Ezekiel
Ezekiel wrote some time later than Jeremiah (c.586 B.C.), and was one of the people of Judah exiled to Babylon. Like the prophets before him, Ezekiel places the return of the people of Israel at the time of the coming of the Messiah to establish the Kingdom of God:
Thus says the Lord God: When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and manifest my holiness in them in the sight of the nations, then they shall dwell in their own land which I gave to my servant Jacob. And they shall dwell securely in it, and they shall build houses and plant vineyards. They shall dwell securely, when I execute judgments upon all their neighbours who have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the LORD their God. Ezek.28:25
Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel: and I will be jealous for my holy name. They shall forget their shame, and all the treachery they have practised against me, when they dwell securely in their land with none to make them afraid, when I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemies’ lands, and through them have vindicated my holiness in the sight of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the LORD their God because I sent them into exile among the nations, and then gathered them into their own land. I will leave none of them remaining among the nations any more; and I will not hide my face any more from them, when I pour out my spirit upon the house of Israel, says the LORD God. Ezek.39:25-29
An important theme in the book of Ezekiel is that of God judging the nations for their persecution of Israel. It is evident that Israel’s salvation occurs against a background of deep and abiding hostility by the rest of the world. This is an oft repeated feature of Old Testament prophecy, and it should come as no surprise that as we survey the current situation in the Middle East, we discern a pathological hatred of Israel by virtually every nation on earth.
Special mention should be made here of the truly mind-numbing hypocrisy of the nations which oppose Israel today (if the pronouncements of the United Nations are anything to go by!). The "community of nations" (which today includes such enlightened nations as Iran, Iraq, and North Korea!) have never lifted a finger to save Jews from Hitler’s concentration camps, or from the Russians during the pogroms. In view of such past inactivity, the pontifications of these countries regarding the rights of the oppressed and persecuted "victims of Zionism" deserve to be treated with contempt! No longer are the Jews at the mercy of the nations of the world, to be kicked around like an empty soup can from one oppressor to another. The time has come for the chosen people to be raised up and exulted above their foes. Even now the enemies of Israel are being remorselessly scrutinised by the eye of God. Nations like Iran, Iraq and all the other anti-Semitic powers of world history are marked for total destruction (Jer.30:11)
In Ezek.5:5 it is said of Jerusalem that "I have set her in the centre of the nations". It is a remarkable fact that in the present day thousands of years later, with mankind having spread to the four corners of the globe, these words are as applicable now as they were then. God has drawn the nations to Israel, albeit in enmity, but it is yet one more illustration of the everlasting character of God’s word. After eons of ebb and flow in the tides of human history, man is brought to the point where an industrialised world and an impoverished Third World meet in a titanic struggle for existence in the very cradle of humanity - the Middle East. Western civilisation, to which the Third World nations are implacably opposed, must have Middle Eastern oil to survive. The underdeveloped world lacks economic and political power but sits on a sea of oil - the commodity that keeps the West functioning. In the background has always lurked the imperial ambition of the Russians - whether under the Czars or the Soviets.
Most of the elements of this scenario were present in the 1973 October War. This war had major repercussions on the Western World and for a time threatened the intervention of the U.S.S.R. in what would have escalated into a superpower conflict. The rivalry of the U.S. and the Soviet Union turned on the competing interests of an expansionary imperial power wishing to fill a political vacuum, and a country possessing a strong Judeo-Christian ethic which caused (and still causes) it to view the interests of the state of Israel as its own. Likewise, in the Gulf War Israel was at centre stage of Saddam Hussein’s plans to dominate the region. The tensions are heightened by the question of Jewish emigration from the Russian states, which threatens to further aggravate the Arab-Israeli conflict. With the outpouring of Russian Jews to Israel we are witnessing nothing less that the literal fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies of the return of the people of Israel from "out of the north country" (the "second Exodus") as recorded by the prophet Jeremiah:
Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when it shall no longer be said, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ For I will bring them back to their own land which I gave to their fathers.
Jer.16:14-15
In the religious as well as the political sphere the centre of the action is the Middle East. The focus of religious dissension and conflict is in the neighbourhood of Israel. Jerusalem is the powder-keg which could explode into global war. An additional factor is the growth of Moslem fundamentalism, a movement in large measure directed against Israel.
As always at the centre of contention are the Jews, bearing witness to words that were spoken long ago by the God of the Jewish people that he would bring his purposes to completion through his chosen nation, and in the chosen land.
How fitting it is that this state of affairs should exist when we read the tumultuous prophecies of chapters 38 and 39 of Ezekiel:
The word of the LORD came to me: "son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him and say, Thus says the LORD: Behold I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal; and I will turn you about, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you forth, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armour, a great company, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords; Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer and all his hordes; Bethtogarmah from the uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes - many peoples are with you. Ezek.38:1-6
It is significant that the people of Meshech and Tubal lead this ill-begotten mass of humanity against Israel. They are none other than the modern nations of the (former) Soviet Union fulfilling their allotted end-time role. When one thinks of other nations to the north of Israel which are inimical to the Jewish state and dedicated to its destruction, the one which readily springs to mind is the Iran of the Ayatollahs, called in v.5 by its ancient name - Persia. Once again we see in the present geopolitical situation the truths of Bible prophecy being acted out on the world stage!
In chapter 47 of Ezekiel the boundaries of the future millennial kingdom of Israel are set out according to the habitat of each of the Twelve Tribes. These passages should settle once and for all the argument about whether the Christian God is still intimately concerned with, and acting through, the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
Daniel
Like Ezekiel, Daniel was among the captives in Babylon, and he also predicted the redemption of Israel in the latter days. He portrays the rise and fall of world empires, and places these prophecies in the context of the coming Kingdom of God.
An interesting aspect of this book is the reference to the existence of the Temple. This occurs in verses 9:27 and 11:31, and these passages are referred to by Jesus himself (in Mat.24:15). Of course there is presently no Temple standing in Jerusalem, the last one having been destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. However, there must be a Temple in existence for this prophecy to come to pass! The occupation of the holy land by the Jews at the present time witnesses to the veracity of Bible prophecy in the latter days, but it is also significant that, more specifically, they must be in possession of the Temple Mount and be contemplating the reinstitution of Temple worship, in order to make Christian prophecies come true! The desolating sacrilege spoken of by Daniel is considered by some to have come to pass in the time of the Seleucid king Antiochus Epiphanes (165 B.C.). However, on the authority of Jesus Christ, it is apparent that there is an end-time fulfilment yet to come. In addition, the nature of this desecration is suggested by Paul in 2 Thes.2:3-4:
Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
A Temple in Jerusalem is the only place of worship Paul would have had in contemplation when he wrote these words, as there was a Temple in existence at that time.
It may be conjectured that this "man of sin" is future religious leader of immense power - a man who will do to the world what Hitler did to Germany! In the moral and spiritual vacuum of the twentieth century the world hungers for religious certainty. For all their pretentions to rationalism and sophistication, people everywhere are ready to accept the claims of a Messianic religious figure, and to be blinded by a great spiritual deception.
The authority of this man will be such that he will sit on a throne in the Temple and call himself God. Many people in the world will believe him, because they will think that he is Jesus Christ! (Hence the biblical reference to "anti-Christ".)The Jews will see him as the long awaited Messiah of the Old Testament. This constitutes the "strong delusion" spoken of in 2 Thes.2:11. This act of blasphemy will amount to the ultimate form of idol worship - man worshipping himself! When this happens the world will begin to go mad. This is the prophesied apocalypse described in the book of Revelation.
In this episode we once again see the link which exists between the Jews and the working out of God’s plan according to Christian revelation. The man of sin will clearly be an identifiably Jewish figure operating within the bounds of Jewish religious ritual (ie. Temple worship). Nevertheless he is called the "lawless man" and will be profoundly out of step with the word of God revealed in the Bible. As such he will be the ultimate antinomian!
The prophet Malachi also makes mention of a Temple in the latter days:
Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? Mal.3:1-2
The rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem would constitute one of the greatest fulfilments of biblical prophecy in the modern era. Is this likely to eventuate? The whole logic of the Zionist idea and the return of the Jews to the holy land, dictates it.
Zionism began as the inspired idea of socialistic, and probably atheistic, Jewish realists in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, determined to provide a haven for Jews in a hostile anti-Semitic world. But all Jews, whether they claim to be religious or otherwise, are acting from inescapably religious motivations. Non-religious or not, the Zionists resettled Palestine - not Uganda! When the Jews took the Old City of Jerusalem in 1967, it was hardened, worldly, sceptical, Israelis who wept as the Wailing Wall came within their grasp after two thousand years. If the remaining vestiges of the previous Temple enclosure (not even of the actual building itself!) hold such significance to Jews and Israelis, who could dismiss out of hand the notion of a reconstructed Temple?
The Jews will build a Temple in Jerusalem because it is the ultimate expression of the impulse that makes Jews what they are - a people whose national destiny is bound up with the will of God. The dynamics of Israeli politics is moving inexorably in this direction. In recent decades the orthodox religious lobby, supported by the burgeoning and traditionally conservative Sephardic community, has grown ever more powerful politically. As Arab unrest has intensified within the country, the religious right has moved closer to fulfilling its chief aim - the actual expulsion of the Arab population from Israel. This development alone would immeasurably increase the likelihood of the introduction of organised worship on the Temple Mount, presently occupied by Arab mosques, and culminate in the construction of the Third Temple itself!
We should bear in mind the words of the prophet Haggai, who helped to inspire the rebuilding of the Temple after the return from Babylon. He describes how the people have not prospered since they returned to the land. In v.1:9 he provides the answer:
Because of my house that lies in ruins, while you busy yourselves each with his own house.
Will modern Israel find inspiration in these words as well?
Hosea
Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," it shall be said to them, "Sons of the living God." And the people of Judah and the people of Israel shall be gathered, for great shall be the day of Jezreel. (Hos.1:10-11)
For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or teraphim. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days Hos.3:4-5
Joel
In this book God’s judgment on the nations in the last days is spoken of. In v.3:2 the setting of the last great battle is a time of restoration and salvation for the people of Israel ("... I will enter into judgment with them there, on account of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations, and have divided up my land.."). The very reason for this course of action by God is the persecution of Israel by the nations.
Micah
In chapter 4:11-13 there is a prophecy of the "latter days" in which the following words appear:
Many nations are assembled against you ... Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion ... I will make your horn iron and your hooves bronze; you shall beat in pieces many peoples...
In Mic.5:2, as discussed above, mention is made of a divine personality with human origins descended from the people of Judah:
But you, O Bethlehem Ephratah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from ancient days.
Zephaniah
The seacoast shall become the possession of the remnant of the house of Judah, on which they shall pasture, and in the houses of Ashkelon for they shall lie down at evening. For the LORD their God will be mindful of them and restore their fortunes. Zeph.2:7
"Therefore wait for me," says the LORD "for the day when I arise as a witness. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all the heat of my anger; for in the fire of my jealous wrath all the earth shall be consumed. (Zeph.3:8)
In the latter passage, as described in Ezekiel, the redemption of Israel is set against a background of opposition and confrontation by the nations of the world.
Zechariah
This book of prophecy deals explicitly with the coming of the Messiah to the land of Israel. The central role of Israel in the climactic events at the close of the age is stressed, particularly in chapter 12:
On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it shall grievously hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will come together against it. Zech.12:3
I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot in the midst ... of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves; and they shall devour to the right and to the left all the peoples round about ..." Zech.12:6
In v.10 the people are given a new spirit of contrition, so that they feel compassion upon those they have harmed, as for their own children. This prophecy speaks of the Jews piercing a first-born child, calling to mind the crucifixion of Christ, and their recognition of this at the time of his return. The book closes with a picture of the gentile nations coming to Jerusalem to observe the Feast of Booths, an Old Testament festival commanded for the people of Israel. This represents the ultimate recognition of the correctness of keeping to the laws and commandments of the Old Testament, as they were enjoined on the people of Israel. Any of the nations refusing to acknowledge this will be cursed by drought.
Malachi
This prophecy speaks of the final intervention of God in human affairs as a day "burning like an oven". In the latter days the judgment of God will involve the use of fire to punish the nations, and this clearly implies that the setting for these events is a state of thermonuclear destruction. The people of God at this time are solemnly commanded to remember the laws of Moses. Here, at the very close of the age, and the inception of the Kingdom of God, the ancient covenant between God and Israel is again acknowledged, and its validity reaffirmed.
Having reviewed most of the major references to Israel in Bible prophecy, it is apparent that the coming of the Messianic kingdom is inseparable from the idea of the continued existence of the Jewish people in world history. This is considered by many people to be a miracle all by itself, but there is a further element here which needs to be noted.
As well as portraying the Israelites as mere actors in a sequence of historical events, these Messianic prophecies speak of a divine outpouring of the spirit of God on the people of Israel, indicating not only the salvation of the nation as a physical entity, but also of the spiritual rejuvenation of the people.
The importance of this is that it provides a link between the Jewish religion of the Old Testament, and its ultimate fulfilment in the Christianity of the New Testament. The Jewish religion was not something rendered outmoded and obsolete by Christ, but was in fact given its complete expression in his life and teachings.
This was predicted by Jeremiah 31:31-34:
Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each man teach his neighbour and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
There are other passages in the Old Testament which picture Israel in the last days undergoing a complete spriritual transformation. This is often spoken of as "circumcision of the heart" and this must, if we are to accept the Messianic status of Jesus, be a reference to the final acceptance of Christ by the Jewish nation.
In Deut.30:1-10 the people of Israel are pictured in the last days as a people in exile (their present condition) experiencing heartfelt repentance and turning back to God.
And 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 has driven you, and return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you this day, with all your heart and with all your soul; then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes, and have compassion upon you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will fetch you; and the LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, that you may possess it; and he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. And the LORD your God will put all these curses upon your foes and enemies who persecuted you. And you shall again obey the voice of the LORD, and keep all his commandments which I command you this day. The LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground; for the LORD will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul.
As well as accepting Christ, the New Testament teaches that this conversion must occur before his return to the earth to set up the Kingdom of God. In the book of Revelation reference is made to a group of righteous people appearing at the close of the age prior to Messiah’s coming - the 144,000 witnesses (7:1-8 and 14:1-5). Who are these 144,000 witnesses? They are a specially chosen group of people described as "first-fruits of God and the Lamb" and as such constitute the very elite of God’s people under the New Covenant. However a tremendously embarrassing fact for mainstream Christianity is that they are literal physical descendants of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. What this should mean in Christian teaching, a, is that the very first of Christ’s followers to be resurrected and enter into the kingdom are Jewish! Are these people resurrected saints or are they merely a group of extra zealous earthly Christians? Clearly they are the former because it is stated in 14:4-6 that they "have not defiled themselves with women" and "in their mouth no lie was found". No group of purely human followers of Christ has ever, or will ever, possess these qualities prior to achieving spirit life as resurrected beings in the kingdom of God. Some Christians have tried to get over this rather pointed assault upon gentile centred Christianity by limply asserting that because the Church is the Israel of God (Gal.6:16), these 144,000 witnesses are in fact gentile Christians who have taken on the status of actual descendants of the Twelve Tribes. This view of course makes nonsense of the wording in these passages, as the physical descent of these Israelites is stated as unequivocally as it could possibly be.
That these people are chosen and "sealed" (Rev.7:4) - which is to say converted and spirit-filled - before the actual appearance of Christ himself, is indicated in Rev.7:14, where it is stated that they have come out of the Tribulation, which in the chronology of the book of Revelation precedes the return of Christ.
In referring to the 144,000 witnesses the prophecy speaks of "a great multitude ... from every nation" who come after them (v.7:9). These are saved gentile Christians, but the Israelites retain their pre-eminence. This feature arises also in Rev.21:12, where, at the culmination of world history, it is stated that the gates of the New Jerusalem are inscribed with the names of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
In chapter 12 of Revelation a woman is referred to in connection with Jesus Christ. She is pursued by Satan and taken into the wilderness to be sheltered during the Tribulation. It is universally assumed in Christian theology that this woman symbolises the persecuted church of the end-times. This may well be the case, but notice that she is described as having on her head a crown of twelve stars. This may be a reference to the twelve apostles, but it might just as well refer to the Twelve Tribes of Israel. It is also stated that she gave birth to a child "who is to rule the nations with a rod of iron." The Christian church did not "give birth" to Christ, it was the other way around. The people who gave birth to Christ were the Jews. Here again the main focus of attention is on Hebrew Christians, and not the gentile church.
From this evidence it can be seen that there must be a great movement towards accepting Jesus as Messiah by the Jews of the end-times, and that this national conversion is not just something to be performed by God after the establishment of the millennial kingdom. On the strength of Rom.11:15 it might even be argued that the resurrection from the dead is dependent on his acceptance by the Jews! It is worth noting here that in chapter 12 of Daniel the resurrection of the dead coincides with the salvation of the people of Israel ("...your people shall be delivered" Dan.12:1).
Christians should actually be living in anticipation of a wholesale conversion of Jewish people to Christianity in the present time and doing everything possible to aid its fulfilment. I am not referring here to the traditional idea of Jews converting to Christianity and in the process forsaking Judaism, for if the words of Mal.4:4 and Isaiah (65:4, 66:17,23) are to be believed, they should be possessed of a strong zeal for the law of Moses. The continuing relevance of the commandments given at Sinai is also expressed in the passage from Deuteronomy cited above. These aspects of Bible truth remain virtually unexamined in traditional Christian theology.
It is clear from the above that the Israelites are as central to the prophecies of New Testament Christianity as they are to those of the Old Testament. In each case the working out of God’s plan for humanity on both the national and personal level centres on his dealings with Jewish people. How different this is from the picture we are usually presented with in traditional Christianity where the Jewish element is virtually ignored, or at best greatly de-emphasised, and which has resulted in attitudes of hatred and contempt for God’s people!
Conventional Christian teaching seeks to downgrade, if not completely exclude, the Jews from God’s plans as laid out in the New Testament. But careful consideration of the scriptures should preclude this. This very issue is dealt with by Paul in the book of Romans. In Rom.11:28-29 Paul says of the Jews:
As regards the gospel they are enemies of God, for your sake; but as regards election they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.
Paul warns the gentiles not to think themselves superior to the Jews, or to deride the Jews because of their failure to accept Christ. He explains that the Jewish people are still "the root" which sustains the gentiles (who are "the branches"), and that their unbelief has been decreed by God for the purpose of allowing gentiles to be saved. In v.12 he says: "...their failure means riches for the gentiles". Furthermore "... a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of gentiles come in, and so all Israel will be saved" (v.25-26). In this passage Paul calls to mind the words of Christ in Luke 21:24 when he talks about the "times of the gentiles being fulfilled".
The fulfilment of these words occurred in recent history when the Jews took the Temple Mount during the Six-Day War. This was a turning point in the working out of end-time prophecy concerning the nation of Israel in world affairs. Perhaps it also signals the coming in of the full number of the gentiles as suggested by Paul in Romans. On this note, it is only in relatively recent times that the movement known as "Messianic Judaism" has arisen, with Jews turning to Christ but still professing faith in the tenets of the Jewish religion. It is precisely this sort of phenomenon we should expect to occur as the time of Christ’s return draws near.
Just as the return of the Jews to the promised land testifies to the truth of Bible prophecy, and the working out of the divine plan in history, so also does the turning back of the Christian religion to its Jewish origins indicate that the time of the end is near. Christianity started out as a Jewish sect. It became dominated by gentile Christians and subverted by pagan religious ideas and quickly deteriorated into a morass of confused teaching. As Christianity gets back to the Jewish roots from which it sprang, it will rediscover the essential truths of its originator, the Jewish Messiah - Joshua Bar Joseph.
