May 18, 2012

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Key Issue 10 Disagreements

Has God really said … that the Jews are more acceptable to Him than Palestinian Arabs?

The status of Arabs as the Bible sees it is more than foreigners. They are to be part of Abraham's family. Ishmael was circumcised and Abraham recognized him as his son.

Isaiah 19:24-25 is not the only prophetic passage that refers to the inclusion of the decendants of Ishmael in God's plan of salvation, indicating reconciliation within the family of Abraham in the Messianic Kingdom to come.

Isaiah 42:10-12 is about the people of Kedar who according to Gen 25:13 and 1Chr 1:29 was the son of Ishmael.

Isaiah 60:6-7 refers to the Arab tribes of Kedar and Nebajot that head up the list of the nations that will bring their wealth to worship the Messiah. Kedar and Nebajot were sons of Ishmael.

Gen 17:20 and Gen 21:13 contains the promise that God has heard Abraham's plea of Gen 17:18 "Oh that Ishmael might live before You!" Because Ishmael is Abrahm's offspring, Ishmael also will be blessed. God intervened by an angel in order to prevent that Ishmael's line should be wiped out. Egypt through Ishmael's mother is related to Abraham and is included in the promise to Abraham that he will be a blessing to the whole world. Isaiah prophecies hope for the Arab world and Egypt participates in it:

Isaiah 19:17-25

"The land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt; everyone to whom it is mentioned will be in dread of it, because of the purpose of the LORD of hosts which He is purposing against them.
18 In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will be speaking the language of Canaan and swearing allegiance to the LORD of hosts; one will be called the City of Destruction.
19 In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD near its border.
20 It will become a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the LORD because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion, and He will deliver them.
21 Thus the LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the LORD and perform it.
22 The LORD will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will return to the LORD, and He will respond to them and will heal them. -> 23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
24 In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth,
25 whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, "Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance." (NASB)

God's plan for this world is reconciliation and unity within Abraham's family. For this unity Jesus the Jewish Messiah prayed in John 17 . Today's Middle Eastern conflict, in the last analysis, is the result of the opposition that originates in the spirit of the Anti-Christ (Anti-Messiah) whose strategy it is to prevent this reconciliation and unity from becoming a reality. - There is no question about God loving one part of Abraham's family more than the other. He wants every ethnic group, every people of every language, every nation to enter the love relationship that is typified by the images of the Father and His children, the Husband and his wife. If this fails to satisfy the reader of this page we can only point him or her study God's plan of salvation, the theological view of God's work through history.