Why Israel and the Jews matter (Ver 3)

Introduction:

There are those who will contend that the Church has replaced Israel, the Jews have no future role, and the modern state of Israel was either created by happenstance or by some nefarious plot. Such views are often intertwined with replacement theology, allegory, and modern conspiracy theories.

But if we shift the paradigm by connecting the right prophetic dots and having the proper eschatological framework, a different picture emerges. This view is based upon dispensationalism, covenant theology, and literalism (i). These are prerequisites that not everyone accepts. However, I will contend it is the only view that explains two perplexing enigmas: why Jews have been one of the most persecuted people in history, and why the world is so fixated over the tiny state of Israel.

The Covenant

God chose Abraham among the nations to create a people for His own (Gen 12:1–3). He then made an "everlasting" covenant with Abraham and his descendants (Gen 17:7-8). A series of additional covenants were made with them. Some of those subsequent covenants were unconditional while others remained conditional and came with certain blessings and cursings.

Israel fell into a pattern of disobedience and was often compared to an unfaithful wife who cheated on her husband (Yahweh). Time and time again, God called on Israel to repent and promised that if they did, they would be forgiven:

Zec 1:3 Therefore, say to the people, ‘This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.’

Other scriptural support: Jer 3:12-14, Jer 31:34, Eze 18:21-22, Isa 43:25, Isaiah 44:22, Joel 2:12-13, 2 Ch 7:14, Hos 14:1-2

Israel refused to repent and turn from their wicked ways. As a result, several things happened due to their disobedience:

1) They were besieged by their enemies and defeated.

2) They lost possession of the land, and it became desolate.

3) They were scattered among the nations of the world and often faced discrimination and persecution.

God forewarned them this would happen (Deu 28:15-68). The Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrians, and the ten northern tribes were dispersed across their empire. The kingdom of Judah was conquered by the Babylonian empire and never regained its sovereignty. After the destruction of the second temple in 70 AD by the Romans and the last Jewish revolt was put down in 136 AD, most, not all, of the southern two tribes were scattered across the world, known as the diaspora. That, however, was not the end of the story. God not only declared that He could forgive them but also promised they would be restored on the condition that they returned to Him:

Deu 30:1 In the future, when you experience all these blessings and curses I have listed for you, and when you are living among the nations to which the LORD your God has exiled you, take to heart all these instructions.

Deu 30:2 If at that time you and your children return to the LORD your God, and if you obey with all your heart and all your soul all the commands I have given you today,

Deu 30:3 then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes. He will have mercy on you and gather you back from all the nations where he has scattered you.

Other scriptural support: Jer 3:22, Jer 50:4-5, Eze 11:17-20, Eze 36:24-28, Eze 16:60–62, Isa10:21, Isa 11:11–12, Isa 54:7, Hos 3:5, Hos 6:1-3, Hos 14:4–7

Romans 11 confirms that God is not done with his people. Paul identifies his people as ethnic Israel, not the Church. He goes on to say that God has allowed the hearts of Israel to be hardened and blinded for a time, until the fullness of the Gentiles, to allow salvation to come to the Gentiles and provoke Israel to jealousy. But Israel will eventually accept God’s salvation, and their descendants will be holy.

Israel is representative of the olive tree (ii), and the gentiles are the branches. The gentiles were grafted into the olive tree, but they are not the root. For this reason, Paul warns us that we shouldn’t become haughty because God can just as easily break us off.

God declared that if Israel turns from their unbelief, He has the power to graft them back into the tree. Ultimately, God, in His mercy, will take away their sins, and all Israel will be saved. It will now be established that those promises are in the process of being fulfilled.

The Restoration

In the early 20th century, several events transpired that had prophetic parallels (iii):

-The state of Israel was born in a single day in 1948. This fits perfectly with a rhetorical question asked by the prophet Isaiah: "Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once?" (Isa 66:8).

-Israel has not only survived but thrived despite ongoing wars, boycotts, and terrorist attacks since its founding. This resilience corresponds to what the prophet Amos declared: "I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them," says the Lord your God. (Amos 9:15)”.

-The Jews began to return to Israel. Jeremiah had prophesied, "Hear the word of the Lord, O nations; proclaim it in distant coastlands: `He who scattered Israel will gather them and will watch over his flock like a shepherd. ' (Jer 31:10). Likewise, Ezekiel prophesied: "Therefore say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel."'" ' (Eze 11:17)

-The land began to flourish again. Deuteronomy foretold that the land would become desolate because of Israel's idolatry (Deu 29:23) (iv). However, Ezekiel 36:35 says, "So they will say, 'This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities [are now] fortified [and] inhabited." Likewise, Isaiah 35:1 prophesied, "The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." (Isa 35:1)

These historical events parallel prophetic passages that speak of restoration and regathering. But why the state of Israel? For starters, for them to be regathered, they needed a place to be regathered to. It wouldn’t be practical for them to be regathered in this day and age and not become a nation again. It’s also important because it sets the stage for two significant end-time events:

1) Zechariah 12:3 talks about Jerusalem becoming a burdensome stone. Likewise, Revelation 16:12-16 talks about all the armies of the whole world gathering for the battle of Armageddon (in present Megiddo, Israel). The region of the world did not become relevant or a focal point until Israel became a nation and captured Jerusalem.

2) The physical restoration is laying the groundwork for something far greater: the spiritual restoration of Israel. The nation-state of Israel is a means to that end. The important point is that there has to be a physical restoration before there is a spiritual restoration.

The Redemption

Prophecy is oftentimes like putting the pieces of a puzzle together. In isolation, one piece of the puzzle doesn’t reveal much. It’s only after all the pieces are assembled that the full picture is revealed. In order to understand the spiritual restoration of Israel, we must follow the same process by putting together the prophetic pieces of the puzzle.

Zechariah is a very prophetic book. Chapters 9-14, in particular, deal with the end times and the return of Christ. In the latter days, all the nations of the world will come to battle against Jerusalem. Half the population will go into exile (taken captive) while the other half will remain in the city. It says the Lord will go forth to fight against those nations (Zec 14:2-3). 

Zechariah 13:8-9 adds additional details. Two-thirds will be cut off from the land, but one-third will remain and go through the fire and come out refined. They will call on the Lord, and He will hear them. We can infer the fire to be the Great Tribulation, also known as Jacob's Trouble.

When Jesus returns at the Second Coming, he sets his foot on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, to fight against those nations attacking Israel (Zec 14:3). But Scripture suggests that his first stop is actually Bozrah:

Mic 2:12 "I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men."

But why Bozrah? Bozrah was located in the ancient territory of Edom, which roughly corresponds to modern-day Jordan. Within this same geographic region lies an ancient rock city called Petra by the Greeks. The biblical descriptions of Bozrah/Edom describe mountainous, rocky terrain and fortified strongholds and correspond remarkably well to Petra and the surrounding areas.

Petra was built entirely out of rock and is surrounded by mountains and cliffs. The primary entrance is a very narrow gorge only accessible by foot or horseback, making it easy to defend. Water is supplied by hundreds of underground cisterns and aqueducts. This combination would make Petra a perfect place of refuge for the woman (Jewish remnant) to flee to the wilderness (desert) for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, or three and a half years (Rev 12:6), during the Great Tribulation.

There is another clue in Daniel 11:41 that tells us this is the right location. It says there are three ancient nations that will escape the Antichrist’s grasp: Edom, Moab, and Ammon. Those ancient nations no longer exist, but the geographical locations they once occupied do and correspond to modern-day Jordan, exactly where Petra is located. Jeremiah 49:13-14 suggests the Antichrist forces will prepare to invade Bozrah, likely near the end of the three and a half years:

"For I have sworn by Myself,” says the Lord, “that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse. And all its cities shall be perpetual wastes. I have heard a message from the Lord, and an ambassador has been sent to the nations: 'Gather together, come against her, and rise up to battle!'"

It will be a Red Sea moment for the Jewish remnant. They will be surrounded by their enemies with nowhere to run. And just like the Hebrews in Egypt, God will allow them to be put into a position where they have no other recourse but to turn to Him and call on Him. In fact, this appears to be a prerequisite for Jesus’ return:

Mat 23:39 “for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ ”

Hos 5:15 I will return again to My place Till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”

The “offense” mentioned by Hosea is outlined in the Book of Daniel 9:24: “Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy." Daniel says the purpose of the Great Tribulation is, among other things, to “finish the transgression."

What is the transgression that Daniel speaks of? Certainly, Judah had many transgressions. But there is one very significant transgression that continues to this day: the rejection of Jesus as the Messiah. Once this offense is acknowledged, then Matthew and Hosea suggest Jesus will return to save them, which will lead to national restoration.

Zec 12:10 “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.

Rev 19:13 He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God.

Rev 19:14 The armies of heaven, dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed him on white horses.

Why is Jesus’ robe dipped in blood? Because he had just come from destroying the Antichrist forces at Bozrah. Isaiah expounds on this:

Isa 63:1 Who is this who comes from Edom, from the city of Bozrah, with his clothing stained red? Who is this in royal robes, marching in his great strength? “It is I, the LORD, announcing your salvation! It is I, the LORD, who has the power to save!”

Isa 63:2 Why are your clothes so red, as if you have been treading out grapes?

Isa 63:3 “I have been treading the winepress alone; no one was there to help me. In my anger I have trampled my enemies as if they were grapes. In my fury I have trampled my foes. Their blood has stained my clothes.

Isa 63:4 For the time has come for me to avenge my people, to ransom them from their oppressors.

At the very end of the Great Tribulation, Israel’s restoration and redemption is complete. Just as the prodigal son returned to his father, acknowledged his transgressions, and was welcomed back, the Jews will return to the Father, acknowledge their transgressions, and be welcomed back into the fold.

Conclusion

It is not that they are more important or deserving than anyone else. It’s that God made an everlasting covenant with them, and in His great mercy and namesake, He will keep those promises. They may have broken covenant and have borne the consequences, but God still desires redemption and reconciliation. That is what the Book of Hosea is all about. It's also what Scripture says will happen, and what fulfilled prophecy is proving is happening.

It doesn’t matter how or why Israel came into being. What matters is that Israel is prophetically important, and that God is using it for His express purposes. Israel exists as a focal point to gather God’s people, confront His enemies, and fulfill His covenant promises.

The rulers, powers, and principalities have their own plans that run in direct opposition to God. They have no desire for Christ's return. Satan attempted to stop Jesus' first coming and was unsuccessful. He would like to thwart Jesus’ Second Coming by targeting the Jews (v) for the reasons already presented. 

And because Satan is the god of this world (2Co 4:4), the world follows suite. This explains why Jews have experienced such persistent persecution throughout history and why Israel attracts such extraordinary attention relative to its size. At its core, it has always been a spiritual battle. We are merely seeing the physical manifestation of it.

Footnotes:

(i) By taking a literal approach to Scripture, I don’t deny things like symbolism and idioms exist. The context determines how it should be interpreted.

(ii) Paul would have used imagery his audience was already familiar with. Jeremiah 11:16 had previously established that the olive tree is Israel. Isaiah 5:1–7 & Psalm 80 associate Israel with the vine/vineyard. Extra-biblical works, such as 4 Ezra, also compare Israel to the vine.

(iii) There is something known as a dual fulfillment prophecy. A prophecy can have a short-term “near” fulfillment and a long-term “far” fulfillment.

(iv) During the Ottoman Empire the Turks placed a tax on every living tree. The more trees on a person's property, the more taxes they had to pay. In an attempt to avoid the tax, trees were cut down in mass, which ravaged the landscape and made the land desolate. In 1867 Mark Twain, visiting Israel, then called Palestine, wrote, "Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes. Over it broods the spell of a curse that has withered its fields and fettered its energies. There is hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive and cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, have almost deserted the soil."

(v) When I refer to the Jews, I’m also including the other tribes of Israel. Prior to the fall of the Kingdom of Israel and the dispersion of the northern tribes throughout the Assyrian Empire, it is expected that some would have migrated south to the Kingdom of Judah, whether it was to escape war or due to religious reasons (2 Ch 11:13-17). Even after the fall of the Kingdom of Israel, many of the rural population, the poor, and the old remained. They would have later assimilated and became identified as Jews. Regardless, God knows who the "lost" tribes are today.