Outline of the Universal Restoration of Literal Israel
The role played by Jews at the end of time has occupied the attention of prophecy students, leading to two major schools of thought:
1. The literal Jews as a nation are not particularly favored insofar as all of the promises pertaining to them are conditional. The Jews failed to satisfy the conditions, so God transfered the promises to the Christian Church, which is now the spiritual Israel; or,
2. The literal Jews as a nation are favored insofar as major promises pertaining to them regarding their occupation of the Promised Land are unconditional. Although the Jews failed to satisfy many conditions relating to their status as the Chosen People -- failures for which they were punished with exile from the Promised Land -- God is faithful to Himself in fulfilling His promises for His own sake in returning the Jews to their Homeland.
I adhere to the second biblical position.
THE RESTORATION OF LITERAL ISRAEL FORETOLD
Numerous passages attest to the intent and prophetic fact of Israel's restoration as a nation. (See footnotes for the text of the following passages.)
Genesis 15:18 [territorial boundaries]
2 Samuel 7:10
Isaiah 11:11, 12
Jeremiah 23:3-8
Jeremiah 30:3, 10, 11, 24
Jeremiah 32:37-41
Jeremiah 33:7
Ezekiel 11:16-20
Ezekiel 36:17-28
Ezekiel 39:25-28
Ezekiel 47:13-23 [territorial boundaries]. See also all of Ezekiel 48.
Amos 9:14, 15
Zechariah 8:3, 22, 23
I am certain that these references could be multiplied, but these should suffice to establish the point that God made promises to the Jews that remain fulfilled.
Israel has never yet in all its fulness possessed the land which God has promised them, although there were significant short-term gains under King Solomon.
COVENANT PROMISES TO ISRAEL NOT TRANSFERRED TO CHRISTIANS
Who or what is "Israel"?
It is not a new question. The Apostle Paul wrote, "For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God" (Romans 2:28, 29).
John the Baptist took up the question of "Israel" when he said to the Pharisees and Sadducees, "And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham" (Matthew 3:9).
The Apostle John took up this question when he wrote to the Church in Smyrna, "I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan" (Revelation 2:9).
When researching this topic, one will quickly discover that there is more than one definition for "Israel". The Hebrew prophets and apostles assert that not every Jew is a "Jew".
The disconnection between Judaism as a religion and the moral culture of the modern Jewish State of Israel is perplexing to those following events in Israel and the Middle East. The foremost complaint regards Israeli mistreatment of Palestinians. Is it possible to bring reason out of this madness?
There is evidence on both sides of the debate to encourage each position, but the weight of the evidence favors a literal restoration of national Israel. In Acts 1:3, 6, 7, we read:
"To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: . . . When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power."
For forty days after the Resurrection, Jesus spoke to the Disciples "of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God". He did not reprove them for holding a belief in the literal restoration of Israel.
The rejection of Jesus Christ by the Jews was foretold. Contrary to popular thinking, probation for the Jews as the Chosen People did not terminate with the stoning of Stephen in 34 A.D. (C.E.), based upon the time reckoning of Daniel 9:24-27. Daniel predicted the rejection of the messiah while intimating a second chance for the Jews through the Coming Prince.
The Book of Acts is thought to have been written by Luke in the 60's A.D. (C.E.), so a transfer of sovereignty from Judaism to Christianity would certainly have been chronicled.
The Apostle John in the Book of Revelation distinguished between Jew and Gentile (7:4-9; 11:2) and saw in vision their cohabitation of the glorified Jerusalem (21:10-14).
IMPLICATIONS OF BIBLICAL "RIGHT OF RETURN" TO MODERN DEBATE
"Zionism" is the term used to discuss the status and future of the Jews as it pertains to their relationship to the traditional Jewish homeland, Israel.
There are different types of Zionism. Political Zionism is represented by Theodor Herzl, founding father of the modern state of Israel. Religious Zionism is represented by the messiah and the future perfected state of Israel.
The prophets Ezekiel and Jeremiah state that the Jews would begin the process of returning to their ancestral homeland in a spiritual condition of unbelief. Thus God turns the stony heart into a heart of flesh. See Jeremiah 32:37-41; 33:7-9; Ezekiel 11:16-20; 20:42-44; 36:24-28; 37:12-14; 39:25-29. The messiah, who arises within the Jewish Dispersion; i.e., outside political Israel (Revelation 13:1); would come later and lead the Jews into possession of messianic Israel, the covenant area covering the Territory from the Nile to the Euphrates rivers. Through "all power and signs and wonders" (2 Thessalonians 2:9), the messiah revives the ancient faith of Israel. The messiah leads Israel into nationwide spiritual condition of belief and the full realization of its biblical national and spiritual glory.
SECULARISM VS. RELIGION
These spiritual and eventual political fortunes are rooted in a biblical worldview. It would be a grave mistake to believe that this view is embraced by a majority of Jewish and Christian adherents, the adherents of competing world religions, and especially the larger number of non-believers.
The latter group are secularists, whose extreme element has hijacked "Liberty" to promote an agenda that excludes religion from public discourse. Far from being defenders of liberty, these extremists are the threat to democracy against which the Founding Father, George Washington, warned when he wrote in his 1796 "Farewell Address",
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."
IDEOLOGICAL BATTLE OF WORLDVIEWS
The pseudo-religious philosophy advocated by secularists is known as Humanism. Adherents promote "human rights" as part of Humanism. Humanism is nearly identical with the traditional revealed religions in their emphasis on social ethics. The major exception of Humanism is its refusal to acknowledge God or a spiritual dimension outside of the purview of scientific inquiry.
Humanism in philosophy and practice is ill-equiped to conquer the monumental challenges facing the modern world. By its inherent self-limitation, Humanism cannot address problems rooted in matters of the spirit. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one such problem, demanding a religio-political solution. At best, Humanists are limited to bandaging symptoms.
No matter how powerful the appeal of the "human spirit", one cannot unite the religions of the world upon the platform of Humanism. Humanism is a philosophy that at its extreme denies the role of God in the human experience. Yet to deny God His rightful place as the arbiter of the spirit is to also deny part of what is essential to our make-up as whole human beings. We are physical, mental, and spiritual and function with optimum health only when these elements act in concert.
The monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) are "revealed"; i.e., they receive their authority and teachings from God, as mediated through His prophets. Humanism, contrarily, is derived, not revealed. It is important to know this insofar as presuppositions that form one's worldview affect the nature of a debate and enhance or minimize communication, especially between secularists and people of faith.
The United Nations, a secular institution, voted to partition the land by late 1948 formerly under British Mandate, thus in effect granting statehood to Israel. Then and since, modern Israel has drawn its fortunes from the forces of secularism. It was anticipated by the prophets that the Jews would begin returning to the Promised Land while they were yet spiritually unconverted. However, the prophets also foresaw her latter glorification once Israel is enlightened by the coming messiah.
The lack of consensus in the Middle East created by the political, secular worldview is compounded by a concurrent lack of consensus in the world religions over the nature of religion, which is reflected in their divergent approaches to the Jewish Question.
RECONCILING THE DEBATE
Given the opposing positions regarding the future of the Jews, are the positions reconcilable?
Yes.
The entire debate in the New Testament -- centered primarily in the writings of the Apostle Paul -- regarding the privileged status of the Jews may be summarized in the context of the relationship between Gentiles and Jews. Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. As Gentile converts joined the faith community, it became necessary to address the inevitable questions arising from a policy of inclusion. Contrary to the position of many modern Christians, Paul's policy of inclusion WAS NOT A POLICY OF EXCLUSION directed toward Jews. No where does Paul explicitly state that the promises pertaining to the Jewish nation transfer to the Christian Church. Rather, Paul wrote:
"Hath God cast away his people? God forbid" (verse 1). And, "Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid" (verse 11). And, "All Israel shall be saved" (verse 26).
The error regarding the status of literal Israel is rooted in a misapprehension of the concept of Dual Messiahs.
"DUAL MESSIAHS" THE KEY TO THE JEW / GENTILE DEBATE
Jesus prophesied that a successor messiah would take His place as the savior designated specifically for the Jews.
Jesus said, "Salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22). And, "I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive" (John 5:43).
Jesus said, "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter" (John 14:16). Jesus was speaking to the Jews. They would have understood Him as meaning that salvation of the Jews would come through a Jew.
When Jesus said in John 14 that He would send Another, He describes him as having a messianic status and function similar to His own. The Old and New Testaments anticipate Dual Messiahs who act in concert, the latter complementing the work of the former. They are not competitive or antagonistic to one another.
The ONLY way Christians can justify a claim that no messiah except Jesus is or will ever be necessary is to SPIRITUALIZE ALL THE TEACHINGS OF THE BIBLE, making other-worldly the concepts of salvation, heaven, the meaning of "Jew", the Temple, Jerusalem, etc. This common spiritualized theology, although comforting on a person level, is quite destructive on a social level. It leads believers to disconnect from the material world and to disdain the simple God-given pleasures of life. Instead of being the "salt of the earth" and acting in the interests of social brotherhood, they withdraw and redirect their hopes in mistaken apocalyptic schemas of the future.
While Christians have vied in their theological schemas over either literal or the spiritual approaches to the unsettled question of the Jews, God has waited to disclose the mystery of the ages. When the "fulness of the Gentiles" has run its course, God reveals His answer to a world in crisis. The crisis, its spiritual and temporal setting, and God's response -- His own second Son -- are recorded in Matthew 24. The advent of the second of the Dual Messiahs is indicated in verse 8 by the "beginning of sorrows"; literally, the messianic "birth-pangs". The advent of the second of the Dual Messiahs, known as the Good Antichrist, corresponds with the "fulness of the Gentiles" because the Gentile Church has completed its Great Commission of going to the ends of the earth in search of this Lost Sheep of the house of Israel. See Matthew 10. Hence, we see a universal decline in Christianity, corresponding with the date of the Antichrist's birth in the 1960's.
According to the Apostle Paul in Romans 11, God extended His blessings to non-Jews, but He never nullified His promises to the Jews or rejected them: "Hath God cast away his people? God forbid" (verse 1). And, "Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid" (verse 11). And, "All Israel shall be saved" (verse 26).
God needs a living Agent in the physical world to fulfill God's literal covenant promises to the literal Jews. In respect to the spiritual salvation of non-Jews, Jesus is enough. In respect to the national salvation of literal Jews; i.e., their literal restoration to the promised covenant domains, Jesus is not enough because He designated this duty to His successor.
CONCLUSION
The weight of the biblical evidence supports the notion that God restores national Israel according to His covenant promises for His own name's sake. The Jews begin to return to their literal, historic homeland while spiritually unconverted. The prophets anticipated this condition, which is reflected in the history of abuses of Palestinians by the Jewish nation. Humanists have raised alarm, recognizing the moral malfunction of Israel, but Humanism as a philosophy is ill-equiped to find a solution to a problem inherently rooted in faith.
Religious adherents of Judaism and Christianity have contributed to the impasse in the Holy Land by failing to recognize the biblical concept of Dual Messiahs. Fundamentalist elements within Evangelical Christianity have aided Jewish repatriation in support of its own apocalyptic vision without a selfless regard for the interests of Jews and Muslims.
While Judaism, Christianity, and Islam vie for the Promised Land, God introduces His own solution by sending the second of the Dual Messiahs, the Good Antichrist, to arbitrate God's will.
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Footnotes:
Genesis 15:18:
"In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates."
2 Samuel 7:10:
"I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime."
Isaiah 11:11, 12:
"And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth."
Jeremiah 23:3-8:
"And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD. Behold, the days come, saith 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, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land."
Jeremiah 30:3, 10, 11, 24:
"For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. . . . Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make [him] afraid. For I
Jeremiah 32:37-41:
"Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: And they shall be my people, and I will be their God: And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul."
Jeremiah 33:7:
"And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first."
Ezekiel 11:16-20:
"Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come. Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence. And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God."
Ezekiel 36:17-28:
"Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman. Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols [wherewith] they had polluted it: And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them. And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These
Ezekiel 39:25-28:
"Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name; After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made [them] afraid. When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; Then shall they know that I
Ezekiel 47:13-23:
"Thus saith the Lord GOD; This [shall be] the border, whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph [shall have two] portions. And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another: [concerning] the which I lifted up mine hand to give it unto your fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance. And this [shall be] the border of the land toward the north side, from the great sea, the way of Hethlon, as men go to Zedad; Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which [is] between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazarhatticon, which [is] by the coast of Hauran. And the border from the sea shall be Hazarenan, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath. And [this is] the north side. And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel [by] Jordan, from the border unto the east sea. And [this is] the east side. And the south side southward, from Tamar [even] to the waters of strife [in] Kadesh, the river to the great sea. And [this is] the south side southward. The west side also [shall be] the great sea from the border, till a man come over against Hamath. This [is] the west side. So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel. And it shall come to pass, [that] ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you: and they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. And it shall come to pass, [that] in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give [him] his inheritance, saith the Lord GOD." See also all of Ezekiel 48.
Amos 9:14, 15:
"And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit [them]; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God."
Zechariah 8:3, 22, 23:
"Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain. . . . Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD. . . . Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days [it shall come to pass], that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard [that] God [is] with you."
Published by Neron Kesar
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