THE PROPHETIC FUTURE OF ISRAEL (Part One) by Alexander Zephyr.
THE PROPHETIC FUTURE OF ISRAEL (Part One)
by Alexander Zephyr.
'We can not start analyzing God's passages about Israel's prophetic future without dealing with the soon coming wars of Gog and Magog prophesied by Ezekiel 38 and 39 and Zechariah 12 and 14 (siege of Jerusalem), because the future fate of Israel totally depends on the outcome of these wars.'
See our articles on this subject.
So, what happens next?
The house of Judah, the Jewish People, will finally have reunited with their brothers and sisters of Joseph, the Ten Tribes of Israel. They will become again one nation called Israel.
All the enemies of Israel, the hordes of Gog and Magog, including the archenemy Edom, will have been soundly defeated. Evil will have been eradicated from the face of the earth. The Messiah, son of David, will be the only King for all Israelites. They will never again be divided into separate kingdoms nor be different nations. Never again will they be uprooted from the Holy Land (Ezekiel 37:22; Amos 9:15). The God of Israel will cleanse them from all their idols and vile images, detestable things and rebellion. Israel will truly repent of all their sins, 'And they will be My People and I will be their God' (Ezekiel 37:23).
The Land of Israel will have been already restored to its Biblical borders from the Nile to Euphrates and divided by lot for inheritance amongst the twelve Tribes (Ezekiel 47:13-14). The Third Holy Temple will have been built, the priests will have begun their services and the Glory of God of Israel will have come into the House: 'Son of man, I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever' (Ezekiel 43:7). The highest Rabbinical Court, the Sanhedrin, will be restored alongside all subsidiary Rabbinical Courts in the Holy Land. All of God's Laws, as they were in the past, will be reinstated and observed by all Israelites. All the nations of the world with their kings and rulers will listen and obey the Messiah, son of David.
'All kings shall bow down before him: all nations shall serve him' (Psalm 72:11).
The wars, aggressiveness, jealousy and enmity of the nations will cease to exist. There will be no criminals, no sin. The physical pain and sickness will have become sad memories of the past. Foods, clothes, and a variety of free services will be in abundance and accessible to everyone. People will live long and have happy lives. The Era of Peace and Justice that was awaited for so long by all nations will arrive, and the World will usher in the Golden Age of Humanity, the blessed Messianic World.
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A nation of Priests, A Light to the World.
That is what God calls the nation of Israel. That is why He chose them from among other peoples. Israel is God's treasure, His special possession. They have the task to perform, the Divine mission to accomplish:
'For you are people holy to the Lord your God. For the Lord your God has chosen you out of all people on the face of the earth to be His People, His treasured possession' (Deuteronomy 7:6).
'And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation' (Exodus 19:6).
"You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth' (Amos 3:2).
The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all people: but because thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God and the Lord loved you' (Deuteronomy 7:7-8).
Make no mistake: God speaks here of the genuine nation of the whole twelve Tribes of Israel, sons of Jacob; not of Judah alone, not of Christian 'spiritual Israel', nor the nation of Muslims nor any other nations who try to replace real Israel by themselves. God states it clearly, 'Israel has been chosen out of all people on the face of the earth!' And there was a reason for God to choose Israel!
The best way to explain the choseness of Israel and their Divine mission has been given in Scripture by the Prophet Isaiah:
'I have formed Israel for Myself that they will declare Me before the whole world. I will make you to be a covenant for the people and the light for Gentiles, that you will bring My salvation to the ends of the earth. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and the kings to the brightness of thy rising' (Isaiah 42:6; 43:21; 49:6).
Many Bible scholars and theologians have written on the subject of Israel's choseness, a 'nation of priests', 'light to the World'. An numerous amount of books, articles and valuable researches have been produced on this subject. We are going to add a few modest thoughts to these matters.
First of all, we would like to ask a few questions:
Has Israel fulfilled its Divine mission?
Has she become 'a Covenant for the people and Light for Gentiles'?
Have they brought God's Salvation to the ends of the earth?
The answer on the posed questions is, NO!
Why is this so?
Because the time has not arrived yet for Israel to do what the Almighty has designated them to do.
At the present time Israelites from the Ten Tribes in exile can not truly even be called 'Israelites' in the correct, religious sense because of their lives and faiths. They are rather categorized as Gentiles consciously not knowing their Israelite origin. How could they be today the nation of the Priests and bring the glory of God of Israel to the ends of the earth?
Hundreds of million of 'Israelites' from the Ten Tribes will acknowledge their Israelite identity. They will accept the God of their fathers and His Divine Torah. All of this will happen in the 'latter days', in the End Times, at the dawn of the Messianic Era, and will be possible with the help of the Jewish nation; (Yalkut Shimeoni, Song of Solomon 905 on Jeremiah 3:18; 'For Torah will go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem' (Isaiah 2:3; Micah 4:2); the Prophet Elijah (Malachi 4:5-6) who 'will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers'; and advent of the Messiah.
According to the Scriptures and the Sages (Nahmanides, 'The Book of Redemption' [Sefer Ha Geulah]), the Ten Tribes are real Biblical Israel [as distinct from Judah], which can also be identified by the names of Ephraim, Manasseh or Joseph (Genesis 48:5, 16; Jeremiah31:9; Hosea 11:8). Since the separation in circa 930 BCE, Judah and Israel have become different nations, living in all corners of the globe; having different cultures, traditions, languages and religions. Their differences and even enmities were well recorded in Scripture (Isaiah 9:21; 11:13; 1 Kings 14:30; Zechariah 11:14) and, undoubtedly, this kind of relationship between the countries of Israel's origin still have existed in our days. The twelve Tribes will become one nation again after reconciliation and reunification under the leadership of the King of Israel, their Messiah, son of David (Ezekiel 37:22).
The other necessary conditions for Israel to accomplish their Divine mission are the advent of the Messiah and the beginning of the Messianic Age.
As evidence shows, Israel had not accomplished their God given mission in the past. The same can be said of modern times.
Why'
Because, since the separation of the United Kingdom, the nations of Israel have been 'lost' (1 Kings 12:19), and the World and History have been dealing with the nation of Judah, the Jewish People who are part of Israel, though most of Israel are the 'Lost' Ten Tribes.
To accomplish their unique mission successfully, the Houses of Judah and Israel must be reunited; the Messiah, son of David, must be revealed; the Messianic World must be started; Israel, as a nation, must be redeemed by Almighty.
When these numerous Biblical prophecies of reunion and the Messianic Age come to pass, and Israel becomes one nation as it was in the time of Moses when God formed the Israelite nation and gave them His immortal Torah on Mount Sinai, only then will Israel be redeemed and become a nation of the Priests, the Light to the World and a Salvation to the Gentiles.
The reunification of the whole house of Jacob is a very important stage in the fulfillment of Israel's mission. God gave this mission to Israel, to the Twelve Tribes, not only to Judah (Isaiah 42:6; 43:1, 3-4, 21; 44:1; 49:3, 6; Jeremiah 31:1, 9-11).
'At the same time, saith the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My People' (Jeremiah 31:1).
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