Good morning,
This week we will look at the Return of Israel to the Lord. We have been studying a book titled Target Israel, written by Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson. Today we conclude our study of the Return of Israel to the Lord. There is coming a Day of Grace.
Day of Grace
There is coming a day of grace from God Himself. He makes this promise to the people in verses 43-44: “There you shall remember your ways and all your doings with which you were defiled; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight because of all the evils you have committed. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have dealt with you for my name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of Israel.”
To those who will respond to the grace of God, He says, “I will be your Lord. I will be your God. I will save you. I will cleanse you. I will change you. I will not deal with you according to your past failures. I will deal with you by giving you a new heart and a new spirit, and then making with you a New Covenant, a New Agreement.”
Jesus, who himself was Jewish, dared to say at His Last Supper, “The cup that I am drinking represents the blood of the New Covenant. Just as the blood of the animals was shed for your sins in the Old Testament, My blood is shed for you now.” If Jesus was nothing more than a Jewish human being, He could not atone for His own sins, let alone atone for the sins of others. But He really was the Son of God, God incarnate in human flesh. He was the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies that said, “One day your God will come to you.” That comes right of Isaiah chapter 40. How else can God literally come to us unless He comes in human flesh? Jesus was God in sandals, God on foot. He walked among us, and He now lives above us and points us to the way of salvation.
The Old Testament repeatedly communicated the fact that the coming Messiah was going to die. He would be killed and cut off. That’s the message of Isaiah chapter 53. It’s the message of Daniel chapter 9. If the messiah was going to be cut off and killed, how could He reign unless He was resurrected? And how could He be resurrected unless He is the Divine Son of God Himself?
It is no mere human being who is going to establish the greatness of Israel in the future. No, it is the Son of God Himself. That is why Jesus came. He came to be the Savior, the banner, the ensign, for Jews and Gentiles alike, to call of us to faith in the Lord God of the Bible, the God Jehovah, the Creator God who made us in his own image and likeness, so that we might have a relationship with Him.” (Target Israel, page 53)
Conclusion
- God is not through with Israel
- God will return Israel to life
- God will return Israel to the land
- God will return Israel to Himself
- God sent the Messiah, Jesus, to save the souls of Jews and Gentiles
Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001
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