As has been shown, the true roots of anti-Semitism are found in the spiritual realm, not the natural. Specifically, they are found in Satan's desire to thwart the
ascendancy of Messiah - firstly, because it his long-time desire to usurp the throne and authority of God (Isaiah 14:12-14; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4), and secondarily, to prevent his final and
permanent demise and confinement in the Lake of Fire (Isaiah 14:15; Revelation 19:20, 20:1-3,10).
If Satan were able to destroy the Jewish people before the cross, prophecies concerning the first coming could never have been fulfilled. What this means is that Christ would never have been born, die for sin, defeat Satan, or be resurrected and seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Having failed to destroy the Jews before the cross, Satan has been unceasingly attempting to prevent Israel's national salvation. If he could do that, second coming prophecies could never be fulfilled. What this means is that Christ could not return, cast him into the Abyss for a thousand years, and then into the Lake of Fire for eternity (Hosea 5:15; Matthew 23:39; Revelation 20:2-3,10).
This study will demonstrate the futility of Satan's attempt to achieve his goals through anti-Semitic means whether applied directly, as in his provocation of David to number Israel (1 Chronicles 21:1), or through the agency of people and nations. Inasmuch as Satan often employs people and nations as his agents, the human goals of anti-Semitism will also necessarily be thwarted; and inasmuch as human anti-Semitic acts are motivated by Satan, the human goals of anti-Semitism are ultimately the same as his: They do not want God in their lives, but desire to be god of their own destinies and avoid accountability for their actions. Edward H. Flannery's assessment, presented previously, captures it in a nutshell:
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It was Judaism that brought the concept of a God-given universal moral law into the world . . . the Jew carries the burden of God in history and for this he has never been forgiven.(1)
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The ultimate conjunction of satanic and human goals will be seen in the future rise of the anti-Christ, the worship of him by the masses, and their combined effort to destroy Israel once and for all. (Revelation 12:1-17; 13:3-8)
Plainly and simply, Scripture declares that Israel will never be destroyed.
"For just as the new heavens and the new earth which I make will endure before Me," declares the LORD, "so your offspring and your name will endure." (Isaiah 66:22)
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35. Thus says the LORD, who
gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The LORD of hosts is His name: 36.
"If this fixed order departs from before Me," declares the LORD, "then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before Me forever." 37. Thus says the LORD, "If
the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out below, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done," declares
the LORD.
25. Thus says the LORD, "If My covenant for day and night stand not, and if I have not established the fixed patterns of
heaven and earth, 26. then I would reject the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, not taking from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob. But I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them." ~ Jeremiah 33:25-26 ~ |
For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, o sons of Jacob, are not consumed. (Malachi 3:6)
With these passages, God has made it known unequivocally that He will never ever allow Israel to cease from being a nation before [Him] forever.
For this and every other purpose and plan that He has for her, God will be ever vigilant: Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep (Psalm 121:4). The Hebrew for keeps is shamar, which means to guard, to protect. With a Guardian like God and such promises as these, we can be assured that Israel will never be destroyed.
To illustrate the guardianship of God over Israel, let us view the unique phenomenon of Jewish survival by considering these observations, all by non-Jews:
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If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one quarter of one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous puff of star dust lost
in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly, the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other
people, and his importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine and abstruse learning are also very out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world in all ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself and be excused for it. The Egyptians, the Babylonians and the Persians rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greeks and Romans followed and made a vast noise, and they were gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, and have vanished. The Jew saw them all, survived them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert but aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jews; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?(2)
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By all reckoning, the Jews should have died out long ago. Their survival as a distinct people is a miracle of history. . . . You cannot talk to a Babylonian today, nor a Hittite. You will not meet a Moabite or a Phoenecian on the street. But you can converse with a Jew. By every measuring stick of history there should not be even one identifiable Jew alive today. For 4,000 years they have endured unbelievable hardships: exile from their land more than 60 per cent of the time; organized efforts to destroy them; the crumbling of the civilizations in which they sought refuge; the sophisticated brutality of the 20th century. Yet the Jews are alive and flourishing. They survive every effort to destroy them.(3)
The Jews have played an all-important role in history. They are pre-eminently an historical people and their destiny reflects the
indestructibility of the divine decrees. Their destiny is too imbued with the 'metaphysical' to be explained either in material or positive-historical terms.
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"By every measuring stick of history there should not be even one identifiable Jew alive today." "What is the secret of his immortality?" Berdyaev answered correctly: "Their destiny reflects the indestructibility of the divine decrees." Specifically, I might add, God's unequivocal and unbreakable promises to sustain them.
The multitude of ways that Satan has tried to prevent the salvation of Israel include:
pre-cross attempts to kill Jesus (Matthew 2:16; 26:3-4; Luke 4:28-30; John 8:59; 10:31);
the rejection of Jesus' messiahship by Jewish leaders from the time of Jesus until today;
the denial of the Jewish identity of believing Jews by rabbis;
the denial of the Jewish identity of non-believing Jews by Christian theologians;
the claim by Christian theologians that believing Gentiles are Jews;
the teaching that Israel has been rejected by God and that the church has replaced Israel as God's covenant people;
the claim that the church is the true Israel, the New Israel, or the Israel of God;
making the Gospel odious to them by means of persecution by professing Christians;
attempts to annihilate them;
the repudiation of evangelism to the Jews so as not to offend them; or because they are spiritually blind (on the basis of 2 Corinthians 3:13-16, though the passage itself says that whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away); or because they have fallen out of favor with God and He has rejected them; or because they already are in a favored position before God.
Notwithstanding all of Satan's schemes, preventing the national salvation of Israel is likewise impossible, as God has covenanted with Israel that He will save her.
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31. "Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32. not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of
Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. 33. "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those
days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34. "They will not teach again,
each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will
forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." ~ Jeremiah 31:31-34 ~
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The fulfillment of this new covenant will take place at the end of the Tribulation period:
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8. "It will come about in all the land," declares the LORD,
"that two parts in it will be cut off and perish; but the third will be left in it. 9. And I will bring the third part through the
fire, refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, 'They are My people,' and they will
say, 'The LORD is my God.'" ~ Zechariah 13:8-9 ~
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In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity.
~ Zechariah 13:1 ~
Thus the words of Paul will come to pass:
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26. and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL
REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB." 27. "THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS."
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Also Isaiah 19:24-25; 59:20-21; 61:8-9; 66:21-22; Jeremiah 32:37-41; Ezekiel 16:60-62; 34:22-31; 37:26-28.
God will surely uphold His decrees on the matter of Israel's survival and salvation:
Numbers 23:19: God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
Judges 2:1: I will never break My covenant with you.
1 Samuel 15:29: Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.
Luke 21:33: Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.
Romans 11:29:The gifts and the calling of God [on Israel] are irrevocable.
2 Corinthians 1:20: For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.
Hebrews 6:18: It is impossible for God to lie.
James 1:17: Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
We have seen that Satan's pursuit of his anti-Semitic goals is futile. In this section, it will be shown that people who are anti-Semitic will experience futility as well, not only as regards the
goals of their anti-Semitism, but in very personal ways.
God has issued decrees concerning those who practice anti-Semitism, but they fall within a more inclusive principle, that of sowing and reaping:
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7. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 8. For
the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
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David sowed adultery and premeditated murder, and reaped a harvest of each in his own household (2 Samuel 11-20, especially 12:9-12; 13:28-29; 16:22). Surely, those who sow anti-Semitic acts, be they Jew or Gentile, saved or unsaved, can expect similar harvests in their own lives.
Four key passages:
1. Genesis 12:3: And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in
you all the families of the earth will be blessed.
The blessing/cursing aspect of the covenant that God made with Abraham applied to Abraham personally (Genesis 15:1: Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you); but not only to him, but to all in his chosen line:
a. It is implied in God's stated intention to bless all the families of the earth, which He did through the descendants of Abraham in the writing of Scripture, the bringing forth of Messiah, and the establishment of the church; and which He will continue to do during the Great Tribulation in the completion of the evangelization of the world by 144,000 Israelites (Revelation 7:1-10), and through the Millennial Kingdom as saved Israel ministers to the nations of the world (Zechariah 8:23).
b. God stated it forthrightly to Abraham in Genesis 17:7: I will establish My covenant between Me and you and
your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.
c. It is implied in the fact that God passed the covenant on to Abraham's son Isaac (Genesis 26:2-5,24), to Isaac's son Jacob whose name became Israel (Genesis
28:13-15; 32:28), and finally, to the twelve sons of Israel and all their descendants (Genesis 49:1-28).
d. It is made as plain as day as Isaac repeats the blessing/cursing provision in his blessing of Jacob: Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you. (Genesis 27:29),
e. and in Balaam's prophecy concerning the entire nation: He couches, he lies down as a lion,
and as a lion, who dares rouse him? Blessed is everyone who blesses you, and cursed is everyone who curses you. (Numbers 24:9)
f. It is seen in Romans 11:27, where Paul reiterated God’s promise concerning Israel for a time yet future: This is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins (Isaiah 59:19-21).
g. It is also implied in the fact that the blessing/cursing principle may be observed at work in the lives of those who blessed or cursed Israelites other than
Abraham, as will be shown.
In His foreknowledge, God knew that the satanic attacks on Abraham and his covenant nation would be numerous and great. It is in this context that He declared the blessing/cursing provision. Without a doubt, the blessing/cursing provision is a regularly used tool that God employs to insure the fulfillment of His divine purposes through Israel. This is exemplified in God's destruction of the armies that will gather to destroy Israel at the end of the Great Tribulation (Zechariah 12:1-9; 14:1-2; Revelation 12:15-17).
According to Strong, the Hebrew for curses in the one who curses you can mean to treat lightly or bring into contempt, and the word for curse in I will curse is based on a root that means to execrate, to bitterly curse.(5) The English Standard Version renders the clause, him who dishonors you I will curse. Holman's Christian Standard Bible: I will curse those who treat you with contempt; and Young's Literal Translation: him who is disesteeming thee I curse. The passage may very well indicate that God will "bitterly curse" those who even dishonor or disesteem the covenant nation; and if that is the case, then what will the magnitude of the curse be on those who treat the nation with severity!
2. Zechariah 2:8: For thus says the LORD of hosts, "After glory He has sent me against the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you, touches the apple [pupil] of His eye."
It is rather clear that this passage will have its fulfillment in connection with the Lord's second coming:
a. He has sent me, that is, the LORD of hosts.
b. The Lord was not sent the first time to judge nations, but to die for sin. He will be sent the second time to judge nations (Joel 3:2;
Zechariah 12:1-9; 14:1-2; Revelation 12:15-17).
c. Verses 10-12 are clearly set at the time of the Lord's return.
d. The passage speaks of the Lord being sent after glory, and Matthew 25:31 speaks of the Son of Man com[ing] in His glory, and . . . then He will sit on His glorious throne.
3. Matthew 25:40,45: 40. Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me. . . . 45. Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.
These brothers of Mine are generally identified as the poor and needy, or as Tribulation believers; but there is powerful evidence that it refers to the Jews of the Tribulation, who will be singled out by Satan for annihilation during this time of Jacob's trouble (Jeremiah 30:7).
Consider:
a. In Matthew 24:3, Jesus' Jewish disciples asked Him, Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age? In the course of His reply, He tells them, Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name (verse 9).
Strong defines ethnos, the Greek word for nations,
as "a race (as of the same habit), that is, a tribe; specifically a foreign (non-Jewish) one (usually by implication pagan): - Gentile, heathen,
nation, people." Jesus is telling His Jewish listeners that their descendants will be subject to extreme tribulation at
the hand of all [Gentiles]. This is consistent with God's pronunciation of end-time judgment on Israel in Zechariah 14:2:
For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle; with Satan's ferocious persecution of Israel during the Tribulation
in Revelation 12:1-17; and with God's pronunciation of subsequent judgment on all the nations . . . on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land (Joel 3:2).
b. Jesus continues, 15. Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF
DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16. then those who are in Judea
must flee to the mountains.
Those who reside in Judea are to flee to
the mountains. He could not mean that all Tribulation believers are to flee, for they will not be residing just in Judea, but throughout the world! He said that those who are in Judea, the land of the Jews, must flee.
c. In verse 20, He says, But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a
Sabbath. Who else would care about fleeing on a Sabbath, but Jews?!
d. Following through in the same discourse, He speaks of gathering the sheep and goat nations for judgment in Matthew 25:32. The word He uses for nations in this verse is again ethnos,
Gentile nations.
To conclude, these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, refers to Jesus' brothers, the Jews. Lest there be a question about His referring to multitudes of unsaved Jews as His brothers, let's remember what Paul called the unsaved among his nation: my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites (Romans 9:3-4).
To get back to the point, Matthew 25:40 and 45 again state the principle brought out in Zechariah 2:8, that the manner in which people treat Israel is tantamount to the manner in which they treat God and His Son. It is the Lord Himself who speaks in both passages.
4. Romans 12:19: Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.
Though Paul used the verse as an exhortation to believers to not take revenge for offenses (as can be seen by verse 17: Never
pay back evil for evil to anyone), it has general application. It is a restatement of Deuteronomy 32:35, Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, in which God declares His impending judgment upon Israel because of her evil ways. It also harks
back to Psalm 94:1, O LORD, God of vengeance, God of vengeance, shine forth!, where the psalmist
calls upon God to take revenge upon those who crush Thy people [Israel] (verse 5).
Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord. God will take revenge on those who crush His people Israel.
God's decrees concerning those who stir up and commit anti-Semitic acts apply to Satan, his demon host, nations and individuals. Historian Paul Johnson notes, "What is in any case clear is that anti-Semitism, besides being self-inflicted, is also self-destructive, and of societies and governments as much as of individuals."(6) History bears out what God has decreed!
Some observations, all of which may be seen in examples that will follow:
1. God may judge those whose actions harm Israel even if they do so unknowingly and without bias against the nation.
2. God may use Israel's enemies to judge her, yet He holds them accountable because of their free will decisions to harm her.
3. Dr. Fruchtenbaum observes, "When God operates on the cursing aspect of the Abrahamic Covenant, he works on the sub-principle of curse for curse in kind."(7) In other words, God applies such curses in an "eye for eye" manner: Therefore all who devour you will be devoured; And all your adversaries, every one of them, will go into captivity; And those who plunder you will be for plunder, And all who prey upon you I will give for prey (Jeremiah 30:16).
In Revelation 13:10, God applies the same principle to those who persecute the saints in the Tribulation.
4. God's decrees apply to the saved and the unsaved.
5. God will apply His decrees in this life and in the afterlife.
6. God may delay the application of His decrees in this life for a long time, but they will be applied.
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2. And [an angel] laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound
him for a thousand years; 3. and he threw him into the Abyss, and shut it and sealed it over
him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short
time.
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Immediately after Satan's most successful attempt at annihilating the Jews (Zechariah 13:8; 14:1-2; Revelation 12:15-17), God commands an angel to cast him into the Abyss for a thousand years.
Will his demons be bound with him? Perhaps some, but certainly not all. We can derive this from two groups of passages that reveal there will be demons in two locations on earth during the Millennium. When Isaiah 13:20-22, Jeremiah 50:39-40, Jeremiah 51:41-43, Revelation 18:1-2 and Revelation 19:3 are studied together, they show that during the Millennium, Babylon (modern southern Iraq), will be a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit (Revelation 18:2); and Isaiah 34:8-15 shows that during the Millennium, Edom (modern southern Jordan) will likewise be inhabited by demons. According to Dr. Fruchtenbaum, hairy goat in Isaiah 34:14 actually refers to a demon in goat form; and according to Keil and Delitszch, night monster [screech owl, KJV], also in verse 14, refers to a female demon.
As concerns eternal punishment, because of their pre-Adamic rebellion against God, the eternal punishment of Satan and his demons was decreed millennia before the birth of Abraham (Isaiah 14:12-14; Revelation 12:4). Nevertheless, their rebellion has never ceased, and the focus of their rebellion since the birth of Abraham has been the destruction of Israel and the prevention of their salvation. Their eternal destiny will be the Lake of Fire:
Revelation 20:10: And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Matthew 25:41: Then He will also say to those on His left, Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.
The law of sowing and reaping may work passively, as by the affliction of the conscience leading to migraines, insanity or other ailments, or it may work by active chastisements and judgments of God. This includes sins against Israel. However, it must be noted that whatever passive reaping may be experienced by anti-Semites, the cursing provision of the Abrahamic covenant guarantees active cursing by God above and beyond passive reaping: And the one who curses you I will curse.
Let us examine how these laws apply to those who engage in anti-Semitic activities.
1. Application to the Saved
a. Chastisement on Earth
Hebrews 12:6: For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and scourges every son whom He
receives. (Also Proverbs 3:12.) One way or another, God will chasten those of His children who engage in anti-Semitic practices.
b. At the Judgment Seat of Christ
While dwellers on Earth will endure the tests and judgments of the Great Tribulation, the deeds of the members of the
church will be judged at the Judgment Seat of Christ in Heaven, at which time anti-Semitic acts and sinful acts of all kinds committed on Earth will bring the suffering of loss: 14. If any man's work which he has built on [the foundation of Jesus Christ (verse 11)] remains, he will receive a reward. 15. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire (1 Corinthians
3:14-15).
Note that even believers who engage in horrible anti-Semitic acts will not lose their salvation. They will suffer loss, yet [they] will be saved.8
2. The Unsaved
a. Chastisement on Earth
In Genesis 12:10-17, Pharaoh took Abram's wife Sarai into his harem. Pharaoh had no idea
that Abram would be the progenitor of the covenant nation and could not possibly have desired to hurt him because of it. All he was interested in was Abram's good-looking wife, fair game for any
self-respecting Pharaoh. But the LORD struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife
(verse 17). If he had retained Sarai in his harem permanently, the covenant line would have been cut off right there and Christ would never have been born.
In Genesis 20:1-3, Abimelech, king of Gerar, exercised his royal prerogative in exactly the same way and took Sarah into his harem. But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, "Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married (verse 3)." As with Pharaoh, if Abimelech were able to follow through on his desire, Sarai's womb would have been closed in regard to Isaac. Therefore, the Lord followed through with a plainly observable "curse for curse in kind." Verse 18: the LORD had closed fast all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.
Another example is Haman, who schemed to have Mordecai hung, yet ended up being hung on the same gallows he erected for Mordecai. (Esther 6:4; 9:25)
b. At the Great White Throne Judgment
Revelation 20:15: And if anyone's name was not
found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Some sins are greater than others (John 19:11); and the greater the sin, the more severe the punishment (Matthew 11:20-24; Luke 12:47-48). Surely, God will factor in sins against His people when degrees of judgment are pronounced for the eternally condemned.
Three points:
1. Only individuals - not nations - may be adjudged fit for the Lake of Fire. This includes the goat nations, which are judged at the end of the Tribulation
(Matthew 25:41-46). Those individuals among the Dutch, for example, who will not offer succor to the persecuted Jews of the Great Tribulation, are viewed corporately as the Dutch goat nation, but
will be adjudged fit for entry into the Lake of Fire on an individual basis. They will be condemned corporately to the Lake of Fire only because every individual among them will be unsaved; and
whatever degrees of punishment may be due them will also be determined on an individual basis. The same is true of the rest of the unsaved, who will be judged at the Great White Throne after the
Millennium.
2. No one's salvation or condemnation is ever decided on the basis of their deeds (Ephesians 2:8-9). The deeds of the goat individuals are indicative of their unsaved state, as faith is demonstrated by godly works, per James 2:14-26. Therefore, the fate of the goat nations is to be viewed as the fate of unsaved individuals, addressed above.
3. Entire nations, though they may contain saved as well as unsaved individuals, do suffer earthly judgments for wickedness. There were many saved Jews in Israel
during the judgment of 70 A.D., yet they had to endure the judgment along with the unsaved Israelites.
Here are examples of nations who have suffered for their oppressive actions against Israel:
Egypt
Pharaoh
decreed that all Jewish male newborns be drowned (Exodus 1:15-16). Egypt was eventually judged by the slaying of their own firstborn sons and by the drowning of their all-male army in the Red Sea
(Exodus 11:4-5; 12:12,29; 14:21-28; 15:4).
Amalek
When the Israelites were passing through the wilderness, then Amalek came and
fought against Israel at Rephidim (Exodus 17:8). In verse 14, the LORD said to Moses, "Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it
to Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven." God carried out His vow some four hundred years later. Samuel announced to Saul,
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2. Thus says the LORD of hosts, "I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. 3. Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he
has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey."
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The sentence was carried out later in the chapter. What Saul nearly completed was completed by Samuel.
The Edomites
The everlasting enmity (Ezekiel 35:5) of Edom (Esau) toward Israel is
detailed in our second anti-Semitism study, The Satanic and Human Aspects. God pronounced judgment on Edom in Jeremiah 49:9-22 and Obadiah 1:5-6,10,18:
Obadiah 1:18: Then the house of Jacob will be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame; but the house of Esau will be as stubble. And they will set them on fire and consume them, so that there will be no survivor of the house of Esau.
There will be no survivor of the house of Esau. God also declared that during the Millennial or Messianic Kingdom, while virtually the rest of the planet will be restored to pristine beauty, Edom will remain a desolation (Isaiah 34:8-15, Jeremiah 49:17-18, Ezekiel 35:10-15, Joel 3:19).
The Nations of Anti-Christ's Army
All the nations of the world, whose armies anti-Christ will gather in his final attempt to destroy Israel,
will suffer the loss of their armies.
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I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into
judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land.
19. So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. 20. And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses' bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.
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Historian Paul Johnson, again: "Anti-Semitism is self-inflicted, which means that, by an act of will and reason, the infection can be repelled. But this is not easy to do, especially in societies where anti-Semitism has become common or the norm."(9)
If one who is engaged in anti-Semitic attitudes, words or actions is a believer, the biblical cure is confession and repentance (1 John 1:9; Revelation 2:5). If such a one is not a believer, repentance from anti-Semitism would best begin with belief in the Gospel, for being anti-Semitic is being anti-God, and Jesus said, He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters (Matthew 12:30; Luke 11:23). True repentance from anti-Semitism will lead to pro-Semitism in attitude, word and action.
Pro-Semitism is not blinding oneself to the faults of individual Jews or Israel. Minimally, it is supporting fair treatment of Jews and Israel. The very least one can do is to speak up when one hears an anti-Semitic comment. Self-preserving silence and inaction in the face of anti-Semitism is odious to the Lord: Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin (James 4:17). Not every individual among the condemned goat nations will necessarily be an active persecutor of Jews; they will simply not get involved in the dangerous business of offering them succor.
For those who believe the Bible, pro-Semitism is an inclination to bless the Jews because God has chosen them to bless the world. For this reason, pro-Semitism
ought to be a hallmark of every believer and local church or congregation.
Believers' pro-Semitism must include bringing the Gospel to the Jews per Matthew 28:18-20, and doing so as a priority over other peoples per Romans 1:16. It should also include extending
ministries of mercy to them as a priority. This is seen in Matthew 25:34-40, where the Lord is shown blessing those who so minister to Israel, and in Romans 15:27: For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things. Another Gentile obligation is implied in
Romans 11:11: I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has
come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. If Jews see the joy of salvation in the lives of Gentile believers, then many will desire to
enter into the joy of their Jewish Messiah - and what better way to display this joy to Jews than in joyous ministry to them?
To be most effective in pro-Semitic activities, one ought to pray for Israel regularly according to Psalm 122:6, 137:5-6 and Isaiah 62:1,6-7, and become familiar with at least the basics of Jewish history and prophecy and what Scripture says about their unique call in God. One way to begin is by studying the ten studies in this site's Israel series.
It is obvious from the weight that Scripture gives to matters concerning Israel that pastors and teachers should teach them in their churches and take the lead in pro-Semitic activities. Will you carry the torch?
There's a flip side to the cursing aspect of the Abrahamic Covenant: and I will bless those who bless you (Genesis 12:3a).
God promises to bless those who bless Israel. Here are some examples:
Just as Satan and his demons are anti-Semitic because they are anti-God, the holy angels are pro-Semitic because they are pro-God. An example of this is in 2 Kings 6:8-17, where a host of holy angels gather to protect Israel against the Aramean army.
The holy angels will be rewarded with an eternity in the presence of God in Heaven:
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22. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, 23. to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24. and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.
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In Genesis 39:1-5, Potiphar, an Egyptian, initially treated Joseph well, and the LORD blessed the Egyptian's house on account of Joseph; thus the LORD'S blessing was upon all that he owned, in the house and in the field (verse 5).
Another example is Ruth, the Moabitess, whose dedication to Naomi was rewarded by her marriage to Naomi's relative, Boaz: So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went in to her. And the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son (Ruth 4:13. See also Ruth 2:10-12).
That, in turn, enabled her to be a maternal progenitor of Jesus, a blessing she will enjoy forever (Matthew 1:5-16).
Note that the unsaved, such as Potiphar, as well as the saved, such as Ruth, experience earthly blessings for blessing Jews. Two examples from the New Testament are the centurion with the sick slave (Luke 7:2-10, esp. v. 5) and Cornelius (Acts 10:1-48, esp. v. 2).
In addition to earthly blessings, believers who bless Israel will also receive rewards at the Judgment Seat of Christ in Heaven. If any man's work which he has built on [the foundation of Jesus Christ] remains, he will receive a reward (1 Corinthians 3:14).
Few things make this author cringe more than to hear a Jewish name associated with a misdeed that causes people injury. If you are contemplating, or are engaged in, any such activity, please consider your responsibility to your people. The last thing we need is another excuse for an anti-Semitic outburst. If you do not believe in Yeshua, may I respectfully appeal to you to reconsider. Your belief in Jesus will not only open up the blessings of God to you personally, but will plant seeds of salvation in Israel that will ultimately come to fruition in her national salvation, the return of Messiah, the end of anti-Semitism, and the dawning of the Olam Haba, the World to Come, the Messianic Age. These truths and promises may be looked into through a reading of HaB'rit HaChadashah (The New Testament) and consideration of studies on Salvation and Israel that may be accessed via links on our Home page.
Shalom
* If you were blessed by this study, please consider linking to it. Thank you. *
1. Edward H. Flannery. Judaism-now Blogspot, http://judaism-now.blogspot.com/2010/12/pagan-influance-of-christmas.html. Judaism-now.
2. "Concerning the Jews" from the March 1898 issue of Harper's by Mark Twain. Quoted from http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Quote/TwainJews.html.
3. David C. Egner, Those Irrepressible Jews!, Radio Bible Class, Grand Rapids, Michigan 1983, back cover.
4. "The Meaning of History," London (1936) pp. 86-87, by Professor Nicolai Berdyaev, Moscow Academy of Spiritual Culture. Quoted from http://www.createforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?mforum=mepe&p=2729.
5. James Strong. The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1996), Hebrew Dictionary words 779,
7043.
6. Paul Johnson, "The Anti-Semitic Disease," Commentary Magazine, June 2005.
7. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, Dr. Hebrew Christianity (Tustin, Ariel Ministries Press, 1983), p. 63.
8. For an extensive discussion of the eternal security of the believers, see the author's study, Eternal Security.
9. Johnson, op. cit.
1. Edward H. Flannery. The Anguish of the Jews: Twenty-Three Centuries of Antisemitism, first published 1965, latest edition: (Mahwah, Paulist Press, 2004).
By Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum*
2. The examples given in this study of the blessing and cursing aspects of the Abrahamic Covenant are drawn from
Scripture. Yet, the principle may be seen to apply in extrabiblical history, as well. Dr. Fruchtenbaum has done a study on the matter, and his findings may be considered in his Hebrew
Christianity. Tustin: Ariel Ministries Press, 1983.
3. The Footsteps of Messiah: A Study of the Sequence of Prophetic Events.
4. Israelology: The Missing Link in Systematic Theology.
5. Messianic Bible Study 005: How to Destroy the Jews.
6. Messianic Bible Study 191: The Remnant of Israel: Past, Present and Future.
By Mottel Baleston*
7. Publications on Jewish history and various aspect of it.
*Publications by Dr. Fruchtenbaum and Mottel Baleston are available at Ariel Ministries in various formats.