Posted on 07/26/2014 10:25:22 AM PDT by pastorbillrandles
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you. And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.(Deuteronomy 4:27-31)
In this day of so much international condemnation and hatred for Israel, it is important for us to remember that Israel is a miracle nation. The nation has a supernatural beginning and a history full of Divine deliverances, revivals, inexplicable victories and also utterly disastrous defeats, such as the Babylonian captivity, the destruction of the temple on the ninth of the month of Av, in 536 BC, as well as the devastating Roman invasion and destruction of the second temple on the ninth of Av in 70 Ad.
The aftermath of 70 AD was the Diaspora of the Jews, a scattering of the nation to the ends of the earth and exile which has lasted almost two thousand years. As you can see from the selection in Deuteronomy, Moses predicted all of this, none of the tortured history of Israel should be a mystery to any who read Moses. He even taught Israel a national song to sing , which laid out the future of Israel till the end of time.
Hosea also predicted the long exile of Israel, without national polity, official leadership, land, temple, national and religious symbols, formal God ordained worship, and in exile until the “latter days”.
For the children of Israel, shall abide many days without a King and without a Prince,and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an Ephod and without a Teraphim;Afterwards shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God and David their King, and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.(Hosea 3:4-5)
Afterwards, the prophet assures us, Israel shall return. As of May 1948, Israel has returned onto the world stage, in fulfillment of many other prophecies besides Hosea 3.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.(Isaiah 11:11-12)
Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. (Jeremiah 30:10-11)
The rebirth of Israel is a modern-day miracle on the level of the parting of the Red Sea. A nation was reborn in one day, a prophetic people thrown into the sea of gentile peoples, has been preserved and re-emerged like Jonah the prophet after two thousand years. A long dead language has been re-introduced.
In the resurrection of Israel, the whole world is now witness to the reality of the living God. Furthermore, for those who have ears to hear, Israel’s re-emergence is a sign that we are indeed in the “latter days” , leading to the long prophesied “Day of the Lord”, the time in which God intervenes in human history.
But there is a precondition to be met. God is waiting for something specific from Israel. Long ago through Moses and Hosea, and even through the Messiah Jesus, God told Israel what He was waiting for before He would come to them.The Hebrew Bible renders Leviticus 26 thus;
38 And ye shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. לט וְהַנִּשְׁאָרִים בָּכֶם, יִמַּקּוּ בַּעֲוֹנָם, בְּאַרְצֹת, אֹיְבֵיכֶם; וְאַף בַּעֲוֹנֹת אֲבֹתָם, אִתָּם יִמָּקּוּ. 39 And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them. מ וְהִתְוַדּוּ אֶת-עֲוֹנָם וְאֶת-עֲוֹן אֲבֹתָם, בְּמַעֲלָם אֲשֶׁר מָעֲלוּ-בִי, וְאַף, אֲשֶׁר-הָלְכוּ עִמִּי בְּקֶרִי. 40 And they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, in their treachery which they committed against Me, and also that they have walked contrary unto Me.(Leviticus 26:38-40)
The Messiah is awaiting a national confession, not only of Israel’s present iniquity, but of the iniquity of their Fathers, a specific, absolutely devastating sin committed, which led to the exile, alienation and suffering of the nation, at some point in her history.
Hosea also prophesied this, when in the name of the LORD he proclaimed,
I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.(Hosea 5:15)
When did the LORD “go back to his place” , (Heaven) and what offense is He waiting for them to acknowledge? Hosea predicted that in “their affliction”, (The tribulation), they will seek Him early, and as He was earlier quoted, they will “return to the Lord their God and David their King”.
A clue to the acknowledgment that the LORD of Israel and of the Universe seeks from the estranged, chosen nation comes in the gospels, set 40 years before the calamity of 70 AD.
Jesus, in his final address to the nation in the temple of God, announced that He was leaving them, and that the temple would be desolate of the presence of God, and that they would never see him again until they made an acknowledgment from Psalm 118,
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.(Matthew 23:37-40).
Wow!! Love it! Thanks for posting.
“To avoid the “Jews-deserve-it” conclusions many make, why not wait until after the present crisis to write things like this?”
He is writing about what God Himself already inspired.
No problem with that if true. Then why not leave the editorial? Why not just let G-d’s words stand for themselves?
“Then why not leave the editorial? Why not just let G-d’s words stand for themselves?”
I don’t know the answer...You will have to take that up with God.
Teachers are a gift from Him to the Church to expound and clarify His Word.
Israel will then do what God had intended for them all along - they will evangelize the world (Matt 24:14; Rev 7:9-14).
God has big plans for his beloved Israel who Satan and the world has always hated.
I am an evangelical Christian and, of all the thousands and thousands of Christians I have met, I have never encountered one of those. They may exist, but they are certainly not evangelical.
Perhaps they are Christian in name only like Obama.
Many don’t realize it, but their denominations’ replacement theology affected their thinking. They would hopefully be appalled to read the filth that Augustine, Aquinas, and Luther wrote about the Jews.
That’s a truth that many if not most Christians miss.
“I believe the Bible shows us that Israel will realize Jesus is their Messiah after the church is taken to Heaven.<< ...”
Interesting. Can you cite chapter and verse? Thank you.
God bless.
Here’s a start.
"In those days and in that time, says The Lord, the people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, weeping as they come; and they shall seek The Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, saying, 'Come, let us join ourselves to The Lord in an everlasting covenant which will never be forgotten.' "My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains; from mountain to hill they have gone, they have forgotten their fold. All who found them have devoured them, and their enemies have said, 'We are not guilty, for they have sinned against The Lord, their true habitation, The Lord, the hope of their fathers.'" (Jeremiah 50:4-7)
"Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who is in travail, together; a great company, they shall return here. With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born. Hear the word of The Lord, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands afar off; say, 'He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.'" (Jeremiah 31:8-10)
"Thus says The Lord God: Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel associated with him; and I will join with it the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, that they may be one in my hand. When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, then say to them, Thus says The Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all sides, and bring them to their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. They shall not defile themselves any more with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God." (Ezekiel 37:19-23)
No one can deny that after nearly 2000 years Israel was once again established as a nation in the land promised it by God. It does not have all the land promised but it will. That event alone should have gotten peoples attention and caused a re-study of prophecy. God has brought that nation back to it’s land as promised but can not deal with them exclusively until “the fullness of the Gentiles” has come in. God will then again deal with Israel as a nation for the last 7 years of the 490 prophesied in Daniel. That is the seven year peace treaty the anti christ mid way through will set himself up in the newly built temple as god. At the end of that seven years will be the battle of Armageddon in which Christ will defeat all the nations that come against Israel and will become their King.
I don’t understand your point of view. Pastor Bill is teaching from Scripture.
I say this with all respect: don’t be so defensive when it comes to sin. We’re all guilty of it and we all deserve God’s wrath, Gentile and Jew alike. Nobody is attempting to denigrate Israel.
Is English your first language?
I didn’t say his words were inspired. God’s words are. Further, God gifts teachers to His church to expound God’s inspired words.
This is part of why I stepped away from standard pre-trib dispensationalism. It doesn't make sense to me that the Jews are to withstand the wrath of the Father, any more than Christians (the gifts and callings of YHWH are irrevocable)- I think we are in this thing together until just before the bowls and vials (the actual wrath of YHWH poured out). I think that by that time, some earth-shaking event (probably Ps83 or the War of Magog) will turn national Israel toward the Father, and reveal Messiah... And through her, Christianity will get a huge wake-up call. ALL of His people will be gathered by the time Messiah comes for His Bride.
It is the same thing all over again - 'whosoever kills you (and/or me) will think he is doing YHWH service'... It's coming again - With bells on - And I think we are all in for it.
I do not believe that the Jews are Christ Killers, where did you hear that? I believe that the Messiah “came unto his own and his own recieved him not...”
I think when the church is raptured to heaven it may be a fairly insignificant event. The tendency is to think that the church will continue to grow and grow and then when its taken it will be devastating for society with all these people missing. I think the opposite. I think there will be relatively few true Christians on earth when that time comes.
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