Standing Inside Biblical Prophecy | Land of Israel Fellowship

Right. And now, my friends, I need to tell you what happened on Shabbat morning because in some ways, I think this is what we've been building to. Um, I didn't go down to the hotel to the Western Wall that morning. I stayed in the Jewish quarter near where we were sleeping and prayed in one of the most famous synagogues in Jerusalem. It's called the Horva. Have you been to the Horva in the old city? I'll describe it and maybe you realize you you've been in there. You walked in there for a second. You saw it. For those who don't know, the Horva stands in the heart of the Jewish quarter and its name means quite literally the ruin. And just here's the story in brief. It's a long story, but in 1721, Arab creditors burned down the Ashkanazi synagogue that stood on that site. They burned it to the ground and drove the community out of the Jewish quarter. And for more than a century, that whole plot just remained a heap of rubble. And that empty plot filled with rubble was given a name. people called it the hurva just the ruin. Then in the 19th century the disciples of the uh the va gaon returned and rebuilt it. The synagogue was completed in 1864 and it became one of the grandest perhaps the grandest synagogue in Jerusalem. Its enormous dome became one of the most defining landmarks of the old city skyline. And then in May of 1948 when the Arab Legion conquered the Jewish quarter and expelled its Jewish residents, they deliberately blew it up. They did not merely want to destroy a building. They wanted to send a message. You are never coming back. And once again, it became a ruin. For decades, there was almost nothing left. Only a single stone arch standing above the rubble like a monument to something that had been lost. But in March of 2010, I was there to see with my eyes the Hurva was rebuilt again. And on Shabbat morning, I stood inside that building as the nation of Israel read the Ha Torah aloud. And these were the words we read for your ruins and your desolate places and your devastated land. Now you shall be na now you shall be too narrow for your inhabitants and those who swallowed you up shall be far away. My friends, the Hebrew word translated as your ruins is rebet. the exact same route as Horva. And there we were standing inside the ruin, rebuilt once again after centuries of people working very hard to ensure that it would remain a ruin and never be rebuilt. We were in it rebuilt chanting Isaiah's words, "For your ruins." Inside a magnificent, regal, rebuilt synagogue named exactly for that. And then came Isaiah's next words. Now you shall be too narrow for your inhabitants. Too narrow. And indeed the Hurva I was in there it was standing room only. Literally. It's a big place and it was so packed. Standing room only. Literally there was nowhere left to sit. The synagogue that our enemies had tried to erase was now too small to contain the Jews praying inside it. And then only three verses later in the same haurra in that same room on that same morning we read behold I will lift my hand to the nations and they shall bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters upon their shoulders. The exact verse I had watched come alive with my own eyes on the mountaintop in Samaria just 48 hours earlier. I mean just imagine me. This is all the dots are connecting. It's all coming together. you know, nations carrying Israel's children, the ruins rebuilt, the empty places overflowing. That's why I told you at the beginning that these were not two separate events. They were one prophecy unfolding before my eyes. And there's one more thing. You know, my dear friend and Rebi, Rabbi Ellie Deutsch, he gave us his his house located literally on the courtyard of the Jewish quarter. I mean, it's just such an insane location. And every single time I looked out that window, the words of Zachchariah came rushing into my heart because this is what I was looking at. Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem each with a staff in his hand from advanced age and the streets of the city shall city shall be filled with boys and girls playing. Have you ever been in the central courtyard of the Jewish quarter? Raise your hand if you've been there. Right? just walked through the Jewish court and saw that central courtyard where there's that manora ready to put in the temple. My children were just marveling at it. Are there better words to describe the courtyard than that? This was not a prophecy I was reading. That was the view from my Shabbat table. And look what Isaiah promised two chapters after the one we had just chanted. He was one when I called him and I blessed him and made him many. Well, this is this is the many. an old man with a cane sitting outside in Jerusalem on a Shabbat afternoon while somebody's kids bounce a ball off his head giggling, right? I I I just it was it was breathtaking. I just need to bring you there. You need to come to Judea. You need to come to Jerusalem. You need to see this redemption. My name is Ari and I live here on the edge of the Judeian frontier. And just as the prophets foretold, the mountains of Judah are coming to life. The in gathering of the exiles is taking place right before our eyes. And the final prophecy is manifesting as the righteous of the nations are coming together with humble hearts here in the land of Israel fellowship. And now I'm inviting you to join us along with hundreds of Jewish and Christian families from all around the world to experience the beauty and the holiness and the magnificence of our fellowship. So click below so you can taste the beauty and the holiness that is happening on this mountain. [music]