Israel in Bible Prophecy: Past, Present & Future

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Gomer. According to Genesis 10:2-3, Gomer was one of Noah’s grandsons. Some scholars place the territory in modern Germany because of the similarity of their names. Nobody needs to remind the world of Germany’s history with the Jewish people in World War II. If Germany were to become Russia’s ally against Israel, it would not be the first time anti-Semitism has played a part in her history.

Jesus’ homily in John 15 says the same. The Old Testament image of Israel is that of a vineyard filled with vines rooted in the soil of the Holy Land. You can see this outlined beautifully in Isaiah 5. But Jesus upends this. We see a vineyard again, but now we learn that there is one vine—Christ—and the only concern is not on gaining access to the land but being attached to him. To be clear, I am not saying you are wrong per se, but my observation is there’s a worrying trend to treat criticism of Israel as de facto antisemitic unless otherwise justified, when there is plenty of objective criticism of Israel that gets lost in the fog of lazy accusations and undue caution. Land of Promise: The promise of God to Abraham and his descendants regarding the land of Canaan (later known as Israel) is seen as an enduring covenant, and the fulfillment of this promise is often associated with end-time events. See: Genesis 17:7-8 (NIV): "I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God." I certainly don’t think Christians should take a position that Israel is right, come what may. However, I am more concerned at the antisemitism that lies behind much hostility to Israel. Other countries do much worse and no eyebrow is raised. That Israel alone is treated with opprobrium suggests an anti-Semitic impulse.”Sorry – the answer is “NO” if you said Arabs (a true Semitic people). Many Arabs are Muslim, but there are Muslims in every country and from every culture, just like Christians). Having said all of that I’m not yet prepared to transmute Scriptures about Jesus standing again on the Mount of Olives into something that doesn’t involve Israel and her ultimate salvation. First the new covenant. It is indeed made with Israel and Judah. When Jesus inaugurated it at the first ‘Lord’s supper’ those present were Jewish. But as with the other covenants Gentiles who were strangers to the covenants of promise were brought in (Eph 2). The new covenant (the basis of the Kingdom) belongs to all God’s people in this first stage of the completed kingdom. To say ‘made with the church’ is really to say ‘made with eschatological Israel and the Gentiles who through faith share in her blessings’. The blessings the On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south( Zechariah 14:4).

When we grasp that the church is eschatological ‘Israel and the Gentiles’ then the absolute distinction between Israel and the church disappears. Further the church is then not Israel forsaken but Israel fulfilled. All of this is ‘in Christ.’ Christ is the Son of Abraham, of promise, in whom ultimately the salvation of all is found. As a teenager I was interested in timelines. I inherited some books from a grandfather who was a Brethren. I find the whole thing futile now in my mid 60s. Soon an “Evangelical statement in support of Israel” was issued by the ethics and religion liberty commission – an arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, a denomination which has 45,000 churches in the US. The mistake many make, however, is in trying to project the historical details of the year 70 into a comparable and proportionate conflagration in literal, historical Jerusalem at the end of the age.

The Valley of Dry Bones and Israel's Restoration

God is NOT done with the Jewish people and that in the future God will fulfill all of the promises that He has made to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (i.e., the Jewish people) in the flesh. This does NOT mean that God won’t fulfill His promises to the church and to humanity. God will fulfill all of His promises to all people according to what we are told in God’s word.” It’s fair, but again, I’d be interested in knowing which country you would like now to use as your example which has its ‘crimes’ universally reported on as much as Israel. Romans seems to tell me that physical descent from Abraham is not the key. Romans 9:6-8 seems clear on this. the church is considered by some as subscribing to replacement theology, rather than being grafted into.

I’d suggest that this is the place where continuity and discontinuity between the Old and New meet. Or as Steve more memorably puts it, the mid point of an hour glass. The Greek translation of Isaiah by Jewish scholars (the Septuagint), accomplished before the Christian Era, reflects a developing tradition of interpretation; it renders the Hebrew ʿ alma (“young woman”) as parthenos (“virgin”) in the verse (7:14) about Immanuel, thus drawing Isaiah further into the messianic ring. Now it is a virgin who “shall conceive and bear a son.” The promise of a more than ordinary king, a “messiah,” was enticing. According to the New Testament accounts, when Jesus entered a synagogue in Nazareth and got up to read, they handed him a scroll of Isaiah. He read the beginning of chapter 61, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me…,” and he said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled.”Out of interest, which of those other many examples would you like to use instead? If there are many then presumably you shouldn’t have any trouble coming up with another one. On the subject of Israel being singled out, I would contest that there is a lot more criticism of China than there is of Israel, despite many of the crimes being committed by the two nations being readily comparable (in type if not scale). The crucial difference is that while we accept that China is aloof and thoroughly dismissive of any international leverage on how it behaves internally, we see Israel (a broadly progressive, liberal democracy*) as somehow much more ‘like us’ than China, so we more readily expect it to engage and listen, and that empathy drives the news cycle that gives it prominence. It’s not as simple as Israel being ‘singled out’ on the count of antisemitism. Reply

Muggeridge, “These Are the Most Innovative Countries in the World,” World Economic Forum; July 9, 2015; https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/07/these-are-the-most-innovative-countries-in-the-world. For example, Abraham’s call to sacrifice his son Isaac foreshadows the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross — God’s one and only son. I’m very unclear as to how fleeing to the mountains is a prediction of the restoration of Israel in the land.My ‘Rule of Thumb’ is an idea I had yesterday! I noticed that in many cases the simple rule is often the right one. This booklet will be of interest to anyone trying to make sense of the current situation, and wanting to relate it to Scripture in any way. The claim that Ezekiel prophesied the existence of the modern State of Israel is made by many, and this booklet is an essential tool in assessing whether than claim is valid. Jerusalem as a Center: Jerusalem is frequently mentioned in both Old and New Testament prophecies as a central location for end-time events and as the future capital of God's kingdom. See: Zechariah 8:3 (NIV): "This is what the LORD says: 'I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City, and the mountain of the LORD Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain.'" and Isaiah 2:2-3 (NIV) : "In the last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.' The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." Togarmah. Moving down Noah’s family tree, Togarmah was one of his great-grandsons (Genesis 10:3). Ezekiel places this tribe in “the far North” (Ezekiel 38:6). Some believe Togarmah could be the foundation of modern-day Turkey. Israel is the very embodiment of Jewish continuity: It is the only nation on earth that inhabits the same land, bears the same name, speaks the same language, and worships the same God that it did 3,000 years ago. You dig the soil and you find pottery from Davidic times, coins from Bar Kokhba, and 2,000-year-old scrolls written in a script remarkably like the one that today advertises ice cream at the corner candy store" (Weekly Standard, 5/11/1998).