I invite those who may be unfamiliar with the importance of the Jewish people and state of Israel in our heavenly Father’s purposes to read my dear friend’s incisive article, for which I express my admiration and gratitude:
ISRAEL IN THE END TIMES
Background
At its opening, the Bible quickly moves to the fall of man, brought about by satan’s lies and trickery. Then follows God’s sovereign selection of Abraham and his descendants, as His chosen people, and His everlasting covenant with them. The Bible continues with how the Jews became established in Israel, and the story of their triumphs, failures, trials and tribulations. The Old Testament (OT) prophets predicted the First Coming of Jesus and the events of His life, death and resurrection. The New Testament (NT) describes how Jesus accurately fulfilled those OT prophecies. The NT provides details about the work of the apostles and disciples in spreading the Gospel, evangelising Gentiles and establishing churches.
At its close, the Bible describes a time of great tribulation, before Jesus returns and satan is defeated.
All the prophecies relating to the First Coming of Jesus were fulfilled. That is miraculous (supernatural) and has huge implications for our appreciation of the many prophecies concerning the Second Coming of Jesus. If the “First Coming” prophecies have been fulfilled, we can be certain that prophecies concerning his Second Coming will also be fulfilled.
The Significance of Israel
One of the key events predicted in both the OT and NT, is the restoration of the Nation of Israel. Jesus said that this would be a sign of the times, i.e., of the End Times, the climax of history. The events surrounding and following the restoration of the Nation of Israel, and the return of the Jewish people to their ancient homeland in 1948, were accurately prophesied in extraordinary detail in many scriptures, written thousands of years before the events took place. In reality, the 1948 restoration was a response to the “never again” cry after the Holocaust. However, it transpires that “never again” did not mean the Jews would never again be persecuted. What it does mean is that the Jews have determined that never again will they be led to their
slaughter like unsuspecting sheep!
The endurance of Jewish customs, practices and traditions, which they maintained whilst scattered throughout the world for nearly nineteen hundred years, is an
incredible phenomenon. It is, quite frankly, a mystery and a miracle that the Jewish people and their national identity survived. Since 1948 they have, with God’s help, successfully defended their Nation from several attacks by seemingly much more
powerful enemies. Now, in 2024, they are again fighting for their survival.
Why Israel Has to Survive
Why has Israel survived, and why must it survive? The answer, in part, to this vital question can be found in the oft neglected NT chapters 9 to 11 of Romans, which focus on the importance of the Jewish people. The author, the Apostle Paul, was himself Jewish and loved the Jewish people, longing for them to see what he had come to understand – that Jesus is the Son of God and their Messiah. He hoped and prayed that the Gentiles in the churches he founded would recognise and understand that the Jewish ancestry of Jesus, and the history of the Nation of Israel, are foundational and essential elements to the Christian faith.
It is to this history and destiny that the Apostle Paul refers in Romans 9-11. Paul points out that the Jewish people are God’s chosen people. They are the nation whom the Father adopted out of His great love. And although Israel appears to have failed to fulfil its destiny, that does not mean that God has in any way decreed that His adoption of Israel is null and void. As far as Paul is concerned, once adopted, always adopted. God has made an everlasting covenant with His people Israel. The church has not replaced Israel.
By God’s grace, Gentile believers in Jesus are like wild olive branches that have been grafted into the cultivated olive tree – a tree made up of faith-filled Israelites since the time of Abraham. Gentile believers are now a part of faithful Israel’s story. Indeed, we cannot and must not separate ourselves from that story.
In this time of grace, the Gentiles can hear and respond to the Good News about Jesus and come to enjoy the blessings of the promises given to Israel, not least the promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Paul speaks about a time when the Jewish people – his own people – will no longer be blinded by their unbelief about Jesus. Vast numbers will see the Deliverer from Zion (Jesus). The veil will be lifted from their understanding and they will then know that Jesus is their Messiah. As Paul prophesies in Romans 11:26: “All Israel will be saved.” Jews will come to believe in Jesus in such numbers that we will be able to say that the nation of Israel as a whole has been saved.
In summary: there is a time-frame in which,
(a) the Gospel is preached primarily to those who are not Jewish “until the full number of the Gentiles has come in”; i.e, until the number of non-Jews who confess Jesus as Lord is complete. That number, and the date when it will be reached, is known only in heaven.
(b) Until that time, there is a remnant of faithful Jews who are chosen by grace (Romans 11:5); these are Jewish people who have chosen, like Paul, to confess that Jesus is Messiah and Lord. When the full number of Gentiles has come in, Paul was certain that circumstances will be such that the Jewish remnant will turn from godlessness and
look upon the one whom they pierced and weep in repentance. There will be a great move of the Holy Spirit among the Jewish people – so great that we will be able to
joyfully declare the fulfilment of the prophecy: “All Israel will be saved!”
The Devil’s Rage
Hopefully you can see why the Jewish people had to survive. In spite of being exiled from the Land that was promised to them by Almighty God, in spite of expulsions
from other alien lands that they inhabited thereafter, in spite of periods of intense and violent persecution in many different places over thousands of years, in spite of the “Final Solution”, the appalling, demonic onslaught of the Holocaust (Hitler’s murder of 6 million Jews, in his attempt to obliterate them), the Jewish people have survived!
And, as already discussed, three years after the end of the Holocaust, part of the Promised Land was miraculously restored to the Jewish people: Israel was re-established as a nation, and Jews have returned from dispersion (the Diaspora).
Why has this enduring vindictiveness been so intense? Because satan knows what the Bible says, albeit he is blinded to the reality that he cannot win. He has been desperate to prevent or postpone the establishment of appropriate (prophesied)
conditions for the Second Coming. That is why the Jewish people have been subjected to sustained attempts by the forces of evil to wipe them out.
How it must torment and anger satan that the Jewish people have, against all the odds, survived his various onslaughts. Furthermore, satan’s seeming successes have proved to be failures. How he must have wailed when Jesus rose from the dead. How he must have wept when Israel was restored as a nation in 1948. And, above all, how he must be howling today as this tiny Nation is so vigorously and effectively responding to demonic atrocities perpetrated by Hamas and built on by Iran and its other proxies.
The End-Game
Satan is now provoking unprecedented world-wide genocidal hatred of the Jews. Many of the world’s leaders, and millions of people supporting the “Palestinian cause”, cannot see, or refuse to accept (are denying the truth), that a fundamental tenet of radical Islam is the destruction of Israel and the extermination of all Jews. Radical and apocalyptic Muslims see “ethnic cleansing” of Jews as a religious duty. Any compromise or appeasement with such blood thirsty and diabolical fanatics, however tempting the short-term gains may appear, would lead to disaster.
Satan is continuing his endeavours to ensure that there is no Nation of Israel to which Jesus can return. Things are getting ever more intense and chaotic, and satan certainly appears to be succeeding in rallying the world against the Jews. However, it is clear from Biblical prophecy that God foreknew the things we are witnessing. He has given us all the information we need to read the “signs of the times” and to stand firm in the knowledge that Victory is assured. Our certain hope is in the truth of the Word of God: He will deal with the enemies that surround Israel (Zechariah 12) and Jesus will return (Matthew 24, Revelation 1 et al), and He will take His throne in Jerusalem, as King of Israel; albeit there will only be a remnant of the Jewish people (Zechariah 13:8-10).
Then “never again” will truly mean NEVER AGAIN
Jesus says “Yes, I am coming soon.”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
Neil Mackereth is the author of SIGNS – The Significance of Bible Prophecy and click for an introduction and for his many articles on Richard’s Watch
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” — the Apostle Paul (Romans 1:16)
UPDATED: As the modern State of Israel turns 68 years old, the citizens and residents of this tiny country find themselves facing serious threats. But amidst all the sobering headlines, there is much good news, too.
Richard's Watch 