Although there are various things that we are told to do with all our hearts and all our souls, or all our minds, there is one thing God said he would do with all his heart and all his soul.  It is 
in Jeremiah 32:41.

"Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul." 

That is notable.   The heart is the seat of emotion, this really matters to God.  

If it matters that much to God, how should the faithful of the nations respond?  Note the end of the Song of Moses:

Deuteronomy 32:43 
“Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people:
for he will avenge the blood of his servants,
and will render vengeance to his adversaries,
and will be merciful unto his land,
and to his people.”

The nations are commanded to rejoice with them, and who could refrain?  In another place, God says he will rejoice over them as a bridegroom rejoices over the bride.

"For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee."

The whole process glorifies God's name.  Ezekiel 36:21-28

“But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.

"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God."

World reacts to David Friedman's appointment in 2017

When Israel had sinned, Moses mediated between the nation and God.  He appealed based on Sanctifying the Name.  Numbers 14:15-16

“Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.”

The appeal was that the nations would hear and say that God was not able to bring them into the land.  The same kind of thing is true now they have returned, God has said that he will keep them as a shepherd does his flock.

Jeremiah 31:10 “10 Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.”

If God allows great calamity to come on them the nations will say that he was unable to save them.

Events are moving so quickly.  Rolling back a couple of years, as part of President Trump’s mind-bogglingly pro-Israel team, David Friedman was appointed Ambassador of the United States to Israel in 2017.  The BBC called him a pro-settlement hardliner.  At the time we wondered what exactly it was that God needed him in the position to accomplish.  It was easy to guess, but harder to know with certainty.  Since then his fingerprints have been all over many pro-Israel moves America has made.

This week we saw the US pivot to say that it no longer regards Israel's "West Bank settlements" as illegal.  Pompeo’s name was on it, but behind the scenes, we learn that Friedman was involved.  Here are some additional details from Arutz Sheva:

“U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman pushed for a change to the U.S. position on the legality of Israeli settlements early in the Trump administration, but former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson opposed the move. This according to Channel 13 News correspondent Barak Ravid. 

Friedman, the key driver behind the major policy shift, raised the issue again when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo came in.

The landmark decision by the US on Jewish settlements in the "West Bank" or as it has been called
for most of human history, Judea and Samaria.

This time he got a "green light," U.S. officials told Ravid. State Department deliberations on the legal status of Israeli settlements lasted a year.”   

“Ravid quotes officials saying that while the White House received occasional updates, Pompeo and his team were given a free hand to draft the new policy.  About a month ago, the State Department's legal team presented Pompeo with a 40-page legal position. Pompeo approved it and wanted to announce the new policy last Tuesday, but the escalation in Gaza led him to postpone the announcement…”

Meanwhile, in Israel, Naftali Bennett has been appointed as Defence Minister.  The Defence Minister in Israel is responsible for approving construction in Judea and Samaria.  We can expect a plethora of building approvals in the coming months.  God is doing exactly what he said he would and is building them up.  

Ezekiel 36 describes the controversy about the mountains of Israel.  The world calls the area the "West Bank," as it was named by Jordan when they illegally annexed it and expelled all the Jews in the '50s.

Ezekiel 36:1-7 “Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord God; Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession: Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an infamy of the people: Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God; Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that are round about; Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey. Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the shame of the heathen: Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I have lifted up mine hand, Surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear their shame.”

The chapter carries on and spells out what God would do for Israel in that area.

Ezekiel 36:8-15 “But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come. For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown: And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded: And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the Lord. Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you, even my people Israel; and they shall possess thee, and thou shalt be their inheritance, and thou shalt no more henceforth bereave them of men. Thus saith the Lord God; Because they say unto you, Thou land devourest up men, and hast bereaved thy nations; Therefore thou shalt devour men no more, neither bereave thy nations any more, saith the Lord God. Neither will I cause men to hear in thee the shame of the heathen any more, neither shalt thou bear the reproach of the people any more, neither shalt thou cause thy nations to fall any more, saith the Lord God.”

This all precedes, or, really runs into the glorious future that God has planned.  One of the visions of that future is in Micah:

Micah 4:1-4 
“But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

May that day come quickly.

Please visit again next week for more Bible in the News.

Tim Billington.