They Shall Look Unto Me Whom They Have Pierced 2

[00:00:00] What a wonderful day it will be when multitudes of Jews see the lamb. [00:00:11] I'd like to read a few scriptures. [00:00:16] I'd like to start in the chapter from which the theme for today has been taken in Zechariah and chapter twelve, the burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel. Thus saith the Lord who stretcheth forth the heavens and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. [00:00:52] Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling unto all the peoples round about, and upon Judah also shall it be in the siege against Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in that day that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples. All that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded, and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it. Verse nine. And it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication. And they shall look unto me whom they have pierced. [00:01:49] And they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. Chapter 13 verse one. In that day a fountain. There shall be a fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. [00:02:26] Then I would like to add to that in the 102nd psalm. Psalm 100 213, one thou wilt arise and have mercy upon Zion, for it is time to have pity upon her. Yea, the set time is come then in the prophecy of Joel. [00:02:57] The prophecy of Joel. [00:03:00] Very well known verses. [00:03:03] Chapter two from verse 28. [00:03:07] Joel two from verse 28. [00:03:12] It shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions, and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids. In those days will I pour out my spirit, and I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. [00:03:56] And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those that escape, as the Lord hath said. And among the remnant, those whom the Lord doth call for behold, in those days and in that time, when I shall bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will execute judgment upon them there. For my people and for my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and they have divided my land. [00:04:47] Verse nine. [00:04:50] Proclaim ye this among the nations. [00:04:54] Prepare war. [00:04:56] Stir up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near. Let them come up. Beat your ploughshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. [00:05:13] Let the weak say I am strong. [00:05:21] Shall we have a further word of prayer? [00:05:26] Beloved Lord, we are so thankful for being found in your presence this evening. [00:05:32] There is no better place than to be in your presence. [00:05:38] And beloved Lord, we thank you already for the sense of your presence amongst us and for the way that you have already spoken to us through both song and in action in mime. [00:05:58] We want now, Lord, to thank you that you have made an anointing available to us both for the speaking and for the hearing of your word. [00:06:07] And we all we want to do, Lord, is to recognize that without you we can do nothing, neither in my speaking nor in our hearing. [00:06:19] Therefore, o Lord, by faith we stand into that anointing, grace and power for this evening, that you will take this time and make it live to every one of us. Move us, Lord. Touch our hearts. Open us up in a new way to yourself, because of the days in which we live. And we ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen. [00:06:53] I think you all know that the theme of this day has been, they shall look unto me whom they have pierced. [00:07:03] And I have already spoken this morning on this subject, pointing out to you what a remarkable and striking prophecy this is contained here in these chapters. Zechariah, 1213 14. [00:07:26] I said this morning it was striking and remarkable, not least because the church has found itself unable to spiritualize this prophecy. [00:07:38] It has spiritualized so many others and made them say what they were never meant to say. [00:07:49] But this prophecy they have left as literal. [00:07:54] It has always been understood that this prophecy is to do with the status and position and destiny of Jerusalem, and in the end it will be fulfilled in the actual coming of the Messiah, when his feet shall stand upon the dust of the mount of Olives. [00:08:20] That day must be nearer than when we first believed, maybe nearer than we think. [00:08:31] And if that is the case, then some other amazing and remarkable things will also be fulfilled. [00:08:41] I spoke at some length this morning upon this chapter twelve of Zechariah. [00:08:49] I spoke as we looked very carefully at this prophecy, the way Zechariah, by the spirit of God, predicted that there would come a time when Jerusalem would come back to the center of the world stage and would occupy that position until the coming of the Messiah. There would be war after war after war, and there would be controversy and conflict and turmoil all centered and focused upon this city of Jerusalem. [00:09:28] And perhaps the most remarkable thing of all, not after it, not before it, but during it. At some point, probably when the war and the turmoil is the greatest and when Israel is most isolated and alienated, the Lord himself will pour out the spirit of grace and supplication upon the jewish people. [00:10:01] I spent some time at least trying to explain, looking at the text itself, I do not believe that this is, as understood by many christians, an event that will be fulfilled at the actual coming of the Lord Jesus, when the jewish people will literally look upon him. [00:10:27] I believe that this little preposition upon which so much of our understanding depends should be translated not on, but unto. [00:10:37] They shall look unto me whom they pierced. It's a vastly different thing to look on President Bush or Queen Elizabeth and to look to them. [00:10:48] When you look to such a person, there is a moral content in it. There is something, you could almost say a spiritual dimension to it. When you look on a person, it can be purely physical. [00:11:04] God has never saved people by sight. Never, not at any single point. Even when he created Adam and Eve, he selected two trees. Now, I'm not going to go into the whole problem of the trees, as some people love, to get all mixed up with what trees they were. Was it an apple tree? Was it an orange tree or whatever other kind of tree it was. It doesn't really matter. It could have been an oak and something else, for all I know. But the fact is the Lord chose two trees, and he said that one was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and on no account was Adam or eve to eat of its fruit. If they did, he said, a terrible, a terrible spiritual and constitutional change would take place in the makeup of man and woman. [00:12:08] But there was another tree, the tree of life. [00:12:15] It is interesting that, again, you have the whole principle of faith. [00:12:21] I mean, it's only natural for Adam and Eve when the serpent, when Satan came and tempted them to say, this is ridiculous. Do you mean to tell me that if you take the fruit of this tree, which as you can see, is very nice and very pleasant, it looks sumptuous? [00:12:43] Do you mean to tell me that God has told you that if you take of this food, you will die. [00:12:51] This is ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous. [00:12:59] No, said Satan, he knows that if you take of this tree you will become like God. [00:13:09] You will no longer be dependent upon him, but you will be yourself a little mini God. [00:13:19] My goodness me. The whole of history summed up in just that many gods all the way through history summed up in this incredible thing. But of course it was faith. [00:13:37] Are you going to trust the Lord? Are you going to believe the Lord? Are you going to keep away from that tree of the knowledge of good and evil and take of the tree of life? Well I mustn't digress once more, but what I'm trying to say is very simple and it is that God has never saved by physicality, physical sight. [00:14:02] It has always been on the principle of faith. [00:14:07] Thats why I cannot have any, I dont know how to put it, any sort of happiness or not, thats the wrong word for it. But any sense that sprinkling a bit of water upon a person or dunking them in water saves us all. [00:14:29] As Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, you can be baptized all the way from land's end to New England and all that will happen will be that you'll get very wet. [00:14:43] To think that taking a bit of bread and wine could save your soul, it's nonsense. It's reducing the whole thing to religion. Instead of it being something that is the receiving of the Lord Jesus and savior, that's an altogether different thing. [00:15:04] Then the bread and the wine takes on an altogether new meaning and significance. Then water and baptism in it takes on an altogether new significance. But I mustn't digress. The fact of the matter is that here you have an incredible statement, a prophetic declaration by the spirit of God through the prophet Zechariah, that when the time comes in human history, that Jerusalem will come back to the center of the world stage and be central to all the controversy and turmoil, war and conflict, when nations will be gathered together against it, when they will argue over it, when they will be jealously seeking to possess it for themselves and for their own ideology and concepts, then the Lord, as it were, revealed to us. You have not only passed into the last phase of world history, which will end with the blessed coming of the messiah, but something will happen to the jewish people as remarkable as anything in the history of the world. [00:16:27] It will cause the exodus to pale into insignificance. [00:16:39] It will be a day when God removes the veil on the jewish heart with the mers in mind, with the most incredible and powerful consequences. [00:16:58] Well now my dear friends, I hear someone's already got one of those machines going again. [00:17:06] We're plagued with it all over the world. It doesn't matter. Hong Kong, Taiwan, even on the island of Borneo, doesn't matter where you are, even in the jungle you've got these things ringing. [00:17:21] People that can got very little clothing on still have these wretched little, wretched little things faithfully recorded on the tape recorder. Well, what does it matter? [00:17:48] My dear friends, here we have something so thrilling, so moving in many ways something revolutionary because it challenges us as to whether we are awake. [00:18:10] And if we are awake, it challenges us as to whether were committed to the Lord. [00:18:18] And if we are committed to the Lord, are we equipped to do what we are meant to do in this last phase of world history? [00:18:34] I want to underline four things if I get there. [00:18:46] And the first is very simple. It is taken from the 102nd psalm and the 13th verse. And it's one marvelous little phrase. Yes, the set time has come. [00:19:09] Apostles and prophets and great servants of God and thousands upon thousands of faithful believers all down through the last 2000 years have waited for this set time. [00:19:31] It has arrived. [00:19:37] God's appointed time to do something about Zion, something about the jewish people. [00:19:48] The set time has come. It is an amazing psalm. The 102nd psalm. [00:19:59] If you read the first stanza of the psalm and the last stanza of the psalm youd hardly believe that the middle stanza of the psalm belongs to this psalm because the psalmist begins off moaning about his condition. I feel very much sympathy with him. [00:20:20] He says his bones burn and he feels he's in an oven. Then he feels the Lord has taken him up and thrown him away. [00:20:27] I feel a bit like that myself. [00:20:31] I have believed in divine healing for so many years. And here I am seeing the answer to my own prayer on the day I was saved. I was saved through the life story of C. T. Studd. [00:20:52] And when I came to the end of reading that book by Norman Grubb, I didn't know how you prayed. I'd never prayed in my life. Never been in a christian place in my life except this one Sunday school for two years. And the only reason I went was my sister wanted to go. [00:21:15] And then my mother said I had to accompany her. [00:21:20] And I don't remember a single thing about that. Dear Sandespell, it shows you how you can shut things out. I sat there Sunday afternoon, Sunday afternoon, and not a single thing ever came into my head, not even the Lord's prayer. [00:21:38] But this one book was given to me by the old Sunday school teacher and I read it in a few days, first christian book I ever read. [00:21:50] And at the end of reading it I was so deeply moved I stood up and I thought, no, I don't think you do when you pray, I don't think you do stand. So I knelt and I felt, no. I thought to myself, I don't think you do, Neil. [00:22:09] So I stood and then I prayed the most unscriptural prayer for the word of God says you must, when you come to God, you must believe that he is. [00:22:22] But I said, o God, if there is a God, would you please do in me what you did in siti stud? And will you please make me what you made him? [00:22:36] Now the reason I'm telling you this is that when ct stud went out with the Cambridge seven and he had to have a medical, the doctor said to him, you can't go as a missionary. Why? Said C T. [00:22:55] Because he said, you are a museum of diseases. [00:23:04] I feel a bit like that myself, just a present. [00:23:11] I asked the Lord to make me. What? C t stud boss. And I think he might be doing it. [00:23:25] But to come back to this wonderful little word. [00:23:29] Yes, the set time has come in this psalm. The psalmist seems to be in such a problem and I've often thought that prophetically God identifies us with the situation we pray for. Now I know this can be taken too far, but nevertheless there is a very real truth in this. When you begin to pray for a people, you become more and more identified with them as you pray. [00:24:02] And it seems as if the psalmist entered into a battle that he could hardly understand. And then suddenly in the midst of this battle, he talks about gods memorial name and he talks about Zion and he talks about the servants of the Lord taking pleasure in her dust and in her stones. And then he talks about the set time has come, the Lord will arise and build up Zion. And then he goes on about the nations of the earth, seeing the glory of the Lord and coming to the glory of the Lord and speaks about the sighing of the prisoner and the cry of the destitute being heard by the Lord. And so it goes on and on. And then suddenly, suddenly he goes back to his condition. [00:24:53] And the last stanza, whilst it's not quite as bad as the first stanza, nevertheless he's gone back to his condition. What an interesting psalm. Well, anyway, that's just, by the way, what I want to say is this. In the middle of all this, prophetically, by the spirit of God, he prophesies and says, there will come a time the appointed time for Zion, it will arrive. And when that time comes, nothing on earth and nothing in hell will be able to stop the Lord from fulfilling his word. [00:25:35] And that is exactly where we are. [00:25:42] The whole world is beginning to conspire against Israel. [00:25:47] But it doesnt matter. Not if the world is filled with 10 million times 10 million demons. [00:25:58] They will be all unable to stop the Lord from fulfilling his word. [00:26:06] Jesus was born on time and Jesus died on time. [00:26:15] And Jesus rose on time and Jesus ascended on time. And the Lord Jesus will return on time. [00:26:36] However, before that comes, if I am right, and of course I always say to myself, I may not be. [00:26:44] I think I am and I think you would do very well to follow me in this matter. [00:26:52] But I have to say that if I am right in what I've said this morning, then something has to happen to the jewish people. Now listen to me. This something that's going to happen to the jewish people is connected with the one who was pierced. [00:27:11] And it is so incredible that some unbelievable transformation will take place in the heart attitude of the jewish people and the mindset of the jewish people concerning the person of the Lord Jesus. [00:27:33] It will be in a time of war, a time of controversy, a time of turmoil, a time of enormous changes. A time when all the nations of the earth are gathered together against Jerusalem. Now why would they be gathered together against Jerusalem? [00:27:54] Apparently not because it's palestinian. [00:28:01] They will be gathered together against Jerusalem because it is in israeli hands. That's why the nations of the earth, the United nations, the European Union and the United Kingdom cannot abide Jerusalem being in the hands of the Jews. [00:28:28] There are those who say, yes, we can accept a small jewish state but we cannot accept that Jerusalem will remain in their hands. That's why not a single one of them has an embassy in Jerusalem. Only Micronesia and Costa Rica and Guatemala. [00:28:52] May God bless all of them. [00:29:01] But there is not another single power on the earth, including the United States that has its embassy in Jerusalem. Why? [00:29:13] Because they do not accept that Jerusalem should be in the hands of the jewish people. [00:29:23] You can understand why the nations of the earth will be gathered together against therefore Jerusalem. You understand? Jerusalem is back at the center of the world stage, is it not? Back at the center of the world stage. With a vengeance. [00:29:41] With a vengeance. Open your newspaper tomorrow. You're bound to find something in it. [00:29:47] It doesn't matter what range of newspapers you read from the Times and the Telegraph to the Daily Mirror. [00:30:00] You will find somewhere in it something about Jerusalem. Isn't this incredible? [00:30:08] 54 years ago there wasnt even an Israel. [00:30:14] 25 years ago, Jerusalem was not in the hands of the jewish people. And now suddenly something has happened that has changed everything. Now here is an incredible thing. [00:30:26] Militant Islam declared war on the United States, hijacked four planes, killed over 3000 people. [00:30:41] They never expected that Bush would really react. [00:30:50] They thought he would take it. They believed the whole west are a bunch of anemic people who have lost their masculinity. [00:31:03] Instead, Bush stood up, thank God, and declared war on terror. [00:31:12] And the interesting thing is this, that this war on terror, which has progressed ever since the 11 September, has suddenly got sidelined by Israel. [00:31:31] Now all of a sudden it's Israel, Israel, Israel. Now we have all these. Our prime minister five times crossed the Atlantic to sit with Mister Bush for 2 hours each time, and at the end of it, no communique and come back. [00:31:55] Now I don't doubt that some things very important were discussed which couldn't be discussed on the phone or in any other way. [00:32:03] But I find it very, very interesting that the superpower of the world believes that Jerusalem is so important that they've got to settle the Middle east problem and the israeli problem and the Jerusalem problem, whatever it takes, and however many compromises have to be made. [00:32:31] Now wake up everybody. [00:32:36] Think for a moment. [00:32:39] You are living in this 50 years ago, who could have possibly thought that Jerusalem would be so important that the american secretary of state has to spend half his time thinking about it? And the president of the United States has to make statements which his secretary of state doesn't quite agree with. [00:33:05] Who would have thought such a thing could have happened? Who would have ever thought that your mister Blair and Jack Straw would say, well named, I might say. [00:33:18] Would you ever think that, would you ever think that your mister Blair and Mister Straw would likewise make comments on this? And they don't want to. They don't want to take on Iraq, they don't want to take on Iran, they don't want to take on Syria. My dear friends, if they don't take on those three nations which are harboring the most terrible weapons and have programs which will end in nuclear devices, the war on terror is a sham. [00:33:54] Now one doesn't want to get political, but how can you talk about Israel and Jerusalem without getting it is almost impossible. [00:34:04] I mean the fact of the matter is, Zechariah said all this would happen, and I'm only pointing out to you, that's all. [00:34:12] They've all got their finger in the pie. Do you think Saudi Arabia loves us? Of course not. [00:34:20] Why do you think they came up with that peace plan other than to embarrass us? [00:34:26] Because they are frightened that the radicalism of militant Islam will undo them. Thats why theyre bothered about their own skin. The same with Jordan, the same with Egypt. All of a sudden they come up with peace plans and suddenly after all these, they are talking about recognizing Israel. [00:34:53] Isnt that interesting? Forced into a situation. [00:34:58] It is amazing when you think about it. 50 years ago nobody would have bothered about Jerusalem. [00:35:07] Now you are living in the fulfillment of Zechariah. Chapter twelve the thing has happened and happened in such a dramatic way, way better. [00:35:21] The stupidest may the Lord help me, the stupidest english person should be able to understand that something is happening which was foretold in the word of God 2500 years ago. [00:35:51] And if that is so, surely it has a tremendous implication for us. It means that you and I are living in the fulfillment of the other things that are mentioned, not just war, not just controversy, not just conflict, but the salvation and redemption of the jewish people. [00:36:19] If I am right, I believe I am. If I am right, it means the purpose of God for the church cannot be completed without the jewish people. [00:36:39] In other words, this kind of talk about don't bother your head about this. This is a dead end, it's a cul de sac. I mean this thing about Israel, you don't have to get worked up about. Well, listen, I know better than most people the cranks that are in this business, they, the israeli cranks, drive us all round the bend. [00:37:02] I mean, just at present there are three. Three Virgin Mary's in Jerusalem, one Jeremiah, three Elijah's, one deported, and thousands of the two witnesses. [00:37:23] I know all about these cranks. [00:37:28] May God deliver us from them all. [00:37:31] They bring the whole matter into disrepute. And I never had the greatest sympathy with many a pastor who tells me that he has got an Israel nut in the congregation who believes everything begins with Israel and ends with Israel. It's tragic. [00:37:49] Instead of being a living contribution in the body of Christ, instead of being a functioning member in the house of God, people are against everything simply because the poor pastoral leadership don't fully understand things. [00:38:12] Well, I understand that in some places it's a little different than that. [00:38:18] There is a teaching that is violently against any idea that God has a purpose for Israel, for the jewish people. But I have to say this, I do have sympathy with many because we all know these unhinged believers. That's the best way to describe them, unhinged believers. [00:38:53] This thing about the set. Time has come. Can I take another tack for a moment? [00:38:58] If you need convincing. [00:39:01] Wars and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against her. [00:39:10] And I will seek to destroy all the nations that are gathered together against her. And again I will gather to battle all the nations of the earth against Jerusalem. Will you notice? It is the Lord. It is the Lord who is doing it. It is almost as if he is using a kind of bait to bring out the poison. Some poultice that will bring out the the poison, some bait that will draw the rat to it. [00:39:47] Interesting. [00:39:53] Have you ever thought that the first world war was the beginning of these wars? [00:40:02] And do you know where it ended? [00:40:05] In the complete readjustment of Europe, the disappearance of a number of empires. The tsarist Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Austro Hungarian Empire and the German Reich. [00:40:24] And do you know that at the end of that war, toward the end of that war, before, one year before it ended, there was a declaration made in November of 1917. We call it the Balfour declaration. It would never have been made but for that terrible war. The first truly world war in world history. [00:40:49] Out of it came the Balfour declaration and the right of the jewish people to their ancient homeland. [00:41:01] Out of it also came another thing. General Edmund Alambe, that New Zealander marching into Jerusalem on the 9 December, if I am right, 1917, on the second day of Hanukkah, the celebration of the feast of freedom and the feast of lights. [00:41:25] It was the end of islamic rule of Jerusalem. [00:41:32] 400 years of ottoman rule, 700 years of islamic rule came to an end that day. Do you realize why all the Jews of the oriental Jews of the old City of Jerusalem were so excited? [00:41:49] For them, it seemed as if the time of the redemption of the house of Israel was dawning. [00:41:58] They had no state, they had no capital. [00:42:02] But something happened. Well, take the second world war. In the second world war there was another great readjustment. This time the British Empire. Forgive me, but the british empire disappeared, never to arise again. [00:42:17] The french empire disappeared. The portuguese empire disappeared. The Spanish disappeared. [00:42:24] And out of it, something else happened. In 1948, on the 14 May, a recreated jewish state reappeared after its absence from the scene for nearly 2000 years. [00:42:51] I think that Zechariah 1213 and 14 is more relevant than tomorrow morning's newspaper. [00:43:09] Those are just two world wars. [00:43:12] Since 19, 47, 48 there have been six wars, if you don't include what Mister Sharon calls the last war which began 21 months ago. [00:43:25] Seven, if you include that. [00:43:29] I would have thought this whole thing about the nations being gathered together together against Jerusalem looks as if it's very near to a complete fulfillment. [00:43:40] Every time this issue arises in the United nations, there is a built in majority because people vote almost tribally in the United nations. [00:43:55] And even those nations that ought not to, they vote with them because of oil and money. [00:44:06] It's a sad fact, but it is the fact. [00:44:10] So now we have an incredible thing that we see here where it speaks of war. I've spoken of wars and tumult and conflict and so on. It certainly here we're living in it. [00:44:28] But then there's something more, if I may go on to talk about it. The growing crisis in Israel. I call it a crisis. I get tired of the word crisis every time I ever speak to any group about Israel, I have to say we are in crisis. [00:44:43] I've been saying that ever since 1968, and it seems to me that we're always in crisis. But now we are in a far greater crisis than we have ever been because the only single country that supports us and that support is tenuous. This is other than Micronesia, which votes with us at every opportunity in the United nations plenum. [00:45:15] But apart from that, the only nation that votes with us is the United States. [00:45:22] And even then it doesn't always, and it is tenuous. There is an enormous discussion going on behind the scenes in the United States administration as to what they are to do pursue the war on terror. They feel without settling the israeli and Jerusalem question, and that requires leaning on Israel in such a way that she does something, she compromises. [00:45:55] So we have an incredible situation. I've already mentioned Syria, Iraq and Iran. All three of these countries have chemical and biological weapons, a large number of them, I might add. They have missiles capable of reaching thousands of miles. Certainly. Iran has now just tested one that can reach not only Israel, but can reach Italy. [00:46:24] They are going to test another shortly that will reach Germany and Britain. [00:46:30] Now, you are not going to tell me that you will be able to sit here safely once Iran or Iraq has such weapons, are you? [00:46:41] For those of you who are old like me, you may not feel old, but you are old. [00:46:52] You will remember the build up to the second world war, some of you, and you will know. [00:47:02] Remember how people never thought, well, Germany wouldn't do it. I always remember Norway and Denmark. [00:47:09] They had no army. [00:47:13] They were demilitarized states because they said no one will ever attack us. [00:47:22] The German Luftwaffe came out of the clear blue sky and bombed them for nothing and took both countries. [00:47:32] People seem to think that these gentlemen in the Middle east are british gentlemen, and that you must treat them as british gentlemen. And the United States seems to think that they are anglo saxon gentlemen as well. That if you treat them like good Anglo Saxons, they will behave like good Anglo Saxons. It is, of course, nonsense. Fallen nature is fallen nature. It doesn't matter whether it's anglo Saxon or anything else, black, red, yellow or white. [00:48:06] But the fact remains you have something incredible. [00:48:10] Iran is pursuing a nuclear program, and so is Iraq. [00:48:16] Anyone with sense must realize we are on a precipice all these days. These countries have a score to settle with western and northern Europe and the western world, and they will settle it. [00:48:37] It has religious connotation. [00:48:43] Islam has an agenda, and that agenda is world domination, and it will not give up. So, my dear friends, all I can simply say is we have a situation that is described incredibly in this prophecy. [00:49:02] What is militant Islam so angry about? The recreation of a jewish state within the islamic homeland. [00:49:13] Why are they so angry? Because Islam believes. Militant Islam believes that it is destined to take the whole world, including Britain, including Germany, including France, including the United States. You must remember that things are happening now that are unbelievable. One fifth of Paris is Muslim. [00:49:38] There are more mosques in the south of France than there are chapels. [00:49:43] And recently they agitated for a ban on mixed bathing in all swimming pools in the south of France. [00:49:54] Germany has 4 million muslim citizens. [00:50:01] Holland has 800,000. Britain has nearly the same as Germany. [00:50:08] It is an incredible situation that is developing in the whole this because there is within the society something that is. I mean, there are millions of decent, hard working, honest Muslims. [00:50:25] But buried within the whole thing is militant Islam and militant Islam, primitive Islam, fundamentalist Islam, call it what you will, has a definite agenda, and it is the conquest of the world. Israel is the obstacle. [00:50:45] They believe they must take the greater Satan. The great Satan is the United States. Unfortunately, the little Satan is in the way, and the little Satan is Israel. [00:50:56] Now, I've spoken about this before, so I'm not going to speak again about it. But all I want to say is this. Don't think for a single moment that this is over. Islam is coming to its climax, its third great crest. [00:51:14] Twice before it has come to it. Twice, by the grace of God, it lost the battle of Tours and the battle of Vienna. Now it is coming to another crest, this time a different battle. But mark my words, it is a very real one. And this crisis leaves Israel at the heart of it. [00:51:36] And the whole world, unbelievably, is so blind that it can only be a divine delusion. [00:51:46] God has put a delusion upon the leaders of the western world so that they cannot see that if Israel is weakened, demoralized, divided, broken up, then in the end, the islamic agenda for the rest of the world will be successful. [00:52:11] Are you getting upset with me on this? [00:52:15] The pressure upon Israel from the European Union. [00:52:20] Unbelievable. And the United Kingdom and even the United States is incredible. [00:52:28] And now there is one single blockage, if you like. [00:52:36] And the name of this blockage is Arik Sharon. [00:52:45] Misrepresented everywhere as a butcher, a warmonger, much as Churchill was. I only have to remind you, good english people, british people, I should say. [00:52:58] I only have to remind you that there was hardly a single denomination in Britain that supported Winston Churchill in the years between the two wars. He was described as a drunken Warmonger, a man who loved war games, a man of war. And Neville Chamberlain was a man of peace. [00:53:27] They all backed Neville Chamberlain until at the very end, they suddenly saw where it was leading. [00:53:36] Too late, almost. [00:53:42] It was the grace of God that brought about the collapse of Neville Chamberlain and the installation of Winston Churchill. [00:53:52] Today, he is considered one of the greatest Englishmen that ever lived. But he certainly wasn't considered that during his lifetime, not in the early part of his lifetime. Now, my dear friends, we have a Sharon who, by the grace of God, has come to the helm of Israel. A tough man, an old soldier. He is a straight man, but he's a very shrewd strategist. [00:54:22] Yes, indeed. Hallelujah. [00:54:25] People write letters to me always whenever I say anything like this, because they say, you know, how can you support this man, this disgraceful, for any christian to support a man like Sharon, as if he was responsible for the massacres of Shatila and Sabara and Shatila. I mean, it's ridiculous. They blackened his name when they misrepresented him. [00:54:50] Well, I won't go into it anymore. [00:54:53] Where will this whole thing lead? [00:54:56] Good question. [00:54:59] This growing crisis in. In Israel, where will it lead? [00:55:04] If it goes on like it is at present, it was going to lead to an explosion. [00:55:11] There is no other alternative. [00:55:16] So far, by the grace of God, Israel has remained at peace. She has suffered colossally in the last few months, these 21 months. [00:55:29] But think positively. [00:55:33] The set time has come for Zion, if you think of it. Step back for a moment. Think. [00:55:44] What does this prophecy say? [00:55:48] The nations will be gathered together against Jerusalem, the sea against Jerusalem. It speaks of here in this. It speaks of the chieftains. It actually uses the hebrew word for generals, the generals of Judah. [00:56:04] All here in this incredible prophecy. [00:56:11] This I must just say something more on the second thing and must move on fast now. [00:56:18] And that is really the growing isolation and alienation of Israel. [00:56:26] The misrepresentation of Israel and its government in the world is unbelievable for those of us who live in Israel and see what really goes on and the real state of affairs and how many of us, we can get CNN, we can get sky, we can get world service of the BBC, which is undoubtedly the worst in its attitude to Israel. And when we hear the way they describe things, we can hardly believe that we are in the situation because we would describe it in a very different way. [00:57:08] This misrepresentation is colossal. I believe it goes back to a very simple thing. They believe the Balfour declaration was a mistake and we shouldn't be there anyway. [00:57:21] It's not just a question of the West bank and the arab areas of Jerusalem, it is the whole country. It was a mistake, a historic mistake of colossal consequence. That's how they view it. [00:57:38] They. Almost every time they come to the israeli question or the Jerusalem question, they don't know how to handle it. They shouldn't really be there. They shouldn't really be there. These people have got a case. [00:57:51] Do you understand what I'm trying to say? [00:57:57] The growing isolation of Israel is interesting, even in small things. [00:58:07] The reappearance of anti semitism in France, in Germany, the chief rabbi of Germany was beaten up with another rabbi in one of the main streets of Berlin. [00:58:25] Synagogue after synagogue destroyed, jewish institutions after jewish institution destroyed. And you here in Britain, the shock to the british, the anglo jewish community has been enormous. When the Finsbury park synagogue was vandalized, swastikas on the wall, the Torah scrolls torn up, the prayer books torn up and burnt, and urine and stools all over the entrance of the inside entrance of the synagogue. Who could have ever believed that people would go to such lengths? [00:59:10] The french ambassador, forgive the language, described Israel as that little shitty country leading us all into trouble. This is the friendship ambassador to Britain. He was never reprimanded and never recalled. Can you believe that? Is it any wonder that when the french prime minister said, it is impossible for us to protect our jewish citizens, can you believe it? Here we are in 2002 and a french prime minister, now gone. [00:59:44] A huguenot, by the way, should say, we are unable, we cannot protect our jewish citizens, apparently because of Israel. [00:59:57] We must owe them to the wolves. In other words, I'm putting it in my own words, throw them to the wolves. [01:00:05] Belgium has seen the same thing. [01:00:08] This wave of anti semitism, the worst since before the second world War. The reappearance of it is so interesting and this kind of growing hatred. [01:00:25] In Denmark, the ambulance men demonstrated in front of the israeli embassy in Copenhagen simply and only, they said, because Israel was damaging Red Cross and Red Crescent ambulances. But they all together have ignored the fact that within those ambulances were found bombs. [01:00:52] And there's solid evidence for it. It's not just hearsay, it's absolutely solid evidence. [01:00:59] In Norway, there is a boycott on all israeli products in two of the main super market change. [01:01:10] This has not happened before, my beloved friends. This is a growing isolation and alienation of Israel. [01:01:21] And one again wonders, where is it going to lead? Where are the people who will stand up and say something? [01:01:29] It is now, let me go to my third point, and it's a very important, may the Lord help me very briefly to go over it. It is the judgment of the nation. [01:01:40] Do you notice what the Lord says? [01:01:43] I all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it. All right. I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. Again. I will gather together in battle all the nations against Jerusalem. Jerusalem. Isn't this an interesting thing? Jerusalem shall be a cup of reeling to all the peoples round about. A burdensome stone, a stone that causes you to be ruptured to all who lift it. [01:02:15] Judgment. [01:02:17] This isn't some future thing. This is right now. We're right in it. This is Zechariah twelve. We have seen the fulfillment of this prophecy in a whole number of ways. And now we are actually witnessing the beginning of judgments. Climate judgments, disease judgments, economic judgments, political judgments. [01:02:40] It is the judgments of the Lord. And my dear friend Derek prince always used to say this. I fully agree with him. God is so merciful that when he begins to judge a nation, he begins very gently, very small, to see if there is anyone who wakes up to it. Then if there's nobody, he becomes more severe and waits to see. And then more severe and more severe, until in the end, the most disastrous catastrophes overtake a nation. [01:03:12] Do not think it will not happen. [01:03:15] It happened to Rome, it has happened to Germany, it has happened to Russia, it will happen here if there are not a people who know how to intercede. [01:03:32] Dear friends, this is no joke, this matter. [01:03:35] It's tremendously important. See what has happened about Jerusalem being a cup of goblet of wine into which God himself is introduced to poison. See what has happened to everyone who's meddled with the destiny and status of Jerusalem. The British Empire. What's happened to it? The Ottoman Empire, what has happened to it? Austro hungarian empire. What has happened to it? The German Reich that was supposed to last a thousand years, what has happened to it? Everyone that has drunk this thing has become insensible, ruptured so that no longer can lift anything. Turkey can turkey lift anything? [01:04:18] Heart of the Ottoman Empire. I'm not being rude to you all, but I have to say it can let this little island lift anything today as she once did. She's still here, just like a person with a rupture. America, you still live, you can't lift anything. [01:04:40] What about the Soviet Union that's ruptured itself well and truly? Russia is still there. Everything else is gone. [01:04:49] And Islam will go the same way and so will the United States. [01:05:00] If it tries to move Jerusalem from its God given, divinely appointed place, if it tries to take the stone from where it is by divine appointment and put it somewhere else, the United States will come into a collision with the almighty, just like all the others have. My dear friends, we're in a period of judgment. I wed that incredible, incredible prophecy of Joel. Why did I read it? For one simple reason. We all know that the first part, by the spirit of God, Peter defined it. He said, this is that which the prophet Joel spoke about. And then he quoted Joel about the Holy Spirit being poured out. We all know that this prophecy was fulfilled on the Shavuot in Jerusalem some, what is it? 1900 and whatever it is years ago, right? We all know that. But we also all know if we are careful in our understanding of the word of God and our study of it, that it speaks of something happening to the sun and something happening to the moon and something on the earth. Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. Very interesting. Very interesting. [01:06:24] In other words, these things did not happen early on, but they are apparently for the end part of this age. [01:06:32] The Shavuot was the beginning. We are at the end of it. It speaks of that great and notable day of the Lord. [01:06:41] We know we haven't yet come to that, but we're very near to it. And then it says this, forget the chapters and verses. It often stops your understanding. For behold, in those days and in that time when I shall bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem. So when is this time? When he brings back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem? It has to be after Pentecost. It has never happened in, in the almost 2000 years that has elapsed until now. We are actually there when the Lord says, I will bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem. He has done precisely that. And then it goes on. Listen, I will gather all nations and bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will execute judgment upon them. Therefore, my people and for my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations and they have divided my land. [01:07:43] Isn't that incredible that there, in the prophecy of Joel, if you take the timeframe right now, it speaks of the division of the land. [01:07:53] Britain is for the division of the land. The European Union is for the division of the land. Russia is for the division. Japan is for the division of the land. All the arab nations, the mother for the division of the land. Land. [01:08:07] So is the United States. [01:08:12] What does this mean? [01:08:14] Unless it means we are now entering into a period of incredible and colossal divine judgments. [01:08:26] Now, of course, people get very frightened about this, and sometimes they all sort of gotta have a sleepless night now, you know, I mean, what we had to go for that convention for, I don't know. [01:08:37] Thought we'd hear nice things about fulfillment of the word of God and wonderful evidences that support and strengthen our faith. And all he talks about is colossal divine judgments. [01:08:52] The foot and mouth disease was such a colossal judgment. [01:08:58] The floods that have come have been another judgment. The fires in the United States and the terrible one now the worst ever in american history, in Colorado. [01:09:11] Judgment. Divine judgment. God does this because he's just touching the climate side of things, the physical side of things. He won't yet take human life. But, my dear friends, if this goes on, the division of the land, and if the governments of these countries stand against Jerusalem, then terrible divine judgments will fall upon Britain and not least upon the church. [01:09:38] Don't think the church will escape. [01:09:41] If the church is itself very largely against Israel, it will suffer more surely than I stand here. [01:09:55] And if it suffers in no other way, then God sends it a whole delusion so that it dances away its time and lives in a whole kind of series of weird experiences, tripping along on the edge of a precipice with no idea of what its going to slip into. [01:10:20] That is a divine judgment, for God gives us the leaders we deserve. [01:10:34] Well, my dear friends, I do hope that you understand what Im talking about. [01:10:42] It is not the nicest thing to have to talk about, but the fact remains, for you who have children and are bringing up children, oh, what a responsibility you have to teach them and to give them an understanding of these days in which we live. [01:11:02] What a responsibility to create a Haven, a home in the midst, like lot and his wife in the midst of absolute evil known for his hospitality and his godliness. What a responsibility. [01:11:23] I come to the last point I want to make which is the positive. In the midst of all this conflict, this controversy, this war, this isolation, this growing hatred, this verse ten of Zechariah, chapter twelve will be fulfilled. [01:11:46] Beloved children of God, how beautifully it is put. [01:11:54] They shall look unto me whom they have appear and they shall mourn for him as for an only son and be in bitterness for him as for a firstborn. The Hebrew for the word son does not appear. In the Hebrew, what does appear is a beautiful word, hayahid. [01:12:21] I will put it this way. [01:12:24] They will mourn for him as for an only one. But I want to put it another way, a way that most of you will know in colloquial English. [01:12:36] They will mourn for him as the one and only exact translation of how yahid the one and only to the Jews. [01:12:51] And I am a Jew, so I am not speaking against Jews. [01:12:56] To the Jews, Jesus has never been the one and only. [01:13:04] Never. [01:13:08] His name may mean salvation to you. His name may be sweetness to you. His name may be light to you. His name may be eternal life to you. But to the jewish people his name means injustice and darkness and bloodshed, unrighteousness, persecution, evil. [01:13:36] He has never been the one and only. [01:13:40] But in the midst of all this turmoil and all these wars, something will happen. How? [01:13:49] Not by human agency, not by human endeavor, not by human organizations but by that blessed holy spirit of God. [01:14:02] The spirit of grace. [01:14:05] That's the only way that the jewish people will ever see Jesus as their one and only. [01:14:16] By the spirit of grace touching the heart melting the heart that spirit of supplication. [01:14:26] Inquiry seeking for the first time all over jewelry. There will be those who will begin to inquire, who is this Jesus? [01:14:38] And as they inquire, so the spirit of God will lead them into the salvation of God. [01:14:51] Firstborn. Isn't it beautiful? The way the Holy Spirit has put this, they shall be in bitterness for. For him. As for the firstborn, in jewish circles the firstborn is the heir. [01:15:04] Has Jesus ever been to the jewish people? The heir of all things? I think not. [01:15:13] No jew, unless saved by the grace of God, has ever thought of Jesus as the heir of all things. As the one who will inherit the kingdom of God, who will inherit everything, the outermost parts of the earth for his possession, the nations for his inheritance. [01:15:37] But there will come a day when the Holy Spirit will work not in some peaceful interlude, not in some beautiful golden little age, however small but in a time of war, of growing isolation, of growing alienation, of growing hatred, in the midst of that, something will happen to the jewish people, and they will see Jesus as the firstborn. [01:16:10] Beloved friends, isn't this something to rejoice about? [01:16:17] The natural branches will be re engrafted into their own olive tree. You already there, isn't that amazing? All of you, I mean, that's all of you who are saved. [01:16:27] You're in the olive tree already. They're going to be re engrafted. Think of it. Think of it. Oh, I don't know whether I shall live to see it. I prayed many a time. Oh, God, may my eyes see this. [01:16:42] I dont know whether I will, but it doesnt matter whether im here or not. It will happen more surely than I am here. It will happen. [01:16:54] It will happen when we least expect it to happen, and it will happen where we least expect it. I fully suspect that it will be in some outer orthodox yeshiva where we least expect the Lord, the spirit of the Lord, to fall there. The spirit of the Lord will fall upon those dear rabbis and those yeshivot leaders, and suddenly, suddenly the whole of jewish history will fall before them, unlocked. [01:17:32] Then the bloodletting, the hatred, the persecution, it will all, it will all certainly mean salvation. [01:17:57] Beloved friends, it's worth waiting for. [01:18:11] Then the whole redeemed flock of God, you and me, Gentile, and you, saved by the grace of God, to sin no more. [01:18:32] I have a fevered imagination, a jewish imagination. [01:18:48] I think if you're quiet enough, you can hear the clink of China and crystal. [01:18:59] It's the wedding supper of the lamb. [01:19:13] My sister was one of the chief floral designers here in this city. [01:19:20] Many years ago. [01:19:23] She used to go to these big society weddings and to do all the bouquets and all the flowers. And then she had to rush the next day and squirt them with water. [01:19:34] Others went and did all the carpets and everything. [01:19:40] If you are still enough, you might be able to hear angelic preparation of the wedding supper of the lamb. [01:19:51] I think the flowers are already being put into position, maybe. Ah, it's my imagination, of course. But whether we have to wait a little longer or not, it will happen. [01:20:04] And when that day happens, it will be so tremendous. [01:20:09] Before it, however, something has to happen to the jewish people. [01:20:16] There is one who has a hatred of this people as great as his hatred for the true church, he hates them. [01:20:31] If he has filled flesh and blood with such a hatred to do the most bestial things to this people, what is his own hatred life itself. [01:20:46] He will seek to destroy this people. Therefore, dear friends, remember the injunction of the word. [01:20:58] Prepare war. [01:21:00] Stir up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near. Let them come up. Beat your ploughshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, I am strong. [01:21:19] What does this mean? Well, I'm perhaps taking it a little out of context. I don't know. But what I believe it says to you and to me is this. [01:21:28] This is no time for playing around at churches. This is no time for just satisfying ourselves, fulfilling ourselves. [01:21:40] We are called to be warriors, called to be prayer warriors, called to be men and women of war. [01:21:50] We are called in all our weakness to find our strength, strength in the Lord. [01:21:59] We need intercessors. [01:22:03] I know the word intercession has been somewhat devalued in these days by this kind of ranting and raving that some people call intercession. [01:22:15] I have no problem with noise and I have no problem with people all praying together. I see it so often in Asia and I'm very happy about it. After all, God hears a thousand prayers at one time. All the time. [01:22:28] He sorts them all out. Don't worry about it. There's no disorder about it. [01:22:34] But at the same time, when people shut themselves up in broom cupboards and scream for 1 hour, I don't call that intercession. [01:22:43] I call that psychic letting off of steam. [01:22:48] I think its nonsense. [01:22:52] Real intercession is something that only the spirit of God can conceive in you. We need men and women of war, men and women steeled like iron to be able to stand before God in these days for their nation. [01:23:13] How many times this little, this little island has seen men and women who've stood persecuted, martyred, but stood before God for this nation. [01:23:27] And I think of Bishop Latimer and Ridley as they were dying in the flames. And one said to the other, play the man, we shall say, set a light to torch this day that by the grace of God, will never go out. [01:23:46] Where has this spirit gone? [01:23:51] Where are there prayer meetings where the power of God comes into them? Instead, we have only endless enjoyment of ourselves, endless entities, entertainment. Whilst the clouds of war and tribulation are on the horizon. [01:24:16] Prepare for war. [01:24:19] And if you are weak, say, by the grace of God, I am strong. [01:24:27] For when you are most weak, you will be most strong. [01:24:33] Dear child of God, may the Lord take this wonderful word. They shall look unto me whom they have pierced, and may he burn it into your spirit, into your heart, if it means a sleepless night or two. Thank God if he can only burn, turn it into you, it will not leave you but by costly intercession. [01:25:04] Pray for this nation. Pray for the nation you represent. [01:25:09] Pray for the jewish people. [01:25:12] Pray for Israel. [01:25:14] Pray for the church of God amongst the nations, that she may be delivered from the error that has come so much upon us all. [01:25:28] A confusion about Israel. [01:25:36] Pray that the church of God, if only in a remnant, may rise up to be what she was always meant to be, an intercessor in the throne room of God. [01:25:57] May the Lord touch you. [01:25:59] And if theres someone here very young in age, young in the Lord. [01:26:06] You think youre too young to be an intercessor? Intercessors are old, white haired people who can hardly walk, ladies whose husbands have long since gone into the presence of the Lord. [01:26:24] Well, thank God for them, thats all I can say. But nevertheless, you are quite wrong. [01:26:30] I first learnt something about intercession when I was 16 years of age, when I prayed for Nepal. [01:26:39] Nepal at that time was a closed. [01:26:43] Oh, what those prayer times. The young people said to me, you must be nuts going on with all those white haired people. Look at me now, all those white haired people you go with and you're praying. What you doing? But, oh, when that day came, when Doctor O'Hintland and Lucy Steele sent the cable, we're going over tomorrow into Nepal. [01:27:08] For me, it was the confirmation of something I had myself been involved in, something earth shattering. [01:27:17] 16 years of age and I've been part of one little group. There were others too, that had prayed it into being. You know, it changed my whole life. [01:27:31] There's nothing more exciting than being an intercessor, and nothing that the enemy more contests may the Lord call. Many of you. Now let me say just something to any of you who are so old that you're just about to tip into the grave. [01:27:53] Oh, that's how you feel. [01:27:57] And you have never known anything about intercession. Youve spent your whole life being a pew warmer, sitting there singing a hymn, listening to the prayers, judging what was said. [01:28:11] But now suddenly you think, shouldnt I wake up? Yes, you should. [01:28:18] And then you begin to say to yourself, well, im so old now, I dont have the memory I had. I don't have the agility I had. I don't have the brain power I had. You don't have to worry your little head too much about it. [01:28:36] God will take care of you in your old age and turn you into an intercessor and restore the ears that the locust has eaten, and the canker worm and the palma worm and all the other worms. [01:28:57] When we're young, we think we're too young. When we're old, we think we're too old. And when we're middle aged, we have the middle aged spread. [01:29:09] I mean, isn't the enemy clever on this kind of thing? He has a strategy for each age group and he says, wait until you're older. You want to enjoy yourself. You don't want to be an intercessor at your age. That's ridiculous. [01:29:25] Then a few years on, you're married and your first children come, and then you're absolutely. You hardly know what you're doing. You're going round like a spinning top, looking after the children, trying to do this, trying to do that. How can you intercede? So you say, wait till I'm middle aged. When you get to middle age, you think, oh, dear, I just want to relax for a little while. Ill wait till im older. When im retired. Then when youre retired, toothless, hairless and nearly blind, the enemy comes to you and says, no good. You being an intercessor, youll never be anything. [01:30:04] Beloved friends, dont let the enemy win in this matter in your life. [01:30:13] Offer yourself to the Lord. [01:30:16] The Lord will take you up and he will start your education immediately. [01:30:23] Let him do it. [01:30:26] He will do it and you will never, never regret it.