6. Relating the Prophecies
of Israel’s Restoration, Continued
-
An Overview of the Restoration Prophecies
What
then do the restoration prophecies exactly have to say? What do they show us
about Israel’s true restoration? And how does what is happening in Israel today
measure up against the predictions?
An
overview of the Old Testament prophecies reveals a collage of differing conditions surrounding the
Restoration, including Israel’s proximity to the Land and their state of heart at the time of return.
These differences allow for the possibility of multiple Jewish returns to and dispersions from the Promised Land
over history that fall short of the permanent glorious restoration for which
everyone waits.
Regenerative
discernment of these differences is vital to accurately perceiving the meaning
of today’s events and avoiding the confusing errors of reconstructionist
interpretation which lead to carnally inflamed passions, dashed expectations,
crucified prophets and saints otherwise detoured from aligning with God’s
transcendent heart for and calling on the Jewish people.
In
the main, the prophecies draw two contrasting pictures of Israel’s return. One
is bold, dominant and glorious—comprising the main body of prophecy. The other
is tentative, exceptional and “sub-glorious”—composed of comparatively few
passages scattered among those of the main body. At the end of this treatise I
provide a more thorough discussion of these “portraits,” their evidences and
their reconciliation (see An Interpretive
Synopsis of the Restoration Prophecies). Here, I will only highlight their
main elements.
·
The Bold
Portrait of Glorified Restoration
As
a whole, the Old Covenant prophets overwhelmingly speak of a conclusive Jewish
restoration to the Promised Land that occurs under the following conditions:
1)
in
broken repentance laced with trembling (uncertain of being received again);
2)
in
established peace, prosperity and world supremacy;
3)
with
the unopposed subservient support of the Gentiles;
4)
in
permanent joy without sorrow, together with the Lord’s comfort;
5)
in
conjunction with (not anticipation of) Messiah’s return;
6)
as
a miniscule remnant following a time of distress which nearly annihilates the
whole planet, during which the nation, already
consolidated on the Land, is attacked, driven off and destroyed, out of
which the purified preserved remnant is then avenged and those dispersed
worldwide return per above.
The
common thread in this prophetic body is that of Israel’s national repentance. From Moses through Malachi, repentance forms
the antecedent basis of Israel’s
restoration. Not only so, but the extension of the national repentance issue
into the ministries of John the Immerser, Yeshua, Peter and Paul make it clear
that Israel’s restorative repentance is to be made respecting their unbelief
vis-à-vis the New Covenant gospel—and that it occurs at the end of the mortal
ages.
In
other words, Israel’s restoration, hence inheritance, is based on a monumental
inward national transformation that marks the transition to the age of
resurrection and immortality. Thus it rolls over into the revealing of Eternal
Israel, proving the fundamentally regenerative
nature of the Restoration. The regenerative element is further proven by the
numerous links between this body of prophecy and the transnational
king/priesthood (Eternal Israel) in John’s Revelation (see the Synopsis for details.)
Importantly, according to this portrait, Israel’s restoration is not satisfied or fulfilled merely by a repatriation of Jewish people to the Promised Land.23
·
The Sprinkled
Portrait of a “Sub-glorious” Return
Against
the dominant picture of regenerative restoration, a comparatively few, less
well-defined prophecies appear to predict a non-regenerative end time return to
the Promised Land. Anchored in Isaiah’s call to “Bring out the people who are blind, even
though they have eyes, And the deaf, even though they have ears” (43:8), this return is conducted under conditions
of unbelief that conflict with the conditions identified in the main body of
prophecy.
In
this sub-glorious context, Israel is seen as being semi-forced as if by capture
(“hunted” and “fished”) back to the Land, existing there in continued unbelief
under disciplinary trial. The return is made under conditions of the Lord’s appeal to Israel (not His vindication of them), in which Israel’s presence in the
Land and a limited measure of proliferation and prosperity serves as a platform
for that appeal.
This
return occurs ahead of, not as the result of, Israel’s repentance. The transit
itself is marked by affliction and identified as a “wilderness” experience parallel to the original exodus. Moreover,
though returned, Israel remains subject to the warning of judgment.
This
entire portrait rests heavily on layering an end time perspective on prophecies
that were based on the prophets’ appeals to the unbelief of their immediate
audiences and which found some fulfillment through the deportation and return
of BC 608-538. So this collection aligns more with conditions marking the past
return than with future glory. (I will speak more fully to the significance of
this portrait in point 7.)
·
Reconciling
the Portraits
Despite
the fact that the prophecies in these two portraits interweave and sometimes
even share the same prophetic space, they clearly occur as separate events on
different planes of reality. The portraits in whole do not mesh and cannot be
overlaid as if they described one event, nor can they be simultaneously
fulfilled—their conditions are that different.
This
does not mean the portraits are not related or can’t be reconciled. They are
reconcilable or else they would not both exist. In the end, the elements from
the non-regenerative picture can be
shown to dovetail with those of the
regenerative glorious picture, having a point of common ground—literally.
The
shared point between these portraits is that the glorious picture presumes Israel’s prior immediate presence on
the Land leading to the climaxing events that produce final scattering and
regathering into regenerative restoration (please review the last point in the
glorious portrait above). Such a prior presence can only be a reality if there
is a prior non-regenerative return. (For a thorough discussion of the
reconciliation of these portraits, please consult the Interpretive Synopsis at the end of this treatise.)
- Modern
Israel: How Does It Stack Up?
Once
we distil the prophecies detailing Israel’s true restoration from those
identifying something less, it becomes self-evident that—like the Jews’
original BC 538 return, today’s return and formation of the State of Israel does not satisfy the conditions or fulfill
the promises associated with Israel’s restoration. Return? Yes.
Restoration? No.
Weighed against the lone point of repentance—the foundation stone of the glorious portrait— today’s Jewish repatriation does not even closely resemble the Restoration prophesied of old. It involves no national repentance—not even as found in BC 538.24
Israel’s
regathering did not crystallize around any national
movement of repentance—either for first forsaking the Mosaic Law, or for
later crucifying Messiah and His apostles, or for the adamic nationalist pride
that led them to it. Rather, Israel was re-formed as a secular state in a
spirit of self-determination upon the
carnal principles of “democratic” Gentile government.
All
the other evidences follow suit. Though Israel’s re-establishment was
accomplished with Gentile help, that help hardly reflects the joyful
subservient global support prophesied of the Restoration. (Western assistance
was chiefly goaded by political exigencies laced with resistance; meanwhile the
1947 UN vote approving Israel’s creation was split down the middle, 33-24.)
Though
Israel has achieved measured prosperity, it is not planted in permanent peace,
and lives under the constant threat of extinction! They certainly do not have
supremacy in the world. The May 1948 christening of the Jewish state carried a
moment of joyful celebration, but has brought them sorrow upon sorrow ever
since. Above all this, the Jews returned without
their Restorer.
None of these evidences bear
real witness to fulfilling what the prophets foretold. (Even the Pharisees of
Yeshua’s day would not accept today’s conditions as evidence of Israel’s
restoration.) If not, on what basis then can today’s return be interpreted as
the restoring of the Jewish inheritance? In the Spirit’s regenerative mind,
there is in fact no basis for this belief.
23 This is verified by the fact that, even after their original
BC 538 return, the Jews still did not consider themselves “restored”—which is
why restoration was a topic of issue when Yeshua first came. The Jews did not even consider themselves
restored by the reconstructionist
definition, never mind the regenerative one—even though they were back on the
Land.
24 The only “repentance” visible
in Israel today is among ultra-orthodox Jews who bewail their people’s
forsaking of the Torah and Talmud. But this is a “blind repentance,” failing to
touch the critical regenerative Life issues surrounding the ancient rejection
of Yeshua and Paul’s gospel. Against this, one does find a limited true repentance among small numbers of
“Messianics” who turn to Christ in various parts of the world and in Israel.
But this is only a “partial” repentance as for many it still hasn’t touched
their esteem of racial identity in this world (Much more on this in the next
treatise).