As already indicated, this web site gives a literal understanding of Scripture.
So the next important question we need to determine
is, has God finished with the nation of Israel, or has He set them aside temporarily and will re-establish that special relationship
at a future time?
We need to think this question through carefully!
Firstly, there are a multitude of promises God made to these
people
which still remain unfulfilled.
We will look at some of them shortly, but first consider this!
God does not make promises and
break them!
Regarding Israel, the apostle Paul wrote:
"Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake,
[because at that
time they were persecuting the young church]
but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.
For the gifts
and the calling of God are irrevocable."(Romans 11:28-29)
If God breaks His unconditional promises to Israel because they
sinned and disobeyed Him, then as Christian believers, how can we be secure in the knowledge that He will keep the promises He has
made to Christians? Because we have failed, and the Christian church has sometimes failed equally as badly as the nation of Israel.
The
apostle Paul reminds us on this very subject, "Do not be haughty, but fear.
For if God did not spare the natural branches, [Israel,]
He
may not spare you either.
(Romans 11: 20-21)
However, the apostle Paul's intention is not to cause us to doubt God's promises
to us,
for salvation is by faith in the finished work of Jesus, who paid
the penalty for our sin. But he does want us to be consistent.
The
promises to Israel will also be kept when they turn to Jesus the Messiah.
Let us always remember, it is
"not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. . . having been justified by His grace" (Titus 3:5 &
7).
It would seem that many professing Christians regard the words of Jesus more highly than
other Scripture, so we will look
firstly and carefully at some words Jesus himself spoke.
Just before Jesus went
to the cross, He looked out over Jerusalem across the Kidron Valley from the Mount of Olives, and wept over the fact that the city
& nation had rejected Him
as their Messiah, and He made this lament and prophecy.
"If you had known, even you, especially
in this your day, the things that make for your peace!
But now they are hidden from your eyes.
"For the days will come upon you when
your enemies will build an embankment around you,
surround you and close you in on every side,
"and level you, and your children
within you to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, [why?] because you did not know the time of your
visitation".
(luke 19:42-44).
But then in luke 21 where Jesus gives a detailed prophecy of end time events,
He again speaks
of the destruction of Jerusalem, and adds this,
"And Jerusalem will be trampled by gentiles
[people who are not Jews] until the times
of the gentiles are fulfilled". (verse 24).
In Matthew's gospel he records some additional words from Jesus on the same subject
as
Jesus laments over the city.
"See! Your house [or city] is left to you desolate; [deserted, depopulated] "for I say to you,
you
shall see Me no more till you say 'blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' ".
(Matt:23:38-39).
The apostle Paul
also takes up this subject in his letter to the believers in Rome:
"For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of thisMystery, lest you should
be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel
until the fullness of the
Gentiles [the Christian church] has come in.
And so all Israel will be saved," (Romans 11:25-26).
Another convincing passage is
in the book of Acts. At the Jerusalem council, in chapter 15.
There was conflict in the early church between Jewish believers and
Gentile believers,
"James answered saying, "Men and brethren listen to me:
"Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles
to take out of them a people for His name. "And with this the the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written:
'After
this
[after God is finished building His Church, of mostly gentile believers in Messiah, Jesus.]
I will return
and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down' ".(verses 13-16).
The quote James made here is from
Amos chapter 9:11, if we read the rest of the passage James has quoted from the Old Testament, we will see a few verses down in verses
14-15 "I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; . . .
I will plant
them in their land, And no longer shall they be pulled up
From the land I have given them', Says the LORD your God."
Before
we look at the Old Testament references, let us look at some parting words from Jesus, just before His ascension. The disciples were
still expecting that Jesus would then set up the Millennial Kingdom, and they asked Him this question:
"Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6). Jesus could have very easily told them that the kingdom
was never to be restored to Israel, that the Church was about to replace Israel as God's chosen people. But He did not say, or
indicate in any way, that the Father was finished with His relationship with Israel as a nation. He simply said:
"It is not for you
to know the times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority." (Acts:1:7).
Let
me add here: God has set the nation of Israel aside for a while. He has withdrawn His hand of protection, but they are still His chosen
people whom He loves.
God said of the nation of Israel: "thus says the LORD of hosts: . . . he who touches you
touches the
apple of His [God's] eye." (Zechariah 2:8).
As Christian believers it is our responsibility to love and pray for them.
Hatred towards
the Jewish people comes from Satan, not from God!
Now we will look at some of the many Old Testament, unconditional promises,
made to the Nation of Israel.
God said to Abraham,
"And I will establish My covenant between Me
and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you
and your descendants
after you.
Also I give to You and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting
possession and I will be their God." (Genesis 17:7-8.)
One of the most convincing Old Testament promises to Israel is in the
book of Jeremiah!
"Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for a light by day, The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by
night, Who disturbs the sea, And its waves roar
(The LORD of hosts is His name):
"If those ordinances depart from before Me, says
the LORD, Then the seed
of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever."
Thus says the LORD;
"If heaven above can
be measured, And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath,
I will also cast off all the seed of Israel For all that they
have done, says the LORD."
(Jeremiah 31:35-37)
A very interesting prophecy was given to Ezekiel known as the Valley of Dry Bones.
God gave this vision to Ezekiel, but as I explained before, He also gave Ezekiel the meaning of the vision.
"the Spirit of the
LORD . . .set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around and behold,
there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry.
And He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"
So I answered, "O Lord GOD, You know." . . . .
Thus says the Lord God to these bones: "Surely I will cause breath to enter into you
and you shall live.
I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you;
and you
shall live. Then you shall know that I am the LORD!"
(Ezekiel 37:1-6)
Then Ezekiel watches and listens as the bones rattle and come
together "bone to bone",
and the sinews and skin cover them. But he reports! "but there was no breath in them"
(verse 8).
God
told Ezekiel to prophecy again so that the breath would come into them "O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live."
So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them,
and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly
great army." (verses 9-10)
Then God explains the meaning
"Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel . . . .
"I will put
My Spirit in you, and you shall live,
and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the LORD have spoken
it and performed it" (Verses 11+14).
Israel was restored as a nation in 1948, so the bones sinews and skin have come together
as prophesied.
But the spiritual life is still missing "there is no breath in them", but one future day,
God will complete His
promise and restore all Israel completely.
"so all Israel will be saved" (Romans 11:26)
Jesus told an interesting parable recorded in Matthews gospel.
Keep in mind too that Matthew's gospel was especially written for
Jews, so there are some differences to how Matthew records what Jesus said and did, compared to Luke,
who was a Gentile physician.
Luke's emphasis on end time events will be easier to understand by non- Jewish believers.
The church age came into being
after the Nation of Israel rejected their Messiah.
This did not take God by surprise (nothing ever does).
"the church. . . . .
. the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but has now been revealed to His saints. . . . among the Gentiles". [the Christian believers],
(Colossians 1:24-27).
Jesus told this parable in Matthew 22:1-14
The parable of the wedding feast. "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out
his servants to call those who were invited
to the wedding; and they were not willing to come". The king tried again,
but they
all made excuses and some abused and even killed some of his servants.
"But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent
out his armies ,
destroyed those murderers and burned up their city".
Then the king said, the invited guests were unworthy, so
he sent out his servants and invited
all who were willing to come to the wedding, both bad and good,
and the wedding hall was filled
with guests.
It's hard to escape the meaning of this parable Jesus told.
As the nation of Israel rejected their Messiah, God turned
to the Gentiles,
Offering salvation to all who will come to Him in repentance, and faith in Jesus Christ.
As history records,
this parable of Jesus was fulfilled as Rome destroyed the city of Jerusalem
in 70 AD, and God is now building His church. But when
He is finished building His church,
He will again turn to Israel and restore them as He promised.
Finally, a quote from the famous and respected preacher from by-gone years,
Charles H Spurgeon, answering a question regarding
Israel's restoration.
" 'Will not the Jews be converted to Christ, and be restored to their land?' enquired my friend.
I replied,
'Yes I think so, Surely they shall look on Him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only
son, and God shall give them the kingdom
and the glory, for they are His people,whom He has not for ever cast away.
The Jews, who
are the natural olive branches, shall yet be grafted into their own olive tree again, and then shall be the fullness of the Gentiles".
(The
second coming of Christ, Moody press 1896, page 105)
We should keep in mind that Spurgeon did not have
the advantage we have had of seeing Israel formally become a nation again in 1948, so his answer comes solely from his understanding
of the Scriptures (some of them included in this quote).
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