If you answered
NO, or were not sure, then you need to study more about what God
emphatically says regarding Israel. Because if Israel were to
disappear, then believing God's Word could not be trusted. Why? Because God would be a liar if he did
not fulfill all his promises concerning Israel.
"This is
what Adonai says,
who gives
the sun as light for the day,
who ordained
the laws for the moon and stars
to provide
light for the night,
who stirs up
the sea until its waves roar
Lord
of Hosts is his name,
'If these
laws leave my presence,' says Adonai,
'then the
offspring of Israel will stop being
a nation in
my presence forever.'
This is what
Adonai says,
'If the sky
above can be measured
and the
foundations of the earth be fathomed,
then I will
reject all the offspring of Israel
for all that
they have done,' says Adonai."
Jeremiah
31:34-36
God's Establishment of
Israel
Deuteronomy 7:6-9 says,
"For you are a
people set apart as holy for Adonai your God. Adonai your God has chosen you out
of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his own unique treasure.
Adonai did not set his heart on you or choose you because you numbered more than
any other people - on the contrary, you were the fewest of all peoples. Rather,
it was because Adonai loved you, and because he wanted to keep the oath which he
had sworn to your ancestors, that Adonai brought you out with a strong hand and
redeemed you from a life of slavery under the hand of Pharaoh king of
Egypt. From this you can know that Adonai your God is indeed God, the faithful
God, who keeps his covenant and extends grace to those who love him and observe
his commandments, to a thousand generations."
Isaiah 41:8-9 says,
"But you, Israel, my
servant; Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendants of Abraham my friend, I have
taken you from the ends of the earth, summoned you from its most distant parts
and said to you, 'You are my servant - I have chosen you, not rejected you.'"
Isaiah 43:1 reads,
"this is what Adonai says, he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel,
'Don't be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I am calling you by your name and you
are mine.'"
In Isaiah 43:5-7 we read,
"Don't be afraid, for I am with you. I will bring your descendants from the
east, and I will gather you from the west; I will say to the north, 'Give them
up!' and to the south, 'Don't hold them back! Bring my sons from far away, and
my daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who bears my name, whom I
created for my glory.'"
And in Isaiah
43:15 it says,
"I am Adonai, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King."
The same God who
established the heavens and the earth in chapter 1 of Genesis, established
Israel.
God's Covenant with Israel
In Genesis 17:7-9
says,
"'I
am establishing my covenant between me and you, along with your descendants
after you, generation after generation, as an everlasting covenant, to be
God for you and for your descendants after you. I will give you and your
descendants after you the land in which you are now foreigners, all the land
of Canaan, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God." God said to
Abraham, "As for you, you are to keep my covenant, you and your descendants
after you, generation after generation."
Psalm 89:34-37
adds:
"I
will not profane my covenant or change what my lips have spoken. I have
sworn by my holiness once and for all; I will not lie to David his dynasty
will last forever, his throne like the sun before me. It will be
established forever, like the moon, which remains a faithful witness in the
sky."
Psalm 105:8-11 says,"He
remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded to a thousand
generations, the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac,
and established as a law for Jacob, for Israel as an everlasting covenant.
To you I will give the land of Canaan as your allotted heritage."
Isaiah 45:3-5 says,
"I,
Adonai, calling you by your name, am the God of Israel. It is for the sake of
Jacob my servant, yes, for Israel my elect, that I call you by your name and
give you a title, although you don't know me. I am Adonai, there is no
other; besides me there is no God."
Scripture repeated refers to the
covenant that God has made with Israel. Satan, the god of this world,
has done his utmost to destroy that covenant, by turning the nations against
Israel, and working for the destruction of the nation and people of Israel.
God's Redemption of Israel
Adonai says this
to Israel in Isaiah 43:25,
"I, even I, am he who blots out your
transgressions for my own sake, and will not remember your sins."
In Isaiah 44:22 we
read: "I have
blotted out, as a thick cloud, your sins: return unto me;
for I have redeemed you."
Isaiah 45:17 says,
"But Israel shall be saved in Adonai with an everlasting salvation." Isaiah 45:25
states, "In Adonai shall all
the seed of Israel be justified."
And in Isaiah 46:13 we read,"I will place salvation in
Zion for Israel my glory."
Although Israel has often been disobedient to God
and turned away from Him, God has never forsaken them, and He is ready to forgive and
grant them pardon. This is what God speaks to Israel in Isaiah 44:21-22,
"Remember
this, O Jacob and Israel; for your are my servant: I have formed you and you are
my servant: O Israel, you shall not be forgotten by me. I have blotted
out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and as a cloud, your sins.
Return to me for I have redeemed you."
Isaiah 53:5-6
provides this salvation summary:
"But he (Messiah) was wounded for our
transgression, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace
was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have
gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and Adonai has laid on him (Messiah) the iniquity of us all."
And Isaiah 62:11 adds:
"Behold
Adonai has
proclaimed unto the end of the world, 'say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your salvation cometh;
and his reward is with him, and his work before him.'"
"Who ever heard of such a thing?
Who has ever seen such things?
Is a country
born in one day?
Is a nation brought forth all at once?
For as soon as Zion
went into labor,
she brought forth her children.
'Would I let the baby
break through and
not be born?' asks Adonai.
'Would I, who causes the birth,
shut the womb?'
asks your God. Rejoice with Jerusalem!
Be glad with
her, all you who love her!
Rejoice, rejoice with her."
Isaiah
66:8-9
God's Blessing Upon Israel
and the Nations
Isaiah 41:13-14 says,
"For
I, Adonai your God, will hold your right hand, saying unto you, 'Fear not, I
will help you. Fear not, you worm Jacob and you men of Israel; I will help
you,' says Adonai, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel."
Isaiah 43:2
speaks of more blessings to Israel.
"When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you; when
thou walk through the fire, you will not be burned: neither shall the flame
kindle upon you."
Isaiah 48:16 emphatically states,
"Behold, I have
engraved you upon the palms
of My hands."
Isaiah 40:5 says,
"And the glory of Adonai
shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Adonai has spoken it."
Isaiah 43:21 adds,
"This people have I formed for myself and
they shall show my praise."
Isaiah 49:3 says,
"You
are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified."
Isaiah 60:21 prophecies,
"Your
people shall all be righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch
of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified."
In Isaiah 46:11 God states,
"I have spoken it, I will
also bring it to pass; I have purpose it, I will also do it."
Again God speaks in Isaiah 55:11 and says,
"So shall my word be that goes forth out of
my mouth, and it shall not return unto
me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in
the thing where I send it."
Over and over again God promises to bless the descendants
of Israel and to fulfill his word concerning them. And how the nations treat
God's inheritance, will determine their ultimate fate when God judges the world.
|
The survivors from among the
nations who recognize God's blessing upon Israel will inherit God's
blessings in the world to come. Christians who believe that God will
somehow rescue and rapture them apart from Israel, have a non-Jewish
theology that does not appreciate or support the theology of Isaiah 56,
Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 37, John 10, Romans 11, Ephesians 2, Revelation 7, and
many other Scriptures.
"Finally,
everyone remaining from all the nations
that came to
attack Jerusalem will go up every year
to worship the
king, Adonai of hosts,
and to keep the
festival of Sukkot (Tabernacles).
If any of the
families of the earth does not go
up to Jerusalem
to worship the king, Adonai of hosts,
no rain will
fall on them. If the family of Egypt doesn't go up,
if they refuse
to come, they will have no overflow;
moreover, there
will be the plague with
which Adonai
will strike the nations that don't
go up to keep
the festival of Sukkot (Tabernacles)."
Zechariah 14:16-18
|