Israel’s Future Woes
Israel is the nation that God has chosen out of all nations to be his very own, precious to him like the apple of his eye, and its existence and history today is a testimony to the veracity and accuracy of the bible’s prophecies.
God cares for all his creation, all peoples.
However, some 4000 years ago God had noticed Abraham, an extremely righteous and faithful man who was so good, dedicated and obedient to his Maker that he was willing to even sacrifice his much-loved son, when God told him to do so!
God appreciated Abraham so much that He referred to him his friend and decided to make him the “father” of a nation, a nation in which God himself will one day descend from heaven and live among them on earth, in the person of his Messiah.
That nation had therefore to be a holy and righteous one in all its ways… an example for all other nations to follow!
So, out of Abrahams grandson, (Jacob, whom God named: “Israel”), God made the nation of Israel.
Unfortunately, the descendants of Abraham, did not live up to God’s expectations.
Instead of scrapping the whole idea, God chose rather to persist with them, correcting them like a father does with his sons, until they would become worthy of the “father” of their nation, (Abraham), and of Himself, their God.
The children of Israel however proved to be a very stiff-necked, disobedient people, and their “education” has been going on for 4000 years now, with no results…
They have been chastised by God more than any other nation on earth, but still, they haven’t learned yet to love and trust their God sincerely and wholeheartedly nor have they learned to live in a way that is pleasing to him!
Right from the start, God had foretold them that in order to make of them the kind of people he approved of, he would have to bring upon them many woes: hardships, sorrows, wars, even exiles from the land that he gave them.
That is exactly what has been happening to them for the last 3.000 and more years!
And yet, the Israelites today are still as depraved, greedy and Godless as the rest of the nations, if not more so…
The Jews chose to keep the letter of the Law of God rather than the “Spirit of the Law”, the message that God’s commandments were meant to convey to them: That of becoming truly holy, righteous, humble, loving, merciful… of loving one another as they love themselves!
They were so blind to God’s teachings that they did not even recognize their long-awaited Messiah, who walked among them 2000 years ago, Yeshua, Jesus of Nazareth!
They will recognize him, one day, and submit to him when he will come back to earth, in Jerusalem, in order to live among them and establish his earthly Kingdom.
That is what we all are waiting for!
But, until then, woes and much suffering have been decreed…
History has been unfolding itself in accordance with the prophesies of God that concern the nation of Israel and will keep on doing so:
Today, any person who wishes to ascertain that the Bible is truly God’s Word, needs only to read the Old Testament:
If the Bible’s prophesies are being fulfilled, then, the Bible proves to be the compilation of God’ revelations to mankind, worthy of our complete trust and submission.
If the prophesies in the Bible, regarding Israel, have not come to pass, then the whole Bible is proven to be a lie…
It is as simple as that!
And it is an un-deniable fact that, up to now, the Biblical prophesies for Israel have been fulfilled:
*Just as the bible’s prophets had predicted over 3.000 years ago, the Israelites have experienced painful slaughters and mass exiles, first to Babylon, and later, by the Romans, to the world’s nations. No other nation has experienced the exiles the Israelites went through… Only Israel.
*Just as the bible has predicted, the children of Israel have survived, miraculously, through the two millennia long exiles and persecutions that they experienced, without them having been assimilated by the nations or exterminated by them, (in spite of all efforts made to that purpose!).
*And, just as the bible has predicted, the Israelites have now returned to their original land, Israel, in spite of all the attempts of their enemies to prevent them from settling there!
The fact that the Jews, today, (the descendants of the tribe of Judah) are settled in Israel, shouts out loud and clear to all who have ears to hear, that so far, the Biblical prophesies have been, fulfilled, (miraculously and against all expectations) and that the “Scriptures” are what they claim to be: The written, historical compilation of God’s Words and dealings with mankind!
The near future will provide additional proof of this, when world events will fulfil even more un-predictable and un-likely prophesies on the nation of Israel:
Today, Israel has become a strong nation, economically, technologically, and militarily, and is crushing all the attempts of its enemies to annihilate them…
This powerful nation of Israel, however will soon be subject to another terrible defeat and slaughter, and its inhabitants will go through another exile, which will last until the coming of their Messiah who will personally bring them back to their own land, change their hearts and make out of them the kind of people they were meant to be…
Consider the following, yet unfulfilled prophecies that speak of these events about to happen: (The sentences written in italic characters indicate that these predictions cannot be confused with their past woes and exiles)
In the book of Joel chapter 3 it is written:
- “In those days and times, says the Lord, after I would have brought back (once again) the people of Judah and Jerusalem to their own land,
- I will gather the armies of the nations surrounding Israel into the valley of Jehoshaphat.
That is where I will punish them for having harmed my people, for having scattered them among the nations and having divided up my land among themselves,
- And for casting lots to decide who will take the surviving young men and girls for themselves…
4 – 5. The cities of Tyre and Sidon (Lebanese cities) and Philistia (today’s Palestine) will carry my silver and gold to their pagan temples…
- And they will sell the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, so that they may be removed from their homeland…
- But I will lift my people out of these places where they will be sold, and I will do to these cities what they have done to my people:
- I will sell their sons to the people of Judah, and they, in turn, will sell them to the Sabeans (people of Arabia)… I the Lord have spoken!”
9-14. Let then all the nations come together to fight in the valley of judgement, and there I will deal with them, for great is their wickedness…
- The Lord himself will roar from Jerusalem, from Zion, (where he will first set his feet). The sun, the moon and the stars will be darkened, and the heavens and earth will shake.
And the Lord will become, from then on, a safe haven for his people…
18-20. The mountains of Judah will be flowing in abondance with wine, milk and rivers of water…, whereas Egypt and Jordan will become a desert because of what they did to the Israelites!
Judea and Jerusalem will be inhabited through all generations, for I will pardon their bloodguilt.
- And I, the Lord, will live in Zion, among them!
There are other prophesies in the bible regarding these same events:
In Isaiah chapter 2 and 3 it is written:
Again, God gives a glimpse of what will happen to Israel in our near future:
It starts by saying that the land will be full of riches, idols and arrogant people (as it is today)
But suddenly, the Lord will bring them low and Jerusalem will be no more!
The men will be killed, the women will have their heads shaven (an indication of having become slaves) and the few women and children that will be left in the land will be ruling the country for the lack of men… Under them, the people of Judah live in utter poverty.
Then, suddenly, the Messiah will come!
In Zechariah 9: 9 – 13 it is written:
6.“I, the Lord will bend Judah as I bend a bow and load Ephraim as an arrow on it. And like a warrior’s sword I will brandish the sons of Zion against the sons of Greece.
And Yahweh Himself will appear above them (Judah)
16.And I will save them on that day…”
The prophet Amos also refers to the days after the Messiah would have brought back, in person, his people from their third exile:
Amos 9:
- “The Time will come, says the Lord, when the grain and grapes will grow faster than they can be harvested.
Then the terraced vineyards on the hills of Israel will drip with sweet wine!
- (In that time)I will bring my exiled people of Israel back from distant lands, and they will rebuild their ruined cities and will live in them again.”
- “And I will plant my nation, Israel, on their own land, the land I gave to them, and they will never be uprooted from it again…”
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The prophet Ezekiel also wrote:
“I, their God, will give them a new heart and a new spirit within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my instructions and keep my rules and obey them. And they will be my people, and I will be known as ‘their God’ ”
(Ezekiel 11: 19-20)
All these passages reveal to us what will happen in the future.
For: “Yahweh our God, does nothing without first revealing what He plans to do to his servants the prophets…” (Amos 3: 7)
As these future prophesies are fulfilled, let the people of Israel and of the whole world recognize their apostacy, humble themselves and submit to Jesus, the Messiah.
For, by submitting themselves to him, they will cut short the time of their sufferings…
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