“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life” (Proverbs 13:12)
The modern Zionist movement was established as a direct response to anti-Semitism, born of the hope of establishing a Jewish state where Jews would be able to return to the land of their forefathers and live in peace and safety.
At the first world Jewish congress held in Basle, Switzerland, in 1897, Herzl said, “We are here to lay the foundation stone of the house which is to shelter the Jewish nation.”
At the 23rd Congress in Jerusalem in 1951 Zionism was defined as follows: “The task of Zionism is the consolidation of the State of Israel, the ingathering of the exiles in Eretz Yisrael and the fostering of the unity of the Jewish people.”
Is Zionism established upon the word of God? What is the hope of Israel and can that hope be realised through a political movement?
PART ONE
WHAT IS THE HOPE OF ISRAEL?
God promised an inheritance to Abraham and his descendants:
Then the LORD said to him “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates – the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites” (Genesis 15:13-21).
Dispensational teaching makes much of the promise to Abraham, particularly as it pertains to the land, but what did Abraham himself make of the promise? It is clear from the above Scripture that Abraham knew that the promise would only be fulfilled in future generations, but what was his personal hope and expectation?
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country – a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect (Hebrews 11:9,10, 13-16,39, 40).
This passage from the book of Hebrews reveals the true hope of the patriarchs. This hope extends beyond this temporal, present world. This hope transcends death itself and guarantees an inheritance that will be received together with us! Abraham’s hope was on the eternal city of peace that is yet to be revealed from the heavenly dimension when the glory of the LORD, now hidden in Christ, is unveiled. The inhabitants of that city will include all who have put their faith in the promise of God through his Messiah, from Adam onwards. This is the true restoration and return from exile, the return to Eden from where Adam and Eve and all their descendants have been banished. From Abraham’s perspective he was aware that he would remain a sojourner, living in tents in the promised land, but his hope was in the resurrection. The apostle Paul echoes this certain hope of our inheritance by saying, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men” (1 Corinthians 15:19). In a similar vein, Solomon, in his wisdom, declared that everything that we might aspire to and achieve in this life is meaningless without the knowledge of God.
HOW WOULD THE HOPE OF ISRAEL BE REALISED?
God promised Abraham that his posterity would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Abraham’s descendants were indeed enslaved in Egypt where they multiplied exceedingly until the Lord fulfilled his promise to bring them into the land. Once Israel had taken possession of the promised land, which under David and Solomon extended from the Euphrates to the western sea (cf. 2 Samuel 8:3, 1 Kings 8:65), had the hope of Israel been realised or did this merely foreshadow a far greater blessing to come?
Many Bible teachers insist on the inalienable right of the Jews to the land of Canaan. However, Scripture declares that the land belongs to the Messiah (cf. Isa. 8:8) and the people are only tenants: “The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants” (Leviticus 25:23). The tenants could only claim their “rights” while they fulfilled their obligations according to the agreement they entered into with the Lord at Mt. Sinai. Otherwise they were warned that they would be evicted:
But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the aliens living among you must not do any of these detestable things, for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you. (Leviticus 18:26-28).
We have already shown that Abraham’s hope transcended the temporal realities of the present age. In fact the realisation of the promise in the temporal sense was soon followed by disillusionment. The Israelites who took occupation of the land proved to be not much better than the nations whom they had dispossessed. The nation became increasingly corrupt until they were indulging in the idolatry of the pagan nations. The Lord warned them to repent or they would be cut off from the land according to the curses pronounced in the law for disobedience. When they failed to heed the calls of the prophets to repentance first the ten tribes were carried off into captivity and then Judah and Benjamin were exiled to Babylon for seventy years.
As the seventy years of exile drew to a close, Daniel confessed;
“All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disaster” (Daniel 9:11).
Having acknowledged that Israel was fully deserving of the judgments that had befallen the nation Daniel’s faith in the promises of God was renewed with a further revelation of the hope that was yet to be fulfilled. He, like Abraham, was assured that he would receive his allotted inheritance, but not in his lifetime: “As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance” (Daniel 12:13). What then was the purpose of the temporal promise to Abraham of land and of numerous descendants if the promise is only to be realised in the world to come?
It was revealed to Daniel that the exiles would return and rebuild the temple and the city, but the true hope of restoration that would bring an end to the exile awaited the coming of the Messiah. Though many Jews returned to the land following the decree of Cyrus, those who understood the word of the prophets knew that the exile was not really over until the glory returned to the temple with the coming of the Messiah. During the period between the return of the exiles to the coming of the Messiah the temple, though functioning, was mostly under the control of corrupt leaders and the glory had not yet returned. A precise time period of 490 years had been decreed in which the Messiah would come and accomplish for Israel what they could never hope to accomplish for themselves by their own efforts to attain life and blessings through strict observance of Torah (Daniel 9:20-27 1). This would bring to fulfilment the hope of Israel, an end to the transgression which had resulted in the exile – from the Garden of Eden – and the everlasting righteousness that would enable us to enter the kingdom of God.
In other words, the hope of Israel was not in the land but in the coming Messiah. Jesus Christ is the hope of Israel. He is the promised Seed of Abraham in whom the descendants of Abraham are counted and through whom they are co-heirs of all the promises to Abraham.
This was the very purpose for which God had established Israel: to be the vehicle through which the hope of Israel, and indeed of the world, would come. Just as the nation of Israel was called into existence to bring forth the hope, that hope was personified in the Messiah who would himself bring to fruition the true hope of Israel. Everything upon which the nation of Israel was established and set apart pointed to him.
The covenants, the Law, the temple and its sacrifices, the land and the chosen people all find their fulfilment and meaning in the Messiah. They were never intended to be an end in themselves. They were given to illustrate spiritual realities that would be revealed in Christ. The book of Hebrews elaborates thus:
The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing. This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshipper. They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings–external regulations applying until the time of the new order (Hebrews 9:8-10, cf. Colossians 2:17).
The goal was the redemption of a people who are reconciled to God through the new covenant that the Messiah would make. These people, the redeemed of the Lord, will share in the eternal inheritance promised to Abraham and obtained for them by the Messiah.
The hope of Israel is narrowed down to one person, the Messiah, in whom every promise to Abraham is vested. As the seed of Abraham and a descendant of David, he would represent Israel (and mankind in general), but he is also the eternal Son of God (cf. Micah 5:2, Isaiah 9:6, 25:9, 40:10, Psalm 2:7;12, 110:1) and is therefore powerful to save and redeem his people. He corporately represents Israel and the true Israel finds its identity in him:
The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ (Galatians 3:16).
For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God (2 Corinthians 1:20).
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13).
“I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:7).
HOPE IN THE VALLEY OF DRY BONES
Ezekiel, like Daniel, also prophesied during the Babylonian exile, looking forward with faith to the time when Israel would be restored and given new life and when the glory of the Lord would return to the temple.
Ezekiel was given a vision of a valley full of dry bones:
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”
So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’”So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet – a vast army.
Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken and I have done it, declares the LORD’” (Ezekiel 37:4-14).
Who were represented by the dry bones? The Lord said that these dry bones are the whole house of Israel (Ezekiel 37:11). The vision impresses upon us the severity and hopelessness of the condition which applied to the whole house of Israel. Israel’s condition is depicted (in human terms) as dead and beyond hope – the state of decay has progressed so far that all that remains are dry bones scattered across the valley. This is in fact the condition of all men unless they receive life in the Messiah. The emphasis on the whole house of Israel certainly implies more than just the generation that had died in exile in Babylon, otherwise it would appear that the promise had failed. Abraham, the very one to whom the promises were made, was looking ahead to the fulfilment through faith in the Messiah. Moses did not enter the land of Canaan and neither did the whole generation who came out of Egypt (Caleb and Joshua excepted). Daniel and Ezekiel died in exile yet they died with faith in the Lord’s promise that they would receive their inheritance. The whole house of Israel includes all who die in faith awaiting the promised restoration where they will receive their inheritance including – Abraham, Moses, Daniel and Ezekiel. The apostle Paul wrote; “I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable” (1 Corinthians 15:50).
Ezekiel was told to prophesy to these dead bones – This is, quite literally, to proclaim the word of God, which is the Gospel (good news) of salvation, redemption and resurrection in Christ, to all who are dead in their transgressions and sins. Any prophetic word which is not seen in relation to the glory revealed in Jesus Christ, is distorted, misleading and spiritually void for, “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10).
After seventy years in captivity the exiles were indeed gathered from all the countries where they had been scattered in response to the encouraging word of God spoken through the prophets (i.e. not in unbelief, but in the hope of full restoration and glory), the glory that was to be revealed in the Messiah. Yet they remained dry and lifeless, waiting to be revived by the very breath of life from the mouth of the Lord. Even then, only those who were faithful like Abraham, who would humbly receive the word that gives eternal life would be revived. Jesus said, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe” (John 6:63-64).
As was revealed to the prophets, the gathering of exiles in the flesh was to culminate in the Word of God also becoming flesh to make his dwelling among us so that he could breathe life into us (John 1:14). Ezekiel saw the bones coming together, then tendons and flesh appearing, then skin covering them, but there was still no life until breath entered them by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Those who returned from the Babylonian captivity – and those who return now – remain as dry bones, dead in their transgressions and sins until they receive life in Christ. Those who think they have found their life now apart from him will lose it for eternity (Matthew 10:39). In other words, if Christ is not our hope we are dead in our sins and transgressions and cut off, without life and without hope.
This applies equally to all men. Jesus taught that the flesh now counts for nothing. It was never intended to be the end in itself. The apostle Paul emphasises that God does not show favouritism. It was always God’s purpose to show mercy to all through the Messiah:
For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all (Romans 11:32).
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:1-7).
When Jesus came many indeed hoped that he was the one who would redeem Israel, but when he was arrested and crucified it seemed that their hopes had been dashed. After the resurrection Jesus appeared to two very dejected disciples on the road to Emmaus:
He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?” “What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:13-26).
When their eyes were opened to the truth of the resurrection, their sorrow turned to joy for they realised that the hope of Israel had indeed been fulfilled.
THE GLORY RETURNS TO THE TEMPLE
Ezekiel was shown the glory of God departing from the temple at the start of the Babylonian captivity. When the exiles returned and began to rebuild the temple many were disappointed that it did not appear to match the glory of the former temple, but the Lord gave them this assurance, through the prophet Haggai:
This is what the LORD Almighty says: “In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,” says the LORD Almighty. “The silver is mine and the gold is mine,” declares the LORD Almighty. “The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,” says the LORD Almighty. “And in this place I will grant peace,” declares the LORD Almighty (Haggai 2:6-9).
John testified of Jesus: “We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
After Jesus was raised from the dead he appeared to his disciples and said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). “I will put breath in you, and you will come to life” said the Lord through Ezekiel.
Yet there was still a further manifestation of the glory that would fill the temple. Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the gift of the Holy Spirit which the Father had promised. This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live” (Ezekiel 37:9).
On the day of Pentecost when Jews from all the nations were gathered in Jerusalem a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind came from heaven and tongues of fire rested on them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2). Some commentators have suggested that this in fact took place within the temple courts where the believers were gathered for the feast of Shavuot (Feast of Weeks).
The glory of the temple was never in the extent of the outward adornment, impressive though it was. The glory of the temple is the glory of God’s presence that fills his temple. Nothing can compare to his splendour. The Messiah himself indeed came to his temple, his glory veiled in the humility of flesh, but the temple of which the Messiah himself is the cornerstone, built by God with living stones to be a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit, far exceeds the glory of the earthly temple.
The believers continued to gather to worship and declare the good news in the earthly temple until, by God’s providence, it was destroyed, having fully served its purpose foreshadowing the true temple that the Lord is now building. This is the good news that we continue to proclaim. All who believe will receive new life through the Holy Spirit. The outpouring of the Spirit is an historical event, not a future promise yet to be fulfilled. It is an ongoing present reality for all who believe. In Christ we are a new creation.
The believers, the citizens of the expanded eternal City without earthly walls and barriers, are presently being gathered through faith in Messiah no matter where they live scattered throughout the entire world. The kingdom of God is not confined to a visible, geographical gathering that one might say “Here it is,” or “There it is…” (Luke 17:21). The Kingdom of God comes within us and among us and is presently expanding to the ends of the earth. Believers no longer go up to the temple in Jerusalem to worship, for as Jesus said,
“A time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem….a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:21).
Of this we can be certain – all that is now seen, no matter how tangible and impressive it may be, is passing away. All that will remain is that which is built upon the Rock – the Word of God. Those who argue that the prophecy of Ezekiel chapter 37 has not been fulfilled until such time that people literally come out of their graves should be reminded that our whole faith is established upon the historical fact of the resurrection of Christ. Furthermore the gospels record that at the resurrection of Christ many holy people who had died came out of the tombs:
And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people (Matthew 27:50-53).
Most importantly, Jesus himself is “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25).
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you (Romans 8:11).
WHO ARE HEIRS OF THE PROMISES TO ABRAHAM?
“Through the righteousness that comes by faith, Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world” (Romans 4:13).
“Understand, then, that those who believe (the gospel of Christ) are children of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” (Galatians 3:7-9).
The Lord’s purpose was not to preserve a people whose identity is established upon outward appearance or racial purity or by the observance of external rules and regulations. The people of God are distinguished by faithfulness. God’s purpose was to establish one new man from among all nations who are gathered into obedience to him through faith in the Messiah (cf. Eph. 2:15). Jesus himself said that he would gather all who would listen to his voice so that there would be one flock and one shepherd (John 10:16).
The apostle Paul underscored this:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:28).
Through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:6).
It is essential for the Zionist movement to determine who may be classified as “Jewish” in order to establish a “Jewish State” (the criteria has been the subject of ongoing debate and dispute), but the definition of who is a Jew according to the apostle Paul by the authority of the Holy Spirit cannot possibly be determined by such criteria:
A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God (Romans 2:28).
Furthermore, in order to secure their claim they are forced into a confrontation with others who contest it. It is futile to fight over something that God has promised as an eternal inheritance to those who trust in Him and are redeemed by faith in the Messiah. “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36). An eternal inheritance can only be secured for those who have eternal life.
In order to sustain a carnal expectation of Messiah’s Kingdom, (much like that of the first century Jews who failed to recognise the Messiah right in their midst) which depends on an outward distinction between the natural descendants and those who are counted as Abraham’s seed through faith in Christ, dispensationalism has created a false dichotomy which separates the people of God into an eternal heavenly people and an eternal earthly people. This distinction cannot be supported on the basis of the promise given to Abraham as Scripture makes it abundantly clear that Abraham’s hope was in the eternal heavenly city and that he will receive his inheritance with all who believe, and are raised with Christ, while at the same time Abraham is called heir of the world. Indeed, God has promised that the meek shall inherit the earth. The apostle Peter wrote, “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13).
We should not give false hope to anyone based on their natural descent because the Lord himself warned that many who regard themselves as natural descendants of Abraham would not share in the inheritance if they persist in rebellion:
“I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:11).
That exile will be an eternal exile. There is an urgent need to proclaim the Gospel and not to be distracted by novel “end time” speculations which are not founded upon the revelation of the New Covenant. Many who believe that Jesus is indeed the Messiah and the Son of God may yet believe that there is a future hope to be accomplished for those who are outwardly identified as Jews (whether by natural descent or conversion to post-temple Judaism) that Jesus somehow failed to accomplish in his first coming. This undermines the gospel which proclaims the present reality of the new life that the Messiah has already imparted to all who hear his voice. God’s eternal, universal purpose is in Christ alone. Whoever is not gathering the exiles into one flock in the name of Christ are offering a false hope (another gospel) and are in fact scattering the people (Luke 11:23).
Ezekiel prophesied the new life through the proclamation of the word and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. He prophesied the return of God’s glory to his temple and gave the assurance of the eternal inheritance promised to Abraham. All this was accomplished by Jesus and is a certain hope for all who take hold of his salvation now. He will indeed come again to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him, not to bring salvation to those who refused to believe in the day of salvation (Hebrews 9:28). Today is the day of salvation – there is no future hope for those who persist in unbelief. Those who refuse to love the truth and so be saved will be handed over to the delusion (2 Thessalonians 2:10). For the unrepentant, the day of God’s wrath will come suddenly and unexpectedly and they will be eternally condemned:
He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you (2 Thessalonians 1:8-10).
Those who are heirs to the promises given to Abraham are only those who hope in Christ. For all who hope to find rest in the land Jesus says,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
This is the hope of Israel and the place of true rest. This is the house that God is building to shelter his holy nation: “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labour in vain” (Psalm 127:1).
Go to The hope of Israel Part 2
Footnotes:
1. For a detailed exegesis of Daniel Ch. 9 see “Jerusalem – Peace or Desolation?” published by Messianic Good News.