A History of Prophecy in Israel

Product Information

An issue for me is whether Israel the nation features in Revelation or not. Are the possible references to Israel all symbols for the church. I do think at the moment some refer to the church. Ie. 144.000. I confess I find it difficult to see Israel as a nation there though. I remember Israel is yet to be converted. I’d expect some reference to this. You do not make clear (in your haste) why that passage seems clear on the question. Paul is talking about who counts as Israel spiritually. Indeed he begins by saying ‘the word of God has not failed’, so why suggest that the promise in Gen 17:8 about being given the land is nullified. If only you had started a couple of verses earlier! ‘My brothers are Israelites and to them belong … the covenants … and the promises.’ Paul completes his argument in Rom 11, which includes the key point that the Gentiles are grafted into Israel’s olive tree, not the Israelites grafted into the Gentiles’ tree. Having said all of that I’m not yet prepared to transmute Scriptures about Jesus standing again on the Mount of Olives into something that doesn’t involve Israel and her ultimate salvation.

The overwhelming theme has been: this war is prophetically significant, but no one is willing to really claim exactly how,” Hummel said. Before the battle, Jesus will return to earth from the same place He ascended. “His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south” (Zechariah 14:4). The second half of the article sounds very close to replacement theology, which I don’t think is biblically supported. One does not have to be a ‘Christian Zionist’ to answer “Does the modern State of Israel fulfil biblical prophecy?” in the affirmative. All these things are now found in Jesus alone. He is the true temple. He is the person and place of sacrifice where forgiveness is found and God’s voice is heard and God’s glory and presence are encountered… so when the temple was raised… everything the temple symbolised and achieved is now found in King Jesus who rules over all the universe.

Old and New Testament Prophecies of Israel

Although not every evangelical adopts an uncritically pro-Israel position, the majority interpret developments on the ground through the grid of prophesy. As a result, every action of the Israeli settlers is idealised as they are pitted against a Palestinian people who are God’s adversaries according to the salvation history called dispensationalism. Criminally” what? I am supposed to have condemned “a lot of of faithful godly Biblical Christians -when in fact I never mentioned one. As the battle begins, an angel will cry out to the birds in the air: “Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great” (Revelation 19:17-18). While there are plenty of evangelicals who, like Hagee, adhere to the Israel-is-key-to-Jesus’-return theology, there are also those who believe in “blessings theology”, a less outlandish, more transactional approach to support for Israel.

This raises questions of how to understand Rev 4-20. At the moment I tend to see John (or Jesus) as pulling together biblical prophecy into one final revelation. In his first advent the End had begun and since it has begun it cannot be long until it is completed. Ch 4-20 are the elements that have yet to play out as the Lamb brings history to a conclusion. Let me give a couple of reasons I have changed. They relate to seeing the NT church as the eschatological Israel or people of God. Living in peace. seems to me to be symbolic of innocence as Jesus was. Not unsuspecting or naive. A parallel to the image of a lamb. Land of peace.

The Current State of Israel

Not only is the aforementioned context key to understanding the machinations at work behind Israel’s latest act of cowardly aggression against a defenceless Palestinian population, it naturally begs the question: Does Israel stop here? The simple answer is no. I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army” (Revelation 19:19). These settlers believe that Jews are tasked with restoring all the territories contained within this geographic area – including Palestine, Southern Lebanon, Jordan, Golan Heights and portions of Egypt, Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia – and live with the conviction that doing so will herald the arrival of a Davidic King who will proclaim divinity from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to grant redemption to the Children of Israel. Hence, the proprietary interest in what has been described as the most contested piece of real estate in the world. Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:30, NIV, emphasis added)