GOD’S PEOPLE OR GOD’S REJECTS?
A Christian Living Article from All-Creatures.org Guide to Kingdom Living

True Christian living requires us to live according to Kingdom standards which bring Heaven to earth.

FROM Neville Fowler

"Thus did I now believe that I must act in the service of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jews I am doing the Lord’s work."  ~Adolph Hitler. ‘My Struggle’. A.D. 1924.

WELL. WHY WERE THE JEWS, WHOM HITLER HATED SO PATHOLOGICALLY, IN GERMANY IN THE FIRST PLACE?

"If you do not obey the voice of Jehovah your God … Jehovah will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other … and among those nations you shall find no rest … Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear, day and night, and have no assurance of life." Deuteronomy 28:15 & 64-66. 1450 B.C. (New King James Version).

WHEN DID THE WORLDWIDE SCATTERING OF THE JEWS TAKE PLACE?

Subsequent to A.D.70, when the Roman General Titus destroyed Jerusalem and its temple, a mass dispersion of the Jews from the Holy Land took place.

WAS THIS SCATTERING JUST AN ACCIDENT OF HISTORY?

God said "When the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their deeds: Therefore I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the countries." Ezekiel 36:18-19

COULD GOD ALLOW THE JEWS’ EXILE TO CONTINUE INDEFINITELY?

"My Holy Name was insulted when the Gentiles said: ‘These are Jehovah’s people and yet they have left His land’." Ezekiel 36:20. "Therefore I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you back into your own land." Ezekiel 36:24.

HOW DID GOD REVEAL HIS INTENTION TO RESURRECT THE JEWISH NATION IN THEIR OWN LAND?

God revealed this through His prophets. To Ezekiel especially He gave a dramatic vision almost 600 years before the time of Christ. Ezekiel says: "Jehovah set me down in a valley that was full of human bones … there were very many of them and they were very dry. And He said to me. ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ So I answered, ‘O Lord Jehovah, You know, not I’. And He said: ‘Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of Jehovah! The Lord Jehovah says to you: ‘Definitely I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live.’ So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I did so, there was a noise and a sudden rattling, and the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed as I watched, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them. Then breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up on their feet, a huge crowd of people. Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, these people are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, we have been rejected by God.’ Therefore tell them: Jehovah says: ‘Look My people, I will open your graves and bring you back into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am Jehovah.’ (see Ezekiel 37:1-13). Thus says Jehovah: ‘Definitely I will take the Jews from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them back into their own land’." Ezekiel 37:21.

WHAT ARE THE FACTS OF HISTORY?

From A.D. 70 the Jews had no homeland and were scattered throughout the world, receiving much persecution. After more than 1800 years the ‘bones’ of the Jewish nation had become ‘very dry’ indeed. Then towards the end of the nineteenth century the bones began to rattle. In 1897 the Zionist Congress was formed with the specific intention of recreating a homeland for Jews in Palestine. A trickle of Israelites returned there. Palestine at that time was occupied by the Turks who aligned themselves with Germany in the First World War. With the defeat of Germany in 1918 Britain was given the mandate to rule the territory. The Zionists continued their agitation, more Jews returned and the ‘bones began to come together, bone to bone.’ Eventually in 1948, following the terrible Holocaust in Europe created by Hitler, and a mass return of survivors to Palestine, Britain lost its mandate and the State of Israel proclaimed its independence on 14th. May 1948. The nation that had been resurrected by God breathed, and stood up on its feet at last. Since then, Israel’s population has increased dramatically as Jews from every nation have returned to make their home there, from not much more than a handful who dwelt there in 1900 to 55,000 in 1918, to 650,000 in 1948, to 4½ million today, and still increasing rapidly especially following the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the consequent rolling back of the ‘Iron Curtain’.

WHAT ABOUT THE FUTURE?

Some nations, including all of their closest neighbours, strongly resent the presence of the Jews in Israel and their greatest ambition is to see them destroyed, exterminated. Will they succeed? Does God care? What do you think? Most Christian churches take the view that God has totally rejected the Jewish nation forever as a result of the failure of most of them and especially their religious leaders to recognise and accept Jesus as the Messiah nearly 2000 years ago. Such churches claim that all the prophecies of the bible that refer to the Jews, including the ones we have quoted, are to be interpreted so as to mean the gathering of Christians into the church and often into their own particular denomination (even though the bible says RE-gathering to the LAND of those who had once been there and had since been scattered!). All events in the Middle East, including the return of the Jews, they see as mere human political development that has no special significance for God or His kingdom. Are they right? Or are they just blind to the fact that God is fulfilling prophecies and promises concerning the Jews right under their noses, in real events that will be crucial for the entire world? If so, what is the cause of their blindness, and has God also foreseen and foretold that too in the bible?

FURTHER STUDY

If you want to discover more of what God says in the bible about the nation of Israel in the past, the present, and the future, turn to your bible and using a good concordance carefully and prayerfully study what it says, putting aside whatever pre-conceptions you might have. We also have available a booklet on the subject of Israel and its place in God’s plan for £1 post free (£1.50 from outside the UK). If you wish to comment or ask questions you are welcome to contact us personally by mail or e-mail.

FRIENDS OF CHRIST,

THE OLD VICARAGE
LLANGYNOG, CARMARTHEN SA33 5BS, U.K.

E-mail: [email protected]

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