Israel, The Greatest Sign of Prophecy…Part 1 of 2 :: By James Pannafino

Published on: by RR10 Category:General Articles

(Israel, The Greatest Sign of Prophecy Being Fulfilled Today, Part 1)

God’s Promise to Abraham…

Genesis 12:2-3 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

  • The convergence of all the Biblical prophetical signs provide us convincing reason to believe the Second Coming of Christ is near.
  • The reestablishing of Israel back in their God given homeland is the most significant indicator of the lateness of the hour in which we are living!

The Regathering:

  • Without a doubt, the greatest sign is the regathering of the Jewish people back in the land of Israel.
  • Not only did God promise it would happen in the last days, but the Tribulation itself cannot occur without Israel.

Here are just a few end times events that require the nation of Israel…

The Purpose of the Tribulation:

God’s primary purpose in the Tribulation is to fulfill His promises to the nation of Israel (Daniel 9:24). Before this can happen, Israel must exist.

The Antichrist’s Covenant:

The Tribulation begins when Israel agrees to a covenant or treaty with the Antichrist (Daniel 9:27). How could Israel agree to such a covenant if it doesn’t exist as a nation?

Jerusalem Is the Key to End Times Bible Prophecy:

  • Jesus said the Jewish people will lose control of Jerusalem, but later, they will regain control (Luke 21:24).
  • Only then will the end times events He described take place.
  • This means the Tribulation cannot occur unless the Jewish people control Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 38-39 (The War of Gog and Magog):


The Bible says in the last days, when God brings the Jewish people back into the land from the many lands where they’ve been scattered (Ezekiel 38:8), a massive coalition of armies will invade Israel. This can’t happen unless Israel exists.

Israel’s “Exceedingly Great” Army:

  • Ezekiel says Israel will have an “exceedingly great army” in the last days (Ezekiel 37:10).
  • God says Israel will be like a fire among sheaves of grain, burning up the neighboring nations (Zechariah 12:6).
  • He says even the weakest soldier among them will be like David (Zechariah 12:8). How could all this happen if Israel doesn’t exist?

The Abomination of Desolation:

  • In the middle of the Tribulation, the Antichrist will put an end to the Temple sacrifices and offerings (Daniel 9:27).
  • Then, he will sit in the Temple and proclaim himself to be God (2 Thess. 2:3-4).
  • This is an act of desecration that Jesus calls “the abomination of desolation” (Matthew 24:15).

Before it can take place, the Jewish Temple must exist! The Roman legions destroyed it in A.D. 70. This means a new Temple must be built. And for that to happen, the Jewish people must be back in the land and in control of Jerusalem.

These are just a few of the events the Bible says will take place in the end times.

  • How can they happen if Israel doesn’t exist? They can’t.
  • They require the Jewish people back in the land of Israel.
  • Without a doubt, Israel plays the lead role in God’s end-time plan.
  • Without Israel, there can be no end times.

Prior to May 14, 1948, this presented a problem. Israel did not exist… in the eyes of the world, Israel was gone forever.

  • But those who understood bible prophecy knew better… they knew God promised to bring the Jewish people back into the land.
  • They knew the Hebrew prophets said over and over again that the people of Israel will be brought back into the land in the last days. And that’s exactly what happened!

God’s Promises Can Not Be Thwarted:

  • The entire Bible (and the Old Testament in particular) contains specific and undeniable promises from God to bring His people back into the land of Israel.
  • For example, God promised Moses and the Israelites:

Deuteronomy 30:4-5 “Even though you are banished to the ends of the earth, the Lord your God will gather you from there and bring you back again. The Lord your God will return you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will possess that land again.”

Throughout Israel’s history, one prophet after another said the same thing!

  • Through them, God promised to bring the Jewish people back into the land despite the hardships they faced (Isaiah 43:1-13).
  • He promised to call them from “the farthest corners of the earth” (Isaiah 11:12), from “among the nations” (Ezekiel 39:28), and from “north, south, east, and west” (Psalm 107:3).
  • He promised to bring them home and display His holiness to the nations (Ezekiel 20:41-42).
  • He promised to welcome them home from “the lands where they were scattered” (Ezekiel 20:34).
  • He said He would restore them to the land of Israel from distant lands (Jeremiah 30:2-10).

www.perspectiveinprophecy.com

 

The Promise of Jesus’ Reign :: By Sean Gooding

Published on: by RR10 Category:General Articles, Sean Gooding

Zechariah 6:9-15

“Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 10 ‘Receive the gift from the captives—from Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have come from Babylon—and go the same day and enter the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah. 11 Take the silver and gold, make an elaborate crown, and set it on the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. 12 Then speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, saying:

‘Behold, the Man whose name is the BRANCH! From His place He shall branch out, and He shall build the temple of the Lord; 13 Yes, He shall build the temple of the Lord. He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule on His throne; so He shall be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.’

14 “Now the elaborate crown shall be for a memorial in the temple of the Lord for Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen the son of Zephaniah. 15 Even those from afar shall come and build the temple of the Lord. Then you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you. And this shall come to pass if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God.”

Over the past few years, I have endeavored to read through the Bible completely at least once each year. This year, because of reading with one of the members of our church to encourage them, I will do it twice. Today, I had the chance to read this passage in Zechariah. It is amazing how many passages in the Old Testament talk about the future reign of Jesus. In this passage, He is called ‘The Branch.’ In this passage, a strange ritual occurs in verse 11: the kingly crown is placed on the head of Joshua (another OT name of Jesus), and he, Joshua, is the son of the high priest. The crown was never promised to the priestly tribe of Levi; it was promised to Judah as far back as Genesis 49:8-10.

“Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”

Jesus, we know, is born from the tribe of Judah, and He has the legal right to sit on the throne of David. He is the oldest living male of the Judah tribe. But here, in Zechariah, we see that Joshua is the high priest and not from the tribe of Judah. Later on, we will be told why he is from the tribe of Levi when the future is explained. There are some things that will happen under the rule of Jesus that we should note:

This Branch will build a temple of the Lord. We know that the Temple of the Lord can only be built in Jerusalem, and, if you take a look at Ezekiel 40-46, you will see that a New Temple is built in Jerusalem. It is a massive complex, and this is not the second temple that caused the people to weep because it was so small and looked so bad. This is not the Temple where Jesus turned over the tables of the money changers, because we are told that the Branch will build the Temple and that He will sit and rule over it. Jesus did not sit and rule over the Temple in Jerusalem in His earthly ministry.

We also see that He, Jesus, the Branch, is both priest and King. We know from Hebrews 5:6.

“As He also says in another place: ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’”

Jesus is a king/priest after the order of Melchizedek who is the High Priest/King of Salem (later to be called Jerusalem) that we meet in Genesis 14 and to whom Abraham pays tithes. Jesus, the Branch, is a high priest/king. Only in Jesus have the two roles been merged. Yes, I believe that Melchizedek is Jesus. I don’t think that one can deny that once you read Hebrews 7:1-3:

“For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,” without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.”

This Melchizedek has neither mother nor father, without genealogy, and has neither beginning of days nor end of life. Thus, it looks like one day there will be a new Temple in Jerusalem. Not the one offered by the Man of Sin, but one built by Jesus and inhabited by Jesus, and, man, what a time that will be! This raises a lot of questions that I can’t wait to have answered. Like, why do we need a new Temple? I thought that Jesus had finished the payment. He did for us for sure in this time. But what about the next period, the Millennial Kingdom and the events that happen there?

It seems to me that there is a lot of exciting stuff that we’ll be learning about the Kingdom of God. What if we live in a unique and special time in the history of man where God offers the possibility to be indwelt by His holy Spirit to us and just us? In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came on people at times, but only once Jesus was resurrected did He indwell us.

This is a unique and special time to live as a child of God. If there will be a group of people that need there to be daily sacrifices, what will we be doing? Will the earth’s population go on after the end of the Tribulation? Wow, there is a lot to unpack here, and I hope I did not mess up too many minds. But the Bible is clear that there is a 4th Temple and that Jesus will work there. The Bible is clear that there will be a 3rd Temple, and the Man of Sin will work there and attempt to make the Jews worship him.

Revelation 13: 14-15, “And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.”

The future is going to be busy, wonderful, scary and with lots to learn and see. Jesus is coming soon and there is going to be crazy upheavals and major changes. Are you ready to meet the Lord?

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
70 Victoria Street, Elora, Ontario