King Of The Jews - Part 11Lest you think that there is no promise and no hope for a future for Israel, please know that to the contrary, God has great plans for them. What's written in these pages is certainly not anti-Jewish, in fact I personally am an ardent supporter of Israel and the Jewish people wherever they live; to be otherwise would be foolish indeed, but further, I believe that as one studies God's word a deep and abiding love for his chosen people must grow in one's heart. We are charged as followers of God to speak comfortingly to the Jewish people. "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people". Isaiah 40:1 The book of Isaiah is filled with promises of renewal and redemption for Israel. "Come now let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land". Isaiah 18:19 Israel presents a picture of hope for all sinners. Whether Jew or Gentile, we each must make the choice to accept the gift of salvation, to be "willing and obedient". The 11th chapter of Romans presents the case that we are in no position to boast vis a vis our position with God versus that of Israel's. We are compared to wild olive branches that are grafted on to carefully cultivated stock, that we "partakest of the root...of the olive tree". That olive tree is Israel. "I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid". Romans 11:1 Paul continues, "God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew". Romans 11:2 "Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace". Romans 11:5 Though Israel stumbled over Christ, Paul states, "Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come to the Gentiles..." Romans11:11 "Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world... how much more their fulness?" Romans 11:12 "For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?" Romans 11:15 The Church is not the new Israel. This is false teaching. Replacement theology is not biblically sound doctrine. Israel's future begins when the Church departs. Why? Because their blindness ends when "...the fulness of the Gentiles be come in". Romans 11:25 That is a remarkable parallel to the prophetic verse Jesus gave us regarding Jerusalem. "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled". Luke 21:24 As stated previously we are in the 40th year since the retaking of the ancient capital of Israel, Jerusalem. The following is a quote from Ralph Steadman in a series of articles titled, "The Outline of the Future".
"It is a most moving thing to visit that ancient city and see Jews thronging the streets of the Old City once again. Orthodox Jews, with their long curly sideburns and their strange hats and garments stand around looking longingly into temple courts from which they are still excluded because it is such a holy enclosure. Each sabbath at the
Wailing Wall (mp3 clip) Just as the dry bones come together in Ezekiel chapter 37, so has the whole House of Israel come back together, against all odds, a miracle rebirth. No, God is not finished with Israel. "O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me, I have formed thee, thou art my servant. ...return unto me; for I have redeemed thee. Sing ye heavens for the Lord hath done it...the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel". Isaiah 44:21,22,23 This is how strong a relationship that God has with Israel; he declares that they are married. "... for I am married unto you: ... and I will bring you to Zion". Jeremiah 3:14. God who hates divorce, would never contemplate the same with His beloved Israel. He set her aside for a while, but nevertheless they are still married. "O Israel, fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called by you thy name; thou art mine. I am the Lord, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King". Isaiah 43:1,15 The Church is the Bride of Christ and Israel is God's wife. He says of her, "For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth... because the Lord loved you". Deuteronomy 7:6-8 When the time is right, Israel will turn again to the Lord, saying, "Come and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, AS THE LATTER AND FORMER RAIN unto the earth". Hosea 6:1-3 (emphasis added) These verses in Hosea are like a trumpet blowing, loudly proclaiming prophesy. As mentioned earlier, the two days are finished and the third day has begun. Israel will soon recognize their Redeemer, the Messiah ben David, who will appear when the nation is surrounded by Philistines, literally and figuratively, as Palestinians, the Arabs and the rest of the "World", invade the "pleasant land". Messiah ben David will crush all these enemies to powder, as the stone cut out without hands. Truly a refulfillment of David versus Goliath. I believe the reference to the latter and former rains are the realization that Israel has seen Him before and now they see Him again and receive Him proclaiming, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord". Parts of our country are now experiencing drought of near dust-bowl proportions. How welcome is the rain when the earth cries out in thirst, the crops sigh in the barren breezes, the animals yearn for relief from the burning dryness. Dust storms whip the cracked and broken land and teeth are set on edge with the grit, eyes sting with desiccated pollen and flying dirt. Wild fires ravage the brush and forest and man and beast groan for a respite. A farmer once told me that heavy rain in the spring, the former rain, causes the effect of a drought to be more devastating in the summer. Hence, the double portion of joy at the coming of the latter rain. Surely Israel will be doubly glad when they see and recognize Him as Savior and Redeemer when He comes again, like the latter rain. If your soul is parched and dry and your spirit is crying out, "I thirst!", come to the one who promises that He is the Living Water and that "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life". John 3:14 |
