When the children of Israel sinned against God, He judged them and allowed them to be taken captive by the Chaldeans for 70 years so as to give the land rest from their sins and from their abominations (2 Chronicles 36:15-21).

When they were in Babylon, He instructed His prophet, Jeremiah, to write a letter to them telling them that they will be there for 70 years. But He made a promise to them, for thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:10-11).

Seventy, is an important number. It is the number of deliverance — its meaning in Hebrew. The Lord delivers His people from bondage and oppression and He restores all they have lost. He restores their fortunes and He performs His good word toward them.

Seventy years ago, the Lord of grace and mercy restored the state of Israel to fulfil His promise to their forefathers, Isaac and Jacob. The amazing thing for me is that when the state of Israel gained their independence on May 14 1948 an amazing thing happened on the southern tip of Africa. Exactly 12 days later, on May 26 1948, the nationalist party instituted Apartheid.

When Israel was delivered, South Africa went into bondage. I do not believe this is just a coincidence at all. When Israel was celebrating 70 years of independence, President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel according to the scriptures and moved the American Embassy to Jerusalem the city of the Great King (Psalm 48:2).

In the month of May in 1948, the new government of South Africa recalled their ambassadors to Israel to make a statement that they are against Israel and are supporting Palestine. The statement is saying in essence Israel is not allowed to defend her borders and to protect her people from the brutality of Hamas and jihad.

There have been threats of downgrading the South African Embassy to Israel for some time now. At its conference in December the ANC passed a resolution to downgrade the embassy, and this week the matter will be debated in parliament.

It is high time that the ANC and the government of South Africa know that there are Christians in the country who do not support or appreciate the attitude they have against Israel.

This nation has 80% Christians and as bible-believing Christians, we stand on the Word of God regarding Israel. On top of that South Africa must not think Israel will not respond or retaliate if they go ahead with the downgrading and closing of the embassy in Israel.

If this whole situation ends up with Israel closing down their embassy in South Africa, guess who will suffer the most? It is Christians in South Africa who make the pilgrimage to Israel, they will be the ones that will suffer greatly. There are tours out of South Africa to Israel almost every month. And I must add those Christians will not take this lightly.

Therefore, I would like to send a message to our government not to make this move because the consequences will be much greater than they imagined and to their detriment.

Remember, as the Church, we understand the significance of 70 years. We have received true liberty and deliverance from apartheid and we are not coming out empty-handed. We have evidence in the Bible that whenever God delivers His people from oppression, they never come out empty-handed and South Africa will not be an exception. The Lord will perform His good word toward South Africa and He will restore.

In 2019, we will have a righteous government of God by a righteous president (see the prophetic words about South Africa). Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people  –Proverbs 14:14.