Why God is not done with Israel. Key themes to understand, to intercede for Israel.

I. Who is Israel?

1. God made an everlasting covenant with Abraham that has three main aspects: they will be a great nation (innumerable descendants), a blessed nation (saved), and through them all the earth will be blessed. Through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the nation of Israel was formed and the covenant was re-instated to them at Mount Sinai after their deliverance out of Egypt. Israel is the only nation of the earth in covenant with God.
   
    ¹Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. (Gen 12:1-3)
   

II. Israel and the church (Romans 11)

After Jesus’ Triumphal Entry to Jerusalem – He did not begin to reign as Messiah. Instead, his Triumphal Entry culminates in His cursing a fig tree, cleansing the Temple, and rebuking the Pharisees (Matthew 21:12-17; 23:1-39). Because of their rejection of Messiah, blindness came in part over Israel, though a remnant has always been preserved.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing! ³⁵ See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”(Luke 13:34-35)

²⁵ For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. (Rom 11:25)

Israel was not replaced by the Church, a pervasive ideology throughout history. God is not done with Israel. Romans 11 Paul assures us that Israel’s national promises  remain and that God has not utterly cast off Israel though they rejected Messiah. Even though blindness in part came on Israel, there is always a saved remnant. The Church is commissioned to intercede for her promises and salvation and to emulate Christ to her. Even unto provoking Israel to jealousy for her God.

“I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! . . . ¹⁵ For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” (Rom 11:11-12, 15)

This is a mystery. The rejection of Jesus by Israel opened up a doorway for the Gentiles to be grafted into Israel, in order to provoke the Jews to jealousy, and in the end Paul shows that all Israel will be saved at the Second Coming of Christ and the resurrection.

And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; ²⁷ For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins ²⁸ Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. ²⁹ For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. (Rom 11:25-29)

III. What does it mean to be a forerunner messenger? Pointing Israel to her salvation in the midst of deep darkness: Isaiah 58-62

• God’s Controversy with Israel
  • The Abrahamic Covenant will surely be fulfilled. But we also see in Deuteronomy that the Law of Moses had conditional promises relating to blessings and curses. The law of sin and death works death even in all nations until they come to Christ who is the fulfillment of the Law – the New Covenant where the Law is written on our hearts. The Law then bears down on Israel in a particular way, working death and judgment while she remains outside of Christ. Author Art Katz shows that the curses of Deuteronomy were directly fulfilled in the Holocaust, defining it as a national judgment, and a result of the curses of a broken covenant to a jealous, holy God.When the nations rise up in hostility against Israel, instead of looking to the Lord for help, Israel’s leaders will make a covenant with the Antichrist that will result in giving their authority to him seven years before Jesus’ coming (Isa. 28:14-18; Ezek. 38:8-12; Dan. 9:27; 11:45; 14; 39:26; Zech. 11:16; Lk. 19:11-28; Jn. 5:43; 1 Thes. 5:3). This antichrist covenant results in Jacob’s Trouble, the most severe exile and holocaust Israel will experience and the very crux of God’s controversy with Israel (Zech 13:8; Jer 30:4-7; Rev 12).
  • In this, it is clear that there is coming another day of great persecution of Israel. It is famously known that during the time of the Holocaust, the churches would sing their hymns louder as trains of Jews passed by them onto concentration camps. I believe the Lord is preparing the Church now to intercede and stand with Israel – to point her to her Messiah. Where the Church used to say “we have replaced Israel,” now may comfort Israel, pointing her to turn to her Messiah, to be made right with God, and to assure Israel of Christ’s return to avenge her. We see this relationship in Revelation 12. It is also pointed at in Isaiah 40, where God tells his people (the Chruch) to comfort his people (Israel) – foreshadowed by John the Baptist, this points to a generation of voices crying out in the wilderness.
    
• Jacob’s Trouble
  • Isaiah prophesied during the time of Israel’s exile to Babylon in 586 BC. It is in this context, pointing to the ultimate exile known as Jacob’s trouble, that Isaiah prayed in a way that expressed Israel’s future national confession of sin (59:9-15a).
  • ⁹…justice is far from us…we look for light, but there is darkness! For brightness, but we walk in blackness! ¹⁰We grope for the wall like the blind…¹¹We all growl like bears, and moan sadly like doves; we look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us… ¹²For our transgressions are multiplied before You…for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them. ¹⁴…for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. ¹⁵So truth fails, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. (Isa. 59:9-15a)

• Tell My people their transgression
  • Isaiah 58-59 contrasts false religion with a true living relationship with God. Many in Israel relied on their zeal to uphold certain practices in the Mosaic rites to satisfy God. However, they did not embrace the spiritual meaning of these rites. God intended the Mosaic law and its worship practices to be a picture of how to have a deep relationship with Him. The law must find its fulfillment in Christ, not in one’s own striving and works.
    
    Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins. (Is 58:1)
  • Israel in self righteousness does not understand why she is suffering. Yet, Isaiah describes a most severe spiritual and moral breakdown of society in Israel (59:1-8). Israel is described as a nation whose leaders are leading many astray. A nation filled with sin and injustice. Isaiah assured them that God did not answer them because of their sin, not because of His lack of power (a shortened hand) or His lack of desire (a heavy ear).    
    
    Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. ² But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear. (Is 59:1-2)
    
    
• Speak comfort to My People: Promises Will Be Fulfilled
  • Yet, the Lord upholds His covenant and promises that Israel will be changed. That the Abrahamic Covenant will be totally fulfilled andt aht God would dwell in her very midst. The Lord promised to give Jerusalem new names based on His delight in her (62:4-5). The new names promised in verse 2 given here are Hephzibah and Beulah. The Lord is jealous over Israel like a bridegroom.
    
    Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. ² For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you. ³ The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising. (Isa. 60:1-3)
  • ⁴You shall no longer be termed Forsaken, nor…Desolate; but you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. ⁵For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you; and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. (Isa. 62:4-5)
  • Hephzibah: This means, “My delight is in her”—revealing that God delights in His people.
  • Beulah: This means “Married”—Jerusalem’s land will be cherished by God’s people. 

• God will Deliver Israel and judge the nations who persecute her
  • Jesus will come as the Divine Warrior who destroys the Antichrist in unison with the intercession of the saints for Israel (Isa. 63:1-6). Isaiah saw a warrior marching from Edom (modern-day Jordan) to Jerusalem (63:1). Jesus, as the Divine Warrior, will come to destroy the end-time armies of the Antichrist surrounding Jerusalem.
    
    ¹Who is this who comes from Edom [modern day Jordan], with dyed garments from Bozrah, this One who is glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength?—“I [Jesus] who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” ²Why is Your [Jesus’] apparel red, and Your garments like one who treads in the winepress? ³“I [Jesus] have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them in My anger…their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, and I have stained all My robes. ⁴“For the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come. ⁵I looked, but there was no one [national leader] to help, and I wondered that there was no one to uphold; therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me; and My own fury, it sustained Me. ⁶I have trodden down the peoples [nations] in My anger, made them drunk in My fury…” (Isa. 63:1-6; Rev 19:13-21)

Israel’s intercessory lament in the end times (Isa. 63:7-64:12). This end time prayer of Israel relates to Jesus Second Coming (rend the heavens and come down) and Israel’s salvation. Israel will enter into a national day of mourning to accept their Messiah Jesus. Thus, all Israel will be saved (Rev 1:7 quoting Zech 12:10). God will dwell in Israel and rule the nations from her midst. All nations will come to Israel to receive blessing and restoration (Ez. 47; Rev 22).

Summary of the forerunner message: The beauty of Jesus as Bridegroom, King, and Judge must remain our central message. He will return to Jerusalem to rule all the nations to fill the entire earth with the glory of God. The first and foremost way we stand with Israel is by gaining understanding and interceding and preaching the Gospel according to God’s Word. Becoming acquainted with His promises and praying them back to Him. The Lord is specifically raising up those who will stand on the wall with Him to intercede for Israel.

For Zion’s sake I will not hold My peace, And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, And her salvation as a lamp that burns. (Isa. 62:1)

I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, ⁷ And give Him no rest till He establishes And till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. (Isa. 62:6-7)

Suggested Reading

It Must Be Finished – Samuel Whitfield

Art Katz – The Holocaust: Where Was God?

Israel and the Church – Ronald E. Diprose

One King – Samuel Whitfield

Notes on Isaiah – Dr. Thomas L. Constable, (https://planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/pdf/isaiah.pdf)