Prophecy

Israel My People

Through Abraham All Nations of the World Would Be Blessed

Genesis 12:1–3 — The Call of Abram

Now the LORD said to Abram: "Get out of your country, and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."Genesis 12:1–3

These verses mark a pivotal point in Genesis and redemptive history as God begins to establish a covenant people for Himself in fulfillment of the promise He made in Genesis 3:15: "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel." In this prophecy Satan would wound the future Messiah but ultimately be crushed by Him.

The progress of God's redemptive plan is evident in His setting Abraham apart and making Israel a great nation. It climaxes in Jesus Christ, the true seed of Abraham, who brings salvation to the world. The builders of Babel sought to make their own name great. Here God promises to make Abraham's name great, along with land and blessing.⁽¹⁾

Genesis 17:5 — Father of a Multitude of Nations

"No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I will make you the father of a multitude of nations."Genesis 17:5

Abraham is the physical father of several nations — Israel through Isaac, the Ishmaelites through Ishmael, and the Edomites through his grandson Esau. But this promise finds its final fulfillment in the multitude of people from every tribe, language, and nation who share the faith of Abraham and are baptized into Jesus Christ.⁽²⁾

Genesis 32:27–28, 30 — Jacob Becomes Israel

So He said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." And He said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and men and have prevailed." So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved."Genesis 32:27–28, 30

The "Man" is implicitly identified as God Himself — a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ.⁽³⁾

Deuteronomy 14:1–2 — A Holy People, God's Own Possession

"You are the sons of the LORD your God... For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; and the LORD has chosen you to be a people of His own possession out of all the people who are on the face of the earth."Deuteronomy 14:1–2

The conception of a father-son relationship between God and Israel was used to illustrate God's provision and care for His people, and the reason underlying His disciplining of them.⁽⁴⁾

Deuteronomy 32:7–10 — The Song of Moses

"Remember the days of old, consider the years of all generations, ask your father and he will inform you, your elders, and they will tell you. When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples, according to the number of the sons of Israel. For the LORD's portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye."Deuteronomy 32:7–10

For Israel the historical events of the past were like a map on which the movements of God could be traced. But the significance of history lay not in antiquarian interest, but in the conviction that the God who had acted in the past would continue to act in the lives and affairs of His people, and that His acts in the past were of continuing significance for the present and the future. The sovereignty of God over all men and nations is expressed, but it is stated in such a way as to emphasize His particular concern for His chosen people.⁽⁵⁾

Deuteronomy 4:25–27 — The Warning of Exile

"When you become the father of children and children's children and have remained long in the land, and act corruptly, and make an idol in the form of anything, and do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD so as to provoke Him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you shall surely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it. You shall not live long on it but shall be utterly destroyed. And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you shall be few in number among the nations where the LORD shall drive you."Deuteronomy 4:25–27

After the glory of Solomon's reign, the people fell into idolatry and immorality. After the kingdom was divided in two — between northern Israel and southern Judah — Moses's prophecy came true. The northern kingdom was driven into exile by the Assyrians in 722 B.C., and the southern kingdom of Judah was taken to Babylon in 586 B.C. After a seventy-year exile prophesied by Jeremiah, they returned to Jerusalem to rebuild their city (Jeremiah 25:9–13).

Deuteronomy 18:18–19 — Moses Prophesies the Messiah

"I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words that He shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of Him."Deuteronomy 18:18–19

Jesus was like Moses in several ways: He was spared death as a baby (Matthew 2:13–23); He renounced a royal court (Philippians 2:5–8; Hebrews 11:24–27); He had compassion on His people (Numbers 27:17; Matthew 9:36); He made intercession for the people (Deuteronomy 9:18; Hebrews 7:25); He spoke with God face to face (Exodus 34:29; 2 Corinthians 3:7); and He was the mediator of a covenant (Deuteronomy 29:1; Hebrews 8:6–7).⁽⁶⁾

He also, like Moses, did signs and wonders. Besides healing the sick and casting out demons, there is no greater wonder than raising the dead, which Jesus did on three occasions according to the Gospels: the raising of the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11–17), of Jairus's daughter (Mark 5:21–24), and the raising of Lazarus (John 11:1–44). The Jews of Jesus's day had a mixed reaction to Him — some thought He was the Prophet, others thought Him to be the Christ, while some wanted to arrest Him.⁽⁷⁾

Luke 19:41–44 — Jesus Weeps Over Jerusalem

And when He approached, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days shall come upon you when your enemies will throw up a bank before you, and surround you, and hem you in on every side, and level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone left upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation."Luke 19:41–44

Luke has it that Jerusalem's rejection of Jesus is reminiscent of its historic betrayal of the covenant that led to the first destruction of Jerusalem and the exile. As Israel of old fell to its enemies on account of divine judgment for its unfaithfulness, so Jerusalem would be judged for its inconsistency. The people of Jesus's day did not recognize the unique privilege they had in the coming of the Messiah and their visitation by God.⁽⁸⁾ John the Apostle wrote: "He came unto His own and His own did not receive Him" (John 1:11).

Matthew 23:37–39 — "Your House Is Left to You Desolate"

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! For I say to you, from now on you shall not see Me until you say, 'BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!'"Matthew 23:37–39

Jerusalem's failure to respond was to have drastic consequences. God's house was now "your house," and it had been left "to you" because God had abandoned it, as Jesus was about to do.⁽¹⁰⁾ Christ's public teaching ministry was over. He withdrew from national Israel until the time yet future when they will recognize Him as Messiah.

Jesus predicted the temple would be destroyed — "not one stone here shall be left upon another" (Matthew 24:2). These words were fulfilled literally in 70 A.D. by the Roman general Titus, who laid siege to Jerusalem and burned the temple. The rubble was sifted through to recover the gold that had adorned the temple, and the remaining ruins were thrown down into the Kidron Valley.⁽¹¹⁾ A second Jewish revolt in 135 A.D. was crushed during the reign of the emperor Hadrian. The Jews were driven out of their land a second time and scattered among the nations, as Moses had predicted.⁽¹²⁾ Most of the Jews were driven out of Israel during this period, though they continued to have a presence in Galilee and Hebron.

The Return

The Regathering of Israel

After the Jews were exiled, the land was neglected and ruined as a series of invasions by Muslim, Crusader, Mongol, and Turkish armies fought for control.

Isaiah 11:11–12 — Gathered a Second Time

"Then it will happen on that day the LORD will again recover a second time with His hand the remnant of His people, who remain, from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And He will lift up a standard for the nations and will assemble the banished ones of Israel, and will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth."Isaiah 11:11–12

The fulfillment of this prophecy began in 1881 with the migration of Jews back to Palestine after a wave of persecution in Europe.⁽¹³⁾ Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire and was mostly desert at that time. In 1867 Mark Twain visited Palestine and gave his description of the land before the Jews returned, in his book Innocents Abroad:

"Palestine is monotonous and uninviting. Of all lands there are for dismal scenery, I think Palestine must be a prince. The hills are barren, they are dull of color, the valleys are unsightly deserts.⁽¹⁴⁾ Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes. Nazareth is forlorn, Jerusalem has lost all its ancient grandeur and is become a pauper's village, the wonderful temple which was the pride and glory of Israel is gone.⁽¹⁵⁾ Capernaum is a shapeless ruin, Bethsaida and Chorazin have vanished from the earth, and the desert places round about them where thousands of men listened to the Saviour's voice and ate miraculous bread sleep in the hush of solitude that is inhabited only by birds of prey and skulking foxes. Palestine is a shapeless ruin."⁽¹⁶⁾Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad, p.692–694

The Jews began to immigrate legally and set about buying land that was considered worthless by the Turkish authorities. They began to restore the land with irrigation, planting trees, and crops.

Ezekiel 36:24–25 — A New Heart

"For I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you..."Ezekiel 36:24–25

Romans 11:26–27 — All Israel Will Be Saved

"All Israel will be saved; just as it is written, 'THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB, AND THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.'"Romans 11:26–27

The Ottoman Empire lost Palestine at the end of World War I, after which it was occupied by the British. Israel became a nation on May 14, 1948, and made Jerusalem its capital. They are still waiting for their Messiah.