Genesis 12:1-3 "Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee; and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing; and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
When God chose Abraham's seed to become a "great nation," He told Abraham something that most people seem to overlook when they read this passage: Israel was going to be hated and cursed by others. God did not say, "If you try really hard and compromise by giving some of the land I declare to be yours away in order to satisfy your neighbors, then everyone will respect you and let you live in peace." God didn't say, "Because you are the family I have chosen through whom I will send My Son, everyone will be grateful and bless you." No, God did not say that all the families of the earth will bless you; He said Israel would be a blessing to all of them. There is a huge difference. The family of Abraham were chosen to be the ancestors of Jesus of Nazareth, His Son, the One through Whom God would bless the whole world (Matt. 1:1-16; Jn. 3:16; 4:42; 1 Jn. 4:14).
In the four thousand or so years since Abraham was graciously selected by God to facilitate His plan to save the world from sin, Israel has been conquered by Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and finally Rome, which managed to scatter the Jewish people across the globe. It wasn't until the Second World War was over and the world saw how millions of Jews had been slaughtered, that the United Nations was moved to provide land for the nation of Israel on May 14, 1948. You would think that would have ended the persecution, but just the opposite occurred. There has hardly been a day since then that someone has not fired a missile into their nation, blown themselves up to terrorize them, or promised to exterminate them from the earth. And when we read the Book of Revelation, we find that the cursing of Israel will continue until Christ returns to destroy their enemies (Rev. 19:11-21).
The other half of God's statement to Abraham indicated that there would be nations which would bless Israel. As I mentioned earlier, the United Nations consisting of about fifty sovereign nations, blessed Israel by granting it a homeland in 1948. Since that time, however, the support for Israeli statehood has dwindled to so few that Israel's allies can be counted on one hand. Of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States), two are considered strong supporters (the United Kingdom; the United States); two are openly hostile (China; Russia); and the other (France), is France. To be continued, Lord willing.
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