I visited Israel a couple of years ago and it was the most inspiring event of my life. Unlike here in the good old USA, people of all faiths in that country take God very seriously. There are more religious sites and holy places throughout their cities than fast food restaurants here. It is uplifting and spiritual just to be in that country and to see so many people totally dedicated to worshipping God.
It is God’s special place on earth. No one knows why He chose this as His holy land but He did. I visited the many sites where Jesus conducted His ministry including sailing across the Sea of Galilee, the place He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane prior to His arrest, the site He was crucified, the empty tomb and many more sites too numerous to detail here with the notable exception of standing at the very place that the Bible states Jesus will set foot again when He returns to Jerusalem to personally rule the world during the millennium. It is quite a feeling to stand there and try to envision what that day will look like and wryly smile as I envision how CNN, NBC News, and the NY Times will try to explain it away.
Security is high at the holiest of sites and we were standing in the security line waiting to get into the Temple on the Mount one day and I happened to notice a dove sitting on a power line. I zoomed the big lense on my camera in on the delicate little bird and immediately noticed that it had an olive branch in its mouth. I snapped a picture or two and just then four Israeli jets came streaming across the sky in the background. The sky was bluebird blue without a cloud in it and I took a photograph of a lifetime. Four menacing Israeli jets streaking by in the background of an innocent little dove with an olive branch in its mouth captured in living color digitally recorded forever.
The irony of this was not lost on me. Peace will never come to this land until Jesus does return. “The wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God”. All we do is make a mess of things with our sinful hatred and lust for the worst things of this world.
The Jews returning to this the holiest of lands after 2000 years of being scattered all over the world was step one. Wars and rumors of wars and armies circling this holy land are definite signs that the end could come soon. Time is running out. If you have friends and loved ones who have not accepted Christ as their Savior, renew your efforts to witness to them. Read the Bible and watch the news and marvel as prophecy unfolds before your very eyes and be prepared for the Lord to come for His children. It might just be today! Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus! Come quickly! Amen and Amen
James 1:19
And so my beloved brethren,
let every man be swift to hear, slow
to speak, slow to wrath;
for the wrath of man does not
produce the righteousness of God.