Posted by Bible Probe on August 13, 2005 at 07:28:45:
The "Sheep" follow Jesus and the "goats" do not.
The "sheep" know that Israel has not been replaced, that God is watching Israel, that Israel is still the "apple" of God's eye. The "real Book" says in Zechariah (the Prophet) 2:8 that the Jews are the "Apple of God's Eye", meaning the most most delicate and touchy spot on His body. Don't dare to poke Him in the apple, the most delicate part of the eye that feels the most pain.
The "sheep" are aware that God has promised to bless those who bless Israel, and to curse those who curse Israel. It also says in the "real Book" that God's covenant with the Jews is eternal and ever lasting.
Stop and think.
God has clearly set up a sort of a "wall", or a line in the sand, as a test
from the beginning. The Jewish Test. The Nazis didn't listen when they killed 6
million Jews; so 20 million Germans lost their lives in World War II. The
Pharaoh of Egypt didn't listen - so he lost his life chasing the Hebrews.
Pharaoh tried to kill Jewish babies, so he watched as all Egypt's first born
son's were killed. History is filled with these real tests of what happened to
people who mistreated the Jews (Spain became a 2nd rate power immediately after
expelling the Jews, and similar things happened to Britain). Look what happened
several times to Arab countries who connived to attack Israel in the last
century.
America won its War of Independence due to a great part from the 30 million
dollars the Jews in Philadelphia raised by selling their own personal property,
at the request of George Washington, at a crucial turning point, in 1777.
Joel 3:2 the prophet speaks of a time when the Lord will restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem and gather the nations together in the Valley of Jehoshaphat to hold them accountable for the way they've treated His people. Joel's prophecy is a reference to the Sheep and Goat judgment that Matthew also spoke of in Matthew 25:32 (see below).
The Goats curse Israel and God's chosen people, the Jews, seek to hurt them, and do not act like sheep.
Jesus was a Jew, He was proud to be a Jew, and His entire ministry was to save the lost sheep of Israel.
Only after Israel "nationally" rejected their time of visitation (Messiah) did God's blessings also go to those Gentiles who accepted the Messiah.
Yet, Israel is not and cannot be forgot by God!
If you believe in the replacement theory. That's too bad. But at least be smart enough to act like one of the Lord's sheep and not a goat; thereby forcing God's hand in dealing with you.
In the erroneous "replacement theory", because the Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah, the Abrahamic covenant became void, and those blessings were transferred to the church.
In Romans 11:1 Paul tells us that by no means did God reject his chosen people, the Jews.
What Christian believers in this theory forget is that God made unconditional covenants with the Jews. This means that the covenants God made with the Jews were not in any way contingent upon Israel accepting their Messiah or even obeying God. The covenants God made with Israel put the burden of fulfillment on Himself only. Imagine it this way. During a marriage ceremony, only one person promised to love, honor and obey. It was a one-sided covenant like this that God entered into with the Jews.
As to the judgement of nations and the Kidron Valley/Valley of Jehoshaphat:
Here the pagan nations and those who hurt Israel will be summonsed and here they will be judged whether they like it or not. You may remember that there was a King of Judah who went by the same name, Jehoshaphat. He was the fourth king of Judah and the son and successor of Asa. That Yahweh should name the place of Judgment after this man is therefore of some prophetic significance and should not be missed.
And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Matthew 25:32
As the United States continues to pressure Israel to divide her land to give large portions of it to the Palestinians, we should beware of God's judgment against all nations who divide His Holy Land.
End Times prophecy against Palestinians states that they shall proclaim a nation, but shall not receive one!
"For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land." Joel 3:1-2
The prophet Joel is perhaps best remembered amongst Christians as the servant of Yahweh who prophesied the coming of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) in a special way such that the gift of prophetic dreams and seership would be poured out on all flesh in the last days (Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17).
Former President Richard Nixon once remarked that Israel could never give into the Arab demands to establish a Palestinian sovereign state within Israel, for that would be tantamount to living with the tip of a sharp sword just inches from her heart! For years, this remark served as the benchmark of Conventional Wisdom for the United States, Great Britain, and Israel; only the European nations and the United Nations continued the rabid concept of the Palestinians actually getting a state.
Read Matthew 25:31-46. When Christ returns to earth after the great tribulation in his glory (Matthew 25:31), the nations of earth will be judged (Matthew 13:40, 41). Place: The nations will be gathered and brought down into the valley of Jehoshaphat for judgment (Joel 3:2, 12). Many have identified this spot as the valley of the Kidron, on the east of Jerusalem.
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