Zvi May/Jun 2001
In Psalm 20:8 it is written, “They are brought down and fallen; but we are risen, and stand upright.”
So many nations seek our downfall. Our enemies are all around us, and each wants to become the first to obliterate us and emerge as the hero that destroyed the tiny nation of Israel.
The world has so many big countries. Russia has 6.6 million square miles of land; Canada has 3.8 million. Even Jordan has 57,354 square miles of land. We have only 7,850 square miles. And although we are only the size of New Jersey, the eyes of the whole world focus on us. Everyone wants to take our little piece of land away from us.
One day, as I was leaving my home in Jerusalem, I stopped to talk with my neighbors who are Arabs. We speak often, as good neighbors do. I was surprised when these people, with whom I have been friends for so long, said to me in their own language, “You will not live here much longer because this land belongs to us, and we will take it back.”
I told them, “I have heard such talk since I came to Israel in 1948. We were but a half million people then, and you were as numerous as the locusts in Egypt. But you see, the Word of the Lord is eternal. In our assembly [church] we often sing from Isaiah 62:1, ‘For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest.’”
“That is only a nice song,” they said. “It means nothing.”
I told them these words are written in the Bible. “And what is more holy than the Bible?” I asked.
Naturally, they replied, the Quran, the holy book of Islam.
So I showed them the facts, the fulfillment of Psalm 122:2–3, where it is written, “Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together.” Jerusalem had been a divided city. But it was united under Israel in 1967 during the Six-Day War.
“How could this happen?” I asked. “We are so few in number, and the Arab world is so large. I will show you the answer.”
I read for them Isaiah 49:25, where God says, “I will contend with him that contendeth with thee.”
“God Himself fought for us,” I said. “That is why we won.” Then three older Arab neighbors arrived, people I have known for twenty-five years. They looked at the younger Arabs and said, “You should not be so sure of yourselves. You should know that Israel will never lose because God promised this land to them.”
The younger people were not happy to hear this. But they had to admit that someone powerful was helping us.
So I read from Psalm 124:
If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us; Then they had swallowed us up alive. Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth (vv. 2–3, 8).
“We have had victory over you,” I said, “not because of our power but because of the Lord. He has promised this land to His Chosen People that we should bring His salvation to the ends of the earth.”
Then they began asking me the same questions the ultra-Orthodox ask. “Why don’t you look like a religious Jew with a long beard and special clothes? How can you speak with such authority but not look religious?”
I replied, “I do not belong to the group that uses many books and commentaries. I use only the Bible. I know only one God Almighty. About Him it is written that He gave His only begotten Son; and if we come to Him, we shall have everlasting life” (Jn. 3:16).
“Are you a Jew and yet you believe in Christ?” they asked.
“The Bible is clear,” I told them. “Moses wrote in Deuteronomy that God would raise up a special prophet from among the Jewish people, and we must listen to Him. You, too, must listen to Him. It does not matter what nationality we are. It only matters in whom we have believed. If we believe in the Lord, we are saved.
“It would be best if our leaders came together, not with a big stack of papers, but with the Holy Bible. Then everyone would see that this land belongs to His Chosen People Israel.”
They told me they would like to speak to me again on this subject.
