In a previous post (Looking Back from Emmaus) I looked at the Emmaus discussion Jesus had with two disciples. Jesus had opened up the Old Testament for them. What happened over the last few days had been forecasted by Moses and the prophets. This time we will be Looking Forward from Emmaus.
If the Old Testament literally looked forward to Jesus Christ as the Messiah, what else does Scripture say about the future? Well, we know that Christ is coming again (Acts 1:11) and that His coming will be premillennial (Revelation chapters 19 to 20). In this post I am going to focus on Israel’s relationship to this Second Coming of the Lord.
One of the various concerns of the two disciples in the Emmaus account was related to Israel, “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.” This Israel-centric hope remained with all the disciples right up until the day of Christ’s ascension to heaven.
Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. Act 1:6-7
Those who subscribe to forms of Supersessionism (“Fulfillment Theology” etc) take Christ’s response as a soft rebuke to the disciples’ allegedly erroneous aspirations. Interestingly, Jesus called the Emmaus disciples “O foolish men” for not understanding. Yet He doesn’t do so here.
Jesus didn’t correct them at all.
Note that He’d previously opened their minds to understand the scriptures (Luke 24:45). Moreover Jesus spent forty days with them speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). See Waymeyer’s article HERE
Some in the Reformed Evangelical community take the view that Christ can be found in “types” throughout the OT. Therefore, prophecy pertaining to future Israel is a “type” which must be “Christianized.” A related view is that Christ (as true Israel) fulfilled all promises made by God to Israel.
An example is found in Rhett Dodson’s book “Every Promise of Your Word.” Dodson does a great job with the OT book of Joshua. He treats it as literal history and defends God’s just sovereignty against charges of genocide.
Dodson acknowledges that God gave specific land promises to national Israel. But he departs from the literal fulfillment by expanding them to the entire world, shared by Jews and Gentiles within Spiritual Israel. When prophecy is filtered through amil-postmil Covenant Theology assumptions, we will miss the original plain sense of these texts.
A classic example occurs in Iain Murray’s excellent book Pentecost -Today? Murray cites Ezekiel 36:21-22 regarding God’s purpose and sovereignty in context to results of revivals (for His name’s sake). Yet Ezekiel chapters 36 and 37 address the ultimate revival and redemption of national Israel (for God’s name’s sake).
This hasn’t happened yet.
If God promised a future redemption of national Israel, He will fulfill it. In the same way, we can trust Him for our redemption. God doesn’t need us to re-imagine these passages into the church just because national Israel hasn’t been redeemed yet.
Recall that Christ expected the Emmaus disciples to have understood, arguably, cryptic passages such as Isaiah 53 etc. How much more so would Christ have expected a literal understanding of explicit verses regarding national Israel’s future? The following couldn’t be any clearer.
For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:24-26
In
Leviticus 26:27-33 God promised punishment for disobedience. We’re sometimes
reminded of these verses by those deny any biblically warranted future for
Israel. Yet God also promised not to reject the nation and to remember His
covenant with them, even while under discipline (Lev 26:44-45).
I will
make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with
them. And I will place them and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in
their midst forever. My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be
their God, and they will be my people. And the nations will know that I am the
LORD who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forever. Ezekiel 37:26-28
The New Covenant with Israel and the house of Judah is mentioned in Jer 31:31-37, and repeated in Jer 33:23-26. Only if the ordinances of the sun, moon and stars ceases will Israel cease from being a nation forever. Only if the heavens can be measured will God cast of all the offspring of Israel for what they’ve done. See also Amos 9:14-15 and Romans 11:25-29.
Christ’s Second Coming is inexorably linked with Israel’s future affliction and final redemption. It seems that Christ’s coming is connected to the following…
In Hosea 5:15 God says He will return to His place, “Till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek my face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek me.” In Matt 23:37-39 Christ says He would have gathered Israel under His wings, but they would not. Now they will not see Him until they say, “BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!”
Israel’s future affliction is covered in the final chapters of Zechariah, among others.
It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it. Zech 12:3
Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. Zech 14:3-4
Jesus warned His disciples about a future unprecedented period of tribulation just prior to His Second Coming. Compare Matt 24:21 with Dan 12:1. Following this tribulation there will be Cosmic Signs and the sign of the Son of Man (Matt 24:29-30). The mourning of the tribes in verse 30 echoes Zech 12:10.
Although some see the gathering of the elect in Matt 24:31 as the rapture of the church, the Jewish element throughout the OD is hard to miss. This verse perfectly fits the promised re-gathering of redeemed, elect Israel. Consider Deut 30:1-5, among other passages.
What might the End of this Age look like if we take prophetic Scripture at face-value? What might we expect regarding Israel?
Well, firstly, it is incredible that after 2000 years we see Israel reborn as nation in our day. It is still in sin, and still rejecting its Messiah. It is also remarkable that tiny Israel is the focus of the world’s attention. Not only is Israel surrounded by hostile entities, it has also been the subject if irrational activism by NGOs. Everyone is looking for some “Peace Plan.”
What re the odds of all this being an accident? I would suggest that we keep an objective eye open for events as they unfold in the Middle East. The Lord could be on His way.
Maranatha!
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