Sid: My guest Dr. Peter Gammons who’s the senior pastor at Cathedral of Faith in Orlando, Florida. We’re talking about his newly re-published book “Israel in Prophecy,” literally written for such a time as this. We were talking on yesterday’s broadcast that exact dates are mentioned when it comes to the nation Israel. For instance, in chapter 4 which talks about the liberation of Canaan, you quote to the exact year from Daniel 12 verse 12 what will happen. Explain that.
Peter: Yeah, it’s amazing. The question is asked “When will this liberation take place?” The answer comes back in Daniel 12 verse 12 “Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.” Now in Bible times a day often is used in the context via to a day context. Time and time again that happens throughout scripture. The Daily Commentary by Scripture Union Volume 214 points this out “This remarkable book Daniel ends with figures and dates that are not easy to decipher. One at least is absolutely literal, or else the most curious coincidence in history. This is the figure in verse 12 of 1,335 days. General Allenby captured Jerusalem in the year 1335. According to the Muslim calendar which was the one used by the Turks who at the time held Jerusalem, this was 1917 in our era and marked the first step of the liberation of Israel’s land.” So until the year 1917 the Turks reckoned by the lunar time and therefore there coins had different dates on them to the dates of our coins. So our 1917 was the year one thousand-three hundred and thirty-five, 1335. Just as Daniel prophesied in Daniel 12:12 “Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days” that’s an impossibility of the natural isn’t it? The very year of the liberation will be the very time that was prophesied by Daniel, exact figures not something difficult for us to decipher; the coins minted by the Turks that year bearing those numbers 1335, one-thousand-three hundred and thirty-five.
Sid: Then you go on to chapter 5 where you talk about the establishment of the state of Israel and how many supernatural things had to occur.
Peter: Yeah it’s amazing it’s a miracle of God. Israel had no hope really that it would happen because they were not established as a nation at the time. They weren’t even allowed to be involved in the voting. So people listened to the radio broadcast from Fleshing Meadow on the vote that took place, and that in it’s self is an interesting thing. Here in my book “Israel in Prophecy” I list the different nations that either supported Israel and the establishment of a homeland for Israel, or the people that opposed it. It’s a testimony, interesting isn’t it that Russia supported and Russia was one of the key nations that was proposing Israel be established as a nation. Britain even after coming out of the horrors of the World War II and seeing all the terrible atrocities that had happened to the Jewish people, abstained. It’s a testimony for all of history and a sad testimony for some nations that they either opposed or failed to support Israel. Some even abstained and yet their abstention was a terrible thing and yet God by a miracle and a very narrow vote saw Israel established as a nation.
Sid: Do you have any idea why Russia supported Israel being a nation even brought it to the forefront? I mean if it wasn’t for Russia there might not have been a state of Israel.
Peter: (Chuckling) Isn’t it amazing it’s just one of those facts of history…
Sid: I, I, I… the Holy Spirit just corrected me, but there would have been a state of Israel if Russia hadn’t done it someone else would have done it. But anyway, why Russia?
Peter: But God used it yeah and a hardened communist leader who was the man that stood up there and supported it. I think there’s a number of things perhaps there was so many Russian Jews there that he wanted to release some of them from Russia, but I don’t want to put a natural reason on it. I believe that God supernaturally worked in that and that again shows His sovereign hand concerning Israel. You know you would think in the natural it would have been easier to cause Britain or one of those nations to support them, but God wanted I believe just to show that He is a sovereign even of history. At the time, and we’re going back at a time where Russia was feared as a great superpower, and yet still God was showing His hand that when it comes to Israel that He’s ultimately in control. One of the quotes that I like that I came across included in this book here was the time where Napoleon was sitting around the camp fire with his Marshals who were all atheists, the Battle of the Pyramids. They asked him “Do you believe in God?” Napoleon pointed to Marshal Massena who was a Jew and said “Gentlemen there is the unmistakable argument that there is a God.” Another quote that I put there was Frederick the Great saying to his chaplain “Show me a miracle.” To which the chaplain replied “Sire it is the Jews.” We see time and time again God’s sovereign hand as far as Israel is concerned is incredible that God still loves His people Israel.
Sid: Let me just read from your book when they had the vote Israel became a nation. Here’s one quote it says:
There was joyous outbursts and dancing in the streets throughout the Holy Land. Newspapers carried the bold headlines: A Jewish State
Of course you have reproductions of a lot of these things.
Golda Meir addressed the Jewish people from the balcony of the Jewish Agency building in Jerusalem announcing “For 2000 years we longed for deliverance. We awaited this great day with awe, now that it is here it’s so great and wondrous that it surpasses human expressions.” Many tears were shed as Hatikva was sung. The words “To be free people in our own land” acquired a new meeting.
But after Israel became a nation they couldn’t even take a breath. What happened Peter?
Peter: Yeah there was an attack. The Arab nations united together to try and destroy Israel. Each time they said “We’re going to destroy the nation of Israel” Israel ended up with great land it was a miracle protection of God. This tiny little nation but once again the hand of God was upon Israel. I like one of the comments that was made that “Israel had no other choice.” All the other nations had their own lands they had their own but Israel had no other choice. We’ve seen the miraculous protection of God time and time again where the Arab nation says “We’re going to annihilate this little nation.” God’s hand was upon them, instead of being annihilated they took further territory.
Sid: Peter you have in your book that Israel’s Air Force at that time was a small plane that was used for a private flying club. Israel’s Navy consisted of a converted ice breaker equipped with 2 – 20mm aircraft cannons and these were disguised with paper mâché to look like 6, I mean give me a break. If that wasn’t God who was it? (Laughing)
Peter: Isn’t it amazing it’s absolutely fantastic. Supernatural things that have happened too, some of the stories are miraculous interventions like in 1967 the restoration of Jerusalem. I love one of the stories where it’s reported that 2 Israeli tanks topped the sand dune in the Sinai campaign and found himself facing a complete Egyptian tank unit. The Egyptians stopped open their turrets jumped out and ran. One of the captured Egyptians soldiers reported there were hundreds of Israeli tanks. Isn’t that amazing?
Sid: They must have seen the angels.
Peter: Isn’t it amazing? Isn’t it amazing? Just a slight deviation from the subject, but one of my friends in Rhodesia as it was then, Zimbabwe today. Two of his church members were running from some of the troops that were shooting at them and they were in the hillside. Suddenly they said the whole hillside was filled with soldiers dressed in white who started shooting back at the rebel soldiers and so they ran. Incredible things God’s miraculous intervention and angelic intervention like God’s angels really are there to protect and fight on our behalf, of course Michael leading that great angelic army to protect Israel.
Sid: You know Peter it’s my thought and I believe this with every fiber of my being. The Bible says in the last days there will be great deception, false prophets that will come about. I believe that any Christian that does not have their theology straight on Israel is going to fall prey to these false prophets.
Peter: I believe so too. There’s a lot of deception, a lot of people misunderstanding, a lot of pretense from people saying “This was the land of the Palestinians” which of course they were not there people that were there beforehand. All kinds of things they were fighting for in the nations. I think it’s vitally important for preachers and for leaders that they make a stand for God’s word and for God’s love for Israel and for the nation of Israel. I believe that ministers will rise and fall depending upon their response to Israel.
Sid: I want to go back to something we were talking about earlier on. We were talking about the great Jewish zealots that went into Masada the fort, and rather than give themselves up they committed suicide. Recently they found what were known as the Masada scrolls.
Peter: Yes.
Sid: Repeat what was in there.
Peter: Yeah they found them buried in the temple buried the prophecies of Ezekiel 37 that these bones shall live. A sign that they believe once again Israel would live and that the bones of Israel would be brought together, and that the nation of Israel would again miraculously be resurrected. This was at the end of this attack from the Roman army barely 40 years after Jesus had spoken the words “And they’ll fall by the edge of the sword and be led away and captive in all nations. Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” Titus and his army who had attacked and of course some of these Roman zealots who had camped out in Masada, this mountain top fortress that Harod who was afraid of everybody had built to protect himself. Finally the 10th Roman Legion under Flavius Silva crushed the resistance but before they took their own lives because they didn’t want to see their children and their wives raped and tortured to death; they still believed that one day, even though this appeared to be the end it appeared to be the last resistance the Jews having been spread throughout the Roman empire to try and cause them to lose their Jewish identity. Of course one of the amazing things that has happened because many of the Jews… most of the Jewish people didn’t intermarry they managed to maintain their identity as a Jewish people even without a homeland or without a nation. The scroll was hid there in the temple and only recently found. The words of it are absolutely fascinating…
Sid: I’m sorry we’re out of time.
Tags: its supernatural, Sid Roth