God had chosen a single man and given him a promise. Abraham was called by God to leave his home and go to the place that God would choose. God promised to make a great nation out of his lineage and also promised to bless and curse people according to how they treated his lineage.
Genesis 12:1-3- Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
The last part of the blessing was a promise that all the families of the entire world would be blessed through his offspring. We call the promises given to Abraham the "Everlasting Covenant".
Psalm 105:9-10- Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant:
This everlasting covenant was an eternal promise from God.
Psalm 89:34-35- My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.
God brought the children of Abraham through many things before he finally gave them Caanan, the Promised Land. Why did He make them go through these things? Why make them wait so long to obtain the promised possession?
Genesis 15:13-16- And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
God made them wait because the Amorites who dwelt in the land hadn't surpassed His longsuffering and mercy. Once God had enough of their sins, He would bring the children of Abraham into the land to wipe out the heathen and obtain the possession.
Once the Jews were in the Promised Land, they started a cycle of obeying God and then falling away to worship false idols, getting punished with invading nations, repenting and begging God to save them, obeying God for a time and then falling away to worship false idols again.
God had promised to bless them if they followed Him and obeyed His commandments, but He also promised to curse them if they rejected Him and turned to worship false gods.
Leviticus 26:32-33- And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.
Deuteronomy 30:1-3- And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee, And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.
This cycle continued through the time of the Judges of Israel until the end of the time of the Kings of Israel.
By this time God had had enough! He was going to let the people go into captivity for a long time until they learned their lesson! In 606 BC the Babylonian Captivity of Judah happened. This was after the Assyrian captivity of the lands of Israel. The Jews were ripped out of their Promised Land and forced into a heathen land on the ninth of Av (Jewish calendar date).
Hosea 3:4-5- For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.
But, God's promise to Abraham had not been forgotten.
Ezekiel 36:20-24- And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land. But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
In time, God brought the people back to their land. They rebuilt their temple, but they never regained their king or their prince! Their land was under the rule of first the Babylonians, followed by the Persians, then the Greeks, and then the Romans (and this is when history changed forever).
After 500+ years, the time had come for one of God's promises to Abraham to be fulfilled- the Messiah, the Son of the Lord God Almighty, came to Israel. He fulfilled all of the prophecies of the Old Testament, and was rejected by the religious leaders of the Jews. When He arose as the Lord Jesus Christ and was still rejected by the leaders of the Jews, a new destruction happened.
In 70 AD, Rome came into Jerusalem and on the ninth of Av again destroyed the city and sent the children of Abraham into captivity, this time to the ends of the world.
Now, they were without a king, without a prince, and without a temple and a priest. The prophecy of Hosea had been fulfilled.
But, God hadn't forgotten His promise to Abraham.
In 1891, the father of modern Zionist Movement, William Blackstone, petitioned the world Governments to create a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Following in his steps, Theodor Herzl published his book, The Jewish State: A Modern Solution To The Jewish Question, in 1896.
Luke 21:24- And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
God was sending His chosen people out of the Promised Land until the time of the Gentiles was fulfilled. Just like the iniquity of the Amorites, there is a time period that the Lord is giving the Gentiles to repent of their wickedness. Many will be saved during this time, both Jew and Gentile crying out to God to wash their sins clean by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
This multitude will make up a unique people known as the Church, or the Bride of Christ.
The country of Israel, or Palestine as the Romans would change the name to, would now be ruled by the Romans, Byzantines, Muslims, Seljukes, Crusaders, Mamelukes, Ottoman Turks, British, and then the current inhabitants, the Jews.
An interesting note is that the Muslims didn't capture Israel until AD 638 and they only ruled until the Ottoman Turks lost their control in AD 1918. This defeat was brought on by the British, with the Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour issuing the Balfour Declaration which prepared the land of Palestine (Israel) for the return of the Jewish people.
Ezekiel 37:11-12, 21, 25- Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.
Near the closing of the time of the Gentiles, the Lord will again bring His people the Jews back to their Promised Land- and that is what is happening right now!
After World War II, the United Nations was created to take over for the League of Nations. In 1947, the UN voted to give a small partition of land in Palestine to the Jews. Even though World War I prepared the land for the Jews, the hearts of the Jewish people were not ready to go there. It was the Russian Pograms and the Holocaust of World War II that prepared the Jews to go back to the land of Israel.
The Jews were trying to establish a country of their own in Palestine in 1948, but they were being threatened by the armies of Arab and Egypt. God used the President of the United States of America to fulfill this part of His promise. President Truman was the first to recognize the nation of Israel as it's own country on May 14, 1948; a nation that had been out of existence for over 1,800 years was again reborn!
The prophecies of many of the Old Testament men of God have been fulfilled; even though it's taken two millennia to do so, God's Word has come to pass just like He said it would!
But soon, the time of the Gentiles will come to fruition, God is going to call His Church out of this world and turn His attention again to the Jews, Jerusalem, and the nation of Israel. Israel will again have a king and a priest, but this will only be the beginning of their sorrows.
What Daniel prophesied will then come to pass.
Daniel 11:21-24- And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant. And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people. He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.
The time of Jacob's Trouble will begin. A man who many will accept as the promised Messiah will stand up and peacefully take rule, but it won't last long! God will begin to pour His wrath on man, beast, and nature. The world will become what the post-apocalyptic movies never could imagine!
But, this will only be the beginning.
Revelation 13:1-7- And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
The peaceful ruler will be killed, and then he will resurrect after three days. But he won't be the same for he will be possessed by the devil- Satan in the flesh!
And this will start the Great Tribulation!
Daniel 9:27- And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
All of his peaceful promises will be thrown away, and he will become the most destructive dictator the world has ever known! His tyranny will reach to every corner of the globe, and his corruption will decimate every place on earth!
Daniel 11:36-39- And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.
This man will set up an image and expect everyone to worship it or die!
Revelation 13:13-18- And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
Everyone knows that 666 is bad! But, whoever doesn't take this mark and worship this false idol will be killed. This is known in Daniel as the Abomination that maketh desolate, or the Abomination of Desolation.
The Jews will almost be wiped out! The world will be terribly destroyed. But, God will not forget His promise to Abraham!
Isa 13:6, 9, 11- Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
Jeremiah 39:17- But I will deliver thee in that day, saith the LORD: and thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid.
Joel 1:15- Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
Joel 2:11- And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?
The Lord Jesus Christ is going to come in and save His chosen people. He is going to set up His throne in Jerusalem and bring the Jews back to their Promised Land!
And, He's going to fix the entire world!
Isa 65:19-25 KJV] 19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.
The Lord Jesus Christ is going to make a paradise that's like the garden of Eden!
"Fairy Tales!" you may say, but let me ask you- Has any other nation that has been wiped out for almost two millenia ever come back to the exact spot they use to be and live with the same language, the same name of the country, and the same capitol city? Because, Israel has! God said it way back in Abraham's time, Moses' time, David's time, Daniel's time, and it came to be.
Are you really willing to bet your life on a chance that this is all coincidence?
