The people of Israel, or the Jewish people, are the most unusual and special people on the face of the earth today. This is clearly borne out in scripture. In Deuteronomy 7:6 we read: For thou art an holy people unto YAHWAH thy Elohim: YAHWAH thy Elohim hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. However, YAHWAH doesn’t just want to play favorites with people. He chose Israel for his own world-wide redemptive purposes. It was the eternal plan that his redeeming grace to the world would flow through Israel; that the Gospel of salvation would come to the whole world through them. Today many people, and some of them believers, say that YAHWAH is through with Israel. After all, they sinned, even to the point of rejecting their own Messiah. We must ask ourselves this extremely important question: Has YAHWAH really rejected the Jewish people because of all their sin and failure? We can let the New Testament answer this question for us. In Romans 11:1-2, the Apostle Paul both asks and answers it: “I say then, Hath Elohim cast away his people? Elohim forbid. …Elohim hath not cast away his people which he foreknew…” Elohim is adamant about this as we see in Jeremiah 31:36-37. Here YAHWAH speaks of his decrees concerning the sun, moon, stars, and the sea with its waves. If those ordinances depart from before me, saith YAHWAH, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. Thus saith YAHWAH; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith YAHWAH. Not only are the people of Israel special and chosen by Elohim, but also the land of Israel is special and chosen. There are several places in scripture where God actually calls the land of Israel “my land” (cf. Lev. 25:23; Isa. 14:25). In Deuteronomy 11:12, we read something very interesting about the land. It says: A land which YAHWAH thy Elohim careth for: the eyes of YAHWAH thy Elohim are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. A similar thing is said about the city of Jerusalem: “Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands;” (Isa. 49:16). Many other things are said in scripture that reveal the very close connection the Almighty has with Israel and Jerusalem. In Jeremiah 3:17, Jerusalem is even called the throne of YAHWAH. The whole land of Israel is like a “show and tell” designed by YAHWAH to teach his children. YAHWAH has been working for at least four thousand years to build a salvation infrastructure in the land of Israel. It was his plan that the chosen people would live there; that the Tanack would be written there; that the Messiah would appear there; and that the assembly would be formed there. The scripture sums it up by saying: “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, Elohim hath shined“ (Psa. 50:2). It is clear from the prophets that Israel will ultimately become a show place of YAHWAHs grace and that the Messiah will return to that place. Although Israel is God’s land, we see the Almighty doing a strange thing with his land. He gives it eternally to Abraham and to his children through Isaac and Jacob (Gen. 17:19-21). What is also strange is that YAHWAH specifically does not give any of his land to Ishmael, Abraham’s child born of the slave woman Hagar. Today a billion plus Muslims in the world are certain that Ishmael is the father of their people. They believe that Ishmael was almost sacrificed instead of Isaac; that Ishmael received the promises. They also look at Israel as if it were their promised land. Did YAHWAH make some mistake? There is absolutely no mistake. YAHWAH is so certain of his promise to Abraham that he even swears an oath confirming it (Gen. 26:3; Heb. 6:16). Imagine, El-Shaddai perhaps raising his right hand and swearing an oath! Now we can begin to understand the problem in the Middle East. It is a problem that has roots in eternity. It will not be fully solved with anything short of divine intervention. So, YAHWAH has a people and he has a land. He has never changed his mind about either. He has a plan for his people in the land. If we had lived a century or so ago, we would have sounded like crazy people had we talked about Israel returning to her land. Yet, it has now happened, and much of it in the lifetime of people living today. The statisticians tell us that in the next few years most of the Jewish people in the world will actually live in the land of Israel. Centuries ago the prophets of the Bible talked of this happening. This was, in fact, an oft repeated theme of the prophets (cf. Isa. 43:5-7; Jer. 31:7-9). They all knew that someday the people of Israel would return to their native land. We have lived to see the word of the prophets come true. Just in the last decade of the twentieth century a million new immigrants returned home to Israel. They came home from the north (former USSR) and the south (Ethiopia) just as Isaiah said they would. In the last century Jews have come home to Israel from over one hundred nations. In fact, there are many countries today where Jews lived for centuries that are almost empty of their Jewish populations. Not only did the Jews come home, but their cities were rebuilt, their culture was reestablished and their ancient Hebrew language was restored. YAHWAH has a plan concerning their return. Once the bulk of the people are in the land, YAHWAH will bring about a profound spiritual change. In Ezekiel 36:24-28, we see that a great sprinkling and cleansing will take place. Israel will be given a brand-new heart and a brand-new spirit. We can only say that YAHWAHs eternal plan will then be worked out for Israel, and for the world. It will be worked out in the physical land of Israel and with the people who have returned miraculously from all the nations of earth. The end result will be an age of peace and blessing for all mankind where YAHWAH Ha Mashiach will reign in Jerusalem as king.
Posted on: Sat, 02 Nov 2013 18:49:38 +0000