(contd.)
9. THE FUTURE BLESSINGS OF ISRAEL
After the Church has been caught up to meet her Lord, the Hebrew people will first pass through a period of intense suffering. Then at long last they will enter into the glorious era of their history promised to the patriarchs, held in abeyance because of Israel's disobedience, but certain to be their ultimate portion.
9.1 Her Preliminary Trials (The Time of Jacob's Trouble-Seven Years Tribulation Period)
The great tribulation will prove to be "the time of Jacob's trouble" (Jeremiah 30:7). Israel will acclaim the world's greatest religious imposter-the anti-christ-as their messiah and king (John 5:43; 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4). This is the greatest apostasy of their history. This will bring down upon them the heavy hand of God in judicial anger (Matthew 24:15-25), and will serve to separate the godly remnant from the mass of apostates. Israel will be tested and tried in the days of Anti-Christ. She will be compelled to "pass under the rod" (Ezekiel 20:37) of judgment. In the morning she will cry out, "Would God it were even! and at even...would God it were morning!" (Deuteronomy 28:67) - so fearful will her afflications be.
The reader should read carefully the Lord Jesus Christ's Olivet Discourse, as found in Matthew 24. Let us not read into this passage what is obviously not there. The company addressed are believing Jews who know almost nothing about the Church and Christianity as revealed in the Pauline Epistles. Such terms as "the holy place" (v. 15), "Judaea" (v. 16), "sabbath" (v. 20), etc., all serve to confirm the Jewish character of the prophecy. In verse 21 our Lord predicts a great tribulation, of such intensity that it will exceed anything known in either the past or the future of this people's history. As we study such passages as Deuteronomy 4:26-31; Isaiah 13:6-13; Jeremiah 30:4-9; Ezekiel 20:33-38; Daniel 9:20-27; 12:1-4; Joel 2; Zechariah 14, it is very clear that the nation of Israel, because of its rejection of the true Messiah and its
acceptance of the antichrist, will undergo a terrible baptism of divine judgment in the end-times.
9.2 Her Deliverance
The calamities of the great tribulation will beget in the soul of the Israelitish remnant a fierce longing for their Messiah. And suddenly, "There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer" (Romans 11:26), the Son of God (Second coming of Jesus Christ!) returning in power to punish the mustered armies of the world after the end of the 7 years tribulation period (Revelation 19:11-20:6). Israel will behold her Messiah. "They shall look upon" Him "whom they have pierced" (Zechariah 12:10). The scales of unbelief will fall from her eyes in the presence of her Lord.
During the throes of this period of suffering and anguish, there will be a remnant, or minority, of Jewry who will penitently turn to the Lord their God in self-judgment. These will pray, in a new sense, "Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth" and again, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." It is important that we distinguish carefully between the Jewish masses, who are thoroughly devoted to the man of sin, who is the devil's messiah, and that godly remnant, who will see through his hollow pretensions and will resist his claims and suffer, some even martyrdom, because of their faith in Christ (Joel 2:12-17; Zechariah 12:9, 10, 13:1, 2; Jeremiah 16:14, 15; Ezekiel 37; Romans 11:26; Revelation 7-19).
9.3 Her Conversion
"In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness" (Zechariah 13). The Lord will wash away "the filth of the daughters of Zion" (Isaiah 4:4). He will put His "law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts" (Jeremiah 31:33). Their iniquity will be forgiven (Jeremiah 31:34). God will put a "new spirit" within them (Ezekiel 11:19). He will "sprinkle clean water" upon them (Ezekiel 36:25). The Deliverer "shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob..." (Romans 11:26).
9.4 Her Resurrection
At the end of the great tribulation many Jews who have perished during its tragic days will be raised from the dead to meet their Messiah. This seems to be the teaching of Isaiah 26:19 and Daniel 12:1, 2.
9.5 Her Millennial Blessings
Reunited as a nation with true peace (Jeremiah 3:18; 33:14), Israel will be subject to Messiah during His beneficent thousand-year reign. She will apparently be favored above the Gentiles (Isaiah 14:1, 2; 61:6, 7). She will witness on behalf of the Lord (Isaiah 44:8; Micah 5:7). And she will be the recipient of many favors freely bestowed on her by her God (Hosea 14:5, 6; Zephaniah 3:16, 17; Zechariah 9:16).
Note:
The a-millennialist denies any future to national Israel as such. Assuming that the Church of this age is the true Israel, and that, therefore, the promises made to her find their complete fulfillment now in the Church, there can be no future application to any company. Support for this view is largely found in Old Testament quotations which are frequently applied to Christians of this age. But we believe that this "support" ignores what is known as "the law of double reference."
THE LAW OF DOUBLE REFERENCE
It is important to recognize the law of double reference. It is indispensable to a proper understanding of the Holy Spirit's usage of the Old Testament passages. This is particularly true in connection with the study of Old Testament prophecies. The principle may be defined in this way: by the law of double reference we mean that a prophecy, the complete fulfillment of which is in the remote future, may also be capable of a near and partial fulfillment.
Let us look at two examples of this. These should serve to clarify this rule of interpretation.
The first twelve verses of Isaiah 52 predict the glories of Christ's millennial kingdom. The passage is so obvious that it calls for no labored proof. This forecast can be made to apply to the Church or to the world today. Notice particularly verses 6 to 8. But in Romans 10:15 Paul quotes from this chapter and applies it to the present day evangelist. He argues that the gospeller cannot preach unless he is sent - "As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" Paul quotes this sentence from Isaiah 52, it does not follow that all of Isaiah's prediction is fulfilled in the Church today. He is simply making an application of a millennial feature and giving it present force. It will be completely fulfilled later on.
Read Joel 2:28-32. Here we have another of those soul-thrilling previews of the glory that will come to both the land and nation of Israel during the beneficent reign of her Messiah-Jesus. We cannot apply verses 21-27 to the present order of things. It is unquestionably future. It is millennial in outlook. Then follows (v. 28-32) the prophecy of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on all flesh, which is just preceded by tremendous cataclysmic changes in the heavenly bodies. We know from other passages that these cosmic disturbances will be attendant upon our Lord's return in power to the earth (Matthew 24:29, 20). Then follows the word, "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the
Lord shall call."
Peter quotes the last five verses of Joel 2 and introduces them with the words, "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel" (Acts 2:16). A comparison of the passages makes it clear that Peter recasts verse 32, carefully omitting all references to salvation as being in Zion or Jerusalem or in the remnant. He simply directs the faith of his hearers to the Lord, from Whom deliverance comes. Are we to understand from Peter's words "This is that" that the entire prophecy was exhausted at Pentecost? Certainly not Peter is simply applying the prophecy to the pentecostal effusion.
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