Their faith is based upon a book that contains two bibles (two covenants) that two great monotheistic religions call their Bible. The Christian religion must include the Hebrew Bible (the Christian dubbed "Old Testament") for support of their faith. For without this Hebrew Bible support the Christian Bible (the New Testament) has no foundation.
However, the Hebrew Bible was not written for the Gentiles as was the Christian Bible (Rom. 15:16). I like to point out every chance I get that the Hebrew Bible was written in Hebrew by the Hebrew prophets and their message is to the Hebrew people and not unto the Gentile nations. The core essence of the Hebrew Bible consists of :
- YHVH the God of Israel.
- The Hebrew people themselves.
- The Torah of Moses.
- The everlasting covenant between God and the Hebrew people
- All the physical land of Israel.
- The prophesies of the Hebrew people for the age to come.
So when presidents like the roadmap-planner George W. Bush and the Hamas-supporting Jimmy Carter gives lip-service of their beliefs toward the Bible they are doing so without a spiritual backbone to act politically towards its primary goals and principles. These men believe and act politically according to some Gentile-chosen version of the Hebrew Bible while disregarding its true context and prophecy. So what does the Hebrew Bible really say about the Hebrew people and the Gentile world?
The Hebrew Bible gives a detailed account of Israel's beginnings and a thousand years worth of biblical history. It also gives us prophecy concerning Israel's punishments and glorious redemption. The Torah (the five books of Moses and spiritual foundation of Israel) focuses mostly on the Law of Moses that instructs the Israelite nation how to walk with their God of Israel in their every generation (Deut.7:9 / Deut. 28:14-15).
Within the Torah are prophecies that foretell with pinpoint accuracy the two most devastating events in Jewish history that led to their long exile. The 28th chapter of Deuteronomy reads like a Jewish history book pertaining to the events of 586 BCE and 70 CE (see wikipedia.org -Tisha B'Av). It has been suggested that Moses even used the Roman symbol of an eagle when foretelling of Israel’s bleakest hour with the Romans in 70 CE (Deut. 28:49). One thing that is for sure is that the Gentile nation’s ill treatment of the Jews, namely the banishment that stretched all over Eastern and Western Europe, was clearly spoken of in the ancient writing of Deuteronomy 28:64-65 and has remained ever so true even until this present day:
.
And YHVH shall scatter you among all people, from the one end of the earth even to the other, and you shall serve other gods there, which neither you nor your fathers have known, wood and stone. And among these nations you shall find no ease, neither shall the sole of your foot have rest. But YHVH shall give you there a trembling heart and failing of eyes and sorrow of mind.
Seventh century Arabia, 1492 Spain, 1933-1945 Europe, and twentieth century Russian pogroms, are just a small few among many Jewish episodes of banishment down through the ages that have Moses’ words, written all over them.“And among these nations you shall find no ease, neither shall the sole of your foot have rest.”
The high conversion rate among Jews into Christianity and Islam are considered by the Jewish sages as part of the above Mosaic prophecy. The foreign gods represented by "wood and stone" "of whom the Jewish fathers did not know" are quite obvious: The Trinity's wooden cross of Christianity under of which shadow thousands upon thousands of Jews were burnt in the Middle Ages alone, and the venerated "Allah" Kabba black stone in Mecca that is symbolically linked to millions of Jewish deaths by the Koran-following Muslims.
Apparently Moses when mentioning wood in this prophecy, wasn’t impressed by the veil that the inquisitionors placed over the statue of Jesus on the cross so he wouldn’t have to see the poor Jew being tortured or burnt at the sake. This was a time when many Jewish "conversos" (including the Inquisitor-General of Spain - Tomas de Torquemada) turned on their own people.
The Torah placed two paths before the nation of Israel. Included, was a prophecy for each path that has followed Israel down through the ages, even unto this very day:
"Know therefore that YHVH thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations;
And repayeth them that hate Him to their face, to destroy them: He will not be slack to him that hateth Him, He will repay him to his face." - Deuteronomy 7:9-10
"I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live" -Deuteronomy 30:19
Have you ever noticed that the Replacement theologists in both the Christian and Islamic fields are real big on the biblical curses of Israel but go out of their way to totally reject the blessing part of returning to their God and their promised land? The Christian replacement theologists gladly receive God departing from physical Israel as an aid to their doctrine that is due to Israel's sin but then portray a "spiritualized Christian-Israel" when it comes to considering God's promise to restore Israel's spiritual condition.
Because the Torah is the foundation on which Israel is judged, it doesn't elaborate on the Messianic Age. The vision of the glorious Messianic Age was given to the Hebrew prophets during the time Moses' prophecy of judgment was upon Israel. Israel's sin brought on God's judgment that the Hebrew prophets also foretold. But from beyond the judgments the prophets also saw a glorious and righteous future for Israel (see Jer. 32:28-30 / Jer. 33:7-16).
The God of Israel allowed the Hebrew prophets to see His redeeming mercy that He would have upon His chosen people after His judgments have all been fulfilled. This is the whole concept of Biblical prophecy concerning Israel. Those who reject Israel as the chosen nation of God in modern times reject not only a huge portion and concept of the Hebrew Bible pertaining to Israel's redemption, but in doing do, they reject the entire Hebrew Bible itself! This is why some Christian sects of the Middle East study only the New Testament while their "Old Testament" is literally considered the "enemy's book". They don't want to read just what the God of Israel has to say about the final outcome of His chosen people!
During the Babylonian exile (a time when the first Jewish temple was destroyed) the prophet Ezekiel (himself numbered among the exiles) foresaw a new and glorious temple with all of its functions during the future Messianic Age. For all you preterist and Muslims out there who has yet to figure out that the God of Israel wins out in the end of fulfilled prophecy by having His redeemed and chosen people become all that He wanted them to be (Deut. 7:6 / Ish. 62:12) - understand that in no way shape, form, or fashion, is the "Ezekiel temple" (Ezekiel chapters 40-48) the same lesser "Second Temple" (see Haggai 2:3) that Herod (a gentile and murderer) extended during his reign of unrighteousness!
Herod's temple (the Second Temple) was built and stood during the seventy weeks 490 years of judgment (Jeremiah 25:11 compared with Leviticus 26:18) and was not built in glorious times as Ezekiel describes in his temple version, but was built during troubled times as Daniel describes in his temple version (Dan.9:25).
Biblical Prophecy Fact: The Ezekiel temple will never be destroyed but will stand forever (Ezk. 37:28) while the Second Temple was to be destroyed from the get-go (Dan. 9:26).
Israel's punishment of exile from the Land of Promise is promised to come to an end (Ezk.37:21)and Israel as a nation is to come into harmony with God (Ezk.37:23,24). In this, Israel will no longer be the nations' whipping boy as history and the Holocaust demonstrates, but will take her rightful place among the nations as the world's rabbi. As Israel's righteousness becomes forever restored the nations become spiritually taught and become spiritually blessed as a result (Gen. 12:3 / Ish.49:6).
The summary of Israel's end-time prophecy according to the heaven breathed Word of God goes something like this:
- What are known today as "The Lost Ten Tribes of the House of Israel" will be united with the House of Judah (today's Jews) and will be gathered back into their ancient homeland. Heaven breathed sources: Ish. 11:12 / Jer. 31:30 / Jer 33:7,14 / Ezk. 37:16-22 / Zech. 8:13
- While in her own homeland, Israel will be pardoned and cleansed from all her sins that brought about their long exile to begin with. Heaven breathed sources: Jer. 31:31-34 / Jer. 33:7,8 / Jer. 50:20 / Ezk. 36: 24-33 / Ezk. 37:21-23
- From that time forward Israel will no longer sin as a nation as they did before, for they will be a holy and righteous nation before their God - the God of Israel. Heaven breathed sources: Ish. 59: 21 / Ish. 60:21 / Jer.31:33 / Jer.50: 20 /Ezk 37:24
- During this time Israel's spiritual capital of Jerusalem will be known as the holiest city of the earth. Heaven breathed sources: Ish. 60:14 / Ish. 62: 6-12 / Jer. 33:16 / Zech 8:3 / Micah 4:2
- The entire Gentile world will recognize Israel for her special "chosen" place and status with her God. Heaven breathed sources: Ish. 60:3 / Ish 61:9 / Jer. 16:19 / Ezk. 39:27 / Zech 8:23
- "Holy Israel" will have a king to rule over her but not just any ordinary king. They will have an anointed-messiah king(s) to rule Israel who are from the very linage of David. This is in keeping God's promise to David (See II Samuel 7:8-16) . Heaven breathed sources: Jer. 33:15 / Ezk. 37: 25 / Hosea 3:5
- As a final forever witness to the Gentile nations that Israel (His chosen) is their rabbi and that Jerusalem is the spiritual headquarters on earth, the Holy Third and Final Temple that the Hebrew prophet Ezekiel saw and prophesied of, is setup in Jerusalem and operates for the benefit of the nations. Heaven breathed sources: Ish 56:7 / Ezk. 37:26-28 / Ezk. chapters 40-48 /Amos 9:11-15 / Zech. 14:21
- Because Israel will have become a holy nation again, the world system benefits greatly. Wars are no longer fought and even harmony among the animal kingdom will be restored as is was before the fall in the Garden of Eden. In this great harmony even the resurrection of the dead occurs that sin overtook. Heaven breathed sources: Ish. 2:4 / Ish. 11:6 / Ish. 65:17-25 / Micah 4:3 /Daniel 12:2,3
Notice that all these glorious promises are centered around the physical Hebrew people and the physical land of Israel! In order to spiritualize or apply these promises in some other way, one has to remove the original Hebrew context that they were originally written in! Again, these scriptures were written in the Hebrew language, by Hebrew prophets, directly to the Hebrew people, and not by some Gentile prophets to the Gentile people.
The message and content contained therein is Hebraic and Hebraic only! Any blessing to a Gentile individual or to a Gentile nation must come through the covenant that God of Israel has with Israel, and not by some Gentile-conceived concept that they may have towards the God of Israel. Therefore, if all these promises are indeed heaven breathed promises of which are directly linked to the Jewish people and are directly concerning the physical promised Land of Israel, the question then becomes, of which spiritual direction is the Quartet and evil men like George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, and Tony Blair taking the Gentile world? Within their political path in leading the world powers, will there be spiritual blessings or spiritual curses?
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. - Genesis 12:3