Growing up in church during the late nineties and early two-thousands, I was simultaneously terrified of the end-times yet fascinated by the movies produced by Cloud Ten Pictures. If you’ve never seen a great low-quality end-times film, I highly recommend it; some of my favorites are; Left Behind, Judgement, Vanished, and The Mark.
Last year I read the book of Revelation for the first time. I always skipped it during my yearly Bible reading because how I had perceived it from childhood scared me. However, as I was about to start studying Second Corinthians, I felt strongly that I needed to spend three months in Revelation instead. With that being said, I do not pretend to be an expert on the subject, nor is this post an exposition on the entirety of Revelation. During my three months in Revelation, I consulted a four-view commentary, a prophecy handbook, Premillennial Dictionary, and John MacArthur’s Commentary set. I will say upfront; I am a Premillinialist. I know that calls into question just how Calvinistic I am; go ahead and throw in there that I hold to believers baptism. I am not concerned with fitting a theological label; I endeavor to study, consult church history and reach a biblical conclusion.
The purpose of this post is to put forward the biblical case that Israel and the Jewish people are the epicenters of the biblical narrative from beginning to end. The end-times are not doom and gloom but the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the salvation of Israel, and the defeat of satan.
To understand the end of Scripture, we must first understand the beginning of Scripture. To do so, I will present a few Old Testament passages and then offer comments.
Jeremiah 16:14-21 “Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; 15 but, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. 16 Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. 17 For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes. 18 And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things. 19 O Lord, my strength, and my fortress,
and my refuge in the day of affliction,
the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say,
Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity,
and things wherein there is no profit.
20 Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?
21 Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know,
I will cause them to know mine hand and my might;
and they shall know that my name is The Lord.”
Jeremiah 30:1-3 “The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 Thus speaketh the Lord God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book. 3 For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.”
Jeremiah 32:36-44 “And now therefore thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city, whereof ye say, It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence; 37 behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: 38 and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: 39 and I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: 40 and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. 41 Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. 42 For thus saith the Lord; Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them. 43 And fields shall be bought in this land, whereof ye say, It is desolate without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. 44 Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences, and seal them, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south: for I will cause their captivity to return, saith the Lord.”
There are several other Scriptures I could have shared. Also worth mentioning are Amos 9:11-15, Micah 4, Zechariah 8, and several portions of Ezekiel. First Samuel 15:29 says the eternal God of Israel. Isaiah chapter two tells us that the Lord reigns from Zion, chapter eleven foretells of the root of Jesse (Jesus), who will recover the land of Israel. Isaiah fourteen says the Lord will restore Israel. The point is God established a covenant with Israel; it began in Genesis chapter twelve, and it stands to this day. God is not a covenant breaker nor a transferer. The Church has not replaced Israel. In Romans chapters nine through eleven, Paul said that God still has a covenant with Israel and that we have been grafted into Israel. Jews who receive the Messiah do not convert to Christianity; they do not throw off their Judaism – in the Messiah, they give full expression to their Judaism.
Ephesians 2:11-22 “Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; 12 that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 13 but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15 having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16 and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 17 and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. 18 for through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. 19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20 and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21 in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22 in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”
I want to allow Scripture to speak for itself. Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. Jesus is the hope of the believer; He is the cornerstone of the Church, and Jesus is coming again. He is coming again to Jerusalem to defeat Israel’s enemies, save His people, and establish His Kingdom. The promise began with Israel, and it will culminate with Israel, and as a Christian, I stand with the Jewish people and for the nation of Israel.
If God was done with the Jews and Israel, explain the continued persecution and absolute hatred for the Jews after the time of Jesus. If the nation of Israel didn’t matter to God, explain 1948; if Jerusalem and Zion are no longer His places of rule and where the Word comes forth, explain 1967. The God of Israel of the Old Testament is still God in Israel today. I don’t view Scripture as the Old and New Testaments but as the First Covenant and the Renewed Covenant. The New Covenant was prophesied to Israel in Jeremiah 31:33, 32:40, and Ezekiel 11:19, 36:26. The book of Revelation is the culmination of that promise.
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