By James Wilson
(This is the first in a two part article.)
Old Testament prophet after prophet cites Yahweh labeling His people Israel a stiff necked and rebellious people. They thunder about how Israel will feel His rage just as will their pagan and more rapacious neighbors. He promises those same neighbors will unwittingly carry out His plans for Israel’s apostasy, to Him the worst rebellion. Historically He did just that with Assyrians and Babylonians first and Romans Empire. This prophetic history has been fulfilled. Israel was destroyed and her enemies in turn decimated millenia ago.
The New Testament paints a different portrait of Israel’s future, one in complete agreement with Old Testament prophecies of ultimate destiny. From Isaiah and Ezekiel through Daniel, Joel, and Zechariah a resurrected Israel entering a golden age of faithful service to Yahweh and becoming a blessing to neighbors is unambiguous. In the New Testament, Paul writes three chapters of Romans about Gentile Christians needing to honor the Jewish vine onto which we are grafted. The Jews, he maintains, are and will always be the apple of God’s eye. His purposes for His people will be fulfilled; He never forsakes His own.
Those who believe so-called replacement theology – the unbiblical notion that God has somehow rejected the Jews forever and replaced them with the Church, had best take notice. But we who embrace the truth that God will uphold and uplift His firstborn had better take notice as well. Not all the Old Testament prophecies regarding the Middle East have yet come to pass – and I speak not solely of the coming Apocalypse.
The Lord pulled my attention to Isaiah 17 just a few days back. The first six verses detail destruction of the Syrian capitol Damascus and the desolation of Israel herself. She will be laid waste like a wheat field after the harvest. The chapter unfolds – like so many others – with Israel’s eventual repentance and resurrection at the expense of the nations who dared attack God’s own. God’s Word is consistent.
However, unlike the predictions concerning the other pagan empires, Damascus has never yet been destroyed. (Rome repented her paganism.) This prophecy has not yet been fulfilled. Since a further catastrophe in Israel’s largest cities blasts out of the same passage, logic dictates this too has not yet occurred. Despite the New Testament promise of full redemption for Israel there are dark days and another baptism by fire in her future. Why would this be so for the nation God loves as He loves His own beating heart?
The answer is simple: Israel is and remains a stiffnecked and rebellious people, rejecting God’s protection on His own terms. She is the most religious nation on earth; when Friday’s sundown approaches the winding down of activity in preparation for the Sabbath manifests a palpable peace, as much for those not Sabbath observant as for those who are. It is an unutterably beautiful experience. But Israel is also the most secularized nation I have visited; entering a music store my eyes were assaulted with what would be pornography back home and the sensual glut is everywhere. On top of that the religiosity – much of the time – expresses the grossest legalism. I recall the friend who spent a night in a Jerusalem hospital following surgery; his Ultra Orthodox visitor refused to turn off a light in the room because throwing the switch would be considered work on the Sabbath. This idolatry of letter over Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:6) is more offensive to God than unbelief, if we listen to Jesus’ – Yeshua’s – own words.
The Ultra Orthodox refer derisively to Yeshua as YESHU – a Hebrew acronym that translates roughly as May His Name Be Blotted Out Forever.
There is hope inside Israel. On December 3, 2015, a council of orthodox rabbis issued a statement in Jerusalem for the world to receive. They said in part, “we acknowledge that Christianity is neither an accident nor an error, but the willed divine outcome and gift to the nations. In separating Judaism and Christianity, G-D willed a separation between partners with significant theological differences, not between enemies.” In agreeing both understandings of God are essential they make a big step toward the Father we share.
There is likewise a strong Messianic movement in Israel, offspring of America’s Jesus People. Perfection is not in this community any more than any other, but it contains the seeds of redemptive repentance for the nation. That redemption lodges in acceptance of the Jewish Messiah Who has come and will come again – soon. In the meantime, what can we glean from the destiny of Israel for navigating our own back here in America?
James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships and The Holy Spirit and the End Times, and Kingdom in Pursuit – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at praynorthstate@charter.net
