ST. PAUL SCHOOL OF LEADERSHIP

"Be ye followers of me as I also am of Christ." (I Corinthians 11:1)

(With Frank Eiklor and Walter Contreras)

ISRAEL: GOD'S PROPHETIC TIME CLOCK-PART 1

(Sincere Questions-Scriptural Answers)

LESSON 62 Part 1

INTRODUCTION

One may choose to believe or deny the Bible. However, one may not choose to discuss Jewish beginnings, history, triumph or suffering without referring to the Book. That's because what the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights are to American history, the Bible is 10,000 times more the foundation for a people not 200 years old-but 4000 years of age! One of the most fascinating studies to be made is to go through the Hebrew Scriptures with an open mind as to the question of "Just what did God say about the Jews and the nation of Israel?" The answers stagger the mind.

Travel with us for a brief review of what motivates many followers of Jesus in both their explanation of Jewish survival and their marvel at the death, resurrection and preservation of the nation of Israel.

By using a series of questions I have been asked through the years, I want to demonstrate my point on why any in depth discussions about the Jews must always revolve around what the Bible has to say. It alone offers the most detailed history of the people of the book.

JUST WHAT DID GOD SAY?

1.  WHY DID GOD CHOOSE ABRAHAM?

Whenever God wants to do a job, He finds a man or woman to work through. Scripture is clear on why God could use Abraham. "And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness" (Genesis 15:6). Abraham chose to believe God in a world already filled with unbelief and sin. God had His man to work through in order to bring His love to the human race. It was that love for every human being that caused God to protect Abraham and later the Jews with His solemn oath, "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Genesis 12:3).

2.  WHY DID GOD CHOOSE ISRAEL?

God said concerning Israel, "For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the  Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all people: But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers…" (Deuteronomy 7:6-8).

God needed a vessel first to commit His love to, and then to transmit His love from. He found that person in Abraham, confirmed the promise through Isaac and reconfirmed His choice through Jacob. Scripture teaches that love was the magnificent reason God chose Abraham and, through him, the nation of Israel.

Would Israel be his favorite? No, because God is impartial. Israel's "chosenness" would certainly leave her privileged-but also carry a great responsibility when God said, "I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles" (Isaiah 42:6). And again "…I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth" (Isaiah 49:6).

Christians believe that God needed a man (Abraham) to give birth to a people (Israel) to give birth to the Man Y'shua (the Redeemer) to give birth to a people (the Church). Thus God chose Israel to give the world two treasures-the Hebrew Scriptures and a Jew born to be Savior of the world.

3.  DOES GOD GUARANTEE ISRAEL THE HOLY LAND?

Speaking to Abraham, God said, "And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God" (Genesis 17:7, 8). Note that verse 7 speaks of an "everlasting possession" given to the Hebrew people. This covenant was not based on Israel's faithfulness (she often proved unfaithful) but on the integrity of God.

4.  DOES GOD UNCONDITIONALLY GUARANTEE ISRAEL'S SURVIVAL?

On this issue the Bible leaves no room for debate. Consider Jeremiah 31:35-37. "Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; the Lord of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. Thus saith the Lord: If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord."

(TO BE CONTINUED)