Article 18
By Steven J. Hogan
The story of the Jews for the past 4000+ years is an amazing display of God’s purpose, grace, love, holiness, justice, faithfulness, sovereignty, wisdom, power, goodness, mercy and glory. Think back to how it started – a country coming from one single man and his wife, a little country being born right in the middle of a big country. Then we see this little country growing and growing until they are close to 2 million strong. And then they have to leave, they have to get out of this country, this Egypt, and they do – and it is called the Exodus.
The Jews are now on their own, but God is with them, and for the next 40 years they are living in a hot, dry and barren desert region, a place with no food, little water, and lots of snakes. But God keeps them going, and they finally get to the land that God has promised them. Since that time, by God’s grace, they have miraculously continued on. There have been many battles, tremendous trials, all kinds of leaders, many ups and downs, many victories, many failures, lots of persecution, lots of idol worship, and yes, they were even banished from their land a few times. But they have also worshiped the one true God, their Creator, Lord, Protector and Redeemer, but not by any means perfectly so.
Here we are in 2017, and we are 4000 years into the journey of these Jewish people, and they are still standing, still going, still being persecuted, and still with a bright future ahead of them. And the reason they are still going is because God has been faithful to His promises and faithful to them.
But now we are right in the middle of this story about the Jews, and there is a lot yet to take place. Our vantage point at this time is the end of the church age, and this is a great place from which to see God’s accelerating work with both the Jews and the church. And it’s important that you now see the working of God with the Jews in conjunction with, coinciding with, and in connection with His working with the church. God’s purposes for the Jews and for the church are all coming together at this time. You need to know this, and you need to see it.
These are exciting days, and the next major geo-political-prophetical event to take place is the signing of the Antichrist led peace initiative between the Jews and various other countries. Not long from now this treaty will be ratified, and it will set in motion Daniel’s 70th week, which will lead to a super-charged series of global activities resulting in four major God planned events in just 7 years. We will see the revelation of the Antichrist, the rapture of the church, the wrath of God poured out on the world, and the redemption of a remnant of Jews. Buckle up with the belt of truth, put on the full armor of God, read God’s Word, pray for God’s Kingdom, and fight the good fight of faith. And remember, you are on the winning team. You are an overcomer! “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in faith.” 1 Corinthians 16:13
The following is a series of prophecy charts about the Jew with short summaries under each one. They are designed to help you know what has happened, and what will be happening in the days ahead with reference to God’s miraculous working with His chosen people.
Biblical Prophetic Overview:
This gives us the big picture of the history of the Jews, from the time of Abraham to the salvation of the Jews at the end of the 70th week to Christ’s 1000 year kingdom. It’s very important that we see where things have been and where things are going, and that right now, we are the very end of this present evil age, close to the return of Christ, the salvation of the Jews, and His reign over the world during the millennial kingdom.
Things Hoped For:
When we look back 2500-4000 years, we see that Abraham and other men and women of faith were looking forward the fulfillment of the promises God had given to them. The hope that God had given them, for land and for a King, truly energized and motivated them to love the Lord, to serve the Lord, and to live and die for Him.
God’s Promises to the Jews:
This chart spells out the three major covenants for the Jews. There is the Abrahamic Covenant, the promise of land, given to Abraham. There is the Davidic Covenant, the promise of a King, given to David. There is the New Covenant, the promise of salvation, given to Jeremiah. Some believe that these promises have been reneged or nullified or changed, and that is just not true – there is no Biblical justification to say that. God is faithful, and these promises will be fulfilled in the near future when Jesus Christ returns. Be looking forward to what God will be doing.
70 Weeks of Daniel:
God gave Daniel a 70 weeks (490 year) chronology relating to both the 1st and 2nd comings of Christ. (Daniel 9:24-27). From the issuing of the decree to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, there would be exactly 69 weeks (483 years) to Christ’s crucifixion (mathematically, this has been proven to be true). Then there is the gap between the 69th and 70th weeks, which is where we are at now, and is what we call the church age. Finally, there is the 70th week, an explosive and exciting seven year time frame containing many end time events, the coming of the Antichrist, the coming of Christ, the rapture of the church and the salvation of many Jews.
The Jews and the Promised Land:
Over 4000 years ago God made a promise to Abraham that he and his descendants would inherit a very special piece of land. It was over 600 years before the Jews, Abraham’s descendants finally entered this land. They were there for over 800 years, but were then exiled because of their great sin against a great and holy God. They returned 70 years later, and this time they stayed in their land for close to 600 years, but they were exiled again because of their terrible sin. Finally, after 1800 years, they have come back to their land, and they are still there today, never again to be expelled. God has been faithful to His people and it won’t be long before the Jews will be occupying the entire promised land, not just a narrow strip of property off the coast of the Mediterranean, but land that borders Egypt on the south, and that is bordered by the Euphrates on the east. Then they will have received their inheritance in full, and will finally be safe, secure and satisfied with their Savior, worshiping and serving Him forever.
Promises for the Jewish Remnant:
God has continually and faithfully communicated His promises to His people about their future. Listed above are just some of the verses in God’s Word about His future plans for the Jewish people. Time and time again, over a 2000 year period, God has told His people and us too, what He specifically plans to do in the end times. God knew that He needed to keep repeating Himself, and so from His Word He has made it abundantly clear that nothing was going to stop Him from doing what He set out to do for His chosen people. And there is nothing in God’s Word that counters or contradicts the truth of His Word that all His promises and plans will be fulfilled for the Jews. And if you’re watching, you’ll see it happen – you won’t be able to miss God’s wonderful working with His people.
That Because of the Mercy Shown To You Gentiles:
We now live in the church age, that time period for the unbelievers to call on the name of the Lord for mercy, for forgiveness of sins. The focus of this church age period is on the Gentiles, and great numbers of them have been getting saved. But the Jews, for the most part, have hardened their hearts, have been unbelieving and, during this church age, not many have turned from their sin and turned to the Lord for mercy. But this time of the Gentiles will be ending soon, and then there will be the rapture of the Christians and the Day of the Lord, and then a great remnant of Jews will get saved.
Regathering the Jews:
It was in 70 AD that the Jews were taken captive to the nations, were scattered over the entire world. Would they ever come back? Would they ever return to Israel? Would they keep their language? Would they keep their religion? Most people never even thought about it, let along believed these things would come true. But here we read of many promises made to the prophets, that yes, this would happen, that God’s word would come true, that the Jews would be regathered back to their land. And now we see it, now we know it – the Jews have been back in their land for over 140 years now – and it won’t be long before the 70th week begins, and then seven years later, the 70th week will end, and a great remnant of Jews will be saved.
The Regathering of the Jews to Israel:
In this day and age there are many statistics. You can google specific information about the number of Jews returning to Israel in the past 140 years. And it is clearly obvious that the Jews have consistently been coming back to their homeland, from 25,000 to 6,377,000. WOW! THIS IS TRULY A MIRACLE OF GOD. The promises from the Old Testament prophets that the Jews would regather to their land have come true right before our eyes. Now then we are in the end times, and God’s promises and plans for His chosen people will soon be fulfilled. You wait and see.
God’s Plan for the Jews:
God knows exactly what He is doing with His people in the end times. He has His plans all laid out, and He has told us some of them, like the Jews regathering to their land, Daniel’s 70th week, the peace treaty, the revealing of the Antichrist, and the salvation of a Jewish remnant. God wants us to know what He is doing, to be looking forward to these end time events, to be excited about the return of Christ, to be praying about His coming Kingdom, and to be doing our part in serving Him in these days.
The Salvation of the Jews:
We are so focused on the church age, and this is good, for we need to now do the work that God has called us to do. But we must not forget the promise of God to the Jews that a great remnant of them will get saved right at the very end of Daniel’s 70th week. As you see, verse after verse in God’s Word tells us this, and His Word is undeniably and undoubtedly true, and will be fulfilled. As Christians we will be gone from earth at that time, but we will have front row seats in heaven, from where we will see the great salvation of our Jewish brothers and sisters on earth. Hallelujah!
Psalms and the Millennial Kingdom:
Shortly after the salvation of the Jews at the end of Daniel’s 70th week there will be the start of the Millennial Kingdom. There is a whole lot said about this in the Old Testament, particularly in the prophets and the Psalms, but many believers are unaware of what God has said in His Word about this future 1000 year kingdom when His Son will be reigning over the world. Listed on this chart are just some of the things that Psalms tells us that we will be witnessing, and that we will be doing, during our reign with Jesus Christ for those 1000 years.
An Important Part of our Hope:
Romans 15:4-12 is a power packed passage of promises that makes it very clear that God’s work with the Jews and God’s work with the church is all coming together at the second coming of Christ. The Jews had their time on earth before the first coming of Christ. Now the church is having their time on earth before Christ’s second coming. But shortly after Christ’s second coming, we will see God’s promises for the Jews come true, and then we will join with the Jews during the Millennial Kingdom, worshiping and serving our Lord together.
God’s Eternal Love for Israel:
God’s Word tells us about God’s love for Israel, and this love is an eternal love, a love from everlasting to everlasting. It is this love that motivates God to do all that He has done and all that He will do with regards to the Jews. You just cannot grasp how deep and how great and how infinite is His love for His people. This love that began in eternity past was first seen in this world about 2050 BC, and today, about 4000 years later, this love continues. But now we live in the end times, and it won’t be long before major earth shaking events predicted by God will be taking place, events that will lead to the rapture of the church and God judging this world. Then His love will be shown in the salvation of a great number of Jews. Then His love for His people will be seen during the millennial kingdom. And then His love for His chosen people, the Jews, will be seen in the eternal kingdom, continuing forever and ever and ever.