celestial."
The Midrash, an ancient commentary on Hebrew Scriptures, states:
The Land of Israel is the center of the world — Jerusalem is the center of the Land — the Holy Temple is the center of Jerusalem — the Holy of Holies is the center of the Holy Temple — the Holy Ark is the center of the Holy of Holies and the Foundation Stone from which the world was established is before the Holy Ark.
Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world, dating back to the fourth century BCE. It is not only an ancient city; it is a consecrated city — it is the city of God. Jerusalem has been the spiritual epicenter of the Jewish people since 1010 BCE, when King David danced into the city before the Ark of the Covenant and established it as the capital of the Jewish nation (2 Samuel 6:14–15).
Teddy Kollek, former mayor of Jerusalem, beautifully described this city's connection to the Jewish people:
For three thousand years, Jerusalem has been the center of Jewish hope and longing. No other city has played such a dominant role in the history, culture, religion and consciousness of a people as has Jerusalem in the life of Jewry and Judaism. Throughout centuries of exile, Jerusalem remained alive in the hearts of Jews everywhere as the focal point of Jewish history, the symbol of ancient glory, spiritual fulfillment and modern renewal. This heart and soul of the Jewish people engenders the thought that if you want one simple word to symbolize all of Jewish history, that word would be "Jerusalem."
The sacred Scriptures not only laid the foundation of God's hallowed city — they also foretold its future. Jerusalem is where the Final Throne will be established, for God declares, "This is my resting place for ever and ever; here I will sit enthroned, for I have desired it" (Psalm 132:14 NIV).
During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged twenty-three times, attacked fifty-two times, and captured and recaptured forty-four times. But no matter its travailing history, God has future plans for Jerusalem.
Again the word of the LORD of hosts came, saying, "Thus says the Lord of hosts: 'I am zealous for Zion with great zeal; with great fervor I am zealous for her.' Thus says the Lord: 'I will return to Zion, and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, the Mountain of the LORD of hosts, The Holy Mountain.'" (Zechariah 8:1–3)
For more than three thousand years, Israel has been a target for conquest and Jerusalem the reward; and its future is no different. However, another, more important reality holds true — there is a God in heaven who declares, "I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion" (Zechariah 1:14).
Remember this truth: Jerusalem is the Holy City of the past, present, and future. I have written books surrounding Jerusalem through the years, motivated by biblical prophecy and the city's prominence in world news, and today is no different — Jerusalem is still at the forefront of global events.
The kingdoms of this earth want Israel as their prize — the Kings of the North covet its warm-water ports for its global navy, the Kings of the East are bent on world domination, the Kings of the South seek to control all of God's Covenant Land, and the King of the West aspires to establish his apocalyptic throne there. But there is a King in heaven who protects Jerusalem day and night. And there is room for only one throne — the Eternal Throne of the Living God — the One True God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and He will share the glory of Jerusalem with no one!
Abrahamic covenant ... land grant ... Israel ... Jerusalem ... blessing ... prophecy ... Gog and Magog ... Armageddon. Most of us are familiar with the words, but how do they connect, and why are they important to America, to the nations of the world, and to us personally?
My prayer is that the pages of this book will help the reader understand the importance of Israel, Jerusalem, and the Jewish people in the economy of God. There is no doubt that all roads in the future of the world lead to Jerusalem.
The covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob centuries ago exploded on the front pages of every newspaper in the mid-twentieth century on May 14, 1948, as Prime Minister BenGurion announced the State of Israel's rebirth, and Israel still lives today and will do so forevermore!
Shout it from the housetops — "Israel lives ... Israel lives ... Israel lives!"
THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL LIVE
The year 2018 (5778 on the Jewish calendar) marks the seventieth birthday of Israel. The rebirth of modern Israel is one of the greatest miracles of the last century. In fact, the survival of the Jewish people as a culture, still anchored to the same Holy Scriptures, the same language, the same traditions, and the same land for more than three thousand years, might be one of the greatest miracles of all time. Despite all the tragedies and abuses the Jewish people have suffered, the descendants of Abraham are living and prospering in the land that God promised them in the book of Genesis. Israel's history over the last seventy years has been a continuous demonstration of the Lord's protection and blessing.
The miracle of Israel is perfectly summed up in the Hebrew phrase Am Yisrael Chai, which means "the people of Israel live!" Israel and the Jewish people have experienced the adversity of defamation, persecution, dispersal, systematic annihilation, and crushing wars — and they have not only supernaturally survived — they have thrived!
In my opinion, it is symbolically significant that Israel's seventieth anniversary takes place in a year ending in the number 18. The Hebrew word chai means life and also represents the number 18. Certain numbers have always held special meaning in Jewish tradition, so we can look at 2018 as symbolizing a year of life.
Just seventy years after starting with nothing and with almost no help, Israel is one of the most successful nations on earth. They have built cities out of swamps and transformed the desert into farmland. They have become a global leader in the technological and medical fields. Israel today is healthy, joyful, prosperous, and generous.
The hand of the Almighty has been on the Hebrew nation since day one, and God has used her to bless the nations as He promised Abraham. My hope is that Israel's amazing account will inspire and motivate you to take your place as one of the pivotal players in the greatest human story ever to unfold on the stage of modern time.
EXILE AND RESTORATION
Israel is the only nation in the history of the world that was created by a sovereign act of God. But that didn't happen in 1948. It took place over four thousand years before (2100 BCE), when God spoke to Abraham and made an everlasting covenant with him and his descendants.
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob very clearly included both the Jewish people and the land of Israel in His covenant.
I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God. (Genesis 17:6–8 NIV)
When the Lord used the word everlasting to describe His covenant with Israel, He meant it — it stands forever! God's land covenant with Abraham and his descendants is mentioned throughout the Bible. This foundational truth is very important for Christians to understand. The God we serve does not break covenant. The Bible says, "The Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations" (Deuteronomy 7:9). That's one hundred thousand years when you consider that a generation according to Genesis 15:16 is technically a hundred years. The meaning of this phrase is, "I am the Lord that keeps covenant longer than forever."
O seed of Abraham His servant, you children of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth. He remembers His covenant forever, the word which He commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac, and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, "To you I will give the land of Canaan as the allotment of your inheritance." (Psalms 105:6–11)
When God gave Abraham, and his descendants, through Isaac, the title deed to the land of Israel, it was never revoked. But through the centuries that followed, the Jewish people were driven from their land and scattered among the nations of the world in what is called the diaspora, referring to the Jewish people living outside of the land of Israel.
Yet despite the fact that many of the Jews were forced into exile through the centuries by the Assyrians in 722 BCE, the Babylonians in 587 BCE and the Romans in the year 70 CE, they always maintained a presence in their historic homeland. Even though the Jewish people were not always in political control of the land and were not always the majority of the land's population, they have lived in Israel continuously from the time of Joshua's conquest more than 3,500 years ago (1500 BCE) until the present day.
During thousands of years of exile and suffering, the chosen people never lost the hope of returning home. And they clung to God's many promises given to the Hebrew prophets that one day the children of Israel would be restored to Zion and reclaim their inheritance.
The Jewish people base their right to the land of Israel on biblical and historical facts:
• First and foremost, God promised the land to the patriarch Abraham through an irrevocable covenant recorded in Genesis 12:1–3; 15:18.
• Second, the Jewish people settled and developed the land as described by the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 24:6; 42:10).
• Finally, the international community granted political sovereignty to the Jewish people through the Balfour Declaration in 1917; the United Nations partition resolution of 1947; and Israel's recognition as a sovereign ation on May 14, 1948, fulfilling the prophecy recorded in Isaiah 66:8, 22.
The appointed time for the rebirth of Israel had come at last. As promised throughout Scripture, God's mighty hand began to gather the exiles back to their Promised Land:
Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, "If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name." (Nehemiah 1:8–9)
The Lord builds up Jerusalem; He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. (Psalms 147:2–3)
"Therefore behold, the days are coming," says the Lord, "that it shall no more be said, 'The Lord lives who brought the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,' but, 'The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land from the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.' For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers." (Jeremiah 16:14–15)
Thus says the Lord GOD: "When I have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and am hallowed in them in the sight of the Gentiles, then they will dwell in their own land which I gave to My servant Jacob. And they will dwell safely there, build houses, and plant vineyards; yes, they will dwell securely, when I execute judgments on all those around them who despise them. Then they shall know that I am the LORD their God." (Ezekiel 28:25–26)
INDEPENDENCE (1948)
After thirty years of promises from the British and other world leaders, in 1947 the Jewish people finally received formal approval from the United Nations General Assembly for the re-creation of an independent Jewish state in the land of Israel. According to the UN's partition plan, the Jews would receive a tiny fraction of the land originally set aside for them by previous agreements.
UN Resolution 181 passed on November 29, 1947. Hesitant yet desperate Jewish leaders accepted the offer of these disjointed scraps of land, and as the news spread, overjoyed Jewish families danced in the streets. However, irate Arab leaders rejected the partition plan and instigated months of attacks against their Jewish neighbors while preparations for statehood went forward.
On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed Israel's official independence. Eleven minutes later, President Harry Truman of the United States was the first world leader to officially recognize the newborn state of Israel. In that historic moment, God miraculously restored the land of Israel to His people and the ancient prophecy was fulfilled: "Who has ever heard of such things? Who has ever seen things like this? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children" (Isaiah 66:8 NIV).
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Earth's Last Empire"
by .
Copyright © 2018 John Hagee.
Excerpted by permission of Worthy Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Section One: All Roads Lead to Jerusalem,
My Jerusalem,
1. Israel — Seventy Years of Miracles,
2. The War Against the Jews,
3. The Sin of Silence,
4. Battle for Jerusalem,
Section Two: The Empires,
5. The Birth of the Empires,
6. The Evolution of American Leadership,
7. The Conservative Resurgence,
8. The New World Order,
Section Three: From Amalek to Armageddon,
9. Fascination with the Future,
10. Abraham's Vision — The Promise,
11. Daniel's Vision — The Four Kingdoms,
12. Ezekiel's Vision — The Final Game of Thrones Begins,
Section Four: The Final Game of Thrones,
13. Satan's Throne,
14. The Apocalypse,
15. The Millennial Reign,
16. The Final Throne,
Notes,
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