Volume 78, Issue 1 ________________________________Bible Prophecy Ministry



Israel and The Time of Restitution


Israel and The Time of Restitution

By: Darrell G. Young

Focus on Jerusalem Prophecy Ministry

September, 2004

 

   Israel is unique among the community of the world’s 200 plus nations in that it is 3000 years old, and throughout the course of world history it has appeared and disappeared twice from that exclusive club. As sure as the nations of the world are monitored over by unseen princes of the power of the air, surely the great angel Michael has waged a successful war against the Dragon’s principalities to preserve a remnant of Israel. (still yet though, Michael’s battle is not finished as he will defend Israel in the coming day of trouble) However, God’s hand of judgment has fallen twice on his own nation, once through the trauma of the Babylonian Captivity, and the second time through the great world wide dispersion at the hands of Rome that has come to be known in history as the Diaspora.

    Viewed purely from a sovereign land perspective, the Babylonian Captivity was a mild disturbance and a brief interruption for the nation of Israel in its history when compared to the brutish uprooting and the imposed world wide scattering that Rome inflicted upon the Jews. It is no less than a miracle that the Jewish people could even survive as an ethnic socio-culture group after such a long interruption as a nation. But survive they did.

   Albeit, the Bible prophesied of both of these national up-rootings (one being regional, the 2nd being global) of Israel. So it should come as no surprise that the Bible also foretold of two gatherings for Israel. The second gathering of Israel is distinct from the first gathering of Israel, and it establishes a prophetic landmark that signals alarm bells for the Second Coming of Christ.

   Eschatologists usually point to the rebirth of Israel as a sovereign state in 1948 as one of the most important events in prophecy. Why is the current existence of Israel significant, you may ask? I usually assert to FOJ seminar listeners that Israel is back to stay. Although the world is repulsing at the return of Israel and is undergoing seismic geo-political shocks over Israel’s present existence, there are several reasons why we can assert that Israel is here for good this time, and will never, never, be uprooted again. The reemergence of Israel is no mere accident of history. Just as its ancient history reveals that God chose the nation to be a model to all the nations of the world, its reemergence in our day portends that God is readying to settle accounts with Israel, and indeed with all the nations pertaining to the way in which they have interacted with Israel during their time of calamity.

   The Apostle Paul commented (written by Luke) in his writings in the book of Acts, that Jesus Christ had fulfilled all the things that were foretold of him by the prophets of Israel. He further mentions (Acts 3:15,21) that God had raised him from the dead and received him into Heaven. He further qualifies these statements by adding that when the “times of restitution” are come, that God the Father will send his Son Jesus Christ, at a specific point in time which God himself had spoken about through the prophets ever since the world began.

 

    Acts 3:20-21 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. 

 

   By definition, restitution is the action of restoring to the rightful owner something that has been taken away, stolen, lost, or surrendered. The word restitution is taken from the Greek word apokatastasis, which means reconstitution. In Hebrew, the word restitution is derived from the word shalam, which means to make amends, restore, to give back again, to make peace for, to recompense, or make good again and to make completed.

     It should be noted that Paul is talking about the restitution of all things in a continuing context to the questions posed to Jesus by his Disciples, and repeated by Peter in his treatise to Theophilis. Their question was specific, and it follows from chapter one. (Acts 1:6-7 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.)

    The Disciples specifically pinpointed Jesus down on the topic of the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. Jesus remarked that it was not for them to know the times (whether it was times of grace, time of restitution, time of the kingdom, etc.) or even the season for the restitution’s commencing. In effect, Jesus was looking far ahead into the corridor of time that we (Christians) have been traveling now for 20 centuries, and simply informed his Disciples that the time for the restoration of the Israeli kingdom was beyond their very limited life span. While the restitution of Israel was certainly within God’s power and domain, (vs-7: “which the Father hath put in his own power.”) the time for it was then yet afar off. Jesus quickly turned their attention to the power of the coming of the Holy Ghost and the fact that they should become his witnesses, (the first generation of witnesses) that would carry the good news of His 1st coming to the ends of the earth. A few days later they all experienced the magnificent power of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. On that wondrous occasion, Peter explained the spirit’s presence among the converts, and waxed into a brief narrative about the anticipated day of the Lord (Acts 2:16-36) when God would indeed make restitution for Israel. (please see more on this topic under Question #232 in the FOJ Question and Answer section)

 

Israel’s Diaspora Was not Accidental History, It was Prophesied

 

   The great world-wide scattering of the Jews and the complete obliteration of the Jewish nation from 70AD until 1948 was not a fact of history that caught God unaware. The Lord forewarned Israel of that eventuality over and over again before it ever came to pass. Repeated revolts by the Jews against Roman rule caused the Romans not only to destroy the second temple and the city of Jerusalem in AD 70, but ongoing revolts led the Romans to subsequently remove most all of the Jews from their land and scatter them among the nations. The fact that such terrible consequences would follow deep-seated and persistent revolt against their legitimate King had been thoroughly described by Moses at in the closing Chapters of Deuteronomy. All the prophets said the same thing as Moses. However none of the Old Testament prophets ever said that God's promises to Israel were now null and void or that Israel was to be permanently set aside, a teaching that sadly would engulf a large segment of the Church throughout the Diaspora through the concept of replacement theology. Quite the opposite is the truth in fact. One finds the most glowing, glorious promises for Israel's ultimate long-term prosperity from the writings of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the other prophets immediately after the grimmest, darkest predictions of God's consequence engine running in their history. The atrocity of the Diaspora fell upon Israel in 70AD and carried forward throughout most of the Church Age. (times of Grace) The Diaspora is gradually being reversed in our times through the waves of Jewish aliya that has transpired since Israel’s reconstitution as a state in 1948. But still the Bible is emphatic that the times of restitution are coming for Israel, and indeed afterwards, for the whole world.

 

(Deuteronomy 28:64 And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.

 

(Ezekiel 12:14-16 And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries. But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come; and they shall know that I am the Lord.)

 

    To what purpose has Israel and world Jewry, after 2000 years of exile, been physically reconstituted today? Has Israel returned to its Promised Land only to be banished from the land of promise once again? Is the modern political Zionist movement simply a movement born of human geo-politics that does not figure into Bible prophecy? There are at least seven very important things to consider about the modern rebirth of the state of Israel from a Biblical perspective, and the times of restitution that are connected to its existence. These seven reasons demonstrate that God’s plan for Israel’s restitution are already being activated. There will not be another exile for Israel. Israel is back to stay, and the world needs to know that fact. After reviewing these items, it should be readily apparent to the reader why the god of this world (Satan, Allah, etc; Antichrist) insists upon diminishing the size of the state of Israel, and then upon destroying the nation of Israel altogether.

 

(1.) Israel Re-gathered While Still in Unbelief

 

   God has uniquely conveyed throughout the Bible through the use of both imagery and symbolism that Israel would first be re-gathered from the nations while yet remaining in a condition of unbelief. This fact may be startling to some, to those that may think that Israel’s repentance is a prerequisite for Divine accommodation back into the land. But the fact of the matter is that God will change their hearts toward him after they have returned to the land, a geographic-demographic fact which in turn causes a world-wide conflict from which they can find no resolution. Albeit, a world leader will arise to offer Israel a deceptive plan for peace and security. The prophet Ezekiel describes this physical restoration to the land in the following scripture references. (Pay close attention to the italics and under-lined portions of scripture as you read from Ezekiel:)

 

   Ezekiel 36:24-29 For I will take you (Israel) from among the heathen, (nations) and gather you out of all countries, (diaspora) and will bring you into your own land. (partial physical restoration) Then (afterwards) will I (God) sprinkle clean water (spiritual restoration) upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit (spiritual rebirth) will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart (blindness and hard-heartedness) out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land (realization of a permanent physical full land-covenant) that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, (fruitful land- Millennial Kingdom) and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.

 

   Ezekiel 37:11-14 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.

 

    Ezekiel explicitly states in verse eleven that the dry bones that are pictured within his prophetic imagery lesson are specifically the House of Israel. In verses 11-14 of Ezekiel’s vision, we can easily see the utter despair in the Jewish psyche, and the sense of hopelessness that was endured by them throughout the Diaspora. But a return to the land was always in the forecast, and formed the backdrop for the Zionist dream that was uniquely venerated in the exilic anthem, “next year in Jerusalem.”

 

   Ezekiel 37:3-10 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

 

    In this portion of scripture, Ezekiel clearly lays out the scenario for Israel being restored in a physical body first. (bone coming to bone with sinew covering coming upon them) The restoration of the physical body is followed by a spiritual rebirth, as depicted in the fact that new physical body is shown first without breath being in it. Only after the body parts are shown reconstituted as a legitimate body are we confronted with the realization that it has no life. (…but there was no breath in them.) The physical body still requires the breath of life to be breathed into the body for it to experience actual life. So it is with the house of Israel yet today. Israel has been reconstituted in the world as a physical entity, but it has not yet experienced the “breathing of life” being breathed into its restored body. But the existence of the body portends that Israel’s time of spiritual restitution is close at hand. The Psalmist prayed thusly for the time of Israel’s restitution:

(Psalms 141:7-8 Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth. but mine eyes are unto thee, O GOD the Lord: in thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute.) The Lord will not leave Israel in a world of destitution forever.

 

(2.) Israel’s Physical Existence Precedes its Spiritual Rebirth

 

    In John chapter three, Jesus tells Nicodemus that in order for anyone to ever see the kingdom of God that he must be born again. (John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.) Nicodemus was taken aback by these comments, as he did not understand the concept of being born of the spirit. Jesus continued on to convey to Nicodemus the reality that flesh is born of flesh, but that which is born of spirit is spirit. Jesus was teaching Nicodemus that regeneration, (paliggenesia) or spiritual rebirth can only be realized through the abiding manifest work of the spirit. (The Greek word (palingenesia) that is translated "regeneration" comes from a combination of the Greek word (palin) that means "again," and the Greek word (genesis) that means "birth" or "beginning.)

    Often eschatologists refer to 1948 as being the date of the rebirth of Israel. In reality, Israel was only reconstituted as a restored physical body in that year. Its rebirth, (spiritual rebirth) or regeneration has not yet occurred.

 

   Ezekiel 20:33-44 As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you: And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the Lord. As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols. For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things. I will accept you with your sweet savor, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers. And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God.

 

   In this portion of scripture, God forecasts that after he has brought the House of Israel back into the land, that he will begin a mission to refashion the hearts of the people, by purging out the rebels, and pleading with the seed of Israel face-to-face. (in the land) God will also use the Last Days world conflict over Israel’s physical reconstitution to force Israel to remember its foolish ways, and to come to the point (like the prodigal son) whereby it loathes itself, and becomes humbled to the point to where they will cry out to the one whom it pierced 2000 years ago! (see Zechariah 12:10-12 and Matthew 23:39)

    Jesus alluded to the time of Israel’s regeneration. (Matthew19:28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.) Jesus even conveyed that after Israel’s regeneration that his Disciples would sit with him upon his throne, an allusion to the Millennial Kingdom, and the time when the Lord brings about total restitution for Israel.

 

(3.) Israel was Re-gathered from the Whole World

 

   God banished Israel from the Promised Land and permitted the Gentile powers of this world to scatter the seed of Israel to the four-corners of the earth. God dispersed the Jews into every nation in the world for a variety of reasons. Israel lost its precious land heritage because of disobedience. But God has used the scattering of Israel to the whole world as his witness to the gentiles, and to call into accountability the actions of the world as they relate to his chosen nation. (Psalms 44:13-14 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us. Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.)

 

   Isaiah 11:12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

 

   Jeremiah 16:14-16 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; 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. 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.

 

   Ezekiel 39:21-29 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward. And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword. According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name; After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid. When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there. Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.

 

   Six thousand years of human history testifies that only one nation, after having been subjugated and farmed out all over the entire planet has managed to retain its identity and resurface among the community of the world’s civil governments. That nation is Israel, and it portends that the 20th century phenomenon of Zionism is an episode in the affairs of mankind that will result in God’s plan of regeneration and restitution.

 

(4.) A World Conflict Over the Land

 

   Not only did God’s prophets forecast that Israel would be scattered to the four corners of the earth and afterwards be recovered for a second time, and be gathered while still in unbelief, but Zechariah predicted that the city of Jerusalem would become a cup of trembling for the entire globe!

   Zechariah’s utilization of the phrase “cup of trembling” to describe the Last Days geo-political world scene is striking. The word cup from the Hebrew is the word caph, and refers to a bowl or dish, and also to a gate, or doorway, such as a threshold. The word for trembling in Hebrew raal, and it refers to an environment, or spirit that leads to intoxication or madness. Zechariah’s phrase is meant to convey the idea that the city of Jerusalem in the Last Days would become a weight of political weariness that would in turn induce the nations of the world into a spiteful state of frenzy over Israel’s existence. The world’s madness against Israel, and against the God of Israel would literally catapult the entire world onto the very threshold of God’s righteous judgement. Isaiah also makes the analogy of Jerusalem being likened unto the dregs (goblet) of a cup of trembling, and Jeremiah chapter 25 makes the case in point that a sword (Islam) will be sent unto all the nations in the last days to make them drunken with the madness of anti-Semitism.

 

   Zechariah 12:2-3 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.

   Jeremiah 25:27-31 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword (Islam) which I will send among you. And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink. For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts. Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh;

 

   So then, the Lord has a controversy with the nations. That controversy revolves around the city of Jerusalem and more specifically a hill called Zion. The nations of this world have fallen (become drunken) under the evil domain of Satan, and his scheme is to utilize the might of the world’s nations to oppose God’s designs for Zion. Israel’s physical re-emergence in our day signals the fact that the world is approaching High Noon in the showdown over Zion. (Isaiah 34:8 For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.) In Revelation 11:18 we are foretold that the nations are angry against God and his plan for Israel, but their madness will result in God’s righteous judgment being exacted upon them. (Revelation 11:18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.)

 

(5.) Israel Still Owns the Land

 

    Israel’s sins and disobedience coupled with her exile from the land does not alter the fact that God has conveyed the particular plot of ground known commonly as the Promised Land to Israel. The Holy Bible literally contains a land deed from Jehovah God to Israel, and that deed has not been rescinded. Rivaling anti-Semitism as the most infamous tool of the Antichrist is the theological concept of replacement theology. Sadly, even the so-called Christian world is working in tandem with the demonic spirit of anti-Semitism in the Muslim world to press the tiny nation of Israel into a kind of East-West geo-political vice of world pressure. But God is allowing the Israeli-Arab Conflict, with all of its demographic, political, and religious ramifications to play itself out before the heavenly court of justice, before he moves to separate the sheep from the goats, and judge the nations of the world according to their treatment of God’s chosen nation. (Matthew 25:31-33 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.)
 
(6.) The Church Should Be Israel’s Keeper, Not its Antagonist

 

   The Gentile church has been called not only to testify and witness unto the Gentiles, but also to be their brother’s keeper as they move toward their time of trouble. The Church has as one of its many duties the charge to intercede on behalf of Israel. That does not mean to be prejudiced towards Israel and ignore the needs of other nations. All nations need the salvation and grace of God. But we must never forget that in the long-term, all nations will be blessed when Israel is blessed. Satan would have the world to believe just the opposite! Satan would have the world believe that the Jews are monkeys and apes and that they must be exterminated. The nations of this world have become blinded by the god of this world, (Satan) and he is actively enticing the nations ahead with all speed to enact his evil conspiracy to destroy the seed of Israel. If the nations persist in the evil of anti-Zionism, then God will lift back his pronounced stay of execution, and unleash judgment upon them. This judgment action is commonly known as Armageddon.

   As long as the Church has existed, so has God preserved a remnant of Israel. That remnant of Israel constitutes the missing link in the Church’s relationship to ancient Israel. Christians must never forget that Jesus was a Jew. He was the fulfillment of the Jewish law. He was the lamb that God provided in the place of the many lambs the Jewish priests sacrificed. Salvation came by way of the Jews, therefore all Christians owe a great sense of gratitude to the forefathers of Israel, for without Israel we would all be without hope. God revealed himself first to the Jews, and afterwards through Jesus, he grafted us into the citizenship and fellowship of Israel, and into the faith of Abraham.

 

   Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

 

   Ephesians 2:11-13 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; 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: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

 

   The Church needs to be Israel’s keeper because God is undertaking a new mission to bring Israel back into his fold. Romans chapter eleven explicitly verifies that God has permitted the Church’s relationship to Christ work to help format a spirit of jealousy within the Jewish heart. In fact, (Christ’s crucifixion) what Satan thought would destroy the seed of the woman, God has turned into the gift of grace unto the Gentiles. The fall of the Jews may have diminished them, but their fall resulted in the richness of God being made available to everyone. But we as Christians are not to boast against the Jews, rather we are to unite with the Holy Spirit in working toward the day when God will graft the Jews (the natural branches) back into the root of God’s twofold plan of harvest. In reality, God wants the Church to provoke the Jewish people to seek him, and we must always remember that we are indeed our brother’s keeper. The Devil labors unceasingly to keep the Jews from coming to faith in Jesus Christ, and that is because he knows full well that when salvation comes full circle back to the Jews, his day will be over. God has mandated that the salvation and restitution of Israel will lead to the blessings of God being poured out upon the whole world. (Romans 11:15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?) Israel’s embrace of their true Messiah (and our Savior) will trigger a new vitality and richness of life that exceeds anything modern man can imagine. The peace of Jerusalem will usher in a Kingdom of peace.

    In the meantime, the Lord is looking to his Church to stand-in-the-gap, as the world’s evil intentions are focused upon Jerusalem. (Ezekiel 22:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.)

   There is a battle cry among fanatical fundamentalist Islamic terrorists today that should sound the alert for every Christian to be standing-in-the-gap, and praying for Israel. That evil motto from the Islamic Imams goes like this: “today we are working to destroy the Sunday people, and tomorrow we shall destroy the Saturday people.” The Sunday people they have in their view are the Christians, and the Saturday people they are targeting is Israel. This motto lies at the very heart of the war-on-terror.

   The world will soon face a perplexing final dilemma; what will it do about Israel. Hitler had his final solution, and the coming prince of false peace will also offer a solution to the Jewish problem. Although Christians will escape the fateful hour of temptation that will befall the Jews, the Church is not exempt from how it treats God’s chosen nation. If it should be that the Church should be blinded to God’s ongoing move to restore Israel, then it will unwittingly lend its support to the conspiracy of the Antichrist.

 

(7.) Israel’s Messiah Will Bring Restitution

 

    Two thousand years ago the Lord was received up into Heaven in a cloud, and arriving upon there, the Son of righteousness sat down at the right hand of his Father. There, seated together upon the heavenly throne they have reviewed the history and actions of men and nations. The book of The Revelation was sent by the Lord to convey to mankind that the righteousness of the Lamb of God had prevailed, and that the Father has decreed that his judgment and justice for this world has been set in stone.

   God, who is beyond space and time, has utilized the art and craft of foretelling history (prophecy) to warn a warring world to repent, and abandon the cosmic conspiracy of the Great Red Dragon. But God has not decreed an end to this present world. God has decreed that it will be restituted under the kingdom of our Lord for 1000 years. He is planning to restore this world, to bring it peace and finally to bring restitution to Israel.

    Who hath required the restoration of Israel? The Lord has looked for anyone among the world’s nations that aspires to the restoration of Israel, and sadly throughout history, he has found none.

    Isaiah 42:22-24 But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore. Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come? Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the Lord, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.

    But the Lord God Jehovah of Israel has promised Israel a Kingdom, and he will not go back on his word. He is moving in the affairs of this world even now to restore Israel, and when it is accomplished, the desert places will blossom as a rose, the nations shall beat their swords into plowshares, and a lion shall lie down by a lamb, and the law of the Lord will go forth from Zion, and there will be restitution for the oppressed.  (Isaiah 27:6 He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.)

    The aforementioned seven points of Biblical and prophetic evidence are all reasons that our generation should anticipate the soon restitution of Israel. The physical return of Israel stipulates that the spiritual rebirth of Israel is within sight. The Church, which was so long ago informed by Peter that the heavens had received Jesus until the “times of the restitution of all things” is finishing its race! The signal from Israel’s physical reconstitution should alert the Church to the fact the Father is about to send his Son back to Jerusalem. (Acts 3:18-21 But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.)

   The countdown to the showdown over Jerusalem has been logistically prepped. The nations are readying and jockeying for positions as they choose sides, and sad to say, but they appear (as prophecy indicated they would) to be choosing the wrong side. But the facts the world should consider today are:

 

·        Israel is back to stay, and will never again to be uprooted (Amos 9:15)

·        Israel (Jerusalem) will be encircled by the Antichrist (Luke 21:20)

·        Israel will be saved (reborn spiritually) by the returning Messiah (Zechariah 12:10-12)

·        Israel will enjoy complete restitution (Ezekiel 11:17)

·        Israel will be a blessing to the whole world (Zechariah 8:13, Isaiah 19:24, Isaiah 65:8-9)

 

 

Focus on Jerusalem Prophecy Ministry

Israel and the Time of Restitution

by: Darrell G. Young

September, 2004



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