Fair enough…let’s go
back to the archangel Gabriel telling Daniel:
“And after three-score and
two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself…”
Do you mean to say that the exact date the crucifixion would take place was predicted
500 or so years before?
Absolutely!...some say even to the day, 62 times
7 or 434 years after the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt by Nehemiah. Gabriel
went on to say:
“…and the people of the
prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end
thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are
determined.” Daniel 9
 |
| The temple burns in AD 70 |
Mmm…ongoing desolation hey? I
suppose that was after the Roman Army under Titus sacked Jerusalem in AD 70. The
temple was completely destroyed, the people were killed or taken captive…
Yes, just as Jesus predicted in Matthew 24: “See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
So did Jesus warn what would happen to the Jewish people?
After a sleepless night, beaten and flogged so
badly He can’t even carry His own cross, Jesus finds the breath to address the
grieving women:
“For, behold, the days are
coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that
never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to
the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be
done in the dry?” Luke 23
What’s this dry tree He’s talking about?
He’s referring to the nation of Israel as a fig
tree that is not only fruitless towards God but is now cursed and dried up. On
His way into the city a few days earlier….
“…And when he saw a fig tree
in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said
unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforth for ever…” Matthew 21
So I suppose you’re going to tell me Moses accurately warned Israel of this,
more than a thousand years before?
Would you believe?...the historian Flavius
Josephus tells us that the Romans sent Jews back to Egypt just as Deuteronomy
28 verses 63 thru 68 warned:
“And the Lord will bring thee into Egypt again
with ships…..and there ye shall be sold…”
Back to Egypt as slaves again!? Well
this sounds grim, especially when Jesus said ‘for ever’ – a hopeless future for
the Jews.
Nearly hopeless but not quite: the dispersion or diaspora is not forever. Later, on that remarkable day after the Jewish leaders had rejected His authority He hinted that the fruitless fig tree is one day going to put out some new leaves.
What did the prophets foretell about the return of Jews to Palestine?
Ezekiel detailed it in chapter 36 where you will
find:
“…I will take you from among
the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your
own land. Then I will sprinkle water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all
your filthiness, and from all your idols, I will cleanse you. A new heart also
I will give you, and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away
the stony heart….”
Ah! The return of the Jews to Palestine and the revival of the State of
Israel is not just a political struggle after all – God is behind it!...get
them home first......................then work on them!
Image credits:
graceelgin.org
theuglytruth.wordpress.com
graceelgin.org
theuglytruth.wordpress.com
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