Was Netanyahu’s Speech Controversy or Bible Prophecy?

Tuesday, March 3, 2015 may be a spiritual marker day for America and the world. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared a speech that was declared “controversial” in the eyes of politicians (Tuesday in the USA and Wednesday in Israel). But was this speech in which Prime Minister Netanyahu clearly shared was not positioned to be controversial but, a final cry of help before a regime (Iran) whose stated goal is the annihilation of Israel and all infidels (those who do not accept Allah as the one and only true god) moves forward in creating a nuclear weapon? How one views Israel will reflect more than anything what is their source of truth. If the Bible is the source of your truth and it’s your final authority then your view of Israel has to be one of support and one of which you are constantly praying for the peace and safety of. God’s word declares in Genesis 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you.” God says in Zechariah 2:8 “For thus says the Lord of hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you (Jerusalem) touches the apple of His eye.” And Obadiah verse 15 says, “For the day of the Lord upon all the nations is near; As you have done, it shall be done to you; Your reprisal shall return upon your own head.” There are a plethora of additional verses that could be used to support the fact God is zealous for His chosen people Israel and the church has not replaced Israel as some politicians, presidents, and even pastors claim. Romans chapters 9-11 affirm God is not through with Israel nor has His plans for Israel been replaced by the church. The Tribulation period will be a time God proves without doubt Israel (Jerusalem in particular) is the apple of His eye and those who want to destroy it will be doomed.

Christian supporters of Israel see Tuesday’s address to Congress by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as more than just a political speech. They’re calling it a “wake-up call,” and a “warning,” one that appears eerily similar to another from 2,500 years ago in which the Jewish people found themselves in grave danger. With the Feast of Purim and Netanyahu’s speech converging in the same week, there are lessons to be drawn from history. Purim celebrates Queen Esther’s brave intervention to stop a plot that, if allowed to go forward, would have led to genocide against the Jews (Esther 4:13-17; 9:18-32). So this begs the question - was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech before Congress the same as the factual account of Queen Esther’s 2,500 years later? The threat Israel faces today does include some of the same national players, the same dates and the same stakes, according to Bible scholars and Christian friends of Israel. Netanyahu’s speech Tuesday occures on the biblical Fast of Esther – the same day Mordecai told Queen Esther of Haman’s evil plot to kill the Jews and pleaded for her to approach the king of Persia on Israel’s behalf. Tuesday, March 3, 2015 is Adar 12 on the Hebrew calendar. This is the day in which Esther asked for prayer and fasting as she was about to approach the ruler of the ancient world, her Persian husband and king, to plead for the lives of her people. She would expose Haman’s plot to exterminate them. Today (March 3rd) it is again Persia, now called Iran, which stands at the center of an alleged murderous plot. Instead of Haman scheming to kill the Jews, it’s Iranian mullahs who are accused of plotting to wipe Israel off the map, and being aided in the process by the soon realization of a goal more than 20 years in the making – obtaining a nuclear arsenal. The drama unfolding in Washington this week, with more than 30 Democrats vowing to boycott Netanyahu’s speech because of a breech in “protocol,” is alarming. It is a tragic day in America that a sitting president and members of Congress would join the anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, global boycott movement and refuse to attend an address by America’s ally and steadfast friend, Israel. Remember the aforementioned Obadiah passage whereby God warned the prophet Obadiah that in the latter days He would wipe out the descendants of Edom because they stood by while their brother Jacob was held in captivity and did nothing. Could Congress be Israel’s modern-day Esther? Is Netanyahu, a modern-day Mordecai, pleading with America’s legislative body, the one that most directly represents the American people, to intervene in the situation by asking the “king” (the president) to foil the scheme of the ant-Semitic Haman, who in this case is the Iranian regime?

God woke me up Monday night at 1:11am and I could not go back to sleep. I know God was speaking to me to pray – I did not know specifically what He wanted me to pray about but when I started praying the thought of praying for Israel and the Prime Minister’s speech before Congress was deep in my spirit. I knew this was the reason God awakened me to pray. TMFBC family and friends, let the events unfolding in Washington, D.C., this week be a wake-up call to Christians around the world to fast and pray as in the days of Queen Esther, that God would deliver Israel from Haman in Persia and what may be his accomplice – the White House; for it will not be good for America to be on the wrong side of this equation. Christians we are to be in total support of the Bible not who is in the White House or Congress. I can’t speak for you but I am on the Lord’s side – the side of God’s Word.

Pastor Louis Rosenthal