Most pastors believe that Israel’s current existence has no relevance to Bible prophecy. The popular message is that the church is now biblical Israel. Modern-day Israel is no different than any other nation with the same challenges and threats to its existence. Really?
What other nation from three thousand years ago, which didn’t exists for two millennia, now exists in the same location with the same language and capital city? How could such a thing happen in a day, just Isaiah prophesied twenty-seven hundred years ago (Isaiah 66:8), apart from God’s supernatural intervention?
I recently read a news report where the leaders of Iran attributed Israel’s success in the war against them to “supernatural” forces. Of course, they didn’t give God any credit for it, just the opposite. I find their claim rather revealing since most pastors deny the miraculous nature of Israel’s existence.
So many in today’s church claim that Israel’s existence today has no relevance to Bible prophecy.
I can think of many other reasons why such a dismissal of Israel’s prophetic significance is not only foolish, but wholly unbiblical.
The Lord’s Many Promises to Restore a Kingdom to Israel
The Old Testament prophets repeatedly predicted a future restoration of Israel with a descendant of David reigning over it. In Zephaniah 3:20, the Lord made this key promise to the nation:
At that time I will bring you in,
at the time when I gather you together;
for I will make you renowned and praised
among all the peoples of the earth,
when I restore your fortunes
before your eyes,” says the Lord.
At no time since the Lord spoke these words through the prophet have the Jewish people occupied such a place of honor among the “peoples of the earth.” It’s been exactly the opposite. But someday, the Lord will restore a kingdom to Israel just He promise in the above verse.
Notice the permanence of the restoration that the Lord promises Israel through the Prophet Amos:
“I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,
and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,
and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.
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 9:14-15)
With words that can only apply to Jacob’s descendants, God promises a lasting restoration with abundant physical blessings. How can these words even remotely apply to the church today apart from doing great damage to the understanding Lord intended at the time He spoke them through Amos? If the words of Scripture matter, these verse await a future fulfillment!
When the disciples asked Jesus if He intended to “at this time restore the kingdom to Israel,” He didn’t chide them for asking a foolish question or deny that it would happen someday. Instead, He told them that their timing was wrong and turned their attention to the task ahead for them (Acts 1:6-8).
The Bible Predicted the Israel that We See Today
What we see in modern Israel aligns perfectly with what the prophets wrote about the nation in the last days. God’s Word predicted that:
Israel would become a nation again “in one day” (Isaiah 66:8).
Israel would initially exist in a state of unbelief (Ezekiel 37:1-14).
The nations would seek to divide the Land of Israel and mistreat the Jewish people (Joel 3:1-3).
Jerusalem would attract the world’s attention (Zechariah 12:3).
Israel would build a temple while still in a state of unbelief (Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15).
Rather than rely on God for protection, Israel would agree to a covenant with the antichrist (Daniel 9:26-27; Isaiah 28:14-18)
All of the above prophecies align perfectly with what we see today. Israel miraculously become a nation in one day on May 14, 1948, and while many believers live there, the majority of its people still reject Jesus as their Messiah. The passion for building a third temple grows by the day, which the Bible tells us will be in place by the midpoint of the seven-year Tribulation when antichrist will desecrate it.
As I was working on this article, Israel announced that it had two red heifers that qualified for the purifying of the temple and practiced a red heifer sacrifice.
God’s Steadfast Love Guarantees a Future for Israel
God’s “steadfast love” also verifies that He has not replaced Israel with the church. He cannot renege on the solemn promises He made to Jacob’s descendants.
The Hebrew word for “steadfast love” is chesed. Some Bible versions translate it as “lovingkindness” or simply “kindness.” The full meaning of the word is difficult to convey with just one word or phrase. It denotes the Lord’s enduring covenant relationship with His people including His never-ending faithfulness and unfailing love for them.
The essence of chesed is a permanent and long-lasting covenant that depends on God’s faithfulness to His people, not of them to Him. The Lord never lets go of His own. In the Old Testament, chesed denoted the permanence of His relationship with the Jewish people. This does not imply that every descendant of Jacob will inherit eternal life, not at all, but that God would never forget His promises to the nation and its people. The Land belongs to them via an “everlasting covenant” (Psalm 105:7-11).
Romans, chapters 9-11, make no sense if one regards the church as the “new Israel.” Why would Paul mourn Israel’s rejection of Jesus? Why would he discuss God choosing Jacob over Easau? Why would the apostle assert that God had not rejected Israel if at the time, it consisted entirely of New Testament Saints? If one blends Israel and the church into one entity, how does one explain the apostle’s words concerning Israel’s future salvation?
The Good News for Us
God’s steadfast love for His own is exceedingly good news for us. As saints redeemed by the blood of Jesus, we also have a covenant relationship with God. Hebrews 9:14-15 says that Christ “is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.”
As such, we also fall under the umbrella of chesed, God’s covenant love for His own. In our case, it’s not with a nation or particular race of people, but with all who trust Jesus alone for eternal life.
Just as with Israel, God will never let us go; we are eternally secure. Ephesians 1:13-14 says we “were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
God’s love for us is permanent (chesed); He never lets go of His own no matter what they do or what happens to them. He never reneges on His promises to them; not to Israel nor to us as New Testament saints.
The words of David in Psalm 40:11 apply to all of us:
As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain
your mercy from me;
your steadfast love [chesed] and your faithfulness will
ever preserve me!
In Invitation to a Lavish Feast – Wisdom’s Path to the Pre-Tribulation Rapture I take the reader on a journey showing how the words of Scripture verify our beliefs in not only the restoration of Israel, but also our hope in Jesus’ soon appearing to take us home to glory. I demonstrate how those who deny these things stray far from the path of biblical wisdom revealed throughout the Bible and in essence, light their own path through Bible prophecy.
Maranatha!