The Center of the World

The land bridge of Canaan, where Asia and Africa meet, connected
two worlds in the ancient times and was the only way to travel
between Egypt and the fertile valleys between the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers. The area became an important prize for conquering
armies from the north, east, and south. The land has been fought over
since the beginning of history and has become a sacred bridge for
Jews, Christians, and Muslims to desire, hold, and to conquer.

There are two major arteries of trade that pass through the area.
One is the coastal highway that follows the Mediterranean and then
cuts through the Jezreel Valley, which is also known as the Valley of
Armageddon as it travels along the western shore of the Sea of
Galilee. The other major artery is called the King’s Highway and is
located along the high fertile plain beyond the Dead Sea and the
Jordan River before both routes converge on Damascus. The routes
then split toward Antioch to the north, and Mesopotamia to the east.
Mesopotamia means between the two rivers and is located between
the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now modern-day Iraq. The
strategic importance of these routes created a constant struggle for
empires to control the power and the wealth of the world in this
region for centuries.

The area was originally given by God to seven nations with the
same basic agreement that God had with the Israelites. Just as the
Israelites turned toward the worship of idols, so did these nations. The
Hittites were a group of Indo-Europeans who, when expelled from
Canaan, moved into Asia Minor and established the Hattusa empire in
modern day Turkey. The Girgashites blended into other cultures and
did not settle into any specific area. The Amorites were a group of
Semitic speaking people who later occupied large parts of southern
Mesopotamia where they established several city states, most notably
Babylon, which is in modern day Iraq.

The Canaanites are believed to be descendants of Cain and
married into the descendants of Ham, for which their dark or black
skin is attributed. They settled in the Levant region of present-day
Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Israel. This area was also known as
Phoenicia. The Perizzites, whose name means “dwellers in open
country” are of the nations of Ham, the son of Noah. They were
slaves during the reign of Solomon and resettled in the southern part
of Canaan. Israelites eventually intermarried with Perizzites, which
was one of the reasons they were led into Babylonian captivity. The
Hivites are also descendants of Ham who resettled into the southern
hills of Lebanon. The Jebusites inhabited the mountains around
Jerusalem and when they were put out of the land, they spread out
among the other city nations.

The Palestinians are a non-national group of people who have
lived in Canaan over the centuries that the Jews were out of the land.
They are comprised of Jews and Samaritans who are today culturally
and linguistically Arab. Despite all the wars, nearly half of all
Palestinians still live in the area compassing the West Bank, the Gaza
Strip, and Israel. The other half live in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and
Saudi Arabia and their total population is nearing five million people.
More than half their population is stateless, not belonging to any
country, and many live in encampments with no rights or citizenship.
Now these are the enemies of Israel because God instructed them
to be put out of the land. When God told Abraham to move from the
eastern-most location of the fertile crescent to Canaan, He did not put
the people out then because they were abiding by His laws. He let
Abraham settle with them but gave strict instructions not to
intermarry. When the Israelites were held captive by the Egyptians
and used for slave labor, these nations turned to idols. Four hundred
years passed while God tried to convince them to come back to Him.
Even when He freed the Israelites, they wandered in the desert for
forty years while God gave these nations time to reconsider their
behavior.

When the LORD your God delivers them over to you, you shall
conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant
with them nor show mercy to them. Nor shall you make marriages
with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take
their daughter for your son. For they will turn your sons away from
following Me, to serve other gods; so, the anger of the LORD will be
aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. But thus, you shall
deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down
their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images, and burn their
carved images with fire.1

Now God gave instructions to the Israelites, as I am sure He gave
them to the other nations. They were told for men not to lie with
another man, and for woman was not to lie with another woman, that
this is an abomination. Nor were they to lie with the beast in the field
nor men or woman were to lie down thereto. The previous inhabitants
had defiled themselves and the land so that the land will vomit them
out. The Israelites were instructed to follow the rules and regulations
He has given them, or they will suffer the same fate, which they did.
The very people that the Israelites put out, God permitted them later
to come and put the children of Israel out.

Don’t you think a property owner has the right to evict someone
who is violating the law and the sanctity of their land? These things
have brought judgment to mankind since the flood and here we are
doing these things all over again. Sexual promiscuity and
homosexuality are wrong, I don’t care who you think you are. It is a
sin against God. Therefore, we are on the brink of worldwide
destruction and quite possibly annihilation because of our lascivious
behavior. This time God is not going to bear the judgment against us,
He is going to let us destroy ourselves. That is going to be a big
problem for Americans because we have been enlightened with the
truth, so our judgment is going to be far greater for our sins have
reached the height of heaven and our inequities have surpassed the
tolerance of God.

God chose the Israelites not because they were smarter than
others, not because they were the biggest or they were superior to
others, “…but because the LORD loves you, and because He would
keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought
you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house
of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”2 So, He took
them into the wilderness for forty years trying to humble them and
teach them His ways. They were, if you will, an example of the
church today where God has set aside a people through the
dispensation of grace. The Israelites were set aside by the
dispensation of the law.

Living under the law proved to anyone who can see that man by
the law is a failure. For all have sinned against the law and fallen
short of the glory of God. It is not because of your righteousness or
the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but
because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God
drives them out from before you, and that He may fulfill the word
which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. Therefore, understand that the LORD your God is not giving
you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for
you are a stiff-necked people.3 God kept His promise to Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. He called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans and
promised him three things and one of those was the land of Israel.
This is the great covenant that God has with Israel today.

The LORD your God will bring you back from captivity, and have
compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where
the LORD your God has scattered you. If any of you are driven out to
the farthest parts under heaven, from there the LORD your God will
gather you, and from there He will bring you. Then the LORD your
God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you
shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your
fathers. And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the
heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your
heart and with all your soul, that you may live.4

Here is how God tells time by the promises that He will keep with
Israel. One of the most amazing things that ever occurred was when
the nation of Israel was created in one hour. From obscurity for two
thousand years to a nation now holding onto a tiny sliver of land with
all her enemies encompassing on every side. “Behold, the days are
coming,” says the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the
house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the
covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by
the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which
they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But
this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write
it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My
people.”5

Moses told his people that their stay in the land would be
determined by their obedience to the laws of God and that if they did
not obey, they would be expelled. God gave this land to the Israelites
because He wanted to and who does He answer to but Himself. God
said, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will
have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” This time
around they will see Him for who He is and, in the end, will believe
that Jesus Christ is their Messiah. They will look upon His pierced
hands and feet and cry out to Him in compassionate belief. He will be
their King, and they will be His people. “Therefore, My people shall
know My name; Therefore, they shall know in that day that I am He
who speaks: ‘Behold, it is I.’”6

1.) Deuteronomy 7:2-5
2.) Deuteronomy 7:8
3.) Deuteronomy 9:5-6
4.) Deuteronomy 30:3-6
5.) Jeremiah 31:31-33
6.) Isaiah 52:6