Israel Restored by David Hamshire and published by Apostolos Publishing.
The mention of ‘Israel’ usually provokes a reaction of some sort. In today’s world, the reaction is often negative, with many regarding the nation of Israel as an obstacle to peace, and peace in the Middle East in particular. I believe that such reactions are promoted by biased reports coming out of an anti-Semitic news station in the Middle East, and such propaganda being uncritically supported and broadcast by national media throughout the Western world.
Among the Christian community, there is sometimes a similar polarising in people’s opinions of Jews as a people and Israel as a nation. On the one hand there are a few who are deeply envious of the Jews and their traditions and would give anything to be able to become Jewish! At the other extreme are those who espouse ‘Replacement Theology’ and regard Israel as a distraction compared with the true church and God’s purposes for it. Israel, it seems, provokes deeply held passions in people’s hearts!
This book has been written by someone who is also a man of strong passions – especially when it comes to the Jews and their nation. David Hamshire has a passion which drives him to discover a true and an eternal viewpoint with which to regard Israel. In looking for arguments to establish his belief in the central place that Israel plays in the purposes of God, David examines Scripture with the eye of a detective, and having found gold nuggets of truth, he then seeks to substantiate them by looking at the history of Israel the nation and the Jews as a people. David also notes how history has endorsed the validity of prophetic words found in Scripture, and the teachings of Jesus and the writings of the Apostles.
The result is a thesis which presents watertight arguments, insightful interpretations, and consistent evidence of a nation which still occupies a place in God’s purposes. Its non-existence from the AD 70’s, its subsequent resurrection in the twentieth century, and its survival in recent wars in which it has been vastly outnumbered by invading forces, all speak of a nation which still has God’s hand upon it.
