Wednesday, July 27, 2011

"Israel:The Key to Prophecy--Part 2"

Moses' prophecy regarding the divine discipline of the Jewish people came in two stages. The second part predicted the nation would be destroyed a second time! God takes disbelief and rejection very seriously. This time the people would be scattered throughout the entire world. They would be a persecuted people with no homeland at all. They had forfeited the Promised Land because of unbelief. (Deut. 28:64-68).

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Amos all made the same prediction: the Jewish nation of Israel would be destroyed and the great worldwide exile of the people would last until the time of the end.

When Jesus came along, He pinpointed the generation that would be scattered. "...for there will be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people, and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into the nations..." (Luke 21:23-24). "Truly I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation." (Matt. 23:36).

Any historian can verify the accuracy of these prophecies. Less than forty years after Jesus was crucified, the Romans swept through the nation, killing and destroying everything in their path. The survivors were dragged off as slaves.

Moses said these judgments would be a sign of warning to the world.

Let's get something straight: God wanted to shower His people with blessings. He chose them because He wanted to demonstrate His Love to the world. But they completely disregarded God's desire to make them into a holy, good, and blessed nation. They became corrupt and sinful. God could not bless them. He had no choice but to punish them. After all, they were to be His sign to the whole world of how God responds to humans. Follow Him and you get to enter the Promised Land forever. Refuse, and you're in a world of hurt. Mmmmm, what would you do?

Words to the wise: A drop of obedience leads to a shower of blessings.

News:
  • Standard & Poors drops Greece credit rating 2 notches
  • Report: No link between 9/11 first responders and cancer--despite epidemic cancer rates
  • Debt ceiling deadline of August 2 looms with no agreement

2 comments:

  1. Hey, this is really good. I'm going to tell my friends at work.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am really enjoying learning about Bible prophecy in "bite-sized" pieces. This is interesting!

    ReplyDelete

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