Steve Conover: Thank you for joining us for The Friends of Israel Today. I'm Steve Conover, executive director of The Friends of Israel. With me is our host and teacher, Chris Katulka. foiradio.org is where you can connect with us. We have a decade of content on the site featuring Chris Katulka’s insightful teaching and various interview guests. Again, that's foiradio.org.

Chris Katulka: Steve, today we open up the newspaper and we see that Hamas is in Gaza. We see Hezbollah is in Lebanon. We see Syria being toppled. We see that there are ISIS and Iran influences in Iraq. The list goes on, and when you read these things in a newspaper you can begin to wonder, how did the Middle East become what it is today? Why is there so much fighting? Why is there so much turmoil? Well, today we're going to start a three-part series on the making of today's Middle East, so that it gives you better confidence when you see and hear about the news of the events coming out of the Middle East and also how Israel plays a role in the middle of it and how God helped develop and give rebirth to the modern state of Israel as a result of all of it. It's going to be a very insightful three weeks, Steve.

Steve Conover: But first in the news, is Israel preparing to resume their war against Hamas? As the ceasefire comes to an end and Hamas refuses to extend talks, incoming Israel Defense Force chief Eyal Zamir summoned top IDF commanders. Netanyahu also cut off aid to Gaza, a move supported by the White House, but draws criticism from Hamas and the Arab states which include Egypt.

Chris Katulka: Well, Steve, here's my take. Israel is pressuring Hamas after abandoning ceasefire talks. As both the European Union and Egypt criticize Israel for denying humanitarian aid, remember, Gaza has a border with Egypt managed by the EU. So maybe they could carry the load of bringing humanitarian aid into Gaza instead of just pointing the finger and blaming Israel.

Chris Katulka: The Jewish people have varying opinions on how God would restore their people to the land, to bring the Jewish people back from exile. How he would reestablish the land of Israel, and ultimately how they would rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. The Talmud, which is a very important Jewish book that contains the history of Jewish thought about how Jewish people should live their lives in accordance with the law. But it also contains various discussions about the role the Messiah would play in relation to the ingathering of the Jewish people from exile and the rebuilding of the temple. These teachings are spread across multiple tractates and often reflect the diversity of opinions among the sages. Like they say, if you get two rabbis in a room, you'll leave with three opinions. Some rabbis believe that the Messiah will be the one to gather the exiles of Israel. However, various sages offer different perspectives on how and when this will occur.

Rabbi Eliezer, for example, teaches that Israel's repentance will bring this about. While Rabbi Yehoshua asserts that God will regather the Jewish people regardless of Israel's merits. One is dependent on Israel to act and the other is dependent on God alone. He'll do it in his time. You know, the same could be said of the rebuilding of the third temple. Rashi, a very famous Jewish rabbi, suggests that the third temple will be built by God himself based on Ezekiel's vision of the future temple. While others contend that the Jewish people can usher in a Messianic age by starting the building process themselves apart from the Messiah. Look, it even works itself out today. There are a group of Orthodox Jewish people who abhor the modern state of Israel. It's a small group of Orthodox called the Neturei Karta. You'll see them standing on the streets protesting the state of Israel.

Their animosity toward the modern state of Israel isn't based on politics or their feelings about the war in Gaza or anything like that. It's strictly theological. To them, the Messiah is supposed to bring about Israel's restoration, not the Jewish people. For them, it's not God working through history, it's that the Messiah will break in and BOOM, he'll do it. Now this series that we're embarking on has nothing to do with the rabbis and their views of the Messiah's involvement ushering in the Messianic age. It has to do with how God works in relation to the Middle East that we see today. I see that God's hand is moving history toward his ultimate plan of redemption. While some rabbis, and Christians too, expect God to BOOM, accomplish his redemption in one big miraculous moment. I believe scripture supports his sovereign hand moving in history to align the pieces to be put in place for his return.

I'm always asked, “Is Jesus returning soon?” Honestly, I don't know. I don't believe Jesus wanted us to spend our days counting the hours of his return. But I always tell people that we are living in a unique time because the Jewish people are back in the land. There is a nation of Israel that is reborn. Since 70 AD, for nearly 2000 years, the church has never experienced that. But we live in a unique time to be able to see it happening right before our very eyes. But how did it happen? It happened by God moving in history among the nations to bring about the reality of Israel's rebirth in 1948. Now, there are many places that we could start. We could go back to the prayers of the Jewish people praying for the return of Israel to the land for centuries. We could go back to Theodor Herzl, the father of modern Zionism who changed the course of history for Israel and the Jewish people in just 10 years’ time.

But to get an understanding of the Middle East that we see today and how God's sovereign hand has been moving in history, we need to talk about a very significant agreement. It's called the Sykes-Picot Agreement. The Sykes-Picot Agreement was signed in 1916 during World War I. It was a diplomatic agreement between the United Kingdom and France with Russian approval to divide the Ottoman Empire's territories in the Middle East into zones of influence. Though not fully implemented as originally planned, the agreement laid the foundation for the modern map of the Middle East. Contributing to long-term regional instability and creating the environment for the reestablishment of the state of Israel. The Ottoman Empire, which had ruled the Middle East from 1517 to 1917, 400 years, entered World War I on the side of the central powers. As the war progressed, the British and French sought to dismantle the Ottoman control over the Arab lands.

The Sykes-Picot Agreement was one of these key agreements negotiated by British diplomat Sir Mark Sykes and French diplomat Francois Picot. It delineated the Middle East into British and French spheres of influence. The terms of the Sykes-Picot Agreement went as followed: 

France would control modern-day Lebanon and Syria as well as parts of southeastern Turkey. 

Britain would control southern Iraq and areas around Haifa and Acre and present-day Israel.

Palestine was to be designated as an international zone under the joint administration.

The interior regions of modern-day Jordan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia will be divided into British and French spheres of influence with local Arab rule and European oversight. 

The truth is, the Sykes-Picot agreement kind of ignored existing ethnic, tribal and religious divisions when they created the borders that later contributed to the longstanding regional conflicts that we see even today. The consequences of their division continue to shape the political and social landscape of the Middle East.

I often say when there are straight lines dividing Middle Eastern countries of the Ottoman Empire, those lines were drawn as a result of the Sykes-Picot Agreement. It should be noted that when we talk about the Sykes-Picot division of the Middle East, Jewish people always lived in the Ottoman Empire, specifically in the area of Israel today. Jewish people lived in cities like Safat, Tiberius, Jerusalem and Hebron. Often Jewish people are called “colonizers” by those who despise the modern state of Israel, but the reality is, they too were people caught up in the delineation of the Arab world under the Sykes-Pico Agreement. As I mentioned, the division of the Middle East into political entities ignored the existing cultural, ethnic and religious identities, which creates the instability of the Middle East. Just look at Syria or Lebanon. These countries that were created as a result of Sykes-Picot are often under conflict because of the sectarian nature of those living in the borders.

Iraq we know today was created by merging three Ottoman provinces—Mosul, Baghdad, and Basra into one country—the country included Sunni Arabs, Shia Arabs, and Kurds, who often had conflicting interests. Lebanon, a small country, was actually carved out of Syria to create a Christian-majority state, again leading to sectarian tensions. The Transjordan, which was originally part of the British Mandate of Palestine, eventually carved out a modern day Jordan, which became a separate entity under British control, further complicating the region's political landscape, because today, Jordan is controlled by the Hashomonite family, but more than 90% of its citizens are Palestinian. See, these borders create tensions that continue to manifest in civil wars, coups and conflicts throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. This is the stuff that we read about in newspapers today. Now look, when we return, we're going to see how the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916, one year before the fall of the Ottoman Empire, played an indirect role in God's plan to give rebirth to the nation of Israel.

Steve Conover: Are you a new listener to our program? If you are, welcome. We're glad you're here. The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry exists to fuel your passion for the Word which should overflow to a compassion for God's Chosen People, the Jewish people.

Chris Katulka: Whether you're new to our program or have listened for years, we want to encourage you with our resources to help you see why God called us to support the Jewish people in Israel and worldwide. We have a free download, a digital version of our booklet, Whose Land is it Anyway? that we'd like to send you free today. Whose Land is it Anyway? takes the Jewish and Arab claims to the land and helps make sense of the common arguments surrounding the struggle. Whose Land is it Anyway? is an easy-to-read apologetic that will give you a clear answer as you think about Israel's right to the land.

Steve Conover: To get your free digital copy of Whose Land is it Anyway?, visit foiradio.org. Again, that's foiradio.org.

Chris Katulka: Welcome back everyone. We're talking about the historical events that gave rise to the modern Middle East that's full of turmoil and strife, but also gave rise to the rebirth of the nation of Israel as well. We've been looking at the Sykes-Picot Agreement that redefined the modern Middle East. Now, the Sykes-Picot Agreement from 1916 played an indirect but crucial role in the eventual establishment of the state of Israel. Though the agreement itself did not specifically outline a Jewish homeland, it set in motion a chain of events that facilitated Jewish immigration and political developments leading to Israel's creation in 1948. 

Apart from promising independence to Arab leaders, Britain issued the Balfour Declaration in 1917, which pledged support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine. That's only one year after the Sykes-Picot Agreement was signed. After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, the League of Nations granted Britain the mandate for Palestine in 1920, giving it control over the territory. The mandate was partly shaped by the Sykes-Picot framework, dividing the region into areas of European administration. Jewish immigration to the Land started during the Ottoman Empire. Jewish towns were formed early on, and it's important to know that these Jewish pioneers established towns like Rishon Leziont, Nes Ziona, and Rehovot. Early on in the British control of Palestine, they allowed Jewish immigration, particularly in response to the growing persecution and antisemitism in Europe. However, tensions between the Jewish and Arab populations in the land would escalate as both groups vied for control. 

The Arab population, feeling betrayed by the Sykes-Picot division in the Balfour Declaration, resisted the growing Jewish presence leading to riots and conflicts. By the 1930s, the British faced increasing violence between Jewish and Arab groups leading to a series of political shifts, including immigration restrictions from the 1939 White Paper, which limited Jewish entry into Palestine just as the Holocaust was beginning in Europe.

Look, it's important to see that God was moving among the nations to bring about the rebirth of the nation of Israel. It would only be a few decades after Sykes-Picot that Israel's first prime minister David Ben-Gurion would proclaim in Tel Aviv the reestablishment of the nation of Israel. It wasn't a BOOM moment when God would provide a homeland for the Jewish people according to what the prophets promised in the Old Testament, but a gradual movement in global shifts. My argument is that this is how God has moved in the Bible as well. When Israel was exiled from the land in the Old Testament by the Babylonians, one empire, God provided a way for them to return under Cyrus the Great, a gentile Persian king who gave them the right to return. That's what the books of Ezra and Nehemiah are all about. That's what the prophets Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi wrote about during this time, encouraging the Jewish people to stay faithful to God and to continue to rebuild with an anticipation that the Messiah would come.

Look, Cyrus and the Persian empire, it's just another empire that God used in the shifts of global power to return the people to the land of Israel. It wasn't a perfect situation, just like today. And think about this, when the Jewish people returned under Cyrus, they faced opposition from the surrounding people just like the Israelis do today. The Samaritans from those days attempted to stop the Jewish people from rebuilding, but God was moving. That's why the Apostle Paul says in Galatians 4:4-5, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons.” “But when the fullness of time had come.” Do you know what that means? That means that when all the pieces were in place for Christs’ first coming, that's when God sent his Son.

But let me tell you something, God is moving all the pieces in place for His second coming. Think about it, of all the people impacted by the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916, only the Jewish people were promised a Land that dates back to the days of Abraham, 4,000 years before Sykes and Picot were even born.  Before there was British and French influence in the Middle East, before the Ottoman Empire, before the Romans, the Greeks, the Persians, and the Babylonians. It was a promise that God made to Abraham, “this land, the land of Israel, I give to your descendants” (Genesis 17:8).

Steve Conover: Israel on the verge of becoming a state, a teenaged Holocaust survivor arrives on her shores alone. His name is Zvi Kalisher. Little did he know his search for a new life in the Holy Land would lead him to the Messiah. Zvi, enthusiastic to share his faith, engaged others in spiritual conversations, many of which can be found in our magazine, Israel My Glory. While Zvi is now in the presence of His Savior, his collected writings from well over 50 years of ministry continue to encourage believers worldwide. Now, Apples of Gold, a dramatic reading from the life of Zvi.

Mike Kellogg: 

Here in Israel, the people are very tired of war, as am I. Russian immigrants living here want to know how we can live in a country that has been so long without peace. “Don’t you grow tired?” they asked. “Yes, I am tired of war,” I replied, “but I have peace in my heart.” They wondered how this could be, when we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. “How can we have peace in our hearts? It is impossible.” I told them that it is possible. “But, if you want peace, you must first let the peace of God rule in your hearts.” “How can this be?” they asked. “How can we know that God is in our hearts?” “Pray in His name, and you will see God change your life, as He did mine. You will receive blessing from above because it is written, ‘without me ye can do nothing’ (Jn. 15:5).” They asked me how I came to know all of this, and I responded, “I came to believe through faith in the Lord Jesus. It is a fact that without Him we cannot have peace in our hearts, in our homes, or in the streets with our friends.” “How do you know this is true?” they questioned. “Did God speak to you?” “Yes,” I answered, “through His Word. God is my Father, and when I pray to Him, I find rest and have great joy in my heart. If you have joy, you will also have peace.” The conversation continued, and I shared with them that the Lord has given me peace and great happiness. No one else can give these things except Him. I gave them each a Russian Bible and told them that everything they wanted to know could be found there. They were happy to receive the Bibles and promised to read them. I told them to first pray to the Lord for understanding, for without the Holy Spirit’s guidance we cannot comprehend anything. “Zvi,” they asked, “are you a Christian?” “Yes,” I replied. “I am a Hebrew-Christian.” “Ah—now we know to whom we are speaking,” they said. “How can you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Is this possible? If so, can you prove it?” “Yes,” I answered, “it is possible. In Genesis 1:26 God

said, ‘Let us make man in our image.’ Jesus was a man. In Psalm 2:7 God said, ‘Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.’ ” “These things are in our own Scriptures. Why have we lived so long without receiving Him as our Savior?” they asked. “That’s a good question,” I replied. “Many times Moses told God that His Chosen People were stiff-necked. But God, in His mercy, gave His only begotten Son to die for our sins and to rise again. Through Him we can receive forgiveness of our sins.” “But if we receive Jesus as our Savior, we will no longer be Jewish,” they argued. “Look at me,” I told them. “I believe in Jesus and yet I am still a Jew. In fact, I have served in the Israeli army since 1948 and have gone through all the difficult times. I am doing the very best I can for my country. I try to give my testimony to all those who have never heard about the Lord. It is only through Him that we can receive blessing.” These men were extremely interested in our conversation and in my faith in the Lord Jesus, which brought about such a change in my life. I feel that the Lord is speaking to them. It is my prayer that they will come to know Him as their Savior and Lord.

Chris Katulka: The impact of Zvi's life and ministry in Israel; it didn't end when he went home to be with the Lord. In fact, Zvi's legacy lives on. Our Friends of Israel ministry representatives continue to share the gospel in Jerusalem, Israel, and really all throughout the world. We also serve Holocaust survivors and their families. We provide free food, medicine and clothing, and we even promote the safety and security of the state of Israel and the Jewish people everywhere. So when you give to the Friends of Israel, your donation actually allows us to advance the gospel of our Messiah Jesus. You can give online by visiting foiradio.org. Again, that's foiradio.org. You can click right there on our donate link. Also, be sure to let us know where you listen when you contact us.

Steve Conover: Thanks for joining us for today's episode of The Friends of Israel Today. Don't forget to get your free digital download of our popular booklet, Whose Land is it Anyway?. You can get that on our website, foiradio.org. Again, that's foiradio.org.

Chris Katulka: Steve, next week we're going to pick up on our series. This week we looked at the Sykes-Picot Agreement and how that helped form the modern Middle East that we see today from 1916. Next week we're going to look at how Israel, with a presence in the Land, how their presence helped reshape what we see about the Middle East as well as a result of their Independence War, the 1967 War, the Six-Day War, and also the 1973 War, the Yom Kippur War.

Steve Conover: Join us then. As mentioned, our web address is foiradio.org. Our mailing address is FOI Radio PO Box 914, Bellmawr, New Jersey 08099. Again, that's FOI Radio PO Box 914, Bellmawr, New Jersey 08099. You can call our listener line. That number is 888-343-6940. Again, that's 888-343-6940. Our host and teacher is Chris Katulka. Today's program was engineered by Paul Varnum. Edited by Jeremy Strong, who also composed and performs our theme music. Lisa Small is our executive producer. Sarah Fern is our associate producer. And I'm Steve Conover, executive director of The Friends of Israel. The Friends of Israel Today is a production of The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. Passion for God's Word. Compassion for God's Chosen People.