Modern Israel in prophecy?
25 October, 2008 (John)
The other day a friend forwarded me an email by Jerry Golden from The Golden Report, a portion of which included the following:
At the end of the 6-Day War Israel air lifted a Rabbi to the top of Mount Sinai to blow the Shofar, the Feast of the Tabernacle of the Lord begins with the blowing of the Shofar…
Jesus died on Passover,
He was buried on the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
He rose on the Feast of First Fruits.
Act 2:1 we find the Feast of Pentecost
The Church has been waiting for the Second Advent to occur, and that will be the last three of the seven Feasts, which are:
Rosh Ha Shana – blowing of the Shofar.
Day of Atonement – Yom Kippur
Feast of Tabernacle – Sukkoth
We witnessed the blowing of the Shofar on Mt. Sinai in 1967, possibly not recognizing that the second advent had started and the countdown for the last days was just ahead of us.
While I don’t disagree that we are in the countdown to last days, I seriously doubt that this blowing of the Shofar in 1967 has the significance Jerry Golden ascribes it. Why? Well, consider the following verses about the Lord’s return:
…For the trumpet (Shofar) will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed (I Cor 15:52)
And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:32)
And in Revelation 19, after the coming of the Lord:
Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, “Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men… (Rev 19:17-18)
Put simply; the blast of the trumpet, the fullness of atonement and the supper of the great God all occur at Christ’s second coming. And, in terms of alignment with the seven feasts that Jerry mentions above, since the first three are connected with his death and resurrection at the first advent, it seems perfectly fitting that the last three should be connected with his return in glory.
This particular point aside, what really bothers me is how often I’ve seen misleading applications of biblical prophecy applied to the political events of the day. Especially to do with Israel, we hear over and over again that this or that political event is a fulfillment of biblical prophecy. Maybe there have been some, and their certainly will be some in the future, but there has also been a lot of spurious nonsense which ultimately just clouds people’s understanding of prophecy.
The future blessing and restoration of Israel
When it comes to Israel we need to apply a little diligence to understand the difference between true and false applications of prophecy. It is true that God made many promises in the Old Testament concerning the future blessing and restoration of Israel. But have these been coming to pass since 1948? Many believe so and will give out one verse after another to support their view.
Here are just a few examples of many I’ve heard over time:
…And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice. (Isaiah 35:1-2)
Used to say that Israel’s irrigation and use of the desert to grow crops is a fulfillment of prophecy.
In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a fire pan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place – Jerusalem. (Zec 12:6)
Used regarding Israel’s success in the six day war (and pretty much any other conflict that suits).
And of course this one concerning the current re-gathering of Israel overall:
He will set up a banner to the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth (Isaiah 11:12)
On the surface of it these seem to apply; so what’s the problem? The problem is that if you read around any of these type of verses you’ll typically discover that they’ve been used out of context. Pretty much all verses used to suggest that the modern state of Israel is fulfilling prophecy are Messianic era promises which are to be fulfilled at, and after, Christ’s coming.
Let’s start with an example. The Zec 12:6 prophecy about the governors of Judah. If we read on in the chapter we find out that on that same day1 the inhabitant s of Israel will mourn because of their rejection of their Messiah and will turn back to him. This did not happen at the time of the six day war.
But more to the point than drawing attention to the obvious flaws one by one, the bigger picture is that Israel is still in for some pretty terrible times before Jesus himself returns and brings about the Messianic promises to Israel. Any serious student of prophecy should understand that the current nation of Israel will:
Accept Antichrist:
I am come in my father's name, and you receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive". (John 5:43)
Will be trodden underfoot by the gentiles for three and a half years during the tribulation:
…for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will trample the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. (Rev 11:2)
In fact, by the return of the Lord modern Israel will have been largely occupied and pushed to the brink of ruin2.
For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, The houses rifled, And the woman ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations… (Zec 14:2-3)
So to use the Messianic prophecies concerning the current restoration of the nation seems premature. This new nation is still one that is in unbelief. It had to come into being, for end times prophecy could not come to pass unless there was a literal nation of Israel, and for that matter one in a similar spiritual condition to what it was at the time of Christ.
Our attitude towards the current nation of Israel
All of this raises questions about what our attitude should be towards the current nation of Israel. As a Christian I certainly recognize that God gave the land of Israel to the descendants of Jacob. At the same time I believe that false applications of prophecy have been used to stir up undue levels political support for it from within the church. From my perspective, its post 1948 formation seems powered more by the money of the Jewish banking empire, American military aid, and in general by the arm of the flesh; than by the outstretched arm of God. Unfortunately this new nation is yet to be largely destroyed again before God fulfills his Kingdom promises to Israel; something the church should be mindful of. In a kind of overreaction against replacement theology3, and a childish over excitement, many Christians are blindly supporting everything Israel does in the Middle East, no matter how non Christ-like. If you ask me, the best support to the nation would be preaching Christ to it, and thankfully some of the more intelligent ministries are focused on this rather than the politics.
I have the sneaking suspicion that both Jews and Christians are currently being duped. Neither God or Satan have finished with Israel. God will still one day fulfill all the Messianic promises to them, but by the same token Satan still seeks to destroy the Israelites. How can Satan destroy a people who are scattered through the whole earth? Well, one really good start might be to bring them all together again into one place. A shocking thought. Well, I admit I might be wrong about this, but ascribing this motive to Satan hardly seems ill fitting given that at some point Satan will gather all nations to battle against Jerusalem.
Paving the way for Antichrist
Anyway, getting back to the core issue of the deceptive use of prophecy regarding the current rebuilding of Israel. There is yet another aspect to this that should be seriously considered. I believe this deception is all part of bringing the world to accept Antichrist. Antichrist would not be accepted as the Messiah if he were not seen to be fulfilling Messianic scriptures concerning the coming of Christ. And these fulfillments can’t exist in isolation; they will need a whole pattern of thought and misinterpretation of prophecy to fit into. Therefore the truly sobering thing about the prevalence of mistaken applications of prophecy is that it is laying a clever foundation of deception on which the Antichrist will build his throne.