Those Gentile times are what the prophet Daniel under inspiration wrote of in chapter 8 when he writes of the 2300 days that the sanctuary would be cleansed, or as the RV margin translates ‘justified,’ or again as the writer John Thomas translated it that “holy would be avenged.”  The 2300 days when using the prophetic day for a year principle is 2300 years.  With dates, the difficult part is not knowing how long the time period is, but at what date you start the time period.  It was Samuel Bagster in his comprehensive Bible printed in 1827 that put a marginal note on this verse pointing to the year 1968.  Well, Jerusalem fell into Jewish hands in June of 1967.  You say, well he’s a year off.  It is true, however, if you would like it a little closer the writer R. Miligan wrote in 1868 in his book Reason and Revelation that time would be “the late spring or early summer of 1967.”  I think this is truly amazing and leaves us no doubt that the word of God and the prophecies are sure and completely reliable.  Just such a proof of faith.

This is all so beautiful because God told us in Psalm 102 that there was “a set time to favour Zion.”  We are now witnessing that time, but it has been a slow process.  But of course, it was the same the first time God brought the Israelites into his land.  God says in Exodus 23:30 that “by little and little I will drive them out before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.”  It is proving the same today, a true struggle and little by little.  But out of this process, God is shaping a nation for great things.

Daniel Luria of Ateret Cohanim with Govenor Mike Huckabee in Jerusalem

On the front lines of this struggle is a few organizations, one of which is called Ateret Cohanim.  According to their own website “The aim of Ateret Cohanim is to fulfill a generations-old dream of rebuilding & securing a United Jerusalem, strengthening our Jewish roots and re-establishing the once thriving Jewish communities that were destroyed by Arab pogroms and the coordinated efforts of Arab countries before 1967.”

Daniel Luria is the Director of Ateret Cohanim, and this is an excerpt of an interview of Daniel speaking about the need for the work of the organization:

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Original Yemenite village at the foot of the Mount of Olives.

This is Daniel Luria taking us down into Silwan and into the now reacquired old Yemenite Jewish synagogue:

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The following is Nira Rabinovich, one of the residences speaking about living in Silwan, which is built using some of the buildings from the old Jewish Yemenite village.

Armored van to take the Jewish residents into the old Yemenite village which is

in the middle of the Arab neighborhood today called Silwan.

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The Jewish presence in Silwan and the many other East Jerusalem neighbourhoods is considered by many as the ‘shield of Jerusalem.’  It is one thing to have the US move the embassy to Jerusalem and say that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, but actual Jews living in the old city and surrounding neighbourhoods is facts on the ground.

What is incredible that much of this area was actually offered to Yasser Arafat in 1993 in the Oslo Accords.  He was offered approximately 98% of the west bank including much of east Jerusalem.  In fact, Bill Clinton said recently that even the temple mount itself was offered to Arafat.  

Abandoned Palestinian Parliament Building in the Jerusalem suburb Abu Dis.  It just wasn't on God's roadmap.

In fact, so sure was Arafat that he would get East Jerusalem he commissioned a Palestinian Parliament building to be built in Abu Dis which is really a suburb of East Jerusalem.   What is so incredible is that he turned down the offer from the Israelis. It was such a shocking moment for anyone watching the so-called peace talks.  The Israelis themselves were so shocked that they put a stop to the building of the parliament.  But we must see that God was in control.  And now the parliament building still stands only half completed as a sign that events can only go as far as God allows.   This is his land, and now adjacent to where the empty shell of the abandoned Palestinian parliament still stands, a new Jewish community called Kidmat Szion is beginning, another project of Ateret Cohanim.

What is even more proof today of God’s hand in the events in Israel and Jerusalem is the administration that has been put in place in the United States.  We have spoken about this on this program before.  But never will there be such a pro Jewish government again until the establishment of the kingdom of Israel, I believe that.

Take for instance John Bolton the newly appointed national security adviser - He is considered a big supporter of Ateret Cohanim, which lets be honest is considered a very controversial, extreme organization.  When you compare this to the people that were in power around Obama it could not be any more different!  The following clip is John Bolton at an Ateret Cohanim dinner on whether Jews should be allowed to buy properties in all areas of Jerusalem, including areas considered by the world as the Arab quarter of the old city.

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And as if having John Bolton as the adviser to the US President is not enough, there is another connection on the administration to Ateret Kohanim.  Sarah Sanders, the Whitehouse spokesperson is the daughter of Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas.  And if you know anything of Mike Huckabee he is one of the greatest supporters of Israel in the US political sphere there is.  Mike Huckabee is a good friend of Daniel Luria, he has personally attended cornerstone laying ceremonies for new buildings in the settlements and even laid stones himself, and he personally takes tours to Israel to show people for themselves what is really going on there.

We should, of course, mention others. David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel who has personally funded settlement building in Beit El.  Mike Pence the Vice President who frequently mentions the prophecies in relation to the birth of Israel as a nation.  And there are many other supporters of Israel as well such as Nicki Haley, Mike Pompeo and others.

It is maybe no surprise that it is this administration that is finally calling the Palestinian Authority’s lies and hatred for what they are.  The administration has been stonewalled by the PA ever since moving the embassy, which was as President Trump said, only recognizing reality.  Well, the US response to being stonewalled has been to now pull all funding for the PA, UNWRA, East Jerusalem Palestinian hospitals, and just this week they have frozen any bank accounts in the US connected to the PA.

And let’s be clear, all these institutions are all directly or indirectly sworn to Israel’s destruction.

Recently Caroline Glick wrote an interesting article entitled, “Trump’s peace process starts with ending the fake one.”  And this does seem to be true.

Whether the believers will see it before they are taken away or not is beside the point, but there will be a time of peace and safety before Jesus Christ, the son of God, the Messiah (Note, not God the son!) comes to save the nation as is seen in Ezekiel 38.  This is something that we discuss often on this program.  But from the time that Israel took control of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria (often called the west bank) any peace process advanced by the nations of the world have always included Israel giving up the heartland of the country.

The nation of Israel is mourning the death of Ari Fuld, husband and father of four.  Ari was murdered by a terrorist in Efrat.

We certainly are not in a time of peace right now.  Just yesterday Ari Fuld, a Jewish activist, husband, and father of four was stabbed in the back in Gush Etzion.  

His 22-year-old daughter said at his funeral “One sentence my father always told me, that has stuck with me forever, is ‘If life is easy, you are living it wrong.’ Life is meant to be hard. That is what I am doing now, it will be hard, I am sure, but at least I know I am doing something right.”

Well, life in Israel is often hard, especially for those that are on the front lines of restoring Jewish life to the old Jewish neighbourhoods.  But as we know, hardship does create and shape characters, and Almighty God is once again working with his people to bring them back to him.

We will close with a song by Yonatan Razel called “Home of Hardships.”

“Home of hardships

Ups and downs

Trials, obstacles and falls

Home of hardships

Tormented by questions

Where is the good?

Confused feelings

But now I go down to the sea

To weep for myself and my people

To cry for myself and my home

And for my world

Look forth from you holy abode, from heaven

And bless and bless, your people Israel”