A MESSAGE OF HOPE FROM DR JACK VAN IMPE

We want to continue our study where we ended last week.

Birth of Zionism

The first of these organizations was called “Hoveve Zion,” or “Lovers of Zion.” This was a worldwide movement to promote interest in Jewish settlement in Palestine.

The second organization was a small group named “Bilu,” composed of people who actually went to Palestine and began to work the land in spite of the objections of the Turks. The circumstances were very difficult and the settlements that were started were not economically successful. They were taken under the protection and assistance of Baron Edmund DeRothschild. In this way they survived.

The move among the Jews to return to their land, the stirring of the dry bones, was a small affair for more than a dozen years. In 1895, however, a dramatic event set one man’s heart afire for the cause of Zionism. His name was Theodor Herzl.

Herzl, a Jewish Austrian newspaperman, had come to Paris to cover the public humiliation of Alfred Dreyfus, a French soldier convicted of collaboration with Germany. Dreyfus, a Jew, seemed the perfect example of one who had assimilated into the European culture and society, overcoming race and religion barriers. Having attended a famous military academy in France, he had received the rank of captain. Now he was accused of giving French military information to the German military attaché at Paris. Despite scanty evidence, a secret court-martial condemned Dreyfus to public humiliation and life imprisonment on Devil’s Island. The case has gone down in history as a miscarriage of French justice.

The public humiliation of Dreyfus took place in January of 1895. Theodor Herzl stood with the crowd and heard them begin to cry, “Kill the traitor, kill the Jew.” As the Jewish writer listened to the screams of the mob, a shock wave rolled through his entire being. Herzl heard that same crowd in effect crying for his blood, since he was also a Jew.

Walking away from the spectacle, Theodor Herzl was a broken man. Like Dreyfus, he had lived in comfort and had almost forgotten the persecutions of his people and the barriers that had existed between Jews and Gentiles through the centuries. Now he understood that those barriers still remained, that hatred for Jews was still real, and that all Jews were in jeopardy wherever they found themselves in the world. This awful awakening sent Herzl into seclusion to write a book that would shake the world and play an important role in establishing the State of Israel.

Herzl’s book was a one-hundred-page work entitled: Der Judenstaat — The Jewish State. The book began: “The Jews who will it shall have a state of their own.”

In 1897, two years after the publication of his book, Theodor Herzl called the first World Zionist Congress to session in Basle, Switzerland. The meeting was held in a gambling casino. The name of those determined to bring about the return to their land would now be “Zionists,” so named for Mount Zion in Palestine. Herzl was elected the international executive. A Jewish fund was established as well as a land bank to make it possible to purchase land in Palestine. A flag was chosen. The colors were white and blue for the colors of the tallith prayer shawl, and “Hatikvah” (The Hope) was designated as a national anthem.

At the conclusion of that first Zionist Congress, Herzl wrote in his diary, “I have founded the Jewish state. If I were to say so today, people would laugh at me, but in five years’ time, certainly in fifty years, it will be seen that I was right.” (On November 29, 1947, almost fifty years after Herzl wrote the words, the General Assembly of the United Nations by a majority vote made the birth of the State of Israel legally possible. In May of 1948, the nation was born.)

The new leader of Zionism exhausted himself in the cause to which he was committed. During the next eight years he met with many of the world’s statesmen. This leader of a homeless people had a vision of a modern-day exodus. He dreamed not of straggling groups finding their way back to the Jewish homeland, but rather of great companies of Jews settling in their land and prospering there.

Herzl spent much of his early effort seeking sponsoring nations among the European powers. His first thought was of Germany and he wooed Wilhelm II. Finding no help there, he turned to England. In 1903, one year before Herzl’s death, the British offered the Jews the country of Uganda as a place to settle. Although the Jews rejected this African area, England’s offer gave official recognition to the Jewish right of a homeland. Herzl counted that a great victory.

Shortly after the turn of the century, increased persecution in Russia sent many immigrants to Palestine. Herzl’s work was bearing fruit. Among these Jewish settlers was a young man named David Green from Plonsk, a Polish town northwest of Warsaw. His father, an attorney, had been an avid Zionist and young Green had listened enthusiastically as his father discussed the merits of Zionism with his friends.

David Green was not content to simply debate the issues. He longed to live in Israel and had come there to contribute to the establishment of that nation. In their book, O Jerusalem, Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre write that young Green found Jerusalem like a modern tower of Babel, with Jews speaking forty different languages and half of them unable to communicate with the other half.

Changing his name to David Ben-Gurion, this young immigrant became the editor of a Zionist trade union paper committed to the revival of the Hebrew language. After Herzl’s death, he would become an important force in the establishment and development of the nation he loved.

The foundation of the nation had been laid. The dry bones were coming together. Ezekiel’s vision was on its way to fulfillment; the most significant sign of the end times and the return of the Messiah would, in the next half century, become a reality.

But there were troubled times ahead.

War would come to Europe and to the world. Jews would find themselves in the middle of a global war, having friends on both sides of the conflict. The war itself would threaten to extinguish Zionism. For a time it would seem as if the bones of the vision would retreat to the dust and be as dry as the arid soil of the land the Jews were seeking to reclaim.

How did this struggling people manage to overcome the perils of World War I?

What part would World War I play in the development of the State of Israel and in setting the stage for the final drama of the ages?

What events in World War I were necessary to prepare the world for closing time?

We will cover these topics in the coming weeks.

FROM THE HEART OF DR. REXELLA VAN IMPE

Is There Room in Your Heart for Him?

What a special time of the year! Thanksgiving and Christmas are more precious to me than any other holidays, and they so beautifully go hand in hand.

More and more, Dr. Van Impe and I realize the importance of being grateful for the true essence of Christmas – that God became flesh. He came as a baby, humbling himself to a manger, and, one day, to Calvary’s tree for you and me. Oh, what love!

I wonder if we can really understand the emotion in heaven and the joy here on earth as Mary and Joseph made their way to Bethlehem just prior to the birth of Christ.

Can you see them as they wearily make their way through the narrow streets of Bethlehem? Mary, tired from the long journey, sits on the little donkey as Joseph leads it along.

Their journey is almost over, and none too soon. They stop in front of one of the inns in Bethlehem. With a tender word, Joseph comforts his wife and then strides quickly toward the inn door.

Have you ever wondered what Mary was thinking as Joseph knocked at the innkeeper’s door? Perhaps she was remembering what her cousin Elizabeth had said to her some time before. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance [fulfillment] of those things which were told her from the Lord. (Luke 1:42-45).

Mary knew how blessed she was, for out of all the women in the world, God had chosen her to give the world this baby; He was the Son of God, produced by the Holy Spirit, waiting to be born in Bethlehem (see Luke 1:35 and Hebrews 10:5).

Mary knew about the promise that foretold: But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting (Micah 5:2).

Mary’s mind didn’t dare leap ahead to contemplate the rest of those words. It was enough for her to know that she was, at this very moment, in Bethlehem (ancestral home of King David, Joseph’s forefather) and that her time to give birth was at hand.

Mary looked at Joseph, footsore and fatigued from walking alongside the donkey all the way so that she could ride. She knew how blessed she was to have this good and just man as her husband. He had handled the situation so well. He had shown her nothing but love and concern. More than once he had told her, “I know, beloved wife, that this child has been conceived in a special way. The angel laid all my fears to rest.”

Joseph had learned of Mary’s pregnancy after she returned from visiting Elizabeth. For six months, they had marveled at the conversations they each had with the angel. It must have been awesome for them, realizing that the Holy Ghost had visited Mary and that the child she carried was a divine original.

“Oh, Joseph,” I can hear Mary saying, “He is to be called ‘the Son of God’.”

“Yes, Mary,” Joseph responded, “and His name is to be called JESUS, for He shall save His people from their sins.”

Did they recall the words of Isaiah? Did they repeat those names? Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel … For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 7:14, 9:6).

Perhaps Mary remembered those conversations as her husband knocked at the innkeeper’s door. She was so tired. The journey had been long and hard. But now, at last, they had arrived in Bethlehem.

For us, today, a journey to Bethlehem is still not easy. In the hustle and bustle of the season, there are many things to deter us. We’ve all heard that we should keep Christ in Christmas, but let’s be sure that we keep ourselves in Christmas, as well! If we are not careful, we can become so busy with Yuletide activities that we are exhausted before we get to Bethlehem – and miss the real Christmas altogether.

Knock … knock … knock!

Joseph knocks at the innkeeper’s door. A Baby is about to be born – the most important Baby ever to be born on this earth. “Let us in … let Him in … out of the cold and darkness of the night .” But the Bible tells us there was no room for them in the inn (Luke 2:7).

No room! Those are heart-rending words. Would we have said that? Yet, isn’t it being said every day? We are all innkeepers, with room for many things, but do we have room for Him? In our lives – shabby stables that they are – He may be cradled, but we must give Him room.

Joseph, the rugged carpenter of Nazareth, a just man whose faith transcended his misgivings, enfolded Mary’s helplessness in his strong arms as he lifted her off the back of the little donkey. Someone had tapped him on his sagging shoulders and said, “There is a place, if your wife won’t mind. I know I can fix it and make it clean. It will be quiet there … and warm.”

Joseph had ministered to Mary’s needs in that weary pilgrimage to Bethlehem; but his husbandly duties had not yet ended. Mary in a stable? The Son of God born in a barn? How his mind must have reeled. Remember, he was very human.

Husband, would you like for your wife to give birth to her firstborn in a stable? What lowly circumstances! The Lord of all heaven and earth was about to make His human presence known in the world – but in a barn? This was not the birthplace Joseph had imagined for JESUS.

Barns smell, not just of clean hay, but of animals. Barns are not always sanitary. Oh, the lovely Nativity scenes we see at Christmas do not begin to portray what Joseph and Mary must have experienced in those pre-birth moments, as they contemplated their plight.

Humanly speaking, one wishes we could push back the pages of time and make it different – but it happened just as God ordained it before the beginning of time. And so it was, that … she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn (Luke 2:6,7).

As we recall this short synopsis of the most beautiful story ever given from God, may your heart be reminded of the importance of remembering, not just the gifts that are to come, the families we are to see, and the loved ones we shall enjoy, but remembering the true message of Christmas – God’s love for us. And may we not get so distracted by the many activities of the holiday season that we never even reach Bethlehem.

Dr. Van Impe and I are grateful for the opportunity to share the saving message of God’s love for the world in these closing days of time. Thank you for your prayers and support.

CHANGED LIVES-one at a time

Hello Brother 50 star General Jack Van Impe I would like to honor you sir on what you have done for the lord! I see why Brother Billy Graham is envious of your Bible knowledge! I just saw your series the 5 part of revelations I think you and your wife were in your early 40’s. I have never seen some completely in detail revelation like you did. I live in New Mexico Albuquerque I have 4 kids.

Love you both in love of the lord may God continue to bless you.

Manuel T.

We LOVE you Jack and Rexella! We thank and praise the Lord for your recovery and increasing strength! We pray that the Lord keeps you and Rexella strong in health and protected. We need a pastor of truth like you so bad in this dark world. It’s such a miracle to have you back! Your shows, especially the Nov one was amazing. Thank you Jack and Rexella for all you do!

Craig M.

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The Prophetic Voice of Dr. Jack Van Impe

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