END-TIMES
PROPHECY
SERIES
A Study of how
the Bible
teaches that
God is not
finished with
the nation of
Israel
Intro. To understand
God’s plan for the
end-times, one
must understand
Israel. Israel is
God’s center-piece
in prophecy.
Although currently in a state of discipline, she has
been God’s chosen people for thousands of years
and will always be. Those who do not
understand Israel’s role in the end-times do not
understand eschatology. The book of Revelation
focuses its attention on the Church in chapters 13 and is not mentioned after that. Israel then
becomes the subject of Rev. 4-19, the period
known as the tribulation. To understand Israel in
Revelation, one must start with Israel in Genesis.
A. Abrahamic covenant – Genesis 12:1-3
1. The promise that Abraham would become a
great nation – vs: 2
2. Abraham’s name to be great – vs: 2
3. Promises blessings for those who bless
Israel and curses for those who curse Israel –
vs: 3
4. Messiah would bless all the families in the
earth – vs: 3
5.
Land of Canaan would be inheritance
vs: 7. Also, "And I will give to you and
to your descendants after you, the
land of your sojournings, all the land
of Canaan, for an everlasting
possession; and I will be their God."
Genesis 17:8 Also: Gen. 13:15-17, 15:7,
II Chron. 20:7, Acts 7:5
1. Promise of dispersion and captivity for
disobedience
a) Lev. 26:31-33
b) Temple (sanctuary) destroyed
c) Wasted cities
d) Desolate land
e) Scattered
f) Persecuted
2. Deut. 28:58-68 – Depicts horrid
persecution and suffering as consequence
of disobedience
1. Deuteronomy 30:1-5
2. Ezekiel "For I will take you from the
nations, gather you from all the lands,
and bring you into your own land. Ez.
36:24
3. The Vision of Dry Bones – Ez. 37:1-14
a) Bones = exiles
b) The valley = dispersion
c) Graves = national death
4. See also - Isaiah 11:11-12, Jeremiah 23:3; 30:3,
Ezekiel 39:28, Joel 3:1-2,
5. Amos 9:13-15 shows that the OT prophecies
regarding the regathering can not be limited
to only the return after the Babylonian
captivity, for Amos writes, "I will also plant
them on their land, And they will not again
be rooted out from their land Which I have
given them," Says the Lord your God. Amos
9:15
A. The consequence for
rejecting the Messiah – Luke
19:41-44
1. Spiritual blindness – vs:
42
2. Jerusalem destroyed – vs:
43
3. Temple destroyed – vs:
44, Matthew 23:38; 24:2
B. God’s reason for Israel’s punishment:
“…because you did not recognize the time
of your visitation." Luke 19:44b
C. Israel’s acceptance of consequences from the
Jews – Matthew 27:22-25
And all the people answered and said, "His
blood be on us and on our children!"
Matthew 27:25
A. Destruction of Israel Lev. 26:31-33 fulfilled
1. 70 AD – Titus
destroys Jerusalem.
1.1 million Jews killed
and 97,000 taken into
captivity.
2. 135 AD – Final defeat,
500,000 Jews killed in
Bar Kochba rebellion
B. Israel scattered and dispersed
1. Never in history has there been a
prediction and fulfillment like that of
Israel’s dispersion and restoration.
2. Never has a race been so universally
dispersed while retaining its racial and
religious identity.
C. Persecuted – a brief overview
1. 1096 – Bloody persecution of Jews at
the beginning of first crusade
2. 1181 – King Philip banishes Jews from
France
3. 1204 – The papacy requires Jews to
distinguish themselves from Christians
and wear distinctive clothing
1290 – Edward I banishes Jews
from England – 16,000 exiled
5. 1478 – The Spanish inquisition
6. 1321 – Accused of causing the
Black Plague by poising wells and
fountains, thousands of Jews were
burned at the stake.
4.
1794 – Restrictions in Russia. Jewish men
were forced to serve twenty-five years in
the military
8. 1903 – Russia again persecutes the Jews
with massacres and impoverishments
9. 1933 – Germany’s Adolph Hitler murders
6,000,000 Jews
10. Today in America, “Christian Identity”
movement claim that they are the true
Israel and that Jews are half-devils.
7.
D. Some additional historical notes about the
Jews:
1. Even though predicted (Deut. 28),
persecution of Jews is sin and God will
judge offenders.
2. Historians have observed that Jewish
persecution seemed to be spontaneous.
3. Jews succeed as super stars in all realms of
life.
4. Tiny Israel occupies a huge part of current
world affairs
A. The persecution timeline is at best a
tension for Jews given Deuteronomy 2830
B. A question to a religious Jew:
1. If the OT is true.
2. And if Israel is God’s chosen people.
Genesis 12
3. And God will nationally bless the Jews
for obedience and curse them for
disobedience. – Deuteronomy 28-30
And Israel’s dispersion among the nations
is the ultimate form of nationally
punishment. Lev. 26:31-33; Deut. 28:58-68
5. And if in 586 BC God sent the Jews into a
seventy-year captivity because of atrocious
sin and idolatry.
4.
Question: Then what could the Jews have
possibly done in 70 AD that was so horrible
that God scattered them among the
nations for 1878 years (70-1948 AD)?
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Take into account that only thirty-seven years
prior they crucified one Jesus the Christ
whom claimed to be their Messiah.
They said, Matt. 27:25 and all the people
answered and said, "His blood be on us and
on our children!"
Jesus is the most influential person ever to
live.
Jesus is centerpiece to the world’s largest
religion.
A.
B.
Covenant Theology – States that Israel is
out. Israel’s rejection of the Messiah has
kicked them out of God’s program. All of her
blessings have been transferred to the
Church. The Church is Israel. Historically,
has been the dominant view.
Dispensational Theology – Israel is in a state
of discipline. God is currently working
through the church but in the tribulation will
again renew His relationship with Israel and
she will receive Jesus as her Messiah.
A.
The fulfillment of Isaiah 66:8 "Who
has heard such a thing? Who has
seen such things? Can a land be
born in one day? Can a nation be
brought forth all at once? As soon
as Zion travailed, she also
brought forth her sons.
1. May 14, 1948 on one day the United
Nations declares Israel a nation
2. Irony – The worst event in the history of
Jewry becomes the basis for Israel’s return
to her homeland.
3. Israel is out numbered 200 million Arabs to
4 million Jews
4. 1967 Six-Day war – Resulted in Jerusalem
reunited
B. The fulfillment of Ez. 36:33-35 - a thriving
Israel
1. What once until recently was a barren
dessert has turned into blossoming
agricultural center
2. Today Israel agricultural exports exceed
annually 590 million dollars.
3. Palestine in 1927 was a land of ruins far
beyond that of other lands.
4. Today Israel is a modern country
5. Per capita, Israel’s ranks 21st out of 200
nations in GDP (gross domestic product)
A.
B.
1.
2.
If the Bible is true about Israel’s uniqueness, then
collaborating evidence from history should follow:
The evidence:
No other race of people have ever been so
intricately tied between their race and religion.
The same name “Jew” designates both their race
and religion.
No other people has it ever been prophesied
about and then fulfilled that they would be
scattered and persecuted among all the nations of
the world and then regathered. Other races after
being conquered assimilated into the nations.
(When is the last time you had lunch with a
Moabite?)
3.
4.
5.
No other nation was prophesied that they
would become a nation in one day and then
it happened. Israel did on May 14th 1948.
With such great odds against them, no other
nation in modern times defeated their
enemy in a six day war being out numbered
50 to 1. It happen in the 1967 Six Day War.
No other race of people have had more
religious influence on the world then
Judaism. Judaism, Christianity and Islam all
have there roots in Abraham (Gen. 12).
6.
No other tiny group or race have
contributed more to civilization. They
account for one fifth of 1% of the world’s
population, yet their contributions are every
where. The Jews contributions are abundant
in every major category: science, medicine,
the arts, technology, political science,
humanities, finance, etc.
▪ Religion – Jesus
▪ Physics – Albert
Einstein
▪ Psychology –
Sigmund Freud
▪ Philosophy –
Spinoza
▪ Music – Irving
Berlin
▪ Politics – Henry
Kissinger
▪ Finance – Alan
Greenspan
▪ Movie Director –
Steven Spielberg
▪ Comedy – The
Marx Brothers
▪ Clothing – Levi
Straus
▪ Magic – Harry
Houdini
7.
No other tiny nation occupies more
of the world’s attention then
modern Israel. It is possible that
the issue of Israel’s existence could
be that which triggers WW III.
a.
Today there exists three main branches of
Judaism, they are:
1. Orthodox – Strict in OT observances
2. Conservative – Moderate
3. Reform – Liberal
b.
The largest population of Jews in the world
today is in the United States (about six
million Jews). The irony is that they are the
most secular group in our country.