The Return of Israel Formation of Israel in 1948 shows we are in the last times! Really? Need to examine the Scriptures and see what God prophesied. Land Promise to Abraham Genesis 12:1-3 Now the Lord had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Genesis 15:18-21 On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates -- the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. Argument: God promised the land to Israel. Jews are in the land today. Therefore - What we see today is the fulfillment of prophecy. The Promises to Abraham Were Conditioned on Obedience Genesis 17:1-2 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly. Genesis 26:1-5 There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar. 2 Then the Lord appeared to him and said: "Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 4 And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; 5 because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws." The Land Promise Was Fulfilled Since God promised the land to Abraham, shouldn't we expect the fulfillment of these promises? The Land Promise Was Fulfilled, not in 1948, but many centuries ago. Joshua 21:43-45 So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it. 44 The Lord gave them rest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And not a man of all their enemies stood against them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. 45 Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass. (Joshua 23:14-16) 1 Kings 4:21 So Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. Nehemiah 9:7-8 You are the Lord God, Who chose Abram, And brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, And gave him the name Abraham; 8 You found his heart faithful before You, And made a covenant with him To give the land of the Canaanites, The Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, And the Girgashites -- To give it to his descendants. You have performed Your words, For You are righteous. Keeping the Land was Conditioned Upon Obedience God always keeps His promises. Just as receiving the Land was conditioned on obedience, keeping the land was conditional too. Warning in the Blessings and Cursing: Leviticus 26:27-33 And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me... I will lay your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries to desolation... I will bring the land to desolation... I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste. Deuteronomy 28:58, 63-64 If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book... it shall be, that just as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess. Then the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other... Deuteronomy 29:24-28 All nations would say, 'Why has the LORD done so to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?' Then people would say: 'Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers... Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against this land, to bring on it every curse that is written in this book. 28 And the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.' Joshua 23:14-16 ...you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed. 15 Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all the good things have come upon you which the Lord your God promised you, so the Lord will bring upon you all harmful things, until He has destroyed you from this good land which the Lord your God has given you. 16 When you have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed down to them, then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and you shall perish quickly from the good land which He has given you. Blessings and cursings in Lev. and Deut. were a prophecy of the history of Israel. They came into the land. Grew and prospered during the reign of David and Solomon. After the division, they rebelled against God. There was not a single good king in the North and very few good kings in the south. God sent the Assyrians to capture the northern tribes. Their capital, Samaria, fell in 722 B.C. and they were led into captivity. Judah continued longer. Finally, they became so wicked that God cast them off the land by the Babylonians. God was not through working with Israel. he began working to bring them back. Return back to their homeland was not an absolute promise, but was conditioned on returning to God. The Return was Conditioned on Repentance and Obedience Leviticus 26:33-42 I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste... 40 But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and ...if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt -- 42 then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember; I will remember the land. Deuteronomy 4:25-30 When you... act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess... And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you... But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice Deuteronomy 30:1-4 ...when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, 2 and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. 1 Kings 8:46-50 When they sin against You... and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive to the land of the enemy, far or near; yet when they come to themselves... and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of those who took them captive... and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who led them away captive, and pray to You toward their land which You gave to their fathers... then hear in heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You, and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against You... God promised to bring a remnant back, not the whole nation Jeremiah 3:12-14 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say: 'Return, backsliding Israel,' says the Lord; 'I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful,' says the Lord; 'I will not remain angry forever. 13 Only acknowledge your iniquity, That you have transgressed against the Lord your God, And have scattered your charms To alien deities under every green tree, And you have not obeyed My voice,' says the Lord. 14 "Return, O backsliding children," says the Lord; "for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. Would God Return Israel to the Land in Unbelief? "No more than six Israeli Jews have converted to Christianity during the last several years, says Israel's Interior and Religious Affairs Minister Yosef Burg." Religious News Services, Feb. 1983 Anyone professing to believe in Jesus cannot immigrate into Israel today. Article in AFA Journal, April 1993 Israel to Expel Three Couples for Believing in Jesus Three couples - including one from President Clinton's home town - have been ordered to leave Israel because they belong to a Messianic Jewish sect that believes in Jesus, the government said. The couples, who have been in Israel for years, sought permanent residency based on the 1950 Law of Return that grants automatic citizenship to Jewish immigrants and spouses. But the immigration visas were denied because the families share the Christian belief that Jesus was the Messiah. The couples appear to have little recourse. Israel's Supreme Court ruled in September that Messianic Jews profess a faith other than Judaism because they believe in Jesus and, therefore, are not entitled to citizenship. Rocky Mountain News, 2/4/93 Jeremiah Prophesied how long the captivity would be - 70 years Jeremiah 25:9-11 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,' says the Lord, 'and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations. 10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. 11 And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Jeremiah 29:10-14 For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive. Daniel understood the significance of 70 years. Daniel 9:1-3 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans -- 2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. 3 Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. The Return - 2 Chron. 36:20-23, Ezra 1:1-5 Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah led three groups back to Jerusalem. All Prophesies of Israel's Return Were Made BEFORE the Return From Babylon. None were made after the Return. In the context, ALL refer to this return. There is not a single verse anywhere in the entire New Testament which teaches a future restoration of the Jews to Palestine, nor of their conversion to Christ after His second coming. If this was going to take place, surely at least one NT book would mention it. Example: Isaiah 43:5-6 Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east, And gather you from the west; 6 I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' And to the south, 'Do not keep them back!' Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the ends of the earth -- Context: Isaiah 44:26-28 Who confirms the word of His servant, And performs the counsel of His messengers; Who says to Jerusalem, 'You shall be inhabited,' To the cities of Judah, 'You shall be built,' And I will raise up her waste places... 28 Who says of Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, "You shall be built," And to the temple, "Your foundation shall be laid." After the Return, God promises a new Covenant, not another return to the Land. After Jeremiah prophesied that the captivity would last for 70 years (25:11-12, 29:10), he foretold of the restoration in chp 30-31. 30:1-3, 10, 17-18, 31:1-3, 6, 8, 10 The Context is not 1948, but the return from Babylon. Time being referred to: 31:15 Matthew 2:16-18 Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying: 18 "A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted, Because they are no more." A New Covenant Was Promised - Jer. 31:31-33 This is quoted in Hebrews 8:7-13, 10:14-17 When they N.T. writers quoted O.T. They would quote up to the main point and quit. The emphasis on this new covenant is the forgiveness of sins. Matthew 26:28 For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Jer. 31:35-36 - Israel will continue forever. Who is Israel? Christians are the True Israel Today Romans 9:6-8 But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, 7 nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, "In Isaac your seed shall be called." 8 That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. Spoken to physical descendants of Abraham - John 8:31-44 Romans 2:28-29 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God. Romans 4:16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. Galatians 3:26-29 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 6:16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. 1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. Paul's Concern for Israel, not Land, but Salvation. Romans 10:1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. The Land promise has been fulfilled. Israel was given the Land, they lost the land, they were restored to the land. After the restoration, the promise was for a new covenant to be brought in. This covenant was to bring about true forgiveness. Jews in the N.T. rejected Christ because they were looking for a physical kingdom. People reject Christ today for the same reason. If God meant to prophesy of the return of the Jews in 1948, surely one prophet could have mentioned it after the return from Babylon. We are to desire the heavenly Jerusalem, not the physical Jerusalem. Galatians 4:25-26, Hebrews 12:22f Wayne Wells wayneliz@twave.net http://users.twave.net/ncc