Sermon Notes:
What does Scripture say about the Jewish people?
1. The Jewish people were deported out of Israel and the Jewish nation ceased to exist two thousand years ago.
2. One of the greatest miracles of the Jewish people is that for 2,000 years they were preserved as an ethnic group and maintained a national identity and language without a homeland.
What’s happening in Israel today is:
3. Racial
4. Religious
5. Prophetic
Follow-up Questions from Sunday’s Message:
Review:
Looking back on last Sunday’s message and your notes, what was the most meaningful part for you?
Digging Deeper:
1. On May 14, 1948, the nation of Israel was reborn after 2 thousand years since it last existed in the time of Jesus. Read carefully Isaiah 11:11-12; 43:5-6; Ezekiel 37:21; Amos 9:14-15; and Jeremiah 16:14-15, what do these verses teach about the future of the Jewish nation from the Old Testament?
2. Many people see the rebirth of the nation as a divine fulfillment of these prophetic verses. Do you agree or disagree? If not, how do you explain these verses and the rebirth of the nation?
3. How do you think the Muslims in the Holy Land and around the world view the rebirth of the nation of Israel?
4. Hamas is the political authority in the Gaza strip whose mission statement is to remove all Jews from the Holy Land and liberate the temple Mount in Jerusalem and set up a militant Islamic state. Their attacks on October 7th were a part of fulfilling this long-term mission. What options do you think the Jewish people have in dealing with this situation? If you were in control, what would you do?
5. In Jesus’ teaching about the Last Days leading up to His 2nd Coming found in Matthew 24 and Luke 21, He spoke about the Jewish nation being destroyed and the Jewish people being deported throughout the Roman world (Luke 21:20-24; Matthew 24:1); but He also indicates that the Jewish people will be back in the land and a future temple being rebuilt (Matthew 24:15-21). As believers living in these days (of fulfilled and being fulfilled prophecies), what do you think Jesus would say to us in the U.S.?
6. What do you think Jesus would say to the Palestinian believers and the Jewish believers living in the Holy Land today? How do you think we should be praying for them?
Taking it Home:
Spend some time this week:
Praying for the grieving families who have lost loved ones in the Holy Land.
Pray for the innocent hostages being held in Gaza for their safety and release.
Pray for our Palestinian and Jewish brothers and sisters in the Middle East for their safety and witness.
Pray that the coming land war will not spread across the Middle East and will be quick with few causalities.
Pray for God’s will to be done.