Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
West Lafayette, Ohio
March 23, 1986
The Restoration of the Jews
Deuteronomy 30:1-6 (NIV)
For almost two thousand years the Jews wandered around the earth with no country of their own. They lived in the constant fear of persecution and death. What is really incredible is that these sufferings were precisely predicted by Moses himself. Moses even told them that their suffering would be a sign and a wonder for them and for all their descendents.
A sign is something that God gives us to warn us and to guide us to him. The Jews' fulfillment of prophecy should be a sign to the whole world. When God says something; he does it, no matter how long it may take.
The same Old Testament prophets who predicted the exile and suffering of the Jews also predicted they would be restored as a nation. Moses predicted this would happen in Deuteronomy 30. The restoration will have two parts. The first part is the restoration of the physical nation. God will gather Jews from all the nations and take them back to Israel. Verse 5 says it is not enough for them to be gathered together just anywhere - it has to be back in the land their fathers possessed, which is Israel. The second part is a spiritual restoration. In verse 6 Moses says God will circumcise their hearts so they will love him. Jews have always circumcised their bodies. It is quite another thing to circumcise the heart. They are going to love God in a pure way. It won't be phony or half-baked.
Other Old Testament prophets also predicted the two-fold restoration of Israel. Some of them, like Ezekiel, said it would happen just before the Messiah returned. Open your Bibles to Ezekiel 37. Part of this chapter you were taught as a child in Sunday school. The "dry bones" that clatter together and form an army. The bones add on muscles and skin so that they become people again. As a final touch, they receive the Spirit of God.
Now look at Ezekiel 37, verse 21,
"This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land."
So far he is saying what Moses said hundreds of years previously. But in verse 22 he adds a new wrinkle:
"I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms."
Verse 24 tells us who that king will be,
"My servant David will be king over them..."
So the Jews will be returned to the land of Israel, they will return to God spiritually, and the Messiah will rule over them.
Just sixty years ago, most Christian scholars thought this would never happen. They could accept the prophecies about the sufferings of the Jews but it seemed impossible that Jews would really return to their land. At most, a few hundred Jews lived in the Hold land surrounded by a sea of Moslems. Most of the scholars said that since a physical return was out of the question, the prophecies should be spiritualized. By this interpretation, when a backslidden-Christian rededicates himself or herself to God, Deuteronomy 30 is fulfilled. It doesn't have to apply to Jews. So the prophecies about suffering were taken literally but the ones about restoration of the Jews were not. Every group of Christians believed this but there were always a small handful of believers who were not satisfied. They argued that all of the prophecies should be taken at face value. They believed that before Christ returned the Jews would have to be re-established in Palestine. These scholars were laughed at by just about everyone else.
Back in 1864, Dr. John Cumming was certain Israel would be reborn in Palestine. In a book he wrote over one hundred and twenty years ago he said this:
"How does it come to pass that as a nation they have been dispersed over every land, and are even now separated and alone amid the nations? The predictions of their restoration are written, only not yet fulfilled. As a nation they were cut off and dispersed, and it is as a nation that they shall be gathered and restored."
About the same time an English Bible scholar named James Grant talks about the connection between the re-establishment of Israel and the Second Coming. In 1866 he wrote,
"The personal coming of Christ, to establish his millennium on earth, will not take place until the Jews are restored to their own land...this must require a considerable time yet."
When Grant wrote this, even Jews did not expect to go back to Israel. There were so many obstacles that they thought the Messiah would have to come first. But then some ominous events began to happen. By the end of the 1800s severe persecution was driving Jews from Eastern Europe. Many of their leaders decided it wasn't a solution to be bounced around from one nation to another, so they began to look for a homeland.
The greatest Jewish leader at this time was Theodore Hertzl. He suggested they take over Argentina or Uganda. But the Argentines and Ugandans weren't thrilled with the idea. So Hertzl and other Jews were forced to consider Palestine itself. The first Jews to settle there were faced with great difficulties. In order to keep peace with the Arabs, the Jews built their small villages inside swamps. By draining the swamps they produced fertile farms. But they were still out-numbered one hundred to one by the Arabs.
After World War II all this changed. All of a sudden, survivors from Hitler's concentration camps poured into Palestine and on May 14, 1948 they established the nation of Israel (first time in 2,000 years). That night three Arab nations tried to destroy the new state but the Jews beat them back. The Arabs attacked again in 1956, and 1967, and 1973 but each time the Jews overcame them.
They have been physically restored to the land but not spiritually restored. But the spiritual rebirth is just beginning. Despite their appalling treatment by Christian people, a few Jews are now turning to Jesus Christ. They do not see themselves as abandoning their Jewish-ness but as completing it. Groups like "Jews for Jesus" are starting to have an impact and there are Christian Kibbutzes in Israel.
The Apostle Paul predicted that there will be a spiritual resistance, then an awakening among the Jews and then Christ will return. In Romans 11:25-26 he wrote,
"I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: 'The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.' "
The birth of Israel is the greatest fulfillment of prophecy in our day but it also means that time is short. Events have been set in motion that may be completed in our lifetimes.
Some people say that they want to wait to the last minute before deciding but by then it may be too late. Other things will be on your mind and the Second Coming will catch you like a thief in the night. Don't let it catch you unawares!
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Typed on July 15, 2005, by Sharon Lesko of Ledgewood Baptist Church, New Jersey
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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