The Mustard Seed
May 2011
"Ask Pastor"
by Pastor Ron Friedrich
christdeaf@verizon.net
"Will Israel ever be destroyed?"
This question came up during our current Bible study in the book of Revelation. The best answer I can give is found in Jeremiah 31.27-37.
The
Lord announces, "The days are coming when I will plant the nation of
Israel and Judah again... I watched over Israel and Judah to pull them
up by the roots. I tore them down. I crushed them. I destroyed them. I
brought horrible trouble on them. But now I will watch over them to
build them up and plant them," announces the Lord...
The Lord speaks. He makes the sun shine by day. He orders the moon and stars to shine at night. He stirs up the ocean. He makes its waves roar. His name is The Lord Who Rules Over All. "Suppose my orders for creation disappear from my sight," announces the Lord. "Only then will the people of Israel stop being a nation in my sight."
The Lord says, "Suppose the sky above could be measured. Suppose the foundations of the earth below could be completely discovered. Only then would I turn the people of Israel away. Even though they have committed many sins, I will still accept them," announces the Lord.
The Lord speaks. He makes the sun shine by day. He orders the moon and stars to shine at night. He stirs up the ocean. He makes its waves roar. His name is The Lord Who Rules Over All. "Suppose my orders for creation disappear from my sight," announces the Lord. "Only then will the people of Israel stop being a nation in my sight."
The Lord says, "Suppose the sky above could be measured. Suppose the foundations of the earth below could be completely discovered. Only then would I turn the people of Israel away. Even though they have committed many sins, I will still accept them," announces the Lord.
This text is like two slices of bread in a sandwich. My quotation here skipped over the meat in the middle of the sandwich, the most important part of this prophecy, in which God describes exactly how He will continue to accept the people of Israel. It is not because they have formed a political state and own real estate in the Middle East. Nor is it because they have the Law of Moses -- the Old Covenant. But God wants to save them (and all people) with the New Covenant in Jesus Christ.
"A
new day is coming," announces the Lord. "I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel... It will not be like the covenant I made
with their people long ago. That was when I took them by the hand. I
led them out of Egypt. But they broke my covenant. They did it
even though I was like a husband to them," announces the Lord.
"This is the covenant I will make with Israel after that time. I will
put my law in their minds. I will write it on their hearts. I
will be their God. And they will be my people.... I will forgive their
evil ways. I will not remember their sins anymore." (Jer. 31.31-34)
~~Pastor Ron