THE PLACE OF ISRAEL IN THE LAST DAYS, PART TWO
ROMANS 11:1-36
THE NATION OF ISRAEL IS GOING TO PLAY AN IMPORTANT PART IN THE YEARS PRIOR TO THE RAPTURE, AND THE YEARS PRIOR TO THE GLORIOUS APPEARING OF OUR LORD. WE BEGAN TO LOOK AT SOME OF THE ROLE ISRAEL WILL PLAY LAST WEEK AND WE WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO NOW.
A CONFUSING ELEMENT IN THIS STUDY IS HOW TO SEPARATE THE FACTS GIVEN AS TO WHETHER THEY RELATE TO THE RAPTURE OR THE END TIMES. ANOTHER ISSUE IS HOW TO INTERPRET THE PROPHECY?
WE ARE FOLLOWING A PRE-MILLENNIAL VIEW, WHICH ALLOWS US TO INTERPRET THE BIBLE IN A LITERAL MANNER. THIS MEANS THAT WHEN THE BIBLE IS SPEAKING ABOUT ISRAEL IT IS LITERALLY SPEAKING ABOUT THE NATION, AND WE DO NOT SPIRITUALIZE IT AS SOME BELIEFS DO.
THE KEY ISSUE THAT WE WISH TO ADDRESS IS JESUS’ STATEMENT IN MATTHEW 24:32-35:
MATTHEW 24:32-35:
“NOW LEARN THIS LESSON FROM THE FIG TREE: AS SOON AS ITS TWIGS GET TENDER AND ITS LEAVES COME OUT, YOU KNOW THAT SUMMER IS NEAR. 33 EVEN SO, WHEN YOU SEE ALL THESE THINGS, YOU KNOW THAT IT IS NEAR, RIGHT AT THE DOOR. 34 TRULY I TELL YOU, THIS GENERATION WILL CERTAINLY NOT PASS AWAY UNTIL ALL THESE THINGS HAVE HAPPENED. 35 HEAVEN AND EARTH WILL PASS AWAY, BUT MY WORDS WILL NEVER PASS AWAY.
WHAT DOES JESUS MEAN WHEN HE SAYS “THIS GENERATION WILL CERTAINLY NOT PASS AWAY UNTIL ALL THESE THINGS HAVE HAPPENED.”
PEOPLE WANT TO INTREPRET THIS IN LIGHT OF ISRAEL’S NECOMING A NATION IN 1948, AND WANT TO SAY THAT IT MEANS THAT THIS GENERATION WILL NOT PASS AWAY UNTIL THE RAPTURE, BUT JESUS STATEMENT HERE IS ABOUT HIS GLORIOUS APPEARING, WHICH HAPPENS AT THE TIME OF THE MILLENNIUM. AS LONG AS WE HEED JESUS’ WARNING.
THE RE-ESTABLISHING OF ISRAEL AS A NATION, HOWEVER, IS GOING TO SET IN PLACE SOME OF THE CONDITIONS NECESSARY FOR THE RAPTURE, AND TO LOOK FOR THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH IN THE NEAR FUTURE IS NOT WRONG AS LONG AS WE HEED JESUS’ WARNING.
MATTHEW 24:36: “BUT ABOUT THAT DAY OR HOUR NO ONE KNOWS, NOT EVEN THE ANGELS IN HEAVEN, NOR THE SON, BUT ONLY THE FATHER
THREE COVENANTS ARE GIVEN IN SCRIPTURE CONCERNING ISRAEL AND IT’S RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.
1. THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT
2. THE DAVIDIC COVENANT
3. THE NEW COVENANT
EACH OF THESE COVENANTS PLAY AN IMPORTANT PART IN IDENTIFYING ISRAEL’S FUTURE ROLE IN THE END TIMES.
THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT ESTABLISHES THE EVERLASTING NATURE OF GOD’S RELATIONSHIP WITH ISRAEL AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE. THERE HAS NOT ALWAYS BEEN A JEWISH NATION BUT THERE HAS ALWAYS BEEN A JEWISH PEOPLE. ONE OF THE GREAT MIRACLES OF OUR DAY HAS BEEN THE SURVIVAL OF THE JEWISH IDENTITY. WHILE IN CONSTANT VIOLENT STRUGGLES WITH NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES, TERRORISM, AND THE HOLOCAUST OF WW II, THE JEWISH PEOPLE HAVE ALWAYS SURVIVED.
IN THE END TIMES THE NATION OF ISRAEL WILL BE ESTABLISHED, WITH A MASSIVE REGATHERING OF ITS PEOPLE, WHO BELIEVE IN JESUS AS MESSIAH, AND HE WILL BE THEIR RULER.
ISAIAH 66:22: AS THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH THAT I MAKE WILL ENDURE BEFORE ME,” DECLARES THE LORD, “SO WILL YOUR NAME AND DESCENDANTS ENDURE.
TODAY WE LOOK AT THE OTHER TWO COVENANTS.
POINT ONE: THE DAVIDIC COVENANT
WHILE THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT GUARANTEED AN EVERLASTING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GOD AND THE HEBREW PEOPLE, THE DAVIDIC COVENANT FOCUSES ON THE LEADER OF THAT NATION.
SINCE THE TIME OF SOLOMON THE UNITED NATION OF ISRAEL HAS NOT KNOWN A KING. IT DOES NOT HAVE A KING TODAY. BUT THE NATION THAT JESUS IS SPEAKING ABOUT IN MATTHEW 24, IS A NATION OF ISRAEL THAT HAS A KING.
THE COVENANT IS GIVEN TO US IN 2 SAMUEL 7:12-16:
2 SAMUEL 7:12-16:
WHEN YOUR DAYS ARE OVER AND YOU REST WITH YOUR ANCESTORS, I WILL RAISE UP YOUR OFFSPRING TO SUCCEED YOU, YOUR OWN FLESH AND BLOOD, AND I WILL ESTABLISH HIS KINGDOM. 13 HE IS THE ONE WHO WILL BUILD A HOUSE FOR MY NAME, AND I WILL ESTABLISH THE THRONE OF HIS KINGDOM FOREVER. 14 I WILL BE HIS FATHER, AND HE WILL BE MY SON. WHEN HE DOES WRONG, I WILL PUNISH HIM WITH A ROD WIELDED BY MEN, WITH FLOGGINGS INFLICTED BY HUMAN HANDS. 15 BUT MY LOVE WILL NEVER BE TAKEN AWAY FROM HIM, AS I TOOK IT AWAY FROM SAUL, WHOM I REMOVED FROM BEFORE YOU. 16 YOUR HOUSE AND YOUR KINGDOM WILL ENDURE FOREVER BEFORE ME; YOUR THRONE WILL BE ESTABLISHED FOREVER.’
THIS PASSAGE IS OBVIOUSLY TALKING ABOUT SOLOMON. WE KNOW THIS BECAUSE IT IDENTIFIES DAVID’S SUCCESSOR AS THE ONE WHO WILL BUILD A HOUSE FOR MY NAME.
SOMETHING IMPORTANT IN THIS PASSAGE THOUGH IS THAT SOLOMON’S OFFSPRING ARE NOT PART OF THIS COVENANT. V.16 SAYS THAT “YOUR THRONE” WILL BE ESTABLISHED FOREVER. THIS MEANS THAT WHILE THE THRONE OF DAVID AND HIS DESCENDANTS WILL BE ESTABLISHED FOREVER, IT WILL NOT BE DONE THROUGH THE LINE OF SOLOMON.
HOW CAN THIS BE. SIMPLE. DAVID HAD MORE THAN ONE SON. WHILE THE ROYAL LINE TO THE THRONE WAS PASSED ON THROUGH SOLOMON, AND WOULD EVENTUALLY CEASE, THE ROYAL LINE OF THE SEED OF DAVID NEED NOT BE PASSED ON TO A SITTING KING AND IS PROMISED TO LAST FOREVER.
JEREMIAH 22:30: THIS IS WHAT THE LORD SAYS: “RECORD THIS MAN AS IF CHILDLESS, A MAN WHO WILL NOT PROSPER IN HIS LIFETIME, FOR NONE OF HIS OFFSPRING WILL PROSPER, NONE WILL SIT ON THE THRONE OF DAVID OR RULE ANYMORE IN JUDAH.”
THE COVENANT PROMISE WAS MADE TO DAVID NOT SOLOMON. IN PSALM 89, GOD IS SPEAKING TO DAVID AND SAYS:
PSALM 89:3-4:
YOU SAID, “I HAVE MADE A COVENANT WITH MY CHOSEN ONE, I HAVE SWORN TO DAVID MY SERVANT, 4 ‘I WILL ESTABLISH YOUR LINE FOREVER AND MAKE YOUR THRONE FIRM THROUGH ALL GENERATIONS.’
IN THE LAST DAYS ISRAEL WILL BE REFORMED AS A NATION, BUT UNLIKE THE NATION NOW, THIS NATION WILL HAVE A KING. THAT KING WILL BE JESUS CHRIST. WHEN ARE WE PROMISED THAT JESUS WILL RULE THE EARTH, DURING THE MILLENNIUM.
CONSIDER WHAT THE ANGEL TOLD MARY WHEN PROCLAIMING THE COMING OF THE LORD:
LUKE 1:31-33:
YOU WILL CONCEIVE AND GIVE BIRTH TO A SON, AND YOU ARE TO CALL HIM JESUS. 32 HE WILL BE GREAT AND WILL BE CALLED THE SON OF THE MOST HIGH. THE LORD GOD WILL GIVE HIM THE THRONE OF HIS FATHER DAVID, 33 AND HE WILL REIGN OVER JACOB’S DESCENDANTS FOREVER; HIS KINGDOM WILL NEVER END.”
HERE THE ANGEL TELLS MARY THAT JESUS WILL “RECEIVE THE THRONE OF HIS FATHER DAVID.” SHOWING THE CONTINUANCE OF THE SEED OF DAVID THROUGH CHRIST. HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?
TO ANSWER THIS WE NEED TO LOOK AT THE GENEOLOGIES OF MATTHEW AND LUKE.
THIS LEADS TO THE CONCLUSION THAT THE COVENANT PROMISE OF AN ETERNAL THRONE AND KINGDOM WAS PRESERVED BY GOD THROUGH THE LINEAGE OF ONE WHO DID NOT SIT ON THE THRONE. FURTHERMORE, WITH THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM AND THE TEMPLE IN A.D. 70 ALL GENEOLOGICAL RECORDS WERE DESTROYED, LEAVING IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR ANY OTHER THAN JESUS TO BE INDICATED.
THE FULFILLMENT OF THIS COVENANT HAS NOT HAPPENED YET, BUT IT WILL IN THE LAST DAYS. A NEW NATION OF ISRAEL WILL BE FORMED, AND JESUS WILL BE KING.
POINT TWO: THE NEW COVENANT
THE NEW COVENANT PROMISES ARE AMONG THE MOST SPECIFIC OF THE SCRIPTURES.
“THE DAYS ARE COMING,” DECLARES THE LORD, “WHEN I WILL MAKE A NEW COVENANT WITH THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE PEOPLE OF JUDAH. 32 IT WILL NOT BE LIKE THE COVENANT I MADE WITH THEIR ANCESTORS WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO LEAD THEM OUT OF EGYPT, BECAUSE THEY BROKE MY COVENANT, THOUGH I WAS A HUSBAND TO THEM,” DECLARES THE LORD. 33 “THIS IS THE COVENANT I WILL MAKE WITH THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL AFTER THAT TIME,” DECLARES THE LORD. “I WILL PUT MY LAW IN THEIR MINDS AND WRITE IT ON THEIR HEARTS. I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY WILL BE MY PEOPLE. 34 NO LONGER WILL THEY TEACH THEIR NEIGHBOR, OR SAY TO ONE ANOTHER, ‘KNOW THE LORD,’ BECAUSE THEY WILL ALL KNOW ME, FROM THE LEAST OF THEM TO THE GREATEST,” DECLARES THE LORD. “FOR I WILL FORGIVE THEIR WICKEDNESS AND WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE.”
THIS COVENANT IS CHALLENGING TO UNDERSTAND AS IT HAS BOTH A PRESENT APPLICATION FOR THE CHURCH AND A FUTURE APPLICATION FOR THE NATION OF ISRAEL, BOTH OF WHICH ARE ENTERED INTO THROUGH THE BLOOD OF CHRIST, AND BOTH BASED ON GOD’S GRACE AND FORGIVENESS.
FOR ISRAEL AS A NATION IT IS A COVENANT OF FUTURE FULFILLMENT. IT WILL BE FULFILLED AFTER THE “DAYS OF ISRAEL’S TROUBLE” WHICH MEANS AFTER THE GREAT TRIBULATION. IT INVOLVES A MASSIVE REGATHERING OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL, WITH THEIR SPIRITUAL EYES OPENED RECOGNIZING CHRIST AS THE MESSIAH.
THE NEW COVENANT WE CELEBRATE NOW AS A CHURCH, IS ALSO A COVENANT OF FORGIVENESS.
1 CORINTHIANS 11:25: IN THE SAME WAY, AFTER SUPPER HE TOOK THE CUP, SAYING, “THIS CUP IS THE NEW COVENANT IN MY BLOOD; DO THIS, WHENEVER YOU DRINK IT, IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME.”
THIS NEW COVENANT IS THE COVENANT WE ENTER INTO AS BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIANS. IT IS NOT THROUGH THE BLOOD OF BULLS AND GOATS, BUT THROUGH THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS THAT WE ARE GIVEN THE PRIVILEGE TO ENTER IT.
JUST AS CIRCUMCISION BECAME THE SIGN OF ENTERING INTO THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT, SO TOO DID SPIRITUAL CIRCUMCISION BECOME THE SIGN OF ENTERING INTO THE NEW COVENANT.
ROMANS 2:28-29:
A PERSON IS NOT A JEW WHO IS ONE ONLY OUTWARDLY, NOR IS CIRCUMCISION MERELY OUTWARD AND PHYSICAL. 29 NO, A PERSON IS A JEW WHO IS ONE INWARDLY; AND CIRCUMCISION IS CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART, BY THE SPIRIT, NOT BY THE WRITTEN CODE. SUCH A PERSON’S PRAISE IS NOT FROM OTHER PEOPLE, BUT FROM GOD.
THIS NEW COVENANT THEN INVOLVES THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS IN THE PRESENT, BY SHEDDING OUR SINFUL FORESKIN THROUGH CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART, AND BECOMING A NEW PERSON IN CHRIST.
AT THE END TIMES THE JEWISH PEOPLE WILL BE REGATHERED INTO A MIGHTY SPIRITUAL REVIVAL IN ISRAEL. THEY WILL BE THE CHOSEN PEOPLE IN GOD’S CHOSEN HOMELAND. THEY WILL SHED THEIR FORESKIN OF UNBELIEF AND BASK IN THE GLORIOUS RICHES OF JESUS.
POINT THREE: APPLICATION.
WHAT THEN DOES THE PLACE OF ISRAEL HAVE FOR US IN THE LAST DAYS?
THE REFORMING OF ISRAEL AS A NATION, DOES BRING US CLOSER TO THE TIME OF THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH. WE DO NOT KNOW THE TIME NOR THE HOUR. WHAT WE DO KNOW IS THAT GOD IS TAKING CARE OF HIS CHOSEN ONES THOUGH THEY NOW ARE TURNING THEIR BACKS ON HIM AT THIS PRESENT TIME.
WE CAN SAY THAT MATTHEW 24:32-34 IS ABOUT EVENTS THAT WILL USHER IN JESUS’ GLORIOUS APPEARING AND IS NOT ABOUT THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH. WE KNOW THIS BECAUSE THERE HAS NOT BEEN A SIGNIFICANT SPIRITUAL REVIVAL ON THE PART OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE, NOR A MASSIVE RETURN TO THEIR HOMELAND.
WE KNOW AT THE PRESENT TIME THAT ISRAEL DOES NOT HAVE A KING.
MATTHEW 24:32-34 IS SPEAKING ABOUT ISRAEL IN THE END TIMES JUST BEFORE JESUS GLORIOUS APPEARING AND HIS MILLENNIAL REIGN. IT’S BOUNDARIES WILL BE WORLD-WIDE. DURING THIS TIME, ISRAEL WILL ONCE AGAIN RECOGNIZE HER SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP TO GOD, AND RECOGNIZE JESUS AS THE RIGHTFUL KING OF THE NATION, AS THE DAVIDIC COVENANT PROMISES ARE FULFILLED.
WE WILL JOIN TOGETHER AS BORN AGAIN CHRISTIANS SAVED BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS, WORSHIPPING HIM AND GIVING HIM PRAISE FOR HE ALONE IS PRAISE-WORTHY.
SO THE POSITION OF ISRAEL AS A NATION IS STRATEGIC FOR EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE RAPTURE. THIS SETS OUR END TIMES CLOCK INTO OVERDRIVE.
