DATE: – SUNDAY 25TH OCTOBER, 2020
TOPIC: -THE ISRAELITES AND THE END TIME PROPHECIES (Part2)
BIBLE PASSAGE: – Ezekiel 36: 21 – 38
MEMORY VERSE: – “For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land” (Ezekiel 36:24).
INTRODUCTION: – We are privileged to live in an age when God is fulfilling many prophecies to the Jews. What a testimony this it to the fact that God is alive and well, that God is on His throne and in control, and that God is faithful to His promises by performing His Words spoken by the mouths of the Prophets many centuries past even before Christ (BC) before our very eyes.
LESSON OUTLINES
B) Currently Fulfilled Prophecies Concerning The Jews
1) Re-gathering: – The Old Testament prophets promised repeatedly that they day will come when God will regather the Jewish people to their own land-Palestine (Isa.11:10-12; Ezek.36:22-28). This remarkable regathering of the Jews from the four corners of the earth occurred in our lifetime. World War I prepared the land for the Jewish people when the control of Palestine was transferred from a nation that hated the Jews (the Turks) to a nation that was sympathetic to their return (Britain).
The Holo caust of World War II prepared the people for the land by motivating them to return.
In 1900 AD there were only 40,000 Jews in Israel. By the end of World War II this number has risen to 800,000. Today, it stands at well over 8million.
The Jews continue to come, but there is no doubt this is a prophecy that is being fulfilled before our eyes.
2) Nationhood – The Prophets stated that when the people regather, the nation Israel would be re-established (Isa.66:7-8). This occurred on May 14, 1948. This is a corner stone prophetic event of our age. It is an event that prophetic scholars have pointed to for 400 years amidst much scoffing and ridicule by those who did not believe that Israel would ever exist again as a nation.
The Lord Jesus singled out this event as the one that would signal His soon return (Matt.24:32-35).
The day before the prophetic parable in His Olivet Discourse, He had cursed a barren fig tree, causing it to wither (Matt.21:18-19). This was a symbolic prophecy that God would soon pour out His wrath upon the Jewish people because of their spiritual barrenness in rejecting the Son of God. The next day Jesus reminded His disciples of the fig tree. He said to watch for it to bloom again.
In other words, He said watch for the rebirth of the Nation Israel. He indicated that when the fig tree blooms again, He would be at the gates of heaven, ready to return (Matt.24:32-33).
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Equally, significant, the Lord added, a very important and interesting observation; that “this generation will not pass away until all these things take place” (Matt.24:34). What generation was He referring to? The generation that sees the fig tree blossom.
Fortunately, we are that generation. The fig tree has blossomed, the Lord Jesus is at the gate so let us watch and be ready to meet Him.
QUESTIONS
- What is the significance of Israel’s nationhood to this our generation?
What is the re-gathering and nationhood of Israel important to the end time believers?