This Article: (7 Pages)
- 1.
- 2. A Nation as Witness to God's... Existence
- 3. Restoration of Israel: Evidence of... God's Mercy
- 4. New Testament supports the Old... Testament Prophets
- 5. How ought Christians view the... issue of Israel and the Palestinians?
- 6. Jesus On Jerusalem
- 7. How would Christ view dividing... Jerusalem?
3) Restoration of Israel: Evidence of God's Mercy
Moses prophesied that Israel would be gathered from all the nations where God had scattered them. They would return to the land that God had promised their forefathers as a possession.
Then the LORD thy God will turn your captivity, and have compassion upon you, and will return and gather you from all the nations, where the LORD your God has scattered you. If any of yours be driven out unto the utmost parts of heaven, from there will the LORD your God gather you, and from there will he fetch you: And the LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and he will do you good, and multiply you above your fathers. (Deuteronomy 30: 3-5)
Isaiah proclaimed that Israel would restore and rebuild the land, which would be devastated by generations of invaders.
They that shall be of you shall build the old waste places: you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called, 'The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in'. (Isaiah 58:12)
These prophecies have been fulfilled.
Due to God's mercy and compassion, the nation of Israel, which would be revived, would obtain forgiveness for their sins, as God will fulfil the promises that were made to Abraham. Micah wrote;
Who is a God like unto you, that pardons iniquity, and passes by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retains not his anger for ever, because he delights in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. You will perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which you have sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. (Micah 7: 18-20)
A Christian must see that the mercy they rely on for salvation is also shown to Israel. There remains only a small remnant of Jews, estimated at approximating 15-16 million. Some are in Israel and the rest are still scattered throughout the nations of the world. The remainder of the remnant shall yet return to their homeland,
The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness. (Isaiah 10:21-22)
The Jews have suffered humiliation and persecution, but as a witness to us they will be saved and return to Israel.
But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: you shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end. (Isaiah 45: 17)
And, in addition, once the nation is revived, Israel is promised a king.
Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Therefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD lives, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The LORD lives, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries where I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land. (Jeremiah 23: 5-8)
Modern Israel Still Witnesses today to God's Existence
Humans cannot predict the future with any certainty whatever, but the Bible reveals the end from the beginning. God has declared:
"I am God, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure" (Isaiah 46:10).
The prophets of the Bible accurately predicted that certain nations would totally disappear; Nineveh (Nahum, Zephaniah 2), Babylon (Isaiah 13, Jeremiah 51), Tyre (Ezekiel 26), Edom and Ammon. It said others would remain until the setting up of the Kingdom of God on earth, including Arabia, Persia (after 1935 called Iran), Libya, Ethiopia, Egypt (Ezekiel 29-30) and, in a special case, Israel. It was predicted that "the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt" (Isaiah 19:14-17).
The prophets said after the Jews had been scattered among the nations,
A remnant would be saved.
A remnant would return to their homeland.
Jews have always lived in the land, but after 135AD, they were few in number. In the closing years of the nineteenth century with the Zionist movement, more Jews filtered back into Palestine. But it was not until WW2 when they were driven out of Europe, that large numbers of the remnant of the Jewish pre-war European population sought a homeland. In 1948 the United Nations declared a partition of Palestine, which all Arab Nations rejected, but which gave a homeland for the Jews.
Today we witness a continuing fulfilment of Bible prophecy. You might argue that the New Testament changed things and the Old Testament has little relevance to today. You might consider that Christianity changed the way we should consider the Old Testament.
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The Revelation 12 Sign
There is much written about the sun, moon and planets aligning on in September 2017. We have many reasons for suspecting that 2017 will be a prophetically significant year, and the time of the Jewish feast of Sukkot could be more significant than any other time, but we need to understand the scripture before we consider the stars.
Cyrus the Great encouraged the Jews to rebuild their Temple and return to their homeland.
What the world leaders intend and what God directs may be different things. In this case of the US Administration's action in the UN Security Council the Bible, with an amazing track record, both predicted the situation and indicates the future, which won't be as they hoped. They are on the wrong side of the Maker of history.
