Israel’s Future Restoration & Our Glorious Hope

Amir Tsarfati began his sermon with these words while speaking a few years ago at Calvary Chapel Church in Kaneohe, Hawaii, JD Farag’s church. As I listened to his message and thought about his startling claim, I realized his assertion was totally correct.

“Consider this: If God can break His covenants with such Old Testament champions of the faith as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David, what does that say about His promises regarding our salvation? If God can renege on His unconditional promises to Israel, ones He repeated many times throughout the writings of the prophets and in the Psalms, what does that say about our security?” [i]

You might wonder how Israel’s future relates to our glorious hope in Jesus’ imminent appearing. Does its significance extend beyond our security as believers?

Yes, it does. Those who deny a restoration of Israel carry over their mistreatment of Scripture to New Testament passages referring to the Rapture and to the book of Revelation. And since they do not recognize any prophetic significance to Israel’s reemergence as a nation, they remain blind to the signs of the approaching seven-year Tribulation and fail to warn others of the approaching doom.

It’s for these reasons and more that I always begin my defense of the pre-Tribulation Rapture with the biblical teaching regarding the future restoration of Israel. Such biblical teaching validates our glorious hope in Jesus’ imminent appearing because it confirms the veracity of the prophetic texts supporting it.

As the foundations of our world crumble into dust, we need the encouragement that the Bible gives us regarding our anticipation of the Lord’s return for us. He is the anchor of our hope!

Every day, NATO and Russia creep closer to the start of World War III, which might have deadly consequences for millions of people. Many credible voices predict disastrous worldwide food shortages during 2023. A great many people in Europe and in Ukraine will die his winter as a result of the ongoing battle between Zelenskyy and Putin that has caused a shortage of the natural gas needed to heat homes. In addition, globalists continue their steady campaign of depopulation (click here).

Because of these perilous realities, we need the validation of our glorious hope, which begins with what the Bible tells us about the certain and future restoration of a kingdom to Israel.

“The Lord said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.’”

The pledge of the Father to the Son in these verses verifies that there will be a reign of Jesus on the earth at a time when sin is possible, as evidenced by the need for the Lord to exercise severe discipline during His rule.

The context clarifies that this is a physical rule over the nations of the world, during which time Jesus brandishes a “rod of iron” and dashes the nations “in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Psalm 2:9-10).

Psalm 2 cannot apply spiritually to the church age since Jesus never deals with believers in such a manner. Nor can it represent Jesus’ rule in the eternal state since sin is present.

The only possible fulfillment for the words of Psalm 2 is the future thousand-year rule of Christ, which we refer to as the millennium because of the repeated reference to a thousand years in Revelation 20:1-10.

One cannot deny the reality of a restored kingdom for Israel and at the same time interpret the prophetic words of Scripture in the way the authors intended them at the time they wrote them.

Zechariah prophesied about a time after Jesus’ crucifixion when a great number of the Israelites would repent and recognize Jesus as their Messiah. Using references in the context that cannot apply to anyone else, the prophet foresaw a time when Jacob’s descendants would recognize the One “they have pierced” as their true Messiah and weep, signifying their regret and repentance (Zech. 12:10-13:1).

Zechariah 14:9 later depicts the Lord as “king over all the earth.” This occurs in Jerusalem during a time when rebellion remains possible on the earth (see vv. 16-19). The prophet is not talking about a spiritual reign, nor can one apply these words to the eternal state since there’s again the possibility of disobedience and sin in the context. The words must refer to Jesus’ reign over the nations from Jerusalem.

If Scripture can mean one thing when written and have an entirely different sense at a later time, then we would no longer be able to trust it.

That’s why we must reject the retrofitting of God’s promises to Israel in order to make them apply spiritually to the church.

When Dr. David Reagan, Bible Scholar and founder of the Lamb and Lion Ministry, appeared on Jan Markell’s radio show, he explained how he came to believe in a future restoration of the nation of Israel. It happened as he noticed how Jesus literally fulfilled all the prophecies in the book of Zechariah related to His first coming. That led Dr. Reagan to conclude that there must be a literal fulfillment for the prophecies that remained unfilled regarding Israel and Jesus’ future reign.

The consistency of Bible interpretation demands that we apply a literal interpretation to texts that speak of a future restoration of Israel and reject the spiritualization of such texts.

Isaiah 9:6-7 shows how consistency of interpretation necessitates Christ’s millennial rule. Those who deny a future for Israel agree that Jesus fulfilled this passage when He came into the world as a baby in Bethlehem. However, they switch to a much different mode of interpretation and suddenly regard words in this closely-knit text regarding Christ’s future rule from the “throne of David” as merely symbolic.

If that is the case, why would the angel Gabriel repeat these words from this passage when he announced the Savior’s birth to Mary (Luke 1:32-33)? Why would he tell Mary that Jesus would “reign over the house of Jacob forever” if the passage in Isaiah is symbolic rather than literal? These words relate to a physical kingdom, which is the only possible way that Mary could have understood the words of Gabriel at the time.

Lest you think I’m crazy for including this as an argument for Israel’s future restoration, let me refer you to Jeremiah 31:35-40.

Those who subscribe to the errant teaching that God has replaced Israel with the church tell us that the descendants of Jacob no longer exist as a viable nation in God’s sight. The Lord Himself nixes such teaching in Jeremiah 31:35-36:

“Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the Lord of hosts is his name: ‘If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the Lord, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever.’”

According to the words of the Lord, the continuing existence of the sun, moon, and stars tell us that Israel remains a nation in His sight. As if He anticipated those who would seek a faulty spiritual interpretation of these words, God added a physical description of places in and around Jerusalem, stating that after the city’s future restoration, “It shall not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever” (Jeremiah 31:38-40).

So yes, the sun shining outside my window today confirms Israel’s continuing existence as a nation because the Lord gave us that as one of the signs of it.

History demonstrates that over time, replacement theology leads to a further erosion of biblical truth, thereby opening the door to further doctrinal error. When one retrofits biblical texts in order to make the physical prophecies of a kingdom apply spiritually to the church rather than physically to Israel, it always erodes the integrity of God’s Word. Such teaching always, always leads to heresy over time!

The events of January of 2020 show how such denying a kingdom for Israel leads to further erosion of biblical truth. It was then that churches in Scotland and England, long immersed in replacement theology, disinvited Franklin Graham to speak due to his views on the LGBTQ agenda. Bryan Kerr, a Church of Scotland pastor in Lanark, said this, “Franklin Graham isn’t the voice of Christianity.”

Replacement theology, or amillennialism, always, over time, opens the door to heresy. Absolutely without fail.

The apostle Paul clearly stated that “God has not rejected Israel” (Romans 11:1-2). The proponents of replacement theology tell us that the Lord has rejected Israel. Can you see from just this one example how this errant doctrine erodes confidence in the words of Scripture and later leads to heresy?

God could not have made it any clearer than He did in Chronicles 16:14-16 and in Psalm 105:8-11. In these texts, the Lord states that His covenant of the Land with Abraham, Isaac, and the descendants of Jacob remains in effect forever. Why would God say it’s “an everlasting covenant” if he did not intend us to understand it “as an everlasting covenant?”

If the Lord says something is “everlasting,” it’s exactly that! It just doesn’t just go away because of bad behavior or reach fulfillment in some other mysterious way. The promise of the Land for the descendants of Jacob remains in effect because God assigns the words “everlasting” to it.

In a previous post, The Biblical Necessity of a Third Jewish Temple, I follow the thread of prophecies from Daniel 9:27 through the New Testament, demonstrating that Daniel’s prophecy regarding the desecration of a future Jewish temple remains unfulfilled. Please go to this post for a thorough argument as to why the seventieth week of Daniel, something exclusively for Israel, remains unfulfilled.

Since the antichrist’s sacrilege of the Jewish temple during this final week of years remains unfulfilled, the entire seventieth week of Daniel 9:24-27 must also await a future fulfillment. In other words, the full scope of God’s purposes for choosing Israel has not reached completion.

There must be a time when God’s attention returns to the descendants of Jacob. This alone makes it impossible for one to claim that God has replaced Israel with the church.

In Acts 1:6, the disciples asked Jesus this question moments before His ascension; “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel” (Acts 1:6)?

The Savior responded to their question with these words, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.” (Acts 1:7)

Please notice that Jesus did not contradict, ridicule, or refute the premise of their question that He would restore a kingdom to Israel. Instead, He simply told his disciples they could not know the timing of this restoration as it was something the Father alone had “fixed by his own authority.”

In the Old Testament, the Lord repeatedly promised to “restore the fortunes” of Israel. The disciples had a firm scriptural basis for their question regarding the future restoration of Israel, one that Jesus did not refute or contradict.

Besides the above reasons, we recognize God’s hand at work in the miraculous emergence of Israel as a nation in 1948 and in God’s supernatural of the nation since that time.

Perhaps the most tragic error of those that promote replacement theology is that they remain blind to the signs of the time and don’t believe that we live in the last days. Those who deny the prophetic significance of Israel’s reemergence as a nation also fail to heed Jesus’ command that we watch for His coming.

They might say that Jesus can come at any time, but everything else they teach concerning eternity pushes it to a far distant time that they refer to as “the end of the age.” Sadly, they leave those in their audience totally unprepared for what’s happening in our world and tragically unaware of the nearness of Jesus’ appearing.

All this is to say that the Lord keeps His covenants with and promises to Israel. Likewise, Jesus will keep His promises to us and soon will catch us up to meet Him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

Israel’s future restoration validates our hope as New Testament saints in Jesus’ imminent appearing. Just as God will keep His promises to Israel, so will He fulfill our hope of glory at His appearing.

The apostle Paul stated with great clarity that “God has not rejected Israel” (Romans 11:1-2). The proponents of replacement tell us that the Lord has rejected Israel. Who do you believe?

——>The big clue as to what spirit is impelling the cults is the assertion that saved Believers can lose their salvation.

Then those BELIEVERS can’t SIN, or be JUDGED. They don’t have to keep God’s LAW, because to them, THERE IS NO LAW. The God who never changes, has no law? The ark of his testament seen in His temple in Rev 11:19, contains no law? The problem for them is that where there is no law, there is no sin. And, there certainly is sin in this world. OSAS/OJAJ. Sin, Sin some more, enter heaven into God’s loving arms.

Ridiculous assertion.

18And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

19And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

“a” chief messenger - just like in Daniel where Michael is ONE OF the “princes” i.e. chief messengers.

Michael is a created angel.

I am very puzzled by why the creators of Adventism, came up with the concept of Jesus as the angel Michael.

Michael - “who is like God?” - is referred to in Daniel (6th century BC).
Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.

He’s also considered in Rabbinical Judaism and Pharisaic Judaism as the chief advocate for Israel among the angels.

But nowhere do they say the “Who is like God” is a comparison as you Adventists do.

No-one for 2400 years before Ellen G White and others created Seventh Day Adventist, no one considered Michael as God Jesus.

Why do you come up with such innovations?

——>And Thess 4 is saying “with the voice of an archangel” - meaning loud for all to hear

The KJV says “the” archangel. And, no created being is able to raise the dead with their voice. Other translations have it not as a shout, but a COMMAND, as in commanding the dead in Christ to rise. Christ and Michael are one in the same. Christ is “called” Michael, another name/title.

Why would Catholics believe that created beings can raise the dead? Doesn’t make any sense.

Why would you say the Archangel is the one who shouts “loud for all to hear”, when the subject of the text is the “Lord”? And, it’s not a shout, it’s a command, to raise the dead. John 5 makes that very clear. Your statement doesn’t make any sense.

16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

t 1 Thess 4:16 the “the” is added into the KJV.

The Greek of the phrase in 1 Thess 4:16 is φωνῇ ἀρχαγγέλου = “voice/sound of archangel”. There is no definite article in the Greek

Back to 1 Thess 4:16. The need or otherwise of a definite article before “archangel” is debateable here. The word archangel only occurs twice in the NT: here and in Jude 9. In the Hebrew it also occurs in Dan 12:1 and simply means a leader of the angels.

So the translation would be more apt of “voice of archangel” - with it being ambiguous linguistically speaking on whether it is “the” or “an”

Jesus is not Michael, Jesus is God.
Michael is a created being - one of the archangels. i.e. “Princes of angels” as Daniel 12 indicates

——>And, no created being is able to raise the dead with their voice.
God can delegate authority. Mat 8:9-13

It’s a moot point. John already declares that it is Christ’s voice that will raise the dead. What God “can or could” do is irrelevant on this subject.

Again...crystal clear from the bible.

“The apostles, John and Paul, give a good example of how two texts can describe the same event, but in slightly different ways. Paul says dead believers are resurrected at the voice of the Archangel. “For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16) John records that the Lord Jesus said the dead righteous would be resurrected at the sound of His own voice. “I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. . . . And He has given Him authority to judge because He is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice and come out – those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.” (John 5:25-29) These parallel passages are speaking of the same event. Paul, in Thessalonians, calls it “the voice of the Archangel” and John, in His gospel, calls it “the voice of the Son of God.”

A created angel can’t raise the dead - did you even read the Bible?

It says clearly

“16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:”

It’s not an angel doing this.

it’s not Michael, one of the archangels doing this.

It is Jesus doing it - with the voice of AN archangel.

There are multiple archangels.

Daniel 10:13
“
But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.”

ONE of the chief princes i.e. ONE of the archangels.

It is blasphemy to suggest that Jesus is Michael.

The Jews for 1000 years before Christ (and even the Rabbinical Jews today) emphatically say that Michael is just an archangel.

The Christians for 1850 years emphatically said that Michael was an archangel - one of the archangels and definitely not Jesus.

Only your 19th century cult created that fantasy

——>A created angel can’t raise the dead - did you even read the Bible?

1 Thes 4: (KJV)...many other translations also use “the”
16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of THE archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

...with the voice of THE archangel

——>It’s not an angel doing this.
——>it’s not Michael, one of the archangels doing this.
——>It is Jesus doing it - with the voice of AN archangel.

John 5 CLEARLY states that it is THE voice of Jesus Christ that will raise the dead. No doubt about it.
“when all who are in their graves will hear His VOICE and come out.”

1 Thes 4 also CLEARLY states that it is Jesus Christ that will raise the dead, with the VOICE of the archangel (or chief messenger). Voice is mentioned in John 5, and Voice is mentioned in 1 Thes 4. That voice is from Jesus Christ, who is also known as/called/title Michael the Archangel.

Do the dead in Christ come out of their graves when they hear a CREATED angel’s voice? Nope. Michael the Archangel is another NAME/TITLE for Jesus Christ, that He used in the OT. Same for Angel of God/the Lord. Same for Angel of the Covenant. Same for Captain of the host of the Lord (Captain of the Lord’s host.

Paul COULD HAVE SAID...with the voice of the captain of the Lord’s host, or, angel of the Lord, or, angel of the covenant, or, angel of God...because He was also known as all of those names/titles. Paul chose “voice of the ARCHANGEL” which preincarnate Jesus Christ was also known as.

“As this study shows, according to scriptures, Jesus is the angel of the LORD, the angel of God, the angel of the covenant, the Archangel Michael, who appeared time and again in the Old Testament to speak directly to His people. Michael is just another title for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh, the principle messenger of the gospel (archangel) to humanity, but He is not a created being.”

http://www.biblelightinfo.com/michael.htm

---->There are multiple archangels.

No, there are not. And making up fake names for fakes archangels is blasphemy.

---->ONE of the chief princes i.e. ONE of the archangels.

Adding to the Word of God is Blasphemy. Chief princes does not even remotely suggest Archangels.

---->It is blasphemy to suggest that Jesus is Michael.

Unless He truly is (also known as, name/title), and He is.

13. Prince. Heb. śar, a word occurring 420 times in the OT, but apparently never with the meaning “king.” It refers to a king’s chief servants (Gen. 40:2, translated “chief”), to local rulers (1 Kings 22:26, translated “governor”), to Moses’ subordinates (Ex. 18:21, translated “rulers”), to the nobles and officials of Israel (1 Chron. 22:17; Jer. 34:21, translated “princes”), and especially to military commanders (1 Kings 1:25; 1 Chron.

The heavenly Being who appeared to Joshua at Jericho is termed “the captain [Heb. śar] of the Lord’s host” (Joshua 5:14, 15). Daniel frequently uses this word in reference to supernatural beings (Dan. 8:11, 25; 10:13, 21; 12:1). On the basis of these observations some have conjectured that śar denotes a supernatural being who at that time was standing in opposition to the angels of God, and who was trying to direct the course of the kingdom of Persia against the best interests of God’s people. Satan has ever been eager to declare himself the prince of this world. The basic issue here was the welfare of God’s people as against their heathen neighbors. Inasmuch as Michael is declared to be the “prince [śar] which standeth for the children of thy people” (ch. 12:1), it does not seem unreasonable that the “prince of the kingdom of Persia” would be a self-styled “guardian angel” for that country from among the hosts of the adversary. That the conflict was against the powers of darkness is clear: “ 12:21, translated “captains”). In this last sense it appears in the expression śar haṣṣaba’, “commander of the army” (the same expression translated “prince of the host,” Dan. 8:11), on one of the Lachish ostraca, a letter written by a Judean army officer to his superior, probably at the time of Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest of Judah in 588–586 B.C., during the time that Daniel was in Babylon (see Vol. II, pp. 97, 98; see Jer. 34:7).

On the other hand, śar may be used in the common sense of “ruler,” and in that sense would refer to Cyrus, king of Persia. So understood, the angels of heaven are seen striving with the king, that he might render a verdict favorable to the Jews.

SDA Bible Commentary

——>The Christians for 1850 years emphatically said that Michael was an archangel - one of the archangels and definitely not Jesus.

....with the voice of the archangel; so Michael is called, in Judges 1:9 with which compare Revelation 12:7 and who perhaps is no other than Christ himself, who is the head of all principality and power; and the sense be, that Christ shall descend from heaven with a voice, or shall then utter such a voice, as will show him to be the archangel; or as the Syriac version renders it, “the head”, or “prince of angels”; and which whether, it will be an articulate voice, such as was expressed at the grave of Lazarus; or a violent clap of thunder, which is the voice of God; or the exertion of the power of Christ, is not certain: it is added,

John Gill (commentary on 1 Thes 4:16)

Another “parallel” verse (s):

Daniel 12:
1And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

2And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Michael and Jesus Christ are one in the same.

“Greek New Testament (Interlinear) with Strong’s Numbers”

1st Thess 4:16, in part:

ο
G3588
T-NSM
ὁ
the

κυριος
G2962
N-NSM
κύριος
lord

εν
G1722
PREP
ἔν
in

κελευσματι
G2752
N-DSN
κέλευμα
a cry of incitement

εν
G1722
PREP
ἔν
in

φωνη
G5456
N-DSF
φωνή
a tone

αρχαγγελου
G743
N-GSM
ἀρχάγγελος
a chief angel

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